THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Origin and Spread of the Cabala (§1). Doctrine of God (§21. Creation and the Sefiroth (,§ 3). Names of the Sefiroth (§ 4). Triads of Sefiroth (§ 5). The Four Worlds (§ 6). Origin of Evil (§ 7). Doctrine of the Messiah (§ S).
The term Cabala designates the esoteric doctrines of Judaism. Although it claims to be a product of the tannaitic period and to be the work of such sages as Ishmael ben Elisha, Simeon ben Yohai, and Nehunya ben ha-Kanah, modern investigation has proved that it is purely a product o( the Middle Ages. Nor does the name kabbalah (from kibbel, "to receive " ) occur with this special connotation before the thirteenth century, the term kabbalah denoting in the Talmud the Hagiographa and the Prophets in contradistinction to the Torah, or Pentateuch.
The Cabala originated at a period when a crassly anthropomorphic concept of God prevailed in Judaism. In Maimonides rationalism had reached its climax, the literal meaning alone being accepted, while all allegorical interpretation was rejected. The study of the Talmud had become purely legalistic, and worship had degenerated into formalism. Against this stereotyped faith born of Aristotelianism arose a reaction, the Cabala. This sought to give the soul the nourishment it craved by an esoteric interpretation of the Scriptures, vivid presentation, and dramatic narrative, even though, in its speculative fervor, it became
i. Origin involved only too often in hopeless
and Spread haze, and evoked a dark superstition
of the through its juggling with the names
Cabala, of God. Arising in Provence, the reaction against rationalism passed to Spain, the real home of the Cabala. Thence, with the expulsion of the Spanish Jews, it was carried to Palestine, whence it spread throughout Europe. The fundamental doctrines of the Cabala are derived from the Hellenistic Judaism, Neoplatonism, and Xeo-Pythagoreanism, with occasional traces of Gnosticism. These elements are so interwoven, however, with the Bible and with a midrashic method of presentation, that the whole has been stamped with the seal of Judaism.
According to the Cabala, God is the eternal and boundless principle of all, and is therefore called En Sof ("The Infinite"). The attributes given him are general, rather than specific. He is absolutely perfect, and is free from all blemish; he is unity and immutability; he is boundless 2. Doctrine and naught exists beside him; and since
of God. hemaybeknownneitherby wisdom nor by understanding, no definition can be given of him, no concept be formed regarding him, and no question asked concerning him. To all beings he is the concealed of all concealed, the hidden of all hidden, the ancient of the ancient; the first of all first, and the primal principle.
The cardinal eosmogonic doctrine of the Cabala, }B creation e nihilo. The reconciliation of the im-
CABALA, cab'a-la.
Doctrines of the Soul (§ 9).
Metempsychosis (§ 10).
Mystic Biblical Exegesis of the Cabala
(§ ID- Biblical Interpretation by Gematria
(I 12). Magic Powers of the Tetragrammaton
(§ 13).
The Early Period of the Cabala (§ 14). The Sefer Yezirah (§ 15). Crystallization of the Cabala (§ 16). The Zohar (§ 17).
Closing Period of the Cabala (§ IS). Influence of the Cabala on Judaism (§ 19) Relation of the Cabala to Christianity <§ 20).
perfect and transitory phenomenal world with the perfection and immutability of God, arid the mutual relation of the two formed never-ending problems for the cabalists. To explain the riddle they assumed the existence of a series of independent and spiritual primeval potentialities, which were intelligible substances or demiurges emanating from the deity. These demiurges (sefiroth) are mentioned as early as the Sefer Yezirah, where their number is given as ten. According to this work, the first emanation was the spirit of the living God, from which proceeded the entire phenomenal world. This same spirit, futhermore, caused ether, water, and fire to emanate from each other. From ether arises the intellectual world, from water the material (the tohu wa-bohu of Gen. i. 2), and from fire the spiritual (the angels and the throne of God). These four sefiroth are followed by the six bounds of space, height, depth, east, 3. Creation west, north, and south. There is, and the however, no consistent view concern- Sefiroth. ing the nature of the sefiroth, which are sometimes regarded as intermediaries between God and the visible world, and at other times as the manifestations of the powers and properties of God; and there is an equal divergence of opinion as to whether they are actual creations which form, in a sense, the basis of later creations, or emanations whereby God emerges from his concealment and assumes form. All attempts to reconcile these conflicting views by postulating the existence of God both in and above phenomena proved unsuccessful. The issuance of the sefiroth from God was regarded by the cabalists as imperiling the doctrine of his immutability and infinity. The first difficulty was obviated by the hypothesis that God's design to manifest himself had existed from all eternity. Since, however, God in his infinity filled the entire universe, no room was left for the sefiroth. until Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (1522-70) and Isaac Luria (1533-72) postulated two concentrations, one a contraction and the other a retraction. Many cabalists, however, felt themselves unable to accept this theory of concentration, which was closely connected, moreover, with the Gnosticism of Valentinian and Basilides, and preferred to assume that the emergence of God from his retirement was to be understood in terms of concept rather than of space, and some regarded the entire process as metaphorical. The first sefirah was K ether (" Crown "), the primal source of all existence. The second was J/okmah (" Wisdom "), which, though enveloped in God, generated the ideas. The third was Binah (" Intelligence "), which carries out the ideas of
Cabala