A Dictionary of Kabbalah and Kabbalists

By Dan Cohn-Sherbok

Designed as a reference work for the student and general reader, this Kabbalistic dictionary is a concise and handy guide to the history and treasures of the Jewish mystical tradition. It is the first dictionary of Kabbalah to provide an overview of the major themes of Jewish Kabbalistic thought as it developed over the centuries and also contains brief introductions to its major practitioners. In addition to the dictionary itself, the book contains a chronology of Kabbalah, a history of Kabbalah from ancient times to the present, maps, illustrations and an insight into the emergence of the Kabbalah Centre in California, where many celebrities, including Madonna, worship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Impress Books
• Release date: Oct 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781907605178

Dan Cohn-Sherbok

Professor Dan Cohn-Sherbok is a Reform Judaism Rabbi, Professor Emeritus of Judaism at the University of Wales, and a Visiting Research Fellow at Heythrop college . He is also a prolific author, and was a Finalist in the Times Preacher of the year competition in 2011.

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THE DICTIONARY

OF KABBALAH AND

KABBALISTS

Dan Cohn-Sherbok

Copyright

First published in 2009

by Impress Books, Innovation Centre, Rennes Drive, Exeter, EX4 4RN

This ebook edition first published in 2011

All rights reserved

© Dan Cohn-Sherbok, 2009

The right of Dan Cohn-Sherbok to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

ISBN 978–1–90760–517–8

For Lavinia

CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

List of Illustrations

Preface

Chronology

Introduction

The Dictionary

Further Reading

Index

ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Merkavah: the divine chariot as described in the Book of Ezekiel

2. Jacob’s Ladder: depicts the successive stages of heavenly ascent

3. Pardes Rimmonim: Moses Cordovero composed Pardes Rimmonim in which he depicted the divine world of the sefirot, here with the initial letter of Malkhut at the centre

4. Azilut: the Hebrew letter aleph is the initial letter of Azilut, here depicted as a diagram of the sefirot with Tiferet at the centre

5. Angels: such as the seraph depicted here, play a major role in kabbalistic Judaism

6. Amulets: used frequently in the Middle Ages to ward off evil

7. Akiva: who lived in 1st-century Palestine was a great scholar and mystic 

8. Shabbatai Ẓevi: in the 17th century, Shabbatai Ẓevi was regarded by Jews world-wide as the long-awaited messianic redeemer

9. En Sof: in Kabbalistic Judaism, God is understood as En Sof (the Infinite) who emanates through the divine sefirot

10. Sefirot: from En Sof (Infinite) there emanated ten sefirot which are arranged hierarchically as depicted here

11. Zohar: a medieval mystical commentary on the Pentateuch, ascribed to the 2nd-century scholar Simeon bar Yoḥai 

12. Adam Kadmon: represents the totality of the divine emanations of the sefirot 

13. Divine names: in kabbalistic Judaism there are many different names for God

14. ẒimẒum: according to kabbalistic Judaism, a divine contraction (ẒimẒum) took place when God emanated the ten sefirot

15. Tetragrammaton: depicted here at the bottom of the two hands are the four letters of God’s name often used in kabbalistic sources

PREFACE

The entries in this work – including kabbalistic concepts, kabbalists and anti-kabbalists – are ordered alphabetically. In matters of orthography, terminology and punctuation the Dictionary generally follows British practice. An effort has been made to identify small places by naming a larger place nearby, or locating it within a state or area. Where a place-name has changed in the course of history, the name current at the time under discussion has been used. In article headings, the following abbreviations are used: b.=born, d.=died, fl.= flourished, c.=circa. The use of a question mark indicates uncertainty about the date or dates to which it is attached. Throughout the Dictionary

BCE

is used for the dates before the year 1, and

CE

for dates from the year 1 onward. Hebrew words have been transliterated generally according to the Sephardi pronunciation. For purposes of tracing entries in the Dictionary, readers should note that ‘ḥ’ (not ch) and ‘ẓ’ (not tz) are used. Titles of works as well as foreign terms generally appear in italic type. Cross-references are in capital letters. Names begin generally in inverted form although in many cases in alternative forms. Brackets are used for alternative names.

Any scholar working in Jewish studies owes an enormous debt to those lexicographers who have already published reference works. The following have been consulted in checking and cross-checking the information contained in this Dictionary: Geoffrey Wigoder, The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, W. H. Allen, 1977; Jewish Encyclopedia, Funk and Wagnalls, 1901–5; Yacov Newman and Gavriel Sivan, Judaism A–Z: Lexicon of Terms and Concepts, Department for Torah Education and Culture in the Diaspora of the World Zionist Organization, 1980; Raphael Judah Zwi Werblowsky and Goffrey Wigoder (eds), The Encyclopedia of Jewish Religion, Phoenix House, 1967; Geoffrey Wigoder (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Judaism, Macmillan, 1989; David Bridger and Samuel Wolk (eds), The New Jewish Encyclopedia, Behrman House, 1962; Geoffrey Wigoder, Dictionary of Jewish Biography, Simon and Schuster, 1991; Encyclopedia Judaica, Keter, 1971 (second edition, Thomas Gale, 2003). I would also like to acknowledge my indebtedness to Z’ev ben Shimon Halevi.

CHRONOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

Through the ages the Jewish mystic was understood as one who seeks to gain an experience of God. This can be attained either through personal experience or intense speculation. In the history of the faith, mysticism has undergone a complex evolution beginning with the direct experience of the patriarchs, Moses and the prophets, to the recondite cosmological and theological explanations of generations of kabbalists.

The Origins of Jewish Mysticism

The Hebrew Scriptures contain some of the most vivid and arresting depictions of divine encounter. Beginning with the Patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – God is depicted as guiding the destiny of the Jewish nation. In Genesis, for example, God told Abraham to go to Canaan, where he and his descendants were to become a great multitude. Later God tested Abraham’s dedication by ordering him to sacrifice his only son – it was only at the last moment that the Lord appeared to Abraham in the form of a divine messenger to tell him to desist. Subsequently God revealed himself to Jacob in a dream of majestic grandeur, promising that his descendants would inherit the land. In another passage, God disclosed himself to Jacob as a divine messenger, and in the gorge of the river Jabbok God wrestled with Jacob, bestowing upon him his new name Israel, which later denoted both the Jewish nation and the Promised Land.

After the ancient Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, God disclosed himself to Moses calling him to free the Jewish people from bondage. Here again Scripture presents God’s revelation in mysterious terms: out of a burning bush God commanded obedience to his will. On Mount Sinai God’s theophany overwhelmed the nation – in fear and trembling they listened to the divine decree. In the prophetic books this tradition of divine revelation continued: from Elijah onwards the prophets spoke in God’s name. Through direct communication, visions and dreams, the Lord disclosed himself to his faithful servants, demanding they rebuke the nation and foretell impending doom. Although these individuals were often overwhelmed by this encounter, they nonetheless were able to transform these experiences into public utterances about the fate of the nation and the final ‘Day of the Lord’. The Bible thus serves as the basis of mystical experience in the life of the Jewish nation – it is here that God met his people, and this record of divine encounter serves as the background to the evolution of Jewish mystical reflection.

According to tradition, prophecy culminated during the period of the Second Temple. In the place of charismatic figures claiming to have had a direct experience of God, Jewish writers engaged in speculation about the nature of God and his relation to the world. Initially such theorizing was contained in biblical books as well as in non-canonical literature. Later Hellensitic Jewish thinkers such as PHILO formulated theories regarding God’s mediation in the cosmos. Drawing on NEOPLATONIC ideas, these writers argued that God has contact with the world through divine agencies. Rabbinic sages, who portrayed such intermediaries in various terms such as METATRON, wisdom and SHEKHINAH, subsequently expanded such a notion. Such theological reflection was far removed from the simple ecstatic experiences of the ancient Hebrews; in place of spiritual experience, these Jewish writers were preoccupied with the question how an Infinite God could become immanent in the world.

Within early rabbinic literature Jewish sages also engaged in theological speculation based on the biblical text. These doctrines were frequently of a secret nature; in the midrash on Genesis it is reported that these mystical traditions were repeated in a whisper so they would not be overheard by those for whom they were not intended. Thus in the 3rd century Rabbi Simeon ben Jehozedek asked Rabbi Samuel Nahman, ‘Seeing that I have heard you are adept at aggadah, tell me how light was created’. He replied in a whisper, upon which the other sage retorted: ‘Why do you tell this in a whisper, seeing that it is taught clearly in a scriptural verse?’ The first sage responded, ‘Just as I have myself had it whispered to me, even so I have whispered it to you’ (Midrash Rabba on Genesis 3). In the same century, Rabbi Judah, for example, said in the name of Rab that God’s secret name could only be entrusted to one who is ‘modest and meek, in the midway of life, not easily provoked to anger, temperate, and free from vengeful feelings’ (Talmud Kiddushin 71a).

The first chapter of the Book of EZEKIEL played an important role in early rabbinic mysticism. In this biblical text the MERKAVAH (divine chariot) is described in detail, and this scriptural source served as the basis for rabbinic speculation about the nature of the Deity. It was the aim of the mystic to be ‘a MERKAVAH rider’, so that he would be able to penetrate the heavenly mysteries. Within this contemplative system, the rabbis believed that the pious could free themselves from the fetters of bodily existence and enter paradise.

A further dimension of this theory was that certain pious individuals could temporarily ascend into the unseen realm and, having learnt the deepest secrets, return to earth. These mystics were able to attain a state of ecstasy, to behold visions and hear voices. As students of the MERKAVAH they were the ones able to attain the highest degree of spiritual insight. A description of the experiences of these MERKAVAH mystics is contained in HEKHALOT (heavenly hall) literature from the 7th to the 11th centuries

CE

. In order to make their heavenly ascent, these mystics followed strict ascetic disciplines, including fasting, ablution and the invocation of God’s name. After reaching a state of ecstasy, the mystic was able to enter the seven heavenly halls and attain a vision of the divine chariot.

Figure 1 Merkavah: the divine chariot as described in the Book of Ezekiel

Closely associated with this form of speculation was MAASEH BERESHIT (mystical theories about creation). Within aggadic sources the rabbis discussed the hidden meanings of the Genesis narrative. The most important early treatise, possibly from the second century

CE

, which describes the process of creation, is SEFER YEẒIRAH (The Book of Creation). According to this cosmological text God created the universe by 32 mysterious paths, consisting of 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet together with ten SEFIROT (divine emanations). Of these 22 letters we read: ‘He hewed them, combined them, weighed them, interchanged them, and through them produced the whole creation and everything that is destined to come into being’ (Sefer Yeẓirah 2.2).

These Hebrew letters are of three types: mothers, doubles and simples. The mothers (aleph, mem, shin) symbolize the three primordial elements of all existing things: water is symbolized by mem; fire by shin; and air by aleph. In the MICROCOSM (the human form) these three mothers represent ‘the head, the belly and the chest – the head from fire, the belly from water, and the chest from the air that lies in between’ (Sefer Yeẓirah 3.7).

In addition to these three mother letters, there are seven double letters in Hebrew (beth, gimel, daleth, caph, peh, resh, tau), which signify the contraries in the universe (forces that serve two mutually opposed ends). These letters were ‘formed, designed, created and combined into the stars of the universe, the days of the week, and the orifices of perception in man … two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and a mouth through which he perceives by his senses’ (Sefer Yeẓirah 4.6–7). Finally there are 12 simple Hebrew letters (hey, vav, zayin, chet, tet, yod, lamed, nun, samech, ayin, tsade, kof), which correspond to the chief human activities – sight, hearing, smell, speech, desire for food, the sexual appetite, movement, anger, mirth, thought, sleep and work. The letters are also emblematic of the 12 signs of the zodiac in the heavenly sphere, the 12 months, and the chief limbs of the body. Thus the individual, world and time are linked to one another through the process of creation by means of the Hebrew alphabet.

These recondite doctrines are supplemented by a theory of divine EMANATION through the ten SEFIROT. The first of the SEFIROT is the spirit of the living God; air is the second of the SEFIROT and is derived from the first – on it are hewn the 22 letters. The third of the SEFIROT is the water that comes from the air: ‘it is in the water that he has dug the darkness and the chaos, that he has formed the earth and the clay, which was spread out afterwards in the form of a carpet, hewn out like a wall and covered as through by a roof.’ The fourth of the SEFIROT is the fire that comes from water, through which God made the heavenly wheels, the seraphim and the ministering angels. The remaining six SEFIROT are the six dimensions of space – north, south, east, west, height and depth.

These ten SEFIROT are the moulds into which all created things were originally cast. They constitute form rather than matter. The 22 letters, on the other hand, are the prime cause of matter: everything that exists is due to the creative force of the Hebrew letters, but they receive their form from the SEFIROT. According to this cosmological doctrine, God transcends the universe; nothing exists outside him. The visible world is the result of the EMANATION of the divine, and God is the cause of the form and matter of the cosmos. By combining emanation and creation in this manner, the SEFER YEẒIRAH attempts to harmonize the concept of divine immanence and transcendence. God is immanent in that the SEFIROT are an outpouring of his spirit, and he is transcendent in that the matter, which was shaped into the forms, is the product of his creative action. Such speculation served as the basis for later mystical reflection of the medieval period.

Figure 2 Jacob’s Ladder: depicts the successive stages of heavenly ascent

Ḥasidei Ashkenaz

Jewish settlers in the Rhineland from approximately the 9th century studied the mystical texts of early rabbinic Judaism. During the 12th and 13th centuries these authorities – the ḤASIDEI ASHKENAZ – delved into HEKHALOT (heavenly hall) literature, and the SEFER YEẒIRAH as well as the philosophical works of such scholars as Saadiah Gaon and various Spanish and Italian Jewish NEOPLATONISTS. Among the greatest figures of this period were the 12th-century SAMUEL BEN KALONYMUS OF SPEYER, his son JUDAH BEN SAMUEL OF REGENSBURG, who wrote the Book of the Pious, and ELEAZAR BEN JUDAH OF WORMS, who composed the treatise The Secret of Secrets. Though the writings of these and other mystics were not systematic in character, their works do display a number of common characteristics.

In their writings these mystics were preoccupied with the mystery of divine unity. God himself, they believed, cannot be known by human reason – thus all anthropomorphic depictions of God in Scripture should be understood as referring to God’s glory, which was formed out of KAVOD (divine fire). This KAVOD was revealed by God to the prophets and has been made manifest to mystics in different ways through the ages. The aim of German mysticism was to attain a vision of God’s glory through the cultivation of the life of Hasiduth (pietism), which embraced devotion saintliness and contemplation. Hasiduth made the highest demands on the devotee in terms of humility and altruism. The ultimate sacrifice for the ḤASIDIM (pious ones) was KIDDUSH HA-SHEM (martyrdom), and during this period there were ample opportunities for Jews to die in this way as a result of Christian persecution. Allied to such a manifestation of selfless love of God was the emphasis on a profound sense of God’s presence in the world; for these sages God’s glory permeates all things.

Within this theological framework the concept of the ḤASID (pious one) was of paramount importance. To be a ḤASID was a religious ideal that transcended all intellectual accomplishments. The ḤASID was remarkable not because of any scholarly qualities, but through his spiritual attainments. According to these scholars, the ḤASID must reject and overcome every temptation of ordinary life; insults and shame must be endured. In addition, he should renounce worldly goods, mortify the flesh and make penance for any sins. Such an ascetic way of life against all obstacles would lead the devotee to the heights of true fear and love of God. In its most sublime form such fear was conceived of as identical with love and devotion, enabling joy to enter the soul.

In the earlier MERKAVAH tradition the mystic was the keeper of holy mysteries, but for these German sages humility and self-abnegation were the hallmarks of the authentic religious life. Allied with these personal characteristics, the ḤASID was perceived as capable of mastering magical powers. In the writings of ELEAZER BEN JUDAH OF WORMS, for example, are found tracts on magic and the effectiveness of God’s secret names as well as recipes for creating the GOLEM (an artificial man) through letter manipulation.

Figure 3 Pardes Rimmonim: Moses Cordovero composed Pardes Rimmonim in which he depicted the divine world of the sefirot, here with the initial letter of Malkhut at the centre

Another feature of this movement concerned prayer mysticism. In the literature of the pietists, attention was given