FAQ about Kabbalah and Chassidut: Introduction

The Torah, God's blueprint for the world, has both a revealed and a concealed dimension. The revealed dimension contains the laws of the Torah, while the concealed dimension contains the Torah's secrets. These secrets are the signature of the Creator in reality. It is up to us to study these secrets so that we can emulate God in all that we do, and pave the way for the redemption--when God's Presence will be readily perceived by all creations here on earth.

In the following chapters, we will present some fundamental concepts of the inner dimension of the Torah. It is important to note that there are a number of synonyms for this inner dimension: Kabbalah, the concealed part of the Torah, secrets of the Torah, sitrei Torah, nistar or the soul of the Torah. Although each synonym has its own subtleties, they are all basically interchangeable. Chassidut, also included in the concealed part of the Torah, is the inner dimension of Kabbalah, or the soul of the soul of the Torah.