ROCK ‘N ROLL

Rock ‘n roll caught on as it did because it embodied the spirit of youth — energy, excitement, rebellion, innocence, and the “not-knowing”, going with the flow, not knowing if you rode the wave what shore you would wash up on. Even here there are resonances with the great message and content of the Zohar.

The Zohar’s appearance and kabbalah’s long history were a response of rebellion against the earthly powers that over-ran and governed the Holy Land and Jews in exile for two thousand years or more, since the destruction of the First Temple. The message of rendering unto Caesar what was Caesar’s was not one that the secretly or openly rebellious leaders of kabbalistic sects espoused. For most of them their goals included the overthrow of the hated overseers and the open restoration of their own temple, their own kings and their own right to self-government and free worship.

On another level kabbalah was also rebellion against conservative and orthodox Judaism, or at the very least a breaking away from certain of their restrictions. In their attempt to restore the mystical heart to their religion the kabbalists had necessarily to come up against the orthodox church. Jews had already suffered in their struggles with Egypt, with Rome both before and after its long slow conversion to Christianity, and then with the Muslim world. This latter had been especially disappointing to the Jews in exile, because at first they had believed that the rise of Muhammedism would help overthrow the rule of Rome; but in the end the Muslims also became their enemies.

Kabbalists, then, were in some sort of rebellious relationship and struggle with orthodox Judaism, with pagan Rome, then with Christian Rome and with the Muslim world as it arose. It is evident that conflict, struggle and rebellion were woven closely into the fabric of kabbalah from the earliest times.

Rock ‘n roll is about the same thing. It was (and still is) an attempt, however subconscious on the part of the younger musicians themselves, to speak forcefully against the established order, which is seen to be unjust. The clear eyes of youth see injustice more easily than do their elders, who have grown too accustomed to it. Rock ‘n roll is also at its best full of poetry, the only access that most youth have to poetry at all. And poetry is the closest thing there is to the mystical vision for those people who know nothing about mysticism.

The joyful thing about the twentieth century in the western world was that youth were free to express their rebellion. Throughout centuries of kabbalah it would have meant death or imprisonment and torture for the Jewish mystics to make their views known, so it was out of dire necessity that kabbalah went underground and became hidden, secret, and restricted to the very few. Even in the secret writings, many things are coded so as to be understandable only to the initiated. Even in this 21st century this does not seem to be an over-reaction, as there are many countries where such rebellion and expression still means the choice between death or exile.

Rebellion then is the first of the two great similarities between Rock ‘n Roll and the Zohar. The other is the “not-knowing”, the going with the flow. In however profane a sense, lying on the carpet half-stoned listening to Nights in White Satin is not qualitatively altogether different from the letting go that is a crucial prerequisite to mystical experience. There is at that moment no fear, no wish to be elsewhere or to be doing something else, no thought of the future or the past. There is only the living in that moment. The music if deeply loved, as it certainly was, lifted you up as much as did the drugs that were so much a part of that scene did. And the drug experience was most certainly a search for the mystical. This is one of the reasons why the “drug problem” (I say those words in quotation marks) is so intractable. It can no more be “solved” than can the ever-present yearning for union with higher beauty, the ever-present yearning for Eden that assails every person who walks through a sun-drowsy fragrant garden. The entire rock ‘n roll experience partakes of that same yearning quality. And it partially fulfills the yearning, which is why people go back to it time after time.

The difference between Rock ‘n Roll and the Zohar is that immersion in the Zohar can entirely fulfill that sweet desire. And that is because something else is brought to the study of religious texts that is rarely brought to Rock ‘n Roll: intent. The intent of the kabbalist is to seek God and to use whatever he or she finds during that search to help others. A central message is always the desire to receive in order to share, and this was somewhat contrary to the usual experience of Rock ‘n Roll, which was expressly to please and open oneself, although it certainly led to a great and enthusiastic desire to turn one’s friends on to the same music and experiences.

Particularly in the early days of Rock ‘n Roll a big part of its charm was the relaxation of anxieties about the future; it was the musician’s attitude and the listener’s attitude that ‘whatever happens, happens, man. Why sweat it?’ And exactly the same attitude must be fostered to come into a right relationship with God. At first glance the Zohar would seem to be on the side of authority, with its relentless emphasis on The Rules and The Commandments. But on the deeper level it is evident that all those rules and commandments are to be transcended by the love of and obedience to God; then one will act correctly with no need for outside authority.

In Beresheet (Zohar Chadash) (parasha 463) , Rabbi Alexandrei says: “And wisdom is the beginning of everything and before anything”. Yet “The fear of God is… a good understanding” means that this fear remains within the framework of the mind and the understanding to know and search for the fear of God. “all they who do His commandments” do them with fear at first, until one accustoms himself to doing so with love.”

And in however incomplete a way, Lennon and McCartney’s repetition of “All you need is love” was saying the same thing.

The human body and spirit both partake of rhythm — it is in the essential nature of their makeup. The pulse of the heart, the contraction of the womb, the tidal ebb and flow of the spirit are all exemplars of this principle. The Zohar also embodies this principle with its rich ebb and flow of concepts, dialogue and experiences. The Zoharic rhythm is most truly embodied in the study of numerical influences and significances, for all rhythm is based on number. Rock ‘n roll was and is a passionate joining with the deep rhythms of body and soul, simultaneously exploiting and satisfying the primordial ingrained response to a strong beat. This works on the individual level, but the stunning growth of rock ‘n roll was due to the fact that it entrained an entire generation to the same group of wavelengths. The resonance set up in millions of young people all around the globe brought them together in an inescapable joint understanding composed of joy and tension.

It is a scientific fact that a strong wavelength will bring into harmony with itself a group of weaker and disharmonious impulses. And this brings us back again to the Zohar, for we might state its mission as one of entrainment: the Zohar sets out to bring harmonious rhythmic relationships between individuals and between them and God.

The human spirit has an inborn need for rhythm that has much to do with the satisfaction we take in order — in placement, arrangement, sequence and organization. The Zohar is profoundly concerned with these things on many levels. Those who immerse themselves in the text become entrained with its rhythm, with the thought patterns of the rabbis, and with those wavelengths from higher realms that bring information of a supernal nature. Wave transformations step this information down to our frequencies so that what they encode is revealed to us.

Rock ‘n roll by itself was not capable of this extension to higher realms, but subliminally it set up the longing for those higher wavelengths; this is because we are made to be able to access them, whether we know it or not.

Rock ‘n roll says to the soul: There is more.

Zohar says to the soul: Here it is.