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The primary texts of Kabbalah were allegedly once part of an ongoing oral tradition.The written texts are obscure and difficult for readers who are unfamiliar with Jewish spirituality which assumes extensive knowledge of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), Midrash (Jewish hermeneutic tradition) and halakha (Jewish religious law).
Kabbalah's beginnings date to the Middle Ages, originating in the Bahir [4] and the Zohar. [5] Although the earliest extant Hebrew kabbalistic manuscripts dating to the late 13th century contain diagrams, including one labelled "Tree of Wisdom," the now-iconic tree of life emerged during the fourteenth century. [6]
The founder of Hasidism, the Baal Shem Tov, brought the Kabbalistic idea of Omnipresent Divine immanence in Creation into daily Jewish worship of the common folk. This enabled the popularisation of Kabbalah by relating it to the natural psychological perception and emotional dveikus (fervour) of man. The mystical dimension of Judaism became ...
Among problems considered in the Hebrew Kabbalah is the theological issue of the nature and origin of evil. In 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. [41]
Lurianic Kabbalah became the dominant system in Jewish mysticism, displacing Cordovero's, and afterwards, the Zohar was read by Jewish Kabbalists in its light. Medieval Kabbalah depicts a linear descending hierarchy of Ohr "Light", the ten sefirot or divine attributes emerging from concealment in the Ein Sof "Divine Infinity" to enact Creation ...
To honor Chanukah, at sundown for eight nights, one additional candle in a menorah is added going from right to left, akin to the direction of Hebrew writing. This is a great time to recite ...
Two non-Jewish syncretic traditions also popularized Judaic Kabbalah through their incorporation as part of general Western esoteric culture from the Renaissance onwards: theological Christian Cabala (c. 15th – 18th century) which adapted Judaic Kabbalistic doctrine to Christian belief, and its diverging occultist offshoot Hermetic Qabalah (c ...
A Hanukkah lamp from Lemberg in The Jewish Museum of New York [1] A Hanukkah menorah, or hanukkiah, [a] is a nine-branched candelabrum lit during the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Eight of the nine branches hold lights (candles or oil lamps) that symbolize the eight nights of the holiday; on each night, one more light is lit than the ...