Main Sources.
1. The _Sepher Yesirah_, or "book of creation," not the old Hilkoth Y.
("rules of creation"), which belongs to the Talmudic period (on which
see Kohler, _Jew. Ency._ xii. 602 seq.), but a later treatise, a
combination of medieval natural philosophy and mysticism. It has been
variously ascribed to the patriarch Abraham and to the illustrious
rabbi 'Aqiba; its essential elements, however, maybe of the 3rd or 4th
century A.D., and it is apparently earlier than the 9th (see L.
Ginzberg, _op. cit._ 603 sqq.). It has "had a greater influence on the
development of the Jewish mind than almost any other book after the
completion of the Talmud" (ibid.).
2. The _Bahir_ ("brilliant," Job. xxxvii. 21), though ascribed to
Nehunyah b. Haqqanah (1st century A.D.), is first quoted by
Nahmanides, and is now attributed to his teacher Ezra or Azriel
(1160-1238). It shows the influence of the _Sepher Yesirah_, is marked
by the teaching of a celestial Trinity, is a rough outline of what the
_Zohar_ was destined to be, and gave the first opening to a thorough
study of metaphysics among the Jews. (See further 1. Broyde, _Jew.
Ency._ ii. 442 seq.).
3. The _Zohar_ ("shining," Dan. xii. 3) is a commentary on the
Pentateuch, according to its division into fifty-two hebdomadal
lessons. It begins with the exposition of Gen. i. 4 ("let there be
light") and includes eleven dissertations: (1) "Additions and
Supplements"; (2) "The Mansions and Abodes," describing the structure
of paradise and hell; (3) "The Mysteries of the Pentateuch,"
describing the evolution of the Sephiroth, &c.; (4) "The Hidden
Interpretation," deducing esoteric doctrine from the narratives in the
Pentateuch; (5) "The Faithful Shepherd," recording discussions between
Moses the faithful shepherd, the prophet Elijah and R. Simon b. Yohai,
the reputed compiler of the _Zohar_; (6) "The Secret of Secrets," a
treatise on physiognomy and psychology; (7) "The Aged," i.e. the
prophet Elijah, discoursing with R. Simon on the doctrine of
transmigration as evolved from Exod. xxi. 1-xxiv. 18; (8) "The Book of
Secrets," discourses on cosmogony and demonology; (9) "The Great
Assembly," discourses of R. Simon to his numerous assembly of
disciples on the form of the Deity and on pneumatology; (10) "The
Young Man," discourses by young men of superhuman origin on the
mysteries of ablutions; and (11) "The Small Assembly," containing the
discourses on the Sephiroth which R. Simon delivered to the small
congregation of six surviving disciples. The _Zohar_ pretends to be a
compilation made by Simon b. Yohai (the second century A.D.) of
doctrines which God communicated to Adam in Paradise, and which have
been received uninterruptedly from the mouths of the patriarchs and
prophets. It was discovered, so the story went, in a cavern in Galilee
where it had been hidden for a thousand years. Amongst the many facts,
however, established by modern criticism which prove the _Zohar_ to be
a compilation of the 13th century, are the following: (1) the _Zohar_
itself praises most fulsomely R. Simon, its reputed author, and exalts
him above Moses; (2) it mystically explains the Hebrew vowel points,
which did not obtain till 570; (3) the compiler borrows two verses
from the celebrated hymn called "The Royal Diadem," written by Ibn
Gabirol, who was born about 1021; (4) it mentions the capture of
Jerusalem by the crusaders and the re-taking of the Holy City by the
Saracens; (5) it speaks of the comet which appeared at Rome, 15th July
1264, under the pontificate of Urban IV.; (6) by a slip the _Zohar_
assigns a reason why its contents were not revealed before 5060-5066
A.M., i.e. 1300-1306 A.D., (7) the doctrine of the En Soph and the
Sephiroth was not known before the 13th century; and (8) the very
existence of the _Zohar_ itself was not known prior to the 13th
century. Hence it is now believed that Moses de Leon (d. 1305), who
first circulated and sold the _Zohar_ as the production of R. Simon,
was himself the author or compiler. That eminent scholars both in the
synagogue and in the church should have been induced to believe in its
antiquity is owing to the fact that the _Zohar_ embodies many older
opinions and doctrines, and the undoubted antiquity of some of them
has served as a lever in the minds of these scholars to raise the late
speculations about the En Soph, the Sephiroth, &c., to the same age.
LITERATURE.--The study of the whole subject being wrapped up with
Gnosticism and Oriental theosophy, the related literature is immense.
Among the more important works may be mentioned, Baron von Rosenroth's
_Kabbala Denudata_ (Sulzbach, 1677-1678; Frankfort, 1684); A. Franck,
_La Kabbale_ (Paris, 2nd ed., 1889; German by Jellinek, Leipzig,
1844); C. D. Ginsburg, _The Kabbalah, its Doctrines, Development and
Literature_ (London, 1865); I. Meyer, _Qabbalah_ (Philadelphia, 1888);
Rubin, _Kabbala und Agada_ (Vienna, 1895), _Heidentum und Kabbalah_
(1893); Karppe, _Et. sur les origines du Zohar_ (Paris, 1891); A. E.
Waite, _Doctrine and Literature of the Kabbalah_ (London, 1902);
Flugel, _Philosophy, Kabbala, &c._ (Baltimore, 1902); D. Neumark,
_Gesch. d. Jud. Philosophie d. Mittelalters_ (Berlin, 1907); also S.
A. Binion, in C. D. Warner's _World's Best Literature_, 8425 sqq. See
further the very full articles in the _Jewish Ency._ by K. Kohler and
L. Ginzberg ("Cabbala"), I. Broyde ("Bahir," "Zohar"), with the
references. (C. D. G.; S. A. C.)