Chapter 8
I. Every letter of a word is reduced to its numerical value, and the
word is explained by another of the same quantity. Thus from the words “Lo! three men stood by him” (Gen. xviii, 2), it is deduced that these three angels were Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, because והנה שלשה and lo! three men, and אלו מיכאל גבריאל ורפאל these are Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, are of the same numerical value, as will be seen from the following reduction to their numerical value of both these phrases. ה ש ל ש ה נ ה ו 5 + 300 + 30 + 300 + 5 + 50 + 5 + 6 = 701 ל א כ י מ ו ל א + 30 + 1 + 20 + 10 + 40 + 6 + 30 + 1 ל א י ר ב ג + 30 + 1 + 10 + 200 + 2 + 3 ל א פ ר ו 30 + 1 + 80 + 200 + 6 = 701 This rule in called גמטריא = גרמטיא which is a metathesis of the Greek word γράμμα, γραμμεία, or γραμματεία in the sense of numbers as represented by letters. 2. Every letter of a word is taken as an initial or abbreviation of a word. Thus every letter of the word בראשית, the first word in Genesis, is made the initial of a word, and we obtain בראשית ראה אלהים שיקבלו ישראל תורה in the beginning God saw that Israel would accept the Law. This rule is denominated נוטריקון = notaricun, from notarius, a shorthand writer, one who among the Romans belonged to that class of writers who abbreviated and used single letters to signify whole words. 3. The initial and final letters of several words are respectively formed into separate words. Thus from the beginnings and ends of the words מי יעלה לנו השמימה who shall go up for us to heaven? (Deut. xxx, 12) are obtained מילה circumcision and יהוה Jehovah, and inferred that God ordained circumcision as the way to heaven. 4. Two words occurring in the same verse are joined together and made into one. Thus מי who and אלה these are made into אלהיﬦ God by transposing the י and מ. Vide supra, p. 94. [28] 5. The words of those verses which are regarded as containing a peculiar recondite meaning are ranged in squares in such a manner as to be read either vertically or boustrophedonally, beginning at the right or left hand. Again the words of several verses are placed over each other, and the letters which stand under each other are formed into new words. This is especially seen in the treatment of three verses in Exod. xiv, (viz., 19–21), which are believed to contain the three Pillars of the Sephiroth, and the Divine Name of seventy-two words. The following tables will illustrate this principle of interpretation. The first of these three verses ויסע מלאך האלהים ההלך לפני מחנה ישראל וילך מאחריהם ויסע עמוד הענן מפניהם ויעמד מאחריהם, and the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them (Exod. xiv, 19), is read boustrophedonally, as follows:— I. ו א ל ש א ע מ מ י ל פ ר ח ע פ ד ס ח נ א ר מ נ מ ע י י ל י ו י א מ ם מ י ח ד ח ח ל ח ח י ם ח ם ר א ח נ ל ו ע ו י ך ל ח ך י נ ח ה ך י מ ס י ע ם The second of these three verses ויבא בין מחנה מצרים נבין מהנה ישראל ויהי העגן והחשך ויאר את הלילה ולא קרב זה אל זה כל הלילה, and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but gave light by night to these, so that the one came not near the other all the night (Exod. xiv, 20), is in the first place divided, and read from right to left, beginning at the top, as exhibited in the following diagram. II. ו י ב א ב י ן מ ח נ ה מ צ ר י ם ו ב* י ן מ ח נ ה י ש ר א ל ו י ה י ה ע נ ן ו ה ח ש ך ו י א ר א ת ה ל י ל ה ו ל א ק ר ב ז ה א ל ז ה כ ל ה ל י ל ה It is then divided in the following manner, and read from left to right, beginning at the bottom. III. ה ל י ל ה ל כ ה ז ל* א ה ז ב ר ק א ל ו ה ל י ל ה ת א ר א י ו ך ש ח ה ו ן נ ע ה י ה י ו ל א ר ש י ה נ ח מ ן י ב ו ם י ר צ מ ה נ ח מ ן י ב א ב י ו Whilst the third of these three verses ויט משה את ידו על הים ויולך יהוה את הים ברוח קדים עזה כל הלילה וישם את הים לחרבה ויבקעו המים, and Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided (Exod. xiv. 21), is divided as follows, and read from the right, beginning at the bottom. IV. י ב ק ע ו ה מ י ם ה י ם ל ח ר ב ה ו י ל ה ו י ש ם א ת י ם ע ז ה כ ל ה ל ה י ם ב ר ו ח ק ד ו ל ך י ה ו ה א ת ד ו ע ל ה י ם ו י ו י ט מ ש ה א ת י The three verses which have thus yielded the three Pillars of the Sephiroth, are then joined together in groups of three letters in the order in which they are read in diagrams ii, iii, and iv, and they then yield the seventy-two divine names which the Kabbalah assigns to the Deity, [29] as follows:— כהת אכא ללה מהש עלם סיט ילי והו Adorandus. Longanimis. Annunciatus. Quæsitus. Salus. Spes. Auxiliator. Exaltator. הקם הרי מבה יזל ההע לאו אלד הוי Advocatus. Ens. Sublevator. Decantatus. Opportunus. Exultabundus. Recordabilis. חהו מלה ייי נלך פהל לוו כלי לאו Expetendus. Custos. Dexter. Fortis. Ervens. Exauditor. Justitin. Dominator. ושר לכב אום ריי שאה ירת האא נתה Rector. Solus. Adolescentia. Sanator. Festinus. Salvator. Invocandus. Mirabilis. ייז רהע חעם אני מנד כוק להח יחו Propulsator. Adivtor. Refugium. Facies. Gloria. Deprecatio. Expectatio. Cogitabundus. מיה עשל ערי סאל ילה וול מיך ההה Revelator. Magnificus. Operator. Compatiens. Doctor. Matutinus. Custos. Liberator. פוי מבח נית ננא עמם החש דני והו Erector. Aeternum. Regnator. Verus. Altissimus. Lætabundus. Clemens. Maximus. מחי ענו יהה ומב מצר הרח ייל נמם Mercator. Laudabilis. Amabilis. Benedictus. Justus. Oriens. Animus. Protector. מום חיי יבם ראה חבו איע מנק דמב Requies. Multus. Deus. Præmium. Bonus. Dator. Assisteus. Deprecabilis. 6. The letters of words are changed by way of anagram and new words are obtained. This canon is called תמורה or חילוף אותיות, permutation, and the commutation is effected according to fixed rules. Thus the alphabet is bent exactly in the middle, and one half is put over the other, and by changing alternately the first letter or the first two letters at the beginning of the second line, twenty-two commutations are produced ex. gr.:— 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 [ כ י ט ח ז ו ה ד ג ב א ] [ מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ש ת ל ] [ ל כ י ט ח ז ו ה ד ג א ] or [ מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ש ת ב ] These anagramic alphabets obtain their respective names from the first two specimen pairs of letter which indicate the interchange. Thus, for instance, the first is called Albath אל״בת from the first words, the second Abgath אב״גת, and so on. The following table exhibits the established rules of the alphabetical permutations. כם ינ טס חע זפ וצ הק דר גש בת אל 1. Albath. לם כנ יס טע חפ זצ וק הר דש גת אב 2. Abgath. במ לנ כס יע טפ חצ זק ור הש דת אג 3. Agdath. נמ לס כע יפ טצ חק זר וש הת בג אד 4. Adbag. גנ מס לע כפ יצ טק חר זש ות בד אה 5. Ahbad. נס מע לפ כצ יק טר חש זת גד בה או 6. Avba. דס נע מפ לצ כק יר טש חת גה בו אז 7. Azbav. סע נפ מצ לק כר יש טת דה גו בז אח 8. Achbaz. הע ספ נצ מק לר כש ית דו גז בח אט 9. Atbach. עפ סצ נק מר לש כת הו דז גח בט אי 10. Aibat. ופ עצ סק נר מש לת הז דח גט בי אכ 11. Achbi. פצ עק סר נש מת וז הח דט גי בכ אל 12. Albach. וצ פק ער סש נת וח הט די גכ בל אמ 13. Ambal. צק פר עש סת זח וט הי דכ גל במ אנ 14. Anbam. חק צר פש עת זט וי הכ דל גם בנ אס 15. Asban. קר צש פת חט זי וכ הל דמ גנ בס אע 16. Aabas. טר קש טת חי זכ ול המ דנ גס בע אפ 17. Afba. רש קת טי חכ זל ומ הנ דס גע בפ אצ 18. Azbaf. יש רת טכ חל זמ ונ הס דע גפ בצ אק 19. Akbaz. שת יכ טל חמ זנ וס הע דפ גצ בק אר 20. Arbak. כת יל טמ חנ זס וע הפ דצ גכ בר אש 21. Ashbar. כל ימ טנ חס זע ופ הצ דק גר בש את 22. Athbash. To this list is to be added— שת קר פצ סע מנ כל טי זח הו גד אב 23. Abgad. כת יש טר חק זצ ופ הע דס גנ בם אל 24. Albam. Besides these canons the Kabbalah also sees a recondite sense in the form of the letters, as well as in the ornaments which adorn them. As to the relation of the Kabbalah to Christianity, it is maintained that this theosophy propounds the doctrine of the trinity and the sufferings of Messiah. How far this is true may be ascertained from the following passages. [30] “We have already remarked in several places that the daily liturgical declaration about the divine unity is that which is indicated in the Bible (Deut. vi, 43), where Jehovah occurs first, then Elohenu, and then again Jehovah, which three together constitute a unity, and for this reason he [i.e., Jehovah] is in the said place called one (אחד), But there are three names, and how can they be one? And although we read one (אחד), are they really one? Now this is revealed by the vision of the Holy Ghost, and when the eyes are closed we get to know that the three are only one. This is also the mystery of the voice. The voice is only one, find yet it consists of three elements, fire [i.e., warmth], air [i.e., breath], and water [i.e., humidity], yet are all these one in the mystery of the voice, and can only be one. Thus also Jehovah, Elohenu, and Jehovah constitute one—three forms which are one. And this is indicated by the voice which man raises [i.e., at prayer], thereby to comprehend spiritually the most perfect unity of the En Soph for the finite, since all the three [i.e., Jehovah, Elohenu, Jehovah] are rend with the same loud voice, which comprises in itself a trinity. And this is the daily confession of the divine unity which, as a mystery, is revealed by the Holy Ghost. This unity has been explained in different ways, yet he who understands it in this way is right, and he who understands it in another way is also right. The idea of unity, however formed by us here below, from the mystery of the audible voice which is one, explains the thing.” (Sohar, ii, 43 b.) On another occasion we are informed that R. Eleazar, whilst sitting with his father R. Simeon, was anxious to know how the two names, Jehovah and Elohim, can be interchanged, seeing that the one denotes mercy and the other judgment. Before giving the discussion between the father and the son, it is necessary to remark that whenever the two divine names, Adonai (אדוני) and Jehovah (יהוה), immediately follow each other, Jehovah is pointed and read (יְהֹוִה) Elohim. The reason of this, as it is generally supposed, is to avoid the repetition of Adonai, Adonai, since the Tetragrammaton is otherwise always pointed and read (יְהֹוָה). The Kabbalah, however, as we shall see, discovers in it a recondite meaning, [31] “R. Eleazar, when sitting before his father R. Simeon, said to him, we have been taught that whenever Elohim (אלהיﬦ) occurs, it denotes Justice. Now how can Elohim sometimes be put for Jehovah, as is the case in those passages wherein Adonai (אדוני) and Jehovah (יהוה) stand together (Comp. Gen. xv, 8; Ezek. ii, 4, &c.), seeing that the latter denotes mercy in all the passages in which it occurs? To which he replied, Thus it is said in the Scripture, ‘Know therefore this day and consider it in thine heart, that Jehovah is Elohim’ (Deut. iv, 19); and again it is written ‘Jehovah is Elohim.’ (Ibid., ver. 35.) Whereupon he [i.e., the son] said, I know this forsooth, that justice is sometimes tempered with mercy and mercy with justice. Quoth he [i.e., the father], Come and see that it is so; Jehovah indeed does signify mercy whenever it occurs, but when through sin mercy is changed into justice, then it is written Jehovah (יהוה), but read Elohim (אלהיﬦ). Now come and see the mystery of the word [i.e., Jehovah]. There are three degrees, and each degree exists by itself [i.e., in the Deity], although the three together constitute one, they are closely united into one and are inseparable from each other.” (Sohar, iii, 65 a.) We shall only give one more passage bearing on the subject of the Trinity. [32] “He who reads the word (אחד) One [i.e., in the declaration of the divine unity שמע] must pronounce the Aleph (א) quickly, shorten its sound a little, and not pause at all by this letter, and he who obeys this, his life will be lengthened. Whereupon they [i.e., the disciples] said to him [i.e., to R. Ilai], he [i.e., R. Simeon] has said, There are two, and one is connected with them, and they are three; but in being three they are one. He said to them, those two names, Jehovah Jehovah, are in the declaration ‘Hear O Israel’ (Deut. vi, 4), and Elohenu (אלהנו), between them, is united with them as the third, and this is the conclusion which is sealed with the impression of Truth (אמת). But when these three are combined into a unity, they are one in a single unity.” (Sohar, iii, 262 a.) Indeed one Codex of the Sohar had the following remark on the words “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts” (Isa. iv, 3); קדוש זה אב קדוש זה בן קדוש זה רוח הקדש, the first holy refers to the Holy Father; the second to the Holy Son; and the third to the Holy Ghost. [33] This passage, however, is omitted from the present recensions of the Sohar. Some Jewish writers have felt these passages to be so favourable to the doctrine of the Trinity, that they insist upon their being interpolations into the Sohar, whilst others have tried to explain them as referring to the Sephiroth. [34] As to the atonement of the Messiah for the sins of the people, this is not only propounded in the Sohar, but is given as the explanation of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. [35] “When the righteous are visited with sufferings and afflictions to atone for the sins of the world, it is that they might atone for all the sins of this generation. How is this proved? By all the members of the body. When all members suffer, one member is afflicted in order that all may recover. And which of them? The arm. The arm is beaten, the blood is taken from it, and then the recovery of all the members of the body is secured. So it is with the children of the world: they are members one of another. When the Holy One; blessed be he, wishes the recovery of the world, he afflicts one righteous from their midst, and for his sake all are healed. How is this shown? It is written—‘He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, ... and with his stripes we are healed.’ (Isa. liii, 5.) ‘With his stripes,’ i.e., healed, as by the wound of bleeding an arm, and with this wound we are healed, i.e., it was a healing to each one of us as members of the body.” (Sohar, iii, 218 a.) To the same effect is the following passage. [36] “Those souls which tarry in the nether garden of Eden hover about the world, and when they see suffering or patient martyrs and those who suffer for the unity of God, they return and mention it to the Messiah. When they tell the Messiah of the afflictions of Israel in exile, and that the sinners among them do not reflect in order to know their Lord, he raises his voice and weeps because of those sinners, as it is written, ‘he is wounded for our transgressions.’ (Isa. liii, 5.) Whereupon those souls return and take their place. In the garden of Eden there is one palace which is called the palace of the sick. The Messiah goes into this palace and invokes all the sufferings, pain, and afflictions of Israel to come upon him, and they all come upon him. Now if he did not remove them thus and take them upon himself, no man could endure the sufferings of Israel, due as punishment for transgressing the Law; as it is written—‘Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,’ &c. (Isa. liii, 4, with Rom. xii, 3, 4.) When the children of Israel were in the Holy Land they removed all those sufferings and afflictions from the world by their prayers and sacrifices, but now the Messiah removes them from the world.” (Sohar, ii, 212 b.) That these opinions favour, to a certain extent, the doctrines of the Trinity and the Atonement, though not in the orthodox sense, is not only admitted by many of the Jewish literati who are adverse to the Kabbalah, but by some of its friends. Indeed, the very fact that so large a number of Kabbalists have from time to time embraced the Christian faith would of itself show that there must be some sort of affinity between the tenets of the respective systems. Some of these converts occupied the highest position in the Synagogue, both as pious Jews and literary men. We need only specify Paul Ricci, physician to the Emperor Maximilian I; Julius Conrad Otto, author of The Unveiled Secrets (גלא רזיא), consisting of extracts from the Talmud and the Sohar, to prove the validity of the Christian doctrine (Nürenberg, 1805); John Stephen Rittengal, grandson of the celebrated Don Isaac Abravanel, and translator of The Book Jetzira, or of Creation (ספר יצירה), into Latin (Amsterdam, 1642); and Jacob Frank, the great apostle of the Kabbalah in the eighteenth century, whose example in professing Christianity was followed by several thousands of his disciples. [37] The testimony of these distinguished Kabbalists, which they give in their elaborate works, about the affinity of some of the doctrines of this theosophy with those of Christianity, is by no means to be slighted; and this is fully corroborated by the celebrated Leo di Modena, who, as an orthodox Jew, went so far as to question whether God will ever forgive those who printed the Kabbalistic works. [38] The use made by some well-meaning Christians of the above-named Kabbalistic canons of interpretation, in controversies with Jews, to prove that the doctrines of Christianity are concealed under the letter of the Old Testament, will now be deprecated by every one who has any regard for the laws of language. As a literary curiosity, however, we shall give one or two specimens. No less a person than the celebrated Reuchlin would have it that the doctrine of the Trinity is to be found in the first verse of Genesis. He submits, if the Hebrew word ברא, which is translated created, be examined, and if each of the three letters composing this word be taken as the initial of a separate word, we obtain the expressions בן רוח אב Son, Spirit, Father, according to Rule 2 (p. 131). Upon the same principle this erudite scholar deduces the first two persons in the Trinity from the words—“the stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner” (Ps. cxviii, 22), by dividing the three letters composing the word אבן stone, into אב בן Father, Son (Comp. De Verbo Mirifico, Basel, 1494). In more recent times we find it maintained that the ‘righteousness’ spoken of in Daniel ix, 24, means the Anointed of Jehovah, because the original phrase, צדק עלמים is by Gematria, = numerical value, (which is Rule 1, given above, p. 131), the same as משיח יהוה. So pleased is the author with this discovery, that he takes great care to remark—“It is a proof which I believe has hitherto escaped the notice of interpreters.” Such proofs, however, of the Messiaship of Christ bring no honour to our religion; and in the present day argue badly both against him who adduces them and against him who is convinced by them. II. We now proceed to trace the date and origin of the Kabbalah. Taking the ex parte statement for what it is worth, viz., that this secret doctrine is of a pre-Adamite date, and that God himself propounded it to the angels in Paradise, we shall have to examine the age of the oldest documents which embody its tenets, and compare these doctrines with other systems, in order to ascertain the real date and origin of this theosophy. But before this is done, it will be necessary to summarize, as briefly as possible, those doctrines which are peculiar to the Kabbalah, or which it expounds and elaborates in an especial manner, and which constitute it a separate system within the precincts of Judaism. The doctrines are as follow:— 1. God is boundless in his nature. He has neither will, intention, desire, thought, language, nor action. He cannot be grasped and depicted; and, for this reason, is called En Soph, and as such he is in a certain sense not existent. 2. He is not the direct creator of the universe, since he could not will the creation; and since a creation proceeding directly from him would have to be as boundless and as perfect as he is himself. 3. He at first sent forth ten emanations, or Sephiroth, which are begotten, not made, and which are both infinite and finite. 4. From these Sephiroth, which are the Archetypal Man, the different worlds gradually and successively evolved. These evolutionary worlds are the brightness and the express image of their progenitors, the Sephiroth, which uphold all things. 5. These emanations, or Sephiroth, gave rise to or created in their own image all human souls. These souls are pre-existent, they occupy a special hall in the upper world of spirits, and there already decide whether they will pursue a good or bad course in their temporary sojourn in the human body, which is also fashioned according to the Archetypal image. 6. No one has seen the En Soph at any time. It is the Sephiroth, in whom the En Soph is incarnate, who have revealed themselves to us, and to whom the anthropomorphisms of Scripture and the Hagada refer. Thus when it is said, “God spake, descended upon earth, ascended into heaven, smelled the sweet smell of sacrifices, repented in his heart, was angry,” &c, &c, or when the Hagadic works describe the body and the mansions of the Deity, &c., all this does not refer to the En Soph, but to these intermediate beings. 7. It is an absolute condition of the soul to return to the Infinite Source whence it emanated, after developing all those perfections the germs of which are indelibly inherent in it. If it fails to develope these germs, it must migrate into another body, and in case it is still too weak to acquire the virtues for which it is sent to this earth, it is united to another and a stronger soul, which, occupying the same human body with it, aids its weaker companion in obtaining the object for which it came down from the world of spirits. 8. When all the pre-existent souls shall have passed their probationary period here below, the restitution of all things will take place; Satan will be restored to an angel of light, hell will disappear, and all souls will return into the bosom of the Deity whence they emanated. The creature shall not then be distinguished from the Creator. Like God, the soul will rule the universe: she shall command, and God obey. With these cardinal doctrines before us we shall now be able to examine the validity of the Kabbalists’ claims to the books which, according to them, propound their doctrines and determine the origin of this theosophy. Their works are I. The Book of Creation; II. The Sohar; and