On the Art of the Kabbalah (De Arte Cabalistica) By Johann Reuchlin

On the Art of the Kabbalah (De Arte Cabalistica) By Johann Reuchlin

Introduction to the Bison Book Edition by Moshe Idel 

I. The Beginnings of the Christian Kabbalah?

Johannes Reuchlin is one of the major exponents of the Christian Kabbalah; he may even be conceived , as we shall attempt to show it below, as one of the earliest founders of this type of Christian theology. However, to describe an author writing at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth centuries as an early founder of Christian Kabbalah that needs both e laboration and clarification. The historical beginning of the Christian Kabbalah is a matter of debate, as it is in regard to the beginnings of the Jewish Kabbalah. Precisely when a certain phenomenon is conceived as existent depends on the minimum that is required to define this phenomenon; thus the modem scholarly tendency today to describe the Jewish Kabbalah as emerging, on the historical plane, in the last decades of the twelfth century in Languedoc pushes the identification of the Christian parallels or similar phenomena to the thirteenth century. If we accept the ten divine powers, the ten sefirot, as a vital component of Kabbalah, it will be difficult to find Christian discussions of this topic before the end of the thirteenth century. However, if we accept other ways of defining Kabbalah , found already in the eleventh century, as an esoteric tradition concerning the divine names, the situation may be much more complex. Indeed , some passages dealing with divine names recur in Christian texts early in the thirteenth century, as the discussions of Joachim de Fiore demonstrate. 1 At the end of this century, Arnauld of Vilanova had completed a whole treatise dealing with the divine name. 3

However, it is possible to approach the question from another angle: it is not so much the passage of some traditions from one type of religion to another that is the defining moment of the emergence of a certain new phenomenon , but the absorption, especially the creative one, of the techniques that are characteristic of one type of lore , by a religious thinker belonging to another religion. In our case, the question would be not when a Christian has adopted some forms of Jewish esoteric traditions, but when a Christian thinker has adopted a Kabbalistic type of thinking. Thus, the occurrence of a certain combinatory technique of interpretation of the first word of the Bible by separating its letters , as practiced by Alexander of Neckham, or of the peculiar combination of letters by means of concentric circles, apparently under the influence of Jewish sources, as evident in the work of Ramon Null, may fit this second approach. What lacks in all these examples is the explicit awareness that, 5 when dealing with divine names or with combinatory techniques, the Christian author operates in a speculative realm that, at least from the point of view of the primary sources, is a characteristically esoteric type of Jewish lore. However, already in the last third of the thirteenth century, such an awareness was apparently existent. Alfonso Sabio's nephew, Juan Manuel, testified as to the concerns of his famous uncle:

''Ostrosi fizo traslador toda le ley de los judios et aun el su Talmud et otra scientia que han los judious muy escon dida, a que llaman Cabala." 

"Furthermore he ordered translated the whole law of the Jews , and even their Talmud, and other knowledge which is called qabbalah and which the Jews keep closely secret. And he did this so it might be manifest through their own Law that it is a [mere] presentation of that Law which we Christians have; and that they, like the Moors, are in grave error and in peril of losing their souls."

If this passage is reliable , and I see no reason to doubt it, then a significant segment of Kabbalistic literature had been translated as soon as the seventies of the thirteenth century. However, even this testimony, as well as some other dated from the fourteenth century up to the middle-fifteenth century, interesting as it may be , did not relate to texts that become part of a larger cultural phenomenon. At the court of Alfonso Sabio no Christian sort of Kabbalah was cultivated, while the uses of Kabbalah in the writings of converts like Alfonso de Validolid or Paulus de Heredia did not incite the imagination of their con temporaries, and they did not produce significant repercussions. Whatever the evidence regarding the penetration of Jewish esoterism before the end of the fifteenth century is, or may turn out to be, it seems that before the writings of Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) those Jewish elements did not become a considerable part of any de fined Christian circle, neither were they cultivated by a movement that consciously continued the steps of some founding figures. In other words, while we can easily accumulate interesting pieces of evidence dealing with the acquaintance of various Christian authors with Jewish esoteric topics, they are scanty, disparate, and incontinuous.

Kabbala denudata Knorr von Rosenroth, Christian, Freiherr, 1636-1689

Kabbala denudata Knorr von Rosenroth, Christian, Freiherr, 1636-1689

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE KABBALAH, REDEMPTLON, AND THE IDEA OF PROGRESS 

The frontispiece of the Kabbala denudata shows the higb expectations Knorr and van Helmont had of the Kabbalab in terms of religious peace and unity.

It also reveals their conviction that the Kabbalab offered a key to understanding the natural world as well. Here the figure of a beautiful maiden with flowing hair and Grecian robes gazes skywards as she runs along a narrow ledge of earth separating the sea from a cave. 

Her destination is a doorway marked "Palatium Arcanorum" (Place of Secrets). 'Intrat" (she enters) is written on the threshold of this palace, while the word "domat" (she calms, subdues) appears under her right foot and "alterer" (changes for the better, transmutes) under her left. 

The cave is designated "antrum materie" (the cave of matter) and within it appear the astrological and alchemical signs that stand for the planets and their comparable metals.' 

In her right hand, which is stretched over the swelling waves, she holds a burning torch, under which is written "mare concupscientiarurn" (the sea of concupiscence). In her left she carries a scroll representing the Scriptures, on which is written "explicat" (she explains). A ship sails in the distance, while on the edge of the shore, almost submerged by waves, a tree grows. 

A great circle of light breaks through the clouds and darkness, and within this light are three circles, which in turn enclose three smaller circles. 

These stand for the ten kabbalistic sejirot,or the ten faces (parzuphim) of the hidden deity as he revealed himself in the act of creation.' Where the sea meets the sky the words "Metaphysics gentiles" are written, suggesting that gentile wisdom has clear limits-it does not reach to, or come from, heaven the way the Kabbalah does. 

We have seen that Knorr attributed the divisions among Christians to their misplaced dependence on Greek wisdom, which far from being the source of true philosophy had simply muddied the pure waters of divine Hebrew wisdom. 

The background of the picture offers a repre• sentation of the four elements of earth, air, water, and fire, with air suggested by the tumultuous waves, the list of the ship, and the bent trunk of the tree. The female figure in this complex landscape is, of course, the Kabbalah, and the keys hanging on a cord from her wrist indicate that the KabbaJah alone is able to unlock the secrets of both the Old and New Testaments.

The Impact of the Kabbalah in the 17th Century: The Life and Thought of Francis Mercury Van Helmot, 1614-1698

Kabbalah. A Very Short Introduction Joseph Dan Oxford University Press, USA

Kabbalah. A Very Short Introduction Joseph Dan Oxford University Press, USA

Our libraries contain many hundreds of works of kabbalah, printed or still in manuscript form. And, beside these, there are thousands of works—collections of sermons, ethical treatises, and commentaries on the scriptures and the Talmud—that use a little or more kabbalistic terminologies and ideas. 

As a result, there is hardly a Jewish idea that cannot be described as “kabbalistic” with some justification, as most of these ideas are found in works that use kabbalistic terminology. 

How can one distinguish between a traditional Jewish ethical norm and a kabbalistic one? Today, it often seems that designating an idea as “kabbalistic” makes it more welcome to outsiders than if it were described as “Jewish.” The main work of the medieval kabbalah, the book Zohar, contains 1,400 pages that deal with every conceivable subject. There is nothing that cannot be confirmed by a quotation from the Zohar.

Meditation and Kabbalah By Aryeh Kaplan

Meditation and Kabbalah By Aryeh Kaplan

 

Containing Relevant Texts from The Grellter Hekhalot, Textbook of the Merkava School The works of Abraham Abulafia Joseph Gikatalia's Glltes of Light The Glltes of Holiness Gate of the Holy Spirit, Textbook of the Lurianic School Hasidic Classics

The practical Kabbalah, on the other hand, was a kind of white magic, dealing with the use of techniques that could evoke supernatural powers. It involved the use of divine names and incantations, amulets and talismans, as well as chiromancy, physiognomy and astrology.
Many theoretical Kabbalists, led by the Ari, frowned on the use of such techniques, labeling them as dangerous and spiritually demeaning. As a result, only a very small number of texts have survived at all, mostly in manuscript form, and only a handful of the most innocuous of these have been published.

The path of the emotions also plays an important role in the
systems of the Kabbalists.

A path combining the intellect and emotions is the path of love, described in detail by the leading philosopher, Rabbi Moses Maimonides (1135-1204). He writes that when a person deeply contemplates on God, thinking of His mighty deeds and wondrous creations, he becomes profoundly aware of His wisdom, and is brought to a passionate love for God He speaks of a level of love called Cheshek (passion), where the emotion is so intense that every thought is exciusively engaged with its object. This love for God can be so intense that the soul can literally be drawn out of the body by it, and this is what occurs when a saint dies by the "Kiss of God." This is considered to be one of the highest possible levels of enlightenment, usually attained only at very advanced age.

One reason why so little is known about the various systems of Kabbalah meditation is that all of this literature is in Hebrew, and it has never been accurately translated. Since most of these methods are no longer practiced, the vocabulary associated with them has also been forgotten. So great is this confusion that even the very Hebrew word for meditation is not generally known. This has even led to the use of the wrong term in an article on the subject in a major Judaic encyclopedia.
Once a basic vocabulary is established, however, one can gain an appreciation of how often meditation is discussed in classical texts, particularly in the Kabbalistic classics.