THE KABBALAH

And the kings of ancient time were dead, and their crowns were found no more; and the earth was desolate."

66

-THE BOOK OF CONCEALED MYSTERY.

Abraham bound the essences of the twenty-two letters on his tongue, and God disclosed to him the secrets of them. God has carried these through waters, he has borne them aloft through fire, he has stamped them in the storms of the air."

THE BOOK OF CREATION.

VOL. IV.-10.

66

THE KABBALAH

(INTRODUCTION)

FTER that our father Abraham had seen, and pondered over, investigated, and understood these things (the letters of the alphabet and their mysterious powers), he designed, engraved, and composed them, and received them into his power." These words form the explanation written in the "Sepher Yetzirah," or "Book of Creation," as to how learning, in the form of the alphabet, was given into the possession of man. The" Sepher Yetzirah " is the first and presumably the oldest of the books of the Kabbalah. It twice refers to Abraham as being its author, or at least as being the first recorder of its teachings; and when we consider the persistency with which Hebrew tradition has survived, we will not be too lightly skeptical of the idea that Abraham has some right to rank as the father of the Kabbalah.

Kabbalah is a Hebrew word meaning "tradition." Some among the Jews have always maintained that in addition to their written law, the Bible, and their spoken law, the Talmud and Midrash, they also possessed an equally divine secret teaching, which must never be written down or spoken except to the initiated. There is a passage in the book among the Bible apocrypha known as Esdras, which declares that the Lord told Moses, "These things shalt thou declare, and these shalt thou hide." This hokmah nistarah, or hidden wisdom of Moses, has been a subject of discussion among the Jews from very early times; and those who sought or studied it were called mashilem, or "the wise." the wise." The greatest Jewish leaders and teachers have claimed no distinct knowledge of such a hidden wisdom; but there still persists some idea of its existence as a thing akin to Masonic formulas, and to the Rosicrucian societies of the Middle Ages. The Kabbalah professes to be the voice of this secret treasure.

From this point of view the Kabbalah became to the Middle Ages one chief source of research into magic, of dabbling with black arts. It was supposed to teach men "the ineffable name" of God, by pronouncing which they could command the universe. Both Jews and Arabs declared that King Solomon had possessed full mastery over demons and other spirits; and men sought to recover the lost art of Solomon, through the assistance of the Kabbalah. The main Kabbalistic doctrine, however, is not of magic, but of the relation of God to his world. It is thus a work of philosophy, attempting to explain the origin of all things. This philosophy is expressed in highly figurative language; yet it is of a profundity and logical completeness which give it a value of its own. The Kabbalah thus holds, quite apart from any adventitious interest due to its veil of mystery, a noteworthy rank in medieval religious thought.

Briefly stated, the history of the Kabbalah is as follows. The "Sepher Yetzirah," or "Book of Creation," can be traced back to about the sixth century, and seems to fit that period in spirit and philosophy. Enthusiastic Kabbalists believe it had existed though not in written form - since the beginning of the world. Adam was declared its real author; and it was supposed to be the record of our first parents' wisdom, preserved and written down by Abraham., "The Kabbalah," writes one enthusiast, "was first taught by God himself to a select company of angels, who formed a school in paradise."

The "Sepher Yetzirah" is, however, little more than an introduction to the main Kabbalah. This is a collection of several books, the most important of which are the "Sepher Dtzenioutha," or "Book of Concealed Mystery," and the "Book of the Greater Assembly." These two are printed. here. The collection which includes these is called the "Zohar," or "Shining Light." It was given to the world about the year 1305 by Moses de Leon, an able and learned Spanish Jew, who declared that he was compiling it from old originals. But these he never showed the world, and modern scholars feel quite sure that the "Zohar" is in thought and

spirit a work of the fourteenth century, though very probably older Kabbalistic teachings were incorporated within it.

The Jews of the fourteenth century widely accepted the "Zohar," and after a time it spread among other nations until, during the Renaissance, all Europe took it up with eagerness. Its pseudo-science of numbers and letters appealed to the fancy of the time. Its central doctrine was found so akin to Christianity that it was heralded as another ancient Hebrew prophecy of the Christ. Jews became Christians after studying it, and two very different Popes discussed at least the possibility of including it among the sacred books of Christianity.

As to its contents, the "Zohar" professes to be the teachings of a celebrated rabbi of Galilee in the second century, Simeon ben Yohai. This Rabbi Simeon was said to be a miracle-worker, one of the mashilem. Having been condemned to death by the Romans he hid for thirteen years in a cave; and in that cave, a thousand years later, according to a legend that grew up after the "Zohar's" appearance, were found the rabbi's magic books, the "Zohar.”

The longest of these books is "The Greater Holy Assembly." In this Rabbi Simeon discourses to his friends on the problems of God and creation, also of the mystic properties of letters and numbers. The other most noted Zohar book, the "Sepher Dtzenioutha," deals more fully with these Kab balistic letter and number forms and with their secret values. Both of these books have been so added to by commentators that it is no longer easy to separate the earlier text from later additions. To some extent, however, this has been done by including the added parts in parentheses. So far, then, as we can judge to-day, the earliest written form of each book may be read by merely omitting all that lies within the parentheses.

Perhaps the further explanation of the secret teaching of these books may best be left to a Kabbalist. Its dealing with letters and numbers explains itself; but for its dealing with the spirit Mr. Mathers, in translating the "Sepher Dtzenioutha," said of it in part: