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Kabbalah or Qabalah ( / kəˈbɑːlə, ˈkæbələ / kə-BAH-lə, KAB-ə-lə; Hebrew: קַבָּלָה, romanized : Qabbālā, lit. 'reception, tradition') [1] [a] is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. [2] A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( מְקוּבָּל, Məqūbbāl, 'receiver'). [2]
1. : a medieval and modern system of Jewish theosophy, mysticism, and thaumaturgy marked by belief in creation through emanation and a cipher method of interpreting Scripture. 2. a. : a traditional, esoteric, occult, or secret matter. b. : esoteric doctrine or mysterious art. kabbalism. ˈkä-bə-ˌli-zəm. ˈka- noun. kabbalistic. ˌkä-bə-ˈli-stik. ˌka-
Cabalistic things are mysterious. If a group of people wearing purple robes walk by chanting, you could say they're cabalistic. Cabalistic is a way of saying “secretive or mysterious." A book of ancient, mystical texts would be considered cabalistic.
- Overview
- Spanish Kabbala
- Lurianic Kabbala
Kabbala, (Hebrew: “Tradition”) esoteric Jewish mysticism as it appeared in the 12th and following centuries. Kabbala has always been essentially an oral tradition in that initiation into its doctrines and practices is conducted by a personal guide to avoid the dangers inherent in mystical experiences. Esoteric Kabbala is also “tradition” inasmuch as it lays claim to secret knowledge of the unwritten Torah (divine revelation) that was communicated by God to Moses and Adam. Though observance of the Law of Moses remained the basic tenet of Judaism, Kabbala provided a means of approaching God directly. It thus gave Judaism a religious dimension whose mystical approaches to God were viewed by some as dangerously pantheistic and heretical.
The earliest roots of Kabbala are traced to Merkava mysticism. It began to flourish in Palestine in the 1st century ce and had as its main concern ecstatic and mystical contemplation of the divine throne, or “chariot” (merkava), seen in a vision by Ezekiel, the prophet (Ezekiel 1). The earliest known Jewish text on magic and cosmology, Sefer Yetzira (“Book of Creation”), appeared sometime between the 3rd and the 6th century. It explained creation as a process involving the 10 divine numbers (sefirot; see sefira) of God the Creator and the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Taken together, they were said to constitute the “32 paths of secret wisdom.”
In the following century, the Sefer ha-temuna (“Book of the Image”) appeared in Spain and advanced the notion of cosmic cycles, each of which provides an interpretation of the Torah according to a divine attribute. Judaism, consequently, was presented not as a religion of immutable truths but as one for which each cycle, or eon, was said to have a different Torah.
Spain also produced the famous Sefer ha-zohar (“Book of Splendour”), a book that in some circles was invested with a sanctity rivaling that of the Torah itself. It dealt with the mystery of creation and the functions of the sefirot, and it offered mystical speculations about evil, salvation, and the soul.
Following their expulsion from Spain in 1492, the Jews were more than ever taken up with messianic hopes and eschatology, and Kabbala found wide favour.
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By the mid-16th century the unchallenged centre of Kabbala was Safed, Galilee, where one of the greatest of all Kabbalists, Isaac ben Solomon Luria, spent the last years of his life. According to Gershom Gerhard Scholem, a modern Jewish scholar of Kabbala, Luria’s influence was surpassed only by that of the Sefer ha-zohar. Lurianic Kabbala developed several basic doctrines: the “withdrawal” (tzimtzum) of the divine light, thereby creating primordial space; the sinking of luminous particles into matter (qellipot: “shells”); and a “cosmic restoration” (tiqqun) that is achieved by the Jew through an intense mystical life and unceasing struggle against evil. Lurianic Kabbalism was used to justify Shabbetaianism, a Jewish messianic movement of the 17th century.
Lurianic Kabbala also profoundly influenced the doctrines of modern Ḥasidism, a social and religious movement that began in the 18th century and still flourishes today in small but significant Jewish communities.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Kabbalistic definition: of or relating to the kabbalah. . See examples of KABBALISTIC used in a sentence.
Nov 6, 2022 · The iconic Kabbalstic “Tree of Life” is certainly the best known kabbalistic symbol. Complex graphical scrolls have been a genre of kabbalistic literature in their own right since the Renaissance, and that from the late seventeenth century such scrolls became an indispensable tool to Lurianic kabbalists.
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cabalistic. adjective. cab· a· lis· tic. ¦kabə¦listik, -ēk. 1. sometimes capitalized : belonging, according, or relating to the Jewish cabala. a cabalistic explanation of an Old Testament text. cabalistic asceticism. 2. : having an occult, mystical, or esoteric meaning : magic, mysterious. a few cabalistic words from our guide Herman Melville.
