Misplaced Pages

#823176

134-611: The custom of singing baqashot originated in Spain towards the time of the expulsion, but took on increased momentum in the Kabbalistic circle in Safed in the 16th century. Baqashot probably evolved out of the tradition of saying petitionary prayers before dawn and was spread from Safed by the followers of Isaac Luria (16th century). With the spread of Safed Kabbalistic doctrine, and coffee consumption—which allowed devotees to stay awake through

268-719: A Holy Name in Judaism , as no name could contain a revelation of the Ein Sof. Even terming it "No End" is an inadequate representation of its true nature, the description only bearing its designation in relation to Creation. However, the Torah does narrate God speaking in the first person, most memorably the first word of the Ten Commandments , a reference without any description or name to the simple Divine essence (termed also Atzmus Ein Sof – Essence of

402-549: A phenomenological understanding of the mystical nature of Kabbalistic experience, based on a close reading of the historical texts. Wolfson has shown that among the closed elite circles of mystical activity, medieval Theosophical Kabbalists held that an intellectual view of their symbols was secondary to the experiential. In the context of medieval Jewish philosophical debates on the role of imagination in Biblical prophecy, and essentialist versus instrumental kabbalistic debates about

536-525: A Jewish convert to Islam in the twelfth century, wrote that the Persians prohibited Jews from holding prayer services. "When the Jews saw that the Persians persisted in obstructing their prayer, they invented invocations into which they admixed passages from their prayers (the piyyuṭ) … and set numerous tunes to them". They would assemble to read and chant the piyyuṭim at prayer time. The difference between that and prayer

670-658: A centre of this research, including Scholem and Isaiah Tishby , and more recently Joseph Dan , Yehuda Liebes , Rachel Elior , and Moshe Idel . Scholars across the eras of Jewish mysticism in America and Britain have included Alexander Altmann , Arthur Green , Lawrence Fine , Elliot Wolfson , Daniel Matt , Louis Jacobs and Ada Rapoport-Albert . Piyyut A piyyuṭ (plural piyyuṭim , Hebrew : פִּיּוּטִים / פיוטים, פִּיּוּט / פיוט pronounced [piˈjut, pijuˈtim] ; from Koinē Greek : ποιητής , romanized:  poiētḗs , lit.   'poet')

804-604: A divine blessing too high to be contained openly. The mystical task of the righteous in the Zohar is to reveal this concealed Divine Oneness and absolute good, to "convert bitterness into sweetness, darkness into light". Kabbalistic doctrine gives man the central role in Creation, as his soul and body correspond to the supernal divine manifestations. In the Christian Kabbalah this scheme was universalised to describe harmonia mundi ,

938-622: A foundational Musar text . The most esoteric Idrot sections of the classic Zohar make reference to hypostatic male and female Partzufim (Divine Personas) displacing the Sephirot, manifestations of God in particular Anthropomorphic symbolic personalities based on Biblical esoteric exegesis and midrashic narratives. Lurianic Kabbalah places these at the centre of our existence, rather than earlier Kabbalah's Sephirot, which Luria saw as broken in Divine crisis. Contemporary cognitive understanding of

1072-567: A group of prominent Moroccan hazzanim standardized the structure of the baqashot into its modern form. These included Rabbi David Yefalah, R' David Elqayim, and R' David Afriat, all from Essaouira , and R' Hayyim Atar from Marrakesh . The first volume containing older piyyutim was called Shir Yedidot, while the second volume containing newer compositions was called Keter Kehuna. Many editions of Shir Yedidot were subsequently published in 1931, 1979, and more recently in 1999. In Aleppo, Syria this custom seems to go back about 500 years. Most of

1206-448: A literary motif. Tzimtzum (Constriction/Concentration) is the primordial cosmic act whereby God "contracted" His infinite light, leaving a "void" into which the light of existence was poured. This allowed the emergence of independent existence that would not become nullified by the pristine Infinite Light, reconciling the unity of the Ein Sof with the plurality of creation. This changed

1340-546: A mutual dialectic that imply and include each other's partial validity. This was expressed by the Chabad Hasidic thinker Aaron of Staroselye , that the truth of any concept is revealed only in its opposite. They wish to convey here that if arms were a disgrace to the hero, it would not have used them as a parable for words of Torah. Instead, they are an adornment for him, so the verse used them for its parable, saying that he should have words of Torah and wisdom in hand, like

1474-536: A preceding Fifth World Adam Kadmon ("Primordial Man" – Divine Will) sometimes excluded due to its sublimity. Together the whole spiritual heavens form the Divine Persona/ Anthropos . Hasidic thought extends the divine immanence of Kabbalah by holding that God is all that really exists, all else being completely undifferentiated from God's perspective. This view can be defined as acosmic monistic panentheism. According to this philosophy, God's existence

SECTION 10

#1732909163824

1608-663: A primordial shattering of the sephirot of God's Persona before creation of the stable spiritual worlds , mystically represented by the 8 Kings of Edom (the derivative of Gevurah ) "who died" before any king reigned in Israel from Genesis 36 . In the divine view from above within Kabbalah, emphasised in Hasidic Panentheism , the appearance of duality and pluralism below dissolves into the absolute Monism of God, psychologising evil. Though impure below, what appears as evil derives from

1742-463: A successive stage of Jewish mysticism from historical kabbalistic metaphysics. The first modern-academic historians of Judaism, the " Wissenschaft des Judentums " school of the 19th century, framed Judaism in solely rational terms in the emancipatory Haskalah spirit of their age. They opposed kabbalah and restricted its significance from Jewish historiography. In the mid-20th century, it was left to Gershom Scholem to overturn their stance, establishing

1876-514: Is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during religious services . Most piyyuṭim are in Mishnaic Hebrew or Jewish Palestinian Aramaic , and most follow some poetic scheme, such as an acrostic following the order of the Hebrew alphabet or spelling out the name of the author. Many piyyuṭim are familiar to regular attendees of synagogue services. For example,

2010-588: Is a brief document of only few pages that was written many centuries before the high and late medieval works (sometime between 200-600CE), detailing an alphanumeric vision of cosmology—may be understood as a kind of prelude to the canon of Kabbalah. The history of Jewish mysticism encompasses various forms of esoteric and spiritual practices aimed at understanding the divine and the hidden aspects of existence. This mystical tradition has evolved significantly over millennia, influencing and being influenced by different historical, cultural, and religious contexts. Among

2144-455: Is a set of sacred and magical teachings meant to explain the relationship between the unchanging, eternal God —the mysterious Ein Sof ( אֵין סוֹף ‎ , 'The Infinite') —and the mortal, finite universe (God's creation ). The nature of the divine prompted kabbalists to envision two aspects to God: (a) God in essence, absolutely transcendent , unknowable, limitless divine simplicity beyond revelation, and (b) God in manifestation,

2278-590: Is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism . It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( מְקוּבָּל ‎ , Məqūbbāl , 'receiver'). Jewish Kabbalists originally developed their own transmission of sacred texts within the realm of Jewish tradition and often use classical Jewish scriptures to explain and demonstrate its mystical teachings. These teachings are held by Kabbalists to define

2412-399: Is an important aspect of "Restriction", and is considered a kind of golden mean in kabbalah, corresponding to the sefirah of Adornment ( Tiferet ) being part of the "Middle Column". Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, wrote Tomer Devorah ( Palm Tree of Deborah ), in which he presents an ethical teaching of Judaism in the kabbalistic context of the ten sephirot . Tomer Devorah has become also

2546-624: Is based upon the Thirteen Principles of Faith set forth by Maimonides . Important scholars of piyyuṭ today include Shulamit Elizur and Joseph Yahalom , both at Hebrew University. The author of a piyyuṭ is known as a payṭān or payetan ( פיטן ); the plural is pay(e)ṭanim ( פיטנים ). The earliest piyyuṭim date from late antiquity , the Talmudic ( c.  70  – c.  500 CE ) and Geonic periods ( c.  600  – c.  1040 ). They were "overwhelmingly from

2680-560: Is both illusion and real from Divine and human perspectives; evil and good imply each other ( Kelipah draws from Divinity, good arises only from overcoming evil); Existence is simultaneously partial (Tzimtzum), broken ( Shevirah ), and whole ( Tikun ) from different perspectives; God experiences Himself as Other through Man, Man embodies and completes (Tikun) the Divine Persona Above. In Kabbalah's reciprocal Panentheism , Theism and Atheism / Humanism represent two incomplete poles of

2814-628: Is considered by its followers as a necessary part of the study of Torah – the study of Torah (the Tanakh and rabbinic literature) being an inherent duty of observant Jews. Modern academic-historical study of Jewish mysticism reserves the term kabbalah to designate the particular, distinctive doctrines that textually emerged fully expressed in the Middle Ages, as distinct from the earlier Merkabah mystical concepts and methods. According to this descriptive categorization, both versions of Kabbalistic theory,

SECTION 20

#1732909163824

2948-516: Is higher than anything that this world can express, yet he includes all things of this world within his divine reality in perfect unity, so that the creation effected no change in him at all. This paradox as seen from dual human and divine perspectives is dealt with at length in Chabad texts . Among problems considered in the Hebrew Kabbalah is the theological issue of the nature and origin of evil. In

3082-706: Is known to the kabbalistic elect and which, as described more recently by Gershom Scholem , combined ecstatic with theosophical mysticism. It is therefore important to bear in mind when discussing things such as the sephirot and their interactions that one is dealing with highly abstract concepts that at best can only be understood intuitively. From the Renaissance onwards Jewish Kabbalah texts entered non-Jewish culture, where they were studied and translated by Christian Hebraists and Hermetic occultists. The syncretic traditions of Christian Cabala and Hermetic Qabalah developed independently of Judaic Kabbalah, reading

3216-570: Is one method for discovering its hidden meanings. In this system, each Hebrew letter also represents a number. By converting letters to numbers, Kabbalists were able to find a hidden meaning in each word. This method of interpretation was used extensively by various schools. In contemporary interpretation of kabbalah, Sanford Drob makes cognitive sense of this linguistic mythos by relating it to postmodern philosophical concepts described by Jacques Derrida and others, where all reality embodies narrative texts with infinite plurality of meanings brought by

3350-659: Is only the 8 of the roughly 66 Syrian baqashot were composed by Israel Najara including"Yah Ribbon Alam," "Yomar Na Yisrael," and "Yodukha Ra'ayonay." Other composers, from the twelfth to the nineteenth century, include Hakhamim: Abraham Maimon (student of the kabbalist Moses Cordovero ), Yosef Sutton, Solomon Ibn Gabirol , Yaacob Abadi, Mordechai Labaton, Eliyahu Hamaoui, Ezra Attiah, Abraham Ibn Ezra (who wrote "Agadelcha"), David Pardo , David Dayan, Shelomo Laniado (who wrote "Shalom vatzedek"), Yitzhak Benatar, Eliyahu Sasson, David Kassin, Shimeon Labi, Mordekhai Abadi and Shelomo Menaged. More recent composers of baqashot from

3484-669: Is set out in the first part of Joseph Gallego's Imre No'am : the contents of this were probably derived from the Salonica tradition. The equivalent tradition is known as "Shirat Hamaftirim", and the songs are performed by choirs of maftirim . The music and style of singing are based on Sufi and Ottoman classical music . This tradition flourished in Adrianople (present-day Edirne ) in European Turkey, as well as in Salonica and Istanbul from

3618-478: Is shown with its maqam, but they follow a fixed order of recitation which does not depend on the maqamat of the different songs. There are many sections within the baqashot . The sections are separated by different Biblical verses to be chanted in a different maqam. The songs principally consist of the praise of God, songs for Shabbat, songs of longing for the Holy Land and so on, and include some piyyutim taken from

3752-426: Is superior, and whether the symbols of Kabbalah should be read as primarily metaphysical intellectual cognition or Axiology values. Messianic redemption requires both ethical Tikkun olam and contemplative Kavanah . Sanford Drob sees every attempt to limit Kabbalah to one fixed dogmatic interpretation as necessarily bringing its own Deconstruction (Lurianic Kabbalah incorporates its own Shevirah self shattering;

3886-473: Is that the prayer is without melody and is read only by the person conducting the service. In the recitation of the piyyuṭ, the cantor is assisted by the congregation in chanting melodies. "When the Persians rebuked them for this, the Jews sometimes asserted that they were singing, and sometimes [mourning over their situations]." When the Muslims took over and allowed Jews dhimmi status, prayer became permissible for

4020-526: The Bahir and the Zohar were composed during this time, laying the groundwork for later developments. The Kabbalistic teachings of this era delved deeply into the nature of the divine, the structure of the universe, and the process of creation. Notable Kabbalists like Moses de León played crucial roles in disseminating these teachings, which were characterized by their profound symbolic and allegorical interpretations of

4154-615: The Hitzoni (outer). It is solely in relation to the emanations, certainly not the Ein Sof Ground of all Being, that Kabbalah uses anthropomorphic symbolism to relate psychologically to divinity. Kabbalists debated the validity of anthropomorphic symbolism, between its disclosure as mystical allusion, versus its instrumental use as allegorical metaphor; in the language of the Zohar, symbolism "touches yet does not touch" its point. The Sephirot (also spelled "sefirot"; singular sefirah ) are

Baqashot - Misplaced Pages Continue

4288-810: The Mikraot Gedolot (Main Commentators). Cordoveran systemisation is presented in Pardes Rimonim , philosophical articulation in the works of the Maharal , and Lurianic rectification in Etz Chayim . Subsequent interpretation of Lurianic Kabbalah was made in the writings of Shalom Sharabi, in Nefesh HaChaim and the 20th-century Sulam . Hasidism interpreted kabbalistic structures to their correspondence in inward perception. The Hasidic development of kabbalah incorporates

4422-611: The Ades Synagogue in Nachlaot and the Moussaiof synagogue in the Bukharan quarter. The service is held only in the winter months, starting with the night of Shabbat Noaḥ (the second Sabbath after Simchat Torah ). The Edmond J. Safra Synagogue of Brooklyn, New York also practices baqashot every Shabbat under the leadership of Rabbi Mansour and several Hazzanim. In communities throughout

4556-571: The Ein Sof transcends all of its infinite expressions; the infinite mystical Torah of the Tree of Life has no/infinite interpretations). The infinite axiology of the Ein Sof One, expressed through the Plural Many, overcomes the dangers of nihilism, or the antinomian mystical breaking of Jewish observance alluded to throughout Kabbalistic and Hasidic mysticisms. Like the rest of the rabbinic literature,

4690-548: The Land of Israel or its neighbor Syria , because only there was the Hebrew language sufficiently cultivated that it could be managed with stylistic correctness, and only there could it be made to speak so expressively." The earliest Palestinian prayer manuscripts, found in the Cairo Geniza , often consist of piyyuṭim, as these were the parts of the liturgy that required to be written down:

4824-677: The Zohar , the sin of Adam and Eve (who embodied Adam Kadmon below) took place in the spiritual realms. Their sin was that they separated the Tree of knowledge (10 sefirot within Malkuth , representing Divine immanence ), from the Tree of life within it (10 sefirot within Tiferet , representing Divine transcendence ). This introduced the false perception of duality into lower creation, an external Tree of Death nurtured from holiness, and an Adam Belial of impurity. In Lurianic Kabbalah, evil originates from

4958-492: The baqashot are unique in that many of the melodies were composed for pre-existing texts, unlike many more recent pizmonim where the words were composed to fit an existing, often non-Jewish, melody. It is also believed that many melodies of the baqashot , unlike those of many pizmonim , are not borrowed from foreign sources. The tradition of waking up before dawn and singing the baqashot still survives today in Jerusalem , in

5092-489: The baqashot by Jerusalem cantors over the years. Although these communities do not perform the baqashot on a weekly basis, nevertheless, they use the melodies of the baqashot throughout Saturday morning prayers. There is a total of 66 songs in the Syrian baqashot book, and the collection is now regarded as closed, unlike the general body of pizmonim , where new pizmonim are still composed for special occasions. Each song

5226-633: The baqashot from these recordings onto the project's website (link below) for the general Internet public. Dr. Morris Shamah, Joseph Mosseri, and Morris Arking are responsible for putting the recordings together. There are also DVD and CD recordings, with instrumental accompaniment, produced by the Ades Synagogue in Jerusalem. Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( / k ə ˈ b ɑː l ə , ˈ k æ b ə l ə / kə- BAH -lə, KAB -ə-lə ; Hebrew : קַבָּלָה ‎ , romanized :  Qabbālā , lit.   'reception, tradition')

5360-834: The divine transcendence described by Jewish philosophy , but as only referring to the Ein Sof unknowable Godhead. They reinterpreted the theistic philosophical concept of creation from nothing, replacing God's creative act with panentheistic continual self-emanation by the mystical Ayin Nothingness/No-thing sustaining all spiritual and physical realms as successively more corporeal garments, veils and condensations of divine immanence . The innumerable levels of descent divide into Four comprehensive spiritual worlds , Atziluth ("Closeness" – Divine Wisdom), Beriah ("Creation" – Divine Understanding), Yetzirah ("Formation" – Divine Emotions), Assiah ("Action" – Divine Activity), with

5494-467: The hermeneutic methods of interpretation for ascertaining these meanings. Names of God in Judaism have further prominence, though infinite meaning turns the whole Torah into a Divine name. As the Hebrew name of things is the channel of their lifeforce, parallel to the sephirot, so concepts such as "holiness" and " mitzvot " embody ontological Divine immanence, as God can be known in manifestation as well as transcendence. The infinite potential of meaning in

Baqashot - Misplaced Pages Continue

5628-646: The 10th century BCE, an open knowledge practiced by over a million people in ancient Israel. Foreign conquests drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time (the Sanhedrin ) to hide the knowledge and make it secret, fearing that it might be misused if it fell into the wrong hands. It is hard to clarify with any degree of certainty the exact concepts within kabbalah. There are several different schools of thought with very different outlooks; however, all are accepted as correct. Modern halakhic authorities have tried to narrow

5762-541: The 17th century until the beginning of the 20th century. The scholar Abraham Danon attested to the Edirne (Adrianople) maftirim tradition in this source from the late 1920s: The institution for which these songs were intended is the choir called Maftirim, who are the singers or assistant cantors. From ancient times this was the custom in Adrianople: each Sabbath morning, before the morning prayer (in recent times they shift to

5896-689: The 1980s in order to facilitate preservation. The recordings were made vocally; that is, without music instrumentation. They were recorded by three prominent community cantors: Isaac Cabasso, Mickey Kairey and Hyman Kairey. The project was organized by the Sephardic Archives, in association with the Sephardic Community Center in Brooklyn, New York. David Betesh, coordinator of the Sephardic Pizmonim Project , more recently released

6030-464: The Aleppo community are Refael Antebi Tabbush (1830-1919), the leading pizmonim composer, his pupil and foster son Moshe Ashear (Ashqar) and Ashear's pupil Chaim Shaul Abud . Song 46, "Yah Melech Ram", alludes to the names of the baqashot composers. Living classical composer Yitzhak Yedid is known for his combining of baqashot with contemporary classical writing. According to Sephardic tradition,

6164-613: The Andalusian maqam system ( nubah ) as follows: A handful of compositions are from the period of the Golden Age of Spain, including works by Solomon ibn Gabirol , Abraham ibn Ezra , Moses ibn Ezra , and Yehuda Halevi . 26 of the close to 520 piyyutim and baqashot in the authoritative collection Shir Yedidot are composed by Rabbi Israel Najara (c. 1555-1625). Later composers from the 18th century include Rabbi Yaaqob ibn Sur [1] (1673-1753) and R' David Ben Hassin (1727-1795), one of

6298-585: The Creator for the purpose of creating the universe. The sephirot are considered revelations of the Creator's will ( ratzon ), and they should not be understood as ten different "gods" but as ten different ways the one God reveals his will through the Emanations. It is not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes. Divine creation by means of the Ten Sephirot is an ethical process. They represent

6432-504: The Divine Persona before the creation of man. Exile and enclothement of higher divinity within lower realms throughout existence requires man to complete the Tikkun olam (Rectification) process. Rectification Above corresponds to the reorganization of the independent sephirot into relating Partzufim (Divine Personas), previously referred to obliquely in the Zohar. From the catastrophe stems

6566-549: The Hebrew Bible or classic rabbinic literature, and was rejected by various Medieval Jewish philosophers. However, the Kabbalists explained a number of scriptural passages in reference to Gilgulim. The concept became central to the later Kabbalah of Isaac Luria, who systemised it as the personal parallel to the cosmic process of rectification. Through Lurianic Kabbalah and Hasidic Judaism, reincarnation entered popular Jewish culture as

6700-573: The Infinite) beyond even the duality of Infinitude/Finitude. In contrast, the term Ein Sof describes the Godhead as Infinite lifeforce first cause, continuously keeping all Creation in existence. The Zohar reads the first words of Genesis , BeReishit Bara Elohim – In the beginning God created , as " With (the level of) Reishit (Beginning) (the Ein Sof) created Elohim (God's manifestation in creation)": At

6834-750: The Jewish texts as universalist ancient wisdom preserved from the Gnostic traditions of antiquity. Both adapted the Jewish concepts freely from their Jewish understanding, to merge with multiple other theologies, religious traditions and magical associations. With the decline of Christian Cabala in the Age of Reason , Hermetic Qabalah continued as a central underground tradition in Western esotericism . Through these non-Jewish associations with magic, alchemy and divination, Kabbalah acquired some popular occult connotations forbidden within Judaism, where Jewish theurgic Practical Kabbalah

SECTION 50

#1732909163824

6968-489: The Jews. The piyyuṭ had become a commendable tradition for holidays and other joyous occasions. The use of piyyuṭ was always considered a Palestinian specialty: the Babylonian geonim made every effort to discourage it and restore what they regarded as the statutory wording of the prayers, holding that "any [hazzan] who uses piyyuṭ thereby gives evidence that he is no scholar". It is not always clear whether their main objection

7102-491: The Levite's assistants ( mezammerim ) and sang together songs to the joy of the listeners gathered around them who were avid for the songs and they opened their mouths as if they wanted to swallow rain. This is the reason the majority of the [Jewish] inhabitants of Adrianople had some expertise in the art of song, because since their youth they were educated on the laps [of music]. I heard that the refugees who flew from that city due to

7236-526: The Moroccan baqashot repertoire, including a set of 6 cds recorded by the late hazzan and paytan Rabbi Meir 'Atiyah. "Ottoman Hebrew Sacred Songs" contains a handful of maftirim recordings of Samuel Benaroya in his old age. This rare recording of one of the last surviving singers of the maftirim choir of Edirne, Turkey. A more comprehensive set recordings of the Turkish maftirim was released in 2010 under

7370-471: The Murder of innocents and unfair punishment. "Righteous" humans ( tzadikim plural of Tzadik ) ascend these ethical qualities of the ten sephirot by doing righteous actions. If there were no righteous humans, the blessings of God would become completely hidden, and creation would cease to exist. While real human actions are the "Foundation" ( Yesod ) of this universe ( Malchut ), these actions must accompany

7504-714: The Ottoman-Turkish tradition was published in 1926 by Eliyahu Navon with the help of the Hazzan Avraham Behor Papo. This tome, Shire Israel be-Eres ha-Kedem (שירי ישראל בארץ הקדם), contained close to 500 piyyutim organized according to 39 makalmar (including obscure and compound makamlar). Some of the makamlar (in Modern Turkish spelling) include Rast, Dügâh, Segâh, Hüseyni, Acem, Acemasîran, Mâhur, Muhayyer, Nihâvent, Nevâ, Sabâ, Hicaz, Hüzzam, and Ussak. The standardized Moroccan baqashot are organized according to

7638-565: The Partzuf symbols relates them to Jungian archetypes of the collective unconscious , reflecting a psychologised progression from youth to sage in therapeutic healing back to the infinite Ein Sof/Unconscious, as Kabbalah is simultaneously both theology and psychology . Medieval Kabbalists believed that all things are linked to God through these emanations , making all levels in creation part of one great, gradually descending chain of being . Through this any lower creation reflects its particular roots in supernal divinity. Kabbalists agreed with

7772-425: The Psalm of the Sabbath, one verse at a time, using a different maqam for each verse. There are many other verses of the Psalms scattered throughout the different songs, called "petihot", to serve as markers. Unlike the baqashot themselves, these are rendered by the hazzan or by the elder people as a mawwal (non-rhythmical solo cadenza ). The baqashot service concludes with Adon Olam (Song 66) followed by

7906-464: The Sephardic, and to a lesser extent the other rites, and may be regarded as a second generation of piyyuṭ. The Kabbalistic school of Isaac Luria and his followers, which used an adapted Sephardic liturgy, disapproved of the Spanish piyyuṭim, regarding them as spiritually inauthentic, and invoked the Geonic strictures to have them either eliminated from the service or moved away from the core parts of it. Their disapproval did not extend to piyyuṭim of

8040-401: The Shabbat service still begins with a small number of baqashot . In London the tunes for one or two of them have been preserved in the literature but the practice no longer exists.) By the turn of the 20th century baqashot had become a widespread religious practice in several communities in Jerusalem as a communal form of prayer. In communities such as those of Aleppo , Turkey and Morocco,

8174-485: The Spanish school survive in their original position in the Spanish and Portuguese rite but have been eliminated or moved in the Syrian and other Mizrahi rites. Syrian Jews preserve some of them for extra-liturgical use as pizmonim . What follows is a chart of some of the best-known and most-beloved piyyuṭim. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it tries to provide a flavor of the variety of poetic schemes and occasions for which these poems were written. Many of

SECTION 60

#1732909163824

8308-440: The Torah and Israel are all One". The reapers of the Field are the Comrades, masters of this wisdom, because Malkhut is called the Apple Field, and She grows sprouts of secrets and new meanings of Torah. Those who constantly create new interpretations of Torah are the ones who reap Her. As early as the 1st century BCE Jews believed that the Torah and other canonical texts contained encoded messages and hidden meanings. Gematria

8442-411: The Torah, as in the Ein Sof , is reflected in the symbol of the two trees of the Garden of Eden; the Torah of the Tree of Knowledge is the external, finite Halachic Torah, enclothed within which the mystics perceive the unlimited infinite plurality of meanings of the Torah of the Tree of Life . In Lurianic terms, each of the 600,000 root souls of Israel find their own interpretation in Torah, as "God,

8576-440: The Torah. In the early modern period, Lurianic Kabbalah , founded by Isaac Luria in the 16th century, introduced new metaphysical concepts such as Tzimtzum (divine contraction) and Tikkun (cosmic repair), which have had a lasting impact on Jewish thought. The 18th century saw the rise of Hasidism , a movement that integrated Kabbalistic ideas into a popular, revivalist context, emphasizing personal mystical experience and

8710-490: The War moved to Constantinople where they reestablished the gathering of the Maftirim at the Galata quarter... In both Edirne and Salonica , the maftirim would sing a fasıl for each Shabbat in a different makam . The maftirim would begin with a prayer in Aramaic Beresh ormanuta, followed by vocal improvisations of Biblical verses. Finally, the service would end with Mizmor shir leyom hashabbat and Qaddish . The definitive edition of baqashot and piyyutim in

8844-399: The absolute unity of Divine light via the ten sephirot, or vessels. According to Lurianic cosmology, the sephirot correspond to various levels of creation (ten sephirot in each of the Four Worlds, and four worlds within each of the larger four worlds, each containing ten sephirot , which themselves contain ten sephirot , to an infinite number of possibilities), and are emanated from

8978-430: The actions and beliefs of the individual. They are said to only fully exist in people awakened spiritually. A common way of explaining the three parts of the soul is as follows: Reincarnation , the transmigration of the soul after death, was introduced into Judaism as a central esoteric tenet of Kabbalah from the Medieval period onwards, called Gilgul neshamot ("cycles of the soul"). The concept does not appear overtly in

9112-480: The ancient Kaddish prayer sung in the melody of the maqam for that specific Sabbath. Included in most baqashot collections is a poem by Elazar Azikri (1533–1600), a kabbalist who lived in Safed. The poem “Yedid Nefesh”, or "Faithful Friend", was one of several which were published in 1601 in Venice in his “Sefer Haredim”. This collection also includes other famous poems, such as "Yom Zeh LeYisrael" by Isaac Handali, an obscure 15th century Crimean poet. In fact, it

9246-479: The apocalyptic period, where texts like 1 Enoch and the Book of Daniel introduced complex angelology and eschatological themes. The Heikhalot and Merkavah literature, dating from the 2nd century to the early medieval period, further developed these mystical themes, focusing on visionary ascents to the heavenly palaces and the divine chariot. The medieval period saw the formalization of Kabbalah, particularly in Southern France and Spain. Foundational texts such as

9380-438: The beginning of Existence, is read etymologically by Kabbalists as the question "Koach Mah?" the "Power of What?"). Alternative listings of the Sephirot start with either Keter (Unconscious Will/Volition), or Chokmah (Wisdom), a philosophical duality between a Rational or Supra-Rational Creation, between whether the Mitzvot Judaic observances have reasons or transcend reasons in Divine Will, between whether study or good deeds

9514-424: The best-known piyyuṭ may be Adon Olam ("Master of the World"). Its poetic form consists of a repeated rhythmic pattern of short-long-long-long (the so-called hazaj meter ). It is so beloved that it is often sung after many synagogue services, after the ritual nightly recitation of the Shema , and during the morning ritual of putting on tefillin . Another beloved piyyuṭ is Yigdal ("May God be Hallowed"), which

9648-670: The catastrophe stemmed from the "unwillingness" of the residue imprint after the Tzimtzum to relate to the new vitality that began creation. The process was arranged to shed and harmonise the Divine Infinity with the latent potential of evil. The creation of Adam would have redeemed existence, but his sin caused new shevirah of Divine vitality, requiring the Giving of the Torah to begin Messianic rectification. Historical and individual history becomes

9782-607: The central role in spiritual creation, whether the practitioner was learned in this knowledge or not. Accompanying normative Jewish observance and worship with elite mystical kavanot intentions gave them theurgic power, but sincere observance by common folk, especially in the Hasidic popularisation of kabbalah, could replace esoteric abilities. Many kabbalists were also leading legal figures in Judaism, such as Nachmanides and Joseph Karo . Medieval kabbalah elaborates particular reasons for each Biblical mitzvah , and their role in harmonising

9916-536: The colours are painted below; it is sealed among the sealed things of the mystery of Ayn Sof. It penetrated, yet did not penetrate its air. It was not known at all until, from the pressure of its penetration, a single point shone, sealed, supernal. Beyond this point nothing is known, so it is called reishit (beginning): the first word of all ... " The structure of emanations has been described in various ways: Sephirot (divine attributes) and Partzufim (divine "faces"), Ohr (spiritual light and flow), Names of God and

10050-696: The community is recounted in the hagiographic works Praises of the Ari , Praises of the Besht , and in many other Kabbalistic and Hasidic tales. Kabbalistic and Hasidic texts are concerned to apply themselves from exegesis and theory to spiritual practice, including prophetic drawing of new mystical revelations in Torah. The mythological symbols Kabbalah uses to answer philosophical questions, themselves invite mystical contemplation, intuitive apprehension and psychological engagement. In bringing Theosophical Kabbalah into contemporary intellectual understanding, using

10184-620: The community would arise at 3:00AM to sing baqashot and to listen to the voices of the Hazanim, Paytanim, and Meshorerim. When they arrived at Mizmor Shir LeYom HaShabbat they would break to listen to a sermon by one of the Rabbis who discussed the Parashah of the week. When he concluded they would begin Mizmor Shir LeYom HaShabbat and sing all the rest of the baqashot . The Syrian tradition

10318-407: The conscious intention of compassion. Compassionate actions are often impossible without faith ( Emunah ), meaning to trust that God always supports compassionate actions even when God seems hidden. Ultimately, it is necessary to show compassion toward oneself too in order to share compassion toward others. This "selfish" enjoyment of God's blessings but only in order to empower oneself to assist others

10452-473: The daily events in the worldly life of man in general, and the spiritual role of Jewish observance in particular. The Kabbalah posits that the human soul has three elements, the nefesh , ru'ach , and neshamah . The nefesh is found in all humans, and enters the physical body at birth. It is the source of one's physical and psychological nature. The next two parts of the soul are not implanted at birth, but can be developed over time; their development depends on

10586-438: The development of historical research on Kabbalah in the field of Judaic studies . Though innumerable glosses, marginalia, commentaries, precedent works, satellite texts and other minor works contribute to an understanding of the Kabbalah as an evolving tradition, the major texts in the main line of Jewish mysticism that inarguably fall under the heading 'Kabbalah'—conforming to the sense of every definition and meeting all of

10720-552: The different aspects of Morality. Loving-Kindness is a possible moral justification found in Chessed, and Gevurah is the Moral Justification of Justice and both are mediated by Mercy which is Rachamim. However, these pillars of morality become immoral once they become extremes. When Loving-Kindness becomes extreme it can lead to sexual depravity and lack of Justice to the wicked. When Justice becomes extreme, it can lead to torture and

10854-510: The divine immanently , and are bound up in the life of man. Kabbalists believe that these two aspects are not contradictory but complement one another, emanations mystically revealing the concealed mystery from within the Godhead . As a term describing the Infinite Godhead beyond Creation, Kabbalists viewed the Ein Sof itself as too sublime to be referred to directly in the Torah. It is not

10988-563: The early Palestinian piyyuṭim, such as those of Eleazar birabbi Qallir , do not survive in the Sephardic rite. However, they do in the Ashkenazi and Italian rites. In the later Middle Ages, however, Andalusi Jewish poets such as Judah Halevi , Solomon ibn Gabirol , Abraham ibn Ezra and Moses ibn Ezra composed quantities of religious poetry, in correct Biblical Hebrew and strict Arabic metres. Many of these poems have been incorporated into

11122-646: The early Palestinian school, which they regarded as an authentic part of the Talmudic-rabbinic tradition. Although Luria himself would go to Ashkenazic communities at times when they would recite piyyuṭim to recite those from the Eretz Yisrael school, no Sephardic community reinstituted these piyyuṭim, presumably because these had already been eliminated from the service. They regarded it as too late to put them back. (The Kabbalists, and their successors, also wrote piyyuṭim of their own.) For this reason, some piyyuṭim of

11256-641: The first being the Apocalyptic literature of the second and first pre-Christian centuries and which contained elements that carried over to later kabbalah. Throughout the centuries since, many texts have been produced, among them the ancient descriptions of Sefer Yetzirah , the Heichalot mystical ascent literature, the Bahir , Sefer Raziel HaMalakh and the Zohar , the main text of Kabbalistic exegesis. Classic mystical Bible commentaries are included in fuller versions of

11390-462: The first creative act into one of withdrawal/exile, the antithesis of the ultimate Divine Will. In contrast, a new emanation after the Tzimtzum shone into the vacuum to begin creation, but led to an initial instability called Tohu (Chaos), leading to a new crisis of Shevirah (Shattering) of the sephirot vessels. The shards of the broken vessels fell down into the lower realms, animated by remnants of their divine light, causing primordial exile within

11524-506: The five books of the Torah. After the Talmud is written, it refers to the Oral Law (both in the sense of the 'Talmud' itself and in the sense of continuing dialog and thought devoted to the scripture in every generation). In the much later writings of Eleazar of Worms (c. 1350), it refers to theurgy or the conjuring of demons and angels by the invocation of their secret names. The understanding of

11658-400: The flourishing present-day academic investigation of Jewish mysticism, and making Heichalot, Kabbalistic and Hasidic texts the objects of scholarly critical-historical study. In Scholem's opinion, the mythical and mystical components of Judaism were at least as important as the rational ones, and he thought that they, rather than the exoteric Halakha or intellectualist Jewish philosophy , were

11792-466: The foundational text of Kabbalah, was authored in the late 13th century, likely by Moses de León . Isaac Luria (16th century) is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah; Lurianic Kabbalah was popularised in the form of Hasidic Judaism from the 18th century onwards. During the 20th century, academic interest in Kabbalistic texts led primarily by the Jewish historian Gershom Scholem has inspired

11926-417: The harmony of Creation within man. In Judaism, it gave a profound spiritualisation of Jewish practice. While the kabbalistic scheme gave a radically innovative, though conceptually continuous, development of mainstream Midrashic and Talmudic rabbinic notions, kabbalistic thought underscored and invigorated conservative Jewish observance. The esoteric teachings of kabbalah gave the traditional mitzvot observances

12060-482: The history of Judaic Kabbalah, the greatest mystics claimed to receive new teachings from Elijah the Prophet , the souls of earlier sages (a purpose of Lurianic meditation prostrated on the graves of Talmudic Tannaim , Amoraim and Kabbalists), the soul of the mishnah , ascents during sleep, heavenly messengers, etc. A tradition of parapsychology abilities, psychic knowledge, and theurgic intercessions in heaven for

12194-548: The holy, are nurtured from it, and yet also protect it by limiting its revelation. Scholem termed this element of the Spanish Kabbalah a "Jewish gnostic" motif, in the sense of dual powers in the divine realm of manifestation. In a radical notion, the root of evil is found within the 10 holy Sephirot, through an imbalance of Gevurah , the power of "Strength/Judgement/Severity". Gevurah is necessary for Creation to exist as it counterposes Chesed ("loving-kindness"), restricting

12328-511: The inner meaning of both the Hebrew Bible and traditional rabbinic literature and their formerly concealed transmitted dimension, as well as to explain the significance of Jewish religious observances. Historically, Kabbalah emerged from earlier forms of Jewish mysticism , in 12th- to 13th-century Spain and Southern France , and was reinterpreted during the Jewish mystical renaissance in 16th-century Ottoman Palestine . The Zohar ,

12462-565: The living subterranean stream in historical Jewish development that periodically broke out to renew the Jewish spirit and social life of the community. Scholem's magisterial Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941) among his seminal works, though representing scholarship and interpretations that have subsequently been challenged and revised within the field, remains the only academic survey studying all main historical periods of Jewish mysticism . The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has been

12596-452: The main body of the prayer book. These songs are considered more ancient and sacred than other pizmonim . Many of the songs contain acrostics identifying the author of that specific composition. Baqashot are full of mystical allusions and traditions. Some of the songs contain references to some of the most sacred Jewish traditions. The following are examples of thematic songs: The baqashot are interrupted after Song 34 to sing Psalm 92 ,

12730-535: The medieval-Zoharic and the early-modern Lurianic Kabbalah together comprise the Theosophical tradition in Kabbalah, while the Meditative - Ecstatic Kabbalah incorporates a parallel inter-related Medieval tradition. A third tradition, related but more shunned, involves the magical aims of Practical Kabbalah . Moshe Idel , for example, writes that these 3 basic models can be discerned operating and competing throughout

12864-486: The most prolific Jewish Moroccan poets. Although the baqashot are organized by the weekly Torah portions , the themes of the piyyutim range from Shabbat and Jewish holidays such as Purim , to Zion and Kabbalah . Some of the piyyutim are in Judeo-Arabic . As a whole, the Moroccan baqashot represent close to 8 centuries of Sephardic poetry and music. One of the first printed collections of Andalusian baqashot

12998-486: The most prominent forms of Jewish mysticism is Kabbalah, which emerged in the 12th century and has since become a central component of Jewish mystical thought. Other notable early forms include prophetic and apocalyptic mysticism, which are evident in biblical and post-biblical texts. The roots of Jewish mysticism can be traced back to the biblical era, with prophetic figures such as Elijah and Ezekiel experiencing divine visions and encounters. This tradition continued into

13132-469: The narrative of reclaiming exiled Divine sparks. Kabbalistic thought extended Biblical and Midrashic notions that God enacted Creation through the Hebrew language and through the Torah into a full linguistic mysticism. In this, every Hebrew letter, word, number, even accent on words of the Hebrew Bible contain Jewish mystical meanings , describing the spiritual dimensions within exoteric ideas, and it teaches

13266-532: The night—the singing of baqashot reached countries all round the Mediterranean and became customary in the communities of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Rhodes, Greece, Yugoslavia, Egypt, Turkey and Syria. It also influenced the Kabbalistically oriented confraternities in 18th-century Italy, and even became customary for a time in Sephardic communities in western Europe, such as Amsterdam and London. (In Amsterdam

13400-474: The piyyuṭ itself. Since siddurim were limited then, many piyyuṭim had repeating stanzas that the congregation would respond to, followed by the hazzan ’s recitations. The additions of the piyyuṭim to the services were primarily used as an embellishment to the services and to make it more enjoyable to the congregation. As to the origin of the piyyuṭ's implementation, there is a theory that this had to do with restrictions on Jewish prayer. Al-Samawal al-Maghribi ,

13534-471: The piyyuṭim marked as being recited on Shabbat are songs traditionally sung as part of the home ritual observance of Shabbat and also known as zemirot ("Songs/Melodies"). Piyyutim have been written in many different genres and subgenres. Most of these are defined by the function that the given poem fulfills in the context of Jewish prayer service; but a few are defined by other criteria, such as content. Yotzer sequence —a series of poems, which adorn

13668-466: The possibility of self-aware Creation, and also the Kelipot (Impure Shells) of previous Medieval kabbalah. The metaphorical anthropomorphism of the partzufim accentuates the sexual unifications of the redemption process, while Gilgul reincarnation emerges from the scheme. Uniquely, Lurianism gave formerly private mysticism the urgency of Messianic social involvement. According to interpretations of Luria,

13802-595: The presence of the divine in everyday life. Today, the academic study of Jewish mysticism, pioneered by scholars like Gershom Scholem , continues to explore its historical, textual, and philosophical dimensions. According to the Zohar , a foundational text for kabbalistic thought, Torah study can proceed along four levels of interpretation ( exegesis ). These four levels are called pardes from their initial letters (PRDS [ פַּרדֵס ‎] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |links= ( help ) , 'orchard'): Kabbalah

13936-473: The reader. In this dialogue, kabbalah survives the nihilism of Deconstruction by incorporating its own Lurianic Shevirah , and by the dialectical paradox where man and God imply each other. The founder of the academic study of Jewish mysticism, Gershom Scholem , privileged an intellectual view of the nature of Kabbalistic symbols as dialectic Theosophical speculation. In contrast, contemporary scholarship of Moshe Idel and Elliot R. Wolfson has opened

14070-672: The relation of sephirot to God, they saw contemplation on the sephirot as a vehicle for prophecy. Judaism's ban on physical iconography, along with anthropomorphic metaphors for Divinity in the Hebrew Bible and midrash , enabled their internal visualisation of the Divine sephirot Anthropos in imagination. Disclosure of the aniconic in iconic internal psychology, involved sublimatory revelation of Kabbalah's sexual unifications. Previous academic distinction between Theosophical versus Abulafian Ecstatic-Prophetic Kabbalah overstated their division of aims, which revolved around visual versus verbal/auditory views of prophecy. In addition, throughout

14204-412: The revealed persona of God through which he creates and sustains and relates to humankind. Kabbalists speak of the first as Ein/Ayn Sof (אין סוף "the infinite/endless", literally "there is no end"). Of the impersonal Ein Sof nothing can be grasped. However, the second aspect of divine emanations, accessible to human perception, dynamically interacting throughout spiritual and physical existence, reveal

14338-476: The scope and diversity within kabbalah, by restricting study to certain texts, notably Zohar and the teachings of Isaac Luria as passed down through Hayyim ben Joseph Vital . However, even this qualification does little to limit the scope of understanding and expression, as included in those works are commentaries on Abulafian writings, Sefer Yetzirah , Albotonian writings, and the Berit Menuhah , which

14472-457: The services. The Turkish maftirim tradition persists and is practised to this day in Istanbul. The Moroccan baqashot in Israel are sung regularly in cities such as Ashdod and Ashkelon with large populations of Moroccan Jews. They are also sung occasionally in Moroccan diasporic centers such as Montreal , Canada and Paris , France. There are multiple official and unofficial recordings of

14606-437: The singing of baqashot expanded to vast proportions. In those countries special books were compiled naming the tunes and maqamat together with the text of the hymns, in order to facilitate the singing of baqashot by the congregation. In these communities it was customary to rise from bed in the night on Shabbat in the winter months, when the nights are longer, and assemble in synagogue to sing baqashot for four hours until

14740-577: The souls of Man who are the inner dimension of all spiritual and physical worlds, yet simultaneously the Infinite Divine generative lifesource beyond Creation that continuously keeps everything spiritual and physical in existence); Sephirot bridge the philosophical problem of the One and the Many; Man is both Divine ( Adam Kadmon ) and human (invited to project human psychology onto Divinity to understand it); Tzimtzum

14874-506: The supernal Torah , Olamot (Spiritual Worlds), a Divine Tree and Archetypal Man , Angelic Chariot and Palaces , male and female, enclothed layers of reality, inwardly holy vitality and external Kelipot shells, 613 channels ("limbs" of the King) and the divine Souls of Man . These symbols are used to describe various levels and aspects of Divine manifestation, from the Pnimi (inner) dimensions to

15008-575: The supernal divine flow, uniting masculine and feminine forces on High. With this, the feminine Divine presence in this world is drawn from exile to the Holy One Above. The 613 mitzvot are embodied in the organs and soul of man. Lurianic Kabbalah incorporates this in the more inclusive scheme of Jewish messianic rectification of exiled divinity. Jewish mysticism, in contrast to Divine transcendence rationalist human-centred reasons for Jewish observance, gave Divine-immanent providential cosmic significance to

15142-769: The sword on the hero’s thigh, girded and accessible to him whenever he wishes to unsheathe it and use it to overpower his fellow—this is his glory and splendor. This is the idea wherever they expound a midrashic parable or allegory ; they believe that both “the internal and external” are true By expressing itself using symbols and myth that transcend single interpretations, Theosophical Kabbalah incorporates aspects of philosophy , Jewish theology , psychology and unconscious depth psychology , mysticism and meditation , Jewish exegesis , theurgy , and ethics , as well as overlapping with theory from magical elements . Its symbols can be read as questions which are their own existentialist answers (the Hebrew sephirah Chokmah -Wisdom,

15276-472: The ten emanations and attributes of God with which he continually sustains the existence of the universe. The Zohar and other Kabbalistic texts elaborate on the emergence of the sephirot from a state of concealed potential in the Ein Sof until their manifestation in the mundane world. In particular, Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (known as "the Ramak"), describes how God emanated the myriad details of finite reality out of

15410-477: The term Kabbalah is used to refer to a canon of secret mystical books by medieval Jews, these aforementioned books and other works in their constellation are the books and the literary sensibility to which the term refers. Even later the word is adapted or appropriated in Western esotericism ( Christian Kabbalah and Hermetic Qabalah ), where it influences the tenor and aesthetics of European occultism practiced by gentiles or non-Jews. But above all, Jewish Kabbalah

15544-406: The texts of kabbalah were once part of an ongoing oral tradition , though, over the centuries, much of the oral tradition has been written down. Jewish forms of esotericism existed over 2,000 years ago. Ben Sira (born c.  170 BCE ) warns against it, saying: "You shall have no business with secret things". Nonetheless, mystical studies were undertaken and resulted in mystical literature,

15678-428: The time for the morning service. Each country had its own collection of baqashot , and there is often little or no overlap between the collections of different countries. The Moroccan collection is known as "Shir Yedidot" (Marrakesh 1921): unlike in the Aleppo tradition, where the baqashot service is the same every shabbat, the Moroccan tradition has a different set of baqashot for each week. The Amsterdam collection

15812-649: The time of the Sabbath eve), the Levite's disciples gathered at the Portugal synagogue (and sang with their throats songs to praise the Lord and afterwards each one walked to his synagogue (which were thirteen in number before the great fire) where the [opening] prayer Barukh she-amar did not start before the ending of the Qaddish by the Maftirim. In the course of time, the cantors joined with

15946-462: The title "Maftirim: Turkish-Sephardic Synagogue Hymns." David Behar, Hazan Isak Maçoro, and Hazan David Sevi were recorded in the 1980s but the recordings were lost until the mid-2000s. This 4-CD set was published in Turkey with an extensive accompanying booklet in Turkish, English, Hebrew and Ladino. The project was coordinated by Karen Gerson Şarhon . Tape recordings of the Syrian baqashot were made in

16080-534: The tools of modern and postmodern philosophy and psychology , Sanford Drob shows philosophically how every symbol of the Kabbalah embodies the simultaneous dialectical paradox of mystical Coincidentia oppositorum , the conjoining of two opposite dualities. Thus the Infinite Ein Sof is above the duality of Yesh/Ayin Being/Non-Being transcending Existence/Nothingness ( Becoming into Existence through

16214-441: The tradition today is the Ades Synagogue in Nachlaot , where the leading spirit was rabbi Chaim Shaul Abud . The Aleppian baqashot did not only reach Jerusalem. The Jews of Aleppo took this custom with them wherever they went: to Turkey, Cairo, Mexico, Argentina and Brooklyn, New York. Each of these communities preserved this custom in the original Halabi style without all the changes and embellishments that have been added to

16348-535: The unlimited divine bounty within suitable vessels, so forming the Worlds. However, if man sins (actualising impure judgement within his soul), the supernal Judgement is reciprocally empowered over the Kindness, introducing disharmony among the Sephirot in the divine realm and exile from God throughout Creation. The demonic realm, though illusory in its holy origin, becomes the real apparent realm of impurity in lower Creation. In

16482-534: The various diagnostic criteria of these different perspectives—are the Bahir , Zohar , Pardes Rimonim , and Etz Chayim ('Ein Sof') . The early Hekhalot writings are acknowledged as ancestral to the sensibilities of this later flowering of the Kabbalah and more especially the Sefer Yetzirah is acknowledged as the antecedent from which all these books draw many of their formal inspirations. The Sefer Yetzirah

16616-510: The very beginning the King made engravings in the supernal purity. A spark of blackness emerged in the sealed within the sealed, from the mystery of the Ayn Sof, a mist within matter, implanted in a ring, no white, no black, no red, no yellow, no colour at all. When He measured with the standard of measure, He made colours to provide light. Within the spark, in the innermost part, emerged a source, from which

16750-540: The views of some Kabbalists this conceives "evil" as a "quality of God", asserting that negativity enters into the essence of the Absolute. In this view it is conceived that the Absolute needs evil to "be what it is", i.e., to exist. Foundational texts of Medieval Kabbalism conceived evil as a demonic parallel to the holy, called the Sitra Achra (the "Other Side"), and the qlippoth (the "shells/husks") that cover and conceal

16884-491: The whole history of Jewish mysticism, beyond the particular Kabbalistic background of the Middle Ages. They can be readily distinguished by their basic intent with respect to God: According to Kabbalistic belief, early kabbalistic knowledge was transmitted orally by the Patriarchs, prophets , and sages, eventually to be "interwoven" into Jewish religious writings and culture. According to this view, early kabbalah was, in around

17018-529: The word Kabbalah undergoes a transformation of its meaning in medieval Judaism, in the books which are now primarily referred to as 'the Kabbalah': the Bahir , the Zohar , Etz Hayim etc. In these books the word Kabbalah is used in manifold new senses. During this major phase it refers to the continuity of revelation in every generation, on the one hand, while also suggesting the necessity of revelation to remain concealed and secret or esoteric in every period by formal requirements native to sacred truth. When

17152-626: The word piyyuṭ designated every type of sacred poetry, but as usage developed, the term came to designate only poems of hymn character. The piyyuṭim were usually composed by a talented rabbinic poet, and depending on the piyyuṭ’s reception by the community determined whether it would pass the test of time. Looking at the composers of the piyyuṭim, one can see which family names were part of the Middle Eastern community and which hakhamim were prominent and well established. The composers of various piyyuṭim usually used acrostic forms to hint their identity in

17286-538: The wording of the basic prayers was generally known by heart, and there was supposed to be a prohibition of writing them down. It is not always clear from the manuscripts whether these piyyuṭim, which often elaborated the themes of the basic prayers, were intended to supplement or replace them, or indeed whether they originated before the basic prayers had become fixed. The piyyuṭim, in particular those of Eleazar birabbi Qallir , were often in very cryptic and allusive language, with copious reference to midrash . Initially,

17420-552: The world not so committed to the idea of waking up before dawn, the baqashot melodies, or sometimes the actual songs, are still sung either in the course of the prayers or casually on certain occasions. But there are places there still practicing this tradition like Shaare Sion synagogue in Argentina. In some settings, the honor of singing the Kaddish goes to the highest bidder. Refreshments, such as tea or arrak , are often served during

17554-637: Was a minor, permitted tradition restricted for a few elite. Today, many publications on Kabbalah belong to the non-Jewish New Age and occult traditions of Cabala, rather than giving an accurate picture of Judaic Kabbalah. Instead, academic and traditional Jewish publications now translate and study Judaic Kabbalah for wide readership. The definition of Kabbalah varies according to the tradition and aims of those following it. According to its earliest and original usage in ancient Hebrew it means 'reception' or 'tradition', and in this context it tends to refer to any sacred writing composed after (or otherwise outside of)

17688-410: Was arranged by Rabbi Abraham Elmaliah from Mogador in 1856 under the name Soba' Semahot (שובע שמחות). This was a collection of all the "old" (לקדים) manuscripts of baqashot and piyyutim, as well as original compositions. Another collection Roni VeSimhi (רני ושמחי) was published in 1890 by Rabbi David Yefalah, also from Mogador, with many additional piyyutim assembled from manuscripts. In 1921,

17822-535: Was introduced to Jerusalem by Raphael Altaras, who came to that city from Aleppo in 1845 and founded a baqashot circle at the Kehal Tsiyon synagogue. In this way the custom of Baqashot became part of the mainstream Jerusalem Sephardic tradition. Another important influence was Jacob Ades (1857–1925), who immigrated to Jerusalem in 1895 and introduced the tradition to the Persian and Bukharan communities. The main centre of

17956-468: Was to any use of piyyuṭim at all or only to their intruding into the heart of the statutory prayers. For these reasons, scholars classifying the liturgies of later periods usually hold that, the more a given liturgy uses piyyuṭim, the more likely it is to reflect Palestinian as opposed to Babylonian (Mesopotamian) influence. The Sephardic liturgical framers took the Geonic strictures seriously. For this reason

#823176