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The Kabbalah

By Adolphe Franck

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Summary of Contents

PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION--Sossnitz

PREFACE TO THE GERMAN TRANSLATION OF THE FIRST FRENCH EDITION--Jellinek

FOREWORD TO THE SECOND FRENCH EDITION--Franck

PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR--Franck

Importance of the Kabbalah. Etymology and Orthography of the word Kabbalah. Difference between Kabbalah and Masorah. Influence of the Kabbalah.

 

History of the study of the Kabbalah. Moses Cordevero. Isaac Luria. Richard Simon. Burnet. Huttingen. Wolf. Basnage. Bartolocci. Buddeus. Brucker. Abraham Cohen Herrera. Raymond Lullus. Ars Magna. Pico de la Mirandolo. Reuchlin. Joseph of Castile (Gikatilla). Abraham ben Dior (David). Descent of the Pythagorean doctrine from the Kabbalah. Summary contents of the book "De Verbo Mirifico." Cornelius Agrippa. De Occulta Philosophia. Postel. Pictorius. Paul Ricci. Leo the Hebrew. De Coelesti Agricultura. Joseph Voysin. Kircher. Knorr von Rosenroth. "Kabbalah Denudata." George Wachter. Moses Germanus. The book "Spinozism in Judaism." Elucidarius Cabalisticus. Old and New Kabbalists.

 

Metaphysical character of the Kabbalah. Brucker. Johann Frederick Kleuker. Tiedemann. Tennermann. M. Freistadt. Tholuck. Diverse conceptions of the Kabbalah. Tendency of the author.

INTRODUCTION

The Kabbalah is neither Philosophy nor Religion. Position of the Kabbalah among other products of the human mind. Religion or Revelation. Tradition. Belief in Authority. Reason. Rational

Theology. Mystics. Gerson.

Belief in Tradition and in Authority. Reasoning and Mysticism in Christianity. Mohammedanism and Judaism. Origenes. Jacob Boehm. Sunnism. Chiism. Motecallemim. Mutazilahs. Karmates. Mishnah. Talmud. Karaites. Saducees. R. Saadia. Abraham ibn Ezra. R. Bachye. Moses Maimonides. Philo. Method of Procedure.

PART ONE

CHAPTER I--The Antiquity of the Kabbalah.

Contentions of the followers of the Kabbalah. Reuchlin. Pico de la Mirandola. Tanaim. Amoraim. Gemara. Talmud. Story of the Creation (‏???? ??????‎). Story of the Chariot (‏???? ?????‎) . Metatron. Names of God. Maimonides' view. Editing of the Mishnah. R. Akkiba. Simeon ben Yohai. R. Josi of Zipporis. Joshua ben Hananyah. R. Eliezer ha-Godel. Onkelos, his Aramaic translation. Memra. At Bash. Age of the Kabbalah.

Essenes. Josephus. Philo.

CHAPTER II--The Kabbalistic Books. Authenticity of the Sefer Yetzirah.

Sefer ha-Bahir. The two chief works of the Kabbalah. Sefer Yetzirah mentioned in the Talmud. Editing of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud.

Proofs of the authenticity of the Sefer Yetzirah from the book itself. Practical Kabbalah. The designation "Body" in the Sefer Yetzirah. Words of foreign origin.

Another proof of the age of the Sefer Yetzirah. Interpolations. Manuscripts. Mantua edition. Saadia's translation and commentary. The designation of Abraham: Friend of God. Khalil Allah. Abraham as author of the Sefer Yetzirah. Moses Votril. R. Akkiba as author of the Sefer Yetzirah. Proof to the contrary. The assumption that there have been two Sefer Yetzirahs. Morinus. Isaac de Lattes. Results of the investigation.

CHAPTER III--Authenticity of the Zohar.

Characteristics of the Zohar. Views on the age and origin of the Zohar. Abraham ben Solomon Zacuto. Gedalyah. Testing the views. Simeon ben Yohai's abode in the cave. Names and facts in the Zohar which must have been unknown to Simeon ben Yohai. Moses de Leon also can not be the author of the Zohar. The language of the Zohar as criterion. Moses de Leon counterfeited the Zohar. Neither Christianity nor its founder is mentioned in the Zohar. The Sefiroth not an imitation of the Aristotelian categories. Ideas and expressions of the Zohar are found before the thirteenth century. Saadia. Hieronymus. Similarity of the Kabbalah with Syrian Gnosticism.

Refutation of the hypothesis that the Kabbalah was patterned after the Arabo-mystic philosophy. De la Nouze. Tholuck. Main points in Arabic mysticism. Difference of this from the Kabbalistic system.

The foundation of the Zohar was laid by Simeon hen Yohai. Further development. Proofs. Fragments from the Zohar. Idra Rabba. Idra Zutah. There is often not the least connection between the Biblical texts and the explanations in the Zohar. The Zohar accepted as standard. Description of the death of R. Simeon ben Yohai. Further proofs. The contents of the Zohar are known by tradition before its publication. The teachers of the Zohar move in the first seven centuries of the Christian era. Refutation of two objections. The Talmud knows the spheric shape of the earth. Anatomical knowledge of the Zohar. The Jews were compelled to study anatomy. Concluding remarks.

PART TWO

CHAPTER I--The doctrine contained in the Kabbalistic Books. Analysis of the Sefer Yetzirah. Comparison of the Sefer Yetzirah with the Bible.

CHAPTER II--Analysis of the Zohar. Allegorical method of the Kabbalists. Gematria. Nutrikon. Temurah.

CHAPTER III--Continuation of the analysis of the Zohar. The Kabbalists' conception of the Nature of God.

Metaphysical and Poetical representation. Description of the Divine Greatness. The Celestial Man. Ayn-Sof. The ten Sefiroth. Fundamental principles. Adam Kadmon. Faces. Different conceptions of the Sefiroth. Explanation of the Sefiroth. Division of the Sefiroth into three classes. The King and the Queen. Figures of the Sefiroth. Canals. Unsuccessful creation. Sexual difference. Masculine and Feminine Principle. Shells. God must be present in the creation.

CHAPTER IV--Continuation of the analysis of the Zohar. The Kabbalists' view of the world. Creation. The universe is complete; nothing in it is absolutely bad. Symbolical conception. Celestial alphabet. Physiognomics. Four protofaces. Demonology and Angelology.

CHAPTER V--Continuation of the Analysis of the Zohar. Views of the Kabbalists on the Human Soul. Man according to Genesis. The Talmud on Man. View of the Zohar on Man. Man as the sum and substance of the entire creation. Threefold nature of Man. The idea of the body. Yehida. Haya. Life. The Celestial Man. Male and Female Souls. Pre-existence. Predestination. Metempsychosis. Migration of the Soul according to Hieronymus. Pregnancy. The inner and outer countenance. Love and Fear. Song of Songs. Gerson. Fenelon. The fall of the first man. The Zohar knows of no original sin. Explanation of the nakedness of the first human beings. Isaac Luria. Elements of the Kabbalah.

PART THREE

CHAPTER I--Systems which offer some resemblance to the Kabbalah. Relation of the Kabbalah to the philosophy of Plato.

CHAPTER II--Relation of the Kabbalah to the Alexandrian School.

The Kabbalah originates in Palestine. Rabbinical institutions and the most famous Talmudists are unknown to the Alexandrian Jews. The Jews of Palestine have also no exact knowledge of the education of their Alexandrian brethren. Greek language and Greek knowledge. Greek knowledge is detested by the Talmudists and highly esteemed by the Kabbalah. Johanan ben Sakai. Gamaliel. Similarity between the Kabbalah and Neoplatonism. Animonius. Porphyrius. The Kabbalah can not descend from the Alexandrians.

CHAPTER III--Relation of the Kabbalah to the doctrine of Philo.

Philo not mentioned by the Jewish writers of the Middle Ages. Component parts of the Philonic doctrine. Confirmation. Cosmogony. Theology. Angelology. Anthropology. Doctrine of human liberty. Moral teachings. Conclusions as to the origin of the Kabbalah. The Septuagint. Jesus Sirach. The Book of Wisdom.

CHAPTER IV--Relation of the Kabbalah to Christianity.

The principles of the Kabbalah are older than the Christian dogmas. The Kabbalah has led many to Christianity. Simon Magus. Elxai. Bardasanos. Codex Nazareus. Basillides and Valentine. The origin of the Kabbalah must be looked for somewhere else.

CHAPTER V--Relation of the Kabbalah to the religion of the Chaldeans and Persians.

Chronological investigations into the influence of the Parsees upon the Jews. Influence of Parseism upon Judaism. Parallel between the Zoroastrian doctrine and the metaphysical principles of the Kabbalah. Sabbatai Zevi. Zoharites. Hassidim. Progress of the Kabbalah beyond the theology of the Zend Avesta. The loosening of religious fetters in Alexandria. Influence of the Kabbalah upon the Hermetic and Mystic philosophy. Results of the investigation.

APPENDIX

Bibliographic notices on the Zohar. Editions of the Zohar. Elements of the Zohar. Translations of the Zohar.

INDEX