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151-577: Many motifs of later Kabbalah are based on the Hekhalot texts, and the Hekhalot literature itself is based upon earlier sources, including traditions about heavenly ascents of Enoch found among the Dead Sea scrolls and the Hebrew Bible pseudepigrapha . Hekhalot itself has many pseudepigraphic texts. Some of the Hekhalot texts are: Other similar texts are: The Hekhalot literature is post-rabbinical, and not

302-719: 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

453-549: 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

604-650: 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 . High Middle Ages Central Europe Guelf , Hohenstaufen , and Ascanian domains in Germany about 1176 The High Middle Ages , or High Medieval Period ,

755-457: A century there were more inventions developed and applied usefully than in the previous thousand years of human history all over the globe. The period saw major technological advances, including the adoption or invention of windmills , watermills , printing (though not yet with movable type), gunpowder , the astrolabe , glasses , scissors of the modern shape, a better clock , and greatly improved ships. The latter two advances made possible

906-414: A comprehensive production of alcohol. Food production also increased during this time as new ways of farming were introduced, including the use of a heavier plow, horses instead of oxen, and a three-field system that allowed the cultivation of a greater variety of crops than the earlier two-field system—notably legumes , the growth of which prevented the depletion of important nitrogen from the soil. During

1057-604: 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 ,

1208-533: A divine spark. Other notable scholastics included Muhammad Averroes , Roscelin , Abélard, Peter Lombard , and Francisco Suárez . One of the main questions during this time was the problem of universals . Prominent opponents of various aspects of the scholastic mainstream included Duns Scotus , William of Ockham , Peter Damian , Bernard of Clairvaux , and the Victorines . Christian heresies existed in Europe before

1359-622: 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

1510-438: A high demand for wine and steady volume of alcohol consumption inspired a viticulture revolution of progress. The relative protection from famine during this time allowed Europe's population to increase, despite the famine in 1315 that killed 1.5 million people. This increased population contributed to the founding of new towns and an increase in industrial and economic activity during the period. They also established trade and

1661-522: A key role in European trade from then on, making these cities become major financial centers. From the mid-10th to the mid-11th centuries, the Scandinavian kingdoms were unified and Christianized, resulting in an end of Viking raids, and greater involvement in European politics. King Cnut of Denmark ruled over both England and Norway. After Cnut's death in 1035, England and Norway were both lost, and with

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1812-448: 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

1963-584: A literature of the rabbis, but since it seeks to stand in continuity with the Rabbinic literature, it is often pseudepigraphical . Hekhalot has examples of early alternate history texts. This Kabbalah -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 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')

2114-546: 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

2265-536: 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

2416-663: 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

2567-607: A religious experience and became a preacher. He founded the Waldensians which became a Christian sect believing that all religious practices should have strictly scriptural bases. Waldo was denied the right to preach his sermons by the Third Lateran Council in 1179, which he did not obey and continued to speak freely until he was excommunicated in 1184. Waldo was critical of the Christian clergy saying they did not live according to

2718-462: A result of the First Crusade . In the context of the crusades, monastic military orders were founded that would become the template for the late medieval chivalric orders . The Knights Templar were a Christian military order founded after the First Crusade to help protect Christian pilgrims from hostile locals and highway bandits. The order was deeply involved in banking, and in 1307 Philip

2869-651: A single family. During the High Middle Ages Lithuania emerged as a Duchy of Lithuania in the early 13th century, then briefly becoming the Kingdom of Lithuania from 1251 to 1263. After the assassination of its first Christian king Mindaugas Lithuania was known as Grand Duchy of Lithuania . Unconquered during the Lithuanian Crusade , Lithuania itself rapidly expanded to the East due to conquests and became one of

3020-656: A successful Vlach-Bulgarian rebellion in 1185 , and henceforth the region was divided between the Byzantines in Greece, some parts of Macedonia , and Thrace , the Bulgarians in Moesia and most of Thrace and Macedonia, and the Serbs to the northwest. Eastern and Western churches had formally split in the 11th century, and despite occasional periods of co-operation during the 12th century, in 1204

3171-463: 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

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3322-588: 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

3473-455: 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,

3624-590: 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

3775-399: 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

3926-560: 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

4077-628: 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,

4228-522: Is hardly exact, for the centre was at Toulouse and in the neighbouring districts. The Albigensians were strong in southern France, northern Italy, and the southwestern Holy Roman Empire . The Bogomils were strong in the Southeastern Europe , and became the official religion supported by the Bosnian kings . Peter Waldo of Lyon was a wealthy merchant who gave up his riches around 1175 after

4379-516: 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

4530-706: 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

4681-570: 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

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4832-426: 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;

4983-526: 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

5134-615: 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

5285-810: 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

5436-594: The Black Death , but also numerous wars as well as economic stagnation. From around 780, Europe saw the last of the barbarian invasions and became more socially and politically organized. The Carolingian Renaissance stimulated scientific and philosophical activity in Northern Europe. The first universities started operating in Bologna , Oxford , Paris , Salamanca , Cambridge and Modena . The Vikings settled in

5587-544: The Carolingian Empire had been divided and replaced by separate successor kingdoms called France and Germany, although not with their modern boundaries. Germany was significantly more eastern. Germany was under the banner of the Holy Roman Empire , which reached its high-water mark of unity and political power under Kaiser Frederick Barbarossa . During the successful reign of King David IV of Georgia (1089–1125),

5738-685: The Crusader States in the Levant . Other wars led to the Northern Crusades . The Christian kingdoms took much of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim control, and the Normans conquered southern Italy, all part of the major population increases and the resettlement patterns of the era. The High Middle Ages produced many different forms of intellectual, spiritual and artistic works . The age also saw

5889-667: The Early Middle Ages was based upon few copies and commentaries of ancient Greek texts that remained in Western Europe after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire . Most of them were studied only in Latin as knowledge of Greek was very limited. This scenario changed during the Renaissance of the 12th century . The intellectual revitalization of Europe started with the birth of medieval universities . The increased contact with

6040-571: 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,

6191-664: The Fourth Crusade treacherously captured Constantinople . This severely damaged the Byzantines, and their power was ultimately weakened by the Seljuks and the rising Ottoman Empire in the 14–15th century. The power of the Latin Empire , however, was short-lived after the Crusader army was routed by Bulgarian Emperor Kaloyan in the Battle of Adrianople (1205) . The Medieval Warm Period ,

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6342-593: The Hanseatic League , a federation of free cities to advance trade by sea, was founded in the 12th century, with the foundation of the city of Lübeck , which would later dominate the League, in 1158–1159. Many northern cities of the Holy Roman Empire became Hanseatic cities, including Amsterdam , Cologne , Bremen , Hanover and Berlin. Hanseatic cities outside the Holy Roman Empire were, for instance, Bruges and

6493-647: The Kingdom of Georgia grew in strength and expelled the Seljuk Empire from its lands. David's decisive victory in the Battle of Didgori (1121) against the Seljuk Turks, as a result of which Georgia recaptured its lost capital Tbilisi , marked the beginning of the Georgian Golden Age . David's granddaughter Queen Tamar continued the upward rise, successfully neutralizing internal opposition and embarking on an energetic foreign policy aided by further decline of

6644-558: The Macedonian and Komnenos dynasties gradually gave way to the resurrected Serbia and Bulgaria and to a successor crusader state (1204 to 1261), who continually fought each other until the end of the Latin Empire. The Byzantine Empire was reestablished in 1261 with the recapture of Constantinople from the Latins, though it was no longer a major power and would continue to falter through

6795-622: The Matter of France (stories about Charlemagne and his court), the Acritic songs dealing with the chivalry of Byzantium's frontiersmen, and perhaps the best known cycle, the Matter of Britain , which featured tales about King Arthur , his court, and related stories from Brittany , Cornwall , Wales and Ireland. An anonymous German poet tried to bring the Germanic myths from the Migration Period to

6946-452: The Romanesque style by combining flying buttresses , gothic (or pointed) arches and ribbed vaults . It was influenced by the spiritual background of the time, being religious in essence: thin horizontal lines and grates made the building strive towards the sky. Architecture was made to appear light and weightless, as opposed to the dark and bulky forms of the previous Romanesque style . It

7097-596: The Silk Road to China. Westerners became more aware of the Far East when Polo documented his travels in Il Milione . He was followed by numerous Christian missionaries to the East, such as William of Rubruck , Giovanni da Pian del Carpine , André de Longjumeau , Odoric of Pordenone , Giovanni de' Marignolli , Giovanni di Monte Corvino , and other travellers such as Niccolò de' Conti . Philosophical and scientific teaching of

7248-677: 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

7399-724: 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

7550-467: 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

7701-412: The intensive agriculture -prevalent model in Muslim-ruled lands did not require territorial expansion. While Muslim lands enjoyed a certain demographic and financial edge , Almoravids and Almohads from northern Africa featured volatile state structures; barring (unsuccessful) attempts to take Toledo, they did not stand out for carrying out an expansionist policy. In Italy, with the Norman conquest,

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7852-546: 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

8003-530: The 11th century but only in small numbers and of local character: in most cases, a rogue priest, or a village returning to pagan traditions. However, beginning in the 11th century, mass-movement heresies appeared. The roots of this can be partially sought in the rise of urban cities, free merchants, and a new money-based economy. The rural values of monasticism held little appeal to urban people who began to form sects more in tune with urban culture. The first large-scale heretical movements in Western Europe originated in

8154-412: The 12th century, the Cluny monks promoted ethical warfare and inspired the formation of orders of chivalry , such as the Templar Knights . Inherited titles of nobility were established during this period. In 13th-century Germany, knighthood became another inheritable title, although one of the less prestigious, and the trend spread to other countries. The East–West Schism of 1054 formally separated

8305-420: The 13th century had a great impact on the east of Europe , as many countries of the region were invaded, pillaged, conquered or vassalized. During the first half of this period ( c.  1025 —1185), Byzantine Empire dominated the Southeast Europe , and under the Komnenian emperors there was a revival of prosperity and urbanization; however, their domination of Southeast Europe was coming to an end with

8456-435: The 14th century, with remnants lasting until the mid 15th century. In the 11th century, populations north of the Alps began a more intensive settlement, targeting "new" lands, some areas of which had reverted to wilderness after the end of the Western Roman Empire . In what historian Charles Higounet called the "great clearances", Europeans cleared and cultivated some of the vast forests and marshes that lay across much of

8607-473: The British Isles, France and elsewhere, and Norse Christian kingdoms started developing in their Scandinavian homelands. The Magyars ceased their expansion in the 10th century, and by the year 1000, a Christian Kingdom of Hungary had become a recognized state in Central Europe that was forming alliances with regional powers. With the brief exception of the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, major nomadic incursions ceased. The powerful Byzantine Empire of

8758-432: The Christian church into two parts: Roman Catholicism in Western Europe and Eastern Orthodoxy in the east. It occurred when Pope Leo IX and Patriarch Michael I excommunicated each other, mainly over disagreement over the filioque , an addition to the creed concerning the origin of the Holy Spirit, as well as disputes as to the existence of papal authority over the four Eastern patriarchs , use of unleavened bread in

8909-427: 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

9060-400: 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

9211-401: The Fair (Philippine le Bel) had the entire order arrested in France and dismantled on charges of alleged heresy. The Knights Hospitaller were originally a Christian organization founded in Jerusalem in 1080 to provide care for poor, sick, or injured pilgrims to the Holy Land . After Jerusalem was taken in the First Crusade, it became a religious / military order that was charged with

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9362-441: 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

9513-501: The High Middle Ages, the idea of a Christian warrior started to change as Christianity grew more prominent in Medieval Europe. The Codes of Chivalry promoted the ideal knight to be selfless, faithful, and fierce against those who threaten the weak. Household heavy cavalry ( knights ) became common in the 11th century across Europe, and tournaments were invented. Tournaments allowed knights to establish their family name while being able to gather vast wealth and renown through victories. In

9664-423: The Holy Lands, the order moved to Transylvania in 1211 and later, after being expelled, invaded pagan Prussia with the intention of Christianizing the Baltic region . Yet, both before and after the Order's main pagan opponent, Lithuania , converted to Christianity, the Order had already attacked other Christian nations such as Novgorod and Poland . The Teutonic Knights' power hold, which became considerable,

9815-422: 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

9966-440: The Islamic world in Spain and Sicily during the Reconquista , and the Byzantine world and Muslim Levant during the Crusades , allowed Europeans access to scientific Arabic and Greek texts, including the works of Aristotle , Alhazen , and Averroes . The European universities aided materially in the translation and propagation of these texts and started a new infrastructure which was needed for scientific communities. At

10117-607: 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

10268-422: 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

10419-565: 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

10570-456: The Platonist-Augustinian belief that the mind is an immaterial substance. The most famous of the scholastics was Thomas Aquinas (later declared a " Doctor of the Church "), who led the move away from the Platonic and Augustinian and towards Aristotelianism. Aquinas developed a philosophy of mind by writing that the mind was at birth a tabula rasa ("blank slate") that was given the ability to think and recognize forms or ideas through

10721-421: The Polish city of Gdańsk (Danzig), as well as Königsberg, capital of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. In Bergen , Norway and Veliky Novgorod , Russia the league had factories and middlemen. In this period the Germans started colonising Europe beyond the Empire, into Prussia and Silesia . In the late 13th century, a Venetian explorer named Marco Polo became one of the first Europeans to travel

10872-614: The Pope so as not to be confused with actual heretical movements such as the Waldensians . Catharism was a movement with Gnostic elements that originated around the middle of the 10th century, branded by the contemporary Roman Catholic Church as heretical . It existed throughout much of Western Europe , but its origination was in Languedoc and surrounding areas in southern France. The name Cathar stems from Greek katharos , "pure". One of

11023-593: 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

11174-460: 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,

11325-440: 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

11476-453: 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

11627-481: 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

11778-583: 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

11929-598: 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

12080-449: The beginning of the 13th century there were reasonably accurate Latin translations of the main works of almost all the intellectually crucial ancient authors, allowing a sound transfer of scientific ideas via both the universities and the monasteries. By then, the natural science contained in these texts began to be extended by notable scholastics such as Robert Grosseteste , Roger Bacon , Albertus Magnus and Duns Scotus . Precursors of

12231-420: The borderlands in the southern meseta . Agricultural models in areas with Mediterranean climate were generally based on biennial crop rotation . Despite population growth, agricultural output remained relatively rigid throughout the period; between the 10th and 13th centuries, migration southwards to exposed areas was incentivized by the possibility of enjoying privileges and acquiring properties. Conversely,

12382-561: The care and defence of the Crusader states . After the Holy Lands were eventually taken by Muslim forces, it moved its operations to Rhodes , and later Malta . The Teutonic Knights were a German religious order formed in 1190, in the city of Acre , to aid Christian pilgrims on their way to the Holy Lands and to operate hospitals for the sick and injured in Outremer . After Muslim forces captured

12533-670: 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

12684-607: 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

12835-536: 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

12986-696: 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

13137-407: 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

13288-632: The continent. At the same time, settlers moved beyond the traditional boundaries of the Frankish Empire to new frontiers beyond the Elbe River , which tripled the size of Germany in the process. The Catholic Church , which reached the peak of its political power around then, called armies from across Europe to a series of Crusades against the Seljuk Turks . The crusaders occupied the Holy Land and founded

13439-473: 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

13590-559: The dawn of the Age of Discovery . These inventions were influenced by foreign culture and society. Alfred W. Crosby described some of this technological revolution in The Measure of Reality: Quantification in Western Europe, 1250-1600 and other major historians of technology have also noted it. Art in the High Middle Ages includes these important movements: Gothic architecture superseded

13741-695: The defeat of Valdemar II in 1227, Danish predominance in the region came to an end. Meanwhile, Norway extended its Atlantic possessions, ranging from Greenland to the Isle of Man , while Sweden, under Birger Jarl , built up a power-base in the Baltic Sea . However, the Norwegian influence started to decline already in the same period, marked by the Treaty of Perth of 1266. Also, civil wars raged in Norway between 1130 and 1240. By

13892-438: 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

14043-552: 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

14194-510: 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

14345-641: 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

14496-462: 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

14647-421: The first great and powerful state was formed, the Kingdom of Sicily with hereditary monarchy. Subsequently joined to the Holy Roman Empire, it had its moment of maximum splendor with the emperor Frederick II . In the rest of Italy, independent city states grew affluent on Eastern Mediterranean maritime trade. These were in particular the thalassocracies of Pisa , Amalfi , Genoa and Venice , which played

14798-448: The first recorded uses is Eckbert von Schönau who wrote on heretics from Cologne in 1181: "Hos nostra Germania catharos appellat." ([In] our Germany [one] calls these [people] "Cathars".) The Cathars are also called Albigensians . This name originates from the end of the 12th century, and was used by the chronicler Geoffroy du Breuil of Vigeois in 1181. The name refers to the southern town of Albi (the ancient Albiga). The designation

14949-506: 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

15100-400: 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

15251-515: 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

15402-417: 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

15553-482: 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

15704-548: 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

15855-592: The hostile Seljuk Turks . Relying on a powerful military élite, Tamar was able to build on the successes of her predecessors to consolidate an empire which dominated vast lands spanning from present-day southern Russia on the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea . Georgia remained a leading regional power until its collapse under the Mongol attacks within two decades after Tamar's death. In the High Middle Ages, Hungary became one of

16006-457: 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 ,

16157-558: The largest states in Europe. In the mid-10th century Poland emerged as a duchy after Mieszko I , the ruler of the Polans , conquered the surrounding Lechitic tribes in the region. Then in 1025 under the rule of Bolesław I the Brave , Poland became a kingdom. The High Middle Ages saw the height and decline of the Slavic state of Kievan Rus' and emergence of Cumania . Later, the Mongol invasion in

16308-598: The liturgy, and fasting days. The Catholic Crusades occurred between the 11th and 13th centuries. They were conducted under papal authority, initially with the intent of reestablishing Christian rule in The Holy Land by taking the area from the Muslim Fatimid Caliphate . The Fatimids had captured Palestine in AD 970, lost it to the Seljuk Turks in 1073 and recaptured it in 1098, just before they lost it again in 1099 as

16459-565: 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

16610-535: 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

16761-466: The modern scientific method can be seen already in Grosseteste's emphasis on mathematics as a way to understand nature, and in the empirical approach admired by Bacon, particularly in his Opus Majus . During the 12th and 13th century in Europe there was a radical change in the rate of new inventions, innovations in the ways of managing traditional means of production, and economic growth. In less than

16912-470: The most famous sacral building of the time: Notre Dame de Paris . A variety of cultures influenced the literature of the High Middle Ages, one of the strongest among them being Christianity. The connection to Christianity was greatest in Latin literature , which influenced the vernacular languages in the literary cycle of the Matter of Rome . Other literary cycles, or interrelated groups of stories, included

17063-497: The most powerful medieval states in Europe. The Christian Kingdom of Hungary was established in 1000 under King Saint Stephen I of Hungary , and ruled by the Árpád dynasty for the following centuries. King Saint Ladislaus completed the work of King Saint Stephen . He consolidated the Hungarian state power and strengthened the influence of Christianity . His charismatic personality, strategic leadership and military talents resulted

17214-486: 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

17365-573: 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

17516-639: The newly urbanized areas such as southern France and northern Italy and were probably influenced by the Bogomils and other dualist movements . These heresies were on a scale the Catholic Church had never seen before and as such the response was one of elimination for some (such as the Cathars ). Some Catholic monastic leaders, such as Francis of Assisi , the founder of the Franciscans , had to be recognized directly by

17667-526: The period from the 10th century to about the 14th century in Europe, was a relatively warm and gentle interval ended by the generally colder Little Ice Age which would continue until the Middle of the 19th century. Farmers grew wheat well north into Scandinavia, and wine grapes in northern England, although the maximum expansion of vineyards appeared to occur within the Little Ice Age period. During this time,

17818-470: The period to expand Scholasticism , a combination of Judeo-Islamic and Catholic ideologies with the ancient philosophy. For much of this period, Constantinople remained Europe's most populous city, and Byzantine art reached a peak in the 12th century . In architecture, many of the most notable Gothic cathedrals were built or completed around this period. The Crisis of the Late Middle Ages began at

17969-466: 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,

18120-406: The preceding era, and the Renaissance of the 12th century , including the first developments of rural exodus and urbanization . By 1350, the robust population increase had greatly benefited the European economy, which had reached levels that would not be seen again in some areas until the 19th century. That trend faltered during the Late Middle Ages because of a series of calamities , most notably

18271-535: 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 ‎ , 'orchard'): Kabbalah

18422-473: 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

18573-672: 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

18724-412: 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

18875-469: The rise of ethnocentrism , which evolved later into modern national identities in most of Europe, the ascent of the great Italian city-states and the rise and fall of the Islamic civilization of Al-Andalus . The rediscovery of the works of Aristotle , at first indirectly through medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy , led Maimonides , Ibn Sina , Ibn Rushd , Thomas Aquinas and other thinkers of

19026-571: The rule of independent native princes until the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd in 1282. The Exchequer was founded in the 12th century under King Henry I , and the first parliaments were convened. In 1215, after the loss of Normandy , King John signed the Magna Carta into law, limiting the power of English monarchs . A key geo-strategic development in the Iberian Peninsula was the Christian conquest of Toledo in 1085. Dominated by war,

19177-476: 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

19328-448: The societal structures and relations in the northern Christian kingdoms were subordinated to the demands of omnipresent military conflict. The territorial expansion of the northern Christian kingdoms to the south brought the creation of border societies, where military demands on knights and foot soldiers and the promotion of settlement were prioritized over potential seigneurial income; military orders also played an important role in

19479-577: 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

19630-532: The start of the 14th century and marked the end of the period. In England, the Norman Conquest of 1066 resulted in a kingdom ruled by a Francophone nobility. The Normans invaded Ireland in 1169 and soon established themselves in most of the country, although their stronghold was the southeast. Likewise, Scotland and Wales were subdued into vassal states at about the same time, though Scotland later asserted its independence and Wales remained largely under

19781-506: 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

19932-575: 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

20083-769: 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,

20234-472: 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

20385-526: 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

20536-575: The termination of internal power struggles and foreign military threats. The Kingdom of Hungary expanded to the Adriatic coast and entered a personal union with Croatia in 1102, by establish other vassal states , Hungary became a small empire that extended its control over the Southeast Europe and the Carpathian region. The Hungarian royal Árpád dynasty gave the world the most saints and blessed from

20687-406: 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,

20838-502: The time of the High Middle Ages, the Carolingian Empire had been divided and replaced by separate successor kingdoms called France and Germany, although not with their modern boundaries. France pushed to the west. The Angevin Empire controlled much of France in the 12th century and early 13th century until the French retook much of their previous territory. By the time of the High Middle Ages,

20989-534: 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

21140-535: 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

21291-534: 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

21442-413: 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

21593-436: 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

21744-438: 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

21895-529: 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

22046-541: The word. He rejected the practice of selling indulgences ( simony ), as well as the common saint cult practices of the day. Waldensians are considered a forerunner to the Protestant Reformation , and they melted into Protestantism with the outbreak of the Reformation and became a part of the wider Reformed tradition after the views of John Calvin and his theological successors in Geneva proved very similar to their own theological thought. Waldensian churches still exist, located on several continents. In Northern Europe,

22197-637: 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)

22348-471: Was also expressed by the relatively large size of these buildings. A gothic cathedral therefore not only invited the visitors to elevate themselves spiritually, it was also meant to demonstrate the greatness of God. The floor plan of a gothic cathedral corresponded to the rules of scholasticism: According to Erwin Panofsky 's Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism , the plan was divided into sections and uniform subsections. These characteristics are exhibited by

22499-859: Was broken in 1410, at the Battle of Grunwald , where the Order suffered a devastating defeat against a joint Polish-Lithuanian army. After Grunwald, the Order declined in power until 1809 when it was officially dissolved. There were ten crusades in total. The new Christian method of learning was influenced by Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109) from the rediscovery of the works of Aristotle , at first indirectly through Medieval Jewish and Muslim Philosophy ( Maimonides , Avicenna , and Averroes ) and then through Aristotle 's own works brought back from Byzantine and Muslim libraries; and those whom he influenced, most notably Albertus Magnus , Bonaventure and Abélard . Many scholastics believed in empiricism and supporting Roman Catholic doctrines through secular study, reason, and logic. They opposed Christian mysticism , and

22650-506: Was commonly thought that light was an expression of God; therefore, architectural techniques were adapted and developed to build churches that reflected this teaching. Colorful glass windows enhanced the spirit of lightness. As color was much rarer at medieval times than today, it can be assumed that these virtuoso works of art had an awe-inspiring impact on the common man from the street. High-rising intricate ribbed, and later fan vaultings demonstrated movement toward heaven. Veneration of God

22801-404: Was the period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages , which ended around AD 1500 (by historiographical convention). Key historical trends of the High Middle Ages include the rapidly increasing population of Europe, which brought about great social and political change from

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