13) We have learned from the words of the Gaon that many books are falsely attributed to the names of great sages of Israel for their own benefit. We have also learned that anything not explicitly stated in the Mishnah and the Gemara, and we see that it contradicts the meaning of the Talmud, is not an accepted source. Therefore, the halachic decisors do not rely on teachings from the Midrashim in a place where they contradict the Talmud.
Even the Jerusalem Talmud is not considered concerning when it disagrees with the Babylonian Talmud, which is the foundation for the Jewish people, whether to be lenient or strict, as explained by our authoritative rabbis in various places. Refer to the following (Siman 42) for further discussion. What I wrote there in the name of the Ra'ash, go and learn from what R. Tam wrote in his novellae brought in the Sefer Rabid HaZahav, in the laws of Passover, may his memory be blessed.
In our time, this knowledge has vanished, and the secrets of Torah have disappeared from the eyes of all living beings. No human knows the order of this wisdom, and anyone who holds onto it will encounter great strength and danger, meaning a great danger and the danger of heresy, which has no share in the God of Israel. And in similar matters, our Sages warned us, 'Do not inquire into the miraculous, and do not investigate the concealed.'
And it is sufficient for us that we have been instructed by the true and universally accepted sages of authentic Kabbalah, who thoroughly explain the Torah and its commandments from every perspective. According to the tradition handed down from person to person, from the time of Moses until the present, which is known as the Oral Torah, for which Moses ascended to the heavens and stood there for forty days to learn its general principles and specific details, as transmitted to him by the Divine Power.
And in these matters, we are obligated to engage with them, for they are our life and the length of our days, and not one of them shall be changed. One's religious duty is to be stringent in observing them, and anyone who rebels against the words of the sages is liable to death. However, the remaining hints and allusions that were not fully understood by the Kabbalistic sages, as they pertain to the hidden aspects of the Torah and matters of intellect, we were not commanded concerning them.
For those who choose to delve into them individually are considered unique in their time, as was the case with our predecessors, and so on. But not everyone who wishes to take the name shall take it, for these are matters that are beyond our grasp. In our time, this is a wonder of ancestral merit, and not everyone holds onto this righteousness. On the contrary, they destroy the corners of the Torah and its pillars.
They delight in the clamor of passing winds, and the blind who do not know the path where the light dwells grope like the blind, unable to find their way. And in a place where they thought to gain sudden profit, they shall be shattered, and there is no remedy. Many among the ignorant people boast, saying, 'The secret of the Lord is with us; we have inherited the highest waters, not you, the possessors of the Talmud who walk in darkness.'
Their hearts are not with them, their vision is blurred, and they lack understanding. The wise act to their own detriment. For they held onto what their limited intellect could grasp, and they desire to ascend to lofty heights without a doubt in their ability to reach the ultimate goal. They will grasp a shard in their hand to scratch themselves with, and it will become a snare for them, etc. For from them shall emerge a stumbling block to breach the fence of the Torah and destroy its walls.
They will boast in what they do not understand and be deceived by the beginnings of the Torah and its roots, leading them to fall into heresy. They will distance themselves from the desired goal, which is closeness to God, and instead prefer nonexistence. How much more so will they distort interpretations and abolish halakhah, and so on.