KABBALAH - Selected Writings. Bernhard Pick

as the twenty-two letters yield two hundred and thirty-one types by combining Aleph (i. e., the first letter) with all the letters, and all the letters with Beth (i e., the second letter), so all the formations and all that is spoken proceed from one name" (ch. II, 4). To illustrate how these different types are obtained we will state that by counting the first letter with the second, the first letter with the third and so on with all the rest of the alphabet, we obtain 21 types; by combining the second letter with the third, fourth, etc., we get 20 types; the third letter combined with the fourth, etc., yields 19 types; finally the twenty-first combined with the last letter yields 1 type. In this way we get as the Hebrew table shows:

      21+20+19+18+17 + 16 + 15 + 14 + 13+ 12 + 11 + 10+9+8+7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1=231; or

      ab ag ad ah av az ach at ai ak al am an as etc. bg bd bh bv bz bch bt bi bk bl bm bn bs etc. gd gh gv gz gch gt gi gk gl gm gn gs etc. dh dv dz dch dt di dk dl dm dn ds etc. hv hz hch ht hi hk hi hm hn hs etc.

The infinite variety in creation is still more strikingly exhibited by permutations, of which the Hebrew alphabet is capable, and through which an infinite variety of types is obtained. Hence the remark: ''Two letters form two houses, three letters build six houses, four build twenty-four, five build a hundred and twenty houses, six build seven hundred and twenty houses;14 and from thenceforward go out and think what the mouth cannot utter and the ear cannot hear" (IV, 4). A few examples may serve as illustration.

      Two letters form two houses, by using the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, a b, in the following manner:

      1 = ab

      2 = ba

      Three letters, a, b, g, build six houses, namely:

      1 = abg; 2 = agb; 3 = bag; 4 = bga;

      5 —gab; 6 = gba.

      Four letters, a, b, g, d," build twenty-four houses, viz.:

      1 = abgd 13 = gabd

       2 = abdg 14 = gadb

       3 = agbd 15 = gbad

       4 = agdb 16 = gbda

       5 = adbg 17 = gdab

       6 = adgb 18 = gdba

       7 = bagd 19 = dabg

       8 = badg 20 = dagb

       9 = bgad 21 = dbag

       10 = bgda 22 = dbga

       11 = bdag 23 = dgab

       12 = bdga 24 = dgba

      The Book of Creation closes with the statement : "And when Abraham our father had beheld, and considered, and seen, and drawn, and hewn, and obtained it, then the Lord of all revealed Himself to him, and called him His friend, and made a covenant with him and with his seed; and he believed in Jehovah, and it was computed to him for righteousness. He made with him a covenant between the ten toes, and that is circumcision; between the ten fingers of his hand, and that is the tongue; and He bound two-and-twenty letters on his tongue, and showed him their foundation. He drew them with water, He kindled them with fire, He breathed them with wind (air) ; He burnt them in seven; He poured them forth in the twelve constellations'' (ch. VI, 4).

Romantic Cosmology.—The examination of the contents of the Book of Jezirah proves that it has as yet nothing in common with the cardinal doctrines of the Cabala, as exhibited in later works, especially in the Zohar, where speculations about the being and nature of the Deity, the En Soph15 and the Sephiroth, which are the essence of the Cabala, are given.

      To the period of the Book of Jezirah belongs the remarkable work which in the Amsterdam edition of 1601 is entitled: "This is the book of the first man, which was given to him by the angel Raziel." In this work the angel Raziel appears as the bearer and mediator of astrological and astronomical secrets, and shows the influence of the planets upon the sublunary world. To the same period belongs the Midrash Konen, a kind of romantic cosmology (newly translated into German by Wunsche in Israels Lehrhallen, III, Leipsic, 1909, pp. 170-201).

With the thirteenth century begins the crystallization of the Cabala, and Isaac the Blind (flourished 1190-1210) may be regarded as the originator of this lore. The doctrines of the Sephiroth16 taught in the Book Jezirah are further developed by his pupils, especially by Rabbi Azariel (died 1238), in his "Commentary on the Ten Sephiroth, by Way of Questions and Answers," an analysis of which is given in Jellinek's Beitragc cur Gcschichte dcr Kabbalah, Leipsic, 1852, Part II, p. 32 f.

      In this commentary Azariel lays down the following propositions :

      1. The primary cause and governor of the world is the En Soph (i. e., a being infinite, boundless), who is both immanent and transcendent.

      2. From the En Soph emanated the Sephiroth which are the medium between the absolute En Soph and the real world.

      3. There are ten intermediate Sephiroth.

      4. They are emanations and not creations.

      5. They are both active and passive.

      6. The first Sephirah is called "Inscrutable Height" (rum maalah) : the second, "Wisdom" (chokma) ; the third, "Intelligence" (binah) ; the fourth, "Love" (chesed) ; the fifth, "Justice" (pa-chad) ; the sixth, "Beauty" (tipheret) ; the seventh, "Firmness" (nezach) ; the eighth, "Splendor" (hod) ; the ninth, "the Righteous in the Foundation of the World" (zadik ye sod olam) ; and the tenth, "Righteousness" (zedaka).

      The first three Sephiroth form the world of thought; the second three the world of the soul ; and the four last the world of body—thus corresponding to the intellectual, moral and natural worlds.

      That Isaac the Blind must be regarded as "the Father of the Cabala," is acknowledged by some of the earliest and most intelligent Cabalists themselves. And the author of the cabalistic work entitled Maarechcth haelohuth, said to be a certain Perez of the second part of the thirteenth century, frankly declares that "the doctrine of the En Soph and the Ten Sephiroth is neither to be found in the Law, Prophets, or Hagiographa, nor in the writings of the Rabbins of blessed memory, but rests solely upon signs which are scarcely perceptible."

      Another remarkable book of this period is the Sepher Bahir, or Midrash of Nehunjah ben-haKanah. According to this work, long before the creation God caused a metaphysical matter to proceed, which became a fulness (mclo) of blessing and salvation for all forms of existence. The ten divine emanations, which are not yet called Sephiroth, but Maamarim and appear as categories endowed with creative power, are connected with the attributes (middoth) of God as well as with his fingers and other members.

      The doctrine of metempsychosis is already given here in its most important features. The work itself, though ascribed to Nehunjah is of much later date, because it speaks of the Hebrew vowels and accents. Only a part of the Bahir book has been published, first at Amsterdam, 1651; then again at Berlin, 1706. The greater part is still in manuscript in the libraries at Paris and Leyden.

The conversion of the famous Talmudist and scholar Moses Nachmanides17 (1194-1270) to the newly-born Cabala gave to it an extraordinary importance and rapid spread amongst his numerous followers. In the division of the synagogues caused by the writings of Maimonides, Nachmanides took the part of the latter, probably more on account of the esteem he felt for this great man than for any sympathy with his opinions. Maimonides intended to give Judaism a character of unity, but he produced the contrary. His aim was to harmonize philosophy and religion, but the result was a schism in the synagogue, which gave birth to this queer kind of philosophy called Cabala, and to this newly-born Cabala Nachmanides became converted, though he was at first decidedly adverse to this system.

      One day the Cabalist who was most zealous to convert him was caught in a house of ill-fame, and condemned to death. He requested Nachmanides to visit him on the Sabbath, the day fixed for his execution. Nachmanides reproved him for his sins, but the Cabalist declared his