KABBALAH - Selected Writings. Bernhard Pick

shall no more pass the watery ways;

      In the dread lightning parching earth shall blaze,

      Ogygian rivers seek to flow in vain.

      Unutterable woe the trumpet blast,

      Re-echoing through the ether, shall forecast.

      "Then Tartarus shall wrap the world in gloom,

      High chiefs and princes shall receive their doom,

      Eternal fire and brimstone for their tomb.

      "Crown of the world, sweet wood, salvation's horn,

      Rearing its beauty, shall for man be born,

      O wood, that Saints adore, and sinners scorn!

      So from twelve fountains shall its light be poured;

      Staff of the Shepherd, and victorious sword."

      We may also state that words of those verses which are regarded as containing a peculiar recondite meaning are ranged in squares in such a manner as to be read either vertically or boustrophedonally beginning at the right or left hand. Again the words of several verses are placed over each other, and the letters which stand under each other are formed into new words. This is especially seen in the treatment of three verses in Exod. xiv. 19-21 (each containing 72 letters), which are believed to contain the three Pillars of the Sephiroth and the Divine Name of seventytwo words. Now, if these three verses be written out one above the other, the first from right to left, the second from left to right, and the third from right to left, they will give 12 columns of three letters each. Then each column will be a word of three letters, and as there are 72 columns, there will be 72 words of three letters, each of which will be the 72 names of the Deity. By writing the verses all from right to left, instead of boustrophedonally, there will be other sets of 72 names obtainable. The reader who is interested in these niceties will find ample information in Bartolocci, Bibliotheca Magna Rabbinicia, IV, pp. 230 ff.

      3. Temurah or permutation.—According to certain rules, one letter is substituted for another letter preceding or following it in the alphabet, and thus from one word another word of totally different orthography may be formed. Thus the alphabet is bent exactly in the middle, and one half is put over the other; and then by changing alternately the first letter or the first two letters at the beginning of the second line, twenty-two permutations are produced. These are called the "Table of the Combinations of Tziruph."

      For example's sake we give the method called Albath, thus:

      A B G D H V Z Ch T Y K L Th Sh R Q Tz P Ay S N M

      The method abgath is thus exemplified:

      A G D H V Z Ch T Y K L B Th Sh R Q Tz P Ay S N M

      The names of the twenty-two permutations are: Albath, Abgath, Agdath, Adbag, Ahbad, Avba, Azbav, Achbaz, Atbach, Aibat, Achbi, Albach, Ambal, Anbam, Asban, Aaybas, Afba, Azbaf, Akbaz, Arbak, Ashbar, Athbash. To these must be added as (23) Abgad; (24) Albam.

I will only remark that by the system called Athbash, it is found that the word Sheshhach in Jer. xxv. 26 is the same as Babel, and that Jerome is said to have confidently applied this system.22

      Besides these canons the Cabala also sees a recondite sense in the form of the letters, as well as in the ornaments which adorn them. The more multifarious these trifles, the easier it is to arrive in every given case at a result, and the less wit or thought is required.

Although the canons mentioned above are already applied in the Talmud and Midrash, the Cabalists made a more copious use of them. The names of God became a special object of their fancy. With them they imagined they could accomplish everything and perform miracles, heal the sick, extinguish the fire, etc. The most miraculous effects were ascribed to the Tetragrammaton. Whoever was in possession of the true pronunciation of that name could enter in relation with the upper world and receive revelations. Each letter of the sacred name was considered as something mysterious. The letter Y (of YHVH) referred to the father as creator (abba) and H to the mother (imma). Because the letter H occurred twice, they distinguished an upper and a lower mother. The permutation of the letters of the Tetragrammaton brought about a multitude of new divine names which, either spoken or written, influenced the course and laws of nature. As was the case with the name of God consisting of four letters, so it was with that consisting of twelve, twenty-two, forty-two and seventy-two letters. All were believed to contain great mysteries.23 The names of angels were treated in like manner. Thus the Cabalists greatly misused the Old Testament, especially the Thora. And, as says Professor Wiinsche, by making the Bible a text-book to elicit deeper ideas, the greatest nonsense and rubbish came to light. The so-called hidden mysteries and revelations were nothing but fancies whirling in the heads of the Cabalists. The exegetical literature of the Cabala clearly proves that its representatives had completely lost the sense for a suitable understanding of the words of scripture.24

1 Rabbi Azariel in his commentary on the ten Sephiroth tells us that "the En Soph can neither be comprehended by the intellect, nor described in words; for there is no letter or word which can grasp him." With this compare what Proclus, the neo-Platonist, says in his Theology of Plato, II, 6: "Although the Divinity is generally called the unity (to eV) or the first, it would be better if no name were given him; for there is no word which can depict his nature—he is the inexpressible, the unknown. Isaac ibn Latif (1220-1290) even says "God is in all, and everything is in God."

2 This must not be confounded with "the Aged of the Aged" as the En Soph is called.

3 When the Concealed of the Concealed wished to reveal himself, he first made a single point; the Infinite was entirely unknown, and diffused no light before this luminous point violently broke through into vision." (Zohar, I, 15a.)

4 So called by Rabbi Azariel.

5 He flourished in the first half of the twelfth century and is the author of a treatise on the Emanations (Massecheth Aziluth) reprinted by Jellinek in his Auswahl Kabbalistischer Mystik, Part I. Leipsic, 1853.

6 Graetz, Gnosticismus und Judentum, 1846, p. 44, derives the word from Atera Opovov, because this angel is immediately under the divine throne. Cassel (Ersch and Gruber's Encyklop'ddie, section II, vol. XXVII, s. v. "Juden," p .40, note 84) derives it from metator, i. e., "messenger, outrider, pathfinder." Wunsche also connects it with ticT&rwp. According to the Zohar, I, 126&, Metatron is the first creature of God; the middle pillar (in the essence of God) or the uniting link in the midst, comprising all grades, from top downwards, and from the bottom upwards (ibid.. Ill, 127a) ; the visibly manifested Deity (ibid., Ill, 231a).

7 Zohar, III, 48a.

8 Zohar, II, 70b.

9 Compare Book of Wisdom, VIII, 20; Josephus, Bell. Jud., II, 12, speaks of the Essenes as believing in a pre-existence of the soul. Philo's views are given in his De somniis, I, 642; De gigaiitibus, I, 263 f.

10 According to Josephus (Antiq., XVIII, 13; Bell. Jud., II, 8, 14) it would seem as if the Pharisees held the doctrine of the metempsychosis, but see Schurer, Geschichte des judischen Volkes, vol. II (3d ed., 1898) p. 391;