Front Matter (PDF) - Stanford University Press

thought, Rabbi Isaac spun an elaborate mythos in which the se®rah
aggadic
at the dawn of time, welled forth emanations of pure din, (literally
Binah,
but resulting in absolute forces of destruction, whose intensity
``judgment,''
them to almost immediate annihilation). From the residue of these
doomed
forces rose a hierarchy of powers of unmitigated judgment. Possessingno
destructive
creative potency of their own, these forces are ontologically dependent
divinity and are energized by the power released by human transgression.
upon
of their fascination with myths of the demonic realm, this group
Because
characterized by Gershom Scholem as the ``Gnostic Circle'' of Castilian kabbalists.
was
Their writings had great in¯uence in the further development of kabba-
thought. They are the most immediate predecessors of the circle of kabbalistlistic
represented in the Zohar. The mythic imagination of the Zohar, reaching
its greatest heights in depicting the realms of evil, has its roots in this setting.
to
is likely that Rabbi Moses de LeoÂn, the central ®gure in both the writing and
It
circulation of the Zohar, saw himself as a disciple of these ``Gnostic'' kabbalists.
the
Rabbi Todros Abula®a, a kabbalist who also served as an important
leader of Castilian Jewry, is another important link between these two
political
Although signi®cant in their own day, the writings of the Gnostic circle
groups.
mostly forgotten by later generations of kabbalists and were not printed
were
Scholem himself retrieved them from rare survivingmanuscripts.
until
is another difference between Catalonian and Castilian circles that is
There
important for understandingthe Zohar's place in the history of
especially
The earliest kabbalists were fascinated with the origin of the se®rotic
Kabbalah.
devotingmuch of their speculation to the highest se®rot and their re-
world,
to that which lies beyond them. They were also deeply committed to
lationship
full unity of the se®rotic world, even to its circularity, so that the risingof
the
the se®rot to be united with the highest one was a frequently articulated goal
all
contemplation. Varied patterns of inner connection in the upper worlds
of
re¯ected in the kavvanot (mystical directions) of prayers and in understandings
were
of ritual commandments, but the ultimate goal of all of these was the
restoration of the divine unity and the rise of all to the highest rung,
full
as maḥashavah or haskel (contemplation, intellect). The situation was
designated
different in the Castilian writings. Here the emphasis was placed on the
quite
part of the se®rotic world, especially on the relationships between ``right''
lower
``left'' and ``male'' and ``female.'' The counterbalancingof demonic energies
and
the strengthening of the right-hand power of divine love, and this could
needed
awakened by human love of God and performance of the commandments.
be
as these writings developed, it was fascination with the sexual mysteries,
But
in the joiningtogether of divine male and female, that overwhelmed
re¯ected
other symbolic interests. The unitingof the male sixth/ninth se®rot with the
all
tenth became the chief and in some places almost unique object of
female
and way of explainingthe religious life as a whole. This mysterium
concern
Introduction
xxxix
coniunctionis or zivvuga qaddisha lies at the very heart of Zoharic teaching.