The Kabbalah
Kabbalah (Tradition) refers to the transmission of mystic truths from ancient times to the present. The Spanish teachers of the eleventh century (Azriel ben Solomon in Gerona and others) spoke of secret doctrines for the elite which in time became teachings of comfort to the many.
Jewish mysticism was a search for harmony which would unite the upper and lower worlds and would eliminate the evil in the world. The heart of the system was the prophetic teaching, and it turned to Ezekiel’s chariot and the story of creation. The first mystic text, the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation), utilised Neoplatonic ideas and a philosophic approach which could challenge radical evil. A path led upwards from that lowly sphere to ever higher forces blessing the world; and those benign forces also streamed downward, through the spheres, offering hope and salvation. In contrast to outside forms of mysticism seeking total union with God, Judaism strove more towards communion—d’vekut (cleaving unto God), which implied no loss of identity.9 God was the En Sof, infinitely distant, the deus absconditus of their Christian neighbours. But in the Zohar, the basic text of Jewish mysticism which received its final form in the thirteenth century, the near God is always encountered. The Ashkenasi Jew had invested the small actions of daily life with a mystic glow; the Sephardi thinker hurled his mind through the universe. They were one in striving to redeem the world. Their mysticism broke into two aspects: the speculative type, which studied the nature of the spiritual world as related to the world below and to the place of humanity within that structure; and the practical type, which attempted, through powerful rituals, wonders and actions, to change the world and make it a better place.The practical Kabbalah of the German school was ecstatic, centring primarily on prayer, inner meditation and contemplation.
The alphabet and numerology of the Sefer Yetzirah found its fullest expression here, together with theurgical actions which provided escape from the lowly and persecuted position Jews occupied in Germany during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Judah the Chasid (d. 1217) and his disciple Eleazar of Worms (d. 1238) combined ethics and piety with the mystic vision of the Divine Glory which the simple Hasidim (pious ones) could achieve through humble, dedicated and ethical Eves, in which they could come to love fellow human beings as they came to love God.Meanwhile, the happier Jewish life in Provence and Spain fashioned the ‘speculative’ type of mysticism. Philosophic thought was subjugated to faith and used to search out the truths of each word of sacred text. It had to establish the world as within the Eh Sof (the Endless), but, since the world is imperfect, the Sefirot (the spheres) were interposed as the medium through which God irradiates the elements of the universe without diminishing his power. Nachmanides taught that the Torah was made up of divine names, with each letter containing powers waiting to be released. Then came the Zohar (Book of Splendour) probably compiled by Moses de Leon of Granada (d. 1305), which unites all the themes ofjewish mysticism, particularly the teachings on good and evil, human nature, the Messiah and redemption. As a different type of Torah commentary, it searched for the hidden meanings of the text. It was midrash—homiletic interpretation of the Torah, the Song of Songs and Ruth; and it was genius. It saw the spheres as a Jacob’s Ladder, with divine light moving down to man, and human aspiration reaching upward and creating angels of its own. Striving to understand evil and suffering, it drew the form of Adam Kadmon (Primordial Man) with God’s justice and punishment moving through the left side of the cosmic body and bringing human suffering. Evil is in the shells, the husks surrounding the sparks of light. The task of redemption is the stripping off of these husks, letting the light shine forth.
And one must still wait for the Messiah. Meanwhile, Israel’s special task is to achieve that great unity (Yichud) in which the Indwelling Presence of God (Shekinah), attached firmly to Israel in a covenant relationship, is reunited with God in the time of the Messiah. The Torah, seen through the Zohar, is the tool for that task in which the ethical and mystical aspects of Judaism are firmly joined together. Study, devout prayer (Kavanah) and love lead every soul back to the source from which it emanated. With these teachings, the Zohar moved out to all the areas of Jewish wanderings where its light and hope illumined the dark world.Kabbalah reached its finest development in Safed in Palestine. The speculative school was represented there by Moses Cordovero (1522-76) whose Pardes (Orchard) was a poem of reason and of mystical thought. He saw theSefirot asKelim (Vessels) containing the unchanging light of the En Sof which is reflected in various ways due to the differing qualities of the Kelim. But it was his compatriot Isaac Luria (1514—72) who developed this thought to its conclusion. The great central figure ofjewish mysticism, combining speculative and practical motifs of mysticism, Luria developed the theory of the shevirat ha-kelim (the breaking of the vessels), as the imperfect containers could not contain the rush of light entering them. The light became sparks, illuminating parts of the world, with evil residing in the dark areas. Yet light and darkness became so intermingled within the universe that all evil contains some good, all good contains some evil. Central to the Lurianic system was the concept oizimzum (contraction) where the Eh Sof, the Infinite, contracts in order to make room for the finite. The intermingling of good and bad, of the souls created at the time of Adam and flawed by his sin, creates a world in which evil flourishes; but harmony will be restored with the coming of the Messiah. Meanwhile, Jewish wanderings through the world serve the task of tikkun (restoring the harmony of the world). These teachings, and the customs of Safed—joyous celebrations, all night studies, special fasts and observances—all left their mark upon the generations which followed. And it moved from there to most other countries, particularly to Poland. There, Isaiah Horowitz (1570-1630) brought the teachings of Safed to a great centre ofjewish life which made his text of ethics and mystical lore Sh’ne Luchot Ha-Brit (Two Tablets of the Covenant) a cherished part of life for the learned and for some laymen. Yet it was not until much later that the rise of Eastern Hasidism brought the mystical teachings of joy and inner devotion into the life of the masses.10