The Dor Dai response is that whether a person or school is heretical is a question of law, to be decided according to authoritative works of halakha: one is not a heretic simply for disagreeing with a widely held Aggadah interpretation, unless the ''halakha'' specifically says so. The Mishneh Torah is comprehensive in scope and is, at the very least, ''one'' of the authoritative sources of ''halakha'', so to follow it is authentic Judaism. Accordingly, since the Dor Daim assert nothing that is not found within the four corners of the Mishneh Torah, and the Mishneh Torah teaches laws that contradict Zoharic or Lurianic Kabbalah, they cannot be heretics - unless the Mishneh Torah itself is heretical, which is not held by any mainstream Jewish group.
2. Others believe that the main problem is not that Dor Daim do not follow Kabbalah for themselves, but that they delegitimize those who do follow it. Rabbi Yihhyah Qafahh, for instance, held that one must not use parchments written by, or eat meat slaughtered by, believers in Kabbalah because these are dedicated they do so in a way contrary to the service of a concept distinct from the Unfathomable Almighty Creator and therefore are not dedicated for serving way dictated by the Almighty Creator. This distinct concept to which Rabbi Yihhyah Qafahh, based on certain popular Kabbalistic works, warned that such parchments etc. are dedicated is called ''Zeir Anpin'' (one of the ''partzufim'' of the 10 sephirot). Few Dor Daim take such an extreme view today, as most consider that the above reasoning makes Jewish law too uncertain in practice.
3. A third criticism is that Dor Daim take works of Kabbalah too literally: it is intended to be myth and metaphor, and to subject it to rigorous analysis as the Dor Daim do is like trying to construe a Keats sonnet as if it were an Act of Parliament. Works of Kabbalah themselves contain warnings that the teachings should not be exposed to common view or read too realistically, and that to do so is indeed to incur the danger of falling into heresy or idolatry.
