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An Introduction to the Study of the Kabalah
By William Wynn Westcott
PREFACE
Students of literature, philosophy and religion who have any sympathy with the Occult Sciences
may well pay some attention to the Kabalah of the Hebrew Rabbis of olden times; for whatever faith
may be held by the enquirer he will gain not only knowledge, but also will broaden his views of life
and destiny, by comparing other forms of religion with the faith and doctrines in which he has been
nurtured, or which he has adopted after reaching full age and powers of discretion.
Being fully persuaded of the good to be thus derived, I desire to call attention to the dogmas of the
old Hebrew Kabalah. I had the good fortune to be attracted to this somewhat recondite study, at an
early period of life, and I have been able to spare a little time in subsequent years to collect some
knowledge of this Hebrew religious philosophy; my information upon the subject has been enlarged
by my membership of The Rosicrucian Society. Yet the Kabalistic books are so numerous and so
lengthy, and so many of them only to be studied in Rabbinic Hebrew and Chaldee that I feel to-day
less confident of my knowledge of the Kabalah than I did twenty years ago, when this essay was
first published, after delivery in the form of lectures to a Society of Hermetic Students in 1888. Since
that date a French translation of "The Zohar," by Jean de Pauly, and a work entitled "The Literature
and History of the Kabalah," by Arthur E. Waite, have been published, yet I think that this little
treatise will be found of interest to those who have not sufficient leisure to master the more
complete works on the Kabalah.
The Old Testament has been of necessity referred to, but I have by intention made no references to
the New Testament, or to the faith and doctrines taught by Jesus the Christ, as the Saviour of the
world: if any desire to refer to the alleged reference in the Kabalah to the Trinity, it will be found in
the Zohar ii., 43, b.: and an English version of the same in "The Kabbalah," by C. D. Ginsburg.
WM. WYNN WESTCOTT, M.B., etc.
THE KABALAH
It must be confessed that the origin of the Kabalah is lost in the mists of antiquity; no one can
demonstrate who was its author, or who were its earliest teachers. Considerable evidence may be
adduced to show that its roots pass back to the Hebrew Rabbis who flourished at the time of the
Second Temple about the year 515 B.C. Of its existence before that time I know of no proofs.
It has been suggested that the captivity of the Jews in Babylon led to the formation of this
philosophy by the effect of Chaldean lore and dogma acting on Jewish tradition. No doubt in the
earliest stages of its existence the teaching was entirely oral, hence the name QBLH from QBL to
receive, and it became varied by the minds through which it filtered in its course; there is no proof
that any part of it was written for centuries after. It has been kept curiously distinct both from the
Exoteric Pentateuchal Mosaic books, and from the ever-growing Commentaries upon them, the
Mishna and Gemara, which form the Talmud. This seems to have grown up in Hebrew theology
without combining with the recondite doctrines of the Kabalah. In a similar manner we see in India
that the Upanishads, an Esoteric series of treatises, grew up alongside the Brahmanas and the
Puranas, which are Exoteric instructions designed for the use of the masses of the people.
With regard to the oldest Kabalistic books still extant, a controversy has raged among modern
critics, who deny the asserted era of each work, and try to show that the assumed author is the only
person who could not have written each one in question. But these critics show the utmost
divergence of opinion the moment it becomes necessary to fix on a date or an author; so much
more easy is destructive criticism than the acquirement of real knowledge.
Let us make a short note of the chief of the old Kabalistic treatises.
The "Sepher Yetzirah" or "Book of Formation" is the oldest treatise; it is attributed by legend to
Abraham the Patriarch: several editions of an English translation by myself have been published.
This work explains a most curious philosophical scheme of Creation, drawing a parallel between the
origin of the world, the sun, the planets, the elements, seasons, man and the twenty-two letters of
the Hebrew alphabet; dividing them into a Triad, a Heptad and a Dodecad; three mother letters A,
M, and Sh are referred to primeval Air, Water and Fire; seven double letters are referred to the
planets and the sevenfold division of time, etc.: and the twelve simple letters are referred to the
months, zodiacal signs and human organs. Modern criticism tends to the conclusion that the
existing ancient versions were compiled about A.D. 200. The "Sepher Yetzirah" is mentioned in the
Talmuds, both of Jerusalem and of Babylon; it was written in the Neo-Hebraic language, like the
Mishna.
The "Zohar" or" Sohar" spelled in Hebrew ZHR or ZUHR "The Book of Splendour" or of "Light," is a
collection of many separate treatises on the Deity, Angels, Souls and Cosmogony. Its authorship is
ascribed to Rabbi Simon ben Jochai, who lived A.D. 160; he was persecuted and driven to live in a
cave by Lucius Aurelius Verus, co-regent with the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Some
considerable portion of the work may have been arranged by him from the oral traditions of his time:
but other parts have certainly been added by other hands at intervals up to the time when it was first
published as a whole by Rabbi Moses de Leon, of Guadalajara in Spain, circa 1290. From that time
its history is known; printed Editions have been issued in Mantua, 1558, Cremona, 1560, and
Lublin, 1623; these are the three famous Codices of "The Zohar" in the Hebrew language. For those
who do not read Hebrew the only practical means of studying the Zohar are the partial translation
into Latin of Baron Knorr von Rosenroth, published in 1684 under the title of "Kabbala Denudata";
and the English edition of three treatises,--"Siphra Dtzenioutha" or "Book of Concealed Mystery";
"Ha Idra Rabba," "Greater Assembly"; and "Ha Idra Suta," " Lesser Assembly," translated by S. L.
MacGregor Mathers. These three books give a fair idea of the tone, style and material of the Zohar
but they only include a partial view: other tracts in the Zohar are :--Hikaloth--The Palaces, Sithre
Torah--Mysteries of the Law, Midrash ha Neelam--The secret commentary, Raja Mehemna--The
faithful shepherd, Saba Demishpatim,--The discourse of the Aged--the prophet Elias, and Januka--
The Young man; with Notes called Tosephta and Mathanithan.
In course of publication there is now a French translation of the complete Zohar, by Jean de Pauly:
this is a most scholarly work.
Other famous Kabalistic treatises are :-- "The Commentary on the Ten Sephiroth," by Rabbi Azariel
ben Menachem, 1200 A.D. ; "The Alphabet" of Rabbi Akiba; " The Gate of Heaven" ; the "Book of
Enoch"; "Pardes Rimmonim, or Garden of Pomegrantes"; "A treatise on the Emanations"; "Otz ha
Chiim, or The Tree of Life" of Chajim Vital; "Rashith ha Galgulim, or Revolutions of Souls" of Isaac
de Loria; and especially the writings of the famous Spanish Jew, Ibn Gebirol, who died A.D. 1070,
and was also called Avicebron, his great works are "The fountain of life" and "The Crown of the
Kingdom."
The teaching of the Kabalah has been considered to be grouped into several schools, each of which
was for a time famous. I may mention :--The School of Gerona, 1190 to 1210, of Rabbi Isaac the
Blind, Rabbis Azariel and Ezra, and Moses Nachmanides. The School of Segovia of Rabbis Jacob,
Abulafia (died 1305), Shem Tob (died 1332), and Isaac of Akko. The School of Rabbi Isaac ben
Abraham Ibn Latif about 1390. The School of Abulafia (died 1292) and Joseph Gikatilla (died 1300);
also the Schools of "Zoharists" of Rabbis Moses de Leon (died 1305), Menahem di Recanti (died
1350), Isaac Loria (died 1572) and Chajim Vital, who died in 1620. A very famous German Kabalist
was John Reuchlin or Capnio, and he wrote two great works, the "De Verbo Mirifico," and "De arte
Cabalistica."
In the main there were two tendencies among the Kabalists: the one set devoted themselves
entirely to the doctrinal and dogmatic branch: the other to the practical and wonder-working aspect.
The greatest of the wonder-working Rabbis were Isaac Loria, also called Ari; and Sabatai Zevi, who
curiously enough became a Mahommedan. Both of these departments of Occult Rabbinic lore have
their living representatives, chiefly scattered individuals; very rarely groups of initiates are found. In
Central Europe, parts of Russia, Austria and Poland there are even now Jews, known as Wonder-
working Rabbis, who can do strange things they attribute to the Kabalah, and things very difficult to
explain have been seen in England, at the hands of students of Kabalistic rites and talismans.
The Rabbinic Commentaries, many series deep, overlaying each other, which now exist in
connection with the old treatises form such a mass of Kabalistic lore as to make it an almost
impossible task to grasp them; probably no Christian nor Jew in this country can say what doctrines
are not still laid up in some of the old manuscript works.
The Dogmatic or Theoretical Kabalah indicates philosophical conceptions respecting the Deity,
Angels and beings more spiritual than man; the human Soul and its several aspects or parts;
concerning pre-existence and re-incarnation and the several worlds or planes of existence.
The Practical Kabalah attempts a mystical and allegorical interpretation of the Old Testament,
studying each phrase, word and letter; it teaches the connection between letters and numbers and
the modes of their inter-relation; the principles of Gematria, Notaricon, and Temura; the formation
and uses of the divine and angelic names as Amulets; the formation of Magic Squares; and a vast
fund of allied curious lore, which subsequently formed the basis of Mediaeval Magic.
For those who do not wish to read any Kabalistic work as a whole, but rather to glean a general
view of this philosophy, there are now three standard works; two are in English; one by Dr. C.
Ginsburg, 1865, a formal and concise résumé of the doctrines; the other, an excellent book, "The
Doctrine and Literature of the Kabalah," by Arthur E. Waite, 1902; and one in French by Adolph
Franck, 1889, which is more discursive and gives fewer details.
Many points of the teaching of Indian systems of religious philosophy are not touched on by the
Hebrew system, or are excluded by differences of a fundamental nature: such as the Cosmogony of
other Worlds, unless the destroyed Worlds of Unbalanced Force refer to these; the inviolability of
law, as Karma, is not a prominent feature; Reincarnation is taught, but the number of re-births is
limited generally to three.
Some small part of the Kabalistic doctrine is found in the Jewish Talmud, but in that collection of
treatises there is some grossness that is absent from the true Kabalah; such are the theories of the
debasement of men into animal forms; and of men to be re-born as women, as a punishment for
earthly sins in a previous life.
It must be remembered that many points of doctrine are limited to the teachings of but a few Rabbis;
and that the differences between the earliest and latest doctrines on a given point are sometimes
very great, as is shown by a comparison of the Books of the Rabbis of different eras and schools.
Some of the Kabalistic teaching has also never been printed nor published, and has been handed
down even to this day from master to pupil only: there are some points not found in any Hebrew
book, which I myself have taught in the Rosicrucian Society and in Hermetic Lodges. An attentive
study of some of these old mystical Hebrew books discloses the existence of intentional "blinds,"
which appear to have been introduced to confine certain dogmas to certain students fitted to receive
them, and to preserve them from promiscuous distribution and so from misuse by the ignorant or
vicious.
Two or three centuries have now passed since any notable addition to the body of Kabalistic
doctrine has been made, but before that time a long succession of commentaries had been
produced, all tending to illustrate or extend the philosophical scheme.
As already said, when the Kabalah first took shape as a concrete whole and a philosophic system,
may remain for ever an unknown datum, but if we regard it, as I believe is correct, as the
Esotericism of the religion of the Hebrews, the foundation dogmas are doubtless almost as old as
the first promulgation of the main principles of the worship of Jehovah.
I cannot now attempt any glance at the contentions of some doubting scholars, who question
whether the story of the Twelve Tribes is a historic fact, or whether there ever were a Moses, or
even a King Solomon. It is sufficient for the present purpose that the Jewish nation had the
Jehovistic theology and a system of priestly caste, and a coherent doctrine, at the time of the
Second Temple when Cyrus, Sovereign of all Asia, 536 B.C., holding the Jews in captivity,
permitted certain of them to return to Jerusalem for the express purpose of reestablishing the
Hebrew mode of worship which had been forcibly interfered with by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 B.C.
After this return to Jerusalem it was that Ezra and Nehemiah, circa 450 B.C., edited and compiled
the Old Testament of the Hebrews, or according to those who deny the Mosaic authorship and the
Solomonic régime, it was then that they wrote the Pentateuch.
The renewed worship maintained until 320 B.C., when Jerusalem was captured by Ptolemy Soter,
who, however, did not destroy the foundations of the Jewish religion; indeed his successor, Ptolemy
Philadelphus, caused the Hebrew scriptures to be revised and translated into Greek by Seventy-two
scholars, about 277 B.C.; this has been known for centuries as the Septuagint version of the Old
Testament.
Further Jewish troubles followed, however, and Jerusalem was again taken and pillaged by
Antiochus in 170 B.C. Then followed the long wars of the Maccabees; subsequently the Romans
dominated Judea, then quarrelling with the Jews the city was taken by Pompey, and not long after
was again plundered by the Roman general Crassus in 54 B.C. Yet the Jewish religion was
preserved, and we find the religious feasts and festivals all in progress at the time of Jesus; yet
once more in A.D. 70, was the Holy City taken, plundered and burnt, and that by Titus, who became
Emperor of the Romans in A.D. 79.
Through all these vicissitudes, the Hebrew Old Testament survived, yet must almost unavoidably
have had many alterations and additions made to its several treatises; the more Esoteric doctrines
which were handed down along the line of the priestly caste, and not incorporated with the Torah
offered to the people, may no doubt have been repeatedly varied by the influences of contending
teachers.
Soon after this period was framed the first series of glosses and commentaries on the Old
Testament books, which have come down to our times. Of these the earliest are the volume called
the "Targum of Onkelos" on "The Law," written about A.D. 100, and that of Jonathan ben Uzziel on
"The Prophets."
About A.D 141 there first came into note the now famous treatise written by the Rabbis of Judah,
called "Mishna," and this formed the basis of those vast compilations of Hebrew doctrine called the
"Talmud," of which there are two extant forms, one compiled at Babylon-the most notable, and the
other associated with Jerusalem. To the original "Mishna" the Rabbis added further commentaries
named "Gemara." From this time the literature of Judaism grew apace, and there was a constant
succession of notable Hebrew Rabbis who published religious treatises, until at least A.D. 1500.
The two Talmuds were first printed at Venice in 1520 and 1523 respectively.
The Old Testament books were the guiding light through the ages of the Jews, but the learned
Rabbis were not satisfied with them alone, and they supplemented them by two parallel series of
works of literature; the one, Talmudic, being commentaries based upon Thirteen Rules of Argument
delivered by Moses to illustrate the Old Testament, and supply material for teaching the populace;
and the other a long series of treatises of a more abstruse character, designed to illustrate their
Secret Doctrines and Esoteric views. The Sepher Yetzirah, and the Zohar or Book of Splendour
represent the kernel of that oral instruction which the Rabbis of the olden times prided themselves
upon possessing, and which they have even claimed as being "The Secret Knowledge" which God
gave to Moses for the use of the priests themselves, in contradistinction to the Written Law intended
for the masses of the people.
One of the principal conceptions of the Kabalah is that spiritual wisdom is attained by Thirty-two
Paths, typified by the Ten numbers and the Twenty-two letters; these Ten again being symbols of
the Divine Emanations, the Sephiroth, the Holy Voices chanting at the Crystal Sea, the Great Sea,
the Mother Supernal, Binah; and of the Twenty-two occult forces of the Nature of the Universe
symbolised by the Three primary Elements, the Seven Planets, and the Twelve Zodiacal influences
of the heavens, which tincture human concerns through the path of our Sun in its annual course. I
have given the names and definitions of the Thirty-two Paths at the end of my Edition of the" Sepher
Yetzirah."
Now to show the close connection between the Kabalah and orthodox Judaism, we find the Rabbis
cataloguing the Books of the Old Testament into a series of Twenty-two (the letters) works to be
read for the culture of spiritual life; this Twenty-two they obtained from the Thirty-nine books of the
O.T. Canon, by collecting the twelve minor prophets into one treatise; Ruth they added to Judges;
Ezra to Nehemiah; while the two books each of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, they called one
each. The Canon of Thirty-nine works was fixed in the time of Ezra.
Returning to the books which illustrate the Kabalah, whatever may be the authenticity of their
alleged origins, it cannot be denied that those ancient volumes, Sepher Yetzirah and Zohar, contain
a system of spiritual philosophy of clear design, deep intuition and far-reaching cosmologic
suggestions; that are well worthy of the honour of receiving a special name and of founding a
theological body of doctrine,--The Kabalah.
The bulwark and main foundation of the public Hebrew religion has always been the Pentateuch,
five treatises attributed to Moses, which proclaim the Laws of Jehovah given to his chosen people.
The Old Testament beginning with these five books is further continued by historic books, by
poetical teachings and by prophetic works, but many portions are marked by materialistic
characteristics and a lack of spiritual rectitude which the books of a Great Religion might be
expected to display, and they even offend our present standard of moral life.
The Mosaic Law, eminently valuable for many purposes to a small nation 3,000 years ago, and
containing many regulations of a type showing great attention to sanitary matters, is yet marred by
the application of penalties of gross cruelty and harsh treatment of erring mortals, which are hardly
compatible with our modern views of what might have emanated from God the personal Creator of
this Universe with its million worlds; and the almost entire absence of any reference to a life after
death for human beings shows a materialism which needed a new Revelation by Jesus, whose life
has earned the title of "Christ." Yet the orthodox of England hear this statement with incredulity, and
if asked to show the passages in the Old Testament which insist on a life after death, or on a
succession of lives for purposes of retribution, or the passages demonstrating the immortality of the
soul, they could not produce them, and are content to refer you to the clergy, whose answer
generally is, "If not plainly laid down, these dogmas are implied." But are they? If they are, how is it
that notably clear passages can be quoted which show that important authors in the Old Testament
make statements in direct opposition to these doctrines? And how is it, again, that a great author of
modern times has said, "Prosperity was the blessing of the Old Testament for good works, but
adversity that of the New"? This could only be true if there were no future life or lives, or no coming
period of reward and punishment contemplated by the Old Testament doctrine.
But the comment is true and the Old Testament does teach that man is no more immortal than the
beast, as witness Ecclesiastes, iii. 19 :--"For that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts;
even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea they have all one breath; so
that man hath no pre-eminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the
dust, and all turn to dust again. . . . Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a
man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall
be after him?" Who, indeed, except his own Ego, Soul or Higher Self.
But perhaps this book is from the pen of some obscure Jew, or half pagan Chaldee or Babylonian.
Not at all: Jewish critics have all assigned it to Solomon, who was the King of the Jews at the time
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