5 - Mysticism and Philosophy

Summary

Kabbalah is the formal term designating the Jewish mystical tradition. How one defines Kabbalah is a matter of dispute. Kabbalah literally means “tradition,” but scholars note that Kabbalah involves an application of individual mystical insight to revealed texts that results in an esoteric interpretation of the revealed texts. Major texts in the kabbalistic corpus include the Heikhalot literature (first–eighth centuries); Book of Creation (first–eighth centuries); Book of Bahir (edited in the twelfth century); the literature of the medieval German Pietists twelfth–thirteenth centuries); works emerging from the mystical centers in Provence and Spain whose most famous product was the Zohar (thirteenth century); literature of the sixteenth-century Safed circle; and the works of modern Hasidism eighteenth century–present).

Gershom Scholem draws a sharp distinction between Kabbalah and Jewish philosophy, noting five contrasts between them. First, philosophers use allegory, which involves assigning definite metaphysical referents to biblical terms. Kabbalists, however, interpret the Bible as a series of symbols, that is, poetic ways of representing truths that can neither be clearly understood nor precisely articulated using rational, discursive thought. Second, whereas for philosophers the practice of Jewish law (Halakha) has no intrinsic significance, for kabbalists Halakha is of supreme importance as a theurgic instrument to effect changes in the Godhead that help preserve the cosmos. Third, whereas philosophers denigrate rabbinic fantasies (’aggadot) as stumbling blocks to truth, kabbalists embrace ’aggadot, seeing it as continuous with their mystical experience and containing esoteric wisdom. Fourth, whereas philosophers devalue prayer, kabbalists infuse it with meaning by assigning prayer theurgic functions.