Historical Periods of Jewish Mysticism

by Prof. Elliot R. Wolfson

Biblical Precursors

The Hebrew Bible is a primary source of reflection and inspiration
for virtually all branches of Jewish Mysticism and Esotericism. While we
must be careful not to conflate the religion of the ancient Israelites
with later periods of Jewish history, it remains clear that certain
elements of continuity remain throughout. One of the most important
ideas of biblical religion to impact Jewish mysticism is the phenomenon
of prophecy and revelatory experience. The texts relating the
revelations to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the people of Israel as a
whole at Sinai, and the prophetic inspirations and visions of Ezekiel,
Daniel and other prominent personalities in the Bible serve as the
foundation for much of the esoteric and mystical traditions of Judaism.
The Zohar, for example, is organized as a commentary on the Torah, and
contains many descriptions of experience of the Divine that approximate
descriptions of prophetic revelation found throughout the Bible.

1st – 7th centuries- Early Jewish Mysticism and Esotericism

The earliest stages of post-biblical Jewish Mysticism and Esotericism
begin in the ancient Near East with a number of important texts that
draw upon biblical images, such as Ezekiel’s vision of the divine
chariot or merkavah, and the ascension of Enoch. The Rabbinic literature
of the Talmud and Midrash also contains many images and ideas about the
mysteries of the divine realm, the nature of prophecy, the origins of
the cosmos, the nature of the human soul, and other matters that went on
to have a significant influence on Jewish mysticism.

Important Texts

Sefer Yesirah (2nd – 7th centuries CE)

Sefer Yesirah
or “The Book of Creation” is a short treatise of less than 2,000 words
that discusses the creation of the universe by means of the 22 letters
of the Hebrew alphabet and the “ten ineffable sefirot.” It is unclear
what the ten sefirot exactly are in this context, but it would seem that
they refer to entities in the divine realm that are incomprehensible by
the human mind, yet nonetheless represent the mysterious nature of God
and serve as his tools in the creative process. The focus on the
symbolism of the ten sefirot and the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in
Sefer Yesirah had a major impact on later Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah.
The symbolism of the ten sefirot is re-emphasized in an innovative and
powerful way in the kabbalistic texts that begin to emerge in Southern
France in the late 12th century.

Rabbinic Literature

Esoteric speculation can be found in many places in Rabbinic
literature. In one famous example in Mishnah Hagigah 2-1 we read,
“forbidden sexual relations may not be expounded before three [or more]
people, nor the account of creation [ma’aseh bereishit] before two [or
more], nor the account of the Chariot [ma’aseh merkavah] before one,
unless he is a sage who understand through his own knowledge.” These
categories of forbidden or restricted speculation indicate a tradition,
already active in the first few centuries of the Common Era among the
rabbinic elite, of secret knowledge regarding God, the creation of the
universe, and human sexuality. In one cryptic passage in the Talmud,
Sanhedrine 65b, we read, “Rav Haninia and Rav Oshaya used to sit the
entire day before the commencement of the Sabbath and study the Sefer
Yesirah. They created a calf one third the normal size and ate it.”
While it remains unclear whether the Sefer Yesirah referred to in this
Talmudic text is connected to the Sefer Yesirah mentioned above, it is
yet another example of esoteric traditions among the scholars of the
Rabbinic period.

Heikhalot/Merkavah Literature

Another group of Jewish mystical texts from the first centuries of
the Common Era is the Heikhalot “Chamber” and Merkavah “Chariot”
literature. These texts discuss the means of traversing the seven
chambers that surround the divine throne or chariot. Each stage of the
journey involves entering through the gateways between the courtyards,
which are guarded by angels. Only those who are fully adept in the
proper recitation of the angelic names can enter and exit unharmed.
These visions of the courtyards and throne room of God are reported in
the name of famous personalities from the Rabbinic schools, such as
Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Ishmael. The precise connections between this body
of literature and the Rabbinc authors is difficult to determine, but
most scholars agree that the traditions related in the Heikhalot and
Merkavah literature, especially those texts from the Heikhalot Rabbati
and Heikhalot Zutarti collections, date to the Rabbinic period.

Shiur Komah

One of the most arcane texts from the ancient period of Jewish
mysticism and esotericism is the unusual collection of passages referred
to as the Shiur Komah, or “Measure of the Stature.” These texts
describe the Glory of God in the form of a supernal human body of
enormous proportions with names associated with each of the limbs. In
later periods of Jewish Mysticism anthropomorphic representations of God
plays an important role.

7th – 11th centuries- Mysticism in the Geonic period

Much of what we find from the 7th – 11th centuries reflects a strong
influence from the rabbinic and Heikhalot/Merkavah sources. A number of
important ideas that developed during this period that had a key impact
on later Jewish mysticism. The first major idea that took shape during
this period is the re-conceptualization of the Shekhinah “Divine
Presence” as more than a name for the presence of God in the world, but
rather a kind of hypostasis or entity that can interact with God.

Furthermore, it is during the Geonic period that the Shekhinah is
associated with the kenesset yisrael, “the community of Israel,” the
idea of gilgul or reincarnation finds its first appearance in Judaism,
and the technique of employing gematria “numerology” to the values of
Hebrew letters and words in order to uncover sodot or “secrets” hidden
within biblical texts becomes widespread.

Two important commentaries on Sefer Yesirah were composed during this
period, one by Shabbtai ben Abraham Donnolo (913 – ca. 982), and
another by Judah ben Barsillai al Barceloni (late 11th – early 12th).
Other important figures from this period included Eleazar Kallir (ca.
6th-8th century), Saadiah ben Joseph Gaon (882-942), Hai Gaon (939 –
1038), Hananel ben Hushiel (d. 1055-56), Nathan ben Yehiel of Rome (d.
1110), Ahima’az of Oria (11th century), and Aaron of Bagdad (mid 9th
century).

During the early part of the Geonic period most of the important
authors were centered in Babylonia, but toward the end of the period,
many of these ideas begin to spread to the Jewish communities of Europe.

12th – 13th centuries- Medieval Jewish Mysticism and the Rise of Kabbalah

Hasidei Ashkenaz

A significant development in the promulgation of mystical and
esoteric ideas in the Jewish Communities of Western Christendom was the
emergence of a group in the Rhineland known as the Hasidei Ashkenaz or
German Pietists. This movement was active from roughly 1250-1350 and had
a profound impact on the kabbalistic circles in Spain in the latter
part of the 13th century. The three main figures of this group come from
the Kalonymide family, starting with Samuel the Hasid (mid 12th
century), son of Rabbi Kalonymus of Speyer; Judah the Hasid of Worms (d.
1217), and Eleazar ben Yehudah of Worms, who died between 1223 and
1232. While little of the literary activity of Samuel the Hasid remains,
many associate the Sefer Hasidim “Book of the Pious” with the teachings
of Judah the Hasid. Eleazar of worms composed numerous works – some of
considerable length – that have survived and serve as the most important
evidence of the mystical, theological and theosophical speculations of
this group.

The Hasidei Ashkenaz placed particular emphasis on ascetic
renunciation and ethical discipline. Fasts, abstinence, physical pain
and discomfort, and even valorization of martyrdom were all regarded as
vehicles to enable mystical illumination, especially in the form of the
visualization of the Shekhinah or Divine Presence. God, according to the
Hasidei Ashkenaz, is unknowable in his essence, yet he fills all
reality and suffuses all being. By practicing ascetic renunciation and
contemplating the traditional teachings of the divine mysteries
regarding creation, revelation, and the meaning of the Torah, members of
this school believed that they could attain the pure love of God in an
encounter that was often described in ways that indicate a strong
influence from the Heikhalot and Merkavah literature, as well as the
Sefer Yesirah. Many scholars believe that the tribulations of the
Crusades and the ascetic practices of the surrounding Christian monastic
communities had an impact on the particular form of religious and
mystical piety of the Hasidei Ashkenaz.

Kabbalah in Provence and the Sefer ha-Bahir

In the 1180’s a text emerged in Provence region of southern France
that has come to serve as a defining moment in the history of Jewish
mysticism and esotericism. This text, known as the Sefer ha-Bahir or
“The Book of Brightness,” is written in the style of an ancient rabbinic
midrash. The book has a complex origin and contains at least some
elements that are believed to reflect ancient Near Eastern Jewish
traditions. Determining exactly what proportion of the Bahir derives
from ancient tradition and what was the innovation of authors living in
12th century Europe remains a question in the scholarship. The most
significant feature of the Sefer ha-Bahir is its focus on the ten
sefirot as the ten luminous emanations of God that symbolically reveal
the realm of inner divine life. The sefirot thus become living and
dynamic symbols that represent the unknowable and ineffable secrets of
God. By embracing the paradox of a symbolic system of ten divine
emanations that represent that which is impossible to represent, the
Bahir takes a decisive step that permanently changes the history of
Jewish mysticism. Kabbalah refers to those texts that employ the
theosophic symbolism of the ten sefirot, while Jewish Mysticism and
Esotericism is a broader term includes the earlier texts that do not
discuss the sefirot in exactly this manner.

Around this time we also find traditions that associate esoteric
speculation with a number of important rabbis in southern France.
Abraham ben Isaac of Narbonne (1110-1179), Abraham ben David of
Posquiers (1125-1198), also know as Rabad, and Jacob Nazir of Lunel (d.
late 12th century) are known to have endorsed kabbalistic and mystical
teachings, though little more than a few scattered hints to that affect
have been preserved in their own writings. Isaac the Blind (d. ca.
1235), son of Abraham ben David, lived in Narbonne and was the first
major rabbi in Europe to specialize in Kabbalah. Most of Isaac the
Blind’s teaching were disseminated orally to his students, and only one
text, a commentary on Sefer Yesirah, is regarded as his own composition.
This commentary is a notoriously difficult text that discusses the
sefirot mentioned in Sefer Yesirah in a theosophical manner. One
important contribution found in Isaac the Blind’s commentary is the
development of the idea that the sefirot emanate from an absolutely
unknowable and recondite aspect of God known as ein sof, or “without
end.”

Kabbalah in Gerona

In the beginning of the 13th century Kabbalah spread to Spain when
the students of Isaac the Blind began moved to Gerona, in the region of
Catalonia. Here for the first time books were composed on Kabbalah that
were designed to bring these ideas to a wider audience. Some of the most
important individuals from this period are Judah ibn Yakar (Nahmanides’
teacher), Ezra ben Shlomo (d. 1238 or 1245), Azriel of Gerona (early
13th century), Moses ben Nahman, also known as Nahmanides (1194-1270),
Abraham ben Isaac Gerundi (mid 13th century), Asher ben David (first
half of the 13th century), and Jacob ben Sheshet (mid 13th century). In
an intriguing letter sent to his students in Gerona, Isaac the blind
urges them to stop composing books on Kabbalah, for fear that these
ideas could be spread to individuals who would not take them seriously,
making them “the subject of jokes in the marketplace.” Despite Isaac the
Blind’s criticisms of the literary activities of the Gerona kabbalists,
treatises on Kabbalah continued to circulate, and soon spread to other
communities in Spain. The influence of Nahmanides at this time was
undoubtedly essential for the legitimization of Kabbalah in the Spanish
Jewish communities of Catalonia, Aragon and Castile.

Kabbalah in Castile

In the middle of the 13th century Kabbalah spread to Jewish
communities living in the cities and towns of Castile. Jacob ben Jacob
ha-kohen (mid 13th century) and Isaac ben Jacob ha-Kohen (Mid 13th
century) became known for their Gnostic teaching of a demonic realm
within God from which evil in the world originates, composed of a set of
“sefirot of impurity” that parallel the pure sefirot of God. Their
pupil, Moses of Burgos (c.1230/1225 – c. 1300), as well as Todros ben
Joseph Abulafia (1220-1298), were significant rabbinic and political
leaders of the Castilian Jewish community who wrote important works of
Kabbalah. Moses of Burgos was the teacher of Isaac ibn Sahula (b. 1244),
author of the famous poetic fable Meshal ha-Kadmoni (1281), as well as a
kabbalistic commentary on the Song of Songs. Also active in Castile at
this time was Jacob ha-Kohen (mid 13th century), who wrote a kind of
Kabbalah that he claimed to be based upon his own visions, and Isaac ibn
Latif (ca. 1210-1280), whose writings strike a very delicate balance
between kabbalistic symbolism and philosophical speculation.

From the 1270’s through the 1290’s a number of important and lengthy
kabbalistic books were written by Joseph Gikatilla (1248-1325) and Moses
de Leon (1240-1305). These two figures were among the most prolific of
the medieval kabbalists, and many of their compositions, such as
Gikatilla’s Sha’are Orah “Gates of Light,” went on to become seminal
works in the history of Kabbalah. This period of remarkable kabbalistic
literary productivity took place during the controversy over the study
of Aristotelian philosophy, especially as it took shape in the
philosophical works of Moses Maimonides, and the pronounced increase in
Christian anti-Jewish proselytizing in western Europe. Both of these may
have been a factor in the development of Kabbalah during this decisive
moment in its history.

Abraham Abulafia

Abraham Abulafia was born in Spain in 1240 and died some time after
1292. He propounded a kind of Kabbalah that, in addition to many of the
typical theosophical motifs, focused on meditative techniques and
recitation of divine names, letter permutation, numerical symbolism of
Hebrew letters known as gematria, and acrostics, designed to bring one
to a state of ecstatic union with God and to attain prophetic
illumination. The goal of this mystical and prophetic experience is to
untie the “knots” binding the soul to the body and the world. According
to his own testimony, Abulafia wrote 26 books of prophecy based on his
mystical experiences. Abulafia traveled widely and may have had
messianic pretensions. He attempted to have an audience with Pope
Nicholas III in 1280 possibly in order to declare himself the messiah.
In the 1280’s Solomon ben Abraham ibn Adret of Barcelona (c. 1235-1310)
led an attack against him and had Abulafia and his works banned because
of his claims that his writings were on a par with those of the biblical
prophets. Abulafia was a prolific writer who in addition to his
prophetic works – of which only one, sefer ha-Ot, has survived – wrote
many books on topics such as Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed,
commentaries on Sefer Yesirah, and descriptions of meditative
techniques.

The Zohar

During the 1290’s in Castile a kabbalistic commentary on the Torah
began to circulate that would go on to have a monumental and
transformative impact on Judaism and the West. This commentary was
written in Aramaic in the name of important Rabbis from the time of the
Mishnah in the second century CE. The most prominent Rabbi mentioned in
this collection of Kabbalistic writings is Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai. By
the end of the 13th century, these texts came to be known by a number of
names, but the one that stood the test of time was Sefer ha-Zohar, or
“The Book of Splendor.”

A careful reading of the text of the Zohar – which, in its printed
form, is almost two thousand pages in length – reveals a pronounced
influence of Heikhalot and Merkavah imagery, the writings of the Hasidei
Ashkenz, the kabbalists of Provence, Gerona and Castile, as well as
some important medieval Jewish thinkers and philosophers such as Judah
Ha-Levi and Moses Maimonides. Moreover, a number of foreign words of
Spanish origin are found in the text. This has lead scholars to the
conclusion that most if not all of the Zohar was composed in Castile
toward the end of the 13th century. The earliest citation of a passage
from the Zohar literature is found in Isaac ibn Sahula’s Meshal
ha-Kadmoni from a part of the Zohar called the Midrash ha-Ne’elam. It is
only in the later 1290’s and early 1300’s that we find Jewish scholars
citing the Zohar with any consistency.

Gershom Scholem argued that the Zohar was written in its entirety by
Moses de Leon. This position has been revised by Yehuda Liebes, who has
argued that the Zohar is in fact the product of a group of Spanish
kabbalists from the late 13th century in which Moses de Leon is a
prominent or perhaps even leading member, but which also includes Yoseph
Gikatilla, Todros Abulafia, Isaac ibn Abu Sahula, Yoseph ha-ba
mi-Shushan ha-Birah, David ben Yehudah he-Hasid, Yospeh Angelet, Yoseph
Shalom Ashkenazi, and Bahya ben Asher.

The Zohar represents in many ways the culmination of a century of
tremendous kabbalistic creativity and productivity that began in
Provence in the late 12th century and ended in Castile in the late 13th
century. The long and rambling poetic discourse of the Zohar engages
with everything from the emergence of the ten sefirot from the inner
reaches of God and ein sof, the mysteries of creation, the process of
revelation, the mystical meaning of the mitzvoth or commandments of
Jewish law, meditations on the gendered and highly erotic interactions
of the sefirot, expressed in particular in the desire for the Shekhinah,
the tenth and lowest of the ten sefirot, to return to her male
counterpart and be re-assimilated into God. The authorship of the Zohar
argues, in keeping with trends in Kabbalah from earlier in the 13th
century, that it is by means of the actions of Jews in the physical
world – especially though the performance of commandment and the study
of Torah – that the sefirot can be unified and the upper and lower
realms can be perfected. These ideas are delivered in a highly cryptic
style that presumes that the reader is familiar with many of the main
principles of Kabbalah, as well as the biblical and rabbinic
literatures. The Zohar encodes its kabbalistic message in a highly
complex set of symbols that are in turn said to be only the uncovering
of mysteries that are all contained within the words and even the
letters of the Torah.

14th – 16th centuries- From the Spanish Expulsion to the Safed Community

By the 14th century Kabbalah began to spread throughout Western
Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Treatises such as Ma’arekhet
ha-Elohut written by an anonymous author in the early 14th century,
along with the commentary on the Torah by Bahya ben Asher and the
sermons or Drashot of Joshua ibn Shu’aib (first half of the 14th
century), served to spread Kabbalah to wider audiences. Shem Tov ben
Abraham ibn Gaon of Soria (13th – 14th centuries) and Elhanan ben
Abraham ibn Eskira (13th – 14th centuries) became important kabbalists
in Palestine, along with Isaac ben Samuel of Acre (late 13th – mid 14th
century), whose Me’irat Einaim became a seminal exposition of the
kabbalistic meaning behind the hints and allusions to secret teachings
in the works of Nahmanides. Kabbalah began to spread to Italy in the
early 14th century through the works of Menahem Recanati, who wrote a
popular Kabbalistic commentary on the Torah and a book on the mystical
meaning of the commandments. Menahen Ziyyoni of Cologne and Avigdor Kara
became important kabbalistic authorities in Germany, while Isaiah ben
Joseph of Tabriz spread Kabbalah to Persia and Nathan ben Moses Kilkis
wrote his Even Sappir in Constantinople. Two important works written
some time in the second half of the 14th century, Sefer ha-Peli’ah, a
commentary on the first section of the Torah, and Sefer ha-Kanah,
concerning the kabbalistic meaning of the commandments, argue that
Jewish law and tradition can only be properly understood according to
the Kabbalah, and that both the philosophical and literalist
interpretations of Judaism are misguided. A similar sentiment is
expressed in the writings of Shem Tov ibn Shem Tov, who attacked the
philosophical teachings of Maimonides and blamed them for the growing
trend of Jewish conversion to Christianity in Spain in the late 14th
century.

Kabbalistic literary activity began to decline in Spain during the
15th century leading up to the expulsion of the Jews in 1492. Though
there were important kabbalists still living in Spain during the mid to
late 15th century, such as Joseph Alcastiel, Judah Hayat, Joshua ben
Samuel ibn Nehmias, Shalom ben Saadiah ibn Saytun and others, many began
to migrate even before the expulsion.

The exile of the Spanish Jewish community facilitated the spread of
Kabbalah to many centers around the Mediterranean. In Italy there were
active schools of kabbalists in the late 15th century including Reuben
Zarfati, Jonathan Alemano and Judah Messer Leon, who undoubtedly had an
impact on the development of Christian Kabbalah by Giovanni Picco della
Mirandola. In North Africa during the late 15th and early to mid 16th
centuries, Abraham Sabba, Joseph Alashkar, Mordecai Buzaglo and Shimon
ibn Lavi were active teachers and writers.

By the late 1530’s, Safed had become the most important center in the
world for kabbalists. Joseph Karo, a Spanish exile who grew up in the
vibrant Jewish communities of Adrinopol and Salonika in Greece and
became one of the most prominent rabbinic figures of all time, moved to
Safed in 1536. There he composed his legal code, the Shulkhan Arukh, and
served as the head of the Beit Din, or Jewish court. Karo was also a
accomplished kabbalist who recorded a series of visions and revelation
that he received from a maggid or angelic voice in a work entitled
Maggid Meisharim. Solomon ben Moses Alkebetz, the author of the famous
Jewish liturgical poem Lekha Dodi, sung on Friday nights during the
Kabbalat Shabbat service, along with his son-in-law and pupil Moses ben
Jacob Cordevero, also moved from Greece to Safed around this time.
Cordevero, who studied with Karo, went on to have an enormously
productive career as both a teacher and a writer. He composed extensive
systematic presentations of kabbalistic ideas, such as his Pardes
Rimmonim, a multi-volume commentary on the Torah entitled Or Yakar, and
many other books. He also attracted as his students a number of
individuals who would go on to have a tremendous impact on the spread of
Kabbalistic ideas to the broader Jewish public, including Abraham
ha-Levi Berukhim, Abraham Galante, Smauel Gallico, Mordechai Dato,
Eliezer Asikri, and Elijah de Vidas.

Isaac Luria

Though he spent only a few years in the city of Safed before his
death at a young age in 1572, Isaac Luria had an enormous impact on the
community of Safed kabbalists that permanently transformed the history
of Jewish mysticism. Luria studied briefly with Cordevero when he
arrived in Safed in 1570, but after the latter’s death about six months
later, Luria quickly became the preeminent kabbalist of the community.
Luria’s meteoric rise was not by virtue of his impressive literary
production, since Luria seems to have written little if anything on
Kabbalah at that time. Rather, the force of his impact on the kabbalists
of Safed was through his charismatic personality and the depth and
creativity of his ideas, which he taught orally. Not long after Luria’s
death, hundreds of stories of his spiritual powers, his ability to
perform magical wonders, to determine the origin of a person’s soul or
“soul root,” to read a persons fate by the lines on their forehead and
other such miraculous tales began to circulate, testifying to the kind
of impression Luria made on the imagination of the community. Despite
the fact that Luria wrote very little, his teachings were quickly spread
to the broader Jewish community through the writings of his disciples
who studied with him during the time he was in Safed. Luria’s students,
especially Hayim Vital, went on to write voluminous compositions based
on their master’s teachings. These writings quickly spread Lurianic
Kabbalah throughout the Jewish communities of North Africa and Europe.

Luria’s kabbalistic teachings were often presented as interpretations
of the Zohar, though his symbolism of the ten sefirot becomes
significantly more complex with multiple levels and permutations. Luria
expanded upon a number of important elements already present in one form
or another in Zoharic Kabbalah, such as the coming of the Messiah, the
process of creation through tzimtzum or divine self-contraction,
shevirat ha-kelim or the “shattering of the vessels” that took place at
certain stage in the process of creation, the tikkun or restoration of
divine light or “sparks” through Jewish actions and religious practice,
and kavvanah or mystical intention necessary for the proper practice of
mitzvoth and prayer. Like the Zohar itself, Luria’s Kabbalah contains
bold and complex imagery regarding the inner dynamics of the divine
realm of the sefirot, and the potential for Jewish actions to rectify –
or destroy – the order of the universe in its relation to God.

Shabbtai Zvi

By the middle of the 17th century, Kabbalah, especially in the form
spread the disciples of Isaac Luria, was widely disseminated throughout
the Jewish world. The strong messianic inclination of Lurianic thinking,
coupled with a number of traumatic political events – most notably the
Chmielnicki massacres of 1648, which destroyed hundreds of Jewish
communities throughout eastern Europe and killed many thousands –
contributed to the vast popularity of the messianic movement that
developed around the charismatic figure Shabbetai Zevi. Born in Ismir to
a wealthy merchant family in 1626, Zevi distinguished himself early in
life as a gifted student. He was also an avid kabbalist known for his
bold tendency to pronounce the divine name, the Tetragrammaton, aloud.
He also, according to the historical accounts, seems to have been
afflicted with severe manic depression, and during his manic phases he
would engage in bizarre deliberate violations of the commandments,
including in one instance, marrying himself to a Torah scroll. In the
spring of 1665 Shabbetai Zevi arrived in Gaza, where he met Nathan of
Gaza, a charismatic kabbalist and renowned healer of the soul. Both
quickly became convinced that Zevi was the messiah, and soon won over
many of the local rabbis in Palestine and Jerusalem. Letter and writings
by Nathan of Gaza, Abraham Miguel Cardozo, and other quickly began to
circulate, in which they employed kabbalistic symbolism to argue that
the Messiah had arrived in the person of Shabbetai Zevi. As the news
spread to the Jewish communities of Europe traumatized by disaster and
primed for messianic redemption in the form of a grand kabbalistic
tiqqun, the Sabbatian movement gained many adherents, including a number
of highly respected rabbis. In the summer of 1666 Zevi was brought
before the Turkish Sultan. The historical accounts of what exactly
happened in that meeting are unclear, but the result is certain-
Shabbtai Zevi converted to Islam. This devastating disappointment
brought the movement to a catastrophic end, with most of Zevi’s
followers abandoning the hopes they had placed in him. For some,
however, the conversion of their Messiah was regarded as a profound
kabbalistic mystery that simply needed time to unfold. The followers of
Shabbtai Zevi who continued to believe in his messianic identity
generally held their belief in secret, and are referred to as crypto
Sabbatians. This group developed a complex system of kabbalistic
explanation of the life and actions of Shabbetai Zevi. Adherents to the
Sabbatian doctrine persisted for several generations, and some exist
until today in small numbers. Another small group of Jews at the time of
Zevi’s conversion converted to Islam themselves, creating a secret sect
known as the Donmeh, who outwardly practiced Islam, but secretly
preserved a form of Sabbatian kabbalah.

18th Century Kabbalah and The Rise of Hasidism

After the Sabbatian debacle in the late 17th century, kabbalists
became more conservative in the way they discussed and wrote about their
mystical ideas, in particular with regard to messianic speculation.
Most focused their attention on reconciling the details of Lurianic
Kabbalah with the Zohar, and the interpretation of works by earlier
authorities. 18th century kabbalistic circles in Ashkenazi lands
included Bezalel b. Solomon of Slutsk, Berachiah Berakh Spira, Hayyim b.
Menahem Zanzer (d. 1783), and Moses b. Hillel Ostrer (from Ostrog; d.
1785). In Lithuania, Elijah ben Solomon Zalman of Vilna, also known as
the Vilna Gaon, was a towering rabbinic authority and Kabbalist. In the
Sephardic Jewish communities, Hayyim ha-Kohen of Aleppo and Elijah
ha-Kohen ha-Itamari of Smyrna and many others were active kabbalists who
wrote extensively. Kabbalah played an important role in the religious
life of Jewish communities in Yemen and Kurdistan through the works of
such figures as Shalom b. Joseph Shabasi and Joseph Zalah.

An intriguing school of kabbalists developed in Jerusalem in the mid
18th century at the Beit El yeshiva under the leadership of the Yemenite
kabbalist Shalom Mizrahi Sharabi, who focused on Lurianic Kabbalah,
with a particular emphasis on contemplative prayer. Members of the Bei
El yeshiva, which continued to be active for two hundred years until it
was destroyed by an earthquake in 1927, dedicated themselves to rigorous
regimens of prayer and study. Sharabi and his school came to be
recognized as the main authorities of Kabbalah for Jews living in the
Muslim world, and Sharabi himself acquired a reputation as a kabbalist
almost on a par with Isaac Luria. Some of the most important kabbalists
from the Beit El yeshiva include Abraham Azulai of Marrakesh (d. 1741),
Abraham Tobiana of Algiers (d. 1793), Shalom Buzaglo of Marrakesh (d.
1780), Joseph Sadboon of Tunis (18th century), Jacob Abi-Hasira (d.
1880); Sasson b. Mordecai Shandookh (1747–1830) Joseph Hayyim b. Elijah
(d. 1909).

Israel Baal Shem Tov and the Rise of Hasidism

In the middle of the 18th century a new social phenomenon in the
Jewish world began to take root in Poland-Lithuania, centered around the
kabbalistic traditions and teaching of Israel b. Eliezer Ba’al Shem
Tov, also know as the Besht. The Hasidic movement, as it came to be
called, emphasized a democratic religious ideal wherein spiritual
achievement is attainable through sincerity, piety and joyful worship.
That is not to say that the movement did not have an intellectual
component was well – thousands of Hasidic books and treatises were
composed in the first few generations of the movement, most of which are
infused with kabbalistic motifs and images. As the Hasidic movement
gained wide popularity in eastern Europe throughout the 18th and 19th
centuries, many elements of the Kabbalah became widely known to the
general Jewish public, and Hasidic masters would often incorporate
kabbalistic symbols into their sermons and teachings for their
communities.

Starting in Podolye, the Besht became famous as a magical healer and
wonder-worker – the name “Baal Shem Tov” means “Master of the Good Name”
and related to the kabbalistic notion of the power of divine names.
Some of his most influential students included Jacob Joseph of
Polonnoye, who wrote Toledot Ya’akov Yosef in1780 which was the first
written articulation of Hasidism, and Dov Baer of Mezhirech, who became
the leader of the second generation of Hasidic Rabbis after the death of
the Besht in 1760. Dov Ber’s followers included some who would go on to
become renowned leaders of Hasidic communities and authors of important
Hasidic works, such as Shneur Zalman of Lyady, Levi Isaac of Berdichev,
Aaron (the Great) of Karlin, and Samuel Shmelke Horowitz. Some Hasidic
Rabbis became the heads of dynasties that grew over time to include
thousands of followers. Some groups still active today, such as Chabad
Lubavitch and Breslov, continue to spread their kabbalistically infused
teachings to broader Jewish audiences.

Kabbalah in the 20th and 21 Centuries

In addition to the many Hasidic Rabbis and desciples of the Beit El
yeshiva who remained active into the 20th century, individuals such as
Yehudah Ashlag and his disciple and brother-in-law Yehudah Zevi
Brandwein continued to develop and spread knowledge about kabbalistic
texts and ideas. Ashlag, who was born in Warsaw but moved to Jerusalem
in 1920, composed many important texts and commentaries on the works of
earlier kabbalists, including the famous Ma’alot ha-Sullam (1945–60)
commentary and translation of the Zohar in 22 volumes, completed by his
brother-in-law after his death. Brandwein also wrote commentaries on the
works of Moses Cordevero and Isaac Luria, as well as a complete library
of Lurianic Kabbalah in 14 volumes. Abraham Isaac Kook, the founding
thinker of religious Zionism, was also and avid kabbalists who sought to
apply his mystical teaching in social and political action.

In the late 1960’s Philip Berg, born Shraga Feivel Gruberger in
Brooklyn, New York, traveled to Jerusalem where he studied with Yehudah
Zevi Brandwein. Berg began to open institutes for the study and teaching
of Kabbalah, first in Tel Aviv, followed by many more branches
throughout the United States and Europe. The branches of Berg’s
institute came to be known as The Kabbalah Center, with its main
headquarters in Los Angeles, where a number of American celebrities,
most notably Madonna, have become associated with the movement. Bergs’
main goal in developing The Kabbalah Center is to spread kabbalistic
ideas in ways that are comprehensible and practical in everyone’s daily
life. Critics of The Kabbalah Center have argued that Berg’s movement is
nothing more than a cynical ploy to profit financially by selling a
form of New Age spirituality under the guise of genuine historical
Kabbalah to an unsuspecting public. Sales in books, classes, online
tutorials, “Kabbalah water,” and red string bracelets bring are a
multi-million dollar money maker for The Kabbalah Center. Today the
center is co-directed by Berg’s sons, Yehudah and Michael Berg.