Kabbalah

KabbalahorQabalah(/kəˈbɑːlə,ˈkæbələ/kə-BAH-lə,KAB-ə-lə;Hebrew:קַבָּלָה‎,romanized:Qabbālā,lit.'reception, tradition')is anesotericmethod, discipline andschool of thoughtinJewish mysticism.It forms the foundation ofmysticalreligious interpretations within Judaism.A traditional Kabbalist is called aMekubbal(מְקֻובָּל‎,Məqubbāl, 'receiver').
Jewish Kabbalistsoriginally developed transmissions of theprimary texts of Kabbalahwithin the realm ofJewish traditionand often use classical Jewish scriptures to explain and demonstrate its mystical teachings. Kabbalists hold these teachings to define the inner meaning of both theHebrew Bibleand traditionalrabbinic literatureand their formerly concealed transmitted dimension, as well as to explain the significance of Jewish religious observances.
Historically, Kabbalah emerged from earlier forms ofJewish mysticism, in 12th- to 13th-centuryal-Andalus (Spain)and inHakhmei Provence,and was reinterpreted during the Jewish mystical renaissance in 16th-centuryOttoman Palestine.TheZohar, the foundational text of Kabbalah, was authored in the late 13th century, likely byMoses de León.Isaac Luria(16th century) is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah; Lurianic Kabbalah was popularised in the form ofHasidic Judaismfrom the 18th century onwards.During the 20th century, academic interest in Kabbalistic texts led primarily by the Jewish historianGershom Scholemhas inspired the development ofhistorical research on Kabbalahin the field ofJudaic studies.
Though innumerable glosses, marginalia, commentaries, precedent works, satellite texts and other minor works contribute to an understanding of the Kabbalah as an evolving tradition, the primary texts in the main line of Jewish mysticism that inarguably fall under the heading 'Kabbalah'—conforming to the sense of every definition and meeting all of the various diagnostic criteria of these different perspectives—are theBahir,Zohar,Pardes Rimonim,andEtz Chayim ('Ein Sof').The earlyHekhalot literatureis acknowledged as ancestral to the sensibilities of this later flowering of the Kabbalahand more especially theSefer Yetzirahis acknowledged as the antecedent from which all these books draw many of their formal inspirations. TheSefer Yetzirahis a brief document of only few pages that was written many centuries before thehighandlate medievalworks (sometime between 200-600CE), detailing an alphanumeric vision of cosmology—may be understood as a kind of prelude to the canon of Kabbalah.
The history of Jewish mysticism encompasses various forms ofesotericand spiritual practices aimed at understanding the divine and the hidden aspects of existence. This mystical tradition has evolved significantly over millennia, influencing and being influenced by different historical, cultural, and religious contexts. Among the most prominent forms of Jewish mysticism is Kabbalah, which emerged in the 12th century and has since become a central component of Jewish mystical thought. Other notable early forms include prophetic and apocalyptic mysticism, which are evident in biblical and post-biblical texts.
The roots of Jewish mysticism can be traced back to the biblical era, with prophetic figures such asElijahandEzekielexperiencing divine visions and encounters. This tradition continued into the apocalyptic period, where texts like1 Enochand theBook of Danielintroduced complex angelology and eschatological themes. TheHeikhalotandMerkavahliterature, dating from the 2nd century to the early medieval period, further developed these mystical themes, focusing on visionary ascents to the heavenly palaces and the divine chariot.
The medieval period saw the formalization of Kabbalah, particularly in Southern France and Spain. Foundational texts such as theBahirand theZoharwere composed during this time, laying the groundwork for later developments. The Kabbalistic teachings of this era delved deeply into the nature of the divine, the structure of the universe, and the process of creation. Notable Kabbalists likeMoses de Leónplayed crucial roles in disseminating these teachings, which were characterized by their profound symbolic and allegorical interpretations of the Torah.
In the early modern period,Lurianic Kabbalah, founded byIsaac Luriain the 16th century, introduced new metaphysical concepts such asTzimtzum(divine contraction) andTikkun(cosmic repair), which have had a lasting impact on Jewish thought. The 18th century saw the rise ofHasidism, a movement that integrated Kabbalistic ideas into a popular, revivalist context, emphasizing personal mystical experience and the presence of the divine in everyday life. Today, the academic study of Jewish mysticism, pioneered by scholars likeGershom Scholem, continues to explore its historical, textual, and philosophical dimensions.
According to theZohar, a foundational text for kabbalistic thought,Torah studycan proceed along four levels of interpretation (exegesis).These four levels are calledpardesfrom their initial letters (PRDSפַּרדֵס‎, 'orchard'):
Kabbalah is considered by its followers as a necessary part of the study ofTorah– the study of Torah (theTanakhand rabbinic literature) being an inherent duty of observant Jews.
Modern academic-historical study of Jewish mysticism reserves the termkabbalahto designate the particular, distinctive doctrines that textually emerged fully expressed in the Middle Ages, as distinct from the earlierMerkabah mystical conceptsand methods.According to this descriptive categorization, both versions of Kabbalistic theory, the medieval-Zoharic and the early-modernLurianic Kabbalahtogether comprise the Theosophical tradition in Kabbalah, while theMeditative-Ecstatic Kabbalahincorporates a parallel inter-related Medieval tradition. A third tradition, related but more shunned, involves the magical aims ofPractical Kabbalah.Moshe Idel, for example, writes that these 3 basic models can be discerned operating and competing throughout the whole history of Jewish mysticism, beyond the particular Kabbalistic background of the Middle Ages.They can be readily distinguished by their basic intent with respect to God:
According to Kabbalistic belief, early kabbalistic knowledge was transmitted orally by the Patriarchs,prophets, and sages, eventually to be "interwoven" into Jewish religious writings and culture.According to this view, early kabbalah was, in around the 10th century BCE, an open knowledge practiced by over a million people in ancient Israel.Foreign conquests drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time (theSanhedrin) to hide the knowledge and make it secret, fearing that it might be misused if it fell into the wrong hands.
It is hard to clarify with any degree of certainty the exact concepts within kabbalah. There are several different schools of thought with very different outlooks; however, all are accepted as correct.Modernhalakhicauthorities have tried to narrow the scope and diversity within kabbalah, by restricting study to certain texts, notablyZoharand the teachings of Isaac Luria as passed down throughHayyim ben Joseph Vital.However, even this qualification does little to limit the scope of understanding and expression, as included in those works are commentaries on Abulafian writings,Sefer Yetzirah, Albotonian writings, and theBerit Menuhah,which is known to the kabbalistic elect and which, as described more recently byGershom Scholem, combined ecstatic with theosophical mysticism. It is therefore important to bear in mind when discussing things such as thesephirotand their interactions that one is dealing with highly abstract concepts that at best can only be understood intuitively.
From theRenaissanceonwards Jewish Kabbalah texts entered non-Jewish culture, where they were studied and translated byChristian HebraistsandHermeticoccultists.The syncretic traditions ofChristian CabalaandHermetic Qabalahdeveloped independently of Judaic Kabbalah, reading the Jewish texts as universalist ancient wisdom preserved from theGnostictraditions of antiquity. Both adapted the Jewish concepts freely from their Jewish understanding, to merge with multiple other theologies, religious traditions and magical associations. With the decline of Christian Cabala in theAge of Reason, Hermetic Qabalah continued as a central underground tradition inWestern esotericism. Through these non-Jewish associations with magic,alchemyand divination, Kabbalah acquired some popularoccultconnotations forbidden within Judaism, where Jewish theurgic Practical Kabbalah was a minor, permitted tradition restricted for a few elite. Today, many publications on Kabbalah belong to the non-JewishNew Ageand occult traditions of Cabala, rather than giving an accurate picture of Judaic Kabbalah.Instead, academic and traditional Jewish publications now translate and study Judaic Kabbalah for wide readership.
The definition of Kabbalah varies according to the tradition and aims of those following it.According to its earliest and original usage in ancient Hebrew it means 'reception' or 'tradition', and in this context it tends to refer to any sacred writing composed after (or otherwise outside of) the five books of the Torah.After the Talmud is written, it refers to the Oral Law (both in the sense of the 'Talmud' itself and in the sense of continuing dialog and thought devoted to the scripture in every generation).In the much later writings of Eleazar of Worms (c. 1350), it refers totheurgyor the conjuring of demons and angels by the invocation of their secret names.The understanding of the word Kabbalah undergoes a transformation of its meaning in medieval Judaism, in the books which are now primarily referred to as 'the Kabbalah': theBahir, theZohar,Etz Hayimetc.In these books the word Kabbalah is used in manifold new senses. During this major phase it refers to the continuity of revelation in every generation, on the one hand, while also suggesting the necessity of revelation to remain concealed and secret or esoteric in every period by formal requirements native to sacred truth.When the term Kabbalah is used to refer to a canon of secret mystical books by medieval Jews, these aforementioned books and other works in their constellation are the books and the literary sensibility to which the term refers.Even later the word is adapted or appropriated inWestern esotericism(Christian KabbalahandHermetic Qabalah), where it influences the tenor and aesthetics of European occultism practiced by gentiles or non-Jews. But above all, Jewish Kabbalah is a set of sacred and magical teachings meant to explain the relationship between the unchanging, eternalGod—the mysteriousEin Sof(אֵין סוֹף‎, 'The Infinite')—and the mortal, finiteuniverse(God'screation).
The nature of the divine prompted kabbalists to envision two aspects to God: (a) God in essence, absolutelytranscendent, unknowable, limitlessdivine simplicitybeyond revelation, and (b) God in manifestation, the revealed persona of God through which he creates and sustains and relates to humankind. Kabbalists speak of the first asEin/Ayn Sof(אין סוף "the infinite/endless", literally "there is no end"). Of the impersonalEin Sofnothing can be grasped. However, the second aspect of divine emanations, accessible to human perception, dynamically interacting throughout spiritual and physical existence, reveal the divineimmanently, and are bound up in the life of man. Kabbalists believe that these two aspects are not contradictory but complement one another, emanationsmysticallyrevealing the concealed mystery from within theGodhead.
As a term describing the Infinite Godhead beyond Creation, Kabbalists viewed theEin Sofitself as too sublime to be referred to directly in the Torah. It is not aHoly Name in Judaism, as no name could contain a revelation of the Ein Sof. Even terming it "No End" is an inadequate representation of its true nature, the description only bearing its designation in relation to Creation. However, the Torah does narrate God speaking in the first person, most memorably the first word of theTen Commandments, a reference without any description or name to the simpleDivine essence(termed alsoAtzmus Ein Sof– Essence of the Infinite) beyond even the duality of Infinitude/Finitude. In contrast, the term Ein Sof describes the Godhead as Infinite lifeforce first cause, continuously keeping all Creation in existence. TheZoharreads thefirst words of Genesis,BeReishit Bara Elohim – In the beginning God created, as "With(the level of)Reishit (Beginning)(the Ein Sof)createdElohim(God's manifestation in creation)":
The structure of emanations has been described in various ways:Sephirot(divine attributes) andPartzufim(divine "faces"),Ohr(spiritual light and flow),Names of Godand the supernalTorah,Olamot(Spiritual Worlds), aDivine TreeandArchetypal Man,Angelic Chariot and Palaces, male and female, enclothed layers of reality, inwardly holy vitality and external Kelipot shells,613 channels("limbs" of the King) and the divine Souls ofMan. These symbols are used to describe various levels and aspects of Divine manifestation, from thePnimi(inner) dimensions to theHitzoni(outer).It is solely in relation to the emanations, certainly not theEin SofGround of all Being, that Kabbalah usesanthropomorphic symbolismto relate psychologically to divinity. Kabbalists debated the validity of anthropomorphic symbolism, between its disclosure as mystical allusion, versus its instrumental use as allegorical metaphor; in the language of the Zohar, symbolism "touches yet does not touch" its point.
TheSephirot(also spelled "sefirot"; singularsefirah) are the ten emanations and attributes of God with which he continually sustains the existence of the universe. The Zohar and other Kabbalistic texts elaborate on the emergence of the sephirot from a state of concealed potential in theEin Sofuntil their manifestation in the mundane world. In particular, Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (known as "the Ramak"), describes how God emanated the myriad details of finite reality out of the absolute unity of Divine light via the ten sephirot, or vessels.
According to Lurianic cosmology, thesephirotcorrespond to various levels of creation (tensephirotin each of the Four Worlds, and four worlds within each of the larger four worlds, each containing tensephirot, which themselves contain tensephirot, to an infinite number of possibilities),and are emanated from the Creator for the purpose of creating the universe. Thesephirotare considered revelations of the Creator's will (ratzon),and they should not be understood as ten different "gods" but as ten different ways the one God reveals his will through the Emanations. It is not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes.
Divine creation by means of the Ten Sephirot is an ethical process. 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 becomes 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 (tzadikimplural ofTzadik) ascend these ethical qualities of the tensephirotby doing righteous actions. If there were no righteous humans, the blessings of God would become completely hidden, and creation would cease to exist. 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. Ultimately, it is necessary to show compassion toward oneself too in order to share compassion toward others. This "selfish" enjoyment of God's blessings but only in order to empower oneself to assist others is an important aspect of "Restriction", and is considered a kind ofgolden meanin kabbalah, corresponding to thesefirahof Adornment (Tiferet) being part of the "Middle Column".
Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, wroteTomer Devorah(Palm Tree of Deborah), in which he presents an ethical teaching of Judaism in the kabbalistic context of the tensephirot.Tomer Devorahhas become also a foundationalMusar text.
The most esotericIdrotsections of the classic Zohar make reference tohypostaticmale and femalePartzufim(Divine Personas) displacing the Sephirot, manifestations of God in particularAnthropomorphicsymbolic personalities based onBiblical esoteric exegesisandmidrashicnarratives. Lurianic Kabbalah places these at the centre of our existence, rather than earlier Kabbalah's Sephirot, which Luria saw as broken in Divine crisis. Contemporary cognitive understanding of the Partzuf symbols relates them toJungian archetypesof thecollective unconscious, reflecting a psychologised progression from youth to sage in therapeutic healing back to the infinite Ein Sof/Unconscious, as Kabbalah is simultaneously boththeologyandpsychology.
Medieval Kabbalists believed that all things are linked to God through theseemanations, making all levels in creation part of one great, gradually descendingchain of being. Through this any lower creation reflects its particular roots in supernal divinity. Kabbalists agreed with thedivine transcendencedescribed byJewish philosophy, but as only referring to theEin Sofunknowable Godhead. They reinterpreted thetheisticphilosophical concept of creation from nothing, replacing God's creative act withpanentheisticcontinual self-emanation by the mysticalAyinNothingness/No-thing sustaining all spiritual and physical realms as successively more corporeal garments, veils and condensations ofdivine immanence. The innumerable levels of descent divide intoFour comprehensive spiritual worlds,Atziluth("Closeness" – Divine Wisdom),Beriah("Creation" – Divine Understanding),Yetzirah("Formation" – Divine Emotions),Assiah("Action" – Divine Activity), with a preceding Fifth WorldAdam Kadmon("Primordial Man" – Divine Will) sometimes excluded due to its sublimity. Together the whole spiritual heavens form the Divine Persona/Anthropos.
Hasidic thought extends the divine immanence of Kabbalah by holding that God is all that really exists, all else being completely undifferentiated from God's perspective. This view can be defined asacosmicmonisticpanentheism. According to this philosophy, God's existence is higher than anything that this world can express, yet he includes all things of this world within his divine reality in perfect unity, so that the creation effected no change in him at all. This paradox as seen from dual human and divine perspectives is dealt with at length inChabad texts.
Among problems considered in the Hebrew Kabbalah is the theological issue of the nature and origin of evil. In the views of some Kabbalists this conceives "evil" as a "quality of God", asserting that negativity enters into the essence of the Absolute. In this view it is conceived that the Absolute needs evil to "be what it is", i.e., to exist.Foundational texts of Medieval Kabbalism conceived evil as a demonic parallel to the holy, called theSitra Achra(the "Other Side"), and theqlippoth(the "shells/husks") that cover and conceal the holy, are nurtured from it, and yet also protect it by limiting its revelation. Scholem termed this element of the Spanish Kabbalah a "Jewish gnostic" motif, in the sense of dual powers in the divine realm of manifestation. In a radical notion, the root of evil is found within the 10 holy Sephirot, through an imbalance ofGevurah, the power of "Strength/Judgement/Severity".
Gevurah is necessary for Creation to exist as it counterposesChesed("loving-kindness"), restricting the unlimited divine bounty within suitable vessels, so forming the Worlds. However, if man sins (actualising impure judgement within his soul), the supernal Judgement is reciprocally empowered over the Kindness, introducing disharmony among the Sephirot in the divine realm and exile from God throughout Creation. The demonic realm, though illusory in its holy origin, becomes the real apparent realm of impurity in lower Creation. In theZohar, the sin of Adam and Eve (who embodiedAdam Kadmonbelow) took place in the spiritual realms. Their sin was that they separated theTree of knowledge(10sefirotwithinMalkuth, representingDivine immanence), from theTree of lifewithin it (10 sefirot withinTiferet, representingDivine transcendence). This introduced the false perception of duality into lower creation, an externalTree of Deathnurtured from holiness, and anAdam Belialof impurity.In Lurianic Kabbalah, evil originates from a primordial shattering of the sephirot of God's Persona before creation of thestable spiritual worlds, mystically represented by the 8Kings of Edom(the derivative ofGevurah) "who died" before any king reigned in Israel fromGenesis 36. In the divine view from above within Kabbalah, emphasised inHasidicPanentheism, the appearance of duality and pluralism below dissolves into the absoluteMonismof God, psychologising evil.Though impure below, what appears as evil derives from a divine blessing too high to be contained openly.The mystical task of therighteousin the Zohar is to reveal this concealed Divine Oneness and absolute good, to "convert bitterness into sweetness, darkness into light".
Kabbalistic doctrine gives man the central role in Creation, as his soul and body correspond to the supernal divine manifestations. In the Christian Kabbalah this scheme was universalised to describeharmonia mundi, the harmony of Creation within man.In Judaism, it gave a profound spiritualisation of Jewish practice. While the kabbalistic scheme gave a radically innovative, though conceptually continuous, development of mainstream Midrashic and Talmudic rabbinic notions, kabbalistic thought underscored and invigorated conservative Jewish observance. The esoteric teachings of kabbalah gave the traditional mitzvot observances the central role in spiritual creation, whether the practitioner was learned in this knowledge or not. Accompanying normative Jewish observance and worship with elite mystical kavanot intentions gave themtheurgicpower, but sincere observance by common folk, especially in the Hasidic popularisation of kabbalah, could replace esoteric abilities. Many kabbalists were also leading legal figures in Judaism, such as Nachmanides andJoseph Karo.
Medieval kabbalah elaborates particular reasons for each Biblicalmitzvah, and their role in harmonising the supernal divine flow, uniting masculine and feminine forces on High. With this, the feminine Divine presence in this world is drawn from exile to the Holy One Above. The613 mitzvotare embodied in the organs and soul of man. Lurianic Kabbalah incorporates this in the more inclusive scheme of Jewish messianic rectification of exiled divinity. Jewish mysticism, in contrast to Divine transcendence rationalist human-centred reasons for Jewish observance, gave Divine-immanent providential cosmic significance to the daily events in the worldly life of man in general, and the spiritual role of Jewish observance in particular.
The Kabbalah posits that the human soul has three elements: thenefesh,ru'ach, andneshamah. Thenefeshis found in all humans, and enters the physical body at birth. It is the source of one's physical and psychological nature. 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. They are said to only fully exist in people awakened spiritually. A common way of explaining the three parts of the soul is as follows:
Reincarnation, the transmigration of the soul after death, was introduced into Judaism as a central esoteric tenet of Kabbalah from the Medieval period onwards, called Gilgul neshamot ("cycles of the soul"). The concept does not appear overtly in the Hebrew Bible or classic rabbinic literature, and was rejected by various Medieval Jewish philosophers. However, the Kabbalists explained a number of scriptural passages in reference to Gilgulim. The concept became central to the later Kabbalah of Isaac Luria, who systemised it as the personal parallel to the cosmic process of rectification. Through Lurianic Kabbalah and Hasidic Judaism, reincarnation entered popular Jewish culture as a literary motif.
Tzimtzum(Constriction/Concentration) is the primordial cosmic act whereby God "contracted" His infinite light, leaving a "void" into which the light of existence was poured. This allowed the emergence of independent existence that would not become nullified by the pristine Infinite Light, reconciling the unity of theEin Sofwith the plurality of creation. This changed the first creative act into one of withdrawal/exile, the antithesis of the ultimate Divine Will. In contrast, a new emanation after the Tzimtzum shone into the vacuum to begin creation, but led to an initial instability calledTohu(Chaos), leading to a new crisis ofShevirah(Shattering) of the sephirot vessels. The shards of the broken vessels fell down into the lower realms, animated by remnants of their divine light, causing primordial exile within the Divine Persona before the creation of man. Exile and enclothement of higher divinity within lower realms throughout existence requires man to complete theTikkun olam(Rectification) process. Rectification Above corresponds to the reorganization of the independent sephirot into relatingPartzufim(Divine Personas), previously referred to obliquely in the Zohar. From the catastrophe stems the possibility of self-aware Creation, and also theKelipot(Impure Shells) of previous Medieval kabbalah. The metaphoricalanthropomorphismof the partzufim accentuates the sexual unifications of the redemption process, whileGilgulreincarnation emerges from the scheme. Uniquely, Lurianism gave formerly private mysticism the urgency of Messianic social involvement.
According to interpretations of Luria, the catastrophe stemmed from the "unwillingness" of the residue imprint after the Tzimtzum to relate to the new vitality that began creation. The process was arranged to shed and harmonise the Divine Infinity with the latent potential of evil.The creation ofAdamwould have redeemed existence, but his sin caused new shevirah of Divine vitality, requiring the Giving of the Torah to begin Messianic rectification. Historical and individual history becomes the narrative of reclaiming exiled Divine sparks.
Kabbalistic thought extendedBiblicalandMidrashicnotions that God enacted Creation through the Hebrew language and through theTorahinto a full linguistic mysticism. In this, every Hebrew letter, word, number, even accent on words of the Hebrew Bible containJewish mystical meanings, describing the spiritual dimensions within exoteric ideas, and it teaches thehermeneuticmethods of interpretation for ascertaining these meanings.Names of God in Judaismhave further prominence, though infinite meaning turns the whole Torah into a Divine name. As the Hebrew name of things is the channel of their lifeforce, parallel to the sephirot, so concepts such as "holiness" and "mitzvot" embody ontological Divine immanence, as God can be known in manifestation as well as transcendence. The infinite potential of meaning in the Torah, as in theEin Sof, is reflected in the symbol of the two trees of the Garden of Eden; the Torah of theTree of Knowledgeis the external, finiteHalachicTorah, enclothed within which the mystics perceive the unlimited infinite plurality of meanings of the Torah of theTree of Life. In Lurianic terms, each of the 600,000 root souls of Israel find their own interpretation in Torah, as "God, the Torah and Israel are all One".
As early as the 1st century BCE Jews believed that the Torah and other canonical texts contained encoded messages and hidden meanings.Gematriais one method for discovering its hidden meanings. In this system, each Hebrew letter also represents a number. 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.
In contemporary interpretation of kabbalah, Sanford Drob makes cognitive sense of this linguistic mythos by relating it topostmodern philosophicalconcepts described byJacques Derridaand others, where all reality embodies narrative texts with infinite plurality of meanings brought by the reader. In this dialogue, kabbalah survives the nihilism ofDeconstructionby incorporating its own LurianicShevirah, and by the dialectical paradox where man and God imply each other.
The founder of the academic study of Jewish mysticism,Gershom Scholem, privileged an intellectual view of the nature of KabbalisticsymbolsasdialecticTheosophicalspeculation. In contrast, contemporary scholarship ofMoshe IdelandElliot R. Wolfsonhas opened aphenomenologicalunderstanding of themysticalnature of Kabbalistic experience, based on a close reading of the historical texts. Wolfson has shown that among the closed elite circles of mystical activity, medieval Theosophical Kabbalists held that an intellectual view of their symbols was secondary to the experiential. In the context of medievalJewish philosophicaldebates on the role of imagination in Biblical prophecy, and essentialist versus instrumental kabbalistic debates about the relation ofsephirotto God, they sawcontemplation on the sephirotas a vehicle for prophecy. Judaism's ban on physical iconography, along with anthropomorphic metaphors for Divinity in theHebrew Bibleandmidrash, enabled their internal visualisation of the Divine sephirot Anthropos in imagination. Disclosure of the aniconic in iconic internal psychology, involved sublimatory revelation of Kabbalah's sexual unifications. Previous academic distinction betweenTheosophicalversus AbulafianEcstatic-Prophetic Kabbalahoverstated their division of aims, which revolved around visual versus verbal/auditory views of prophecy.In addition, throughout the history of Judaic Kabbalah, the greatest mystics claimed to receive new teachings fromElijah the Prophet, the souls of earlier sages (a purpose ofLurianic meditationprostrated on the graves of TalmudicTannaim,Amoraimand Kabbalists), the soul of themishnah, ascents during sleep, heavenly messengers, etc. A tradition ofparapsychologyabilities,psychicknowledge, andtheurgicintercessions in heaven for the community is recounted in thehagiographicworksPraises ofthe Ari,Praises of theBesht, and in many other Kabbalistic andHasidictales. Kabbalistic andHasidictexts are concerned to apply themselves fromexegesisand theory to spiritual practice, includingpropheticdrawing of new mystical revelations in Torah. The mythological symbols Kabbalah uses to answer philosophical questions, themselves invitemysticalcontemplation,intuitiveapprehension andpsychologicalengagement.
In bringing Theosophical Kabbalah into contemporary intellectual understanding, using the tools of modern and postmodernphilosophyandpsychology, Sanford Drob shows philosophically how every symbol of the Kabbalah embodies the simultaneousdialecticalparadox of mysticalCoincidentia oppositorum, the conjoining of two opposite dualities.Thus the InfiniteEin Sofis above the duality ofYesh/AyinBeing/Non-Beingtranscending Existence/Nothingness (Becominginto Existence through the souls of Man who are the inner dimension of all spiritual and physical worlds, yet simultaneously the Infinite Divine generative lifesource beyond Creation that continuously keeps everything spiritual and physical in existence);Sephirotbridge the philosophical problem of the One and the Many; Man is both Divine (Adam Kadmon) and human (invited to project human psychology onto Divinity to understand it);Tzimtzumis both illusion and real from Divine and human perspectives; evil and good imply each other (Kelipahdraws from Divinity, good arises only from overcoming evil); Existence is simultaneously partial (Tzimtzum), broken (Shevirah), and whole (Tikun) from different perspectives; God experiences Himself as Other through Man, Man embodies and completes (Tikun) the Divine Persona Above. In Kabbalah's reciprocalPanentheism,TheismandAtheism/Humanismrepresent two incomplete poles of a mutual dialectic that imply and include each other's partial validity.This was expressed by theChabadHasidic thinkerAaron of Staroselye, that the truth of any concept is revealed only in its opposite.
By expressing itself usingsymbolsandmyththat transcend single interpretations, Theosophical Kabbalah incorporates aspects ofphilosophy, Jewishtheology,psychologyand unconsciousdepth psychology,mysticismandmeditation,Jewish exegesis,theurgy, andethics, as well as overlapping with theory frommagical elements. Its symbols can be read as questions which are their ownexistentialistanswers (the Hebrew sephirahChokmah-Wisdom, the beginning of Existence, is read etymologically by Kabbalists as the question "Koach Mah?" the "Power of What?"). Alternative listings of theSephirotstart with eitherKeter(Unconscious Will/Volition), or Chokmah (Wisdom), a philosophical duality between a Rational or Supra-Rational Creation, between whether theMitzvotJudaic observances have reasons or transcend reasons in Divine Will, between whetherstudy or good deedsis superior, and whether the symbols of Kabbalah should be read as primarilymetaphysicalintellectual cognition orAxiologyvalues. Messianic redemption requires both ethicalTikkun olamand contemplativeKavanah. Sanford Drob sees every attempt to limit Kabbalah to one fixed dogmatic interpretation as necessarily bringing its ownDeconstruction(Lurianic Kabbalah incorporates its ownShevirahself shattering; theEin Softranscends all of its infinite expressions; the infinite mystical Torah of theTree of Lifehas no/infinite interpretations). The infinite axiology of the Ein Sof One, expressed through the Plural Many, overcomes the dangers of nihilism, or theantinomianmystical breaking ofJewish observancealluded to throughout Kabbalistic and Hasidic mysticisms.
Like the rest of the rabbinic literature, the texts of kabbalah were once part of an ongoingoral tradition, though, over the centuries, much of the oral tradition has been written down.
Jewish forms of esotericism existed over 2,000 years ago.Ben Sira(bornc.170 BCE) warns against it, saying: "You shall have no business with secret things".Nonetheless, mystical studies were undertaken and resulted in mystical literature, the first being theApocalyptic literatureof the second and first pre-Christian centuries and which contained elements that carried over to later kabbalah.
Throughout the centuries since, many texts have been produced, among them the ancient descriptions ofSefer Yetzirah, theHeichalotmystical ascent literature, theBahir,Sefer Raziel HaMalakhand theZohar, the main text of Kabbalistic exegesis. Classic mystical Bible commentaries are included in fuller versions of theMikraot Gedolot(Main Commentators). Cordoveran systemisation is presented inPardes Rimonim, philosophical articulation in the works of theMaharal, and Lurianic rectification inEtz Chayim. Subsequent interpretation of Lurianic Kabbalah was made in the writings of Shalom Sharabi, inNefesh HaChaimand the 20th-centurySulam. Hasidism interpreted kabbalistic structures to their correspondence in inward perception.The Hasidic development of kabbalah incorporates a successive stage of Jewish mysticism from historical kabbalistic metaphysics.
The first modern-academic historians of Judaism, the "Wissenschaft des Judentums" school of the 19th century, framed Judaism in solely rational terms in the emancipatory Haskalah spirit of their age. They opposed kabbalah and restricted its significance from Jewish historiography. In the mid-20th century, it was left toGershom Scholemto overturn their stance, establishing the flourishing present-day academic investigation of Jewish mysticism, and making Heichalot, Kabbalistic and Hasidic texts the objects of scholarly critical-historical study. In Scholem's opinion, the mythical and mystical components of Judaism were at least as important as the rational ones, and he thought that they, rather than the exotericHalakhaor intellectualistJewish philosophy, were the living subterranean stream in historical Jewish development that periodically broke out to renew the Jewish spirit and social life of the community. Scholem's magisterialMajor Trends in Jewish Mysticism(1941) among his seminal works, though representing scholarship and interpretations that have subsequently been challenged and revised within the field,remains the only academic survey studying all main historical periods ofJewish mysticism.
TheHebrew University of Jerusalemhas been a centre of this research, including Scholem andIsaiah Tishby, and more recentlyJoseph Dan,Yehuda Liebes,Rachel Elior, andMoshe Idel.Scholars across the eras of Jewish mysticism in America and Britain have includedAlexander Altmann,Arthur Green,Lawrence Fine,Elliot Wolfson,Daniel Matt,Louis JacobsandAda Rapoport-Albert.
Moshe Idel has opened up research on the Ecstatic Kabbalah alongside the theosophical, and has called for new multi-disciplinary approaches, beyond the philological and historical that have dominated until now, to includephenomenology,psychology,anthropologyandcomparative studies.
Historians have noted that most claims for the authority of kabbalah involve an argument of the antiquity of authority.As a result, virtually all early foundational workspseudepigraphicallyclaim, or are ascribed, ancient authorship. 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 by the angelRazielto Adam after he was evicted from Eden. Another famous work, the earlySefer Yetzirah, is dated back to the patriarchAbraham.This tendency toward pseudepigraphy has its roots in apocalyptic literature, which claims that esoteric knowledge such as magic, divination and astrology was transmitted to humans in the mythic past by the two angels, Aza andAzaz'el(in other places, Azaz'el and Uzaz'el) who fell from heaven (see Genesis 6:4).
As well as ascribing ancient origins to texts, and reception ofOral Torahtransmission, the greatest and most innovative Kabbalists claimed mystical reception of direct personal divine revelations, by heavenly mentors such asElijah the Prophet, the souls ofTalmudic sages,prophetic revelation, soul ascents on high, etc. On this basisArthur Greenspeculates, that while theZoharwas written by a circle of Kabbalists in medieval Spain, they may have believed they were channeling the souls and direct revelations from the earlier mystic circle ofShimon bar Yochaiin 2nd century Galilee depicted in the Zohar's narrative.Academics have compared the Zohar mystic circle of Spain with the romanticised wandering mystic circle of Galilee described in the text. Similarly,Isaac Luriagathered his disciples at the traditionalIdraassembly location, placing each in the seat of their former reincarnations as students of Shimon bar Yochai.
One point of view is represented by the Hasidic workTanya(1797), in order to argue that Jews have a different character of soul: while a non-Jew, according to the authorShneur Zalman of Liadi(born 1745), can achieve a high level of spirituality, similar to an angel, his soul is still fundamentally different in character, from a Jewish one.A similar view is found inKuzari, an early medieval philosophical book byYehuda Halevi(1075–1141 CE).
Another prominent Habad rabbi,Abraham Yehudah Khein(born 1878), 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".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 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 thecognitive dissonancethey 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 ofthe Enlightenment.
Pinchas Elijah Hurwitz, a prominent Lithuanian-Galician Kabbalist of the 18th century and a moderate proponent of the Haskalah, called for brotherly love and solidarity between all nations, and believed that Kabbalah can empower everyone, Jews and Gentiles alike, with prophetic abilities.
The works ofAbraham Cohen de Herrera(1570–1635) are full of references to Gentile mystical philosophers. Such approach was particularly common among theRenaissanceand post-RenaissanceItalian Jews. Late medieval and Renaissance Italian Kabbalists, such asYohanan Alemanno,David Messer LeonandAbraham Yagel, adhered to humanistic ideals and incorporated teachings of various Christian andpaganmystics.
A prime representative of this humanist stream in Kabbalah wasElijah Benamozegh, who explicitly praised Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, as well as a whole range of ancient pagan mystical systems. He believed that Kabbalah can reconcile the differences between the world's religions, which represent different facets and stages of the universal human spirituality. In his writings, Benamozegh interprets theNew Testament,Hadith,Vedas,Avestaand pagan mysteries according to the Kabbalistic theosophy.
E. R. Wolfson provides numerous examples from the 17th to the 20th centuries, which would challenge the view of Halperin as well as the notion that "modern Judaism" has rejected or dismissed this "outdated aspect" of the religion and, he argues, there are still Kabbalists today who harbor this view. He argues that, while it is accurate to say that many Jews do and would find this distinction offensive, it is inaccurate to say that the idea has been totally rejected in all circles. As Wolfson has argued, it is an ethical demand on the part of scholars to continue to be vigilant with regard to this matter and in this way the tradition can be refined from within.
The idea that there are ten divinesephirotcould 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. The early Kabbalists debated the relationship of the Sephirot to God, adopting a range of essentialist versus instrumental views.Modern Kabbalah, based on the 16th century systemisations ofCordoveroandIsaac Luria, takes an intermediate position: the instrumental vessels of the sephirot are created, but their inner light is from the undifferentiatedOhr Ein Sofessence.
The pre-KabbalisticSaadia Gaonwrote that Jews who believe in reincarnation have adopted a non-Jewish belief.
Maimonides(12th century), celebrated by followers for hisJewish rationalism, rejected many of the pre-KabbalisticHekalottexts, particularlyShi'ur Qomahwhose starkly anthropomorphic vision of God he considered heretical.Maimonides, a centrally important medieval sage of Judaism, lived at the time of the first emergence of Kabbalah. Modern scholarship views the systemisation and publication of their historic oral doctrine by Kabbalists, as a move to rebut the threat onJudaic observanceby the populance misreading Maimonides' ideal of philosophical contemplation over ritual performance in his philosophicalGuide for the Perplexed. They objected to Maimonides equating the TalmudicMaaseh Breishit and Maaseh Merkavahsecrets of the Torah withAristoteleanphysics and metaphysics in that work and in his legalMishneh Torah, teaching that their own Theosophy, centred on an esoteric metaphysics of traditional Jewish practice, is the Torah's true inner meaning.
The Kabbalistmedieval rabbinic sageNachmanides(13th century), classic debater against Maimonidean rationalism, provides background to many kabbalistic ideas. An entire book entitledGevuras Aryehwas authored byYaakov Yehuda Aryeh Leib Frenkeland originally published in 1915, specifically to explain and elaborate on the kabbalistic concepts addressed by Nachmanides in his classiccommentary to the Five books of Moses.
Abraham Maimonides(in the spirit of his father Maimonides,Saadiah Gaon, and other predecessors) explains at length in hisMilḥamot HaShemthat God 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, emphasizing theMonotheistOneness ofDivine transcendenceunlike any worldly conception. Kabbalah'sPanentheismexpressed byMoses CordoveroandHasidic thought, agrees that God's essence transcends all expression, but holds in contrast that existence is a manifestation of God's Being, descendingimmanentlythrough spiritual and physical condensations of the divine light. By incorporating the pluralist many within God, God's Oneness is deepened to exclude the true existence of anything but God. InHasidic Panentheism, the world isacosmicfrom the Divine view, yet real from its own perspective.
Around the 1230s,Rabbi Meir ben Simon of Narbonnewrote an epistle (included in hisMilḥemet 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 thetannaR. Neḥunya ben ha-Kanahand describing some of its content as truly heretical.
Leon of Modena, a 17th-centuryVenetiancritic of Kabbalah, wrote that if we were to accept the Kabbalah, then the Christian trinity would be compatible with Judaism, as the Trinity seems to resemble the kabbalistic doctrine of thesephirot. This was in response to the belief that some European Jews of the period addressed individualsephirotin their prayers, although the practice was apparently uncommon. Apologists explained that Jews may have been prayingforand not necessarilytothe aspects of Godliness represented by thesephirot. In contrast to Christianity, Kabbalists declare that one prays only "to Him (God's Essence, male solely by metaphor in Hebrew's gendered grammar), not to his attributes (sephirot or any other Divine manifestations or forms of incarnation)". Kabbalists directed their prayers to God's essence through the channels of particular sephirot usingkavanotDivine namesintentions. To pray to a manifestation of God introduces false division among the sephirot, disrupting their absolute unity, dependence and dissolving into the transcendentEin Sof; the sephirot descend throughout Creation, only appearing from man's perception of God, where God manifests by any variety of numbers.
Yaakov Emden(1697–1776), himself an Orthodox Kabbalist who venerated theZohar,concerned to battleSabbateanmisuse of Kabbalah, wrote theMitpaḥath Sfarim(Veil of the Books), an astute critique of theZoharin which he concludes that certain parts of the Zohar contain heretical teaching and therefore could not have been written by Shimon bar Yochai.
Vilna Gaon(1720–1797) held the Zohar and Luria in deep reverence, critically emending classic Judaic texts from historically accumulated errors by his acute acumen and scholarly belief in the perfect unity of Kabbalah revelation and Rabbinic Judaism. Though a Lurianic Kabbalist, his commentaries sometimes chose Zoharic interpretation over Luria when he felt the matter lent itself to a more exoteric view. Although proficient in mathematics and sciences and recommending their necessity for understandingTalmud, he had no use for canonical medievalJewish philosophy, declaring thatMaimonideshad been "misled by the accursed philosophy" in denying belief in the externaloccult mattersof demons, incantations and amulets.
Views of Kabbalists regardingJewish philosophyvaried from those who appreciatedMaimonideanand other classic medieval philosophical works, integrating them with Kabbalah and seeing profound human philosophical and Divine kabbalistic wisdoms as compatible, to those who polemicised against religious philosophy during times when it became overly rationalist and dogmatic. A dictum commonly cited by Kabbalists, "Kabbalah begins where Philosophy ends", can be read as either appreciation or polemic. Moses of Burgos (late 13th century) declared, "these philosophers whose wisdom you are praising end where we begin".Moses Cordoveroappreciated the influence of Maimonides in his quasi-rational systemisation.From its inception, the Theosophical Kabbalah became permeated by terminology adapted from philosophy and given new mystical meanings, such as its early integration with the Neoplatonism ofIbn Gabiroland use of Aristotelian terms of Form over Matter.
Pinchas Giller andAdin Steinsaltzwrite that Kabbalah is best described as the inner part of traditionalJewish religion, the officialmetaphysicsof Judaism, that was essential to normative Judaism until fairly recently.With the decline of Jewish life inmedieval Spain, it displaced rationalistJewish philosophyuntil the modern rise of Haskalah enlightenment, receiving a revival in ourpostmodernage. While Judaism always maintained a minority tradition of religious rationalist criticism of Kabbalah,Gershom Scholemwrites that Lurianic Kabbalah was the last theology that was near predominant in Jewish life. While Lurianism represented the elite of esoteric Kabbalism, its mythic-messianic divine drama and personalisation ofreincarnationcaptured the popular imagination inJewish folkloreand in theSabbateanandHasidicsocial movements.Giller notes that the formerZoharic-Cordoverianclassic Kabbalah represented a common exoteric popular view of Kabbalah, as depicted in early modernMusar literature.
In contemporaryOrthodox Judaismthere is dispute as to the status of the Zohar's and Isaac Luria's (theArizal) Kabbalistic teachings. While a portion ofModern Orthodox, followers of theDor De'ahmovement, and many students of theRambamreject Arizal's Kabbalistic teachings, as well as deny that theZoharis authoritative or fromShimon bar Yohai, all three of these groups accept the existence and validity of the TalmudicMaaseh Breishit and Maaseh Merkavahmysticism. Their disagreement concerns whether the Kabbalistic teachings promulgated today are accurate representations of those esoteric teachings to which the Talmud refers. The mainstreamHaredi(Hasidic,Lithuanian,Oriental) andReligious ZionistJewish movements revere Luria and the Kabbalah, but one can find both rabbis who sympathize with such a view, while disagreeing with it,as well as rabbis who consider such a view heresy. The HarediEliyahu DesslerandGedaliah Nadelmaintained that it is acceptable to believe that the Zohar was not written by Shimon bar Yochai and that it had a late authorship.Yechiel Yaakov Weinbergmentioned the possibility of Christian influence in the Kabbalah with the "Kabbalistic vision of the Messiah as the redeemer of all mankind" being "the Jewish counterpart to Christ."
Modern Orthodox Judaism, representing an inclination to rationalism, embrace of academic scholarship, and the individual's autonomy to define Judaism, embodies a diversity of views regarding Kabbalah from aNeo-Hasidicspirituality toMaimonistanti-Kabbalism. In a book to help define central theological issues in Modern Orthodoxy, Michael J. Harris writes that the relationship between Modern Orthodoxy and mysticism has been under-discussed. He sees a deficiency of spirituality in Modern Orthodoxy, as well as the dangers in a fundamentalist adoption of Kabbalah. He suggests the development of neo-Kabbalistic adaptions of Jewish mysticism compatible with rationalism, offering a variety of precedent models from past thinkers ranging from the mystical inclusivism ofAbraham Isaac Kookto a compartmentalisation between Halakha and mysticism.
Yiḥyeh Qafeḥ, a 20th-centuryYemenite Jewishleader and Chief Rabbi of Yemen, spearheaded theDor De'ah("generation of knowledge") movementto counteract the influence of the Zohar and modern Kabbalah.He authored critiques of mysticism in general and Lurianic Kabbalah in particular; his magnum opus was Milḥamoth ha-Shem (Wars of Hashem)against what he perceived asneo-platonicand gnostic influences on Judaism with the publication and distribution of the Zohar since the 13th Century. Rabbi Yiḥyah foundedyeshivot, rabbinical schools, and synagogues that featured a rationalist approach to Judaism based on the Talmud and works of Saadia Gaon and Maimonides (Rambam). In recent years, rationalists holding similar views as those of the Dor De'ah movement have described themselves as "talmide ha-Rambam" (disciples of Maimonides) rather than as being aligned with Dor De'ah, and are more theologically aligned with the rationalism ofModern Orthodox Judaismthan with OrthodoxḤasidicorḤaredicommunities.
Yeshayahu Leibowitz(1903–1994), an ultra-rationalist Modern Orthodox philosopher, referred to Kabbalah "a collection of "pagan superstitions" and "idol worship" in remarks given in 1990.
Kabbalah tended to be rejected by most Jews in the Conservative andReformmovements, though its influences were not completely eliminated. While it was generally not studied as a discipline, the KabbalisticKabbalat Shabbatservice remained part of liberal liturgy, as did theYedid Nefeshprayer. Nevertheless, in the 1960s,Saul Liebermanof theJewish Theological Seminary of Americais 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.
According toBradley Shavit Artson(Dean of the ConservativeZiegler School of Rabbinic Studies)
However, in the late 20th century and early 21st century there has been a revival in interest in Kabbalah in all branches of liberal Judaism. The Kabbalistic 12th-century prayerAnim Zemirotwas restored to the new ConservativeSim Shalomsiddur, as was theB'rikh Shmehpassage from the Zohar, and the mysticalUshpizinservice welcoming to theSukkahthe spirits of Jewish forebears.Anim Zemirotand the 16th-century mystical poemLekhah Dodireappeared in the Reform SiddurGates of Prayerin 1975. All rabbinical seminaries now teach several courses in Kabbalah—inConservative Judaism, both theJewish Theological Seminary of Americaand theZiegler School of Rabbinic Studiesof theAmerican Jewish Universityin Los Angeles have full-time instructors in Kabbalah andHasidut, Eitan Fishbane and Pinchas Giller, respectively. In Reform Judaism, Sharon Koren teaches at theHebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Reform rabbis like Herbert Weiner andLawrence Kushnerhave renewed interest in Kabbalah among Reform Jews. At theReconstructionist Rabbinical College, Joel Hecker is the full-time instructor teaching courses in Kabbalah and Hasidut.
According to Artson:
TheReconstructionistmovement, 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.
Teaching of classic esoteric kabbalah texts and practice remained traditional until recent times, passed on in Judaism from master to disciple, or studied by leading rabbinic scholars. This changed in the 20th century, through conscious reform and the secular openness of knowledge. In contemporary times kabbalah is studied in four very different, though sometimes overlapping, ways.
The traditional method, employed among Jews since the 16th century, continues in learned study circles. Its prerequisite is to either be born Jewish or be a convert and to join a group of kabbalists under the tutelage of a rabbi, since the 18th century more likely a Hasidic one, though others exist among Sephardi-Mizrachi, and Lithuanian rabbinic scholars. Beyond elite, historical esoteric kabbalah, the public-communally studied texts of Hasidic thought explain kabbalistic concepts for wide spiritual application, through their own concern with popular psychological perception of Divine Panentheism.
A second, newuniversalistform, is the method of modern-style Jewish organisations and writers, who seek to disseminate kabbalah to every man, woman and child regardless of race or class, especially since the Western interest in mysticism from the 1960s. These derive from various cross-denominational Jewish interests in kabbalah, and range from considered theology to popularised forms that often adopt New Age terminology and beliefs for wider communication. These groups highlight or interpret kabbalah through non-particularist, universalist aspects.
A third way are non-Jewish organisations, mystery schools, initiation bodies, fraternities andsecret societies, the most popular of which areFreemasonry,Rosicrucianismand theGolden Dawn, although hundreds of similar societies claim a kabbalistic lineage. These derive fromsyncreticcombinations of Jewish kabbalah with Christian, occultist or contemporaryNew Agespirituality. As a separate spiritual tradition in Western esotericism since the Renaissance, with different aims from its Jewish origin, the non-Jewish traditions differ significantly and do not give an accurate representation of the Jewish spiritual understanding (or vice versa).
Fourthly, since the mid-20th century,historical-criticalscholarly investigation of all eras of Jewish mysticism has flourished into an established department of universityJewish studies. Where the first academic historians of Judaism in the 19th century opposed and marginalised kabbalah, Gershom Scholem and his successors repositioned the historiography of Jewish mysticism as a central, vital component of Judaic renewal through history. Cross-disciplinary academic revisions of Scholem's and others' theories are regularly published for wide readership.
In recent decades, Kabbalah has seen a resurgence of interest, with several modern groups and individuals exploring its profound teachings. These contemporary interpretations of Kabbalah offer a fresh perspective on this ancient mystical tradition, often bridging the gap between traditional wisdom and modern thought. Some of these interpretations emphasize universalist and philosophical approaches, seeking to enrich secular disciplines through the lens of Kabbalistic insights. Others have gained attention for their unique blends of spirituality and popular culture, attracting followers from diverse backgrounds. These modern expressions of Kabbalah showcase its enduring appeal and relevance in today's world.
Bnei Baruchis a group of Kabbalah students, based in Israel. Study materials are available in over 25 languages for free online or at printing cost. Michael Laitman established Bnei Baruch in 1991, following the passing of his teacher, Ashlag's son RavBaruch Ashlag. Laitman named his group Bnei Baruch (sons of Baruch) to commemorate the memory of his mentor. The teaching strongly suggests restricting one's studies to 'authentic sources', kabbalists of the direct lineage of master to disciple.
TheKabbalah Centrewas founded in the United States in 1965 as The National Research Institute of Kabbalah byPhilip Bergand Rav Yehuda Tzvi Brandwein, disciple of Yehuda Ashlag's. Later Philip Berg and his wife re-established the organisation as the worldwide Kabbalah Centre.The organization's leaders "vehemently reject" Orthodox Jewish identity.
TheKabbalah Society, run byWarren Kenton, an organisation based instead on pre-Lurianic Medieval Kabbalah presented in universalist style. In contrast, traditional kabbalists read earlier kabbalah through later Lurianism and the systemisations of 16th-century Safed.
The New Kabbalah, website and books by Sanford L. Drob, is a scholarly intellectual investigation of the Lurianic symbolism in the perspective of modern and postmodern intellectual thought. It seeks a "new kabbalah" rooted in the historical tradition through its academic study, but universalised through dialogue with modern philosophy and psychology. This approach seeks to enrich the secular disciplines, while uncovering intellectual insights formerly implicit in kabbalah's essential myth:
The Kabbalah of Information is described in the 2018 bookFrom Infinity to Man: The Fundamental Ideas of Kabbalah Within the Framework of Information Theory and Quantum Physicswritten by Ukrainian-born professor and businessmanEduard Shyfrin. The main tenet of the teaching is "In the beginning He created information", rephrasing the famous saying of Nahmanides, "In the beginning He created primordial matter and He didn't create anything else, just shaped it and formed it."
Since the 18th century, Jewish mystical development has continued in Hasidic Judaism, turning kabbalah into a social revival with texts that internalise mystical thought. Among different schools,Chabad-LubavitchandBreslavwith related organisations, give outward looking spiritual resources and textual learning for secular Jews. The Intellectual Hasidism of Chabad most emphasises the spread and understanding of kabbalah through its explanation in Hasidic thought, articulating the Divine meaning within kabbalah through human rational analogies, uniting the spiritual and material, esoteric and exoteric in their Divine source:
From the early 20th century,Neo-Hasidismexpressed a modernist or non-Orthodox Jewish interest in Jewish mysticism, becoming influential amongModern Orthodox,Conservative,ReformandReconstructionalistJewish denominations from the 1960s, and organised through theJewish RenewalandChavurahmovements. The writings and teachings ofZalman Schachter-Shalomi,Arthur Green,Lawrence Kushner,Herbert Weinerand others, has sought a critically selective, non-fundamentalist neo- Kabbalistic and Hasidic study andmystical spiritualityamong modernist Jews. The contemporary proliferation of scholarship byJewish mysticism academiahas contributed to critical adaptions of Jewish mysticism. Arthur Green's translations from the religious writings ofHillel Zeitlinconceive the latter to be a precursor of contemporary Neo-Hasidism. Reform rabbi Herbert Weiner'sNine and a Half Mystics: The Kabbala Today(1969), a travelogue among Kabbalists and Hasidim, brought perceptive insights into Jewish mysticism to many Reform Jews. Leading Reform philosopherEugene Borowitzdescribed the Orthodox HasidicAdin Steinsaltz(The Thirteen Petalled Rose) andAryeh Kaplanas major presenters of Kabbalistic spirituality for modernists today.
The writings of Abraham Isaac Kook (1864–1935), first chief rabbi of Mandate Palestine and visionary, incorporate kabbalistic themes through his own poetic language and concern with human and divine unity. His influence is in theReligious Zionistcommunity, who follow his aim that the legal and imaginative aspects of Judaism should interfuse:
In several important areas of his history of the Kabbalah,Gershom Scholeminvestigates and considers the evidence of an interactivity of influence between the medieval Kabbalists of Provence and theCathar heresywhich was also prevalent in the region at the same time that the earliest works of medieval Kabbalah were written.InJewish Influence on Christian Reform Movements,Louis I. Newmanconcluded, "Point by point, parallels can be found between Catharist views and the Kabbalah, and it may well be that at times there was an exchange of opinions between Jewish and Gentile mystics."Earlier in the same book, Newman observed:
Nathaniel Deutschwrites:
R.J. Zwi Werblowskysuggests Mandaeism has more commonality with Kabbalah than withMerkabah mysticismsuch as cosmogony and sexual imagery.The Thousand and Twelve Questions,Scroll of Exalted Kingship, andAlma Rišaia Rbalink the alphabet with the creation of the world, a concept found inSefer Yetzirahand theBahir.Mandaean names foruthras(angels or guardians) have been found in Jewish magical texts.Abaturappears to be inscribed inside a Jewish magic bowl in a corrupted form as "Abiṭur".Ptahilis found inSefer HaRazimlisted among other angels who stand on the ninth step of the second firmament.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Kabbalah".The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.