David Friedman developed a talent for art at an early age and attended the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island for one year. David left art school to study Torah and Jewish mysticism, which he began in Denver with the late Rabbi B.C.S. Twerski. Friedman immigrated to Israel in 1977 at the age of 20, spent two years studying Torah in Jerusalem, got married and moved to the mystical city of Safed in 1979.

In Safed, Friedman immersed himself in the study of Talmud, and created Torah-based art at night. After a bout with cancer in 1987, he started practicing Jewish Meditation and focusing on the study of Kabbalah. This combination of Kabbalah, meditation, and modern conceptual art produced a large series of kabbalistic/meditative paintings executed in watercolors and pen-and-ink.

Friedman has developed his own original system of translating kabbalistic concepts into graphic shapes and colors based primarily on the kabbalistic text, "Sefer Yetzirah" (the Book of Creation). He has exhibited in North America and Israel, and his works grace many homes and art collections around the world.

In addition to his art, David Friedman is a popular lecturer on Kabbalah and Jewish Meditation. Groups of teenagers and adults, whether tourists, students or spiritual seekers, find his presentations enjoyable and educational as he uses his colorful art to simplify and clarify profound kabbalistic ideas since "a picture is worth a thousand words."

Although Friedman is well-versed in classical Torah texts (both conventional and esoteric), he is primarily self-taught, and prefers the way of the mystic - as independent and non-denominational as possible. More information on David Friedman can be found on his web site www.kosmic-kabbalah.com

SG = Soul Graffiti
DF = David Friedman

SG: WHAT IS KABBALAH?

DF: Kabbalah is the Jewish mystical tradition. Kabbalah presents the worldview of the ancient prophets as well as their contemplative techniques for attaining prophecy - which is understood to be a profound awareness of one’s direct connection with God via the soul. Prophecy is possible because the Kabbalah sees the universe as a great chain of being containing many worlds, the physical world being beneath many spiritual worlds. Our bodies inhabit the physical world, but our souls inhabit the spiritual worlds and are thus our “ladder” to God.

There are three main branches of Kabbalah: Theoretical (Philosophical), Meditative (Prophetic), and Practical (Magical). The traditions of Kabbalah were kept secret for centuries – passed down from mater to disciple – but began to be written down around 750 years ago and have attained more exposure and popularity recently.

SG: WHAT IS KABBALAH ART AND WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR WORK?

DF: Kabbalah art is art that is based on the teaching of the Kabbalah. My art contains motifs and symbols that are commonly found in books on Kabbalah. Since one of the goals of Kabbalah is for us to attain balance, harmony and integration with ourselves and our universe, my art is often symmetrical and mandala-like. In fact, since my drawings are inspired by my kabbalistic meditation practice, they are often used by people as mandalas for contemplation. I also use my pictures to illustrate my lectures and classes on Kabbalah, as the common saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Kabbalah deals with numerology (gematria) and sacred geometry, so my art uses these motifs. I developed a way of using colors to express some of the number relationships that often appear in the Kabbalah such as three (primary colors) and seven (colors of the rainbow). I want people to take away from my work a taste of beauty, harmony, unity, and inspiration.

SG: WHAT DOES KABBALAH TEACH WITH REGARDS TO KINDNESS?

DF: The Kabbalah teaches that God created the Universe as an act of pure loving kindness. Included in this kindness is God’s creation of punishment, death, and evil, because that gives us our challenges in life and allows us to use our freedom of choice to choose life and good rather than being given it on a “silver platter.” This is why it is seen as a great kindness to give someone a job rather than charity.

When we are kind to others, we emulate god’s kindness and emulation of God is the essence of the Torah – love your fellow as yourself. Kabbalah sees God guiding the world clothed in various attributes that are also part our being: Will, Wisdom, Understanding, Kindness, Strength, Truth, etc. All the attributes that God uses to guide the Universe are all born from God’s loving kindness. Kindness in Hebrew is “Hesed” and the late 18th Century Hasidic movement started by the Baal Shem Tov in Russia, was an outgrowth of the teachings of Kabbalah. Their movement was called the “Hasidic Movement” because their emphasis was on basing their lives and service of God on Hesed (kindness).

SG: WHAT ARE SOME KABBALISTIC TECHNIQUEST FOR EXPANDING OUR OWN HEART'S CAPACITY FOR KINDNESS?

DF: A Kabbalistic practice is to always see ourselves as being one with all of creation. This is, not to see people and creatures as something separate from ourselves but, as part and parcel of ourselves – our greater selves. When we realize our profound interconnectedness and oneness with all beings, all creatures, being kind to others becomes easier, because then there are no others.

Just as we want to align our will with God’s will and our wisdom with God’s wisdom, we want to align our kindness with God’s kindness. However, God’s kindness includes (and transcends) every expression of kindness that ever was or ever will be, and that is the kindness that kabbalists try to emulate.

Some techniques for expanding our heart’s capacity for kindness are therefore reading and being inspired by stories of the kindnesses exhibited by saintly people throughout the ages, many of which are part of the Torah and Talmudic tradition.

For example, it is said of the Baal Shem Tov that he never went to sleep at night with any money in his possession – after his family was fed, all the rest of the money he earned that day was distributed to the poor.

SG: HOW DOES KINDNESS MAKE US/THE WORLD BETTER?

DF: Love and kindness are the glue that holds families and society together. Without kindness we and our world falls apart and resorts to chaos – every person being only concerned with their own well being. Such selfishness is not a good place to be. The more we can expand our circle of care and concern, the better this world will be. This expansion moves from being egocentric to being ethnocentric to ultimately being world-centric. Our world today is in many regards already a global village. However, there are still ethnocentric wars raging in many parts of the world. If people could learn to extend kindness not just to people of their same nation, religion, or ethnic group, but to everyone, we’d all be much better off.

SG: SOUL GRAFFITI STRESSES BEING CONSCIOUS OF KINDNESS, WHAT DOES KABBALAH TEACH ABOUT CONSCIOUSNESS?

DF: Kabbalah has much to teach us about consciousness. In fact, it’s all about consciousness. The great chain of being, or great ladder of consciousness, this is our world and us, is a hierarchy of consciousness. The process of evolution described by biologists is part of this great chain. Plants have more consciousness than minerals; animals have more consciousness than plants; Humans have more consciousness than animals, but evolution continues towards higher levels of consciousness that bring about enlightenment and prophecy.

Kabbalah teaches that attaining higher levels of consciousness is about the kindest thing a person can do for the world. The very fact that such enlightened people exist, benefits the Universe greatly, because they fill all worlds with light and consciousness that flows through them via their souls from the divine source. The higher consciousness that such people attain gives birth to higher levels of behavior, such as acts of kindness that are in tune with the needs of their generation.