Jewish mysticism

Jewish mysticism
Forms Prophetic Judaism 800–500 BCE Apocalyptic Judaism 300–100 BCE Rabbinic mysticism c. 0–130s CE Merkabah-Hekhalot 100 BCE – 1000 CE Proto-Kabbalah 200–600 CE Chassidei Ashkenaz c. 1150-1250 CE Medieval Kabbalah Meditative-Prophetic Practical Kabbalah c. 1175–1570 CE Safed Kabbalah 1500s CE Lurianic Kabbalah 1570 CE–today Sabbatean movements 1665–c. 1800 CE Hasidic Judaism Hasidic schools 1730s CE–today Neo-Hasidism/Kabbalah c. 1900s–today Mystical Zionism c. 1910s–today Academic study c. 1920s–today

Academic study of Jewish mysticism, especially since Gershom Scholem's Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941), distinguishes between different forms of mysticism across different eras of Jewish history. Of these, Kabbalah, which emerged in 12th-century Europe, is the most well known, but not the only typologic form, or the earliest to emerge. Among previous forms were Merkabah mysticism (c.0 - 1000 CE), and Chassidei Ashkenaz (early 1200s CE) around the time of Kabbalistic emergence.

Kabbalah means "received tradition", a term previously used in other Judaic contexts, but which the Medieval Kabbalists adopted for their own doctrine to express the belief that they were not innovating, but merely revealing the ancient hidden esoteric tradition of the Torah. This issue is crystallised until today by alternative views on the origin of the Zohar, the main text of Kabbalah. Traditional Kabbalists regard it as originating in Tannaic times, redacting the Oral Torah, so do not make a sharp distinction between Kabbalah and early Rabbinic Jewish mysticism. Academic scholars regard it as a synthesis from Medieval times, but assimilating and incorporating into itself earlier forms of Jewish mystical tradition, as well as other philosophical elements.

The theosophical aspect of Kabbalah itself developed through two historical forms: "Medieval/Classic/Zoharic Kabbalah" (c.1175 - 1492 - 1570), and Lurianic Kabbalah (1569 CE - today) which assimilated Medieval Kabbalah into its wider system and became the basis for modern Jewish Kabbalah. After Luria, two new mystical forms popularised Kabbalah in Judaism: antinomian-heretical Sabbatean movements (1666 - 1700s CE), and Hasidic Judaism (1734 CE - today). In contemporary Judaism, the only main forms of Jewish mysticism followed are esoteric Lurianic Kabbalah and its later commentaries, the variety of schools in Hasidic Judaism, and Neo-Hasidism (incorporating Neo-Kabbalah) in non-Orthodox Jewish denominations.

Two non-Jewish syncretic traditions also popularised Judaic Kabbalah through its incorporation as part of general Western esoteric culture from the Renaissance onwards: theological Christian Cabala (c.1400s - 1700s) which adapted Judaic Kabbalistic doctrine to Christian belief, and its diverging occultist offshoot Hermetic Qabalah (c.1400s - today) which became a main element in esoteric and magical societies and teachings. As separate traditions of development outside Judaism, drawing from, syncretically adapting, and different in nature and aims from Judaic mysticism, they are not listed on this page.

Three aims in Jewish mysticism

The Kabbalistic form of Jewish mysticism itself divides into three general streams: the Theosophical/Speculative Kabbalah (seeking to understand and describe the divine realm), the Meditative/Ecstatic Kabbalah (seeking to achieve a mystical union with God), and the Practical/Magical Kabbalah (seeking to theurgically alter the divine realms and the World). These three different, but inter-relating, methods or aims of mystical involvement are also found throughout the other pre-Kabbalistic and post-Kabbalistic stages in Jewish mystical development, as three general typologies. As in Kabbalah, the same text can contain aspects of all three approaches, though the three streams often distill into three separate literatures under the influence of particular exponents or eras.

Within Kabbalah, the forbidden magic. Consequently, it has formed a minor tradition in Jewish mystical history.

Historical forms of Jewish mysticism timeline

Historical phase[1]	Dates	Influential developments and texts
Prophetic Judaism[2]	800-500s BCE	Prophetic meditation, divine encounter, mystical elements: Isaiah Ezekiel Zechariah
Apocalyptic Judaism	Beginning 500s BCE 300-100 BCE	Mystical and apocalyptic speculation, heavenly angelology and eschatology: 1 Enoch Daniel
Mystical elements in Second Temple period sects	c.200 BCE-c.100 CE	Mystical and pious elements among sects in the late Second Temple period in Judea and the Diaspora: Hasideans Essenes Philo's Platonic philosophy influence on early Christianity Christian Jewish early Christian mysticism
Early Rabbinic mysticism and mystical elements in classic Rabbinic literature[3]	c.100 BCE-130s CE influence to 400s CE	References in exoteric Talmud and Midrash to Tannaic early Rabbinic mystical circles, Maaseh Merkabah - Work of the Chariot exegesis and ascent, Maaseh Bereshit - Work of Creation exegesis. Wider continuing mystical elements in aggadah Rabbinic theology and narratives: Johanan ben Zakai and his disciples Rabbi Akiva (Simeon bar Yochai traditional/pseudepigraphical attribution of later Kabbalist Zohar)   Mystical aggadot examples: Four who entered the Pardes Oven of Akhnai Bat Kol Torah: black fire on white fire, God looked in Torah to create World Shekhinah accompanies Israel in exile The Messiah at the Gates of Rome
Merkabah-Hekhalot esoteric texts and methods	c.100s-1000 CE	Traditional/pseudepigraphical/anonymous esoteric Merkabah mysticism Throne and Hekhalot Palaces ascent literature and methods. Text protagonists are early Tannaic Rabbis, though texts academically dated variously from Talmudic 100-500 CE to Gaonic 400-800 CE periods, and sectarian/rabbinic origins debated:   Earlier texts: 3 Enoch Hekhalot Rabbati (The Greater Palaces) Hekhalot Zutari (The Lesser Palaces) Merkavah Rabbah (The Great Chariot)   Later texts: Shi'ur Qomah (Divine Dimensions)
Proto-Kabbalistic	200-600 CE	Maaseh Bereshit - Creation speculation text. Describes 10 sephirot, though without their significance to later Kabbalah. Received rationalist interpretations before becoming a source text for Kabbalah: Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation)
Mystical elements in Medieval Jewish philosophy	1000s-1200s CE	Mystical elements in the thought of Medieval rationalist Jewish philosophical theologians: Judah Halevi[4] Moses Maimonides[5]
Jewish Sufi piety	1000s-1400s CE	Influence of Islamic Sufism on Jewish piety, including meditative experiential elements: Bahya ibn Paquda 1000s - Chovot HaLevavot (Duties of the Heart) Abraham Maimonides and the "Jewish Sufis" of Cairo 1200s-1400s
Early Kabbalah	c.1174-1200 CE	Emergence of Kabbalistic mystical theosophy in Southern France. The Bahir, regarded in academia as the first Kabbalistic work, incorporates an earlier source text: Sefer HaBahir (Book of Brightness) School of Isaac the Blind
Chassidei Ashkenaz	c.1150-1250 CE	Mystical-ethical piety and speculative theory in Ashkenaz-Germany. Shaped by Merkabah-Hekhalot texts, Practical Kabbalah magical elements, Rhineland Crusader persecutions and German monastic values: Samuel of Speyer Judah of Regensburg - Sefer Hasidim (Book of the Pious) Eleazar of Worms
Medieval Kabbalah development	c.1200-1492 CE	Alternative philosophical vs. mythological interpretations of Kabbalistic theosophy: "Neoplatonic" quasi-philosophical hierarchy, and Jewish-"Gnostic" mythological interest in the demonic motifs. Centred in Spain's Kabbalistic golden age:   Early 1200s Girona neoplatonic school: Azriel of Gerona Nahmanides (Ramban) - Torah commentary   1200s Castile gnostic school: Treatise on the Left Emanation   The Zohar in Spain from c.1286: Moses de León - Sefer HaZohar (Book of Splendour). Castile's gnostic culmination. Subsequent Zohar exegesis dominated other Medieval Kabbalah traditions   Kabbalistic scholarship: Joseph Gikatilla - Shaarei Orah (Gates of Light) c.1290 Spain Sefer HaTemunah (Book of the Figure) 1200s-1300s influential doctrine in Kabbalah of Cosmic Cycles, later rejected by Cordovero and Luria[6]   Practical-magical Kabbalah: Sefer Raziel HaMalakh
Medieval Prophetic and Meditative Kabbalah	1200s-1500s CE	Medieval Meditative Kabbalah developed its own traditions.[7] Abraham Abulafia's meditative system of Prophetic Kabbalah, his alternative to the Theosophical Kabbalah, embodies the non-Zoharic ecstatic stream in Spanish Kabbalism:   Abulafian Prophetic Kabbalah school: Abraham Abulafia Mediterranean area late 1200s Judah Albotini Jerusalem 1400s-1500s   Other meditative methods: Isaac of Acco 1300s Joseph Tzayach Damascus and Jerusalem 1500s
Post-1492 and Safed Kabbalah	1500s CE	Transition from esoteric Medieval Kabbalism to Kabbalah as a national messianic doctrine, after 1492 Expulsion from Spain exile. Jewish renaissance of Palestine: Meir ibn Gabbai 1500s early systemiser   Safed-Galilee Kabbalists: Joseph Karo legalist and mystic Shlomo Alkabetz Moses Cordovero (Ramak) - Pardes Rimonim. Cordoverian systemisation of Medieval Kabbalah until 1570 Isaac Luria (the Ari) - new post-Medieval Lurianic systemisation taught 1570-1572 Hayim Vital main Lurianic compiler and other writings Safed Meditative Kabbalah: Vital - Shaarei Kedusha (Gates of Holiness), Luria - Yichudim method
Maharal's mystical theology	1500s CE	Medieval Kabbalah expressed in non-Kabbalistic philosophical theology: Judah Loew (Maharal) Prague
Early Lurianic and post-medieval Kabbalism	1500s-mid-1700s CE	Lurianism, the second of Kabbalah's two systems of theosophy after Medieval-Cordoverian Kabbalah, incorporating dynamic myth of exile and redemption in divinity taught by Isaac Luria 1570-72, and other post-medieval Kabbalah trends:   Disciples compile Kitvei Ari Lurianic thought: Hayim Vital - Etz Hayim (Tree of Life) Israel Sarug spread Lurianism in Europe Lurianic exegesis and meditative methods dominated other post-medieval Kabbalah trends   Popularising Kabbalistic Musar and homiletic literature 1550s-1750s: Moses Cordovero - Tomer Devorah (Palm Tree of Deborah) Eliyahu de Vidas - Reshit Chochmah (Beginning of Wisdom) Isaiah Horowitz (Shelah) - Shnei Luchot HaBrit (Tablets of the Covenant) Central Europe   Kabbalistic scholarship: Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (Ramchal) Italian early 1700s public dissemination of Kabbalah Joseph Ergas   Central-Eastern Europe Practical Kabbalah: Baal Shem
Sabbatean movements	1665-c.1800 CE	Kabbalistic messianic-mystical antinomian heresy: Sabbatai Zevi messianic claimant Nathan of Gaza Sabbatean prophet Moderate-crypto and radical-antinomian factions Emden-Eybeschutz controversy and Rabbinic excommunication of Sabbateans Sabbatean successors culminating in Jacob Frank-late 1700s Frankist nihilism
Early and formative Hasidic Judaism	1730s-1850s CE	Eastern European mystical revival movement, popularising and psychologising Kabbalah through Panentheism and the Tzadik mystical leader. Neutralised messianic danger expressed in Sabbateanism: Early Hasidism: Israel ben Eliezer (Baal Shem Tov, Besht) founder of Hasidism Dov Ber of Mezeritch (The Magid) systemiser and architect of Hasidism Jacob Joseph of Polonne Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev   Main Hasidic schools of thought (mystics after 1850s shown later): Mainstream Hasidic Tzadikism: Elimelech of Lizhensk - Noam Elimelech (Pleasantness of Elimelech) Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin (The Chozeh) Chabad intellectual Hasidism - Russia: Shneur Zalman of Liadi - Tanya (Likutei Amarim-Collected Words) theorist of Hasidism[8] Aaron of Staroselye Breslav imaginative Hasidism - Ukraine: Nachman of Breslav - Likutei Moharan (Collected teachings) Nathan of Breslav Peshischa-Kotzk introspective Hasidism - Poland, mystical offshoot from: Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica - Mei Hashiloach (Waters of Shiloah), personal illumination   Hasidic storytelling: Shivchei HaBesht (Praises of the Besht) published 1814 Sippurei Ma'asiyot (Stories that were told) Nachman of Breslav's 13 mystical tales 1816
Later traditional Lurianic Kabbalah	1700s CE-today	Traditionalist esoteric interpretations and practice of Lurianic Kabbalah from 1700s until today, apart from Hasidic adaptions: Brody Kloiz and pre-Hasidic Hasidim circles in Eastern Europe. Introverted esotericism response to Sabbatean heresy   Mitnagdic-Lithuanian non-Hasidic Kabbalah: Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman (Vilna Gaon, Gra) figurehead of Mitnagdim 1700s Chaim of Volozhin - Nefesh HaChaim (Soul of Life) theorist of Mitnagdism,[8] founder of Yeshiva movement   Mizrahi-Sephardi Oriental Kabbalah: Shalom Sharabi 1700s (from Yemen) and Beit El Synagogue (Jerusalem) introverted esotericism response to Sabbateanism. Lurianic explanation and elite meditation circle Yosef Hayyim (Ben Ish Chai) 1800s Hakham Baghdad Abuhatzeira Moroccan Kabbalist dynasty   20th century Ashkenazi European Kabbalah (apart from Hasidic thought): Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva (Jerusalem) Yehuda Ashlag 1900s Israel - HaSulam (The Ladder) Lurianic Zohar
Later Hasidic Judaism	1850s CE-today	Dynastic succession and modernising society turned Hasidism away from pre-1810s mystical revivalism, to post-1850s consolidation and rabbinic conservatism. Mystical focus continued in some schools: Chabad-Lubavitch - intellectual Hasidism communication Zadok HaKohen late 1800s Izbica school Aharon Roth early 1900s Jerusalem piety Kalonymus Kalman Shapira response to Holocaust Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Lubavitch Rebbe) Hasidic outreach and 1990s messianism Breslav contemporary mystical revivalism
Neo-Hasidism and Neo-Kabbalah	c.1900s CE-today	Non-Orthodox Jewish denominations' adapted spiritual teaching of Kabbalistic and Hasidic theology to modernist thought and interpretations: Early 1900s: Martin Buber existential Neo-Hasidism Post War and contemporary: Abraham Joshua Heschel Neo-traditional aggadic Judaism Zalman Schachter-Shalomi Jewish Renewal Arthur Green academic and theologian Lawrence Kushner Reform Neo-Kabbalah Influence on modern and postmodern Jewish philosophy: Jewish existentialism Postmodern Jewish philosophy[9] Independent scholarship: Sanford Drob - The New Kabbalah[10]
Zionist mysticism	c.1910s CE-today	Teachings and influence of Rav Kook poetic mystic. Unity of religion and secularism, halakha and aggadah, activism and quietism: Abraham Isaac Kook Chief Rabbi Mandate Palestine Atchalta De'Geulah religious Zionism
Academic study of Jewish mysticism	c.1920s CE-today	Critical-historical study of Jewish mystical texts began in 1800s, but Gershom Scholem's school in the mid-1900s founded the methodological disciple in academia, returning mysticism to a central position in Jewish historiography and Jewish studies departments. Select historian examples: First generation: Gershom Scholem discipline founder Hebrew University Alexander Altmann American initiator Second generation: Moshe Idel Hebrew University revisionism Joseph Dan Hebrew University Scholem chair

See also

• Jewish mystical exegesis
• Kabbalah: Primary texts
• List of Jewish Kabbalists
• List of Jewish mysticism scholars

Notes

References

• Heschel, Abraham Joshua Heavenly Torah: As Refracted through the Generations, edited and translated by Gordon Tucker, Bloomsbury Academic 2006
• Jacobs, Louis Jewish Mystical Testimonies, Schocken
• Kaplan, Aryeh Meditation and the Bible, Red Wheel/Weiser 1978
• Scholem, Gershom Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, Schocken, first pub.1941

External links

• Don Karr's Bibliographic Surveys of contemporary academic scholarship on all periods of Jewish mysticism
• Abraham Joshua Heschel's view of Rabbinic Judaism as aggadah and mystical experience