The Religions Book

186

Jewish men at penitential prayers,

the Selichot, in Jerusalem. According

to kabbalah, observance of the

commandments will help lead

people from exile to redemption.

GOD AND

HUMANKIND ARE

IN COSMIC EXILE

MYSTICISM AND THE KABBALAH

T

he texts of Judaism include,

along with the Hebrew

Bible (p.171) and the

Talmud (a compendium of rabbinic

interpretations), a body of mystical

knowledge known as kabbalah.

Originally an oral tradition, it was

collected in the Zohar (“Divine

Splendor”) in the late 13th century

in Spain. The Zohar and its

kabbalistic ideas took on a special

significance for exiled Jews—

in particular for the scholars of

Safed in Palestine—after their

expulsion from Iberia (present-day

Spain, Portugal, and Andorra) in

the 1490s. Among them was the

teacher Isaac Luria, whose

interpretation of the Zohar gave

a unique description of the

creation that was applicable to

the experience of Jews in exile.

It provided an explanation of good

and evil, and the way to redemption.

In Luria’s interpretation, before

the creation only God existed. In

order to make space to create the

world, he contracted or withdrew

into himself (tzimtzum): a form of

self-imposed exile for the sake

of creation. A divine light streamed

into the created space in the shape

of 10 sefirot—emanations of the

divine attributes of God. Adam

Kadmon (meaning primordial

man) formed vessels to contain

the sefirot. But the vessels were too

delicate to hold the divine light: the

upper three were damaged, and the

lower seven completely destroyed,

scattering the divine light. This

destruction of the vessels (known

as shevirat ha-kelim or shevirah)

upset the process of creation and

divided the universe into those

elements that assisted, and those

that resisted, the creation: good and

evil, and the upper and lower worlds.

This damage can be repaired,

Luria explained, by detaching the

holy sparks of divine light to which

IN CONTEXT

KEY FIGURE

Isaac Luria

WHEN AND WHERE

16th century, Palestine

BEFORE

From 1200 BCE Zoroastrians

believe that every act of right

moral conduct by humans

collectively aids the cosmic

struggle of good against evil.

10th–15th century CE

Christian mysticism flourishes

in Europe in the Middle Ages.

AFTER

18th century In Europe,

as the Haskalah (Jewish

Enlightenment) dismisses

mysticism, Israel ben Eliezer

founds Hasidic Judaism in

Ukraine, based on Isaac Luria’s

exposition of kabbalah.

1980s In Los Angeles, the

Kabbalah Center attracts

celebrity followers with

teachings derived from the

Judaic mystical tradition.