Table Of ContentStudies in the Zohar
SUNY Series in Judaica:
Hermeneutics, Mysticism, and Religion
Michael Fishbane, Robert Goldenberg, and Arthur Green, Editors
Studies in the Zohar
Yehuda Liebes
Translated from the Hebrew
by
Arnold Schwartz, Stephanie Nakache, Penina Peli
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
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© 1993 State University of New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Liebes, Yehuda.
Studies in the Zohar / Yehuda Liebes ; translated from the Hebrew
by Arnold Schwartz, Stephanie Nakache, Penina Peli.
p. cm. — (SUNY series in Judaica)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7914-1189-3. - ISBN 0-7914-1190-7 (pbk.)
1. Zohar. 2. Cabala—History. 3. Messiah—Judaism—History of
doctrines—Middle Ages, 600-1500. 4. Cabala and Christianity.
I. Title. II. Series
BM525.A59L54 1993
296.1'6-dc20 91-36469
CIP
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 31
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Contents
Preface vii
1 The Messiah of the Zohar: On R. Simeon
bar Yohai as a Messianic Figure 1
2 How the Zohar Was Written 85
3 Christian Influences on the Zohar 139
Notes 163
Bibliography 245
Sources 249
Indices 251
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Preface
Sefer ha-Zohar, "The Book of Splendour," the fundamental book of
Kabbala and a world-renowned masterpiece, has been subject to a
great deal of investigation. As a student I fell in love with the Zohar
on first sight, and I was sure that I would not let go of it for many
years to come. But, convinced that the major problems concerning this
book had already been solved, I decided, with the advice and guidance
of the late Professor Gershom Scholem, to delve into details of the
Zohar, the product of which was my doctoral dissertation "Sections
of the Zohar's Lexicon." As I was working on this, I started to have
the feeling, which grew stronger and stronger, that the hitherto
completed research had missed much of the essential nature of the
Zohar and failed to explain what was behind its magic. The research
had concentrated on theoretical questions, neglecting other aspects,
precisely those which gave Kabbala its special character.1
Therefore, I wrote the long article "The Messiah of the Zohar,"2
which deals with the figure of the hero of the book, R. Simeon b. Y)hai.
In this piece I strove to demonstrate that the "literary framework"
of the Zohar, previously dealt with only for proving its unhistoricity,
is essential for understanding the "content" of the book and is
inseparably interwoven with it. I also contend that through the figure
of R. Simeon the author of the Zohar tells us a great deal about himself
and his self-consciousness. A decade afterwards I advanced further
in this direction and wrote the article "How the Zohar was Written,"3
in which I proved, contrary to prior scholarly opinion, that the Zohar
was not written by a single person. It was, rather, the product of a
whole mystical circle, not unlike the circle R. Simeon described in it.
This largely accounts for the special character of the book.
This text contains these two articles as well as a third,
"Christian Influences on the Zohar."4 Some chapters from "The
vn
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Vlll PREFACE
Messiah of the Zohar" are omitted here, namely those dealing with
ancient sources for the Zohar, and a chapter dealing with the way
later Kabbalists grasped the Idra parts of the Zohar and the figure
of R. Simeon b. Yohai. These Kabbalists, with whom the omitted
chapter deals, are R. Moses Cordovero, R. Isaac Luria (Ha-Ari), R.
Moses Luzzato, and R. Nahman of Bratslav.
All the articles were written, and originally published, in
Hebrew. The Hebrew versions include more philological and linguistic
details, which I found to be unnecessary for the non-reader of Hebrew,
for whom this volume is intended. "The Messiah of the Zohar" was
translated by the late Mr. Arnold Schwarz, for an intended volume
of the Israel Academy of Science and Humanities. Mrs. Devora
Gamelieli worked on the English version of this article. "How the
Zohar Was Written" was translated by Mrs. Stephanie Nakache.
"Christian Influences" was translated, in an abridged form, by Mrs.
Penina Peli, and was published, in this form, elsewhere.5 For this
volume this translation was completed by Mrs. Nakache. The index
was prepared by Mr. Haggay Rosmarin.
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1
The Messiah of the Zohar:
On R. Simeon bar %hai as a Messianic Figure
Gershom Scholem maintains that the history of the Kabbala ought
to be divided into two periods, each distinguished by a different
attitude toward the idea of redemption.1 In the first period, up to the
expulsion from Spain, historical and national redemption was not in
the forefront of Kabbalistic concerns. "The medieval Kabbalists,,,
Scholem writes, believed more in "a personal, mystical redemption
which signified the individual's escape from history to a time before
history" than in a messianic hope focused on the end of days.2 The
Lurianic Kabbala, on the other hand, is concerned primarily with
cosmic tikkun (restoration, perfection), and consequently also with
national tikkun, a process that is to culminate at the end of days.3
According to Scholem, the Zohar's approach does not differ in this
regard from that of the medieval Kabbalists.4 He also maintains that
the Messiah in classical Kabbala—though this would not be true of
Shabbateanism—has no active role to play in effecting the tikkun, but
merely symbolizes by his advent the end of a process that took place
before his arrival.5
Scholem's distinctions are basically correct. In this chapter,
however, I wish to show that their validity must be restricted to only
part of the literature of classical Kabbala. It has become apparent
to me after further study that the Zohar contains two strata which
must, for our purposes, be distinguished from one another: that
comprising the majority of the Zoharic material, and that of the Idrot?
Scholem's assertions hold for the former; I maintain, however, that
the concern of the latter is primarily messianic. I shall try to prove
that the messianic element within the Idrot already bears within itself
the seeds of later Kabbalistic thought: we find in it an interesting
and unique amalgam of mystical redemption and cosmic tikkun which
signifies not the return of the world to what it once had been, but
a messianic process establishing an unprecedented state. I shall also
try to show that the Idra presents a messianic figure who is actively
engaged in the process of the world's tikkun. While he is not the
1
