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THE CLASSICS OF WESTERN SPIRITUALITY

A LibraryoftheGreatSpiritualMasters

President and Publisher

Kevin A. Lynch, es.p.

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief

John Farina

,,'

Editorial Consultant

Ewert H. Cousins-Professor, Fordham Un1wrsity, Bronx, N.Y.

f.{.y

John E. Booty-Professor of Church History, Episcopal Divinity

School, Cambridge, Mass.

Joseph Dan-Professor of Kaballah in the Department of Jewish

Thought, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

Albert Deblaere-Professor ofthe History ofSpirituality, Gregorian

University, Rome, Italy.

Louis Dupre-TL. Riggs Professor in Philosophy of Religion, Yale

University, New Haven, Conn.

Rozanne Elder-Executive Vice President, Cistercian Publications,

Kalamazoo, Mich.

Mircea Eliade-Professor in the Department ofthe History of

Religions, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.

Anne Fremantle-Teacher, Editor and Writer, New York, N.Y.

Karlfried Froehlich-Professor ofthe History ofthe Early and

Medieval Church, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N.].

Arthur Green-Associate Professor in the Department of Religious

Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.

Stanley S. Harakas-Professor of Orthodox Christian Ethics,

Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Seminary, Brookline, Mass.

Jean Leclercq-Professor, Institute ofSpirituality and Institute

of Religious Psychology, Gregorian University, Rome, Italy.

Miguel Le6n-Portilla-Professor of Mesoamerican Cultures and

Languages, National University of Mexico, University City, Mexico.

George A. Maloney, S.J.-Director, John XXIII

Ecumenical Center, Fordham University, Bronx, N.Y.

Bernard McGinn-Professor of Historical

Theology and History of Christianity, University of Chicago

Divinity School, Chicago, III.

John Meyendorff-Professor of Church History, Fordham

University, Bronx, N.Y., and Professor of Patristics and Church History,

St. Vladimir's Seminary, Tuckahoe, N.Y.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr-Professor of Islamics, Department of Religion,

Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa., and Visiting Professor, Harvard

University, Cambridge, Mass.

Heiko A. Oberman-Director, Institute fuer Spaetmittelalter und

Reformation, Universitaet Tuebingen, West Germany.

Alfonso Ortiz-Professor of Anthropology, University of New

Mexico, Albuquerque, N. Mex.; Fellow, The Center for Advanced Study,

Stanford, Calif.

Raimundo Panikkar-Professor, Department of Religious Studies,

University of California at Santa Barbara, Calif.

Jaroslav Pelikan-Sterling Professor of History and Religious Studies,

Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

Fazlar Rahman-Professor of Islamic Thought, Department of Near

Eastern Languages and Civilization, University of Chicago, Chicago, III.

Annemarie B. Schimmel-Professor of Hindu Muslim Culture,

Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

Sandra M. Schneiders-Assistant Professor of New Testament

Studies and Spirituality, Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, Calif.

Huston Smith-Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion,

Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.

John R. Sommerfeldt-Professor of History, University of Dallas,

Irving, Texas.

David Steindl-Rast-Monk of Mount Savior Monastery,

Pine City, N.Y.

William C. Sturtevant-General Editor, Handbook of North

American Indians, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

David Tracy-Professor of Theology, University of Chicago Divinity

School, Chicago, III.

Victor Turner-William B. Kenan Professor in Anthropology, The

Center for Advanced Study, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.

Kallistos Ware-Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford;

Spalding Lecturer in Eastern Orthodox Studies, Oxford University,

England.

The €arly Kabbalah

EDITED AND INTRODUCED BY

JOSEPH DAN

TEXTS TRANSLATED BY

RONALD C. KIENER

PREFACE BY

MOSHE IDEL

PAULIST PRESS

NEW YORK. MAHWAH

Cover Art:

One of Israel's best known painters, MORDECAI ARDON was born in 1896 in Tuchov,

Poland. He studied at the Bauhaus from 192~25 under Klee, Kandmsky and Feininger.

He emigrated to Israel in 1933 and has received the Unesco Prize, the Israel Pnze, and

honorary doctorates from the Hebrew University, the Weizman Institute and Tel Aviv

University. The artist created these beautiful stained glass windows at the Jewish National

and University Libraryofthe Hehre\\ University in Jerusalem.

Copyright © 1986 by

Joseph Dan and Ronald C. "Kiener

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any

information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

Libraryof Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The Early Kabbalah.

(The Classics of Western spirituality)

Bibliography: p.

Includes indexes.

I. Cabala-Collected works-Translations into

English. 2. Mysticism-Judaism-Collected works-TtII11Slations

into English. I. Dan, Joseph, 1935-

II. Kiener, Ronald c., 1954- III. Series.

BM525.A2E18 1986 296.1'6 86-5116

ISBN: 0-8091-2769-5

Published by Paulist Press

997 Macarthur Boulevard

Mahwah, New Jersey 07430

Printed and bound in the United States of America

Contents

FOREWORD

PREFACE

IX

Xl

INTRODUCTION

THE 'IYYUN CIRCLE 43

THE BOOK BAHIR 57

RABBI ISAAC THE BLIND OF PROVENCE 71

RABBI AZRIEL OF GERONA 87

RABBI JACOB BEN SHESHET OF GERONA 109

THE KOHEN BROTHERS 151

GLOSSARY 183

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF EARLY KABBALAH 187

INDEXES 193

VB

Editor and Introducer of this Volume

JOSEPH DAN, Gershom Scholem Professor of Kabbalah at the

Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, was born in Bratislava,

Czechoslovakia, in 1935. He is a graduate ofthe Hebrew University

and earned his Ph. D. there in 1963. An editor ofthe journals Tarbiz

and Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought, he has published fourteen

books in Hebrew and numerous articles. Among his English titles

are Hasidic Teachings (1982), Gershom Scholem and the Mystical Dimension

in Jewish History (forthcoming), and Jewish Mysticism and Jewish Ethics

(forthcoming).

f

Translator of this Volume

RONALD C. KIENER, Assistant Professor of Religion at Trinity

College, Hartford, Connecticut, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota,

in 1954. He is a graduate ofthe University of Minnesota and

received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984. His

published studies have focused on the relationship between Jewish

and Islamic mysticism.

Author ofthe Preface

MOSHE IDEL, Associate Professor of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew

University in Jerusalem, Israel, was born in Rumania in 1947.

He is a graduate ofthe Hebrew University, where he also received

his Ph. D. An editor of Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought, he is the

author of numerous articles on the history of Kabbalah and Jewish

Renaissance thought.

, "

Vlll

Foreword

The texts presented in the following pages span nearly a century

and represent the variety of Jewish mystical currents alive in Europe

during the thirteenth century. What is unique about the Jewish mysticisms

of this century-whether mixed with Neoplatonism, or

Gnosticism, or ethics, or some combination ofthese-is the myriad

of spiritual possibilities put forward. The thirteenth century proved

to be a time of explosive creativity, as the pioneering and masterful

studies of Gershom Scholem have established. No static dogma or

interpretive traditions predetermined how a Jewish mystic might

resonate with his tradition. For later generations of Jewish mystics,

the Sefer ha-Zohar (Book of Splendor) set the parameters for theosophical

speculatIOn, but for the mystics ofthe thirteenth century,

nearly all possibilities were open.

Some ofthe texts appearing in this volume have never appeared

in print before, either in translation or in their Hebrew original. The

obscurity ofthe documents-their provenance, their language, and

their mystical content-proved to be extremely vexing, but we trust

not insurmountable. In every instance we sought to present texts

that were representative, historically significant, and translatable.

Taken with the other volumes devoted to Jewish mysticism in The

Classics of Western Spirituality series, our volume supplies a crucial

link between the Hellenistic Judaism of Philo and the authoritative

theosophy ofthe Zohar. In fact, the reader WIll discover that many

IX

F9REWORD

ofthe mystical trends present in the Early Kabbalah ultimately

found an authoritative venue in the Zohar. Thus, as a reader in the

history of Jewish mysticism, the texts presented herein are essential

for a proper diachronic understanding of Kabbalah. And though our

work provides important historical material, the volume was also intended

to be a reader in Jewish spiritual inventiveness and dynamism.

In pursuing this twofold purpose, we did not shy away from

dense or ramified texts, and in many instances we offer an interpretation

or translation that will quite probably give rise to debate. We

are well aware ofthe difficulties present in these texts, but this

awareness did not deter us from our task of providing a useful and

accurate rendition ofoften perplexing material. It is our hope that

the notes and introductions will orient the reader and provide even

the unmitiated with the proper tools to study the Early Kabbalah.

Our thanks go out to the people and institutions that contributed

to our collaborative effort. First and foremost, we thank our

colleague Arthur Green for bringing us together on this project. For

their care and assistance, we thank Richard Payne, orIginator, and

John Farina, editor, of this series. Our home institutions, the Hebrew

University in Jerusalem and Trinity College, have provided

generous support for researching, typing, and editing the manuscript.

It has been six years since our project began. Though this is certainly

not a ringing endorsement of long-distance, overseas collaborative

efforts, each of us has benefited from the strengths and

talents ofthe other. Our work is all the better for it.

x

Preface

No area of Kabbalah has enjoyed such an abundance of research

as the period of its development in Provence (or Languedoc) and Catalonia.

Since the second half ofthe nineteenth century, scholars like

M. Landauer, H. Graetz, A. Jellinek, and D. Neumark-to name

only a few-have been fascinated by what were considered to be the

first Kabbalistic documents; these were published, analyzed, or

translated time and time again. Far and above all others, the late Gershorn

G. Scholem provided several comprehensive versions of his

numerous researches on this period, the last and longest being the

monumental Ursprung und Anfange der Kabbala, completed in 1963.

These findings focus on two major developments that contributed to

the emergence ofthe Kabbalah in Southern France: (1) the appearance

ofthe Book Bahir in Europe; according to Scholem, this work

came to Languedoc from Germany; (2) the rise of circles of Jewish

mystics in Languedoc, including such figures as R. Abraham ben

David ofPosquieres and R. Jacob ben Shaul ha-Nazir of Lunel. Due

to their mystical inclinations and experiences, these and other teachers

innovated mystical interpretations and techniques of prayer using

as material, again according to Scholem, Gnostic elements that

were present in the traditions ofthe Book Bahir. Roughly speaking,

these views have been accepted as a framework for further research

into Kabbalah by Scholem's followers. The present book is situated

in this line of research, both in the introduction, by J. Dan, and in

the choice of texts.

Xl

PREFACE

Of course, difficult choices had to be made in selecting the materials

for such an anthology, and not all the important sources could

be included. Moses ben Na~man (Na~manides), a towering figure

among the Kabbalists ofthe mid-thirteenth century, is notably absent,

although, of course, some of his works are available elsewhere

in English. Here, for the first time, an English-speaking reader will

be able to encounter not only a scholarly interpretation of early Kabbalah

apud Scholem, but also a significant segment of literature written

during the first hundred years ofthe existence of Kabbalah as a

historical phenomenon.

As we all know, translation is also interpretation, and therefore

the reader will enjoy relatively "clear" texts, due to their rendering

into English. In the Hebrew original, these texts are only rarely so

transparent as are their English versions; sometimes their obscurity

can but tantalize even the scholar who struggles to comprehend

them. An example of such difficulties is the commentary on Midrash

Konen, attributed to R. Isaac Saggi-Nehor (the Blind), translated in

this volume.

The importance and novelty ofthe present endeavor lies, therefore,

in the struggle the editor and translator had to wage, with the

rendering not only of specific phrases, or even short passages, but

also with rather comprehensi ve Kabbalistic texts; the obscurities that

remain in our understanding ofthe material bear evidence as to the

real nature ofthe early Kabbalistic literature, substantial parts of

which, even after hundreds of years of scholarly research, remain

highly problematic.

Any perusal of early Kabbalistic texts, whether in Hebrew or

- English, will undoubtedly perplex the reader who sees their complexity

and opacity, in comparison with the relatively clear expositions

of Kabbalah by contemporary scholars. This plight is partly

due to the inceptive stage ofthe scholarly study of Kabbalah: significant

parts of Kabbalistic literature, including important texts

written in the first century ofthe emergence of Kabbalah, are still in

manuscript form; their authors, viri obscuri; some oftheir basic concepts,

ignored. For the time being, the fact that great segments of

Kabbalistic literature remain beyond the scope of academic research

prevents more profound analysis ofthe texts in print.

This plight is partly the result ofthe overemphasis academic research

had placed on the historical and philological approaches at the

expense of phenomenological analysis, on the one hand, and com-

XII

PREFACE

parative studies on the other. Mainly focused on names, dates,

places, bibliography, and literary sources ofthe Kabbalah, academic

research has rather systematically evaded the psychological and phenomenological

facets of this branch of mystical literature. Scholars

of Kabbalah have made only rare and scant efforts toward such kinds

of analysis. Given the complexities inherent in the Hebrew texts,

scholars of other areas of mysticism have only rarely referred to Kabbalistic

sources in their comparative studies. This volume does not

constitute an intentional departure from the main avenue of Kabbalistic

research; it will, however, contribute-as I hope-to improving

the acquaintance of scholars of mysticism with Kabbalistic

texts, helping the integration of Kabbalah into the general study of

mysticism, and thereby enriching our perception of mysticism as a

whole. Likewise, students of Renaissance thought will profit from

this relatively comprehensive collection of texts, parts of which represent

modes of thought that served as a starting point of a bizarre

branch of Christian theology-the Christian Kabbalah. The general

reader will encounter a significant literature that constitutes a turning

point in Jewish spirituality.

XIII

Introduction

1. THE EMERGENCE OF KABBALAH

The texts presented in the following pages provide an overview

of Jewish mystical speculation during the first hundred years ofthe

movement known by the Hebrew term Kabbalah (literally, "Tradition").

The beginnings of this movement are usually set in the last

decade or two ofthe twelfth century C.E., and this period of Kabbalistic

incubation is generally thought to end with the composition

ofthe masterful Sefer ha-Zohar (The Book of Splendor). 1 Thus, "early

Kabbalah" is the period of Jewish mystical creativity in Kabbalistic

form bracketed by two literary creations of mystical theosophy: the

Sefer ha-Bahtr (The Book of Brilliance) marks the beginning of this

stage and the Zohar, written by the Spaniard Kabbalist Moses de

Leon (c. 1240-1305), marks the end.

Scholarship in the last century has brought to light a wealth of

material concerning this first century of Kabbalistic speculation.

The efforts ofthe pioneering historian Gershom Scholem, who devoted

many of his studies to this period, 2 have been followed by complementary

studies by both Israeli and diaspora scholars.3 We are

now in the possession of a detailed picture ofthe main trends and the

most important works of many ofthe mystics belonging to this period.

Yet a myriad of unanswered questions remains. In the following

pages of this mtroduction, we will provide a brief overview and

characterization of this crucial period in the history of Jewish mys-

INTRODUCTION

tlclsm. To accomplish this characterization, we will first need to

place Kabbalah in the wider context of Jewish mysticism; then we

shall describe briefly the essential differences that delineate the Kabbalah

from previous or contemporaneous Jewish mystical trends.

A millennium of Jewish mystical creativity preceded the Kabbalah.

The first evidence of Jewish mystical trends dates to the period

ofthe Tannaim (the Sages cited in the Mishnah), in second

century C.E. Palestine. 4 These first mystics contemplated a visionary

experience devoted to the divine heikhalot (palaces) and the merkavah

(the divine chariot). Though this movement can be traced to the circle

of Rabbi Aqiba in the first half ofthe second century C.E., the

heikhalot and merkavah texts that have reached us were written much

later. Therefore, it is a formidable task to describe in any accurate

sense the historical sequence and the interrelationship ofthe various

trends within Jewish mysticism of Late Antiquity. It is quite clear,

however, that for at least five centuries there was an active mystical

tendency within Rabbinic Judaism of Late Antiquity that produced

several works having an important impact on the subsequent development

of Jewish mysticism in the Middle Ages.

The principal works ofthese early Jewish mystics describe experiences

in terms of an ascent (and often in terms of a descent!) to

the divine chariotS and a vision ofthe supreme palaces, one above the

other, which in their totality comprise the divine realm. An early

work of this mystical school, Heikhalot Zutartey (The Smaller Book

of Celestial Palaces), deals with the ascension of Rabbi Aqiba to the

seventh palace, and is structured around the famous and enigmatic

Talmudic account ofthe four Sages who entered pardes. 6

The most detailed work of this genre, Heikhalot Rabbati (The

Greater Book of Celestial Palaces), describes a similar experience by

Aqiba's contemporary Rabbi Ishmael. Here Rabbi Ishmael is portrayed

as the most junior scholar in the mystical school of Rabbi Ne­

~unia ben ha-Qanah, a relatively obscure tanna whose name became

prominent only in the later history ofthe Kabbalah. 7 Similarly, Heikhalot

Rabbati is constructed around another famous Talmudic legend,

this time the martyrological account ofthe torture and execution of

Rabbi Ishmael, Rabbi Aqiba, and eight others by the Roman authorities.

8

These early mystical works reflect in part a continuation of a

literary and ideological trend first present in the Enoch literature of

the Pseudepigrapha. They also build on an esoteric interpretive tra-

2

INTRODUCTION

dition ofthe first chapter ofthe book of Ezekiel and its description

ofthe divine chariot. But these new mystics were not only preserving

earlier traditions; it seems that a major new element was introduced

early in the second century C.E. that was destined to have an

enormous impact on all subsequent Jewish mystical thought. This

new element centered around a novel interpretation ofthe biblical

Song of Songs.

The central document expressing this new attitude to the Song

of Songs is entitled Shi'ur Qomah (The Measurement ofthe Divine

Height).9 The work is based on the physical description ofthe divine

lover in the Song of Songs. The book contains a detailed description

ofthe limbs ofthe Creator in what seems to be an extreme indulgence

in anthropomorphic imagery. Each divine limb is given a magical

name, usually concocted from a nonsensical and unpronounceable

combination of disjointed Hebrew letters. Each limb is also measured

in millions of parasangs. With magnitudes such as these, it is

not surprising that the basic unit of measure is nothing less than the

divine little finger, extending from one end ofthe earth to the other.

It is possible that the work is not really the anthropomorphic

travesty it first appears to be. When compared with the lover/God

ofthe Song of Songs, the Shi'ur Qomah seems to insist that the description

ofthe Creator's limbs should not be taken literally, but

rather in an esoteric, interior, and ultimately mystical sense. Clearly,

the magnitudes serve to evoke the awesome and ineffable object of

mystical meditation. Similarly, the concatenation of meaningless

names for the divine limbs border on magical incantations.

The works of this early period gave later Jewish mystics two

basic elements that served as a foundation for their formulations

down through history: the heikhalot books provided a hierarchic description

ofthe divine realm, one stratum above the other; they also

provided for the possibility of ascending in mystical experience

through these layered strata. The Shi'ur Qomah approach to the Song

of Songs combined this element with an interior and mystical investigation

into the nature of God. Thus, a theological element was

added to the earlier visionary theme ofthe heikhalot. Medieval Kabbalah,

though different in many respects from heikhalot and merkavah

mysticism, preserved and developed these two complementary elements.

Another contribution of this early Jewish mysticism to the Kabbalah

ofthe Middle Ages is the perception ofthe T annaitic age as

3

INTRODUCTION

the apex of Jewish mystical activity and authority. Both the Bahir

and the Zohar are ascribed to Tannaitic masters: the Bahir to Rabbi

N e~unia ben ha-Qanah and the Zohar to Rabbi Simeon bar Y oi:lai,

student ofthe great Rabbi Aqiba. This was not just an external ascription,

for these books were purposely written in the literary forms

prevalent in the Tannaitic period. Thus, both the Bahir and the Zohar

were written in midrashic (running commentary of Scripture) form,

couched whenever possible in the language and expression of second-century

Hebrew and Aramaic. Since literary form cannot but

have an impact on content, the affinities between ancient and medieval

Jewish mystical schools were preserved in the strongest possible

way, even though enormous differences reflected the transition

from the late Roman Empire to Christian Europe in the High Middle

Ages.

While it is possible to compare textually and ideologically ancientJewish

mysticism with the Kabbalah and thereby discover the

terminology and ideas that passed from the former to the latter, it is

much more difficult to describe the history of Jewish mysticism during

the intervening centuries. The basic problem ofthe emergence

ofthe Kabbalah is the difficulty in discovering a continuous line of

development from Palestine and Babylonia in Late Antiquity to

southern Europe in the twelfth century. This key question in the

history of Jewish mysticism is still quite obscure.

When the first Kabbalistic circles began to appear in Provence

and Spain in the Middle Ages, their symbols and terminology, as

well as their concept ofthe divine world, seemed to be completely

novel. Though we do not have a clear understanding ofthe roots of

the Kabbalah in the generations immediately preceding its appearance,

we do have some evidence that what is characteristic ofthe concepts

ofthe first Kabbalists was not known to scholars living only a

short time before them.

Early in the twelfth century there lived in Spain a Rabbi Judah

ben Barzillai of Barcelona, a great rabbinic authority who was in possession

of a wealth of ancient speculative theological material. He

developed a keen interest in Jewish esoteric traditions and collected

everything he could find. His library included many sources that

were later lost. He presented the material he had collected in a detailed

and extensive commentary to the unusual Sefer Ye{irah (Book

of Creation; to be described below).10 This commentary tells us

much about the status of medieval European Jewish theology, for it

4

INTRODUCTION

is revealing in what it contains as much as what is absent. Careful

examination of this work fails to reveal any trace of specific symbols,

ideas, or formulae characteristic ofthe Kabbalah. II It is difficult to

assume that Rabbi Judah ben Barzillai deliberately obscured these

ideas, for they are no different in their degree of esotericism from

many others that he explicitly details.

In a similar vein, we have many volumes of esoteric and mystical

works from the medieval German Pietist schools in the late

twelfth and first half ofthe thirteenth centuries (this movement is

described below, section 3). In all the detailed discussions in these

Pietist tracts of topics that were to playa central part in later Kabbalistic

theories, we do not find any evidence ofthe unique Kabbalistic

approach. 12 Though an argument from silence should always be

regarded with great caution, it still is a fact that the eruption of Kabbalistic

symbolism in the late twelfth century seems to be a revolutionary

rather than an evolutionary process.

This issue becomes even more complicated once we introduce

another key element into it: the Gnostic tendencies in the early Kabbalah.

Heikhalot and merkavah literature has been described by scholars

as belonging-at least to some extent-to the great and variegated

family of Gnostic phenomena. 13 G. Scholem once characterized this

"palace room" and "chariot" literature as expressing a specifically

Jewish/Gnostic world view. 14 This thesis has been severely criticized

in recent years, due largely to parallel investigations into contemporary

Christian Gnosticism. 15 Furthermore, much ofthe later Jewish

esoteric systems lack most of what is regarded as classical and

characteristic Gnostic symbolism. But early Kabbalah (and, somewhat

surprisingly, sixteenth-century Kabbalah) abounds in Gnostic

ideas and symbols.

In fact, the appearance ofthe Kabbalah in the twelfth century

might best be regarded as an eruption of Gnostic attitudes in the

heart of Rabbinic Judaism of southern Europe. Where did these

Gnostic symbols come from? How did they suddenly appear in the

late twelfth century after languishing for more than a millennium in

the labyrinths of obscure and largely ignored heikhalot and merkavah

texts?

One tempting answer to these questions rests in proposing a

connection between the early Kabbalah and contemporary Christian

movements containing Gnostic elements. Such Gnostic movements

as the Cathars and Albigensians dominated thetheological horizon

5

INTRODUCTION

of southern France, in close proximity to the Proven

INTll00UCl"ION

We cannot be sure, were it not for indications provided by the

philological clues provided by the Bahir, which seem to indicate that

Gnostic sources of some sort did reach the author or editor ofthe

work. The content ofthese sources and their precise path of transmission

is still a mystery. The question of why this injection of

Gnosticism did occur at precisely the end ofthe twelfth century is

presently unanswerable, and thus a full account ofthe emergence of

the early Kabbalah is far from complete. However, some important

facts concerning the circumstances of this emergence can be understood

when we survey the mystical background to this emergence,

especially while remaining cognizant ofthe cultural and historical

factors that coalesced just before the appearance ofthe Kabbalah.

Before we can embark on this task, however, some definition ofthe

Kabbalah and its symbolism is required.

2. THE NATURE OF EARLY KABBALAH

The Kabbalah is only one of many forms of Jewish mysticism

during its nearly two millennia of development. Since the thirteenth

century it has emerged as the most important current, and in subsequent

centuries all Jewish mystical expressions were made, with

few exceptions, through the symbolism provided by the Kabbalah.

In the period ofthe development ofthe early Kabbalah it was not

the only Jewish mystical system; it achieved this status only after the

Zohar became the authoritative text of Jewish mysticism. It is necessary

now to explain briefly the dividing lines between Kabbalah

and other Jewish attempts at mystical expression.

The most characteristic and recognizable symbol ofthe Kabbalah

is that ofthe ten sefirot (singular: seftrah). This strange and untranslatable

term first appears in the Sefer Ye~irah (Book of Creation),

a short cosmological and cosmogonical work probably written during

the fourth century C.E. 18 Some ofthe terms used in this work are

closely related to the heikhalot and merkavah literature, but its cosmology

and terminology have no prior source in Hebrew literature.

All later theologians undoubtedly drew the term seftrah, as well as

many other terms that became central to Jewish philosophical and

mystical speculation in the Middle Ages, from this short tract.

The sefirot in the Book of Creation probably denote the concept

of "numeral" and are ten in number. 19 As cosmological symbols

these ten sefirot express ten extremities or polarities in a three-di-

7

IN'jflt()J)1JCTION

mensional world: up, down, east, west, north, south (the dimensions

of space); beginning and end (the dimension of time); and good and

evil (the moral dimension).

In the Kabbalah, the sefirot are a series of divine emanations,

spreading forth from the Godhead 20 and comprising the divine

world, which separates the created worlds-the world of angels, celestial

bodies, and earth-from the hidden Godhead. This hidden

Godhead does not take part in any change or activity, thus resembling

to some extent the Aristotelian concept ofthe Prime Mover or

First Cause, or the Plotinian One.

As described by the early Kabbalists, the sefirot contain many

elements derived directly from Neoplatonic theologies and cosmologies.

For example, the metaphor of radiating light emanating from

a blinding Godhead is often employed by Kabbalists. The Godhead

itself is beyond all symbolic description and can therefore be described

only by negative statements. The most frequently used negative

appellation for the Godhead is Eyn Sof(No End), but this term

does not contain any specific meaning that renders it superior to any

other negative term such as "no beginning" or "no color." Symbolism

begins with the first sefirah, containing an element of specific

characterization that can be hinted at by a symbol (most often by

"Thought" or "Supreme Thought" or "Will").

The system ofthe ten sejirot can be, therefore, nothing more

than a philosophico-cosmological attempt at explaining the world,

both earthly and divine-not very different in most respects from

similar ones put forth in the eleventh and twelfth centuries by Muslim,

Christian, and Jewish philosophers influenced by ancient Neoplatonic

world views. What differentiates the Kabbalah from other

systems that use emanation as the metaphor for the unfolding of

Being is twof