KABBALAH (or Kabbdlah, Qabbalah, Hebr. from he received) signifies "reception" or "doctrines received by tra dition," applied originally to the Prophets and Hagiographa as opposed to the Pentateuch (cf. T. B. Rosh hash-Sheinah 19a ; C. Taylor, Sayings, etc. Cambridge, ed. 2, 1897, pp. 106-114 : G. F. Moore, Judaism, i. 87, 239, Cambridge, Harvard, 1927). The term sometimes included the oral traditions embodied in the Mishnah and was finally applied to a group of hidden doctrines dealing with the nature of the Deity and His relation to the world. A later, commoner name is in, the initials of nr;c91 nwt7, or hidden wisdom, which form the word in, or grace. The Kabbalistic sys tem, as now known, goes back to the 11th or 12th centuries but its claims to a much greater antiquity are probably well founded. The germ of the Kabbalah of the Geonim (see GAoN) may be traced to sayings and beliefs mentioned in the Talmud and known to have existed among gnostics and followers of Pythagoras.
The purpose of the Kabbalah was to connect a finite universe with an infinite God, to account for the existence of evil and to achieve perfection in life. Kabbalism questions and even denies the creatio ex nihilo and declares that God, being boundless Ceti so f, ecrapos) cannot be known : He may be understood by the expedient of negative attributes. Yet Kabbalism may be de scribed as a reaction of immanence against transcendance and, in fact, the Kabbalists attained a mystic communion which, by its occasionally exaggerated anthropomorphisms, seems at times fantastic. It was just this use of anthropomorphism that at tracted mediaeval Christianity and correspondingly alarmed mediaeval Judaism. None the less the influence of Kabbalism on Judaism was great and lasting; it was not antinomian, for Joseph Caro (1488-1545), the author of the last and most generally accepted code of Canon law (Shullzan 'Allah), was a prominent Kabbalist of Safed.
The mysteries of deity and cosmogony were linked : both were esoteric. The total restriction of these speculations and their
limitation to students of mature age are discussed in T.B. Hagigah 13a (see p. 55 of A. W. Streane's Chagigah, Camb., 1891) : they are clearly indicated at an earlier date in Ecclesiasticus (Hebr.
21 sqq.) of which the recently-discovered Hebrew original bears marked resemblances to Genesis Rabba viii. (edit. J. Theodore, Berlin, 1903, p. 58), thus showing the connection in thought. If the etymology of Essene (q.v.) is to be sought in 'mon (Hebr., secret or silent), an additional source of esoteric wisdom is suggested.
Emanations.—The relation of the infinite to the finite is achieved by the Kabbalah through the means of emanations, pro ceeding from the Deity as rays from a luminary. The Deity being incomprehensible through His infinity and the act of creation involving finite acts, such as intention, wish and activity—all of which are finite—some voluntary action on the part of the 'en sof must be predicated. The desire to become known and to create is coeternal with the Deity and this produced the first and the successive emanations. These emanations are called by vari ous terms, Aziluth (rn`niti, from Num. xi., 7) or Hashpdah. The former stage includes the ten Sefiroth, which are a detailed de velopment of Aziluth. The etymology of Sefirah is still disputed but crOdipais more probable than Sappir (brilliance or sapphire) and \Fliq (he counted). The ten Sefiroth form a unity of pro gressive or associated qualities and are named :—the Crown, Wisdom, Intelligence, Love, Justice, Beauty, Firmness, Splendour, Foundation and the Kingdom. As an example of hymns on the Spheres remaining in the liturgy, cf. MN 'N (S. Singer's Author ized Daily P.B., annotated ed., pp. 129 and cxliii. : M. Gaster, P.B. vol. i., p. Oxf., 1901 : on origin see I. Davidson, Thesaurus, vol. i., No. 3,320, p. 155, New York, 1924). As man is created in the Divine image, it is possible to argue from the known to the unknown.