The Jewish Kabbalah--Part II
Oral Traditions
The term Qabalah," in Hebrew signifies "reception", or "a doctrine orally received" and in which the "speculative, philosophical and theosophical doctrines of Israel are to be found. " These were originally contained in two books, the Sepher Yetzirah and the Zohar". 33.
The first Book, the Sepher Yetzirah is believed to be contemplations of Abraham. This is in contradiction then, of the belief that the oral traditions were taught by God to angels and then transmitted to Adam.
"…The Sepher Yetzirah, or Book of Creation, is [believed to be]…" a monologue on the part of Abraham in which, by the contemplation of all that is around him, he ultimately arrives at the conclusion of the unity of God"…" 34.
The second and main work of the Kabbalah is called the "Zohar." From Adolphe Franck and other sources, incuding Zohar treatises, we see slightly different renditions and contradictions of how the Zohar was conceived.
"… The immense compilation known as the Sepher-Ha-Zohar, or Book of Light, is… of greater importance to the study of Cabalistic philosophy. According to the Zohar itself, the " Mysteries of Wisdom" where imparted to Adam by God whilst he was still in the Garden of Eden, in the book delivered by the angel Razael. From Adam the book passed to Seth ...Enoch ...Noah... Abraham, and later to Moses, one of its principal exponents.4. Other Jewish writers declare… that Moses received it…first time on Mount Sinai…to the Seventy Elders… to David and Solomon… Ezra… Nehemiah and finally to the Rabbis of the early Christian era.5" 35.
The Jewish mysticism authority, Adolphe Franck, and author Drach, relate from Talmud treatises how the secret oral teachings of the Zohar were developed and then written down.
"…the Zohar had remained a purely oral tradition… written down by the disciples of Simon ben Jochai. The Talmud relates that for twelve years the Rabbi Simon and his son Eliezer concealed themselves in a cavern, where sitting in the sand up to their necks, they meditated on the sacred law and were frequently visited by the prophet Elias.6. In this way, Jewish legend adds, the great book of the Zohar was composed and committed to writing by the Rabbi's son Eliezer and his secretary the Rabbi Abba.7" 36.
According to the Introduction to The Kabbalah Unveiled by McGregor Mathers, who was the co-founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1888, this secret oral tradition of the sages was believed to have been taught by God to angels, who then taught it to fallen humans. Abraham is viewed as a mystic who taught the Egyptians some of their occult doctrine.
"The Qabalah was first taught by God himself to a select company of angels, who formed a theosophic school in Paradise. After the Fall the angels most graciously communicated this heavenly doctrine to the disobedient children of earth, to furnish the protoplasts with the means of returning to their pristine nobility and felicity."
"From Adam it passed over to Noah, and then to Abraham, the friend of God, who emigrated with it to Egypt, where the patriarch allowed a portion of this mysterious doctrine to ooze out. It was in this way that the Egyptians obtained some knowledge of it, and the other Eastern nations could introduce it into their philosophical systems. Moses, who was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt, was first initiated into the Qabalah in the land of his birth, but became most proficient in it during his wanderings in the wilderness, when he not only devoted to it the leisure hours of the whole forty years, but received lessons in it from one of the angels. By the aid of this mysterious science the law-giver was enabled to solve the difficulties which arose during his management of the Israelites, in spite of the pilgrimages, wars, and frequent miseries of the nation. He covertly laid down the principles of this secret doctrine in the first four books of the Pentateuch, but withheld them from Deuteronomy. Moses also initiated the seventy elders into the secrets of this doctrine, and they again transmitted them from hand to hand." 37.
Speculative & Practical Kabbalah
Gershom Scholem was a renowned professor of Jewish mysticism at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem until his death in 1982. He was considered the pioneer of the modern study of Jewish mysticism and his many writings explain these concepts in the Talmud, Zohar and the Kabbalah.
In "Zohar, the Book of Splendor: Basic Readings from the Kabbalah", Scholem describes the importance and authority of the Zohar to Judaism.
"The book of Zohar, the most important literary work of the Kabbalah, lies before us in some measure inaccessible and silent, as befits a work of secret wisdom…To have determined the formation and development over a long period of time of the religious convictions of the widest circles in Judaism, and particularly of those most sensitive to religion, and, what is more, to have succeeded in establishing itself for three centuries, from about 1500 to 1800, as a source of doctrine and revelation equal in authority to the Bible and Talmud, and of the same canonical rank---this is a prerogative that can be claimed by no other work of Jewish literature." 38.
Gershom Scholem explains the contents of the Zohar, and the various components, including "the Midrash ha-Neelam (The Secret Midrash) and Sitre Torah (Secrets of the Torah), which is a large number of Pentateuch portions…"39.
According to Scholem, the latter is a deeply mystical treatment of the Torah:
"The Secret Midrash…avoids genuinely mystical and theosophical trains of thought…The Secrets of the Torah, on the other hand, which in the main was composed without the use of Midrash form or the addition of names, represents the transition from philosophical-eschatological allegory to genuinely mystical exegesis. The Idra Rabba (The Great Assembly) describes, … the mystical 'figure' of the Deity in the symbol of the Primal Man…" 40.
Scholem expounds the belief that the Zohar, composed of contradictions and folk-tales, is the anonymous work of centuries, "like the Bible"
".. the Zohar has been regarded…as a work without unity…in which the most varied and often contradictory forces of the kabbalistic movement found expression…Moses de Leon was…regarded as the redactor of ancient writings and fragments…The theory that "primitive" sources and documents have been preserved in the Zohar...in revised form is today widespread. Thus the Zohar…would really be, even in its external beginnings, a deposit of the creative folk-spirit and, like the Bible and Talmud, the anonymous work of centuries…" 41.
The Bible, unlike the secret oral traditions and teachings, is neither an anonymous work nor is it comprised of contradictions, myths, or fairytales.
2 Timothy 3:16:
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; That the man of God may be throughly furnished unto all good works."
Psalm 119:160:
"Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever."
Proverbs 30:5-6:
"Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him. Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."
Gershom Scholem states that the "Secret Midrash" writings of the Zohar were in all probability the earliest part of the work. His profile of the Jewish mystic who authored the Kabbalah begins with his education in the Talmud:
"Behind the whole stands the living personality of a mystic who, starting with philosophical and talmudic education of his time, lets himself be ever more deeply drawn to the mystical and gnostic ideas of the Kabbalah, and finally gives up his philosophical interests altogether, developing instead a truly astonishing genius for mystical homiletics…such is the author of these most important parts of the Zohar--no redactor or collector but a homiletic genius. It was Kabbalah, as it had developed before his time, and having become his spiritual home, which he, with unexpected and impressive power, constructed from out of the text of Scripture and the ancient haggadic motifs of the Midrash…" 42.
Out of the Abundance of the Heart
"Ancient haggadic motifs of the Midrash" constructed out of the text of Scripture also comprise an esoteric volume titled, "Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis" by Robert Graves and Raphael Patai. Robert Graves wrote The White Goddess and I, Claudius. The White Goddess is frequently studied by people involved in the occult and witchcraft. Raphael Patai also wrote many books and was Director of Research of the Theodor Herzl Institute in New York and also Director of the Palestine Institute of Folklore and Ethnology. The book says he was a Biblical scholar.
In a private correspondence this writer received the following description of the book's thesis that Genesis was a collection of haggadic myths:
"…The premise of the book seems to be that the Bible is a book of myths, very much like the Greek myths. And the authors attempt to show how Hebrew myths and Greek myths are related. In the course of writing about the book of Genesis they quote extensively from writings such as the Talmud, The Gospel of Saint Thomas, Midrash, apocryphal books, pagan myths, the Kabbala and various kabbalistic works, The Book of the Dead, Cave of Treasures, Sepher, Enuma Elish, Sephir Hadar Zeqenim (midrashic explanations to the Bible), Imre Noam, the Koran, Mishna, Massekhet Soferim, Megilla, Mekhilta,, Midrash Alphabetot attributed to Rabbi Akiba (second century A.D.) but actually compiled much later, lots of sephers including "Sepher Raziel, a kabbalistic work on the secrets of Heaven, creation, angels, amulets, etc", Sode Raza "a Kabbalistic work by Eleazar ben Judah of Worms,, Targum this and that, the Zohar which the authors say is the "Bible of the Kabbalists, written by the Spanish Kabbalist Moses de Leon, in Aramaic, during the thirteenth century. It is a commentary on the Bible, pseudepigraphically attributed to Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai, the famous Mishna-teacher. First printed at Mantua, 1558-60, in three volumes.", and other Zohars…." 43.
The authors suggest that there are missing sacred documents which contain a more accurate record of creation than Genesis:
"The book's authors write that "All pre-Biblical sacred documents in Hebrew have been either lost or purposely suppressed...Post-Biblical sacred documents are abundant. In the thousand years after the Bible was first canonised, the Jews of Europe, Asia and Africa wrote prolifically. Theirs were either attempts to clarify the Mosaic Law; or historical, moralistic, anecdotal and homiletic comments on Biblical passages....although the canonical books were regarded as written by divine inspiration and the least taint of polytheism had therefore to be exorcised from them, the apocryphal books were treated more leniently. Many suppressed myths were also allowed to re-emerge in the unquestionably orthodox context of the post-Biblical midrashim....Lilith, Eve's predecessor, has been wholly exorcised from Scripture, though she is remembered by Isaiah as inhabiting desolate ruins. {but not in the King James Version, only in some modern versions]. She seems, from midrashic accounts of her sexual promiscuity, to have been a fertility goddess..."
The correspondent of this information remarked, "So, it seems that these two authors have used these Kabbalistic writings to make their case that the Bible is a book of myths and in quoting from these writings they reveal to the reader just how low-down and wicked the writers of the Kabbala and the Midrashim, etc. were. And so I wonder how anyone who has read this awful stuff would want to urge others to read it and give it respectability." 44.
Luke 6:45
"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh."
In "An Explanation of Midrash", Jacob Prasch refers to "A classical work of Midrash in Judaism is the Midrash Rabba on Genesis (Berashith). Another is Lamentations Rabba". He also upholds the Talmud as an authority for knowing what the Bible contains. "The Talmud tells us there are multiple interpretations" and "It takes the wisdom of the ancients to really understand these things…not the wisdom of the 16th century, but the wisdom of the first century." 45.
In another article, Mr. Prasch states that Midrash of the Jewish sages at the time of the second temple period is wisdom we can turn to with full confidence as these sages never deny the authenticity of the Biblical accounts.
"We have, along this line, advocated that Christians familiarize themselves with the works of those who have understood this from Alfred Edersheim to Arnold Fruchtenbaum. We have also tried to re-acquaint the church with the lost art of Jewish hermeneutics in terms of New Testament uses of Midrash, and the illustrative Hebraic models of typology and allegory …What is perhaps most absurd is the fact that contrary to both New Testament Christianity and Orthodox Judaism… In the Judaic midrashim we similarly never see a denial of the historical authenticity of biblical accounts.
"…any early examples of Judaic Midrash... It is these early examples of rabbinic midrashic writings that are closest in time frame to the authorship date of the New Testament. Having looked at New Testament narrative from a Midrashic perspective for years and read every major Christian scholar who addressed the subject …" 46.
Are we to understand that Mr. Prasch is referring to the same Genesis Midrash and Talmud referenced by Graves and Patai's "Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis"? Our correspondent continues to be amazed that the teachers of the Hebrew Roots of Christianity would promotes such works:
"What I find interesting is that the excerpts from these sources are so wicked. The "fleshing out of the Bible" that is done by these writings not only have many variations but have the persons written about in the Bible doing very evil things that we have never read about in the Bible. And God is written about as saying and doing all sorts of things that are out of character and never written about in the Bible. Very evil motives and actions are attributed to God in these writings. I am not surprised that the authors of this book who obviously do not believe the Bible is truthful would make their case using such writings, but I am perplexed that many of the Hebrew Roots people who claim to be Christians would also be using these wicked writings. 47.
Peter Michas informs us further that Jesus quoted the Midrash and the Talmud, apparently with approval:
"… The New Testament is in the pattern of the Jewish traditional work of Torah, Mishnah, Haggadah, Halakah, Talmud and Midrash, but inspired by God Himself for the common people. These Hebraic works as well as the Inspired Scriptures were quoted from by Jesus and all the writers of the New Testament. But even now, to have full comprehension, we must read the scriptures in the proper Hebraic context…Most all of the Judaic writings have been preserved for us and now translated into proper English directly from the Hebrew…" 48.
Avi ben Moredechai also references the Oral law, separate and distinct from the written Bible, as having been taught by Paul and Jesus:
"Rabbi (Haham) Sha’ul was a scholarly teacher of Torah, both of the Oral and Written codes. Not only did he order his life by it, but he also taught it to others, born Jews and born Gentiles alike. Since Sha’ul followed Messiah Y’shua, who also taught the Oral and Written Torah, I submit (at this time in my life) that we should be following in the footsteps of Judaism’s great teachers of G-d’s Law… I also recognize that our Rabbi Y’shua also had His Gemara (discussion and teaching) on the rabbinic Mishnah and the written code of Sinai. Thus, we are His talmidim or students of His Oral Traditions which is the proper definition of the term "Gospel." We are to follow His Mishnah and Gemara, i.e., His Talmud…ancient scholars and sages were far more knowledgeable on the Oral Traditions than we could ever hope to be." 49.
From 'Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis', Genesis Rabba and folios from the Talmud and Midrash are cited excerpts regarding Adams bestiality and the myth of Lilith and other unscriptural teachings. (cf. Part IV)
"Chapter 10
page 65 (b) Some say that God created man a woman in His own image on the Sixth Day, giving them charge over the world, [as in the Bible] but that Eve did not yet exist. Now, God had set Adam to name every beast, bird and other living thing. When they passed before him in pairs, male and female, Adam-- being already like a twenty-year-old man-- felt jealous of their loves, and though he tried coupling with each female in turn, found no satisfaction in the act. He therefore cried: 'Every creature but I has a proper mate', and prayed God would remedy this injustice. from Gen. Rab. 17-4; B. Yebamot 63a"
(c) God then formed Lilith, the first woman, just as He had formed Adam, except that He used filth and sediment instead of pure dust. From Adam's union with this demoness, and with another like her named Naamah, Tubal Cain's sister, sprang Asmodeus and innumerable demons that still plague mankind. Many generations late, Lilith and Naamah came to Solomon's judgment seat, disguised as harlots of Jerusalem. from Yalqut Reubeni ad. Gen. II 21: IV. 8
Then Lilith deserts Adam because she didn't want to lie beneath him during sex because she was his equal. Adam complained to God who sent angels after her. They found her beside the Red Sea where she had been bearing demons (more than 100 a day) The angels told her to return to Adam or they would drown her. She argues with them and tells them that God has ordered her to strangle babies . She also seduces dreaming men. Then God makes Adam another mate but Adam is disgusted by the sight of her creation. God knew that he had failed once more, and took First Eve away. (God failed?) God tried a third time, and made her out of Adam's rib, braided her hair and adorned her with 24 pieces of jewellery before waking Adam up. Adam approved. Gen Rab 161"
"Some say God created Eve from a tail ending in a sting which had been part of Adam's body . God cut this off, and the stump-- now a useless coccyx-- is still carried by men. Gen Rab 134 B. Erubin 18a "
"Others say that God;s original thought had been to create two human beings, male and female; but instead He designed a single one with a male face looking forward, and a female face looking back. B. Erubin 18a"
"Still others hold that Adam was originally created as an androgyne of male and female bodies joined back to back. This made walking difficult and conversation awkward, so God divided the androgyne, and gave each half a new rear. These separate beings He placed in Eden, forbidding them to couple. Gen Rab 55 Lev Rab 14.1 and other sources" 50.
Can the esteemed teachers of the Hebrew Roots of Christianity be saying these writings do not contradict the Word of God?
Matthew 12:33
"Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit."
There are many questions in my mind as one who was invited to partake of these teachings, and look to the Hebrew Roots, Messianic leadership as described above. If the leadership upholds and promotes the teachings of the Jewish sages and mystics, with the support of "flocks of sheep" who willingly follow their teachings--does that mean that these teachings may not be publicly scrutinized and critiqued for the edification and warning of the Body of Christ?
Matthew 7:15-20:
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."
All Scripture Quotes From the King James Bible
Footnotes:
Jewish Encyclopœdia, article on Cabala; as Cited in Nesta H. Webster, op.cit., p.29.
Matter, Histoire du Gnosticisme,I.44, (1844)a s Cited: Webster, Ibid. p.28.
D. F. Ranking; Some Notes on Various Gnostic Sects and their Possible Influence in Freemasonry,republished from Ars Quatuor Coronatorum (Vol. XXIV, p. 202, 1911) in pamphlet form, p.7.; as Cited Webster, Ibid. Pg. 32
Nesta H. Webster; op. cit. p. 29.
Jacob Prasch, Explaining the Midrash; www.cw.co.za/moriel/midrash.html
Harry Gersh "The Sacred Books of the Jews," marlowe.wimsey.com
Webster, op.cit., p.10
Ancient Wisdom and Secret Sects ; marlowe.wimsey.com
Webster; op.cit., p.11
Harry Gersh, The Sacred Books of the Jews
Kabbalah Faq, Colin Low, 1996; www.digital-brilliance.com/kab/faq.htm
Michael Sidlofsky, Kabbalah-A Brief History; www.shamash.org/kavannah/kabbalah.html
Dr. Christian Ginsburg, The Kabbalah,pp.172,173; as Cited in Webster, Ibid., p. 9.
Joshua Jehuda, L’antisemitisme, Miroir du Monde ["Anti-Semitism, Mirror of the World"-p. 164]
James Webb, The Occult Underground, Open Court Press, 1976, p. 221.
Drach (De l'Harmonie entre l'Eglise et la Synagogue,II.p.30) says that Picco della Mirando paid a Jew 7000 ducats for the Cabalistic MSS. from which he drew his thesis.; Webster,op.cit.,p.85]
(1)-Jewish Encyclopœdia, articles on Cabala and Reuchlin;Webster,op.cit.p.86
(2)-Jewish Encyclopœdia.,article on Cabala; Webster,op.cit.p.86
Introduction To Kabbalah Unveiled By S.L. McGregor Mathers; www.webvs.com/hogd/kabalah_unveiled.html ]
Introduction To Kabbalah Unveiled By S.L. McGregor Mathers; www.webvs.com/hogd/kabalah_unveiled.html ]
Kabbalah: The Misunderstood Doctrine; baptist1.com
Ibid.
Vulliaud,p. 20, quoting Theodore Reinach, Historie des Israelites,p.221 and Salomon Reinach, Orpheus, p. 299. As Cited in Webster, p.9]
Michael Sidlofsky, Kabbalah-A Brief History; www.shamash.org/kavannah/kabbalah.html
Michael Sidlofsky, Kabbalah-A Brief History; www.shamash.org/kavannah/kabbalah.html
Hannah Newman; Masters of the Blinding Light
Hastings' Encyclopœdia of Religion and Ethics; article on the Kabbala by H. Loewe; Webster,op.cit.,p.374
The Kabbalah Unveiled; www.webvs.com/hogd/kabalah_unveiled.html
Kabbalah: The Misunderstood Doctrine; baptist1.com
Pico della Mirandola ; marlowe.wimsey.com
Gerry Rose ,"The Venetian Takeover of England and Its Creation of Freemasonry" marlowe.wimsey.com
"The Authenticity of Kabbalah"; marlowe.wimsey.com
Nesta H. Webster; p.7, "Secret Societies and Subversive Movements" Omni Publications, Eighth edition, 1964.
Ibid, p.7.
(4). Zohar, section Bereschith, folio 55 and section Lekh-Lekha, folio 76 (de Pauly's trans., Vol. I pp.431, 446; 5. Adolphe Franck, La Kabbale, p. 39; J.P. Stehelin, The Traditions of the Jews, I. 145 (1748); as Cited in Webster, Ibid., p. 8.
(6). Adolphe Franck, op.cit.,p.68, quoting Talmud treatise Sabbath folio 34; Dr. Christian Ginsburg, The Kabbalah,p. 85; Drach, De l' Harmonie entre l'Eglise et la Synagogue, I. 457; 7. Adolphe Franck, op.cit., p. 69; as Cited in Webster, Ibid., Pg. 8
McGregor Mathers, Introduction to The Kabbalah Unveiled www.webvs.com/hogd/kabalah_unveiled.html
Gershom Scholem, "Zohar, the Book of Splendor: Basic Readings from the Kabbalah", p. vii
Ibid., p. xi
Ibid., p. xii
Ibid., p. xiii
Ibid., p. xv-xvi
HEBREW MYTHS: The book of Genesis by Robert Graves and Raphael Patai. 1964 Doubleday and Co., Inc. It is copyrighted1963. ;private email correspondence,Feb2, 199 re:Hebrew Myths
Ibid.
Jacob Prasch, Explaining the Midrash; www.cw.co.za/moriel/midrash.html
Jacob Prasch; Satans Seduction of the Hebrew Root Movement
Private email correspondence, Feb 2, 199 re: Hebrew Myths
Peter Michas, ez
Avi ben Mordechai, Halacha, www.millenium7000.com/halacha.htm
HEBREW MYTHS: The book of Genesis by Robert Graves and Raphael Patai.; Ch10,p. 65; Doubleday and Co., Inc. 1964 It is copyrighted 1963. |
