Preface
AS a preliminary to the translation of the
great Kabbalistic work, "The Sepher Zohar, or Book of Light," we
purpose to sketch in brief outline the history of its origin, the
nature and purpose of its doctrines and teachings, as also the
great influence of its philosophy which is reflected in the
writings of Albert the Great, Reuchlin, Raymond Lully, Boehmen,
More the Platonist, Spinoza, Balzac, and many others whose names
are famous in the annals of literature and learning. To the readers
of the late Madame Blavatsky's works, "Isis Unveiled" and "The
Secret Doctrine," this will doubtless prove acceptable and enable
them to understand and comprehend those parts in which she has
incorporated the philosophy respecting the Sephiroth and shown its
close similarity in many of its aspects with Eastern teachings.
There is scarcely a page in which some reference to it is not
found, with Hebrew words, the explanation of which would have
enhanced the value of the above works and added to the enjoyment
and edification of theosophical students in general. To supply this
desideratum it will be necessary to give details respecting
Kabbalah of which the Zohar is justly considered to be the prolific
fountain from which has flowed that stream of occult philosophy
that has entered so largely as an element in the teachings of
mystics of ancient and modern times.
The ancient Jews were not different from other nations in
having occult schools and institutions in which secret doctrines
were inculcated and imparted to neophytes, or the sons of the
prophets, as they are termed in the Bible. These teachings were
twofold in their nature and character, and denominated Beresith, or
the science of the natural world; also Mercaba, which had relation
to heavenly or spiritual science, and which was esteemed and
regarded as most sacred and never to be revealed except to
initiates, and then only orally, as amongst the ancient Druids.
That which was received was termed "Kabbalah," a Hebrew word,
signifying reception, or, rather, what is received and handed on to
others in short aphorisms and mnemonical words, the meaning of
which could only be deciphered and comprehended by those who had
successfully passed through a long course of esoteric studies. For
instance, A D M, or Adam, taught that the soul of Adam the first
was incarnated in David the King and will eventually appear in the
form of the Messiah. It is said that Kabbalah first originated
after the expulsion of Adam from the Garden of Eden, and was
communicated to him by the angel Raziel in order that he might be
better able, through attending to its teachings, to regain his lost
estate. The common tradition and most generally accepted is that
Moses himself was the real author of Kabbalah, having received it
during his residence of forty days and nights on Mount Sinai. After
his descent therefrom he imparted it to Aaron, who in turn handed
it on to his sons, through whom it was given to the seventy elders
of the children of Israel and coadjutors of Moses in juridical
government and polity. Through the judges, especially the prophet
Samuel, it was delivered to David and Solomon, the latter becoming
renowned throughout the East for his extensive and profound
knowledge of Kabbalah, by which he was able to perform marvelous
things and acquire control over all beings, demons, spirits of the
air, fire and water, and make them his obedient and subservient
ministers.
During the reigns of the various kings of Israel and Judah we
gather that this Kabbalah was widely taught and studied in the
schools or colleges of the prophets, presided over by hierophants,
of whom Elijah and Elisha were remarkable examples, and
distinguished not only by their loftiness of character, but also
for their knowledge and manipulation of nature's occult forces and
powers, by which they stand out boldly and prominently in Jewish
history. These occult societies were generally distinguished by the
wearing of some special badge or emblem indicative of the peculiar
occultism of which they were the professed followers and adherents,
such as a raven or hawk, eagle or dove, a lion, a wolf, an ox or a
Iamb. Their members, whenever sent out on any benevolent expedition
or political mission, always went in couples, similar to the rule
of custom in vogue at the present time with monks and nuns in the
Roman Catholic community. From this fact we obtain a satisfactory
and rational explanation of the extraordinary and miraculous
feeding of Elijah by two ravens, who brought him in his place of
retirement and concealment bread and meat for his daily sustenance.
Instead of two birds noted for their thievish propensities, we see
how two members of an occult school, who were perfectly acquainted
with the whereabouts of Elijah, and so ministered to the bodily
wants and necessities of their great hierophant. It is also related
of Alexander the Great, on his entering into one of the chief
cities of Egypt, that he was welcomed by twelve doves at the head
of a large procession of the citizens, and who greeted his presence
with some remarkable signs of congratulation, the strangeness of
which vanishes and disappears when we recognize in these doves
members of some occult institution held in veneration by the
general populace, and thus qualified to be the exponents of their
good wishes and feelings toward the conquering Alexander. The
Babylonian captivity brought the Jews into immediate contact with
Chaldean and Persian philosophy, which introduced a great change in
their speculative ideas of the creation and divine government of
the world, Chaldean magic and occult science became objects of deep
interest and study, and ultimately resulted in the formation of new
societies and sodalities, in which secret rites and ceremonies were
performed and celebrated. All knowledge of their teachings was
jealously guarded, and their members were bound by the most solemn
oaths not to divulge or reveal them to the profane or common
people. These esoteric schools abounded throughout the East,
especially in parts of Arabia and adjacent countries.
And now we enter into the historic domain and gather from the pages
of Philo Judaeus, a famed Jewish mystic and philosopher, who in his
treatise on the advantages accruing from a contemplative life makes
mention and reference to the Essenes and gives a somewhat full
account of their methods and objects of study. They lived an
ascetic life, and at stated intervals indulged in meditation after
reading portions of sacred hooks or writings entrusted to them. At
other times they assembled in solemn conclave for interchange of
thoughts and ideas which had come to them in the seclusion and
silence of their cells. "They spoke slowly and with deliberation,"
says Philo, "regarding eloquence not so much as clearness in
expression of ideas. They frequently repeated themselves in order
that their sayings might become engraved on the minds of their
auditors. In the interpretation of Scripture they indulged greatly
in the use of allegories, as the law appeared to them like a living
being. The physical body was the letters and words; the soul was
the invisible spirit hidden within them, a spirit by which the
student, guided and led by reason, begins searching after those
things which are of importance to him; discovering most wondrous
and beautiful thoughts under the form that envelops them; rejecting
mere outward symbols in order to lead the mind to the light and for
the use and advantage of those who, with a little aid, are able to
perceive truths and things invisible by means of and through things
visible." They fully recognized that the spiritual world was no
remote region in the universe, but was surrounding them and not
very far away from them. For them there existed no broad deep gulf,
no solid wall or partition between the natural and spiritual
worlds, no insuperable and impenetrable barrier between them and
the spirits of great and good men made perfect and who had once
been teachers to nations. If differences there was between them, it
was one of state and condition, and this they endeavored to
mitigate and obviate by purity of life and thought, esteeming no
self-denial too great, no sacrifice too transcendant or comparable
to the enjoyment of spirit intercourse and instruction, resulting
in the subjugation of their lower nature, and so clarifying their
minds that they became luminous mirrors in which were reflected the
secrets of the universe. This was their philosophy as expressed by
an old Arabian sago. "When my soul," said he, "shall become in
harmony with the divine life, then will it be a reflection of
nature's great and secret. truths."
Such is the general description of these occult schools or lodges
widely prevalent in the East, and which continued to exist to the
time of Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai, the great Kabbalist and reputed
author of "The Zohar, or The Book of Light," whose name is held in
reverence and esteem by all true students of occult philosophy. His
biography, though short, is not uninteresting in its character and
details. He lived and taught in the reign of Hadrian, the Roman
Emperor, when the Jewish nation was subject to much hardship and
persecution and their Rabbis or recognized teachers labored under
grievous disabilities, being prohibited from giving instructions to
their students, a restriction which Rabbi Simeon had the singular
boldness and courage to ignore and disregard, and thus incurred the
anger and displeasure of the Roman rulers. He had to flee for his
life and conceal himself in an unknown and solitary abode. He had
been holding a discussion in one of the synagogues with Jehuda ben
Illai and Jose ben Halefta, two famous Rabbis, on the comparative
character of Jewish and Roman manners. Jehuda commenced his
discourse with an eloquent eulogium on the Romans as the greatest
promoters of the material convenience and civilization of the
people they governed, instancing their public works, architecture,
and the patronage they gave to the useful arts. When Rabbi Jose's
turn came to speak he exhibited the cautiousness which had given
him the surname of "The Prudent," and observed an impressive
silence. The discretion of his colleagues was, however, lost upon
Simeon, whose animosity to the Romans for the harshness and cruelty
exhibited toward his brethren vented itself in a fiery invective
against the oppressors, which, becoming the topic of public
conversation, aroused and excited the displeasure of the civil
authorities. He, along with the above Rabbis, was summoned to
appear before the magistrates. The silence of Rabbi Jose was deemed
a sufficient ground for banishment to Sepphoris; Rabbi Jehuda was
allowed to exercise the office of a preacher in the synagogue; but
Rabbi Simeon was condemned to death, a sentence which he evaded and
escaped by immediate and timely flight, accompanied by his son
Eliezar. For several years he remained in seclusion and lived as a
hermit in a cavern, engaged in the development of Kabbalistic
science as embodied in the Book of Zohar. After the death of the
Emperor Antoninus he left his place of concealment and reappeared
as the founder of a school in Tekoa, a town in Palestine. About
three hundred of his sayings are recorded in the Talmud. The whole
of his life was absorbed and spent in the study of Kabbalah, in
which science he was and still is regarded as one of its most
eminent masters. He lived in a world of his own, in a region beyond
the bounds of ordinary nature. Students and learned Rabbis from all
parts flocked to him and enrolled themselves as members of his
school, in which subjects of the highest philosophy were discussed.
Instructions by great teachers, such as Moses, who in the Zohar is
styled The Faithful Shepherd, and the great prophet Elijah, who in
luminous and resplendent forms appeared in their midst, were
imparted on matters and subjects of the most abstruse and occult
character, and which were recorded in secret writing by students
deputed and chosen for that object. There is an affecting account
of his death given by one of his students in the "Idra Seta, or
"Lesser Assembly," one of the appendices to the Zohar. As a teacher
he had lived and as a teacher he died, surrounded by scholars who
loved him dearly. "Mercy," he was saying, "hath ascended unto the
Holy of Holies, for there Adonai hath commanded his blessing
forevermore, even life everlasting." There was a sudden pause. His
head fell slowly on his breast. Intently gazing upon him, they
listened in deep silence for further words, but no words came from
those lips that had been so eloquent in speech. They were his last
words, and not inappropriate as a finale to a life like his.
Suddenly a strange supernatural light surrounded the house. "At
that moment," says Rabbi the Scribe, "I heard a voice, which said:
'Before thee are countless days of blessedness,' and then another,
saying: 'He asked life of thee and thou gayest him the years of
eternity.' Throughout all that day the flame continued around the
house, and no man entered or went forth. I lay weeping and sobbing
on the ground. At length the fire departed, and I perceived that
the soul of him who was the Light of Israel had departed also. His
corpse was reclining on the right side, and a smile was on his
face. Eliezar, his son, took his hands and kissed them. We could
find no utterance for our grief till tears began to flow. Three
times his son fell down in speechless sorrow. At length the power
of utterance came to him, and he cried, 'Father! Father!' As the
funeral procession moved toward the grave a light revealed itself
in the air, and a voice was heard exclaiming: 'Come! Gather
yourselves together to the marriage feast of Simeon.'"
Ere entering upon the analysis of the Zohar and its con-tents, we
would premise that the Kabbalists teach that the Divine Being has
expressly committed his mysteries to certain chosen individuals,
who in their turn handed down to others who proved themselves
worthy recipients of them. These mysteries relating to man's
spiritual existence and guidance are concealed in parts of the Holy
Scriptures, the interpretation of which is the province of
Kabbalah. To understand these mysteries the student will find it
necessary to acquaint himself with the metaphysical principles as
laid down in the earliest writings and documents of this science,
as in later times professors of Kabbalah have incorporated with it
many of their own ideas and philosophic doctrines culled from Greek
and Arabian sources.
Kabbalah as a constituted science or system of Theosophy is
divided into two separate sections, The Theological and The
practical; this dealing with the visible creation and termed
Bernhik; that dealing with the spiritual world and the attributes
and perfection of the Divine Being is denominated the Mercaba, or
the chariot throne, with its attendant angels, as seen and
described in the opening chapters of the Book of Ezekiel the
Prophet.
The doctrines of Creation are succinctly outlined in the "Sepher
Yitsira, or Book of Creation," the imputed author of which is said
to be no less a personage than Abraham the Patriarch himself. As
this work, with a translation of its contents, will form a subject
of future consideration, we shall confine our remarks to the no
less important Kabbalistic work, The Zohar.
In order that our readers may obtain a clearer idea of the
philosophy of this strange and remarkably interesting book, it will
perhaps not be out of place to lay down or touch upon a few of the
fundamental axioms which more or less form the basis of systems of
philosophy, ancient or modern, Eastern or Western, and especially
in Kabbalah; such as "From out of nothing, nothing can proceed;
therefore no substance that now exists has been produced from
nothing, and whatever exists is in one sense untreated. All
existing substances are emanations from one eternal substance." In
the act of what is commonly termed creation the eternal Being drew
from himself; consequently there is no such thing as matter in our
sense of the word. Whatever we call matter is only another form or
species under which the spirit comes into manifestation. Therefore
the universe is a realization of the Infinite, an immanent effect
of his ever-active power and presence. Though all existence flows
front the divine, yet is the world different from the Godhead, as
the effect is different from the cause. Nevertheless, as not
separate, but abiding immanently in him, creation is evermore the
manifestation of himself. The world is the mantle with which he
clothes himself, or, rather, it is a revelation of the Godhead, not
in his hidden essence, but in his visible glory. In giving
existence to the universe the first act of the almighty was the
production of a power and principle intimately and specially
related to himself, to which are given the names of his holy
spirit, his personal world, his first-begotten son and which the
Kabbalists in general personify and term Adam Kadmon, or the
archetypal Man, and who in turn caused to proceed from emanations
from himself all the lower forms of actual existence in their
several descending series and gradations.
According to Kabbalists, God is the author of the letters. Spirit
is a revelation of thought and the form in which intellect or mind
pronounces itself most distinctly. Letters are the organic elements
of speech, and therefore he who taught man language or who made
him, as one of the Targums expresses it, "ruach mamelella," a
speaking spirit, must have been the author of the letters of the
primeval language. The first ten numbers and the twenty-two letters
of the alphabet, considered analogically as types of divine
operation, are denominated the thirty-two paths of wisdom of which
the almighty created the universe. "The works of God," says the
author of "Cosri," another famous Kabbalistic work, "are the
writing of Him whose writing is his Word, and whose word is his
thought, so that the words, work and thought of God are one, though
they seem to man to be three." As in the universe harmony reigns in
manifoldness, so the letters and numbers constitute a system which
has its centre and hierarchy. The unit predominates over the three.
The three rules over the seven; the seven over the twelve. The
centre of the universe is the celestial dragon. The circuit of the
zodiac is the basis of the year. The heart is the centre in man.
The first is elevated in the world like a king upon his throne. In
the seven organs of the body there is a kind of opposition which
sets the one against the other as in battle array. Three promote
love, three engender hatred. Three bestow life, three lead to
dissolution, and one cannot be apprehended by the mind without the
other. Over the whole of this triple system, over man, the world
and time, over numbers, letters and sephiroth, the only true king,
the one God rules forever and ever. Such are the chief fundamental
ideas which permeate the whole texture of the Zohar, which, as we
have observed, forms the standard and code of Kabbalistic
philosophy. The body of the books takes the form of a commentary
extending over the five books of Moses, viz.: the Book of Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and is of a highly
mystical and allegorical character, and which was the most general
and favored method of teaching and imparting instruction in Eastern
countries.
In addition to these, there are eighteen supplementary
portions, viz.:
1. Siphra Dzeniutha, The Book of Mysteries.
2. Idra Rabba, The Great Assembly, referring to the school or
college of Rabbi Simeon's students in their conferences for
Kabbalistic discussion.
3. Idra Seta, The Lesser Assembly, of the few disciples that that
remained for the same purpose toward the end of their master's life
or after his decease.
4. Sabba, The Aged Man.
5. Midrash Ruth, a mystical exposition of The Book of Ruth.
6. Seper Ha Bahia, The Book of Clear Light.
7. Tosephtha, An Addition.
8. Raia Mehima, The Faithful Shepherd (Moses).
9. Hechaloth, The Palaces.
10. Sithrey Torah, The Secrets of the Law.
11. Midrash Ha-Neelam, The Concealed Treatise.
12. Rose de Rasin, The Mystery of Mysteries.
13. Midrash Chasith, On the Canticles.
14 Maamar Ta chasi, a discourse, so-called from its first words,
"Come and See."
15. Ianuka, "The Youth."
16. Pekuda, Illustrations of the Law.
17. Chibbura Kadma, The Early Work.
18. Mathuitin, Doctrines.
The commentary is sometimes called Zohar gadol, the Greater Light;
the supplements, Zohar Katon, or the Lesser Light. Though the Zohar
is said to be a commentary on the Pentateuch, it must be understood
that the interpretation is Kabbalistic, and that the literal sense
of the words is only a covering or garment of the true meaning.
With the Kabbalists there are two ways of regarding and speaking of
the Divine Being. When they speak simply and directly of his nature
and attributes their style is severely metaphysical and abstruse,
but at other times they indulge in the use of metaphor and allegory
to a most extraordinary, if not extravagant, degree, at the same
time declaiming against the possibility of any attempt to describe
theincomprehensible (because infinite) Being. This is especially
the case with the Siphra Dzeniutha, or Book of Mysteries, of which
the following extract is a fair sample of its style:
"He is the ancient of ancients, the mystery of mysteries, the
concealed of the concealed. He hath a form peculiar to himself, but
he hath chosen to appear to us the ancient of ancients. Yet in the
form whereby we know him he remaineth still unknown. His vesture is
white and his aspect that of an unveiled face. He sitteth on a
throne of splendors, and the white light streameth over a hundred
thousand worlds. This white light will be the inheritance of the
righteous in the world to come. Before all time En Soph, the
boundless One, the unoriginated and infinite Being, existed without
likeness, incomprehensible and unknowable. In the production of
finite existence the first act was the evolution of the Memra, or
the Word, which was the first point in the descending series of
beings, and from whom in nine other degrees of manifestation
emanated those forms which at once compose the universe and express
the attributes and presence of its eternal ruler. To these nine
forms is given the common name of Sephiroth, signifying Splendors.
The whole or some of these Sephiroth constitute the universe, the
manifestation of God, their names being:
1. Kether, Crown.
2. Chocma, Wisdom.
3. Binah, Understanding.
4. Chesed, Mercy.
5. Din, Justice.
6. Tiphereth, Beauty.
7. Netzach, Triumph.
8. Hod, Glory.
9. Yesod, Foundation.
10. Malkuth, Kingdom or Dominion.
The primordial essence is before all things. In his abstract
and eternal nature and condition he is incomprehensible, and as an
object of the understanding, according to the Zohar, he is nothing,
the mystery of mysteries; but he took form as he called forth them
all. The ancient of ancients is now seen in his own light; that
light is his holy name, the totality of the Sephiroth. The order of
their emanation is as follows: From Kether, the Crown, the primal
emanation of En Soph, proceed two other Sephiroth--Chocma (wisdom),
active and masculine; the other Binah (understanding), passive and
feminine, the combination of which results in thought, of which the
universe is the effect. The crowned Memro, or Kether, or primordial
Logos, is the thinking power in creation, Chocma the act of
thinking, and Binah the subject of the thinking. Says Cordovero,
author of a famous Kabbalistic work, Pardis Rimmonim, or the Garden
of Pomegranates: "The forms of all earthly beings are in these
three Sephiroth, as they themselves are in him who is their
fountain." The seven other Sephiroth develop themselves also into
triads, in which two antithetical members are united by a third.
Thus Chesed (mercy) is the antithesis of Din (justice), and both
are united in Tiphereth (beauty). These terms, however, are not
used as in our common theology and ethics in the moral or spiritual
sense, but have rather a cosmological or dynamic meaning, Chesed
signifying the expansion of the divine Will, and Din its
concentrated energy. These two attributes are called in the Zohar
the arms of God; and Tiphereth, whose symbol is the breast or
heart, is the expression for the good they produce and uphold. The
next three Sephiroth--Netzach, Hod, and Yesod--are also of a
dynamical character, representing the producing power of all
existence. Netzach, masculine, and Hod, feminine, are used in the
sense of expansiveness and grandeur, and denote the power from
which all the forces of the universe proceed and combine themselves
in a common principle, Yesod, the foundation or basis of all
things. Viewed under one aspect, these three Sephiroth or
attributes reveal the Deity in the character in which the Bible
speaks of him as Jehovah Zebaoth, or the Lord of Hosts. The tenth
and last of the Sephiroth, Malkuth, sets forth the divine
sovereignty and its never-ending reign within and by all the
others. Thus we see that these Sephiroth are not mere instruments
different from the divine substance. He is present in them; but is
more than what these forms of being make visible. They cannot in
themselves express the Infinite. While each of them has a
well-defined name, he, as Infinite, can have no name. Whilst,
therefore, God pervades all worlds which reveal to us his presence,
he is at the same time exalted above them. His immutable nature can
never be meted or scanned; therefore the Zohar compares these
Sephiroth to classes of various colors through which as media the
divine light shines unchanged as the sun-beam is unchanged,
whatever medium transmits it. Again, these ten theogonic Sephiroth
are resolved into three classes, and make what is termed olam
atzoloth, the world of emanation. The first three are of a purely
intellectual nature, and are exponents of the olam maskel, or
"intelligent world," and set forth the absolute identity of being
and thon ht. The second triad is of a cosmological and moral
character, expressing the energy of rectitude and grace in the
revelation of the beautiful. In them the almighty appears as the
summum bonum. The remaining triad represents the divine architect
as the foundation and producing cause of all visible being, and is
termed olam hamotava, the physically developed world.
Furthermore, these worlds are divided in a fourfold manner, viz.:
(1) Atzeloth, emanative world; (2) Bariah, creative world,
referring to the higher order of spirits; (3) Yetsira, formative
world, including all the heavenly bodies; (4) Asosah, or olam
hamotava, terrestrial world, which latter, though containing the
dregs of existence, is nevertheless considered as immaterial, for
matter in the ordinary idea or conception of it, on account of its
imperfection and inability, would be, as an emanation from God, an
impossibility and a contradiction. The divine efflux of vivifying
glory, so resplendent at its fontal source, becomes less potent as
it descends in the scale of being, till, in the phenomenon termed
"matter," it exists in its embers, or, as the Kabbalists describe
it: "Like a coal in which there is no longer any light." The Zohar
gives a beautiful illustration of the intimate and unique relation
of three worlds from the flame of a lamp, the upper and white light
of which symbolizes theintellectual; the lower and more shaded
light, which insensibly blends itself with the upper one,
represents the world offeeling; whilst the grosser material, which
is beneath all, is the emblem of the physical world. That the above
remarks may be better understood, we subjoin the following: Taking
the three central Sephiroth as the highest manifestation of their
respective trinities, the Zohar represents the crown as symbol of
the one infinite substance; Tiphereth, or beauty, as the highest
expression of moral perfection, and Malkuth, the kingdom, the
permanent activity of all the Sephiroth together--the presence or
shekinah of the divine in the universe. The ground principle of
Zohar philosophy is that every form of life, from the lowest
element of the organic world up to the purest and brightest beams
of the Eternal Wisdom, is an emanative manifestation of God, and
consequently that every substance separate from the first great
cause is both a chimera and an impossibility. All substance must be
ever with and in him, or it would vanish like a shadow. He is
therefore ever-present, not with it only, but in it. In him it has
its being, and its Icing is himself. All is one unbroken chain of
Being, of which the Memra is the second and En Soph the first
element. There can therefore be no such thing as annihilation. if
evil exists, it can only be an aberration of the divine Law, and
not as a principle. With the Kabbalists bereshith (creation) and
beraka (blessing) are interchangeable terms. He believes that in
the moral world wicked beings will eventually develop a better
state of character and conduct; that Satan himself at some future
time will regain his primitive angel name and nature. Cordovero
asserts that "hell itself will vanish; suffering, sin, temptation
and death will be outlived by humanity and he succeeded by an
eternal feast, a Sabbath without end." Another teaching of the
Zohar is that the lower world is an image of the one above it.
Every phenomenon of nature is the expression of a divine idea. The
starry firmament is a heavenly alphabet by which the wise and
spiritually-minded can read the interpretation of the present and
the history of the future. So with respect to man; he is the
compendium and climax of the works of God, the terrestrial
shekinah. He is something more than mere flesh and bone, which are
the veil, the vestment, which, when he leaves earth, he throws off
and is then unclothed. As the firmament is written over with
planets and stars, which, rightly read, make the hidden known, so
on the firmament of the human surface or skin there are lines and
configurations which are symbols and marks of character and
destiny.