From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kabbalah (
Hebrew:
קַבָּלָה, lit. "receiving") is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the
mystical aspect of
Judaism.
.^ The theory of the concentration of God, by which the Cabala tries to explain the creation of the finite out of the infinite, is found in mystical form in Gabirol also (see Munk, "Mélanges," pp.- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
- JewishEncyclopedia.com - CABALA. 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]
^ For a correct understanding of the relationship between Joseph Smith and Freemasonry, it is vital first to clearly distinguish between the various types of Freemasonry, especially between the esoteric and nonesoteric forms.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ It should at least have been consulted by someone studying the relationship between Mormonism and the esoteric traditions.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ Like Brooke, Owens also makes no effort to define hermeticism, despite the fact that serious questions have been raised about its nature and scope.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
It also presents methods to aid understanding of these concepts and to thereby attain spiritual realization.
.^ As with Jewish people, there was also a reaction among some Christians against sterile belief, and it was thought that Kabbalah was a valid corrective.- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
^ Kabbalah influenced Jewish messianic movements, principally Hasidism, which developed a joyful religious expression that avoided sterile legalism.- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
^ The passage from the Zohar cited by Owens before the ellipses is, in fact, a digression within a digression, referring back to the original theme of the entire section of the commentary, Genesis 1:26.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ Furthermore, according to traditional kabbalistic practice, initiates into the mysteries of Kabbalah were to be at least thirty years old and well versed in rabbinic literature.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Owens's approach thus obscures significant differences between the Mormon understanding of revelation and that of the kabbalists.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Thus Joseph could not have been influenced by any "hermetic" ideas from reading Jewish kabbalistic texts.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
[1]
Overview
.^ This is very odd, since the Zohar —the kabbalistic text Owens claims Joseph quoted "almost word for word" (p.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ In Kabbalistic lore, the commentary of the Zohar represented the oldest biblical interpretation, the secret interpretation imparted by God to Adam and all worthy prophets after him.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ There are three options: Neibaur had read kabbalistic texts and simply told Joseph about some of the ideas found therein; Neibaur read kabbalistic texts to or with Joseph; Neibaur introduced Joseph to the texts, which Joseph read and interpreted on his own.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
[2][3] These four levels are called Pardes because their initial letters spell "
PaRDeS" ("Orchard"):
- Peshat (lit. "simple"): the direct interpretations of meaning.
- Remez (lit. "hint[s]"): the allegoric meanings (through allusion).
- Derash (from Heb. darash: "inquire" or "seek"): midrashic (Rabbinic) meanings, often with imaginative comparisons with similar words or verses.
- Sod (lit. "secret" or "mystery"): the inner, esoteric (metaphysical) meanings, expressed in kabbalah.
.^ Furthermore, according to traditional kabbalistic practice, initiates into the mysteries of Kabbalah were to be at least thirty years old and well versed in rabbinic literature.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ While study of the Law was to the Talmudists the very acme of piety, the mystics accorded the first place to prayer, which was considered as a mystical progress toward God, demanding a state of ecstasy.- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
^ Jews believe that the Hebrew Moseretic Version of the Torah was written by God [Tetragrammaton] himself, prior to the creation.- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
[4] .^ Of course, the revealed doctrine must be taken in its true sense; i.e., the hidden meaning of Scripture must be sought out (see Jew.- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
^ As these men were the actual representatives of true Talmudic Judaism, there must have been something in the Cabala that attracted them.- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
.^ General Information Kabbalah, the Hebrew word for tradition, originally designated the legal tradition of Judaism, but it was later applied to the Jewish mystical tradition, especially the system of esoteric mystical speculation and practice that developed during the 12th and 13th centuries.- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
^ Indeed, as noted above, the study of the Zohar was decreasing in both Christian and Jewish circles in the late eighteenth century, at which time "students of the Zohar declined in number, and the Kabbalah became once more, particularly in the East, a secret doctrine confined to restricted circles."- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Kabbalah influenced Jewish messianic movements, principally Hasidism, which developed a joyful religious expression that avoided sterile legalism.- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
.^ Despite the fact that serious academic study of the esoteric tradition is a relatively recent phenomenon, many of Owens's secondary sources are over a quarter of a century old—some over a century old.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ Book Rad Hakemah (Neibaur 234a): Kad ha-Kemah , by Bahya ben Asher, a thirteenth-century philosopher (see 3.1 above under R. Baccay).- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Although some Christian kabbalists did indeed merge hermeticism with Kabbalah in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, traditional Jewish kabbalists were not greatly influenced by Christian hermeticism.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Owens frequently implicitly redefines kabbalistic and hermetic terms in a way that would have been foreign to both the original esoteric believers and to early Latter-day Saints.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ Its application has greatly varied in the course of time, and it is only since the eleventh or twelfth century that the term Kabbala has become the exclusive appellation for the system of Jewish religious philosophy which claims to have been uninterruptedly transmitted by the mouths of the patriarchs, prophets, elders, etc., ever since the creation of the first man.- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
^ Are we really to believe that Joseph selected only these items from the Zohar for which he himself provided biblical support, ignoring these and many other ideas that are unique to that document?- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Owens frequently implicitly redefines kabbalistic and hermetic terms in a way that would have been foreign to both the original esoteric believers and to early Latter-day Saints.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ Furthermore, according to traditional kabbalistic practice, initiates into the mysteries of Kabbalah were to be at least thirty years old and well versed in rabbinic literature.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ The study of Aramaic was part of a traditional rabbinic education because much of the Talmud is in Aramaic.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Its theoretical development can be characterised in alternative schools and successive stages.
.^ Bereshith Rabba (Neibaur 222a): Owens (193) cites R. Moses ben Isaac ha-Darshan's Bereshith Rabbati , a Midrashic text on the book of Genesis written in the eleventh century.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Furthermore, the frontier regions of the New World (as opposed to Europe) were the least likely to have books or materials on esoteric subjects.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ This text is part of a group of esoteric and alchemical works associated with Jabir ibn Hayyan (Latin: Geber) dating to the ninth—not the first—century.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ Furthermore, according to traditional kabbalistic practice, initiates into the mysteries of Kabbalah were to be at least thirty years old and well versed in rabbinic literature.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ With his initiation into Masonry, he entered a tradition born of the Hermetic-Kabbalistic tradition.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ These possibilities are eventually turned into actualities when Owens speaks unequivocally of the kabbalistic "books Neibaur possessed" (p.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ Furthermore, according to traditional kabbalistic practice, initiates into the mysteries of Kabbalah were to be at least thirty years old and well versed in rabbinic literature.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Because of lack of evidence to support his thesis, he frequently resorts to unrestrained assertion and speculation.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ And, as Scholem notes, there was a "fervent assault on the Kabbalah by the Haskalah movement in the 19th century."- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Foreign conquests drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time (the
Sanhedrin) to hide the knowledge and make it secret, fearing that it might be misused if it fell into the wrong hands.
[6] .^ Furthermore, according to traditional kabbalistic practice, initiates into the mysteries of Kabbalah were to be at least thirty years old and well versed in rabbinic literature.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
As a result, the Kabbalah became secretive, forbidden and
esoteric to Judaism (“
Torat Ha’Sod”
Hebrew:
תורת הסוד) for two and a half millennia.
It is hard to clarify with any degree of certainty the exact concepts within Kabbalah.
.^ He repeatedly conflates ideas from several different traditions and periods by simply asserting that they are all part of one metatradition.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ As Scholem notes, there are several different forms of "filling."- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
[7] .^ The action of the screen , which separates the Partzuf that passes through the screen on its way down, so that it would not draw sustenance from above the screen.- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
[8] .^ Owens's failure to use the broad range of recent studies on the esoteric tradition is compounded by an occasional uncritical evaluation of the limited secondary sources he does use.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ But the ecstatic mystical experiences of the kabbalists, even though sometimes called prophecy, bear little resemblance to the experiences of Joseph Smith.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
It is therefore important to bear in mind when discussing things such as the Sephirot and their interactions that one is dealing with highly abstract concepts that at best can only be understood intuitively.
[10]Concepts
Kabbalistic understanding of God
In Kabbalah all Creation unfolds from Divine reality. This view is found also in Rationalist Medieval
Jewish philosophy (Hakira-"Investigation"), which offered a preceding, different approach to Jewish theology.
.^ "The Torah can be seen as a great storehouse of the names of God in different combinations, all of which designate specific forces of emanation."- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ For the kabbalist, these names of God, including elohim , do not represent ontologically separate divine beings—as in Joseph Smith's understanding—but different powers or emanations of the single divine reality.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ However, according to Scholem, "historically, Christian Kabbalah sprang from two sources.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ Although kabbalistic literature uses anthropomorphic language extensively, the kabbalists were insistent that such language was strictly metaphorical and did not literally describe the nature of God.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Another significant difference between the kabbalistic and Joseph's understanding of God is divine anthropomorphism.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ Hamblin, "Temple Motifs in Jewish Mysticism," for further discussion from a Latter-day Saint perspective, with additional sources and bibliography.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
[11] The most important Medieval Jewish philosopher,
Maimonides, famously summarised the Divine relation to Creation:
| “ |
.^ The model to which I refer, rooted in ancient Near Eastern and Mesopotamian mythology rather than Neoplatonic ontology and epistemology, is that of the ascension to heaven and transformation into an angelic being who occupies a throne alongside the throne of glory [of God].- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ There is no creature that can know or understand the nature of the thing called "hand" or "foot" or "ear" [of God] and the like.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Knowledge of the final results from all the details that there are in all of existence.- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
All the beings of the heavens, and the earth, and what is between them came into existence only from the truth of God's being.[12] |
” |
.^ It is also clear from his work that Owens does not read Latin, Aramaic, or Hebrew, sine qua non for the study of Kabbalah and the Western esoteric traditions.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Historical Kabbalistic commentaries were written on his
Guide for the Perplexed, revealing deeper mystical layers beyond the regular Rationalist school.
[13] Jewish philosophy questioned the limits and meaning of Divine understanding from man's thought, in harmony with exoteric Scriptural
exegesis.
.^ It is also clear from his work that Owens does not read Latin, Aramaic, or Hebrew, sine qua non for the study of Kabbalah and the Western esoteric traditions.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
As an metaphysical alternative to
Halachic exegesis in
Talmudical hermeneutics, Kabbalah similarly demonstrates its concepts from interpretation of Biblical and Rabbinic texts. These then become systemised and investigated philosophically.
.^ The first was the christological speculations of a number of Jewish converts who are known to us from the end of the 13th century until the period of the Spanish expulsion [of the Jews]."- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
In the Kabbalistic scheme,
God is neither matter nor spirit, but is the creator of both.
.^ Although kabbalistic literature uses anthropomorphic language extensively, the kabbalists were insistent that such language was strictly metaphorical and did not literally describe the nature of God.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ For Owens it seems a prophet is one who has a transcendent psychological experience with God, and revelations are the intuitions about life and the universe one derives from such experiences.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ For the kabbalists, when God revealed himself, you would "imagine" the "image" of God in your "imagination."- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ For the Zohar the "Head God" would be the first sefira, Keter/En Sof, not the second sefira , Wisdom/Beginning.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ In light of all this, how Brigham Young's ideas about Adam-God can be seen as based on kabbalistic thought is a bit mind-boggling.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Adam Kadmon is nothing but a first configuration of the divine light which flows from the essence of En Sof."- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ This aspect of God is impersonal.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
The second aspect of Divine
emanations, however, is at least partially accessible to human thought.
.^ Another significant difference between the kabbalistic and Joseph's understanding of God is divine anthropomorphism.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ For the kabbalist, these names of God, including elohim , do not represent ontologically separate divine beings—as in Joseph Smith's understanding—but different powers or emanations of the single divine reality.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Two different aspects which equated their forms one to the other.- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
The structure of these emanations have been characterized in various ways:
Sefirot (Divine attributes) and
Partzufim (Divine "faces");
Four Worlds of Creation in a
Seder hishtalshelus (Descending Chain of realms), Azilut, Beriyah, Yitzirah, and Asiyah; the Biblical vision by Ezekiel of the
Merkabah (Divine angelic "Chariot"). These alternatives are harmonized in subsequent Kabbalistic systemisation.
.^ Although kabbalistic literature uses anthropomorphic language extensively, the kabbalists were insistent that such language was strictly metaphorical and did not literally describe the nature of God.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Sometimes described as a powder the color of sulfur, the philosopher's stone was used for the transmutation of matter and had little or nothing to do with divination.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Kabbalists frequently described the relationship between God and the sefirot metaphorically as the relationship between a coal and its flame or a lamp and its light.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ G"E of the lower one , which were attached to ACHA"P of the upper one in a single level, ACHA"P of the Upper being declined in them to a state of Katnut .- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
^ In Kabbalistic lore, the commentary of the Zohar represented the oldest biblical interpretation, the secret interpretation imparted by God to Adam and all worthy prophets after him.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ As noted above, on occasions these heavenly messengers were seen and heard by several people simultaneously, who all reported seeing the same thing.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Through this any lower creation reflects its particular characteristics in Supernal Divinity.
.^ Owens's description of the "blossoming [of Kabbalah] in twelfth-century Spain" is misleading.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ Adam Kadmon is nothing but a first configuration of the divine light which flows from the essence of En Sof."- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Divine substenance in Creation is dependent on the traditional
mitzvah observances of Judaism. Subsequent Kabbalah of
Isaac Luria describes a radical origin to this depiction, where Creation unfolds from transcendent imbalance in Godliness, and the purpose of life is the
Messianic rectification of Divinity by man. Once each person has completed their part of the rectification, the Messianic Era begins. In this, the mitzvot redeem the supernal
Divine Sparks in existence.
.^ In Kabbalistic lore, the commentary of the Zohar represented the oldest biblical interpretation, the secret interpretation imparted by God to Adam and all worthy prophets after him.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ All this is radically different from Joseph Smith's understanding of the nature of God and human deification.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Is such a proposition at all helpful in explaining the origin of the idea of plurality of gods in Latter-day Saint theology?- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
This view can be defined as
monistic panentheism.
.^ In Kabbalistic lore, the commentary of the Zohar represented the oldest biblical interpretation, the secret interpretation imparted by God to Adam and all worthy prophets after him.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Unlike Joseph's seer stone, it was not really a literal "stone" at all, but primordial matter ( materia prima )—"this stone therefore is no stone," as notes a famous alchemical text.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Hence, we infer that God Himself had materials to organize the world out of chaos—chaotic matter—which is element and in which dwells all the glory.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
This paradox is dealt with at length in
Habad texts.
[14]
Sefirot and the Divine Feminine
Main articles:
Sephirot and
Shekhinah
Schematic tree of descending
Sefirot in 3 columns
.^ The sefirot were not separate gods, but were emanations or instruments of God.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ These possibilities are eventually turned into actualities when Owens speaks unequivocally of the kabbalistic "books Neibaur possessed" (p.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
The term
sefirah thus has complex connotations within Kabbalah.
[15] .^ Although kabbalistic literature uses anthropomorphic language extensively, the kabbalists were insistent that such language was strictly metaphorical and did not literally describe the nature of God.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ Adam is the earthly reflection, on the material plane, of the supernal Adam Kadmon—this is how kabbalists interpret man being in the image of God.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Nor need we be surprised at the use of the word "created" [ bara ] in this connection, seeing that we read further on, "And God created [ bara ] man in his image" (Gen.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ For when the Shekhinah said to God "Let us make man', they [Uzza and Azael] said, "What is man that thou shouldst know him?- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Corresponding to the last Sephirah in Creation is the
indwelling Shechina (Feminine Divine Presence). In the Sephirot, performance of
Mitzvot (traditional Jewish observances) unites the masculine and feminine aspects of supernal Divinity, and brings harmony to Creation.
.^ Who is the darkness to his light, light being male and darkness female?'"- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Adam Kadmon is nothing but a first configuration of the divine light which flows from the essence of En Sof."- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
The Sephirot correspond to the
Four Worlds of this spiritual descent,
Atziluth,
Beri'ah,
Yetzirah and
Assiah.
Ten Sephirot as process of Creation
According to Lurianic cosmology, the
Sephirot correspond to various levels of creation (ten sephirot in each of the
Four Worlds, and four worlds within each of the larger four worlds, each containing ten sephirot, which themselves contain ten sephirot, to an infinite number of possibilities,
[16]) and are emanated from the Creator for the purpose of creating the universe.
.^ "The Torah can be seen as a great storehouse of the names of God in different combinations, all of which designate specific forces of emanation."- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ For Owens it seems a prophet is one who has a transcendent psychological experience with God, and revelations are the intuitions about life and the universe one derives from such experiences.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ He repeatedly conflates ideas from several different traditions and periods by simply asserting that they are all part of one metatradition.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ It is not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Altogether 11 sephirot are named. However Keter and Daat are unconscious and conscious dimensions of one principle, conserving 10 forces. The names of the Sephirot in descending order are:
- Keter (supernal crown, representing above-conscious will)
- Chochmah (The highest potential of thought)
- Binah (the understanding of the potential)
- Daat (intellect of knowledge)
- Chesed (sometimes referred to as Gedolah-greatness) (loving-kindness)
- Gevurah (sometimes referred to as Din-justice or Pachad-fear) (severity/strength)
- Rachamim also known as Tiphereth (Mercy)
- Netzach (victory/eternity)
- Hod (glory/splendour)
- Yesod (foundation)
- Malkuth (kingdom)
Ten Sephirot as process of ethics
.^ Ten Sefirot as process of Creation .- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Ten Sefirot as process of ethics .- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Divine creation by means of the Ten Sefirot is an ethical process.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
They Represent the different aspects of Morality. Loving-Kindness is a possible moral justification found in Chessed, and Gevurah is the Moral Justification of Justice and both are mediated by Mercy which is Rachamim. However, these pillars of morality become immoral once they become extremes. When Loving-Kindness become extreme it can lead to sexual depravity and lack of Justice to the wicked. When Justice becomes extreme, it can lead to torture and the Murder of innocents and unfair punishment.
.^ "Righteous" humans (Tzadikim) ascend these ethical qualities of the Ten Sefirot by doing righteous actions.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ While the Sefirot are based on these ten creative potentialities, it is especially the personification of wisdom ( ) which, in Philo, represents the totality of these primal ideas; and the Targ.
^ While the Sefirot are based on these ten creative "potentialities", it is especially the personification of wisdom which, in Philo , represents the totality of these primal ideas; and the Targ.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ If there were no "Righteous" humans, the blessings of God would become completely hidden, and creation would cease to exist.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ There is no creature that can know or understand the nature of the thing called "hand" or "foot" or "ear" [of God] and the like.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ God creates and destroys worlds"), to become, finally, foundations of the philosophy of the "Sefer Yeẓirah."- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
While real human actions are the "Foundation" (
Yesod) of this universe (
Malchut), these actions must accompany the conscious intention of compassion.
.^ Compassionate actions are often impossible without "Faith" (Emunah), meaning to trust that God always supports compassionate actions even when God seems hidden.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ That the faithful shall be even as Christ and the Father certainly implies human deification, and thereby plurality of gods.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ As we have seen, for Derrida, such self-presence is an impossibility even for God.- Derrida and the Lurianic Kabbalah by S. Drob 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.newkabbalah.com [Source type: Original source]
.^ Ultimately, it is necessary to show compassion toward oneself too in order to share compassion toward others.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Compassion inseparable from shuunyataa In shuunyataa there is no separate or independent I or self and therefore no real difference between I and other, who is none other than oneself.- Correspondence Indian Religion-Philosophy and Jewish Mysticism 17 September 2009 9:42 UTC cogprints.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
This "selfish" enjoyment of God's blessings but only if in order to empower oneself to assist others, is an important aspect of "Restriction", and is considered a kind of
golden mean in Kabbalah, corresponding to the Sefirah of "Adornment" (
Tiferet) being part of the "Middle Column".
.^ The more likely possibility is Bahya ben Asher ben Hlava, a thirteenth-century kabbalist who wrote Kad ha-Kemah , a widely circulated book on the foundations of faith ( EJ 4:104-5).- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Tomer Devorah, as a consequence, has become also a foundational text of
Mussar.
[18]
Human soul in Kabbalah
The Kabbalah posits that the human soul has three elements, the
nefesh,
ru'ach, and
neshamah.
.^ The nefesh is found in all humans, and enters the physical body at birth.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Deification means to abandon the physical body and for the mind to ascend and again become part of God's Mind; 36 both God and the divine part of humans are incorporeal.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Charles's note.-K.] and of its close relation to God before it enters the human body-a doctrine taught by the Hellenistic sages (Wisdom viii.- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
.^ It is the source of one's physical and psychological nature.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ The next two parts of the soul are not implanted at birth, but can be developed over time; their development depends on the actions and beliefs of the individual.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ This part of the soul is provided at birth and allows one to have some awareness of the existence and presence of God.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ The belief that such actions would hasten the Messianic time grew until it took concrete form in the appearance of Shabbethai Ẓebi, about 1665.
.^ They are said to only fully exist in people awakened spiritually.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ I am surrounded by foolish people who nag me for imaginary blessings, who tell me problems only they themselves can correct.- The Last Temptation of a Kabbalist 9 October 2009 8:46 UTC www.hasidicstories.com [Source type: Original source]
A common way of explaining the three parts of the soul is as follows:
- Nefesh (נפש): the lower part, or "animal part", of the soul. .
- Ruach (רוח): the middle soul, the "spirit". It contains the moral virtues and the ability to distinguish between good and evil.
- Neshamah (נשמה): the higher soul, or "super-soul". This separates man from all other life-forms.^ Early Man) Point of conclusion of Olam Hazeh , which is where the conclusion of the Kav of the Einsof is, which is where is the middle point of all the worlds .
- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
It is related to the intellect, and allows man to enjoy and benefit from the afterlife. This part of the soul is provided at birth and allows one to have some awareness of the existence and presence of God.
.^ Medrash Neelam (Neibaur 221b, Owens 192): Midrash ha-Nelam is a principal section of the Zohar , the kabbalistic collection of esoteric teachings in the Torah written in the fourteenth century ( EJ 16:1196).- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ This unfamiliarity with both the primary and secondary sources may in part explain the numerous errors that occur throughout his article (discussed below).- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ This is witnessed throughout the Zohar and appears clearly in the following paragraph from the opening sections of the work, 151 where the phrase "Let us make man" (Gen.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ The passage from the Zohar cited by Owens before the ellipses is, in fact, a digression within a digression, referring back to the original theme of the entire section of the commentary, Genesis 1:26.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Are we really to believe that Joseph selected only these items from the Zohar for which he himself provided biblical support, ignoring these and many other ideas that are unique to that document?- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Why is it that not a single one of these appears in the writings of Joseph Smith or other early Latter-day Saints?- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Chayyah (חיה): The part of the soul that allows one to have an awareness of the divine life force itself.
- Yehidah (יחידה): the highest plane of the soul, in which one can achieve as full a union with God as is possible.
.^ Elsewhere Owens asserts that "there must have been more than a few" people in frontier New York who had been influenced by the hermetic, kabbalistic, and alchemical traditions (p.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Neibaur "probably both possessed the [kabbalistic] texts and had a general knowledge of their contents" and "had access to the works he quoted" (p.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Occasional non-Neoplatonic forms of mysticism are found among kabbalists—see Moshe Idel, The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988).- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
These extra souls, or extra states of the soul, play no part in any afterlife scheme, but are mentioned for completeness:
- Ruach HaKodesh (רוח הקודש) ("spirit of holiness"): a state of the soul that makes prophecy possible. .^ Since the age of classical prophecy passed, no one (outside of Israel) receives the soul of prophesy any longer.
- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Prophet Joseph, since "empirical psychological realities" include events that have no ontological basis outside human brain chemistry.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ But as these last two elements no longer form part of the spiritual nature of man, they are not included in the divisions of the soul.
See the teachings of Abraham Abulafia for differing views of this matter.
- Neshamah Yeseira: The "supplemental soul" that a Jew can experience on Shabbat. .^ It makes possible an enhanced spiritual enjoyment of the day.
- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
This exists only when one is observing Shabbat; it can be lost and gained depending on one's observance.
- Neshamah Kedosha: Provided to Jews at the age of maturity (13 for boys, 12 for girls), and is related to the study and fulfillment of the Torah commandments. It exists only when one studies and follows Torah; it can be lost and gained depending on one's study and observance.
Tzimtzum
Metaphorical representation of Divine emanation of successively constricted Olamot (spiritual Worlds) within the surrounding
Ein Sof (Divine Infinity)
Tzimtzum is the primordial cosmic act whereby God "contracted" his infinite light, leaving a "void" into which the light of existence was poured.
.^ Owens claims that "the Adam-God doctrine may have been a misreading (or restatement) by Brigham Young of a Kabbalistic and Hermetic concept relayed to him by the prophet [Joseph Smith]" (p.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
The primal emanation after the Tzimtzum in
Lurianic Kabbalah led to an initial catastrophy called "Tohu" (Chaos). This was reformed into "
Tikkun" (Rectification) of our spiritual realms, described in previous Kabbalah, becoming
Atzilut (the World of Emanation), from which the three lower Worlds,
Beriah,
Yetzirah and
Asiyah, descended. This corresponds to the reorganisation of the
Sephirot into the
Partsufim described in previous Kabbalah. The Tzimtzum reconciles the infinite simplicity of the
Ein Sof with the finite plurality of Creation. From the subsequent catastrophe stems the possibility of self-aware Creation, and also the
Kelipot (impure "shells" in Medieval Kabbalah).
Mystical forms of Scriptural and Rabbinic exegesis
.^ The word is indeed in a plural Hebrew form, but by the orthodox interpretative conventions Joseph was taught in his Kirtland Hebrew class .- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ I will go to the very first Hebrew word—BERESHITH—in the Bible and make a comment on the first sentence of the history of creation: "In the beginning.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Note also the existence of a large number of Aramaic Targums, translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic; see Stephan A. Kaufman, "Aramaic," in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
One such method is as follows:
.^ Early Man) The first world which emerged after the 1st restriction and is receiving from the Einsof and extending from it up to Olam Hazeh .- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
^ The first was the christological speculations of a number of Jewish converts who are known to us from the end of the 13th century until the period of the Spanish expulsion [of the Jews]."- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Traditional Jewish education in Europe at the turn of the nineteenth century began with the Heder (primary school), for students from about age five to thirteen, in which Hebrew, the Torah, and introductory Mishnah were taught.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Gematria is one method for discovering its hidden meanings.
.^ Tet 9 (the numerical value of the Hebrew letter Tet ).- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
^ Zayin 7 (the numerical value of the Hebrew letter Zayin ).- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
^ Vav 6 (the numerical value of the Hebrew letter Vav ).- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
By converting letters to numbers, Kabbalists were able to find a hidden meaning in each word.
.^ This method of interpretation was used extensively by various schools.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Primary texts
Title page of first printed edition of the
Zohar, main sourcebook of Kabbalah, from
Mantua Italy in 1558
Main article: Kabbalah: Primary Texts
.^ Furthermore, according to traditional kabbalistic practice, initiates into the mysteries of Kabbalah were to be at least thirty years old and well versed in rabbinic literature.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ This text is part of a group of esoteric and alchemical works associated with Jabir ibn Hayyan (Latin: Geber) dating to the ninth—not the first—century.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Although some Christian kabbalists did indeed merge hermeticism with Kabbalah in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, traditional Jewish kabbalists were not greatly influenced by Christian hermeticism.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Jewish forms of
esotericism existed over 2,000 years ago.
Ben Sira(born c.
.^ There is another model of mystical experience [besides the unio mystica and henosis typical of Neoplatonism and Kabbalah] that is germane to [early] Jewish and later Christian apocalyptic as well as to the Hekhalot sources, a model that from its own vantage point involves the narrowing of the gap between human and divine.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Indeed, as noted above, the study of the Zohar was decreasing in both Christian and Jewish circles in the late eighteenth century, at which time "students of the Zohar declined in number, and the Kabbalah became once more, particularly in the East, a secret doctrine confined to restricted circles."- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Although some Christian kabbalists did indeed merge hermeticism with Kabbalah in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, traditional Jewish kabbalists were not greatly influenced by Christian hermeticism.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ Living in the 21st century and basing one's worldview on ancient and outmoded texts of dubious authorship is a threat to the entire planet.- Kabbalist Blames Bird Flu on Gay Marriage - Towleroad, More than gay news. More gay men 9 October 2009 8:46 UTC www.towleroad.com [Source type: General]
^ This is very odd, since the Zohar —the kabbalistic text Owens claims Joseph quoted "almost word for word" (p.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ For the kabbalistic understanding of emanation, see The Wisdom of the Zohar: An Anthology of Texts , ed.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Classic mystical
Bible commentaries are included in fuller versions of the
Mikraot Gedolot (Main Commentators). Cordoveran systemisation is presented in
Pardes Rimonim, philosophical articulation in the works of the
Maharal, and Lurianic rectification in
Etz Chayim. Subsequent interpretation of Lurianic Kabbalah was made in the writings of
Shalom Sharabi, in
Nefesh HaChaim and the 20th century
Sulam. Hasidism interpreted Kabbalistic structures to their correspondence in inward perception.
[20] .^ Although some Christian kabbalists did indeed merge hermeticism with Kabbalah in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, traditional Jewish kabbalists were not greatly influenced by Christian hermeticism.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Kabbalah, the "mystical shape of the Godhead' contained in the image of the [Tree of the] Sefiroth as redrawn by a principal and influential seventeenth-century Christian kabbalist, [Robert] Fludd" (p.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
[21]
Scholarship
.^ He provides no solid primary evidence to demonstrate that Joseph Smith had a profound knowledge of the esoteric traditions.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ If Owens wishes to argue that such esoteric texts were accessible on the frontier of the United States it is his responsibility to provide some evidence.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ This is very odd, since the Zohar —the kabbalistic text Owens claims Joseph quoted "almost word for word" (p.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ On the Sabbatean movement, the standard study is Gershom G. Scholem, Sabbetai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626-1676 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973).- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ Gershom G. Scholem, Origins of Kabbalah (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987).- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Gershom G. Scholem, Kabbalah (New York: Quadrangle, 1974), 197.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Gershom Scholem, On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism (New York: Schocken, 1996), 115.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
[24] .^ For Owens it seems a prophet is one who has a transcendent psychological experience with God, and revelations are the intuitions about life and the universe one derives from such experiences.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Claims for authority
Historians have noted that most claims for the authority of Kabbalah involve an argument of the antiquity of authority (see, e.g., Joseph Dan's discussion in his
Circle of the Unique Cherub).
.^ But nearly all other alchemical works ascribed to Albertus are pseudepigraphic.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
For example,
Sefer Raziel HaMalach, an astro-magical text partly based on a magical manual of late antiquity,
Sefer ha-Razim, was, according to the kabbalists, transmitted to Adam by the angel
Raziel after he was evicted from
Eden.
Another famous work, the
Sefer Yetzirah, supposedly dates back to the patriarch
Abraham.
.^ Nay more, Uzza and Azael [two angels, who eventually fell] actually opposed it [the creation of Adam].- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Owens is completely uncritical in his assertions about the potential of Freemasonry to transmit esoteric knowledge to Joseph.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Criticism
Dualism
Although Kabbalah propounds the Unity of God, one of the most serious and sustained criticisms is that it may lead away from
monotheism, and instead promote
dualism, the belief that there is a supernatural counterpart to God.
.^ The dualistic system holds that there is a good power versus an evil power.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ The whole dualistic system of good and of evil powers, which goes back to Zoroastrianism and ultimately to old Chaldea, can be traced through Gnosticism; having influenced the cosmology of the ancient Cabala before it reached the medieval one.- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
- JewishEncyclopedia.com - CABALA. 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]
^ When Noga receives the light in its good part, there is a bestowal of the light on its evil part as well.- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
.^ When Noga receives the light in its good part, there is a bestowal of the light on its evil part as well.- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
^ Two levels between which there is no equivalence of form , from no side whatsoever.- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
.^ This second model influenced the cosmology of the Kabbalah.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ Ten Sefirot as process of Creation .- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ According to Kabbalistic cosmology, Ten Sefirot (literally, Ten Numerations) correspond to ten levels of creation.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ According to Kabbalistic cosmology, the Ten Sefirot correspond to ten levels of creation.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ These levels of creation must not be understood as ten different "gods" but as ten different ways of revealing God, one per level.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ But if God is so different from his creation, how can there be any interaction between the Creator and the created?- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ I also happen to think that in order to know what Creator wants one doesn't need humans The Torah's teachings differ.- Kabbalism - judaism Discussion Forum 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.amazon.com [Source type: General]
.^ It is not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ While God may seem to exhibit dual natures (masculine-feminine, compassionate-judgmental, creator-creation), all adherents of Kabbalah have consistently stressed the ultimate unity of God.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ The last-named trinity of the Sefirot represents dynamic nature, namely, the masculine Neẓaḥ ( = "triumph"); and the feminine Hod ( = "glory"); the former standing for increase, and the latter for the force from which proceed all the forces produced in the universe.- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
- JewishEncyclopedia.com - CABALA. 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]
^ But only God is "creator ex nihilo": all intermediary beings create by means of the graduated emanation of what is contained in them potentially.- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
- JewishEncyclopedia.com - CABALA. 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]
.^ There is no creature that can know or understand the nature of the thing called "hand" or "foot" or "ear" [of God] and the like.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Therefore it [Crown = Keter = En Sof] says: "See now that I, I am he, and Elohim isnot with me', of which it should take counsel, since it has no colleague and no partner, nor even number, for there is a "one' which connotes combination, such as male and female, of whom it is written, "for I have called him one' (Is.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Therefore the light of Chochma is called the light of life, Orh of Chaya , since the Kli has no Chayut other than with the light of Chochma .- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
The ability of God to become hidden from perception is called "Restriction" (
Tzimtzum).
.^ Hiddenness makes creation possible because God can become "revealed" in a diversity of limited ways, which then form the building blocks of creation.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Hiddenness makes creation possible because God can then become "revealed" in a diversity of limited ways, which then form the building blocks of creation.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ God creates and destroys worlds"), to become, finally, foundations of the philosophy of the "Sefer Yeẓirah."- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
- JewishEncyclopedia.com - CABALA. 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.jewishencyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]
.^ Partzufim) 10 Sefirot, one beneath the other, which appear by means of the ascent of Malchut to the Emanator.- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
The "left side" of divine emanation is a negative mirror image of the "side of holiness" with which it was locked in combat. [
Encyclopaedia Judaica, Volume 6, "Dualism", p. 244]. While this evil aspect exists within the divine structure of the Sefirot, the
Zohar indicates that the Sitra Ahra has no power over Ein Sof, and only exists as a necessary aspect of the creation of God to give man free choice, and that evil is the consequence of this choice.
.^ When two spiritual entities are completely equal in form , with no difference whatsoever between them, they return to be one, and the small one is cancelled out within the large one.- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
Rabbi Dr. David Gottlieb notes that many Kabbalists hold that the concepts of, e.g., a Heavenly Court or the Sitra Ahra are only given to humanity by God as a working model to understand His ways within our own
epistemological limits. They reject the notion that a
Satan or
angels actually exist. Others hold that non-divine spiritual entities were indeed created by God as a means for exacting his will.
According to Kabbalists, humans cannot yet understand the infinity of God. Rather, there is God as revealed to humans (corresponding to
Zeir Anpin), and the rest of the infinity of God as remaining hidden from human experience (corresponding to Arich Anpin
[26]). One reading of this theology is monotheistic, similar to
panentheism; another a reading of the same theology is that it is dualistic.
Gershom Scholem writes:
| “ |
It is clear that with this postulate of an impersonal basic reality in God, which becomes a person—or appears as a person—only in the process of Creation and Revelation, Kabbalism abandons the personalistic basis of the Biblical conception of God....It will not surprise us to find that speculation has run the whole gamut—from attempts to re-transform the impersonal En-Sof into the personal God of the Bible to the downright heretical doctrine of a genuine dualism between the hidden Ein Sof and the personal Demiurge of Scripture.
— Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism Shocken Books (p.11–12) |
” |
Perception of non-Jews
Theologically framed hostility may have been a response to some medieval demonization of Jews which developed in some parts of Western and Christian society and thought, starting with the Patristic writings.
[27] According to
Isaac Luria and other commentators on the
Zohar,
righteous Gentiles don't have this demonic aspect and are in many ways similar to Jewish souls. A number of prominent Kabbalists, e.g. Rabbi Pinchas Eliyahu of Vilna, the author of
Sefer ha-Brit, held that only some marginal elements in the humanity represent these demonic forces. On the other hand, the souls of Jewish heretics have much more satanic energy, than the worst of
idol worshippers; this view is popular in some Hasidic circles, especially
Satmar Hasidim.
Some later Kabbalistic works build and elaborate on these ideas. One point of view is represented by the Hasidic work
Tanya, which stresses the uniqueness of the Jewish soul,
[citation needed] in order to argue that Jews have an additional level of soul. While a non-Jew, according to Rabbi
Shneur Zalman of Liadi, can achieve a high level of spiritually, similar to an angel, his soul is still fundamentally different in character, but not value, from a Jewish one.
[28] A similar view is found in
Yehuda Halevi's medieval philosophical book
Kuzari.
On the other hand, many prominent Kabbalists rejected this idea and believed in essential equality of all human souls.
Menahem Azariah da Fano, in his book
Reincarnations of souls, provides many examples of non-Jewish Biblical figures being reincarnated into Jews, and visa versa; the contemporary
Habad Rabbi and mystic
Dov Ber Pinson teaches that seemingly discriminatory statements in the
Tanya and other Kabbalistic works are not to be understood literally.
[29]Another prominent Habad Rabbi,
Abraham Yehudah Khein, believed that spiritually elevated Gentiles have essentially Jewish souls, "who just lack the formal conversion to Judaism", and that unspiritual Jews are "Jewish merely by their birth documents".
[30] The great 20th century Kabbalist
Yehuda Ashlag viewed the terms "Jews" and "Gentile" as different levels of perception, available to every human soul.
David Halperin
[31] argues that the collapse of Kabbalah's influence among Western European Jews over the course of the 17th and 18th Century was a result of the cognitive dissonance they experienced between the negative perception of gentiles found in some exponents of Kabbalah, and their own positive dealings with non-Jews, which were rapidly expanding and improving during this period due to the influence of the Enlightenment.
For a different perspective, see Wolfson.
[32] He provides extensive documentation to illustrate the prevalence of the distinction between the souls of Jews and non-Jews in kabbalistic literature. He provides numerous examples from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, which would challenge the view of Halperin cited above as well as the notion that "modern Judaism" has rejected or dismissed this "outdated aspect" of the religion. There are still kabbalists today, and many influenced by them, who harbor this view. It is accurate to say that many Jews do and would find this distinction offensive, but it is inaccurate to say that the idea has been totally rejected. As Wolfson has argued, it is an ethical demand on the part of scholars to be vigilant with regard to this matter and in this way the tradition can be refined from within.
.^ Literal interpretations of religious texts always lead to insane comments like these.- Kabbalist Blames Bird Flu on Gay Marriage - Towleroad, More than gay news. More gay men 9 October 2009 8:46 UTC www.towleroad.com [Source type: General]
They argued that the term "Jew" was to be interpreted metaphorically, as referring to the spiritual development of the soul, rather than the superficial denomination of the individual, and they added a chain of intermediary states between "Jews" and idol worshippers, or spiritualized the very definition of "Jews" and "non-Jews" and argued that a soul can be re-incarnated in different communities as much as within a single one.
[33]
Orthodox Judaism
.^ The idea that there are ten divine sefirot could evolve over time into the idea that "God is One being, yet in that One being there are Ten" which opens up a debate about what the "correct beliefs" in God should be, according to Judaism.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ There this Aviut is clarified and corrected by means of attaining the screen from the Upper One .- Kabbalah World Center - "Online Kabbalah Lessons" - Glossary 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.kabbalah.info [Source type: Original source]
^ There are three options: Neibaur had read kabbalistic texts and simply told Joseph about some of the ideas found therein; Neibaur read kabbalistic texts to or with Joseph; Neibaur introduced Joseph to the texts, which Joseph read and interpreted on his own.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Nachmanides (12th Century) provides background to many Kabbalistic ideas. His works, especially those in the Five books of Moses (
Pentateuch) offer in-depth of various concepts.
Maimonides (12th Century) rejected many of the texts of the
Hekalot, particularly
Shi'ur Qomah whose starkly anthropomorphic vision of God he considered heretical.
Rabbi
Abraham ben Moses ben Maimon, in the spirit of his father Maimonides, Rabbi
Saadiah Gaon, and other predecessors, explains at length in his book
Milhhamot HaShem that the Almighty is in no way literally within time or space nor physically outside time or space, since time and space simply do not apply to His Being whatsoever. This is in contrast to certain popular understandings of modern Kabbalah which teach a form of
panentheism, that His 'essence' is within everything.
Around the 1230s, Rabbi Meir ben Simon of Narbonne wrote an epistle (included in his
Milhhemet Mitzvah) against his contemporaries, the early Kabbalists, characterizing them as blasphemers who even approach heresy. He particularly singled out the
Sefer Bahir, rejecting the attribution of its authorship to the
tanna R. Nehhunya ben ha-Kanah and describing some of its content as truly heretical.
Rabbi Yitzchak ben Sheshet Perfet, (The
Rivash), 1326–1408. Although as is evident from his responsa on the topic (157) the Rivash was skeptical of certain interpretations of Kabbalah popular in his time, it is equally evident that overall he did accept Kabbalah as received Jewish wisdom, and attempted to defend it from attackers. To this end he cited and rejected a certain philosopher who claimed that Kabbalah was "worse than Christianity", as it made God into 10, not just into three. Most followers of Kabbalah have never followed this interpretation of Kabbalah, on the grounds that the concept of the Christian Trinity posits that there are three persons existing within the Godhead, one of whom became a human being.
[citation needed] In contrast, the mainstream understanding of the Kabbalistic
Sefirot holds that they have no mind or intelligence; further, they are not addressed in prayer and they cannot become a human being. They are conduits for interaction, not persons or beings. Nonetheless, many important
poskim, such as Maimonidies in his work
Mishneh Torah, prohibit any use of mediators between oneself and the Creator as a form of idolatry.
Rabbi
Leone di Modena, a 17th century
Venetian critic of Kabbalah, wrote that if we were to accept the Kabbalah, then the Christian trinity would indeed be compatible with Judaism, as the Trinity closely resembles the Kabbalistic doctrine of the
Sefirot. This critique was in response to the knowledge that some European Jews of the period addressed individual
Sefirot in some of their prayers, although the practise was apparently uncommon. Apologists explain that Jews may have been praying
for and not necessarily
to the aspects of Godliness represented by the
Sefirot.
Rabbi
Yaakov Emden, 1697–1776, wrote the book
Mitpahhath Sfarim (Veil of the Books), a detailed critique of the
Zohar in which he concludes that certain parts of the
Zohar contain heretical teaching and therefore could not have been written by Rabbi
Shimon bar Yochai. Opponents of his work claim
[citation needed] that he wrote the book in a drunken stupor. Emden's rationalistic approach to this work, however, makes neither intoxication nor stupor seem plausible.
Rabbi
Yihhyah Qafahh, an early 20th century
Yemenite Jewish leader and grandfather of Rabbi
Yosef Qafih, also wrote a book entitled
Milhhamoth HaShem, (Wars of the L-RD) against what he perceived as the false teachings of the
Zohar and the false Kabbalah of
Isaac Luria. He is credited with spearheading the
Dor Daim who continue in R. Yihhyah Qafahh's view of Kabbalah into modern times.
There is dispute among modern
Haredim as to the status of
Isaac Luria's, the
Arizal's kabbalistic teachings. While a portion of
Modern Orthodox Rabbis,
Dor Daim and many students of the
Rambam, completely reject Arizal's Kabbalistic teachings, as well as deny that the
Zohar is authoritative, or from
Shimon bar Yohai, all three of these groups completely accept the existence and validity of
Ma'aseh Merkavah and
Ma'aseh B'resheet mysticism. Their only disagreement concerns whether the Kabbalistic teachings promulgated today are accurate representations of those esoteric teachings to which the Talmud refers. Within the Haredi Jewish community one can find both rabbis who sympathize with such a view,
[citation needed] while not necessarily agreeing with it, as well as rabbis who consider such a view absolute heresy.
Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism
Since all forms of reform or liberal Judaism are rooted in the
Enlightenment and tied to the assumptions of European modernity, Kabbalah tended to be rejected by most Jews in the
Conservative and
Reform movements, though its influences were not completely eliminated.
.^ While it was generally not studied as a discipline, the Kabbalistic Kabbalat Shabbat service remained part of liberal liturgy, as did the Yedid Nefesh prayer.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ He developed a study method that he considered most fitting for the future generations of Kabbalists.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Nevertheless, in the 1960s, Rabbi
Saul Lieberman of the
Jewish Theological Seminary, is reputed to have introduced a lecture by Scholem on Kabbalah with a statement that Kabbalah itself was "nonsense", but the academic study of Kabbalah was "scholarship". This view became popular among many Jews, who viewed the subject as worthy of study, but who did not accept Kabbalah as teaching literal truths.
| “ |
Many western Jews insisted that their future and their freedom required shedding what they perceived as parochial orientalism. They fashioned a Judaism that was decorous and strictly rational (according to 19th-century European standards), denigrating Kabbalah as backward, superstitious, and marginal.[34] |
” |
.^ And, as Scholem notes, there was a "fervent assault on the Kabbalah by the Haskalah movement in the 19th century."- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Thus Joseph Smith was alive precisely during the period of the least influence of Kabbalah, hermeticism, and Rosicrucianism, all of which had seriously declined by the late eighteenth century—before Joseph's birth—and would revive only in the late nineteenth century, after Joseph's death.- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Was there an incipient heterodox hermetic religion in the United States in the early nineteenth century?- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
The Kabbalistic 12th century prayer
Anim Zemirot was restored to the new Conservative
Sim Shalom siddur, as was the
B'rikh Shmeh passage from the
Zohar, and the mystical
Ushpizin service welcoming to the
Sukkah the spirits of Jewish forbearers.
Anim Zemirot and the 16th Century mystical poem
Lekhah Dodi reappeared in the Reform Siddur
Gates of Prayer in 1975. All Rabbinical seminaries now teach several courses in Kabbalah—in Conservative Judaism, both the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Ziegler School of Rabbinical Studies of the University of Judaism in
Los Angeles have fulltime instructors in Kabbalah and
Hasidut, Eitan Fishbane and Pinchas Geller, respectively. In the Reform movement Sharon Koren teaches at the Hebrew Union College. Reform Rabbis like Herbert Weiner and
Lawrence Kushner have renewed interest in Kabbalah among Reform Jews. At the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, the only accredited seminary that has curricular requirements in kabbalah, Joel Hecker is the fulltime instructor teaching courses in kabbalah and hasidut.
According to Artson:
| “ |
Ours is an age hungry for meaning, for a sense of belonging, for holiness. In that search, we have returned to the very Kabbalah our predecessors scorned. The stone that the builders rejected has become the head cornerstone (Psalm 118:22)... Kabbalah was the last universal theology adopted by the entire Jewish people, hence faithfulness to our commitment to positive-historical Judaism mandates a reverent receptivity to Kabbalah.[35] |
” |
The
Reconstructionist movement, under the leadership of Arthur Green in the 1980s and 1990s, and with the influence of Zalman Schachter Shalomi brought a strong openness to kabbalah and hasidic elements that then came to play prominent roles in the Kol ha-Neshamah siddur series.
History
Origins of Judaic mysticism
According to the traditional understanding, Kabbalah dates from Eden.
[36] It came down from a remote past as a revelation to elect
Tzadikim (righteous people), and, for the most part, was preserved only by a privileged few. Talmudic Judaism records its view of the proper protocol for teaching this wisdom, as well as many of its concepts, in the
Talmud, Tractate
Hagigah, Ch.2.
Contemporary scholarship suggests that various schools of Jewish
esotericism arose at different periods of Jewish history, each reflecting not only prior forms of
mysticism, but also the intellectual and cultural milieu of that historical period. Answers to questions of transmission, lineage, influence, and innovation vary greatly and cannot be easily summarized.
Origins of terms
Originally, Kabbalistic knowledge was believed to be an integral part of the
Judaism's oral law (see also,
Aggadah), given by
God to
Moses on
Mount Sinai around 13th century BCE, though there is a view that Kabbalah began with Adam.
When the Israelites arrived at their destination and settled in Canaan, for a few centuries the esoteric knowledge was referred to by its aspect practice—meditation
Hitbonenut (
Hebrew:
התבוננות),
[37] Rebbe
Nachman of Breslov's
Hitbodedut (
Hebrew:
התבודדות), translated as “being alone” or “isolating oneself”, or by a different term describing the actual, desired goal of the practice—
prophecy (“
NeVu’a”
Hebrew:
נבואה).
During the 5th century BCE, when the works of the
Tanakh were edited and canonized and the secret knowledge encrypted within the various writings and scrolls (“Megilot”), the knowledge was referred to as
Ma'aseh Merkavah (
Hebrew:
מעשה מרכבה)
[38] and
Ma'aseh B'reshit (
Hebrew:
מעשה בראשית),
[39] respectively "the act of the Chariot" and "the act of Creation". Merkavah mysticism alluded to the encrypted knowledge within the book of the prophet
Ezekiel describing his vision of the "Divine Chariot". B'reshit mysticism referred to the first chapter of
Genesis (
Hebrew:
בראשית) in the
Torah that is believed to contain secrets of the creation of the universe and forces of nature. These terms are also mentioned in the second chapter of the Talmudic tractate
Haggigah.
Mystic elements of the Torah
.^ The Bible provides ample additional material for mythic and mystical speculation.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Merkavah mysticism, theosophic-mythic speculation preserved in texts like Sefer ha-Bahir , and Neoplatonism."- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
The prophet
Ezekiel's visions in particular attracted much mystical speculation, as did Isaiah's Temple vision—
Isaiah, Ch.6.
Jacob's vision of the
ladder to heaven provided another example of esoteric experience.
Moses' encounters with the
Burning bush and God on
Mount Sinai are evidence of mystical events in the
Tanakh that form the origin of Jewish mystical beliefs.
The
72 letter name of God which is used in Jewish mysticism for meditation purposes is derived from the Hebrew verbal utterance Moses spoke in the presence of an angel, while the
Sea of Reeds parted, allowing the Hebrews to escape their approaching attackers. The miracle of the Exodus, which led to Moses receiving the
Ten Commandments and the Jewish Orthodox view of the acceptance of the
Torah at
Mount Sinai, preceded the creation of the first Jewish nation approximately three hundred years before
King Saul.
Mystical doctrines in the Talmudic era
In early
rabbinic Judaism (the early centuries of the first millennium CE), the terms
Ma'aseh Bereshit ("Works of Creation") and
Ma'aseh Merkabah ("Works of the Divine Throne/Chariot") clearly indicate the
Midrashic nature of these speculations; they are really based upon
Genesis 1 and
Book of Ezekiel 1:4–28; while the names
Sitrei Torah (Hidden aspects of the Torah) (Talmud
Hag. 13a) and
Razei Torah (Torah secrets) (
Ab. vi. 1) indicate their character as secret lore. An additional term also expanded Jewish esoteric knowledge, namely
Chochmah Nistara (Hidden wisdom).
Talmudic doctrine forbade the public teaching of esoteric doctrines and warned of their dangers. In the
Mishnah (Hagigah 2:1), rabbis were warned to teach the mystical creation doctrines only to one student at a time.
[40] To highlight the danger, in one
Jewish aggadic ("legendary") anecdote, four prominent
rabbis of the
Mishnaic period (first century CE) are said to have visited the
Orchard (that is,
Paradise,
pardes,
Hebrew:
פרדס lit.,
orchard):
In notable readings of this legend, only Rabbi Akiba was fit to handle the study of mystical doctrines. The
Tosafot, medieval commentaries on the Talmud, say that the four sages "did not go up literally, but it appeared to them as if they went up."
[43] On the other hand, Rabbi
Louis Ginzberg, writes in the
Jewish Encyclopedia (1901–1906) that the journey to paradise "is to be taken literally and not allegorically".
[44] For further analysis, see
The Four Who Entered Paradise.
Middle Ages
The Medieval era began esoteric circles of Kabbalistic dissemination in French
Provence,
Andalusian Spain and
Germany-Ashkenaz
The 13th century
Nachmanides, a classic figure in Rabbinic
theology, was an early exponent of Kabbalah
From the 8th–11th Century Sefer Yetzirah and Hekalot texts made their way into European Jewish circles.
.^ Modern scholars have identified several mystical brotherhoods that functioned in Europe starting in the 12th Century.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Scholars generally date the beginning of this written literature to the 12th century, with additional "waves" in the 16th and early 19th centuries.- Jay Michaelson: An Introduction To Kabbalah, Part 1: What Is Kabbalah? 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.huffingtonpost.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Kabbalah -- which can be spelled with a K, C or Q -- is an ancient form of Jewish mysticism, which was formalized at the end of the 12th Century.- Kabbalah 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.crossroad.to [Source type: Original source]
Some, such as the "Iyyun Circle" and the "Unique Cherub Circle", were truly esoteric, remaining largely anonymous.
One well-known group was the "
Hasidei Ashkenaz", (חסידי אשכנז) or German Pietists. This 13th Century movement arose mostly among a single scholarly family, the
Kalonymus family of the French and German Rhineland.
There were certain
rishonim ("Elder Sages") of exoteric Judaism who are known to have been experts in Kabbalah. One of the best known is
Nahmanides (the
Ramban) (1194–1270) whose commentary on the
Torah is considered to be based on Kabbalistic knowledge.
Bahya ben Asher (the
Rabbeinu Behaye) (d. 1340) also combined Torah commentary and Kabbalah. Another was
Isaac the Blind (1160–1235), the teacher of Nahmanides, who is widely argued to have written the first work of classic Kabbalah, the
Bahir.
Sefer Bahir and another work, the "Treatise of the Left Emanation", probably composed in Spain by Isaac ben Isaac ha-Kohen, laid the groundwork for the composition of
Sefer Zohar, written by
Moses de Leon and his mystical circle at the end of the 13th Century, but credited to the Talmudic sage
Shimon bar Yochai, cf.
Zohar.
.^ The Zohar proved to be the first truly "popular" work of Kabbalah, and the most influential.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ The Zohar, illustrious light, is a work of Kabbalah.- 5 Kabbalah Texts 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.cs.utah.edu [Source type: Original source]
^ Sort by: Popularity: Most popular first .
From the thirteenth century onward, Kabbalah began to be widely disseminated and it branched out into an extensive literature. Historians in the nineteenth century, for example,
Heinrich Graetz, argued that the emergence into public view of Jewish esotericism at this time coincides with, and represents a response to, the rising influence of the rationalist philosophy of
Maimonides and his followers.
Gershom Scholem sought to undermine this view as part of his resistance to seeing kabbalah as merely a response to medieval Jewish rationalism. Arguing for a gnostic influence has to be seen as part of this strategy. More recently, Moshe Idel and Elliot Wolfson have independently argued that the impact of Maimonides can be seen in the change from orality to writing in the thirteenth century. That is, kabbalists committed to writing many of their oral traditions in part as a response to the attempt of Maimonides to explain the older esoteric subjects philosophically.
Most
Orthodox Jews reject the idea that Kabbalah underwent significant historical development or change such as has been proposed above. After the composition known as the
Zohar was presented to the public in the 13th century, the term "Kabbalah" began to refer more specifically to teachings derived from, or related, to the
Zohar. At an even later time, the term began to generally be applied to Zoharic teachings as elaborated upon by
Isaac Luria Arizal. Historians generally date the start of Kabbalah as a major influence in Jewish thought and practice with the publication of the Zohar and climaxing with the spread of the
Arizal's teachings. The majority of
Haredi Jews accept the Zohar as the representative of the
Ma'aseh Merkavah and
Ma'aseh B'reshit that are referred to in Talmudic texts.
[45]Early Modern era: Lurianic Kabbalah
The mystical community in 16th century
Safed invigorated wider Judaism with its
Cordoveran synthesis and
Lurianic reorganisation
Main article:
Isaac LuriaFollowing the upheavals and dislocations in the Jewish world as a result of the
Spanish Inquisition, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, and the trauma of
Anti-Semitism during the
Middle Ages, Jews began to search for signs of when the long-awaited
Jewish Messiah would come to comfort them in their painful exiles.
Moses Cordovero and his immediate circle popularized the teachings of the
Zohar which had until then been only a modestly influential work. The author of the
Shulkhan Arukh (the Jewish "Code of Law"), Rabbi
Yosef Karo (1488–1575), was also a great scholar of Kabbalah and spread its teachings during this era.
As part of that "search for meaning" in their lives, Kabbalah received its biggest boost in the Jewish world with the explication of the Kabbalistic teachings of Rabbi
Isaac Luria (1534–1572) by his disciples Rabbi
Hayim Vital and Rabbi
Israel Sarug, both of whom published Luria's teachings (in variant forms) gaining them widespread popularity. Luria's teachings came to rival the influence of the Zohar and Luria stands, alongside
Moses de Leon, as the most influential mystic in Jewish history.
Ban against studying Kabbalah
The ban against studying Kabbalah was lifted by the efforts of the sixteenth century Kabbalist Rabbi
Avraham Azulai (1570–1643).
| “ |
I have found it written that all that has been decreed Above forbidding open involvement in the Wisdom of Truth [Kabbalah] was [only meant for] the limited time period until the year 5,250 (1490 C.E.). .^ We know now that the Rebbe stated that we are the last generation of Galus and the first generation of Geulah.- Ronnie Rendel's Blog on Kabbalah, Business, and Life 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC ronnierendel.com [Source type: General]
^ From then on after is called the "Last Generation", and what was forbidden is [now] allowed.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ And permission is granted to occupy ourselves in the [study of] Zohar.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ With the advent of the Zohar , the study of Kabbalah spread among the masses of the people.- Kabbalah 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.crossroad.to [Source type: Original source]
^ And from the year 5,300 (1540 C.E.) it is most desirable that the masses both those great and small [in Torah], should occupy themselves [in the study of Kabbalah], as it says in the Raya M'hemna [a section of the Zohar].- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Tthe Gemorrah section of the Talmud- Rabbinical is one part of the Tanakh) The Zohar is actually just one of many books in the Kabbalah and is just 1)The Torah is the most important- but the Torah is in two parts- the Written Torah (the Five books of Moses) and the Oral...- Is Kabbalah a cult? on Yedda - People. Sharing. Knowledge. 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC yedda.com [Source type: General]
And because in this merit King Mashiach will come in the future—and not in any other merit—it is not proper to be discouraged [from the study of Kabbalah]. (Rabbi Avraham Azulai)[46] |
” |
The question however is whether the ban ever existed in the first place. Concerning the above quote by Avraham Azulai, it has found many versions in English, another is this
| “ |
From the year 1540 and onward, the basic levels of Kabbalah must be taught publicly to everyone, young and old. Only through Kabbalah will we forever eliminate war, destruction, and man's inhumanity to his fellow man.[47] |
” |
The lines concerning 1490 are also missing from the Hebrew edition of Hesed L'Avraham, the source work that both of these quote from. Furthermore by Azulai's view the ban was lifted thirty years before his birth. A time that would have corresponded with Rabbi Haim Vital's publication of the teaching of Isaac Luria. Furthermore Rabbi Moshe Isserles only understood there to be a minor restriction, in his words "One's belly must be full of meat and wine, discerning between the prohibited and the permitted."
[48] He is supported by the Bier Hetiv, the Pithei Teshuva as well as the Vilna Gaon. The Vilna Gaon says,
| “ |
There was never any ban or enactment restricting the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah. Any who says there is has never studied Kabblah, has never seen PaRDeS, and speaks as an ignoramous.[49] |
” |
Thus leaving the existence of a ban to be highly debated.
Sefardi and Mizrahi
The Kabbalah of the
Sefardi (Portuguese or Spanish) and
Mizrahi (African/Asian) Torah scholars has a long history.
.^ Kabbalah in various forms was widely studied, commented upon, and expanded by North African, Turkish, Yemenite, and Asian scholars from the 16th Century onward.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Century C.E., but there is a suspicion that the Biblical phenomenon of prophecy may have been grounded in a much older oral tradition which was a precursor to the earliest recognisable forms of Kabbalah.- Yarmulkas & kippah at ZaraMart: rock bottom prices 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.a-zara.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Scholars generally date the beginning of this written literature to the 12th century, with additional "waves" in the 16th and early 19th centuries.- Jay Michaelson: An Introduction To Kabbalah, Part 1: What Is Kabbalah? 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.huffingtonpost.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
It flourished among Sefardic Jews in Tzfat (
Safed), Israel even before the arrival of Isaac Luria, its most famous resident. The great
Yosef Karo, author of the
Shulchan Arukh was part of the Tzfat school of Kabbalah.
Shlomo Alkabetz, author of the famous hymn
Lekhah Dodi, taught there.
His disciple
Moses ben Jacob Cordovero authored
Sefer Pardes Rimonim, an organized, exhaustive compilation of kabbalistic teachings on a variety of subjects up to that point. Rabbi Cordovero headed the Academy of Tzfat until his death, when
Isaac Luria, also known as the Ari, rose to prominence.
.^ Rabbi Moshe's disciple Eliyahu De Vidas authored the classic work, Reishit Chochma , combining kabbalistic and mussar (moral) teachings.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Rabbi Moshe's disciple Eliyahu De Vidas authored the classic work, Reishit Chochma, combining kabbalistic and mussar (moral) teachings.- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Rabbi Elijah of Vilna (Vilna Gaon) (1720-1797), based in Lithuania, had his teachings encoded and publicized by his disciples such as by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin who published the mystical-ethical work Nefesh HaChaim.- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Chaim Vital also studied under Rabbi Cordovero, but with the arrival of Rabbi Luria became his main disciple.
.^ Vital claimed to be the only one authorized to transmit the Ari's teachings, though other disciples also published books presenting Luria's teachings.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ As part of that "search for meaning" in their lives, Kabbalah received its biggest boost in the Jewish world with the explication of the Kabbalistic teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572) by his disciples Rabbi Hayim Vital and Rabbi Israel Sarug , both of whom published Luria's teachings (in variant forms) gaining them wide-spread popularity.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ As part of that "search for meaning" in their lives, Kabbalah received its biggest boost in the Jewish world when the explication of the Kabbalistic teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572), by his disciple Rabbi Chaim Vital who published the Luria's teachings, gained wide-spread popularity.
Maharal
The 16th century
Maharal of Prague articulated a mystical exegesis in philosophical language
.^ If you ever want to read one of the most moving religious treatises on homosexuality, do a serach on the writngs of Rabbi Harold Schulweiss.- Kabbalist Blames Bird Flu on Gay Marriage - Towleroad, More than gay news. More gay men 9 October 2009 8:46 UTC www.towleroad.com [Source type: General]
.^ Many of his written works survive and are studied for their deep Kabbalistic insights.- Kabbalah: Encyclopedia - Kabbalah 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.experiencefestival.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Frequently leading Rabbinic authorities inveighed against this popular absorption in Kabbalistic studies which fed many superstitions and aberrations.- Kabbalah 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.crossroad.to [Source type: Original source]
^ Since the Zohar was written, most Kabbalistic works assume that Jewish and non-Jewish souls are fundamentally different.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
The Maharal is, perhaps, most famous outside of Jewish mysticism for the legends of the
golem of Prague, which he reportedly created. During the twentieth century, Rabbi
Isaac Hutner (1906–1980) continued to spread the
Maharal's teachings indirectly through his own teachings and scholarly publications within the modern
yeshiva world.
Failure of Sabbatian Mysticism
The spiritual and mystical yearnings of many Jews remained frustrated after the death of Rabbi
Isaac Luria and his disciples and colleagues. No hope was in sight for many following the devastation and mass killings of the
pogroms that followed in the wake the
Chmielnicki Uprising (1648–1654), and it was at this time that a controversial scholar of the Kabbalah by the name of
Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676) captured the hearts and minds of the Jewish masses of that time with the promise of a newly-minted "Messianic"
Millennialism in the form of his own personage.
.^ In the days leading up to the march, some ultraorthodox Jewish leaders condemned the public expression of homosexuality as "ugly" and unsuitable for the holy city.- Kabbalist Blames Bird Flu on Gay Marriage - Towleroad, More than gay news. More gay men 9 October 2009 8:46 UTC www.towleroad.com [Source type: General]
It seemed that the esoteric teachings of Kabbalah had found their "champion" and had triumphed, but this era of Jewish history unravelled when Zevi became an
apostate to Judaism by converting to
Islam after he was arrested by the
Ottoman Sultan and threatened with execution for attempting a plan to conquer the world and rebuild the
Temple in Jerusalem.
Many of his followers, known as
Sabbateans, continued to worship him in secret, explaining his conversion not as an effort to save his life but to recover the sparks of the holy in each religion, and most leading rabbis were always on guard to root them out. The
Donmeh movement in modern Turkey is a surviving remnant of the Sabbatian schism.
Due to the chaos caused in the Jewish world, the Rabbinic prohibition against studying Kabbalah was well intact again, and established itself firmly within the Jewish religion. One of the conditions allowing a man to study and engage himself in the Kabbalah, was to be of age forty. This age requirement came about during this period and is not
Talmudic in origin but
Rabbinic. Many Jews are familiar with this ruling, but are not aware of its origins. Moreover, the prohibition is not halakhic in nature. According to Moses Cordovero, halakhically, one must be of age twenty to engage in the Kabbalah. Many famous Kabbalists, including the ARI, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, were younger than twenty when they began.
Frankists
Main article:
Jacob FrankThe Sabbatian movement was followed by that of the "Frankists" who were disciples of another pseudo-mystic
Jacob Frank (1726–1791) who eventually became an apostate to Judaism by apparently converting to
Catholicism.
.^ This era of disappointment did not stem the Jewish masses' yearnings for "mystical" leadership.- Kabbalah: Encyclopedia - Kabbalah 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.experiencefestival.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ "The history of Jewish mysticism has taken some dramatic turns, from elite, secretive club to mass movement to object of scorn and back and forth.- To Embrace Hebrew Roots: Part V: The Kabbalah 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.seekgod.ca [Source type: Original source]
^ In the medieval era Jewish mysticism greatly developed with the appearance of the mystical text, the Sefer Yetzirah.
1700s
The eighteenth century saw an explosion of new efforts in the writing and spread of Kabbalah by four well known rabbis working in different areas of
Europe:
- Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov (1698–1760) in the area of Ukraine spread teachings based on Rabbi Isaac Luria's foundations, simplifying the Kabbalah for the common man. From him sprang the vast ongoing schools of Hasidic Judaism, with each successive rebbe viewed by his "Hasidim" as continuing the role of dispenser of mystical divine blessings and guidance.
- Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (1772–1810), the great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, revitalized and further expanded the latter's teachings, amassing a following of thousands in Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Poland. In a unique amalgam of Hasidic and Mitnagid approaches, Rebbe Nachman emphasized study of both Kabbalah and serious Torah scholarship to his disciples. His teachings also differed from the way other Hasidic groups were developing, as he rejected the idea of hereditary Hasidic dynasties and taught that each Hasid must "search for the tzaddik ('saintly/righteous person')" for himself—and within himself.
- Rabbi Elijah of Vilna (Vilna Gaon) (1720–1797), based in Lithuania, had his teachings encoded and publicized by his disciples such as by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin who published the mystical-ethical work Nefesh HaChaim. .^ However, he was staunchly opposed to the new Hasidic movement and warned against their public displays of religious fervour inspired by the mystical teachings of their rabbis.
- Kabbalah: Encyclopedia - Kabbalah 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.experiencefestival.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Rabbi Elijah of Vilna ( Vilna Gaon ) (1720-1797), based in Lithuania , had his teachings encoded and publicized by his disciples such as by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin who published the mystical-ethical work Nefesh HaChaim .- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ He developed a clear understanding of the main Kabbalistic teachings, and he, along with his student Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Ari), composed volumes of writings on their mystical interpretations.
.^ Although the Vilna Gaon was not in favor of the Hasidic movement, he did not prohibit the study and engagement in the Kabbalah.- Kabbalah.eu 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC kabbalah.eu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Kabbalah influenced Jewish messianic movements, principally Hasidism, which developed a joyful religious expression that avoided sterile legalism.- http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/kabbalah.htm 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mb-soft.com [Source type: Original source]
^ Due to the chaos caused in the Jewish world, the Rabbinic prohibition against studying Kabbalah was well intact again, and established itself firmly within the Jewish religion.- Kabbalah, Judaica, Christian, Engravable Jewelry From The Holyland 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC www.2holyland.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
This is evident from his writings in the Even Shlema. "He that is able to understand secrets of the Torah and does not try to understand them will be judged harshly, may God have mercy". (The Vilna Gaon, Even Shlema, 8:24). "The Redemption will only come about through learning Torah, and the essence of the Redemption depends upon learning Kabbalah" (The Vilna Gaon, Even Shlema, 11:3).
- Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707–1746), based in Italy, was a precocious Talmudic scholar who arrived at the startling conclusion that there was a need for the public teaching and study of Kabbalah. He established a yeshiva for Kabbalah study and actively recruited outstanding students and, in addition, wrote copious manuscripts in an appealing clear Hebrew style, all of which gained the attention of both admirers and rabbinical critics who feared another "Zevi (false messiah) in the making".He was forced to close his school by his rabbinical opponents, hand over and destroy many of his most precious unpublished kabbalistic writings, and go into exile in the Netherlands. He eventually moved to the Land of Israel. Some of his most important works such as Derekh Hashem survive and are used as a gateway to the world of Jewish mysticism.
Modern era
Orthodox
One of the most influential sources spreading Kabbalistic teachings have come from the massive growth and spread of
Hasidic Judaism, a movement begun by
Yisroel ben Eliezer (The Baal Shem Tov), but continued in many
branches and streams until today. These groups differ greatly in size, but all emphasize the study of
mystical Hasidic texts, which now consists of a vast literature devoted to elaborating upon the long chain of Kabbalistic thought and methodology. No group emphasizes in-depth kabbalistic study, though, to the extent of the
Chabad-Lubavitch movement, whose
Rebbes delivered tens of thousands of discourses, and whose students study these texts for
three hours daily.
Rabbi
Shmuel Schneersohn of Lubavitch urged the study of kabbala as prerequisite for one's humanity:
| “ |
A person who is capable of comprehending the Seder hishtalshelus (kabbalistic secrets concerning the higher spiritual spheres)—and fails to do so—cannot be considered a human being. At every moment and time one must know where his soul stands. It is a mitzvah (commandment) and an obligation to know the seder hishtalshelus.[50] |
” |
| “ |
Due to the alienation from the "secret of God" [i.e. Kabbalah], the higher qualities of the depths of Godly life are reduced to trivia that do not penetrate the depth of the soul. When this happens, the most mighty force is missing from the soul of nation and individual, and Exile finds favor essentially... We should not negate any conception based on rectitude and awe of Heaven of any form—only the aspect of such an approach that desires to negate the mysteries and their great influence on the spirit of the nation. This is a tragedy that we must combat with counsel and understanding, with holiness and courage.
— Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook (Orot 2) |
” |
Bnei Baruch
Bnei Baruch is a group of Kabbalists, based in Israel. Study materials are available in over 25 languages.
Michael Laitman, established Bnei Baruch in 1991, following the passing of his teacher,
Baruch Ashlag. Laitman named his group Bnei Baruch (sons of Baruch) to commemorate the memory of his mentor. Baruch Ashlag was the oldest son and successor of the famous Kabbalist, Rabbi
Yehuda Ashlag, who was author of a comprehensive commentary on The Book of
Zohar called The Sulam Commentary (The Ladder Commentary).
Kabbalah Centre
The Kabbalah Centre was founded in the United States in 1965 as The National Research Institute of Kabbalah by
Philip Berg (born Feivel Gruberger) and Rav Yehuda Tzvi Brandwein. After Brandwein's death, and after several years in Israel, Philip Berg and his wife
Karen Berg, re-established the U.S. Kabbalah Centre
[51] in
New York.
Personalities in Kabbalah
- Contemporary
See also
Notes
- ^ Imbued with Holiness The vast majority of scholars confirm that the Historical Solomon was likely not the founder of this belief and practice.
- ^ Shnei Luchot HaBrit, R. Isaiah Horowitz, Toldot Adam, Beit haChokhma, 14
- ^ JewishEncyclopedia.com - ZOHAR
- ^ The Written Law (The Torah)
- ^ Megillah 14a, Shir HaShirim Rabbah 4:22, Ruth Rabbah 1:2, Aryeh Kaplan “Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide” p.44–p.48
- ^ Rabbi Yehuda Leib Ha-Levi Ashlag; Preface to the Wisdom of Truth p.12 section 30 and p.105 bottom section of the left column as preface to the "Talmud Eser HaSfirot"
- ^ See Shem Mashmaon by Rabbi Shimon Agasi. It is a commentary on Otzrot Haim by Haim Vital. In the introduction he list five major schools of thought as to how to understand the AriZ"L/Haim Vital's understanding of the concept of Tzitzum.
- ^ See Yechveh Daat Vol 3, section 47 by Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef
- ^ See Ktavim Hadashim published by Rabbi Yaakov Hillel of Ahavat Shalom for a sampling of works by Haim Vital attributed to Isaac Luria that deal with other works.
- ^ Kabbala goes to yeshiva | Jerusalem Post
- ^ This applies in Habad intellectual Hasidic philosophy, that incorporates Hakirah into its inner mystical philosophy. Some other Hasidic schools were opposed to Hakirah. In the synthesis, both Hakirah and Kabbalah are seen to unite within a higher Divine source of intellect.
- ^ Maimonides, beginning of the Mishneh Torah
- ^ "Maimonides: Philosopher and Mystic" from www.Chabad.org Maimonides' Kabbalistic scholarship has been explained especially in Chabad mystical works. Additionally, the source of some laws in his Mishneh Torah are only found in Kabbalah
- ^ Wineberg, chs. 20–21
- ^ (Scholem, Kabbalah, p. 100)
- ^ See Otzrot Haim: Sha'ar TNT"A for a short explanation. The vast majority of the Lurianic system deals only with the complexities found in the world of Atzilut as is explained in the introductions to both Otzrot Haim and Eitz Haim.
- ^ The Song of the Soul, Yechiel Bar-Lev, p.73
- ^ J.H.Laenen, Jewish Mysticism, p.164
- ^ Sirach iii. 22; compare Talmud, Hagigah, 13a; Midrash Genesis Rabbah, viii.
- ^ Overview of Hasidut from www.inner.org
- ^ The Founder of Hasidism, the Baal Shem Tov, cautioned against the layman learning Kabbalah without its Hasidic explanation. He saw this as the cause of the contemporary mystical heresies of Sabbatai Zevi and Jacob Frank. Cited in The Great Maggid by Jacob Immanuel Schochet, quoting Derech Mitzvosecha by Menachem Mendel Schneersohn
- ^ Moshe Idel
- ^ Daniel C. Matt
- ^ Gerschom Scholem, "Hasidism: The Latest Phase" in Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism and Martin Bubuer, Hasidism and Modern Man and The Origin and Meaning of Hasidism
- ^ Sitra Achra
- ^ Arich Anpin
- ^ Fundamentals of Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah By Ron H. Feldman. Pg. 59
- ^ סידור הרב, שער אכילת מצה
- ^ Dov Ber Pinson, Reincarnation and Judaism
- ^ ר' אברהם חן, ביהדות התורה
- ^ article, The Seductiveness of Jewish Myth
- ^ Wolfson, E.R. Venturing Beyond: Law and Morality in Kabbalistic Mysticism, Oxford University Press, 2006, ch.1.
- ^ Dov Ber Pinson, Reincarnation and Judaism
- ^ Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, From the Periphery to the Center: Kabbalah & Conservative Judaism
- ^ a b Artson, Bradley Shavit. From the Periphery to the Centre: Kabbalah and the Conservative Movement, United Synagogue Review, Spring 2005, Vol. 57 No. 2
- ^ Introduction to Raziel Hamalach
- ^ Stern, Schneur Zalman. Active vs. Passive Meditation
- ^ SparkNotes: The Kabbalah: Ma’aseh merkavah
- ^ SparkNotes: The Kabbalah: Ma’aseh bereshit
- ^ Urbach, The Sages, pp.184ff.
- ^ Later, Elisha came to be considered heretical by his fellow Tannaim and the rabbis of the Talmud referred to him as Acher (אחר"The Other One").
- ^ Babylonian Talmud Hagigah 14b, Jerusalem Talmud Hagigah 2:1. Both available online in Aramaic: Babylonian Talmud, Jerusalem Talmud. This translation based on Braude, Ginzberg, Rodkinson, and Streane.
- ^ A. W. Streane, A Translation of the Treatise Chagigah from the Babylonian Talmud Cambridge University Press, 1891. p. 83.
- ^ Louis Ginzberg, Elisha ben Abuyah", Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901–1906.
- ^ The Zohar
- ^ Rabbi Avraham Azulai quoted in Erdstein, Baruch Emanuel. The Need to Learn Kabbala
- ^ The Kabbalah Centre
- ^ Shulhan Arukh YD 246:4
- ^ Shulhan Arukh 246:4 S"K 19
- ^ Sefer HaToldos Admur Maharash: From The Sichos Of The Rebbe Maharash Nshmoso Eden
- ^ [1]
References
- Bodoff, Lippman; Jewish Mysticism: Medieval Roots, Contemporary Dangers and Prospective Challenges; The Edah Journal 2003 3.1
- Dan, Joseph; The Early Jewish Mysticism, Tel Aviv: MOD Books, 1993.
- Dan, Joseph; The Heart and the Fountain: An Anthology of Jewish Mystical Experiences, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
- Dan, Joseph; Samael, Lilith, and the Concept of Evil in Early Kabbalah, AJS Review, vol. 5, 1980.
- Dan, Joseph; The ‘Unique Cherub’ Circle, Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1999.
- Dan, J. and Kiener, R.; The Early Kabbalah, Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1986.
- Dennis, G.; The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism, St. Paul: Llewellyn Wordwide, 2007.
- Fine, Lawrence, ed. Essential Papers in Kabbalah, New York: NYU Press, 1995.
- Fine, Lawrence; Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos: Isaac Luria and his Kabbalistic Fellowship, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003.
- Fine, Lawrence; Safed Spirituality, Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1989.
- Fine, Lawrence, ed., Judaism in Practice, Princeton N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2001.
- Green, Arthur; EHYEH: A Kabbalah for Tomorrow. Woodstock: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2003.
Grözinger, Karl E., Jüdisches Denken Band 2: Von der mittelalterlichen Kabbala zum Hasidismus,(Campus) Frankfurt /New York, 2005
- Hecker, Joel; Mystical Bodies, Mystical Meals: Eating and Embodiment in Medieval Kabbalah. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2005.
- Idel, Moshe; .^ Moshe Idel, Kabbalah: New Perspectives (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988), 42-46, with numerous other references in the index.
- Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection - William J. Hamblin - FARMS Review - Volume 8 - Issue 2 28 January 2010 0:12 UTC mi.byu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1988.
- Idel, Moshe; The Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid, New York: SUNY Press, 1990.
- Idel, Moshe; Hasidism: Between Ecstasy and Magic, New York: SUNY Press, 1995.
- Idel, Moshe; Kabbalistic Prayer and Color, Approaches to Judaism in Medieval Times, D. Blumenthal, ed., Chicago: Scholar’s Press, 1985.
- Idel, Moshe; The Mystica Experience in Abraham Abulafia, New York, SUNY Press, 1988.
- Idel, Moshe; Kabbalah: New Perspectives, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1988.
- Idel, Moshe; Magic and Kabbalah in the ‘Book of the Responding Entity’; The Solomon Goldman Lectures VI, Chicago: Spertus College of Judaica Press, 1993.
- Idel, Moshe; The Story of Rabbi Joseph della Reina; Behayahu, M. Studies and Texts on the History of the Jewish Community in Safed.
- This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.
- Kaplan, Aryeh; Inner Space: Introduction to Kabbalah, Meditation and Prophecy. Moznaim Publishing Corp 1990.
- John W. McGinley; 'The Written' as the Vocation of Conceiving Jewishly; ISBN 0-595-40488-X
- Scholem, Gershom; Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, 1941.
- Scholem, Gershom; Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and the Talmudic Tradition, 1960.
- Scholem, Gershom; Sabbatai Zevi, the Mystical Messiah, 1973.
- Scholem, Gershom; Kabbalah, Jewish Publication Society, 1974.
- Wineberg, Yosef; Lessons in Tanya: The Tanya of R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi (5 volume set). Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, 1998. ISBN 0-8266-0546-X
- Wirszubski, Chaim; Pico della Mirandola's Encounter with Jewish Mysticism, Harvard University Press, 1989.
- Wolfson, Elliot; Through a Speculum That Shines: Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.
- Wolfson, Elliot; Language, Eros Being: Kabbalistic Hermeneutics and Poetic Imagination, New York: Fordham University Press, 2005.
- Wolfson, Elliot; Venturing Beyond: Law and Morality in Kabbalistic Mysticism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
- Wolfson, Elliot; Alef, Mem, Tau: Kabbalistic Musings on Time, Truth, and Death, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.
- Wolfson, Elliot; Luminal Darkness: Imaginal Gleanings From Zoharic Literature, London: Onworld Publications, 2007.
- The Wisdom of The Zohar: An Anthology of Texts, 3 volume set, Ed. Isaiah Tishby, translated from the Hebrew by David Goldstein, The Littman Library.
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