Kabbalah

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. The speculative aspects of Kabbalah (Kabbalah iyyunit) were stressed in southern European schools; more practical, socioethical, and sometimes magical themes (Kabbalah maasit) were emphasized in northern European circles. Kabbalistic interest, at first confined to a select few, became the preoccupation of large numbers of Jews following their expulsion from Spain (1492) and Portugal (1495). The teachings of Kabbalah, as developed by the visionary Isaac ben Solomon Luria, are credited with giving rise to the Sabbatean movement led by Sabbatai Zevi.

Like every other Jewish religious expression, Kabbalah was based on the Old Testament revelation. The revealed text was interpreted with the aid of various hermeneutic techniques. Of the many methods available, the Kabbalists most frequently used three forms of letter and number symbolism: gematria, notarikon, and temurah.

The Kabbalists developed distinctive doctrines of creation and of redemption. Their doctrine of creation was built on a theory of emanations and asserted that the world derived from the transcendent and unknowable God (En Soph) through a series of increasingly material manifestations (sephirot). The manifestations were repeated, in some versions of Kabbalah, in four interlocking series or "worlds": emanation (atzilut), creation (beriah), formation (yetzirah), and action or making (assiyah). By the sin of Adam and the later sins of humankind, the immanent aspect of God, or the Shekhinah (divine presence), was exiled in the final sephirah, malkhut (kingdom). The sexual imagery of Kabbalah treats Shekhinah (the word is feminine in gender) as the female aspect of divinity; it symbolically expresses the idea of the restoration of harmony (tikkun) as the reunion of the male and female aspects of the divine, that is, as the reunion of divine transcendence and immanence.

The classic document of the Kabbalistic tradition, the Zohar, was compiled by Moses de Leon about 1290. A more systematic presentation of the basic doctrine is contained in Moses Cordovero's Pardes rimmonim (Garden of Pomegranates, 1548). Kabbalah was a major influence in the development of Hasidism and still has adherents among Hasidic Jews.

Joseph L Blau

Bibliography:
J Abelson, Jewish Mysticism (1981); P S Berg, Kaballah for the Layman (1982); J L Blau, The Christian Interpretation of the Cabala in the Renaissance (1944); J Dan and R Keiner, eds., The Early Kabbalah (1986); P Epstein, Kabbalah (1978); G Scholem, Kabbalah (1974); D Meltzer, ed., The Secret Garden (1976); H Weiner, Nine and One Half Mystics (1969).

Kabbalah

(Heb. qabal, "to receive, tradition"). An esoteric mystic lore of Judaism, passed as secret doctrine to only the chosen few. Its origin is lost in antiquity, but one sees traces of ancient Jewish apocalyptic, talmudic, and midrashic literature and non Jewish sources of Gnosticism and Neoplatonism in Kabbalah. Its first systematic development occurred among the Babylonian Jewish Gaonim scholars (600 - 1000 AD). As the Babylonian center waned, other areas became prominent, Italy, Spain, southern France, and Germany, and the development continued in the 1100s and 1200s. The most prominent book of Kabbalah is the Zohar, which appeared in 1300 under Moses de Leon. Once this material was recorded, everyone was able to study it. Further development occurred in the sixteenth century in Safed, Israel, under Isaac Luria, who initiated a distinctive emphasis of redemption and messianism. Rabbis at times denounced this form of study as so much speculation that would only lead Jewish people away from mainline Judaism's three great emphases: repentance, prayer, and good deeds to man and God.

Christians in the Middle Ages also became interested in Kabbalah, e.g., Lully, Pico della Mirandela, and John Reuchlin. 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. Christians also studied this material to find verification of their mystical beliefs.

Kabbalah pictures God as being above all existence; through a series of ten emanations the world was created. The system is somewhat pantheistic since everything that exists has its place in God. Through good deeds a pious Jew supposedly affects the various emanations, ultimately affecting God on behalf of mankind.

Kabbalah includes reincarnation. The pure soul, once the body dies, will be present among the emanations who control the world. An impure soul must be reborn in another body, and the process continues until it has been made pure. Evil is only the negation of good, and in the Jewish setting evil is overcome through the three great emphases, along with strict adherence to the law.

What is most distinctive is the hermeneutical principle of finding hidden meanings in the texts of Scriptures. Human language in Scripture is examined not only allegorically and analogically, but also through the interpretation of words and letters according to their numerical equivalents, and by interchanging numerical equivalents new letters and words could be created, thereby allowing for new interpretations.

Kabbalah influenced Jewish messianic movements, principally Hasidism, which developed a joyful religious expression that avoided sterile legalism.

L Goldberg

Bibliography.
J Abelson, Jewish Mysticism; D C Ginsburg, "The Kabbalah," in The Essenes; E J, II; A E Waite, Holy Kabbalah; M Waxman, "The Kabbalah," in A History of Jewish Literature, II.

What is Cabbalism?

Jews believe that King Solomon was the first great Cabbalist who developed rituals for controlling Demonic and angelic forces. Jewish Cabbalists believe that there are 33 (Masonic) steps to attaining spiritual perfection. Through disciplined study of Cabbalism, Jews believe that they may eventually see God and become his intellectual equal. In the Jewish Talmud, a famous Cabbalistic Rabbi debates God, where God admits the Rabbi has beaten Him (YHWH, God)! Jews also believe that through Cabbalism, they can perform the miracles of Jesus Christ. In this fashion, they can themselves become individual Christs (their own Messiah) through spiritual "perfection?"

R Novosel