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What is the difference between Kabbalah and hashkafa?



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Ema of 5




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 29 2022, 9:08 am
Oftentimes, the word “hashkafa” comes up in discussions of intimacy, Mikvah, teaching kallahs, etc. When asked to expound, much of the info given seems to be kabalistic. So I’m wondering….what is the difference?
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miami85




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 29 2022, 9:15 am
They are kind of an apple and orange. Hashkafa is the lens/perspective through which we view life which is framed through the various aspects of Torah, Mussar, etc. Kabbalah is the esoteric blueprint of the world which is difficult to understand. It's like we learn twinkle twinkle little star in preschool, and kabbala is like "astrophysics"--some people can understand it. We can get hashkafa from some works rooted in Kabbala and we can learn how to improve our middos based on learning "Hashem's middos"
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Ema of 5




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 29 2022, 9:28 am
miami85 wrote:
They are kind of an apple and orange. Hashkafa is the lens/perspective through which we view life which is framed through the various aspects of Torah, Mussar, etc. Kabbalah is the esoteric blueprint of the world which is difficult to understand. It's like we learn twinkle twinkle little star in preschool, and kabbala is like "astrophysics"--some people can understand it. We can get hashkafa from some works rooted in Kabbala and we can learn how to improve our middos based on learning "Hashem's middos"

So why is it that so much of what is given as “hashkafa reasons” for something is often Kabbalah?
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pinkpeonies




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 29 2022, 10:21 am
Ema of 4 wrote:
So why is it that so much of what is given as “hashkafa reasons” for something is often Kabbalah?


As the poster above said, they are not comparable because they are totally different things.
Hashkafa is the way or the lens through which we view the world
Kabbalah is the deeper meaning of the torah. All of torah can be explained on 4 levels (that doesn’t mean only 4 explanations, but each of those explanations are on one of these levels) and those are פרד״ס
פשט- the “simple” explanation
דרש- the “deeper” explanation
רמז- the “hint”
סוד- the “secret”
Sod is the level where kabala comes in
You can see this all the time. When rashi is bringing a Gemara to explain something, he will say פשט, or דרש, or דרך סוד… etc
So kabala is literally just the deepest explanations of the Torah. It’s one where we are not all ready or allowed to penetrate in certain respects
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Ema of 5




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 29 2022, 10:37 am
pinkpeonies wrote:
As the poster above said, they are not comparable because they are totally different things.
Hashkafa is the way or the lens through which we view the world
Kabbalah is the deeper meaning of the torah. All of torah can be explained on 4 levels (that doesn’t mean only 4 explanations, but each of those explanations are on one of these levels) and those are פרד״ס
פשט- the “simple” explanation
דרש- the “deeper” explanation
רמז- the “hint”
סוד- the “secret”
Sod is the level where kabala comes in
You can see this all the time. When rashi is bringing a Gemara to explain something, he will say פשט, or דרש, or דרך סוד… etc
So kabala is literally just the deepest explanations of the Torah. It’s one where we are not all ready or allowed to penetrate in certain respects

I totally get that. What I don’t understand is why, very often, when asked about hashkafa or the hashkafa behind something, the answer is often a a kabbalistic answer.
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miami85




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 29 2022, 11:34 am
Ema of 4 wrote:
So why is it that so much of what is given as “hashkafa reasons” for something is often Kabbalah?


So my husband and I were just discussing it for the past 2 hours. I believe a lot of our "hashkafa" comes from the kabbalah and the deeper reasons for the halacha.

My husband and I seem to have different understandings of what "kabbalah" are so we are still hocking this out.

Torah has 4 levels--pshat, drash, remez, sod. Pshat is the text of the Torah--she'bichsav and sh'b'eal peh.

As women when we are taught "beyond the direct text" much of it is "drash" but some of it--especially with the prevalence of "chassidish torah" which much of chassidus is derived from The Arizal and Zohar, etc. has seeped into our "Everyday understanding" of Judaism and the world so it's hard to distinguish where midrash ends and "kabbalah" begins. Most things we know are "halacha" the "whys" and "meaning" come from an eclectic background of sources.

Kabbalah has two meanings--one is the more common idea of "zohar" and "Rsb"I" teachings, there's also the idea of "kach kibalti"--a lesson I learned from my teacher, whether a medrash or other source not text based.
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balance




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 29 2022, 11:36 am
I agree with you. I think the real answer to your question is people getting confused. There is a small aspect whereby sometimes giving a person a glimpse into hidden depths makes them feel the depth of the mitzva. Then it can connect to their worldview. But mostly it's just a mistaken term.

The stuff quoted as hashkafa on mikva was mostly not hashkafa at all. The hashkafa would be how to approach the mitzva, how to deal with it when it is difficult, how to look at a mitzva which on the surface could look bizarre etc etc.

All the sweet remazim and references are just to make you feel that there is a hidden depth here which you can't understand. Some people find that that makes them feel more connected and some don't.
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PinkFridge




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 29 2022, 12:19 pm
There's hashkafa, which is closer to psychology in that it teaches us how to think and how to relate, and machshava, which is deeper thinking about how the world runs. Like Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, zt"l or the kabalah type stuff you're thinking of.
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mushkamothers




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 29 2022, 12:29 pm
Ema of 4 wrote:
So why is it that so much of what is given as “hashkafa reasons” for something is often Kabbalah?


In chabad chassidus the hashkafa is all based on kabbalah. So if the hashkafa is that a woman's hair is covered, the reason is kabbalistic.
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