Zohar

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Zohar

(др.-евр. זוהר – сияние)

Or Sohar. A compendium of Kabbalistic Theosophy, which shares with the Sepher Yetzirah the reputation of being the oldest extant treatise on the Hebrew esoteric religious doctrines. Tradition assigns its authorship to Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai, AD. 80, but modern criticism is inclined to believe that a very large portion of the volume is no older than 1280, when it was certainly edited and published by Rabbi Moses de Leon, of Guadalaxara in Spain. The reader should consult the references to these two names. In Lucifer (Vol. I., p. 141) will be found also notes on this subject : further discussion will be attainable in the works of Zunz, Graetz, Jost, Steinschneider, Frankel and Ginsburg. The work of Franck (in French) upon the Kabalah may be referred to with advantage. The truth seems to lie in a middle path, viz., that while Moses de Leon was the first to produce the volume as a whole, yet a large part of some of its constituent tracts consists of traditional dogmas and illustrations, which have come down from the time of Simeon ben Jochai and the Second Temple. There are portions of the doctrines of the Zohar which bear the impress of Chaldee thought and civilization, to which the Jewish race had been exposed in the Babylonish captivity. Yet on the other hand, to condemn the theory that it is ancient in its entirety, it is noticed that the Crusades are mentioned; that a quotation is made from a hymn by Ibn Gebirol, A,D. 1050; that the asserted author, Simeon ben Jochai, is spoken of as more eminent than Moses; that it mentions the vowel‐points, which did not come into use until Rabbi Mocha (AD. 570) introduced them to fix the pronunciation of words as a help to his pupils, and lastly, that it mentions ‐a comet which can be proved by the evidence of the context to have appeared in 1264. There is no English translation of the Zohar as a whole, nor even a Latin one. The Hebrew editions obtainable are those of Mantua, 1558; Cremona, 1560; and Lublin, 1623. The work of Knorr von Rosenroth called Kabbala Denudata includes several of the treatises of the Zohar, but not all of them, both in Hebrew and Latin. MacGregor Mathers has published an English translation of three of these treatises, the Book of Concealed Mystery, the Greater and the Lesser Holy Assembly, and his work includes an original introduction to the subject. The principal tracts included in the Zohar are : — “ The Hidden Midrash”, “The Mysteries of the Pentateuch”, “The Mansions and Abodes of Paradise and Gaihinnom”, “The Faithful Shepherd”, “The Secret of Secrets”, “Discourse of the Aged in Mishpatim” (punishment of souls), “The Januka or Discourse of the Young Man”, and “The Tosephta and Mathanithan”, which are additional essays on Emanation and the Sephiroth, in addition to the three important treatises mentioned above. In this storehouse may be found the origin of all the later developments of Kabbalistic teaching. [w.w.w.] (TG).

Zirkoff's own bibliography directs readers to BCW Vol. VII, p. 402, for complete data about the Hebrew text and its translations. (BCW 1:538).

“The Book of Splendour”. For a detailed discussion, de Zirkoff refers readers to Collected Writings, volume VII, pages 269-272. (BCW 3:539).

First printed in Hebrew at Mantua in 1558-1560. The bibliography surveys later editions and partial translations, including Knorr von Rosenroth’s Latin compilation, Mathers’s English selections and the five-volume Soncino English translation. (BCW 7:402).

Succinct information concerning it may be found in Vol. VII, pp. 269-71, of the present Series (BCW 9:461).

The bibliography refers the reader to comprehensive information in Vol. VII, pp. 269-71, 402. Consult also the detailed Bibliography on the Zohar and Commentaries thereon in Dr. Gerhard Scholem, Bibliographia Kabbalistica. Leipzig: W. Drugulin, 1927, pp. 166 et seq (BCW 11:596).

Some links:

• Quotes: H. P. Blavatsky, Zirkoff, Boris
• CTD article in Russian: Зоар
• Wikipedia: Zohar

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Shortly: Or Sohar. A compendium of Kabbalistic Theosophy, which shares with the Sepher Yetzirah the r...