Kabbalah

Kabbalah			I thank God for not having created me in the period before the Zohar was known to the world, because the Zohar kept me a Jew. Rabbi Pinhas of Korzec (18 century)

The review of kabbalah websites.

To realize the impossible is the passion of the adventure.
-Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise

The giving of Torah happened at one specific time, but the receiving of Torah happens all the time, in every generation.
- Meir Alter, the Gerer Rebbe

From History of the Jews, vol.III; from the later Middle Ages to the Renaissance.
Dubnov, S. M., (1860-1941)

p. 124 -128

The Kabbala of the 13th century leaned primarily on Philo's prin-
ciple of emanation. According to the teaching of the Kabbala, God
is an En Soph, an infinite entity that cannot be fathomed, having
no concrete attributes; it is revealed only through its creations. Such
an abstract force, devoid of any materialism, could not create the
material world without an intermediary; therefore the En Soph and
the material world are separated by ten intermediary creative forces
or sephirot. (Sephira denotes number, in the sense of number-forces
of the ancient theory of the Sepher Yetzirah [Book of Creation];
its sound is reminiscent of Aristotle's heavenly "spheres"-in part, it
has the same connotation.) The first sephira issued first from God,
through emanation, or irradiation; the second issued from the first,
and so on, until the tenth. These ten sephirot, which resemble God
in substance-but are not equal to Him-are closer to the material-
istic world. It was they who had created the world, and they who
rule over it; and each has its symbol. The symbolic names of the
sephirot, arranged according to their categories, are: keter ("crown"),
hokhmah ("wisdom"), binah ("intelligence"), hesed ("loving kind-
ness"), gevurah ("power"), tipheret ("beauty"), netzah ("eternity"),
hod ("majesty"), yesod ("foundation"), malkhut ("kingdom").
The first three sephirot constitute the highest spiritual order of the
world: the mind, the prophetism or the Divine Providence; the fourth,
fifth, and sixth are the moral order; the last four are the world of
matter. Against these three groups there are three categories of the
creation: that which is recognized, that which is sensed, and the
materialistic. Through the sephirot, our sensory perception reaches to
God. When it is written in the Torah, "God said; God descended to
the earth," it pertains not to the En Soph-which cannot be fathomed
at all-but to the sephirot. The secret of the prayer rests in the fact
that man influences one or another sephira, and each word of the
prayer exerts a definite impression in the higher worlds. The Torah
teaching about the soul and about the world-to-come is, in the Kab-
bala, associated with the theory of the gilgul or transmigration of the
souls. When man's life ends, the soul that remained pure on earth
ascends unhindered to the kingdom of the eternal spirits. But a soul
that was stained through transgressions is transformed into the body
of another human being that is newly born, and remains in that
earthly shell until it is cleansed of its sins.
This vague theosophy reconciled the abstract dogmatism of Judaism
with the needs of those believing in the materialism of the deity.
Those who aspired to the "other side of cognition," found a foothold
in this system of intermediary forces, which fit into their fantasy.
The Kabbala revealed for them the secrets of the world through
hints, which it discovered in the passages of the Torah.
The theories of the Kabbala disseminated in the 13th century
among the Spanish and ProvenC$al Jews, ran parallel to the ideas of
Maimonides. At the time when some enlightened their spirits through
the sober philosophy of the Guide of the Perplexed, others delved
into the murky theosophy of the Sepher Yetzirah, as well as other
mystical books. A certain Rabbi Azriel (or Ezra), about whose life
there are no details, taught the Torah Basod here, in the beginning
of the 13th century. From the surviving fragments of his book about
the ten sephirot (Ezrat Adonaz), it is evident that he communed with
"philosophers," who approved only of truths that can be proven, and
who denied such esoteric concepts as En Soph and the sephirot. It
is assumed that Ramban, in whose commentary to the Torah there
are hints to the "Secrets of the Torah," adopted his ideas from this
little-known rabbi.
The Kabbala was at first disseminated orally, as is always cus-
tomary with a doctrine that is being taught only to the select; but in
the second half of the 13th century, the Kabbalists presented their
ideas in written form.
The Nasi, Rabbi Todros ben Joseph Abulefia, the rabbi of Castile
(died circa 1283 in Toledo), was one of the first Kabbalist authors.
Like his aforementioned uncle, Rabbi Meir Abulefia, he was also
strongly opposed to the rationalist philosophy. He could not forgive the
rationalists for their desire to comprehend the divine with the human
mind, and to ask whether the commandments of the Torah were
utilitarian. For one thing, he was dissatisfied with the philosophers,
because they did not believe in the existence of devils. The true wis-
dom he found only in the Kabbala, whose roots are inherent in the
Talmudical Aggada. Todros Abulefia presented his mystical Torah
in an elaborate form in the book Oitzor H akoved, which carried
certain quotations that later appeared in the "Zohar;" and this shows
that the author participated in the compilation of this basic work
of the Kabbala.(see 1 below)
Isaac Ibn Latif (died circa 1290), the author of several works that are
rated highly by the Kabbalists (Zurat, Haolem, Skaar, Hashamaim),
a contemporary of Rabbi Todros, stood between metaphysics and
mysticism. Ibn Latif unfolded the idea of a mystical pantheism:
"The absolute spirituality of God and His complete knowledge com-
pel us to understand that He is inherent in everything, and that
everything is within Him." Ibn Latif demonstrated, through geo-
metrical figures, how divinity reveals itself in the world of the spirits
and of the lower sephirot: God stands confronting the world like a
dot toward a line, or as a line toward a flat surface. Joseph Gitakilla,
another Kabbalist (died about 1305), resorted more to the mathe-
matical method. In his work Ginnat Egoz, he engaged in combinations
of letters and accounts, and endeavored to link it with the theory of
the sephirot. He was also known as a miracle-worker.
The Kabbala was not restricted to theoretical inquiries. It also
brought forth enthusiastic dreamers, who aspired to prophecy or
Messianism. Such a one was Abraham Abalufio of Saragossa (approx-
imately 1240-1291), who experienced a brief but stormy life. In his
youth, he undertook a strange journey, to locate the legendary River
Sambbatyon and the Ten Lost Tribes. He visited Italy, Greece, and
Palestine. In Italy he became engrossed in the study of philosophy,
and concentrated on the Guide of the Perplexed. Upon returning to
Spain, he delved into Kabbala. "At the age of thirty-one, while in
Barcelona," Abalufio related, "I was roused from sleep, with the Lord's
help, and began to study the Book of Creation with the commentaries.
My spirit revived, God's spirit touched my lips, and I beheld won-
drous sights. I envisioned fantastic and strange things, and my
(see 1 above) Until recently this Todros Abulefia was confused with another Todros Abulefia
(ben Jehudah), who was a financial official at the court of the Castilian kings
Alfonso X and Sancho IV, and was involved in Sancho's uprising against his
father (above, # 9). But according to the new discoveries, they are two distinct,
separate individuals. It is naturally clear, that the collection of poems, Can
Hamashalim Vehachidot, which was recently found in manuscript, belongs to the
pen, not of the Kabbalist, but rather of the politician, 'lodros ben Jehudah. See: Bibliography.
thoughts became confused, for there was no one to steer me to the
righteous path, and in the course of fifteen years, I was compared to
a blind man groping his way in broad daylight. I was chased by an
evil spirit, and I lost my bearings on everything I saw."
In such an exultant frame of mind, Abraham Abalufio created
his own theory of Kabbala, which differs from the theory of the
sephirot. He revived the idea in the Book of Creation about the
twenty-two letters of the alphabet, with the help of which God
created the world. The mystics believed that the combinations of
the letters in the various formulas of God's name enabled one to
perform miracles; and Abalufio persuaded himself that he could,
indeed, perform them. He returned to Italy, where he began to dis-
seminate his theory orally and in writing.
At that time, it suddenly occurred to him that Judaism could be
combined with Christianity through the Kabbala. The Christian
dogma of the Holy Trinity appeared to be near to the theory of the
ten sephirot: there, God is inherent in three person&-and here, in
ten persons. True, this similarity was at first baffling to Abalufio; he
even attacked the adherents of the sephirot, "who multiply the deity
tenfold, just as the Christians make it threefold." But later, he himself
utilized the same theory to propagandize among the Christians. In
1280, an absurd thought occurred to the exalted dreamer: to appear
before Pope Nicholas III in order to point out the similarity between
the "sperology" and the "Christology," and thus to win him over to
the Jewish faith. Abalufio paid dearly for that attempt. He was
arrested in Suriano, near the pope's palace, where he wished to intrude
without the knowledge of the guard. He was taken in custody to
Rome, where he was imprisoned for twenty-eight days, and released.
Later he went to Sicily, where he proclaimed himself a Messiah,
claiming that God had revealed to him "the end of the Diaspora and
the beginning of the redemption of Israel" (1284). According to his
prophecy, the redemption was to begin in 1290. In Sicily, there were
credulous people, who became imbued with the fantasies of Abalufio.
Whereupon the more sober-minded representatives of the Jewish com-
munity in Palermo turned to Rashba in Barcelona for information
about the Jew who professed to be the Messiah. Rashba replied that
he had known Abalufio to be a visionary and a mystic for a long
time.
Abalufio was thus forced to leave Sicily, and settled somewhere
near Malta. There he composed apocalyptic visions with Messianic
prophecies that were based on combinations of letters (Sepher Haot,
written in 1288). He compl~ed about the "sages of Israel who say,
'Of what use is the computing of God's name to us? We would rather
compute the number of our gold and silver treasures.' " He attacked
the rabbis, who were preoccupied only with the doctrine that is
manifest, not with the esoteric doctrine.
This dreamer's end is unknown. Abraham Abalufio composed
several books dealing with "Kabbala," the published parts of which
contain many profound thoughts, along with fantastic images.(see 2 below)
Under the influence of the mystical propaganda, at about the same
time, two individuals professing to be prophets who had come to
herald the redemption appeared in Castile. One was in the district
of Segovia, the other in the city of Avilla (1295). It was said that
the prophet of Avilla had been illiterate, but that an angel had taught
him the necessary skills; and so with the help of the Holy Spirit, he
composed a book, Pliot H okhmah. Many believed in the prophecy of
this exalted man; the more sober-minded members of the community
consulted Rashba as to whether that prophecy was trustworthy.
Rashba exhorted them not to trust such alleged miracle-workers
who delude the people. But in Avilla the rabble ignored the warning.
Credulous individuals fasted, distributed alms, and waited for miracles.
One day, they all dressed in white garb, and assembled in a synagogue,
to hear the sound of the "Shofar [ram's horn] of the Messiah." They
waited a long time-in vain, of course-but as they emerged from
the synagogue, they noticed tiny crosses on their garments. That
"miracle" (the opponents of the false Messiah could have contrived
that secretly), threw everyone into dismay. In despair, some con-
verted to Christianity; others went berserk. The alleged prophet dis-
appeared.
(see 2 above)The name and, in part, the contents of one of his books are reminiscent of the
famous book of Bonaventura, the Christian mystic, De septem gradibus con-
templationis, of which Abalufio was perhaps personally aware. Of the other works
of Abalufio the following were published in complete fond, or fragments: "Sepher
Haot," "Chai Haolem Habo," "Amri Shefer."

P. 129 - 133
19. The Zohar (SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT IN SPAIN)
At the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th centuries,
copies of a secretive commentary to the Pentateuch, which later be-
came known as the Zohar ("Brightn~), were circulated in the
circles of the Spanish Kabbalists. The book was in the form of a
Midrash, and contained sermons and discourses of Rabbi Simeon ben
Yohai and other tannaim of the 2nd century. It differed from the
usual midrashim in its profound mystical contents: its discourses
were presented in the form of heavenly visions or revelations, which
Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai allegedly received. In addition, the book
was not written in Hebrew, but in Aramaic.
It was alleged that these manuscripts were found in Palestine by
Maimonides--where he had moved after the disputation of 1263-
who had dispatched them to Spain. Among the people at large it
was rumored that the secretive manuscript was written by Rabbi
Simeon ben Yohai in those years when he was hiding from the perse-
cution of the Romans in the cave of Galilee. In the course of centuries
the manuscripts supposedly were concealed there, until they were
discovered and transmitted to Castile. What is actually known is that
in the second half of the 13th century, Todros Abulefia, the Kabba-
list of Castile, and other Kabbalists expressed in their writings ideas
that resemble closely those contained in the Zohar-at times presented
even in the same expressions, but in Hebrew without referring to
the source.
Rabbi Moses ben Shemtov de Leon (circa 1250--1305), the Kabba-
list of Castile, who was destined to make the Zohar the holy script
of the Kabbala, more than anyone else made use of these manuscripts.
Born in the province of Castile, a kinsman of the family of Todros
Abulefia, Moses de Leon earned his livelihood by circulating copies
of books of the Kabbala. He lived in various cities (Guadalachara,
Valladolid, Avilla) and was apparently dependent upon philanthro-
pists, to whom he dedicated his writings. He composed and copied
a great deal. Between 1287 and 1293 he wrote a series of books,
two of which he dedicated to Joseph, the son of Todros Abulefia.
In these books (Sepher Harmon, Sepher Hamashkal, Mishkan
Haedot, and so on) Moses de Leon often quoted unknown midrashim
of Kabbala in the following secretive form: "I found in one mid-
rash," "in a Jerusalem midrash," "I saw in the secrets of the Torah,"
"I will reveal a great secret to you." Those quotations are primarily
from the Zohar, translated into Hebrew.
Among other things, the basic idea of the Zohar is developed:
that the truths of the Torah can be disclosed, not by way of reason,
but through intuition, or the "concealed wisdom" of Kabbala. Why
did God have to present the Torah on Mount Sinai through thunder
and lightning, the author asked, if the revealed Torah teaches the
same as is taught by Aristotle, without storms and outcries? No, the
Torah is only the outward shell of the Lord's thought. The gist is
hidden from the eyes of the rabble, and only the select can reach it.
It is not known whether Moses de Leon actually believed in what
he said, or merely tried to persuade others that he attained this con-
cealed substance of the Torah through secret writings that he had
obtained; at any rate, he utilized them as far as possible. He not
only included many "ancient" manuscripts in his own compositions-
which he not only copied, but also edited-he also incorporated his
own ideas within them.
Such was the way in which the Zohar was fashioned. Like other
books of this sort, it was a product of the collective work of unknown
mystics of former times, as well as of Kabbalists of the 13th century,
and at the end of that century, Moses de Leon assembled their ideas
in a book.
In the Zohar itself, it is impossible to ascertain that later authors
had participated in it. They left no trace in the text. The tanna
Simeon ben Yohai appears as the chief spokesman, and is presented
in the bright light of a second Moses, to whom the angel Matutrun
revealed all the secrets of the Torah. "I declare in the name of the
high heavens and of the holy earth," the seer announces solemnly,
"that I see now such things which no mortal was deemed worthy to
see, since Moses ascended Mount Sinai for the second time. .."
The Zohar consists of several books, evidently written at various
times, and coordinated mechanically only in a later editing. The
fundamental trait of this vast collection consists of sermons on passages
of the Torah, arranged in the order of the fifty-two "portions" of the
year, as they were customarily read in the synagogues. This basic text
contains fragments of other books, which bear the secretive titles:
Idra Rabba ("Larger Assembly"), Idra Zuta ("Smaller Assembly"),

Sifra di-Tzeniuta ("Book of Mysteries"), Midrash ha Ne'elam ("The
Hidden Midrash"), Raaya Mehemana ("The Faithful Shepherd"),
and so on. The leading concept of the Zohar coincides with those
arguments that were uttered against rationalism in the course of the
entire 18th century-namely that the greatest world secrets are con-
cealed in the narratives and the commandments of the Torah. "Woe
to the man," Simeon ben Yohai allegedly exclaimed, "who assumes
that the Torah contains simple stories and discussions of ordinary
people! Can it be possible that God could not find any holy words
for His Torah, and had to resort to all those commonplace stories
about Hagar and Esau, Laban and Jacob, Balaam and his ass, in order
to fashion out of them the Torah, that is known as the Torah of
truth? ...People who understand, do not look at the garment, but at
the body behind it; those who are wiser, look into the soul, into the
secret sense of the Torah, and in the world to come they will behold
the soul of the soul, that is the Etika Kadisha [the holy ancient God]
Himself." Here the mystics coincide with the rationalists in the same
principle of allegorism. But they approach the subject from different
motives: the rationalists find in the holy legends moral symbols for
carrying on the earthly life; the Kabbalists, on the other hand, find in
them theosophical symbols, and infer from among the lines of the
Torah an entire heavenly metaphysics.
The theosophy of the Zohar is based on the aforementioned theory
of emanation or sephirot. The eventually developed theory concerning
the gradation of the worlds is first mentioned: The DIem Hatzilot
("World of Emanation"), Dlem Habriah ("World of Creation"), Olem
Hayetzira ("World of Formation"). Secret threads stretch between one
world and other worlds; and the actions of people on the lower level
reflect on the higher level of the Olem Habriah. Man's soul is under
the influence not only of the creative forces, of the serene divine
"sephirot"; under the kingdom of these luminous spirits, there is the
dark kingdom of the evil spirits and devils, who lurk on man's soul in
order to trap it in their nets. The first kingdom confronts the second,
the sitra achra, as the kernel to the shell. The kingdom of the evil-
doers also has its ten levels or negative sephirot; and the sinfulness in
man's soul issues from them. Each transgression turns the man over
to the jurisdiction of the evil spirits; and each good deed links him to
the serene, creative forces. And that is the basic intention of the Torah.

The authors of the Zohar, which is a concealed Torah, had inter-
preted the revelation of this book as a forecast of the "Messianic
times." The book was revealed in the middle of the: 1st century of
the sixth millenium of the creation of the world, during which,
according to the ancient Talmudical legend, the Messiah is due to
appear (Vol. III, # 50). There are hints scattered in the Zohar to the
effect that during the forthcoming centuries (from the 14th to the 17th)
the miracles of the advent of the Messiah will be manifest. kingdoms
and peoples will perish; the Jewish nation will regain its former glory;
the Ingathering of Exiles will take place in Palestine-also the miracle
of resurrection.
Thus, at the end of the 13th century, this quaint mixture of meta-
physics and mystical commentary, which later became the holy book
of the Kabbalists, issued forth from some secretive source. Many
believed that Moses de Leon circulated copies of a genuine manuscript
of Simeon ben Yohai, which was allegedly found in his time; and
others maintained that he wrote in the name of the old lanna, because
the soul of that sage was inherent in it; a third group suspected a
downright forgery. Soon after the demise of Moses de Leon, an
attempt was made to determine if the Zohar was authentic. A certain
nabob, of Avilla, offered de Leon's widow, who lived in penury, a
substantial sum of money for the original copy of the Zohar, from
which her late husband made his copies; but the widow replied
solemnly that her husband did not copy any old manuscripts--that
he wrote everything from memory. On the other hand, Joseph ben
T odros Abulefia, a friend of the deceased, testified that he had com-
pared various copies of the Zohar made by de Leon and found all of
them identical.

The controversy over the origin of this enigmatic book continued
during the centuries that followed, especially after it aroused a strong
Messianic-mystical movement in Judaism. It was uncertain whether
the Zohar actually emerged in the 2nd century, in the mind of the
dreamer of Galilee, or whether it was the work of a Kabbalist, who
lived some eleven centuries later.
Historiography propounds the question differently, and answers it
in a way that is customary in solving all the issues of collective
apocrypha. God wishes different generations to participate in com-
piling the Zohar as a collection of an entire cycle of works: mystics of
Palestine and Babylon from the epoch of the Book of Creation;
Spanish and German Kabbalists of the 13th century; and also those
of the later centuries, until the middle of the 16th. At that time, Zohar
was first printed in Italy. Each participant contributed his share to this
compilation, conforming to the original tone. However, the editing of
Moses de Leon determined its character.(10) Since that time, the
religious literature has been enriched by a book, destined to serve as a
banner for religious and Messianic movements, that aroused the
Jewish world from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

(10) In the question of whether Moses de Leon was the author or only the compiler
and editor of the Zohar, we are inclined to a�cept the latter view. The original
and, partly, beautiful apocalyptic style of the Zohar-if one also bears in mind
its Aramaic language along with the system of the old midrashim-testifies to
the fact that the chief contents of the book belong to the East, not to the West.
It seems plausible that upon his arrival in Palestine in 1267, Ramban, who was
somewhat of a Kabbalist, took to assembling copies of old midrashim, and trans-
mitting them to Spain. The same could have been done by Abraham Abalufio
in the course of his wanderings through the world. Copies of those fragments
circulated for a while in the circles of the "hallowed." And later, Moses de Leon
assembled and edited them in the language of the originals-in Aramaic-at the
same time interposing ideas of the new Kabbala into the texts. All materials that
Graetz gathered in the Supplement XII, in the Vllth volume of his History, are
not sufficient to accuse Moses de Leon of forgery; they only prove that he applied
in this instance the usual procedures of the pseudo-epigraphic. See Bibliography.

From p.583 volume 3 (Volume VI) S. Dubnov
The dissemination of the Zohar quickly brought about a rapproche-
ment between Italy and the nest of Kabbalists in Palestine
(Blaw, Venezianische Rabbiner, 1550-1650 Budapest, 1906).
Constant relations were established between both countries. Italy pro-
provided Palestine with printed books on Kabbala, and Palestine sent to
Italy the manuscripts of Moses Cordovero and Ari. Western wanderers
heading for Safed, the center of the Kabbala, addressed enthusiastic
ers home. One of those pilgrims (Samson Bak) wrote from there
in 1582 :

'It is eight years since the Kabbalist, the pious and divine man Rabbi
Isaac Luria Ashkenazi, died. He understood the rustle of trees ~nd the
chirping of birds, the language of cattle and the pure murmur of the
stream. When he observed closely the shadow of a man on the atmos-
phere surrounding his body, he distinguished between the good and evil
spirit that always accompanies man, and he would guess what sins he
had committed secretly. He knew what soul had transmigrated into each
individual. He conversed with the souls of the saints on earth. Wondrous
objects revealed themselves to him in the secrets of the Kabbala. Here he
left two disciples. From one of them-Joseph Mugrabin (Maarabi ?]-
I receive the study of the Kabbala; and the other, rabbi Hayyim [Vital]
is in Jerusalem. In the study of the Kabbala, they differ from all the
other Kabbalists; and they tower above them like light over darkness.
All disciples of Ari are in accord with the Zohar, but not with the books
of the Kabbala'.

Exile and redemption from Zohar, Aharei Mot, m 77b 
In time to come the Holy One, blessed be he, will restore the Shekhinah to her
place, so that all things shall be joined together in a single union, as it is written:
'In that day shall the Lord be one and his Name one' (Zech. 14:9). It may be
said: Is he not One now? No, for now the sinners of the world have brought it
about that he is not one. For the Matrona [= the Shekhinah or the Sefirah
Malkhut] is removed from the King and they are no longer united, and the
Supernal Mother [Binah] is removed from the King and does not give him suck.
Because the King is without the Matrona, he is not invested with the crowns of
the Mother [Imma], as he was before when he was joined to the Matrona, for the
Mother crowned him with many resplendent crowns and supernal, holy
diadems, as it is written: 'Go out, daughters of Zion, and look on King
Solomon, at the crown with which his mother crowned him' (Song of Songs
3:11). When he was united with the Matrona, then the Supernal Mother
crowned him in a fitting manner; but now that the King is not with the
Matrona, the Supernal Mother takes her crowns and withholds from him the
waters of the streams, and he is not united in a single bond. And so he is not, so
to speak, one. But when the Matrona shall return to the place of the Temple
and the King shall be wedded to her in a single union, then all things shall be
joined together in one, without separation, and that is why it is written: 'In that
day shall the Lord be one, and his Name one'.

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