Part 2
Part 3
PREFACE.
Students of literature, philosophy and religion who have any sympathy with
the Occult Sciences may well pay some attention to the Kabalah of the Hebrew
Rabbis of olden times; for whatever faith may be held by the enquirer he will
gain not only knowledge, but also will broaden his views of life and destiny,
by comparing other forms of religion with the faith and doctrines in which
he has been nurtured, or which he has adopted after reaching full age and powers
of discretion.
Being fully persuaded of the good to be thus derived, I desire to call attention
to the dogmas of the old Hebrew Kabalah. I had the good fortune to be attracted
to this somewhat recondite study, at an early period of life, and I have been
able to spare a little time in subsequent years to collect some knowledge of
this Hebrew religious philosophy; my information upon the subject has been
enlarged by my membership of The Rosicrucian Society. Yet the Kabalistic books
are so numerous and so lengthy, and so many of them only to be studied in Rabbinic
Hebrew and Chaldee that I feel to-day less confident of my knowledge of the
Kabalah than I did twenty years ago, when this essay was first published, after
delivery in the form of lectures to a Society of Hermetic Students in 1888.
Since that date a French translation of "The Zohar," by Jean de
Pauly, and a work entitled "The Literature and History of the Kabalah," by
Arthur E. Waite, have been published, yet I think that this little treatise
will be found of interest to those who have not sufficient leisure to master
the more complete works on the Kabalah.
The Old Testament has been of necessity referred to, but I have by intention
made no references to the New Testament, or to the faith and doctrines taught
by Jesus the Christ, as the Saviour of the world: if any desire to refer to
the alleged reference in the Kabalah to the Trinity, it will be found in the
Zohar ii., 43, b.: and an English version of the same in "The Kabbalah," by
C. D. Ginsburg.
WM. WYNN WESTCOTT, M.B., etc.
THE KABALAH.
It must be confessed that the origin of the Kabalah is lost in the mists of
antiquity; no one can demonstrate who was its author, or who were its earliest
teachers. Considerable evidence may be adduced to show that its roots pass
back to the Hebrew Rabbis who flourished at the time of the Second Temple about
the year 515 B.C. Of its existence before that time I know
of no proofs.
It has been suggested that the captivity of the Jews in Babylon led to the
formation of this philosophy by the effect of Chaldean lore and dogma acting
on Jewish tradition. No doubt in the earliest stages of its existence the teaching
wasentirely oral, hence the name QBLH from QBL to receive, and it became varied
by the minds through which it filtered in its course; there is no proof that
any part of it was written for centuries after. It has been kept curiously
distinct both from the Exoteric Pentateuchal Mosaic books, and from the ever-growing
Commentaries upon them, the Mishna and Gemara, which form the Talmud. This
seems to have grown up in Hebrew theology without combining with the recondite
doctrines of the Kabalah. In a similar manner we see in India that the Upanishads,
an Esoteric series of treatises, grew up alongside the Brahmanas and the Puranas,
which are Exoteric instructions designed for the use of the masses of the people.
With regard to the oldest Kabalistic books still extant, a controversy has
raged among modern critics, who deny the asserted era of each work, and try
to show that the assumed author is the only person who could not have written
each one in question. But these critics show the utmost divergence of opinion
the moment it becomes necessary to fix on a date or an author; so much more
easy is destructive criticism than the acquirement of real knowledge.
Let us make a short note of the chief of the old Kabalistic treatises.
The "Sepher Yetzirah" or "Book of Formation" is the oldest
treatise; it is attributed by legend to Abraham the Patriarch: several editions
of an English translation by myself have been published. This work explains
a most curious philosophical scheme of Creation, drawing a parallel between
the originof the world, the sun, the planets, the elements, seasons, man and
the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet; dividing them into a Triad,
a Heptad and a Dodecad; three mother letters A, M, and Sh are referred to primeval
Air, Water and Fire; seven double letters are referred to the planets and the
sevenfold division of time, etc.: and the twelve simple letters are referred
to the months, zodiacal signs and human organs. Modern criticism tends to the
conclusion that the existing ancient versions were compiled about A.D. 200. The "Sepher
Yetzirah" is mentioned in the Talmuds, both of Jerusalem and of Babylon;
it was written in the Neo-Hebraic language, like the Mishna.
The "Zohar"or" Sohar" spelled in Hebrew ZHR or ZUHR "The
Book of Splendour" or of "Light," is a collection
of many separate treatises on the Deity, Angels, Souls and Cosmogony. Its authorship
is ascribed to Rabbi Simon ben Jochai, who lived A.D. 160;
he was persecuted and driven to live in a cave by Lucius Aurelius Verus, co-regent
with the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Some considerable portion of the
work may have been arranged by him from the oral traditions of his time: but
other parts have certainly been added by other hands at intervals up to the
time when it was first published as a whole by Rabbi Moses de Leon, of Guadalajara
in Spain, circa 1290. From that time its history
is known; printed Editions have been issued in Mantua, 1558, Cremona, 1560,
and Lublin, 1623; these are the three famous Codices of "The Zohar" in
the Hebrew language. For those who do not read Hebrew the only practical means
of studying the Zohar are the partial translation into Latin of Baron Knorr
von Rosenroth, published in 1684 under the title of "Kabbala Denudata";
and the English edition of three treatises,--"Siphra Dtzenioutha" or "Book
of Concealed Mystery"; "Ha Idra Rabba," "Greater Assembly";
and "Ha Idra Suta," " Lesser Assembly," translated by S.
L. MacGregor Mathers. These three books give a fair idea of the tone, style
and material of the Zohar but they only include a partial view: other tracts
in the Zohar are :--Hikaloth--The Palaces, Sithre Torah--Mysteries of the Law,
Midrash ha Neelam--The secret commentary, Raja Mehemna--The faithful shepherd,
Saba Demishpatim,--The discourse of the Aged--the prophet Elias, and Januka--The
Young man; with Notes called Tosephta and Mathanithan.
In course of publication there is now a French translation of the complete
Zohar, by Jean de Pauly: this is a most scholarly work.
Other famous Kabalistic treatises are :-- "The Commentary on the Ten Sephiroth," by
Rabbi Azariel ben Menachem, 1200 A.D. ; "The Alphabet" of
Rabbi Akiba; " The Gate of Heaven" ; the "Book of Enoch"; "Pardes
Rimmonim, or Garden of Pomegrantes"; "A treatise on the Emanations"; "Otzha
Chiim, or The Tree of Life" of Chajim Vital; "Rashith ha Galgulim,
or Revolutions of Souls" of Isaac de Loria; and especially the writings
of the famous Spanish Jew, Ibn Gebirol, who died A.D. 1070, and
was also called Avicebron, his great works are "The fountain of life" and "The
Crown of the Kingdom."
The teaching of the Kabalah has been considered to be grouped into several
schools, each of which was for a time famous. I may mention :--The School of
Gerona, 1190 to 1210, of Rabbi Isaac the
Blind, Rabbis Azariel and Ezra, and Moses Nachmanides. The School of Segovia
of Rabbis Jacob, Abulafia (died 1305), Shem Tob (died 1332), and
Isaac of Akko. The School of Rabbi Isaac ben Abraham Ibn Latif about 1390. The
School of Abulafia (died 1292) and Joseph Gikatilla (died
1300); also the Schools of "Zoharists" of Rabbis
Moses de Leon (died 1305), Menahem di Recanti (died 1350),
Isaac Loria (died 1572) and Chajim Vital, who died in 1620. A
very famous German Kabalist was John Reuchlin or Capnio, and he wrote two great
works, the "De Verbo Mirifico," and "De arte Cabalistica."
In the main there were two tendencies among the Kabalists: the one set devoted
themselves entirely to the doctrinal and dogmatic branch: the other to the
practical and wonder-working aspect.
The greatest of the wonder-working Rabbis were Isaac Loria, also called Ari; and
Sabatai Zevi,who curiously enough became a Mahommedan. Both of these departments
of Occult Rabbinic lore have their living representatives, chiefly scattered
individuals; very rarely groups of initiates are found. In Central Europe,
parts of Russia, Austria and Poland there are even now Jews, known as Wonder-working
Rabbis, who can do strange things they attribute to the Kabalah, and things
very difficult to explain have been seen in England, at the hands of students
of Kabalistic rites and talismans.
The Rabbinic Commentaries, many series deep, overlaying each other, which now
exist in connection with the old treatises form such a mass of Kabalistic lore
as to make it an almost impossible task to grasp them; probably no Christian
nor Jew in this country can say what doctrines are not still laid up in some
of the old manuscript works.
The Dogmatic or Theoretical Kabalah indicates philosophical
conceptions respecting the Deity, Angels and beings more spiritual than man;
the human Soul and its several aspects or parts; concerning pre-existence and
re-incarnation and the several worlds or planes of existence.
The Practical Kabalah attempts a mystical and allegorical interpretation
of the Old Testament, studying each phrase, word and letter; it teaches the
connection between letters and numbers and the modes of their inter-relation;
the principles of Gematria, Notaricon, and Temura; the formation and uses of
the divine and angelic names as Amulets; the formation of Magic Squares; and
a vast fund of allied curious lore, which subsequently formed the basis of
Mediaeval Magic.
For those who do not wish to read any Kabalistic work as a whole, but rather
to glean a general view of this philosophy, there are now three standard works;
two are in English; one by Dr. C. Ginsburg, 1865, a formal and concise rèsumè of
the doctrines; the other, an excellent book, "The Doctrine and Literature
of the Kabalah," by Arthur E. Waite, 1902; and one in
French by Adolph Franck, 1889, which is more discursive and gives fewer details.
Many points of the teaching of Indian systems of religious philosophy are not
touched on by the Hebrew system, or are excluded by differences of a fundamental
nature: such as the Cosmogony of other Worlds, unless the destroyed Worlds
of Unbalanced Force refer to these; the inviolability of law, as Karma, is
not a prominent feature; Reincarnation is taught, but the number of re-births
is limited generally to three.
Some small part of the Kabalistic doctrine is found in the Jewish Talmud, but
in that collection of treatises there is some grossness that is absent from
the true Kabalah; such are the theories of the debasement of men into animal
forms; and of men to be re-born as women, as a punishment for earthly sins
in a previous life.
It must be remembered that many points of doctrine are limited to the teachings
of but a few Rabbis; and that the differences between the earliest and latest
doctrines on a given point are sometimes very great, as is shown by a comparison
of the Books of the Rabbis of different eras and schools. Some of the Kabalistic
teaching has also never been printed nor published, and has been handed down
even to this day from master to pupil only: there are some points not found
in any Hebrew book, which I myself have taught in the Rosicrucian Society and
in Hermetic Lodges. An attentive study of some of these old mystical Hebrew
books discloses the existence of intentional "blinds," which appear
to have been introduced to confine certain dogmas to certain students fitted
to receive them, and to preserve them from promiscuous distribution and so
from misuse by the ignorant or vicious.
Two or three centuries have now passed since any notable addition to the body
of Kabalistic doctrine has been made, but before that time a long succession
of commentaries had been produced, all tending to illustrate or extend the
philosophical scheme.
As already said, when the Kabalah first took shape as a concrete whole and
a philosophic system, may remain for ever an unknown datum, but if we regard
it, as I believe is correct, as the Esotericism of the religion of the Hebrews,
the foundation dogmas are doubtless almost as old as the first promulgation
of the main principles of the worship of Jehovah.
I cannot now attempt any glance at the contentions of some doubting scholars,
who question whether the story of the Twelve Tribes is a historic fact, or
whether there ever were a Moses, or even a King Solomon. It is sufficient for
the present purpose that the Jewish nation had the Jehovistic theology and
a system of priestly caste, and a coherent doctrine, at the time of the Second
Temple when Cyrus, Sovereign of all Asia, 536 B.C., holding the Jews in captivity,
permitted certain of them to return to Jerusalem for the express purpose of
reestablishing the Hebrew mode of worship which had been forcibly interfered
with by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 B.C.
After this return to Jerusalem it was that Ezra and Nehemiah, circa 450
B.C., edited and compiled the Old Testament
of the Hebrews, or according to those who deny the Mosaic authorship and the
Solomonic règime, it was then that they wrote the
Pentateuch.
The renewed worship maintained until 320 B.C., when Jerusalem
was captured by Ptolemy Soter, who, however, did not destroy the foundations
of the Jewish religion; indeed his successor, Ptolemy Philadelphus, caused
the Hebrew scriptures to be revised and translated into Greek by Seventy-two
scholars, about 277B.C.; this has been known for centuries
as the Septuagint version of the Old Testament.
Further Jewish troubles followed, however, and Jerusalem was again taken and
pillaged by Antiochus in 170 B.C. Then followed the long wars
of the Maccabees; subsequently the Romans dominated Judea, then quarrelling
with the Jews the city was taken by Pompey, and not long after was again plundered
by the Roman general Crassus in 54 B.C. Yet the Jewish religion
was preserved, and we find the religious feasts and festivals all in progress
at the time of Jesus; yet once more in A.D. 70, was the Holy
City taken, plundered and burnt, and that by Titus, who became Emperor of the
Romans in A.D. 79.
Through all these vicissitudes, the Hebrew Old Testament survived, yet must
almost unavoidably have had many alterations and additions made to its several
treatises; the more Esoteric doctrines which were handed down along the line
of the priestly caste, and not incorporated with the Torah offered to the people,
may no doubt have been repeatedly varied by the influences of contending teachers.
Soon after this period was framed the first series of glosses and commentaries
on the Old Testament books, which have come down to our times. Of these the
earliest are the volume called the "Targum of Onkelos" on "The
Law," written about A.D. 100, and that of Jonathan ben
Uzziel on "The Prophets."
About A.D 141 there first came into note the now famous treatise
written by the Rabbis of Judah, called "Mishna," and this formed
the basis of those vast compilations of Hebrew doctrine called the "Talmud," of
which there are two extant forms, one compiled at Babylon-the most notable,
and the other associated with Jerusalem. To the original "Mishna" the
Rabbis added further commentaries named "Gemara." From this time
the literature of Judaism grew apace, and there was a constant succession of
notable Hebrew Rabbis who published religious treatises, until at least A.D.
1500. The two Talmuds were first printed at Venice in 1520 and
1523 respectively.
The Old Testament books were the guiding light through the ages of the Jews,
but the learned Rabbis were not satisfied with them alone, and they supplemented
them by two parallel series of works of literature; the one, Talmudic, being
commentaries based upon Thirteen Rules of Argument delivered by Moses to illustrate
the Old Testament, and supply material for teaching the populace; and the other
a long series of treatises of a more abstruse character, designed to illustrate
their Secret Doctrines and Esoteric views. The Sepher Yetzirah, and the Zohar
or Book of Splendour represent the kernel of that oral instruction which the
Rabbis of the olden times prided themselves upon possessing, and which they
have even claimed as being "The Secret Knowledge" which God gave
to Moses for the use of the priests themselves, in contradistinction to the
Written Law intended for the masses of the people.
One of the principal conceptions of the Kabalah is that spiritual wisdom is
attained by Thirty-two Paths, typified by the Ten numbers and the Twenty-two
letters; these Ten again being symbols of the Divine Emanations, the Sephiroth,
the Holy Voices chanting at the Crystal Sea, the Great Sea, the Mother Supernal,
Binah; and of the Twenty-two occult forces of the Nature of the Universe symbolised
by the Three primary Elements, the Seven Planets, and the Twelve Zodiacal influences
of the heavens, which tincture human concerns through the path of our Sun in
its annual course. I have given the names and definitions of the Thirty-two
Paths at the end of my Edition of the" Sepher Yetzirah."
Now to show the close connection between the Kabalah and orthodox Judaism,
we find the Rabbis cataloguing the Books of the Old Testament into a series
of Twenty-two (the letters) works to be read for the culture of spiritual life;
this Twenty-two they obtained from the Thirty-nine books of the O.T. Canon,
by collecting the twelve minor prophets into one treatise; Ruth they added
to Judges; Ezra to Nehemiah; while the two books each of Samuel, Kings, and
Chronicles, they called one each. The Canon of Thirty-nine works was fixed
in the time of Ezra.
Returning to the books which illustrate the Kabalah, whatever may be the authenticity
of their alleged origins, it cannot be denied that those ancient volumes, Sepher
Yetzirah and Zohar, contain a system of spiritual philosophy of clear design,
deep intuition and far-reaching cosmologic suggestions; that are well worthy
of the honour of receiving a special name and of founding a theological body
of doctrine,--The Kabalah.
The bulwark and main foundation of the public Hebrew religion has always been
the Pentateuch, five treatises attributed to Moses, which proclaim the Laws
of Jehovah given to his chosen people. The Old Testament beginning with these
five books is further continued by historic books, by poetical teachings and
by prophetic works, but many portions are marked by materialistic characteristics
and a lack of spiritual rectitude which the books of a Great Religion might
be expected to display, and they even offend our present standard of moral
life.
The Mosaic Law, eminently valuable for many purposes to a small nation 3,000 years
ago, and containing many regulations of a type showing great attention to sanitary
matters, is yet marred by the application of penalties of gross cruelty and
harsh treatment of erring mortals, which are hardly compatible with our modern
views of what might have emanated from God the personal Creator of this Universe
with its million worlds; and the almost entire absence of any reference to
a life after death for human beings shows a materialism which needed a new
Revelation by Jesus, whose life has earned the title of "Christ." Yet
the orthodox of England hear this statement with incredulity, and if asked
to show the passages in the Old Testament which insist on a life after death,
or on a succession of lives for purposes of retribution, or the passages demonstrating
the immortality of the soul, they could not produce them, and are content to
refer you to the clergy, whose answer generally is, "If not plainly laid
down, these dogmas are implied." But are they? If they are, how is it
that notably clear passages can be quoted which show that important authors
in the Old Testament make statements in direct opposition to these doctrines?
And how is it, again, that a great author of modern times has said, "Prosperity
was the blessing of the Old Testament for good works, but adversity that of
the New"? This could only be true if there were no future life or lives,
or no coming period of reward and punishment contemplated by the Old Testament
doctrine.
But the comment is true and the Old Testament does teach that man is no more
immortal than the beast, as witness Ecclesiastes, iii. 19 :--"For
that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth
them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea they have all one breath; so
that man hath no pre-eminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto
one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. . . . Wherefore
I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in
his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what
shall be after him?" Who, indeed, except his own Ego, Soul or Higher Self.
But perhaps this book is from the pen of some obscure Jew, or half pagan Chaldee
or Babylonian. Not at all: Jewish critics have all assigned it to Solomon,
who was the King of the Jews at the time of their heyday of glory; surely if
the immortality of the soul were the essence of the Judaism of the people,
Solomon could not have so grossly denied it.
Go back, however, to the narrative of Creation in Genesis, and the same story
is found; the animals are made from the dust, man is made from the dust, and
Eve is made from Adam, and each has breathed into the form, the "Nephesh
Chiah,"--the breath oflife, vitality; but there is no hint that Adam received
a Ray of the Supernal Mind, which was to dwell there for a time, to gain experience,
to receive retribution, and then enter another stage of progress, and achieve
a final return to its Divine source. And yet the authors of these volumes,
whoever they were, could hardly have been without the conception of the higher
part of man, of his Spiritual Soul. The critical contention is that the Old
Testament was deprived at some period of its religious philosophy, which was
set apart for a privileged class; while the husk of strict law and tradition
was alone offered for the acceptance of the people. The kernel of spiritual
philosophy which is lacking in the Old Testament as a religious book may be
the essential core of the Kabalah; for these Kabalistic dogmas are Hebraic,
and they are spiritual, and they are sublime in their grandeur; and the Old
Testament read by their light becomes a volume worthy of thc acceptance of
a nation. I speak of the essentials of the Kabalah, the ancient substratum
of the Kabalah. I grant that in many extant treatises these primal truths have
been obscured by generations of editors, by visionary and often crude additions,
and by the vagaries of Oriental imagery; but the keynotes of a great spiritual
Divine concealed Power, of its Emanations in manifestation, of its energising
of human life, of the prolonged existence of human souls, and of the temporary
state of corporeal existence, are fundamental doctrines there fully illustrated;
and these are the points of contact between the Kabalah of the Jew and the
so-called Esotericism of the teachings of Buddha and of Hinduism.
It may be that the Catholic Church, from which the Protestant Church seceded,
was from its origin in the possession of the Hebrew Rabbinic secret of the
intentional Exoteric nature of the Bible, and of a priestly mode of understanding
the Esoteric Kabalah, as a key to the true explanations of the Jewish books,
which being apparently histories are really largely allegorical. If this were
granted, it would explain why the Catholic Church has for ages discouraged
the laity from the study of the Old Testament books, and would lead us to think
that Protestantism made a mistake in combining with the Reformation of a vicious
priesthood the encouragement of the laity to read the Old Testament books.
I note that the literal interpretation of the Mosaic books and those
of the Old Testament generally has repeatedly been used as a support for vicious
Systems of conduct; a notable example of which was seen even a hundred years
ago, when the clergy of Protestant nations almost unanimously supported the
continuance of the Slave Trade from arguments derived from the laws of Jehovah
as stated to have been compulsory upon the Jews.
The Freethinkers of that day were largely the champions of suffering and oppressed
races, and for centuries the wisest of men, the greatest scientists have maintained,
and ever won, struggle after struggle with the assumed infallibility of old
Hebraic Testament literal instructions, assertions and narratives.
The Old Testament may indeed be, to some extent, the link which binds together
thousands of Christians, for Jesus the Christ founded His doctrine upon a Jewish
people, but the interminable list of Christian sects of to-day have almost
all taken their rise from the assertion of a right of personal interpretation
of the Bible, which might have remained debarred to the generality by the confession
that the keys of interpretation were lost, or at least missing, and that without
their assistance error of a vital character was inevitable.
The vast accumulation of varying interpretations of the Bible, although a folly,
yet sinks into insignificance as an incident of importance, before the collateral
truth that the followers of each of the hundreds of sects have arrogated to
themselves, not only the right of personal interpretation, but the duty of
condemning all others--as if the infallibility they claimed for the Bible could
not fail to be reflected upon their personal propaganda, or the specialities
of a chapel service. Religious intolerance has cursed every village of the
land, and hardly a single sect has originated which has not only claimed the
right to differ from others, and to criticise, but also to persecute and assign
to perdition all beyond itsown narrow circle.
The Mystic, the Occultist and the Theosophist do indeed do good, or God, service,
by illustrating the bases and origins of all faiths by the mutual illumination
that is available. By tolerance and mutual esteem much good may arise, but
by the internecine struggles of religionists, every faith is injured, and religion
becomes a by-word meaning intolerance, strife and vainglory, and the mark and
profession of an earnest sectarian is now that he is ever ready to condemn
the efforts of others, in direct opposition to the precept of Jesus the Christ,
Who said--"Judge not, that ye be not judged."
One sect of the Jews, the Caraites, successors of the Sadducees, throughout
history rejected the Kabalah, and it is necessary to say here that the Hebrew
Rabbis of this country of the present day do not follow the practical Kabalah,
nor accept all the doctrines of the Dogmatic Kabalah. On the other hand, many
famous Christian authors have expressed great sympathy with the Doctrinal Kabalah.
St. Jerome, who died in A.D. 420, in his "Letter to Marcella," gives
us all the Kabalistic Divine Names allotted to the Ten Sephiroth. Others were
Raymond Lully, 1315; Pope Sixtus the Fourth, 1484; Pic de
Mirandola, 1494; Johannes Reuchlin, 1522; H. Cornelius Agrippa,
1535; Jerome Cardan, 1576; Gulielmus Postellus, 1581; John Pistorius, 1608;
Jacob Behmen, 1624; the notable English Rosicrucian, Robert
Fludd, 1637; Henry More, 1687; the famous Jesuit Athanasius Kircher, 1680;
and Knorr von Rosenroth, 1689. To these must be added Eliphaz Lèvi and
Edouard Schurè, two modern French writers on the Occult Sciences, and
two English authors, Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland. The notable German
philosopher Spinoza, 1677, regarded the doctrines of the Kabalah with great
esteem.
An Introduction To The Study Of The Kabbalah Part 2
An Introduction To The Study Of The Kabbalah Part 3
| Authors
Details: By William Wynn Westcott (NOTE: This work was based on a series of lectures by Westcott which were
published in London in 1910 by J.M. Watkins.) |
|
