The Nefesh Hachaim is full of Zohar and kabalah. When did Litvish/yeshivish stop quoting Zohar and kabala in their sforim?

So does the Chofetz Chaim. What of it?

thats why in yeshivas they tell u only to learn Shaar Daled and nothing else of the sefer cuz its to much Kabbala

Such as?

I'm asking historically. When did that start?

With the influence of the Haskalah.

Hey, if you can make heads or tails out of what it says, then feel free to restart the trend.

I assume you mean the nefesh Hachaim when you say it. That leads me to another question. Did people understand it when it came out? (I am listening to taped shiurim of nefesh Hachaim and BH I understand to the extent one can understand such lofty inyanim.)

It was written for a rabbinic audience in Lita. Of course they understood it.

So why didn't the Beis Halevi write like that? Or Netziv? (Reb Itzel Ponivitzer though did write kabala notes all over Nefesh Hachaim.) They was 60 years later, no?

They were from two and three generations later than him.

You're right, there had been a change in what was common among the rabbinic elite in Lita during that time period.

My best guess is that misnagdus contributed to the change.

I think it was an answer to the chassidim - like we can still learn kabbalah without doing backflips

One must factor in a reaction to the Haskalah, as well. Nistar is one of many things that they began to 'avoid' in the generations following Nefesh HaChaim. It may be 50% from column A and 50% from column B.

In what sense? To avoid ridicule? Or that criticism of kabbalah was internalized somehow?



Whatever it was, I'm sure there was a column A and a column B.