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TALMUD

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transformation. briefly speaking, we come back to the wisdom of the emerald tablet which states,"as above so below. everything touches everything else; every action has its own reaction or consequence; there is a universal balance. according to qabalah, it is known that man is indeed the master of his own destiny, whereby he alone chooses his path and determines his fate. in the tradition of the talmud it states,"nothing is meant to be, for it is us who makes what is meant to be. these concepts alone, seen as a whole, should shed light upon the aspiring student of "making life conform to will. it is the right, or even the obligation if you will, of the occultist to maintain the balance of the universe. with this you may see a deeper concept on the difference between performing a ritual an

ALEISTER CROWLEY MEDITATION

d. the qualities are, for the layman, these five: thou shalt not kill. thou shalt not steal. thou shalt not lie. thou shalt not commit adultery. thou shalt drink no intoxicating drink. for the monk many others are added. the commandments of moses are familiar to all; they are rather similar; and so are those given by christ<talmud> in the "sermon on the mount" some of these are only the "virtues" of a slave, invented by his master to keep him in order. the real point of the hindu "yama" is that breaking any of these would tend to excite the mind. subsequent theologians have tried to improve upon the teachings of the masters, have given a sort of mystical importance to these virtues; they have insisted upon them for t

ALICE A BAILEY20 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME IV ESOTERIC HEALING

becomes in his inmost consciousness an italian, an american, a britisher, a german or a pole. this is not so at this time. the jewish problem will be solved by intermarriage; that of the negro will not. this will mean concession and compromise on the part of the orthodox jews not the concession of expediency but the concession of conviction. let me point out also that just as the kabbalah and the talmud are secondary lines of esoteric approach to truth, and materialistic in their technique (embodying much of the magical work of relating one grade of matter to the substance of another grade, so the old testament is emphatically a secondary scripture, and spiritually does not rank with the bhagavad-gita, the ancient scriptures of the east and the new testament. its emphasis is material and i

AN INTRO TO STUDY OF THE KABALAH

stence 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 co

d 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 ea

ament 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 wer

esembles an angel: to come down on earth a spiritual angel must put on a garment to be known or understood here, so the law must have clothed itself in a garment of words as a body for men to receive; but the wise look within the garments" at some periods both the ordinary jew and even christian fathers have made a somewhat similar declaration of a literal and a mystical meaning of scripture. the talmud in book "sanhedrin" remarks that manasseh king of israel asked whether moses could not relate something of more value than tales of timnah a concubine, and rachel with her mandrakes, and he is answered that there is a concealed meaning in these narrations. the christian father origen (a.d. 253, in his "homilies" wrote that everybody should regard these stories, the making of the world in si

BLAVATSKY H P ANTHROPOGENESIS

. they are entities who had already reached the "human stage" before this round. consequently, they form an exception to the general rule. the numberless traditions about satyrs are no fables, but represent an extinct race of animal men. the animal "eves" were their foremothers, and the human "adams" their forefathers; hence the kabalistic allegory of lilith or lilatu, adam's first wife, whom the talmud describes as a charming woman, with long wavy hair, i.e- a female hairy animal of a character now unknown, still a female animal, who in the kabalistic and talmudic allegories is called the female reflection of samael, samael-lilith, or man-animal united, a being called hayo bischat, the beast or evil beast (zohar. it is from this unnatural union that the present apes descended. the latter

mazda (fargard, xix. ii, who is also the creator of the tree (of occult and spiritual knowledge and wisdom) from which the mystic and mysterious caresma is taken. but the occult name of the bright god was never pronounced outside the temple. samael or satan, the seducing serpent of genesis, and one of the primeval angels who rebelled, is the name of the "red dragon" he is the angel of death, the talmud saying that "the angel of death and satan are the same" and, killed by michael, he is once more killed by st. george, who also is a dragon slayer; but see the transformations of this. samael is identical with the simoom, the hot wind of the desert, or again with the vedic demon of drought, as vritra "simoom is called atabutos" or- diabolos, the devil. typhon, or the dragon aphophis- the acc

adam the dual man, having separated himself from eve, creates in her "abel" the first natural woman* and sheds the virgin blood. now cain, being shown identical with jehovah, on the authority of the correct reading of verse i (chapter iv, genesis, in the original hebrew text; and the rabbins teaching that "kin (cain, the evil, was the son of eve by samael, the devil who took adam's place; and the talmud adding that "the evil spirit, satan, and samael, the angel of death, are the same-(babba battra, 16a- it becomes easy to see that jehovah (mankind, or "jah-hovah) and satan (therefore the tempting serpent) are one and[[footnote(s* dozens of the most erudite writers have sifted thoroughly the various meanings of the name j'hovah (with, and without the masoretic points, and shown their multif

ecting older opinions, than any other religious work, also a "compilation from old texts" or oral tradition- of the same or even a later age? in such case we should have to reject and call "apocryphal" the kuran- two centuries older, though we know it to have sprung, minerva-like, direct from the brain of the arabian prophet; and we should have to pooh-pooh all the information we can get from the talmud, which, in its present form, was also compiled from older materials, and is not earlier than the ix. century of our era. the curious "bible" of the chaldean adept, and the various criticisms upon it (as in the chwolsohn's translation, are noticed, because it has an important bearing upon a great portion of the present work[[footnote(s* annales de philosophie, june 1860, p. 415* april 30, 18

he great mother, the mother of ea and all the gods, which became, still later, the great dragon tiamat, the sea serpent. its last stage of development was the great struggle of bel with the dragon- the devil! whence the christian idea that god cursed the devil? the god of the jews, whomsoever he was, forbids cursing satan. philo judaeus and josephus both state that the law (the pentateuch and the talmud) undeviatingly forbid one to curse the adversary, as also the gods of the gentiles "thou shalt not revile the gods" quoth the god of moses (exodus xxii. 28, for it is god who "hath divided (them) unto all nations (deut. iv. 19; and those who speak evil of[[vol. 2, page] 478 the secret doctrine "dignities (gods) are called "filthy dreamers" by jude (8. for even michael the archangel durst no

he god of moses (exodus xxii. 28, for it is god who "hath divided (them) unto all nations (deut. iv. 19; and those who speak evil of[[vol. 2, page] 478 the secret doctrine "dignities (gods) are called "filthy dreamers" by jude (8. for even michael the archangel durst not bring against him (the devil) a railing accusation, but said "the lord rebuke thee (ibid 9. finally the same is repeated in the talmud "satan appeared one day to a man who used to curse him daily, and said to him 'why dost thou this' consider that god himself would not curse me, but merely said 'the lord rebuke thee, satan* this bit of talmudic information shows plainly two things (a) that st. michael is called "god" in the talmud, and somebody else "the lord; and (b) that satan is a god, of whom even the "lord" is in fear

t of the above sentence who their "christ" was. for jesus states repeatedly that he who "shall not receive the kingdom of god as a little child, he shall not enter therein; and if some of his sayings have been meant to apply to children without any metaphor, most of what relates to the "little ones" in the gospels, related to the initiates, of whom jesus was one. paul (saul) is referred to in the talmud as "the little one" that "mystery of the serpent" was this: our earth, or rather terrestrial life, is often referred to in the secret teachings as the great sea "the sea of life" having remained to this day a favourite metaphor. the siphrah dzeniouta speaks of primeval chaos and the evolution of the universe after a destruction (pralaya, comparing it to an uncoiling serpent "extending hithe

egarded as a divine symbol. when it is said "the (cosmic) serpent which runs with 370 leaps (siphrah dzeniouta, 33) it means the cyclic periods of the great tropical year (25,868 years, divided in the esoteric calculation into 370 periods or cycles, as one solar year is divided into 365 days. and if michael was regarded by the christians as the conqueror of satan, the dragon, it is because in the talmud this fighting personage is represented as the prince of waters, who had seven subordinate spirits under him- a good reason why the latin church made him the patron saint of every promontory in europe. in the kabala (siph. dzen) the creative force "makes sketches and spiral lines of his creation in the shape of a serpent" it "holds its tail in its mouth" because it is the symbol of endless e

BLAVATSKY H P COSMOGENESIS

-god" the once living hero and reformer. but there exists another book. none of its possessors regard it as very ancient, as it was born with, and is only as old as the black age[[footnote(s* rabbi jehoshua ben chananea, who died about a.d. 72, openly declared that he had performed "miracles" by means of the book of sepher jezireh, and challenged every sceptic. franck, quoting from the babylonian talmud, names two other thaumaturgists, rabbis chanina and oshoi (see "jerusalem talmud, sanhedrin" c. 7, etc; and "franck" pp. 55, 56) many of the mediaeval occultists, alchemists, and kabalists claimed the same; and even the late modern magus, eliphas levi, publicly asserts it in print in his books on magic[[vol. 1, page] xliv introductory. namely, about 5,000 years. in about nine years hence, t

same author to show the identity of symbols and their esoteric meaning all over the globe, which he calls rightly the "primordial vestiges of these symbols[[footnote(s[[footnote continued from previous page] good reasons why the sadducees, who furnished almost all the high priests of judea, held to the laws of moses and spurned the alleged "books of moses" the pentateuch of the synagogue and the talmud* once more, remember the hindu wittoba crucified in space; the significance of the "sacred sign" the swastica; plato's decussated man in space, etc, etc "source of measures[[vol. 1, page] 322 the secret doctrine "under the general view taken of the nature of the number forms. it becomes a matter of research of the utmost interest as to when and where their existence and their use first beca

the absolute all. the same system as the gnostic prevails in the sephirothal aspects of ain-soph, yet, as these aspects are in space and time, a certain order is maintained in their successive appearances. therefore, it becomes impossible not to take notice of the great changes that the zohar has undergone under the handling of generations of christian mystics. for, even in the metaphysics of the talmud, the "lower face (or "lesser countenance, the microprosopus, in fact, could never be placed on the plane of the same abstract ideal as the higher, or "greater countenance" macroprosopus. the latter is, in the chaldean kabala, a pure abstraction; the word or logos, or dabar (in hebrew, which word, though it becomes in fact a plural number, or "words- d(a)b(a)rim, when it reflects itself, or

atter- has now become, under theological handling "the seven rectors disobeying jehovah, self admiration generating satanic pride, followed by their fall, jehovah permitting no worship to be lost save upon himself" in short, the beautiful planet-angels, the glorious cyclic aeons of the ancients, became henceforward synthesized in their most orthodox shape in samael, the chief of the demons in the talmud "that great serpent with twelve wings that draws down after himself, in his fall, the solar system, or the titans" but schemal, the alter ego and the sabean type of samael, meant, in his philosophical and esoteric aspect, the "year" in its astrological evil aspect, its twelve months or wings of unavoidable evils, in nature; and in esoteric theogony (see chwolson in nabathean agriculture, vo

ith nagas- a sign of their cyclic and cosmic character[[vol. 1, page] 438 the secret doctrine "virtues of god" by the christians. the later explanation and metaphysical abstract qualifications have never prevented the roman and greek churches from worshipping these "virtues" under the personifications and distinct names of the seven archangels. in the book of druschim (p. 59, 1st treatise) in the talmud, a distinction between these groups is given which is the correct kabalistical explanation. it says "there are three groups (or orders) of sephiroth. 1st. the sephiroth called "the divine attributes (abstract. 2nd. the physical or sidereal sephiroth (personal- one group of seven, the other of ten. 3rd. the metaphysical sephiroth, or periphrasis of jehovah, who are the first three sephiroth

nto the lower deep (the ocean. this was twice eighty-two cyclic years ago" now a cyclic year is what we call a sidereal year, and is founded on the precession of the equinoxes, or 25,868 years each, and this is equal, therefore, in all to 4,242,352 years. more details will be found in the text of book ii. meanwhile, this doctrine is embodied in the "kings of edom* the same reserve is found in the talmud and in every national system of religion whether monotheistic or exoterically polytheistical. from the superb religious poem by the kabalist rabbi solomon ben gabirol in "the kether malchuth" we select a few definitions given in the prayers of kippur "thou art one, the beginning of all numbers, and the foundation of all edifices; thou art one, and in the secret of thy unity the wisest of me

very name, into demons and fallen angels, the greek ophites, the occultly inclined predecessors and precursors of the roman catholic church after its secession and separation from the primitive greek church, had identified michael with their ophiomorphos, the rebellious and opposing spirit. this means nothing more than the reverse aspect (symbolically) of ophis- divine wisdom or christos. in the talmud, mikael (michael) is "prince of water" and the chief of the seven spirits, for the same reason that his prototype (among many others) sanat-sujata[[footnote(s* siva-rudra is the destroyer, as vishnu is the preserver; and both are the regenerators of spiritual as well as of physical nature. to live as a plant, the seed must die. to live as a conscious entity in the eternity, the passions and

CHRONOLOGIA RORISPERGIUS

r )borrows extensively from the encyclopaedia of the brotherhood of purity. 1228 guilhem figueira troubadour's attack on the roman church in 23 stanzas "d'un sirventes far. 1229- 1241 gedei khan c.1230- 1292 guiraut riquier troubadour who survived the albigensian crusade. 1230-1284 alfonso x ruled spain, judeo-christian moslem atmosphere. kabbalah came into contact with christianity. kabbalistic, talmud texts translated into spanish. d. 1230 farid al-din al-'attar. mantiq al-tayr('the speech of the birds) 1230-1306 jacopone da todi franciscan joachite poet and leader 1231 first mention of alchemy in french literature- roman de la rose 1235-1310 arnold of villanova 1235-1310 r. solomon b. abraham adret, spain. teaches llull about kabbalah. 1235 robert grosseteste, bishop of lincoln, discuss

DAVID ICKE AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

racism and 126 .and the truth shall set you free "holocaust denial" at a time when "the voices of fascists are getting louder. it's all fear, fear, fear, control, control, control. many jewish people have also been programmed to see themselves as god's 'chosen people, above all the rest, and when you read some of the jewish literature and laws, they are incredibly racist, quite stunningly so. the talmud, the jewish book of law, contains among other little gems, the following "just the jews are humans, the non-jews are no humans, but cattle (kerithuth 6b, page 78, jebhammoth 61 "the non-jews have been created to serve the jews as slaves (midrasch talpioth 225 "sexual intercourse with non- jews is like sexual intercourse with animals (kethuboth 3b "the non-jews have to be avoided, even more

se they might be seen to be supporting the nazis. showing themselves to be against all racism is far less important to a robot radical than playing their silly political games on a black and white chessboard. so while new world order researchers are condemned as racists because they name some people who happen to be jewish (and far more who are not, nothing is said by the robot radicals about the talmud, the jewish book of law, which is among the most appallingly racist documents on the planet. there is silence, too, about rabbis who say they would never drink wine that had not been bottled by a jew. yet there would be vehement condemnation of someone who said they would never drink wine that had been bottled by a jew. the stench of hypocrisy fills the air. in the same way, there is silenc

DAVID ICKE CHILDREN OF THE MATRIX

omes, cathedrals, churches, and other buildings, including the british houses of parliament. seraph in the king james version of the bible is translated as "fiery serpent" and would seem to derive from the same root as the sumerian, seru, the name of a serpent in the epic of gilgamesh (the origin of the "noah" story, and sarpa, a sanskrit term for the indian reptilian "gods, the nagas. the jewish talmud forbids the depiction of the dragon, as it does the sun and the moon, both symbols of major anunnaki figures. a fragment of the hebrew dead sea scrolls, translated by the hebrew scholar, robert eisenman, includes a description of a "watcher" known as belial (an origin of the "sun gods" bel and baal. it calls him the "prince of darkness" and the "king of evil" and he is described as a being

en belial and balliol. certainly there is in spirit because balliol college, like oxford university in general, is an illuminati stronghold turning out future generations of placemen and women. early accounts by the gnostic sect (gnostic "knowledge) tell of the serpent gods in a positive light. they claim that lilith (eve) was their first creation and then adam followed as her partner. the hebrew talmud also claims that lilith, a vampire, was adam's first wife. this is symbolism, of course, but symbolising what? lilith (also lillibet and elizabeth) is one of the code names for the bloodlines on the female side to this day. she was known as lil to the sumerians and lilitu in babylon. hebrew traditions say that lilith rebelled against adam and his god and fled to a cave after eating her own

22 the words of jesus the words attributed to jesus are quotes from earlier "saviours" and deities. horus delivered a sermon on the mount in egyptian myth and the jesus version is simply sayings from earlier texts, like the books of enoch, weaved together into a narrative. several of the jesus parables came directly from buddhism and jainism. the "lord's prayer" derives from sayings in the jewish talmud and much older egyptian prayers to osiris" and earlier it was a prayer to the goddess, the giver of bread or the "grain mother.24 the marys mary is an ancient name for the goddess that miraculously gives birth to the saviour sun god. its forms include mari, meri, marratu, marah and mariham. on one level, these names relate to the sea, mer or mar, and "mary" represents the feminine, the moon

DAVID ICKE THE BIGGEST SECRET

he mere exception of two, or at most three, of the later kings.1686the consequences of all this for the people who have called themselves jewish, andfor humanity in general, have been quite appalling. the mosaic law, the law ofmoses, is the law of the levites- the law of the reptilian full-bloods and crossbreedsof the babylonian brotherhood. what it is not, is the law or word of god. the torahand talmud, both compiled overwhelmingly in and after their time in babylon, are amental bombardment of highly detailed laws governing every area of a persons life.theres no way that was given by god on the top of a mountain. the levites wrote itand then invented moses to hide this fact. other laws have been constantly added orrevised since, to cover all eventualities. the pages of these levite texts

ide this fact. other laws have been constantly added orrevised since, to cover all eventualities. the pages of these levite texts contain aconstant and sickening theme of extreme racism against non-judeans and the need toutterly destroy anyone who defies them- exactly the way manly hall described themethods of the black magic priests. they encourage murder and mayhem of everyconceivable kind. the talmud must be the most racist document on earth. here are justa few examples of the depth of its spiritual sickness:just the jews are humans, the non-jews are no humans, but cattle kerithuth 6b, page78, iebhammoth 61the non-jews have been created to serve the jews as slaves midrasch talpioth 225sexual intercourse with non-jews is like sexual intercourse with animals kethuboth 3bthe non-jews have

ians isnasrani and the muslim koran uses the term nasara or nazara. these originate with thehebrew word, nozrim, which derived from the term, nozrei ha-brit- the keepers ofthe covenant. the term, nozrei ha-brit, can be traced as far back as the alleged time ofsamuel and samson in the old testament. samuel was portrayed as the top man of thelevites and it was they who orchestrated this whole bible-talmud scam under thedirection of the babylonian brotherhood. the covenant is the freemasons great workof ages- the agenda for the takeover of the planet by the reptilians.the bloodlines, the chosen people of the gods, and the secret knowledge, aresymbolised as the vine and vineyards in the bible and countless other writings andpictures. the old testament speaks of the vine thou didst bring out of

DIABOLUS

be a son of satan, a manifestation of that very solar force within man and woman. in religious lore, samael who is the serpent or dragon, was said to have injected filth which spawned cain, his son in flesh- when the serpent mounted eve, he injected filth into her. israel who stood at mount sinai, their filth ceased; the other nations who did not stand at mount sinai, their filth has not ceased. talmud: b. shab. 146a aleister crowley made reference to cain and his mark of initiation, which some witches disagree with according to their tradition. to paraphrase: there is the legend of eve and the serpent, for cain was the child of eve and the serpent, and not of eve and adam; and therefore when he had slain his brother, who was the first murderer, having sacrificed living things to his demo

DICTIONARY GLOSSARY OF OCCULT TERMINOLOGY

e causal connection. luck is an example of synchronicity- t- talisman: a type of charm (q.v. any object, sacred or profane, with or without appropriate symbols, charged or consecrated toward the achieving of a specific end. for occultists today, a device that will draw something (health, money, wisdom, etc) toward the practitioner or wearer. tallit: a prayer shawl used by male jews during prayer. talmud: a huge commentary on the jewish law, or torah (q.v. tantra: sanskrit for "warp and woof of all creation" or "that which extends knowledge" a mystical philosophy from ancient india (and later tibet) which sees the physical world as spiritual. also, several books about tantrik philosophy. tantra centers on the great mother, shakti, as the fountain of all life. in the west, it is understood i

DION FORTUNE MYSTICAL QABALA

the famous tyrian mysteries must have profoundly influenced the hebrew esotericism. when we read of daniel being educated in the palaces of babylon we know that the wisdom of the magi must have been accessible to hebrew illuminati. 11. this ancient mystical tradition of the hebrews possessed three literatures: the books of the law and the prophets, which are known to us as the old testament; the talmud, or [page 4] collection of learned commentaries thereon; and the qabalah, or mystical interpretation thereof. of these three the ancient rabbis say that the first is the body of the tradition, the second its rational soul, and the third its immortal spirit. ignorant men may with profit read the first; learned men study the second; but the wise meditate upon the third. it is a strange thing

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

n in the wood. on certain days of the year the young women were sent there, blindfolded, and carrying a cake made of barley flour and honey. those who were innocent had their cakes eaten by the serpent, while the cakes of the others were refused. sources: waite, arthur edward. the occult sciences. 1891. reprint, secaucus, n.j: university books, 1974. alpiel an angel or demon who, according to the talmud, presides over fruit trees. alraun images shaped from the roots of mandrake (see mandragoras) or from ash or briony. the term was popular in germany, where it was also used to indicate a witch or a magician. an alraun had to be treated with great care because of its magical properties. it was wrapped or dressed in a white robe with a golden girdle, bathed every friday, and kept in a box, ot

chy nearest the throne of god, to which the mohammedan satan (eblis or haris) is supposed to have belonged; also azreal, the angel of death, and asrafil (probably the same as israfil, the angel of the resurrection. the examiners, moukir and nakir, are subordinate angels who are armed with whips of iron and fire, and interrogate recently deceased souls as to their lives. the parallel belief in the talmud is an account of seven angels who beset the paths of death. the koran also assigns two angels to every man.one to record his good and the other his evil actions. they are so merciful that if an evil action has been done, it is not recorded until the man has slept, and if at that time he repents, they place on the record that god has par- encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. an

this book is clearly one of the inspirations of the modern witchcraft revival launched by gerald b. gardner, and it has furnished some materials for the contemporary witches book of shadows, the ritual book used by modern witch covens. sources: leland, charles godfrey. aradia: gospel of the witches. 1899. reprint, new york: hero press, 1971. arael one of the spirits that the ancient rabbis of the talmud made princes and governors over the people of the birds. encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. arael 83 arariel according to the ancient rabbis of the talmud, arariel is an angel who takes charge of the waters of the earth. fishermen invoked him so that they might catch large fish. ararita according to occultist eliphas levi, ararita is the verbum inenarrabile of the sages of t

ated. conversely, the cock was pictured as having an infernal connection, especially if its color was black. indeed, it was employed in black magic, perhaps the earliest instance of this being in the atharva veda, an ancient hindu scripture. a black cock was offered up to propitiate the devil in hungary, and a black hen was used for the same purpose in germany. the greek sirens, the shedim of the talmud, and the izpuzteque, whom the dead aztec encounters on the road to mictlan, the place of the dead, all have cock s feet. cocks are also sacrificed in the voudou and santeria ceremonies of the west indian islands. there is a widespread folk belief that once in seven years the cock lays a little egg. in germany it is necessary to throw this over the roof, or tempests will wreck the homestead;

always referred to the diviners, as was the dispatching of an army for war and the passing of laws. in the east divination generally appears to have been effected by crystal gazing, dreams, and similar methods of selfhallucination or self-hypnotism. divination flourished in chaldea and assyria among the babylonians and ethiopians, and appears to have been much the same as in egypt. in the jewish talmud witches were said to divine by means of bread crumbs. among the arabs, the future was often foretold by means of the shapes seen in sand. the burmese and siamese pierced an egg at each end, and having blown the contents onto the ground, traced within them the outline of things to be. divination by astrology too was common in oriental countries, as were the predictions of prophets. it is rem

phrase and god said, which precedes creation; this is repeated in the christian fourth gospel: in the beginning was the word, and the word was with god and the word was god (john 1:1. the concept of the logos as the word of god, immanent and creative, derived from philo judaeus of alexandria in the first half-century of the christian era. philo fused together traditional jewish teachings from the talmud and the hellenistic philosophy of greece (influenced by hindu mysticism. the 72-syllable name became the tetragrammaton of four-syllable form. a christian kabalist of the sixteenth century developed a pentagrammaton said to increase the power of the tetragrammaton by adding the letter s to express the name of jesus. according to hindu mysticism, the universe was created through divine utter

emple. after his death, his son, rabbi eliezer, and his secretary, rabbi abba, as well as his disciples, collated rabbi simon ben jochai s treatises, and out of these composed the celebrated work called sohar, i.e, splendor which is the grand storehouse of kabalism. this legendary account of kabalistic origins, however, has found little support from historians. the mysticism of the mishna and the talmud, the older hebrew literature, must be carefully distinguished from that of the kabalistic writings. at the time of the protestant reformation in the sixteenth century, the kabala found an audience among protestant biblical scholars who turned to the hebrew text for their biblical translations. from writers such as johannes reuchlin, old testament professor at wittenburg, a christian kabala

. she seems to have originally been a storm demon and was later associated with the night. at a very early period, she was seen as one of several vampire demons in ancient sumer. in the gilgamesh epic (approximately 2000 b.c.e, she is pictured as a vampire harlot; though a beautiful young woman, she is unable to bear children, her breasts are dry, and she has the feet of the nocturnal owl. in the talmud, lilith is given a new mythological life as the supposed first wife of adam. following an argument over who should have the dominant position during sexual intercourse, lilith left and became a promiscuous wanderer. she mothered many children, called the lilim. she also encountered three angels sent by god, with whom she negotiated an agreement. she became a vampiric demon attacking childre

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

hi, guru of paul brunton. after a rich and varied life, meyrink died in december 1932 in starnberg, germany. sources: frank, eduard. gustav meyrink. budingen-gettenbach, germany: avalun verlag, 1957. meyer, gustav encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 1034 the mezazoth a traditional jewish schedule that, when fastened on the doorpost, possessed talismanic qualities. it is said in the talmud that whoever has the mezazoth fixed on his door, and is provided with certain personal charms, is protected from sin. mhorag (or morag) a loch ness-type monster observed and photographed in loch morar, west inverness, scotland. accounts of sightings go back to the late nineteenth century, but attracted attention only in the wake of the better-known loch ness monster. in 1970 members of the

sons, 1958. sharkey, don. the woman shall conquer. kenosha, wis: franciscan marytown press, 1976. the mishna a compilation of jewish oral traditions containing the religious legal decisions relating to old testament laws, gathered together at about the end of the second century by rabbi judah, grandson of gamaliel ii. its doctrines are said to be of great antiquity. it forms the framework of the talmud. the miss lucy westenra society of the undead vampire interest organization named for one of the characters in the novel dracula, the first person dracula turned into a vampire upon his arrival in england. the society published a newsletter and assisted penpals in locating each other. last known address: 125 taylor st, jackson, in 38302. miss x pseudonym of psychic researcher ada goodrich-f

lta thari encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 1398 bring affinities to light and thus establish the theory of its non- aryan origin, but its strong kinship with gaelic seems likely. sources: leland, charles godfrey. the gypsies. boston: houghton, mifflin, 1882. macrithie, david. shelta: the cairds language. transactions of gaelic society of inverness 24 (1904. shemhamphorash in the talmud, the external term representing the hidden word of power, by whose virtues a new world might be. this word is lost to the human race, although even sounds approximating it have a magic power and can give to whomever pronounces them dominion in the spirit world. some of the old rabbis believed that the word of power contains 12 letters, others, 42, and yet others 72, but these are the letter

most powerful of the latter may be the sacred name of jehovah. the famous tephillin or phylacteries, used in jewish devotion, which were bound on the head, the arm, and the hand, may be regarded as talismans. they were the subject of many traditional ceremonies. there is also the mezazoth or schedules for doorposts; another article of this description mentioned in the following quotation from the talmud: whoever had the tephillin bound to his head and arm, and the tsitsith thrown over his garments, and the mezuza fixed on his door-post, is protected from sin. on astrological talismans the figure of mercury, engraved upon silver, which is the corresponding metal, and according to the prescribed rites, gave success in merchandise; that of mars gave victory to the soldier; that of venus, beau

on of spiritual knowledge. he died november 2, 1864. sources: brown, slater. the heyday of spiritualism. new york: hawthorn books, 1970. jackson, herbert g, jr. the spirit rappers. garden city, n.y: doubleday, 1972. pond, mariam buckner. time is kind; the story of the unfortunate fox family. new york: centennial press, 1947. reprinted as the unwilling martyrs. london: psychic book club, 1947. the talmud from the hebrew lamad, to learn, the talmud is the name of the great code of jewish civil and canonical law. it is divided into two portions.the mishna and the gemara; the former constitutes the text and the latter is a commentary and supplement. but besides being the basis of a legal code, it is also a collection of jewish poetry and legend. the mishna is a development of the laws containe

) moed, with festivals and sacrifices (3) nashim, with the law regarding women (4) nezaqin, with civil law (5) qodashim, with the sacrificial law; and (6) tohoroth or tah, with purifications. the mishna is said to have been handed down by ezra and to be in part the work of joshua, david, or solomon, and originally communicated orally by the deity in the time of moses. there are two recensions.the talmud of jerusalem and the talmud of babylon. the latter, besides the sedarim already mentioned, contains seven additional treatises that are regarded as extra-canonical. the first is supposed to have been finally edited toward the close of the fourth century, and the second by rabbi ashi, president of the academy of syro in babylon, sometime in the fourth century. although revised from time to t

i ashi, president of the academy of syro in babylon, sometime in the fourth century. although revised from time to time before then, both versions have been greatly affected through the interpolation of traditions, and reinterpretations in the light of rabbinical discussions. the rabbinical decisions in the mishna are entitled helacoth and the traditional narratives haggadah. the cosmogony of the talmud assumes that the universe has been developed by means of a series of cataclysms.world after world was destroyed until the creator made the present earth. e. deutsch, commenting on the talmuc in the quarterly review (1867) noted: the how of the creation was not mere matter of speculation. the co-operation of angels, whose existence was warranted by scripture, and a whole hierarchy of whom ha

nder persian influences, was distinctly denied. in a discussion about the day of their creation, it is agreed on all hands that there were no angels at first, lest men might say, michael spanned out the firmament on the south, and gabriel to the north. there is a distinct foreshadowing of the gnostic demiurgos. that antique link between the divine spirit and the world of matter.to be found in the talmud. what with plato were the ideas, with philo the logos, with the kabalists the world of aziluth, what the gnostics called more emphatically the wisdom (sophi, or power (dunamis, and plotinus the nous, that the talmudical authors call metation. there is a good deal, in the post-captivity talmud, about the angels, borrowed from the persian. the archangels or angelic princes are seven in number

second takes up the strain and says, who has walked in righteousness; and the third concludes, let him come in peace and rest upon his bed. in like manner, when the wicked man passes away, three hosts of wicked angels are ready talking mongoose encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 1528 to escort him, but their address is not couched in any spirit of consolation or encouragement. the talmud is the supreme repository of jewish moral and spiritual law; it also enshrines a wealth of historical, geographical, philosophical, and poetical traditions. it is one of the great documents of human history and the central focus of jewish law. it has been considered by some authorities that a great many of the traditional tales in the talmud have a magical basis, and that magical secrets ar

great documents of human history and the central focus of jewish law. it has been considered by some authorities that a great many of the traditional tales in the talmud have a magical basis, and that magical secrets are contained in them, but this depends entirely upon the interpretation put upon them, and the subject is one which necessitates close study. an english translation of the jerusalem talmud was published in 1871, and of the babylonian talmud (35 vols, 1935.52. tamlin, sarah (ca. 1848) one of the very early american rapping mediums, soon after the famous rochester rappings of the fox sisters. e. w. capron visited tamlin and attended one of her seances at which raps were heard. a table moved in various directions and was held down to the floor so that it required the whole stren

lly settled in kansas. he died there in 1836. sources: drake, benjamin. the life of tecumseh and of his brother the prophet. 1841. reprint, n.p, 1969. tephillin in hebrew, tephillin means attachments. they were originally prayer thongs worn by jews at morning prayer.one on the left arm and another on the head. they came to be regarded as talismans and were used in many traditional ceremonies. the talmud states: whoever has the tephillin bound to his head and arm. is protected from sin. tephramancy a mode of divination in which sacrificed victims from a fire are used. teraphim these appear to have been ancient images of household gods. they were relatively small in size and easily carried. the teraphim were taken away from jacob by his daughter rachel (gen. 31. they were probably seen as br

h. sociological quarterly 13 (winter 1972: 16.34. where witchcraft lives. london: aquarian press, 1962. the tsitsith an article of jewish religious apparel, the fringe or tassels attached to the outer garment, which are believed to be endowed with talismanic properties. in modern times, the fringe has survived in the praying shawl named talith and in a garment worn on the chest. a sentence in the talmud states: whoever has the tephillin bound to his head and arm, and the tsitsith thrown over his garments. is protected from sin (see also tephillin) tubby, gertrude ogden (1878.1967) teacher, author, and psychic researcher. born june 18, 1878, at kingston on hudson, new york, tubby studied at smith college, northampton, massachusetts (b.s, 1902. in 1907 she became the special research assista

FELDMAN DANIEL QABALAH THE MYSTICAL HERITAGE OF THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM

-qabalistic sentiment promulgated by both the rabbinical and pauline orthodox authority has been accompanied by a considerable amount of misinformation and fear mongering. even those rabbis and talmudic scholars who do not regard the mystical qabalah as evil and malicious echo the injunctions that it should only be studied by married jewish men over the age of forty who have studied the torah and talmud for many years. in all fairness, it should be noted that there are a substantial number of chasidim and other religious jews who embrace and encourage the study and practice of the jewish kabbalah without distinction of age or gender. however, they represent a very small minority, and firmly regard the qabalah as the exclusive property of orthodox judaism. the overall result is that the vas

inary level of levitical purity that had to be maintained to enact the high level rituals performed in the first temple, which housed the ark of the covenant. within that context, the priests needed to be like angels who attend the throne of the lord hvhy. the kohanic codes had a significant impact on the development of the pharisaic rabbinate centuries later. they were redacted much later in the talmud yerushalmi and talmud babli, which contain voluminous commentary garnered from over four centuries of rabbinical dialectic. the talmud is composed of the mishnah and the gemara. the mishnah is a collection of scriptural exegesis attributed to various heralded palestinian rabbis, many of whom were associated with rabbinical academies from the fifth through second centuries bce. the tractates

from over four centuries of rabbinical dialectic. the talmud is composed of the mishnah and the gemara. the mishnah is a collection of scriptural exegesis attributed to various heralded palestinian rabbis, many of whom were associated with rabbinical academies from the fifth through second centuries bce. the tractates of the mishnah were edited and codified circa 220 ce, and form the core of the talmud. the bulk of the talmud, called the gemara (lit. completion, is a 4' 8: h" 2: 2 2:e 8% collection of discussions among later palestinian and babylonian rabbis regarding passages and topics in the mishnah. the gemara of jerusalem was formally compiled circa 430 ce, and the gemara of babylon circa 530 ce. the talmud yerushalmi is composed of three volumes and the talmud babli has sixtyfour vo

ewish kabbalah are mainstream orthodox and chasidic jews of european descent. it is but a footnote for most conservative and reform jews, though there is a resurgence of interest among those in the jewish renewal movement. the vast majority of the written works of jewish kabbalah originated or reemerged within the last 800 years. rabbinical jews spend many years studying the voluminous babylonian talmud in order to learn and carefully adhere to the detailed halachic interpretations of how to fulfill the 613 mitzvoth, or righteous deeds, prescribed in the extant version of the ezra torah. they generally regard the current version of the torah to be the exact original, faithful in every detail to the one penned by master mosheh. hence, they consider every word and every line to be irrefutabl

n reaction to and as a revolt against rabbinical judaism in the eighth century ce, and were not fully put down until the fifteenth century ce. from its earliest beginning, it (the karaite revolt) spread throughout the jewish diaspora into every stratum of society. karaism derives from the hebrew word karah (lit. to read) i.e. to read the torah without the intervention of rabbis. they rejected the talmud as a conspiracy of the rabbis to separate ordinary people from the simplicity of the torah. for them, the torah was the sole source of religious laws. karaites created different oral laws to deal with modern life. many talmudic dietary laws were abolished and the use of tefillin (phylacteries) was abandoned. in response to the threat that the karaites posed to their authority, the jewish ra

fallen tree, and sefirah knowledge/first to sefirah crown/above on the perfect tree. gate of the gimel: letter-gate that connects sefirah foundation/below to sefirah beauty/the last along the central column; described as the mirror of the watcher on the threshold. gemara (hebrew: traditions: dialectics regarding the interpretations of the written law in the mishnah, subsequently redacted into the talmud. 04' 8: h" 2: 2 2:e 8% gematria (hebrew: a type of qabalistic numerology. geviyah (hebrew: name of the shell of embodied existence corresponding to the astral world of yetzirah. halacha (hebrew: adopted opinions, religious rules: traditional interpretations and applications of the written law, specifically the torah. haqiqah latifa (arabic: crown center on the sufi tree corresponds to the s

to enoch ben yared when he ascended and walked with elohim; name for operational manager of this small face universe. 4' 8: h" 2: 2 2:e 8% middle tan (chinese: middle of three primary centers on the taoist tree of life corresponding to the thoracic center, the sefirah beauty/last, and the anahata chakra. mishnah (hebrew: oral teaching: a collection of oral laws redacted in the two versions of the talmud. mitzvah (hebrew: meritorious deed; righteous action in accordance with precepts of the torah. mother letters: a designation for the three letters alef, mem, and shin in the sefer yetzirah. muladhara chakra (sanskrit: anal center on the chakric tree. corresponds to the sefirah malkhuth on the qabalistic tree and the latifa qalabiya on the sufi tree. mureed (arabic: a sufi aspirant who has r

in the qur an. svadisthana chakra (sanskrit: lower abdominal center on the chakric tree, portrayed as a lotus with six petals. corresponds to the sefirah foundation/below on the qabalistic tree, the latifa nafsiya on the sufi tree, and the tan t ien on the taoist tree. swagatabheda (sanskrit: a difference within itself: a concept central to the vasishtadvaitic perspective in vedantic philosophy. talmud (hebrew: two sets of books, one called talmud babli and the other talmud yerushalmi, which contain the redactions of the halachic dialectics of the early rabbis tanakh (hebrew: acronym for torah (the law, nabiyim (prophets, and ketuvim (writings. tan tien (chinese: field of cinnabar: lowest of three primary centers on the taoist tree of life. corresponds to the sefirah foundation/below on t

FRANCIS A YATES GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION

as so impressively formulated by ficino and pico, would dwindle into vain dreaming based on doubtful scholarship. and, as a christian, the erasmian would repudiate prisca theologia as not the true, 1 erasmus, paraclesis (1519, in opera omnia, leyden, 1703-6, col. 139; quoted as translated by d. p. walker "the prisca theologia in france, j.w.c.i, xvii (1954, p- 254- 2 "mihi sane neque cabala neque talmud nunquam arrisit (opus ep, ed. cit. i l l, p. 589. he uses almost exactly the same phrase in another letter (ibid, iv, p. 100. cf. also ibid, i l l, p. 253; iv, p. 379; ix, p. 300. 3 see opus ep, ed. cit, i l l, p. 482; xi, p. i n, and the note on this page pointing out that erasmus queries the areopagite as the author of the dionysian writings in the paraphrases to acts 17 (erasmus, n.t, i5

FULLER J F C SECRET WISDOM OF THE QABALAH

frater achad, 1925. secret wisdom of the qabalah page 11 chapter i the wisdom of the qabalah the qabalah the qabalah is not a holy book as are the vedas, the bible, and the koran. it is not a book at all: instead it is a secret traditional knowledge, the hidden thought of israel, which, like gold embedded in rock, is to be found only after much labour in many hebrew works, such as the torah, the talmud, the mishna, midrashim, zohar, and scores of other books, the bewildering nature of which may be recognized in a few minutes by glancing through a talmudic miscellany by paul isaac hershon. the word hlbq (qblh) is spelt in many ways, such as qabalah, qaballah, cabala, kaballa, and even, though quite incorrectly- gabella. it is not derived from such fantastic origins as the name of kapila, t

GILBERT AE WAITE A MAGICIAN OF MANY PARTS

is a messageofimmense significance. this has been perceived by the more acuteofhis critics: deaninge-ascourgeofsentimental pseudo-mysticism-believed that waite had 'penetrated very near to the heart of his subject (reviewofstudiesinmysticism,inthesaturdayreview, 2 march1907).butwaite refused to jettison all that was included under the heading of occultism. he sawwithinit, as spurgeon said of the talmud 'jewels which the world couldnotafford to miss; and seeing them, drewthemoutand displayed them for all tosee-all,that is,witheyes to see. many readersofwaite, and most self-confessed students of 'rejected knowledge, persist in seeing him as an occultist. usually they find him wanting: richard cavendish, inthe tarot admired his energy in pursuing esoteric lorebutdescribedasiuncharacteristica

GILBERT THE MAGICAL MASON

remain al, an angel of god: hell will disappear, and with them all sin, and there will be one eternal sabbath of peace.ofthe satan it is said that he may tempt man 364 days in the year,butnot on the day of atonement, which is symoblized by his name counting to 364; thus the satan is ha satan,=i1definite article, stn,i1=h=5; s=300; t=9; final n=50,=364. this is the computation called gematria. see talmud, treatise yoma, fol. xx. col. 1.thetreatise chagijah states that the devils have wings and fly, and know something of future events; they take food and drink, beget like men, and they die (see folio xvi. col. 1)thegreat solomon is said in the talmud to have been able to coerce ashmodai, a king of demons, to procure for him, the shamir, a stone of intense hardness, diamond or emery possibly

whose works may be read in english are neander, onchurch history,basnage,historyofthejews,de quincey, in hisessays,c. d. ginsburg,thefreemasonry and the essenes 235essenes,theirhistoryanddoctrine,with alex. lawrie and r. freke gould, in theirhistoriesoffreemasonry.most recently james moffat has written a concise article on the subject, giving the quotations from philo and josephus and pliny. the talmud, that quaint collection of jewish legends, does not mention the essenes as such, but some jewish authors hold that its references to the sect of assideans or chasidim(chsidim)refer to the essenes as a religio-philosophic sect of maccabean times (see macc.i.,2, 42) it is not easy to understand why this sect of essenes should have been considered as a conspicuous prototype of the brotherhood

umber seven his perfect wisdom.truebelievers in christ are called stones by the apostle peter 'ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house' we may read in job, chap. xxxviii, that the almighty, speaking to job, said 'where wert thou when i laid the foundations of the earth? whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? who laid the corner stone thereof?'theold hebrew writings of the talmud and similarreligious and masonic symbolism of stones 261rabbinical books have many references to this stone of foundation, calledaben shatijah,which appears to have been at first only a symbol of the world's stability and not any actual stone or building; but as the years passed on the name became associated with legendsofareal stone and was connected with the histories of seth, enoch, jaco

GNOSTIC HANDBOOK

he old testament to make it seem supreme. the old testament, as such, is a very edited book. it was written by a priest class which existed a long time after the original events, and a class which wanted to destroy the traditional power of the qadesh (see later discussion of this group) and mould the yahwahist tradition into a militaristic style cult. this moulded old testament (combined with the talmud) became the text of modern jewry. when the israelites migrated to other lands after the assyrian captivity they re-established many of the gnostic traditions. hence, the druids and those of the celtic faith probably had more in common with the original israelite gnosis that modern judaism and christianity. we can see how the struggle between various divergent traditions has been edited into

welve: restoring the bible the gnostic handbook page 114 what about the old testament? the gnostic attitude towards the old testament is ambivalent to say the least. the major issue is that it was written during the babylonian captivity and edited to fit the prevailing pharisaic form of judaism that existed at that time. the fact is the old testament was written at the same time as the babylonian talmud and other questionable edomite/judaic texts. in this context it becomes clear that the old testament as we have it is not a gnostic or israelite text, but a text distorted to fit the talmudic jewish tradition. accordingly, it mixes together accounts from a wide variety of sources and contexts with little thought to their integrity and original meaning. we can deduce that there are at least

the red sea, this second tradition emphasises the nearly magical power of moses and hence, by inference, the occult power of the later priesthood. in the epic tradition there are eight plagues upon egypt, in the priestly tradition, ten. these differences, and many others, are major and show that while in babylon the pharisees mixing babylonian paganism and judaism not only wrote such texts as the talmud but also edited together the old testament. hence, the task of restoration becomes even more daunting and reference to documents such as the dead sea scrolls becomes imperative. a further issue is with the clear intimation that the bible has an inner meaning. certainly the oral tradition of the israelites known as" kabbalah" taught the bible had at least three levels and the modern biblical

GNOSTIC STUDIES THE GNOSTIC HANDBOOK II GNOSTIC THEURGY

rn us here. the ariosophic kabbalah is embodied in much of the later hermetic and alchemical traditions and it represents the heritage of aryan israel. however, all is not at it seems, during this same period, a false tradition, a counterfeit kabbalah was being developed. in babylon the children of cain created an amalgam of babylonian paganism and israelite belief which later became known as the talmud. as time progressed they stepped into the shoes of the now-believed lost ten tribes and falsely identified themselves as jews (of judea) or as israel. they edited the torah to reflect their distorted view of judaism, and created a apostate faith based on the values of the talmud. as the deception continued many of these babylonian cainites migrated to other regions, they became known as the

HELENA BLAVATSKY THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY

le" universe meaning man, made in the image of his creator, the macrocosm, or "great" universe, and containing all that the latter contains. these terms are used in occultism and theosophy. mishnah (heb) lit "a repetition" from the word sh n h "to repeat" something said orally. a summary of written explanations from the oral traditions of the jews and a digest of the scriptures on which the later talmud was based. moksha (sans) the same as nirvana; a postmortem state of rest and bliss of the "soul-pilgrim" monad it is the unity, the one; but in occultism it often means the unified duad, atma-buddhi-or that immortal part of man which incarnating in the lower kingdoms and gradually progressing through them to man, finds thence way to the final goal-nirvana. monas (gr) the same as the latin m

ISIS UNVEILED

e attempt unless, what is still worse, he lost bis ut cmy accea of malidoiu tricky 'spiritb (bo much the vone if human) to the atmoapbcte uirauddio^ medium. how many thousand* of such itreipoiuible innocait nctinw have met intamoua deaths through the tricki of thoae elementariea! 236. plotinu: emuadtl.vi; vi,ix. 236. feiu. stuf sae.ifvj.,pp. 110-ll:4thed. digitizecoy google the four tanaim of the talmud 110 reason. there was no real clanger to him whose mind had become thoroughly spiritualized, and ao piepared for every terrific sight. he who fully recognised the power of his immortal spirit, and never doubted for one moment its omnipotent protection, had naught to fear. but woe to the candidate in whom the slightest physical fear sickly child of dlatter made him lose si^t of, and faith in

deught, are: ben azai, ben zoma, a'her, and sabbi a'qtbah "ben azai looked and lost his sight "ben zoma looked and lost his reason "a'her made depredations in the plantation [mi^id up the whole and failed. but a'qtbah, who had entered in peace, came out of it in peace, for the saint, whose name be blessed, had amd 'this old man is worthy of serving us with glory "the learned conmientators of the talmud, the rabbis of the syna- gog, dpiain that the garden of delight, in which those four personages are made to enter, is but that mysterious science, the most terrible of sciences for weak intellects, which it leads direcujf to insanity" says ad. franck, in his a kabbale' it is not the pure at heart, and he who studies but with a view to perfecting himself and so more easily acquiring the prom

evidence of sin- cerity and fact on its face, than the fables concocted by the fathers to answer their end. we may the more readily credit this friendship between peter and his late co-religionists, as we find in theodoret the following assertion "the nazarenes are jews, honoring the anointeo [jesus] as a jutt man and using the evangel according to peter* peter was a nazarene, accord- ing to the talmud. he belonged to the sect of the later nazarenes, which dissented from the followers of john the baptist and became a rival sect; and which aa tradition goes was instituted by jesus himself. history finds the first christian sects to have been either nazarenes hke john the baptist; or ebionites, among whom were many of the rela- tives of jesus; oressenes (lessaens, or the rfctfrapeultu heale

christxipba wagenteil, to a couecuon entitled tela ignea sabmae, or the bunung darta of satan [aitaort, 2 vols, and by jacob huldrich, aa hvlona jadiuae naivmti, lcyden, 1705 (aee alk. uvi: a toutm da apriu. 21b. llkeodowt: batrtt. jabid. u. ii. digitizecoy google 128 isis in4veiled" wandering jewish exorcists* the arabic word nabae meaning to wan- der, and the hebrew toj, naba, to prophesy. the talmud indiscriininate- ly calls all the christians noxari^ all the gnostic sects alike believed in magic. irenaeus, in describing the touowera of basilides, says "hiey use images, invocations, incantations, and all other things[>ertaining un- to magic* dunlap, on the authority of ijghtfoot, shows that jesus was called naboraiot, in reference to his humble and mean external con- dition "for naaara

him that he had provoked the wnth of bediehub, the 'lord of the fliei' and would periifa miienbly through the retenge of the dark god of ekron and die like king ahariah, because he persecuted the jew. digitizecoy google 14ft isis unveiled known. the pharisees, as claimed in the bible, had been the first to fiing this charge in his face, although rabbi wise considers jesus himself a pharisee. the talmud coiainly points to james the just as one of that sect* but these partisans are known to have always stoned eveiy profit who denounced their evil ways, and it is not on this fact that we base our assertion. these accused him of sorceiy, and of driving out devils by beelzebub, their prince, with as much justice as tater the catholic clergy had in accusing of the same more than one innocent ma

on his head; the child shall be a nazarite unto god from the womb" judges, ziii, 5. but the final and most reasonable conclusion to be inferred from this is that jesus, who was so opposed to all the orthodox jewish practices, would not have allowed his hair to grow had he not belonged to this sect, which in the days of john the baptist had already become a heresy in the eyes of the sanhedrim. the talmud, speaking of the nazaria, or the nazarenes (who had abandoned the world like hindq yogis or hermits) calls them a sect of physicians, of wandering exorcists; as also does jervis "they went about the country, living on alms and performing cures* epiphanius says that the nazarenes come next in heresy to the cerinthians whether having existed "before them or after them, nevertheless syndtronou

ecoming more skeptical. the ultimate tea- dency of protestantism is dearly nothing less than the destruction of all reape ct fm the bible, and the disruption of government and society" very plain talk this. tbe proteatants nught eftsily return the compliment. digitizecoy google traditions about jesus 201 official complunts of the synagog abundant evideace of the persecutiod <3t the initiates. the talmud also corroborates it. the jewish version of the birth of jesus is recorded in the sepher toudoth yaku in the following words "maiy having become the mother of a son, domed jehosuah, and the boy growing up, she entrusted him to the care of the rabbi el'hanan, and the diild progressed in knowledge, for he was well gifted with spirit and luderstanding "babbi jehosuah, son
ence, eloak; beauty, tipkenth; vktory, and glory, teb'baoih; ei^>ire or dominion, adokai" iiiub when the naxaiene* and othcc gnostic* of the more flatonic teadeocy twitted tbe jewb at "aborliona who digitizecoy google aos ^s unveiled dignities are the subordinate genii t^ the archangels and angela emanations are the very life and soul of the kabala and zoroastrianism; and the talmud itself in its present state is all borrowed from the zend aveata. therefore, by adopting the views of peter, jude, and other jhilosophical myths of various nations. in the oldest oriental kabala. the deity ts represented as three circles in one, shrouded in a certain smoke or chaotic exhalation. in the preface to the ztaar, which transforms the three primordial circles into thbeb heads, the

JENNINGS HARGRAVE ROSICRUCIANS RITES MYSTERIES

the peruvians, and their vestal or virginguardians of the fire; the priestly fire-rites of the mexicans, quenched by cortez in the native blood, and the context of their strange, apparently incoherently wild, belief; the inscriptions of amulets, on rings and on talismans; the singular, dark, and, in many respects, uncouth arcana of the bohemians, zingari, gitanos, or gipsies; the teaching of the talmud; the hints of the cabala: also that little-supposed thing, even, meant in the british golden collar of s.s, which is worn as a relic of the oldest day (in perpetuation of a mythos long ago buried-spark-like-and forgotten in the dust of ages) by some of our officials, courtly and otherwise, and which belongs to no known order of knighthood, but only to the very highest order of knighthood, t

uble-sexed: phoebe above, diana on earth, hecate below. fig. 177, ante (from the arches of the temple church, fig. 184. temple of apollinopolis magna, in upper egypt. fig. 185. norman capital, door-shaft: honeysuckle-and-lotus ornament, early example. london, is a symbol of the blessed virgin; it is also the delphic e, or seleucidan anchor. fig. 186. ur on. fig. 187. winged disc. the horns of the talmud account for the mythological minotaur, the bucentaur, pan and priapus, the fig. 183. egyptian torus, lotus enrichment, and various lunar symbols. ionic, corinthian, and gothic volves. 251 sagittary or centaur, the sign" sagittarius, and perhaps all bicorporate human and animal forms. 188. 189. 190. fig. 188. ionic greek: egg-and-tongue moulding (two of the emblems of the mysteries. fig. 189

KARR DON NOTES ON THE STUDY OF EARLY KABBALAH JEWISH MYSTICISM IN ENGLISH

alah. idel fs view suggests a more continuous, less neat development which gradually coalesced into a proto- kabbalah.11 the medieval jewish mystics referred to as gkabbalists h did not abandon the mysticism.or any other part of the vast rabbinic literature.which came before them. the hekhalot writings, german hasidic material, sefer yezirah and the various commentaries on it, etc, along with the talmud, midrashim, and the rest of the rabbinic writings, were all considered authoritative.all part of the same chain of tradition (kabbalah) of which the medieval and later kabbalists considered themselves links.12 kabbalah did not spring up ex nihilo. it seems prudent to open channels for the origins and growth of kabbalah back into the depths of ancient judaism. determining a starting line at

by e. e. urbach (see note 2) is an excellent start. three anthologies serve as introductions to their respective texts: 1. the classical midrash: tannaitic commentaries on the bible, translated and introduced with commentary by reuven hammer. mahwah: paulist press, 1995. 2. the mishnah: oral traditions of judaism, selected and translated by eugene lipman. new york: schocken books, 1974.15 3. the talmud: selected writings, translated by ben zion bokser. paulist press, 1989. as a first approach to jewish mysticism proper, an indispensable source is the ancient jewish mysticism by joseph dan (tel aviv: mod [ministry of defense] books, 1993. at this juncture, it would be a good idea to read some of the more general books on jewish mysticism in order to get an impression of its history and con

le introductions to lurianic kabbalah, which is somewhat thinly handled in our entry on safed kabbalah, though covered well in scholem fs major trends. 20081 29 for further advice on readings in judaism, see back to the sources: reading the classic jewish texts, edited by barry holtz (new york: summit books, 1984. there, one is guided by specialists through the issues and literature of the bible, talmud, midrash, medieval commentaries and philosophy, kabbalistic texts, hasidic teachings and prayer books. another good overview of the literature of judaism is the sacred books of the jews by harry gersh (new york: stein and day, 1968. one of the best general anthologies is philip s. alexander fs textual sources for the study of judaism (totowa: manchester university books/barnes and noble boo

y term kabbalah (see note 7. a partial solution is suggested in such subheadings as the early kabbalah of the provence and gerona circles, the fiyyun school, prophetic kabbalah (of abraham abulafia, or lurianic kabbalah. however, should the german hasidism be excluded so definitely from kabbalah? 7. until the thirteenth century, kabbalah referred to the whole body of oral religious teachings: the talmud, the midrashim, etc. indeed, anyone who picked up a copy of sefer ha-kabbalah (book of tradition) expecting it to expound upon kabbalistic mysteries would be sorely disappointed. see the book of tradition, translated by gerson d. cohen (philadelphia: jewish publication society, 1968. 8. on the terms gmysticism, h gsymbol, h and gmyth, h see gil anidjar fs article, mentioned in note 6. words

LAITMAN M BASIC CONCEPTS IN KABBALAH

meaning before all the light had entered the third group. hence, at that time only special souls could study kabbalah without revealing its essence to the world. today, as we are approaching the end of the third period, we are ready to receive the comprehensive. b a s i c c o n c e p t s i n k a b b a l a h 84 sulam (ladder) commentary on the zohar, and a systematic textbook on kabbalah entitled talmud eser sefirot (the study of the ten sefirot. although the souls who lived during the first and the second 2,000 years were highly exalted and corresponded to the upper sefirot (hochma, bina, and daat, netzah, gevura, and hod, they could not receive the appropriate light because it had not yet reached our world. now, the lowest souls are descending to our world, as the events in our world tes

ls authentic kabbalah in a manner that is both rational and mature. readers are gradually led to an understanding of the logical design of the universe and the life whose home it is. the science of kabbalah, a revolutionary work that is unmatched in its clarity, depth, and appeal to the intellect, will enable readers to approach the more technical works of baal hasulam (rav yehuda ashlag, such as talmud eser sefirot and zohar. although scientists and philosophers will delight in its illumination, laymen will also enjoy the satisfying answers to the riddles of life that only authentic kabbalah provides. now, travel through the pages and prepare for an astonishing journey into the upper worlds. introduction to the book of zohar: is the second in a series written by kabbalist and scientist ra

LAITMAN M FROM CHAOS TO HARMONY

sweet, and so on. however, there are two possible ways to experience the bad state. the first is to actually be in it, and the second is to picture it in our minds. this is why we were created as emotional and intelligent beings. we can picture the terrible meaning of total imbalance between us and nature without experiencing it physically, as it is written, who is wise? one who sees the future (talmud bavli, tamid, 32:1. if we imagine the worst possible state clearly enough before we reach it, the depiction will serve as a motivating force that can turn us away from future harm and toward goodness in due time. by doing so, we will be spared tremendous suffering and we will accelerate the pace of our evolution. disseminating the knowledge about the reason for all the crises and the proble

ruistic desire. assume that we are beginning to be calibrated so we can sense what chapter nine: a reality of wholeness and infinity 135 is good for others. in such a state, we will identify completely different things around us, from the things we previously noticed. everything we saw before will seem completely different now. kabbalists describe that state in the words, an inverted world i saw (talmud bavli, pesachim, 50:71. when we build within a new desire to be a healthy part in humanity, to be similar to nature s altruistic force, this will mean the start of a new system of sensation, disconnected from our present system. this system will be called a soul. through the soul, one perceives a whole new world-picture, the picture of the real world, where we are all connected as parts of

of the creation of the world. this was the day on which humanity made its first contact with the spiritual world, and this is why the hebrew calendar begins on this day. according to nature s plan, humanity will achieve balance with the inclusive nature, the final correction of the human ego, within 6,000 years of this day. this is why it was written that the world exists for six thousand years (talmud bavli, sanhedrin, 97:71. during those years, the human ego will gradually grow and bring humanity to the realization that it must be mended. it will also show humanity the method of correction, and how to implement it. a few generations after adam, humanity was centered around ancient babylon, and that is where the first outbreak of egoism occurred. as a result, people began to want to domi

we come from, how we have become the people of israel, find the principles upon which the nation was founded and their purpose. only when we actually live the eternal foundations of the spiritual ideals on which the state of israel was founded will we be able to unite and to promote the unity of all people, wherever they are.24 a n t i- s emi t i sm no calamity comes to the world but for israel--talmud bavli, yevamot, 63:1 understanding the role of israel makes it easier to understand the phenomenon of anti-semitism, and how it may be resolved. the root of both anti-semitism and of blaming the jews for every adversity that occurs in the world is part of the purpose of israel s existence: providing the world the method for the correction of the ego. the fate of the people of israel depends

people cannot see the language of the branches as anything other than corporeal depictions. they only see the superficial part of the torah, and do not imagine that there is something hidden within it. consequently, during the course of the exile, people began to treat the torah as something superficial, like a history book or a legal constitution. in the essence of the wisdom of kabbalah, and in talmud eser sefirot, part one, baal hasulam refers to this phenomenon as materializing. he explains that it is a consequence of thousands of years of israel s detachment from the spiritual world. 188 from chaos to harmony until our time, kabbalists kept silent about it. but when the immigration to israel began, marking the end of exile, they emerged from hiding and called on the people to reacquai

houghts are egoistic, we are ill-effecting the world. however, if we want change, altruistic thoughts will enable us to change the world for the better, at lightning speed. we have been chosen in the sense that within us are powers of thought and will, which, if used correctly, will allow us to change reality instantaneously. we must recognize that and thus sentence the world to a scale of merit (talmud bavli, kidushin, 40:2. today, it is recommended that every person become acquainted with the principles of the correction method, try to realize them within his or herself and pass this knowledge on to others. when we read books related to the correction method, or encounter similar material presented on the internet, or watch a video on that topic, it strengthens our internality. this will

d the successor of rabbi isaac luria (the holy ari. his method is unique in that it allows any person to internalize the origins of the authentic kabbalistic knowledge, which the formers kabbalists have left behind. 9 baal hasulam, preface to the wisdom of kabbalah, item 1. this quote is also available in m. laitman, the science of kabbalah, 2005, laitman kabbalah publishers, p. 87. 10 babylonian talmud, baba kama, 45, 72. 11 published june 2006 in science magazine. the research was headed by 2002 nobel prize laureate in economics, daniel kahneman. 12 baal hasulam, talmud eser sefirot (the study of the ten sefirot, part one. 13 for more on this, see nedelcu s and michod s essay, the evolutionary origin of an altruistic gene, published may 2006 in the journal of molecular biology and evolut

ls authentic kabbalah in a manner that is both rational and mature. readers are gradually led to an understanding of the logical design of the universe and the life whose home it is. the science of kabbalah, a revolutionary work that is unmatched in its clarity, depth, and appeal to the intellect, will enable readers to approach the more technical works of baal hasulam (rav yehuda ashlag, such as talmud eser sefirot and the book of zohar. although scientists and philosophers will delight in its illumination, laymen will also enjoy the satisfying answers to the riddles of life that only authentic kabbalah provides. now, travel further reading 205 through the pages and prepare for an astonishing journey into the upper worlds. introduction to the book of zohar: this volume is a required prepa

LAITMAN M KABBALAH REVEALED

uthentic kabbalah in a manner that is both rational and mature. readers are gradually led to an understanding of the logical design of the universe and the life whose home it is. the science of kabbalah, a revolutionary work that is unmatched in its clarity, depth, and appeal to the intellect, and will enable readers to approach the more technical works of baal hasulam (rav yehuda ashlag, such as talmud eser sefirot and the book of zohar. although scientists and philosophers will delight in its illumination, laymen will also enjoy the satisfying answers to the riddles of life that only authentic kabbalah provides. now, travel through the pages and prepare for an astonishing journey into the upper worlds. introduction to the book of zohar is the second in a series written by kabbalist and s

LAITMAN M KABBALAH ATTAINING THE WORLDS BEYOND

above, and only those of us who have experienced it can understand it. rabbi michael laitman introduction if you listen with your heart to one famous question, i am sure that all your doubts as to whether you should study kabbalah will vanish without a trace. this question is a bitter and a fair one, asked by all born on earth "what is the meaning of my life" rabbi yehuda ashlag, introduction to talmud esser sefirot among all the texts and notes that were used by my rabbi, baruch shalom halevi ashlag, there was one particular notebook he always carried. this notebook contained all the transcripts of his conversations with his father, rabbi yehuda leib halevi ashlag, the rabbi of jerusalem, and a kabbalist. he was the author of a 21-volume commentary on the book of zohar, as well as the au

the creator generations come and go, yet every generation and every individual asks the same question about the meaning of life. this happens especially at times of war and global suffering, and during periods of misfortune that befall each of us at some point in our lives. what is the purpose of life, which is so costly to us? and shouldn t the absence of suffering be deemed as happiness? in the talmud s, ethics of the fathers, it says "against your will you are born, against your will do you live, and against your will you will die" each generation has had its share of misfortune. there are some among us who have lived through the depression, through war, and through postwar turbulence. but i see my generation, being full of problems and suffering, unable to establish itself, and unable

reator who had endowed us, his creations, with this quality. although we cannot rid ourselves of egoism by our own efforts, the sooner we realize that egoism is our enemy and our spiritual exterminator, the stronger will be our hatred of it. eventually, this hatred will bring the creator to help us overcome the enemy; in this way, even our egoism will serve the purpose of spiritual elevation. the talmud says "i created the world only for the completely righteous and for the complete sinners" it is understandable why the world would be created for the spiritual path- 35- absolutely righteous, but why wasn t the world also created for those who are neither absolutely righteous nor absolute sinners? we inadvertently perceive providence according to the way it affects us. it is "good" and "kin

, a singular desire awakens in us the desire not to want anything. in other words, we no longer have any personal interests, since they bring us only suffering. consequently, we have no other choice but to beg the creator to save us from egoism. this forces us to strive to overcome all of our problems, which brings us further suffering. for this reason, rabbi ashlag writes in his "introduction to talmud esser sefirot (paragraph 2 "but if you listen with your heart to one very famous question, i am sure that all your doubts as to whether you should study kabbalah will vanish without a trace" this is so because this question, coming straight from one s heart rather than from one s intelligence or knowledge, is a question about many things: the meaning of our lives; the meaning of our sufferi

of kovrin "since there is nothing bad in the world, but rather that it is bitter, because medicine is always bitter" the most earnest effort should be made to "cure" the feelings of depression, because the consequence of faith is joy, and only by increasing one s faith can one save oneself from dejection. for this reason, when it is said in mishna that "a person must be grateful for the bad" the talmud immediately adds "and must receive it with joy" because there is no evil in the world! because we perceive only what actually enters our senses and not what remains outside us, we can grasp the creator only to the degree that he acts upon us. hence, we need our senses to deny the oneness of their source; they are specifically in order for the person to ultimately sense and reveal the onenes

ical desires of others, and corrects them, thus helping the rest to gain the ability to be engaged in conscious spiritual work sometime in the future. if an ordinary person can in any way aid the kabbalist, even by performing purely mechanical tasks, that person thereby allows the kabbalist to include his or her personal desires in the correction that the kabbalist makes. hence, it is said in the talmud that "serving a sage is more useful for a disciple than learning from one" the learning process entails egoism and employs our earthly reason, while the service of a sage originates in one s faith in the sage s greatness, a feeling that a student cannot perceive. therefore, the student s service is much closer in essence to the spiritual qualities, and consequently is preferable for the dis

ture- 431- 38 kabbalistic quotes the most important aspect of the process of selfimprovement is the cultivation of one s sense of humility before the creator. this, however, should not be an artificial undertaking, but a goal of one s efforts. if, as a result of working on the self, an individual gradually starts to develop this quality, then it means that he is proceeding in the right direction (talmud, avodah zarah) a human being is born as an absolute egoist, and this quality is so visceral that it can convince him that he has already become righteous and has rid himself of all egoism (talmud, hagiga) the torah is the light of the creator, and only a person who receives this light is considered as learning torah (rather than just acquiring mere wisdom (zohar, metzorah) the torah is conc

ty is so visceral that it can convince him that he has already become righteous and has rid himself of all egoism (talmud, hagiga) the torah is the light of the creator, and only a person who receives this light is considered as learning torah (rather than just acquiring mere wisdom (zohar, metzorah) the torah is concealed. it is only revealed to those who have reached the level of the righteous (talmud, hagiga) when a person, by means of his studies, reaches the level at which he wants nothing but spiritual elevation and at which he accepts only the bare necessities of life in order to sustain his physical existence, not for pleasure s sake, this is the first step of his ascent to the spiritual world (talmud, psachim) the lower a person feels, the closer he comes to his true state and to

a) when a person, by means of his studies, reaches the level at which he wants nothing but spiritual elevation and at which he accepts only the bare necessities of life in order to sustain his physical existence, not for pleasure s sake, this is the first step of his ascent to the spiritual world (talmud, psachim) the lower a person feels, the closer he comes to his true state and to the creator (talmud, sota- 432- it is forbidden to study kabbalah for any purpose other than spiritual elevation (talmud, sanhedrin) a person s highest spiritual potential is to reach the level of maaseh merkavah("the act of rule. he is able to correct himself to such an extent that divine providence over the world can be executed through that person (talmud, suka) a necessary condition for spiritual elevation

e. he is able to correct himself to such an extent that divine providence over the world can be executed through that person (talmud, suka) a necessary condition for spiritual elevation is a continuous quest for a bond with the creator (rambam, ilchot yesodot torah) do not despair once you have entered the path, for the creator assures us of success if the direction of our aspirations is correct (talmud, psachim) the most important aspect of a person is his aspirations, rather than his achievements, because it is egoism that requires achievements (talmud, yavamot; talmud, sota) just as a person should strive to feel the insignificance of his inborn characteristics, so too should he be proud of his spiritual work and purpose (talmud, brachot) a person who strives toward the creator is known

) the most important aspect of a person is his aspirations, rather than his achievements, because it is egoism that requires achievements (talmud, yavamot; talmud, sota) just as a person should strive to feel the insignificance of his inborn characteristics, so too should he be proud of his spiritual work and purpose (talmud, brachot) a person who strives toward the creator is known as his child (talmud, shabbat, in contrast with those who want to be rewarded for their studies (by respect, knowledge, or money. grasp the creator. kabbalah is known as the teaching of the hidden (nistar) because it can only be grasped by a person to the degree that he is able to alter his inner qualities. therefore, he cannot pass along his perceptions to others, but he can and should help others to overcome

, or money. grasp the creator. kabbalah is known as the teaching of the hidden (nistar) because it can only be grasped by a person to the degree that he is able to alter his inner qualities. therefore, he cannot pass along his perceptions to others, but he can and should help others to overcome the same path (rambam, ilchot yesodot torah) who can imagine a world that is not filled by the creator (talmud, shabbat) kabbalistic quotes- 433- an individual must imagine that he is alone in the world with the creator. the various characters and stories in the bible signify the different qualities of one person and of all people and the different stages of this person s spiritual path. the qualities and the stages are denoted by people s names, their actions, and geographical locations (talmud, ki

eed not despair when, as he studies and works on improving himself in an effort to attain spiritual elevation, he comes to see himself as being in an even worse condition than prior to studying kabbalah. the true nature of egoism is revealed to a person whose level is higher than that of others, and for this reason a person becomes worse in his own eyes, even though he has actually become better (talmud, megillah) do not pay attention to the fact that the entire world is continuously chasing pleasures while only a few ascend to the creator (talmud, rosh hashanah) the most important aspect of a person s spiritual progress is a plea for help addressed to the creator (talmud, yomah) the worst manifestation of egoism is arrogance and conceit (talmud, sota) a person must draw strength from the

d, rosh hashanah) the most important aspect of a person s spiritual progress is a plea for help addressed to the creator (talmud, yomah) the worst manifestation of egoism is arrogance and conceit (talmud, sota) a person must draw strength from the understanding of the purpose of creation, rejoicing in advance in the inevitable reformation of the entire world and the arrival of peace for humanity (talmud, truma) faith is the only way to redemption. in all other qualities a person can become confused by egoism, but faith is the only basis for a person s ascent to the spiritual realm (talmud, makot- 434- attaining the worlds beyond faith cannot manifest itself in a person without being accompanied by fear, for egoism bows only to fear (talmud, shabbat) even if an individual is not doing anyth

person s ascent to the spiritual realm (talmud, makot- 434- attaining the worlds beyond faith cannot manifest itself in a person without being accompanied by fear, for egoism bows only to fear (talmud, shabbat) even if an individual is not doing anything, his egoism urges him to commit all kinds of evil deeds. thus, a person who has not sinned can be compared to a person who has done good deeds (talmud, bava metziah) an individual s unification with the creator can only be achieved through the congruity of their qualities (talmud, sota) kabbalistic quotes- 435- 39 rabbi laitman s search for kabbalah there is a question that is commonly addressed to me at various lectures and interviews with regard to how i came to kabbalah. probably, if i was engaged in something different and far removed

LAITMAN M KABBALAH SCIENCE AND THE MEANING OF LIFE

to avoid confusion and materialization, and facilitates a clear and ordered approach to the study. the language of kabbalah is essentially different from other languages because of the clear, unequivocal way it describes the purpose of creation the similarity of the creature to the creator, i.e. inversion of egoism into altruism. the chief kabbalah textbook at present is baal hasulam s six-volume talmud eser sefirot (the study of the ten sefirot, based on the writings of the ari. in just over 2,000 pages, talmud eser sefirot expounds on the structure of the upper worlds, accompanied by charts, glossaries, and tables of questions and answers for revision of the material. in the introduction to the book, baal hasulam elaborates on the reasons for preferring the language of kabbalah to the ot

hentic kabbalah in a manner 218 that is both rational and mature. readers are gradually led to an understanding of the logical design of the universe and the life whose home it is. the science of kabbalah, a revolutionary work that is unmatched in its clarity, depth, and appeal to the intellect, will enable readers to approach the more technical works of baal ha- sulam (rav yehuda ashlag, such as talmud eser sefirot and zohar. although scientists and philosophers will delight in its illumination, laymen will also enjoy the satisfying answers to the riddles of life that only authentic kabbalah provides. now, travel through the pages and prepare for an astonishing journey into the upper worlds. introduction to the book of zohar: is the second in a series written by kabbalist and scientist ra

LAITMAN M THE KABBALAH EXPERIENCE

the correction. that is why we should think only about the present moment, and what we must internally correct right now. w h at i s t h e m e a n i n g o f m y l i f e? q: what does it mean to feel inner necessity? a: inner necessity is when you have a question about the meaning of life and you cannot find the answer to it. in the introduction to the most complex and important book in kabbalah, talmud eser sefirot (the study of the ten sefirot, the author, rav yehuda ashlag, writes for whom this book is intended. it is anyone who is troubled by the question: what is the meaning of my life? it is meant precisely for those who wish to know the meaning of the suffering they experience; those who try to understand why things go wrong in their lives. i m p r ov e b y b e g i n n i n g q: i d

ual world. it explains it in the language of pictures, but not a single word of it speaks of our world. it does, however, make use of words to explain the structure of the spiritual world and how it dominates us. because the spiritual world is the world of emotions and has no words, we use languages such as the language of the bible (pentateuch, the language of legends (agada, the language of the talmud (jewish religious laws, and the language of the kabbalah (sefirot, which is the most precise of all, in order to explain and describe that world. for that reason, most kabbalists use the language of the kabbalah. within the kabbalah are several sub-languages as well: the language of the lights, the language of the vessels, gimatria (use of letters as numerals, matrix, drawings, etc. because

ical facts. here too, it all depends on which words we use to express what we feel. the difference between kabbalah and torah is precisely in the manner, the language, in which they speak of the spiritual worlds. the kabbalah speaks of them in technical terms, hence the name the wisdom of kabbalah, the science of kabbalah, whereas the torah speaks in a more emotional, yet concealed, language. the talmud also speaks about the laws of the spiritual world, but in the language and words of laws of our world, such as: you mustn t eat this or do that. the talmud speaks only about the laws of the spiritual world, while in our world those descriptions are baseless and the laws don t even apply. but if we want to live in our world according to the laws of the upper world, we observe them in the fle

the laws don t even apply. but if we want to live in our world according to the laws of the upper world, we observe them in the flesh. we observe them because we want to somehow adapt ourselves to them, imitate them in some way. but it is completely untrue that by so doing, we affect the upper worlds. by doing something in our world, with my hands or legs, i change nothing in the upper world. the talmud, gmarah and the torah speak only of the upper worlds. the difference between them and the kabbalah is only in the language. t h e k a b b a l a h e x p e r i e n c e 66 t h e l a n g uag e o f t h e k a b b a l a h q: what language do kabbalists use among themselves? a: kabbalists don t invent their own language. they share the same feelings about the spiritual world. for every feeling abou

irst books about kabbalah were written thousands of years ago. adam ha rishon (the first man) wrote the book, the angel raziel, and abraham the patriarch wrote the book sefer yetzira (book of creation. the zohar was written some 1900 years ago. all of these books are still for sale today. through them, we can study the wisdom of kabbalah. the principal, fundamental book that we study by is called talmud eser hasefirot (the study of the ten sefirot. it consists of six volumes and more than 2000 pages that depict the laws of the system of creation in scientific terms. when we study them, we receive a special illumination, a special providence from above. even if we still do not understand a single word we read, even if we haven t got a clue about the spiritual world, approaching the creator

ques which means that we must go through still other phases of development. it might take several more lifetimes before we arrive at kabbalah. finally, when we begin to study kabbalah, our every desire begins to grow within us. we become more egoistic, and therefore smarter. greater worldly desires are born, especially sexual ones. t h e k a b b a l a h e x p e r i e n c e 216 as the sages of the talmud say: after the ruin of the temple, the taste of intercourse was left for the workers of the lord alone. this means that the true taste of sexual pleasures remains only among those who grow spiritually. to a person who is not proficient in the structure of the worlds and who does not know the upper guidance, it sounds like the complete opposite, but to disciples of kabbalah it is clear that

attain anything in past lives, where is the root of that person s soul? a: any moment in one s life, even if the person simply exists, is already a correction. that is because we are under the authority of nas o u l, b o d y a n d r e i n c a r n a t i o n 267 ture and suffer from it, even if unconsciously, and so does the entire creation: the still, vegetative, animate and man. it is said in the talmud that if a person wants to take a coin of a certain value out of his pocket, but instead finds a coin of a different value, it is already a pain for him, because he feels that his desire was not satisfied. thus, the amount of pain is precisely determined, regardless of our feelings. but we have the ability to choose, and to make our own efforts to accelerate the correction. when that happens

his is not only an improvement in quantity, but also in quality. your toothaches, for example, will not last millions of moments, but only one moment. that is why it is not a good idea to slight kabbalah studies. t h e m e s s i a h i n t h e z o h a r a n d i n t h e t a l m u d q: it is said in the zohar that before the coming of the messiah, everyone will learn kabbalah. on the other hand, the talmud says that the face of the generation will be as the face of the dog, meaning that everyone will be out for himself. how is it possible to reconcile those two arguments? in order for the messiah to come, must everyone study kabbalah? a: baal hasulam writes in his introduction to the tree of life that at the end of time, everyone will abandon kabbalah because they will no longer be able to tr

sciple v physically and spiritually..330 working with a rav..332 surpassing the teacher. 332 searching the way to people. 333 a rav and a group. 334 inner connection v only above the barrier. 339 disturbances. 340 group work..343 c h a p t e r 10. t h e m e s s i a h a n d t h e e n d o f da y s. 3 4 6 the light of the messiah. 346 kabbalah and the messiah. 347 the messiah in the zohar and in the talmud. 349 what is the sensation of time. 351 prophecies that did not come true. 352 war and redemption. 353 spirituality and the temple. 353 the third temple v first in our hearts, then in stone. 354 the era of the secrets of the torah. 354 c h a p t e r 11. c o n c e p t s i n k a b b a l a h. 3 5 6 who is god. 356 fundamental concepts: a framework..356 what is light. 357 what is spiritual. 358

ls authentic kabbalah in a manner that is both rational and mature. readers are gradually led to an understanding of the logical design of the universe and the life whose home it is. the science of kabbalah, a revolutionary work that is unmatched in its clarity, depth, and appeal to the intellect, will enable readers to approach the more technical works of baal hasulam (rav yehuda ashlag, such as talmud eser sefirot and zohar. although scientists and philosophers will delight in its illumination, laymen will also enjoy the satisfying answers to the riddles of life that only authentic kabbalah provides. now, travel through the pages and prepare for an astonishing journey into the upper worlds. introduction to the book of zohar: is the second in a series written by kabbalist and scientist ra

LAITMAN M THE PATH OF KABBALAH

the light comes from above, depending on the correction of one s desires, and fills the creature. this means that the soul the light of correction clothes the body (the will to receive. the soul, or light, passes through the holy worlds, and this is the time of correction. if we render pleasure to the creator in the act of reception, it is called bet h e pa t h o f k a b b a l a h 16 stowal. the talmud states that if a respectable man marries, he doesn t have to give a ring to his bride. on the contrary, his willingness to marry her is sufficient because she respects him. such reception is tantamount to pure bestowal. if man works in this way toward the creator when receiving from him, with the aim of bringing contentment to the creator, it is called equivalence of form. at first, one res

and the creator only by changing ourselves. that is what we can write about and convey to others. the first man wrote about his attainments. abraham the patriarch followed in his footsteps, which in turn was followed by moses, who named his attainments of the creator and creation, torah. the kabbalists that followed wrote about their feelings and attainments in additional books, the mishnah, the talmud and so on. every kabbalist describes our world and how to enter the spiritual world. we call these books, holy books, or torah, from the hebrew word ohr (light) and hora a (instruction, meaning instructions for entering the spiritual world. these books didn t arrive out of the blue. they were not carved in stone by an upper power and were not written by the creator on papyrus. there was alw

ld in a state of calmness, eternity, completeness, and peace. that spiritual degree (at the end of correction) is not described anywhere in kabbalah or the torah, simply because there is no language with which to describe it. beyond the end of correction is a realm that is not described anywhere. it is there that we find the secrets of torah. there are subtle hints of this in the zohar and in the talmud. that spiritual state is called maase merkava and maase bereshit. but those are all very subtle hints. it is actually impossible to describe these spiritual feelings in words because the words and the letters in our language are valid only in the correction zone (until the world of atzilut, since that is from where they are taken. we cannot feel anything above the system of correction, and

king at our own or someone else s properties. it is hard for such a student of kabbalah to be in contact with the outside world. students have little patience when seeing egoism in the people they encounter. but each person is created with intention, and we should only try to help others change their properties to altruism. anything that is against our desire makes us suffer. it is written in the talmud that if we want to take a certain coin out of a pocket, but bring out a different coin, we already suffer. anything in life that does not match our desires perfectly causes us to suffer. any bad mood, disease, or a lack of motivation to do this or that is interpreted by us as suffering. t h e pa t h o f k a b b a l a h 76 but everything that happens actually happens in our favor. everything

h seemingly passes from above downward, from a spiritual root to a corresponding material body in our world. the spiritual root is the cause and the worldly branch is the projection, the consequence. the entire torah was written in this descriptive language. it speaks only of spiritual forces, as do all the other holy books. the books can be divided into those that use a legal tongue, such as the talmud, or a historic tale tongue, such as the pentateuch. but all these books describe nothing but the spiritual worlds. they have no intention whatsoever of referring to our world. confusion is created only when we read these books and automatically interpret the words according to our understanding, which knows only terms of our world. as a result, we begin to think that it speaks of things tha

at it is impossible for the whole of israel to attain this great purity, except by the study of the wisdom of kabbalah, the easiest way suitable for those without knowledge as well. but through the study of the literal torah alone, it is impossible to attain purity but for singled out individuals, and with great efforts, but not for the majority of the people (rabbi yehuda ashlag, introduction to talmud eser sefirot. the attainment begins from the hidden torah, and only afterwards does one attain the remaining portions of the torah, and only in the end does one attain the revealed torah (the vilna gaon, the siddur. i have seen it written that the prohibition from above to refrain from open study in the wisdom of truth was only for a limited period, until the end of 1490, but from then on t

entire torah is the names of the creator. all the words in the torah tell us either about the vessels or their operations. this means that the entire torah is the very same t h e pa t h o f k a b b a l a h 176 wisdom of kabbalah we are studying now, just written in a different language. as a rule, there are four languages: the language of the torah, the language of the agada (legends, that of the talmud, and the language of kabbalah. all of them were devised by kabbalists who attained spirituality in order to tell us how to attain the purpose of creation. g e n e r a l o u t l o o k the will of the creator is to benefit (delight) the creatures. the creatures are the ones that are meant to acquire and attain the benevolence of the creator on their own. for that purpose, the creator created

e attain in our innermost feeling, in our malchut. however, we do it with the attributes we receive from above. c h a p t e r 3. 2 4 q u e s t i o n s& a n s w e r s w h at i s k a b b a l a h? q: what is kabbalah? a: kabbalah is an ancient teaching that covers a number of languages and many forms of expression. there is the language of tales that the bible uses and the language of rules that the talmud uses. there is also the language of kabbalah itself, which uses drawings, formulas, and matrices. kabbalah utilizes pure mathematical rules in order to express spiritual phenomena. there are many ways to depict our sensations and feelings, but the language of kabbalah is the most accurate and scientific of all. it is also possible to convey spiritual sensations through music. though we do n

herefore, people who learn only about the practical laws of the torah and perform them mechanically, without correcting their hearts, are called gentiles. they have the knowledge, but not the light. the torah is the light of the creator that enters one s corrected vessels, while knowledge is a proficiency in what is written where and how. one can be proficient in the entire torah, know the entire talmud by heart, but still not have any real spiritual attainment. this phenomenon exists in the study of kabbalah, too: one can be proficient in all the texts of kabbalah and master the text like a university professor, but that does not mean that all one s desires have been corrected, or that one has replaced egoism with altruism. pa r t f o u r: p r o p e r s t u d y 255 that is the true purpos

do not object to keeping mitzvot in the physical body, but maintain that it must be accompanied by a spiritual intent, an aim that gives one the ticket to the spiritual world. however, it is only according to one s altruistic aim that one can rise to higher degrees in the spiritual worlds. although we have received the entire torah, its hidden part, the zohar, which was written at the time of the talmud, was only discovered in recent generations. the talmud was necessary to keep mitzvot and was therefore immediately publicized, whereas the zohar, because it was not necessary to the public, was concealed by the kabbalists until they decided it was time to disclose it. because souls of a different kind descend to our world in every generation, they also require a different kind of leader to

y did the creator do it that way? why must man nullify his ego and think only of others and never of himself? does the creator need it? he doesn t need it whatsoever; we do! doing that, we create an objective outside ourselves and disconnected from ourselves. these are the only conditions that allow the building of a temple. q: what does the blessing for the food mean in terms of kabbalah? a: the talmud speaks of a big group of tana im, kabbalists who buried their deceased teacher. after the funeral they sat by the river and had a meal of bread and salt. all of a sudden they realized they could not bless the blessing for the food without their teacher. regrettably, they had not succeeded in learning this blessing from their teacher. so what is the blessing for the food? the blessing for th

s the essence of judaism. the concept that it is not the creator who governs the evil forces is intended to justify our existence. the torah clearly states the heavy punishments that will befall the chosen people by the creator if they do not follow the path of the torah. catastrophes have happened more than once throughout our history, and each time the creator warned us about it in advance. the talmud speaks of the foretokens of the ruin of the first and second temples before they actually happened. it is written in the torah and in the zohar that in order to reach perfection in a good way, we must study kabbalah. h o l i da y s q: what is the meaning of yom kippur (day of atonement? a: yom kippur is the day when the construction of the spiritual vessel is completed. reality consists of

LEADBEATER C W THE HIDDEN LIFE IN FREEMASONRY 2E

fore his admission he is divested of all m c s and v c s, is h c d, and has his r c a c, l c b c and l c k c b c, and his r c h c s c d. all masonic bodies agree in viewing the continuance of this conventional form of preparation as a matter of the greatest importance, and give as their reason for this the practice of ancient times. it was a rule among the jews, says a treatise connected with the talmud, that gno man shall go into the temple with his staff, nor with shoes on his feet, nor with his outer garment, nor with money tied up in his purse h. 461. the very specific character of the preparation, which is different in each degree, points, however, not to a general rule of this kind, but to real knowledge of the occult physiology of the process of initiation on the part of those who o

LEWIS JAMES SATANISM TODAY AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION FOLKLORE AND POPULAR CULTURE

ngel who was destroying the people, enough! stay your hand (2 sam. 24:16. none of the biblical references indicate that a particular angel or group of angels have the specialized task of meting out death. only in postbiblical literature does the idea of an angel of death as such emerge. this angel gradually develops into a demonic figure who begins to act on his own initiative. by the time of the talmud, the angel of death was identified with satan, and the notion of an evil angel of death was reflected in many folktales and in many folk practices associated with death, burial, and mourning. for instance, one commonly known bit of folklore is that it is impossible to die in the midst of studying torah. the many folktales associated with the angel of death fall into roughly three categories

ngeable with the idols of canaan. scholars generally accept that there are at least two demons explicitly referred to in hebrew scriptures, lilith and azazel. the lilith of jewish folklore appears to have originally been a mesopotamian night demon with a penchant for destroying children. she later picked up the role of succubus, a female demon who copulates with living men in their dreams. in the talmud, she becomes the first wife of adam who refuses to accept her subservient role. adam then ejected her, and god created eve as a more obedient helpmate. although not mentioned by name in the bible, the night hag mentioned in isaiah 34:14 was retrospectively viewed as referring to lilith. azazel is mentioned by name in the book of leviticus, where he appears to have been some sort of a desert

e sent away into the wilderness to azazel (leviticus 16:8 10. much later, azazel was the name of one of the chieftains of the 200 fallen angels who, according to the book of enoch (mentioned in genesis 6:2 4, came to earth to mate with mortal women. azazel, it is said, taught men how to fashion weapons, and women such things as cosmetics (encouraging vanity. demons are also mentioned later in the talmud and midrash, though they are not viewed as independent powers in revolt against god. by the middle ages, they were sometimes portrayed more as mischiefmakers, though this image alternated with a much more sinister one. the book of the pious (sefer hasidm, one of the most influential texts of the medieval period, mentions demons frequently, and there are many discussions of exorcism in its p

ce demon sons. she is a patroness of witches, and is usually depicted as a beautiful vampire,with great claws as feet. lilith can be found in iranian, babylonian, mexican, greek, arab, english, german, oriental, and north american indian legends, and is often associated with other characters, such as the queen of sheba and helen of troy. according to muslim legend, lilith slept with satan. in the talmud, she was the first wife of adam who refused to accept her subservient role. adam then ejected her, and god created eve as a more obedient helpmate. lilith is then said to have copulated with lucifer and his demons, producing hundreds of lilin, demonesses who became the succubi of both jewish and medieval christian legend. she was regarded as a queen of evil spirits, from whom the jews prote

pent with 12 wings that draws after him, in his fall, the solar system (rev. 12, as well as the angel of death, whom god sent to fetch the soul of moses at the time of his death. sammael is regarded in rabbinic literature as chief of the satans and as the angel of death. in the secrets of enoch he represents the prince of demons and a magician. sammael is mentioned in a number of sources, such as talmud yalkut, where he represents esau s guardian angel, and in sotah, where he is regarded as edom s angelic prince guardian. he is equated with the serpent who tempted eve and, by seducing her, became the father of cain in the sayings of rabbi eliezer. in the zohar he is the dark angel who wrestled with jacob at peniel. sammael is also cited in waite s the holy kabbalah, as the severity of god

the victorious leader of the hosts of heaven in the war against the rebel angel. the downfall of the devil is, according to church authority, attributed to self-conceit, and it was inferred that the devil s sin was pride, w 277 278 warlock; warlock: the armageddon; and warlock 3: the end of innocence although his sin is elsewhere thought to be superbia, envy, ambition, insolence. according to the talmud, satan s sin lay not in his rivalry with god but in his envy of man. the rabbis say that when adam was created all the angels had to bow to the new king of the earth, but satan refused. thus god flung satan and his host out of heaven, down to the earth. the enmity between satan and jehovah dates from that moment. a similar account is contained in the koran, which says that when allah create

LURQUIN STONE EVOLUTION AND RELIGIOUS CREATION MYTHS

ish faith. some, however, do not. on the other hand, expectedly, all agree that god played and plays a role in the events that unfold in the universe. one can say that observant jews believe in the spirit of the torah but do not necessarily equate it with actual fact. further, jews consider that the old testament should be read and understood in conjunction with jewish scholarly texts such as the talmud, for example. interestingly, many jewish people understand that science, too, evolves and that, for some jews, current scientific knowledge simply represents our best understanding of what ultimately god did. concerning the teaching of id in public schools in the united states, several orthodox and reform rabbis in kansas city made their views crystal clear. in 2005, these rabbis showed the

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

fabric of dark and inconspicuous color. during the time of israel's wanderings through the wilderness, it is supposed that a pillar of fire hovered over the tabernacle at night, while a column of smoke traveled with it by day. this cloud was called by the jews the shechinah and was symbolic of the presence of the lord. in one of the early jewish books rejected at the time of the compiling of the talmud the following description of the shechinah appears "then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the lord filled the tabernacle. and that was one of the clouds of glory, which served the israelites in the wilderness forty years. one on the right hand, and one on the left, and one before them, and one behind them. and one over them, and a cloud dwelling in their midst

MICHAEL TSARION ATLANTIS ALIEN VISITATION AND GENETIC MANIPULATION

c. all thesemean either priest or serpent (see p. 105)tubal cain, his descendant is for this reason revered as a patron in freemasonic circles.atlantis, alien visitation, and genetic manipulation217 appendix b: book abstracts cains wifedescribed as the daughter of eve in some texts. but never named in the bible.she was actually the daughter of lilith (and enki, the latter who was according to the talmud, the con-sort of adam even before eve. liliththe granddaughter of enlil, daughter of his son, nergal of the underworld.she was therefore of pure annunaki stock, and refused therefore to be adams permanent mate. in fact,she was the consort of enki, cains father. together they produced cains wife, luluwa (see p. 106).enochwas the son of cain and luluwa, daughter of lilith (see p. 132)advent o

MORALS AND DOGMA

oly spirit, were only so many different _modes_ of existence, or _forces[[greek: d??a e] of the same god. to others they were, as were the multitude of subordinate intelligences, real and distinct beings. the oriental imagination revelled in the creation of these inferior intelligences, powers of good and evil, and angels. we have spoken of those imagined by the persians and the kabalists. in the talmud, every star, every country, every town, and almost every tongue has a prince of heaven as its protector. jehuel is the guardian of fire, and michael, of water. seven spirits assist each; those of fire being _seraphiel _gabriel _nitriel _tammael _tchimschiel _hadarniel, and _sarniel. these seven are represented by the square columns of this degree, while the columns jachin and boaz represent

s, in founding his order, was not exactly to serve the ambition of the patriarchs of constantinople. there existed at that period in the east a sect of johannite christians, who claimed to be the only true initiates into the real mysteries of the religion of the saviour. they pretended to know the real history of yesus the anointed, and, adopting in part the jewish traditions and the tales of the talmud, they held that the facts recounted in the evangels are but allegories, the key of which saint john gives, in saying that the world might be filled with the books that could be written upon the words and deeds of jesus christ; words which, they thought, would be only a ridiculous exaggeration, if he were not speaking of an allegory and a legend, that might be varied and prolonged to infinit

of one form and one color. our brain is a book printed within and without, and the two writings are, with all men, more or less confused. the primary tradition of the single revelation has been preserved under the name of the "kabalah" by the priesthood of israel. the kabalistic doctrine, which was also the dogma of the magi and of hermes, is contained in the sepher yetsairah, the sohar, and the talmud. according to that doctrine, the absolute is the being, in which the word is, the word that is the utterance and expression of being and life. magic is that which it is; it is by itself, like the mathematics; for it is the exact and absolute science of nature and its laws. magic is the science of the ancient magi: and the christian religion, which has imposed silence on the lying oracles, a

RABBI AMIRAM MARKEL MARKEL THE KNOWLEDGE OF G D VOL 1

peak. this will come about in the world to come. about this isaiah 64:3 states "no eye has seen it" furthermore, the entire length, breadth and depth of the subject as the teacher understands it, is implied in the central point that remains. this may be understood by the fact that in the short rulings of the mishnah, is included, in an implied, hidden fashion, the entire length and breadth of the talmud. in the words of the brief explanation, the entire length, breadth and depth of the full understanding is implied. likewise above, an impression of the entire infinite light is concealed in the central point that remains after the tzimtzum. for this reason, this central point is called the reshimu "the impression, because it retains in itself, in a hidden way, an impression of the entire re

on with all its particulars is drawn out, the entire line of action already exists as a heyulie-ability within the point. in the same way, in the analogy of the teacher-student relationship, this central point includes within itself an impression of the entire depth and breadth of the teacher s intellect, just as the brief teachings of the mishnah imply the entire depth, length and breadth of the talmud. another example of how the entire light is included in this impression is from a blueprint which includes the entire structure of the building in it, to the finest detail. it is from this blueprint that the contractors will build the building. not a single detail of the building is missing from the blueprint. nonetheless, a blueprint is not a building. it is just an impression of the archi

the person whose intellect leans toward sternness disproves the other person s logic and reasoning, nonetheless, the other person cannot concede that his friend is correct. his intellect leans toward kindness and that is how he sees things, and even though, at the moment, he does not have a logical proof to support his position, he just knows he is right. this may be illustrated by a story in the talmud in which rav was challenged on the logic of his position and remained silent. he could not concede to the opposing position nor could he argue against it. instead he remained silent. this is because he knew that he was correct in a way of chochmah rather than in a way of binah. on the level of insight he knew he was right but he hadn t yet brought it down to a comprehendible explanation on

connection of tiferet of the heart. the main point, is that the light of the middle line does not diminish from the beginning of the process to the end. on the contrary, according to the mental connection (da at, will be the heartfelt connection of tiferet. this is not true of the right and left lines, in which the light diminishes between chochmah and chesed, etc. this explains the statement in talmud "our father yaakov did not die" this is because death has no grip or foothold on truth, for truth endures forever. everything that was stated above about yaakov being the attribute of truth, actually refers to the "inner" source of yaakov. this inner aspect is called yisrael and represents the middle line. on the other hand the "external" aspect of yaakov are the gut emotions (netzach and h

is determined for him. every detail of his entire life, who he will marry, where he will live, how much money he will make, even what piece of chicken he will eat on the shabbat of a certain week of a particular year, has already been determined. everything came into actual speech and has, therefore, been decreed. however, whether a person will be righteous or wicked is not predetermined, as the talmud states "whether a person will be righteous or wicked, he (g-d) did not say" it was not brought out into actual speech. because of this there is the possibility of repentance, for if g-d actually said it, repentance would be impossible. however, although g-d did not actually speak it, he nonetheless thought it, on the level of "speech of thought. this causes a person to have a natural tenden

the dream state, the letters of the "fleeting thoughts of the heart (hirhoorei leeba) that he had during the day, become garbled and confused. for example, a person who worried about his "salary" during the day may dream he is being attacked by a stalk of "celery" at night. this comes about because of the confusion of the letters of the thoughts that he had during the day etc. because of this the talmud states that "dreams speak nonsense, because often they are a confusion of the thoughts he had during the day. this confusion is called a shattering into many fragments. an example for this is a child who does not yet know how to read but knows the alphabet. when he sees a word, all that registers in his mind is a conglomeration of disconnected letters that have nothing to do with each other

chashmal, specifically comes in a tangible and "concrete" way. this is similar to how an allegory is tangible and concrete relative to what is being allegorized. the chashmal is also called by the term "nogah, which means "glowing. this is because a small light which shines in the darkness has a far greater appearance of brilliance than a great light which shines in a place of brilliance, as the talmud states "of what benefit is a candle glowing in broad daylight" its light is ineffectual and as naught. if one were to take the same candle into a dark room, on the other hand, its light would appear brilliant and it would be of great benefit. this is specifically because it is shining in a place of darkness. in actuality the candle sheds no more light in a dark room as it does in broad dayl

ng follows the intent of chochmah, which is the source of the combinations, and is actually higher than the light of the intellect which is revealed in speech, as explained above that "the father founded the daughter (the power to combine is higher than the combination itself or even the concept being revealed, as explained before) this may be understood from the following incident related in the talmud. rabbi chanina ben dosa was a very poor man. one friday his daughter told him she did not have any oil to light the shabbat lights. all they had in their possession was some vinegar. rabbi chanina ben dosa said "may he who told oil to burn, tell the vinegar to burn. his daughter used vinegar in the lamp and it burned. however, the vinegar remained vinegar. the combination of its letters sta

name of g-d. if it is understood correctly it reveals g-d all the more. however, if it is misread or misunderstood it may conceal g-d s light totally. the lower unity from all the above we may understand the statement of the twelve sons of yisrael to their father. they told him "hear o israel, the l-rd our g-d, the l-rd is one("shma yisrael, havayah elokeinu, havayah echad. it is explained in the talmud that what they were saying was that just as in your heart there is only one (only g-d exists, so too in our hearts there is only one. as explained above, yaakov is tiferet of the world of atzilut, which is totally bound up with the self of g-d. in contrast, the consciousness of the sons of yaakov was in the world of briyah. what they meant was that just as in atzilut "he and his life force

nite light) until our world, we must explain the proper approach this type of study. we will, therefore, now delve into the methodology of kabbalistic contemplation. in essence, hitbonenut (contemplation) is the strong gazing of the mind into the depth of a subject. in other words, one examines the subject in his mind until he understands it in all its parts and details. in the terminology of the talmud, this is called iyun (in depth analysis. there are two basic methods of study. the first is called iyun in depth analysis, and the second is called girsah (surface study. girsah surface study girsah surface study, is the understanding of the subject at first glance, without stopping to delve into its details with any great scrutiny or analysis. in talmud study, this is used mainly to cover

eadth and depth, nonetheless, it all remains within comprehension itself, without spreading forth to other subjects or other people who are not on his level of understanding. for example, many professors who are experts in their field may not be capable of applying it to other fields, and may have difficulty bringing the concept down, within the grasp of their students. to further illustrate, the talmud is replete with a great deal of dialogue and analysis with much reasoning and explanation into the subjects under discussion. however, though talmud study involves comprehension in a way of binah, nonetheless, actual halachic (legal) rulings (either to the positive or to the negative) do not necessarily come to final resolution. this is because the intellect of the talmud is completely inte

e desire is to fulfill the will of his master and king. truly, this is the purpose of man, as stated "in conclusion, after everything has been heard (which, as mentioned before, refers to the understanding and comprehension of binah, fear g-d, and fulfill his commandments, for this is the whole (purpose) of man" lastly, it must be pointed out that "the reward is commensurate to the effort, as the talmud states "he who claims that he has toiled but has not found, is not to be believed, he who claims to have found without toil, is not to be believed. however, he who claims that he has toiled and has found is to be believed" de ah et hashem the knowledge of g-d by rabbi a. markel& shimon markel copyright 2004 part three: divine inspiration divine inspiration we will now explain the various le

RABBI AMIRAM MARKEL MARKEL THE KNOWLEDGE OF G D VOL 2

nite light) until our world, we must explain the proper approach this type of study. we will, therefore, now delve into the methodology of kabbalistic contemplation. in essence, hitbonenut (contemplation) is the strong gazing of the mind into the depth of a subject. in other words, one examines the subject in his mind until he understands it in all its parts and details. in the terminology of the talmud, this is called iyun (in depth analysis. there are two basic methods of study. the first is called iyun in depth analysis, and the second is called girsah (surface study. girsah surface study girsah surface study, is the understanding of the subject at first glance, without stopping to delve into its details with any great scrutiny or analysis. in talmud study, this is used mainly to cover

eadth and depth, nonetheless, it all remains within comprehension itself, without spreading forth to other subjects or other people who are not on his level of understanding. for example, many professors who are experts in their field may not be capable of applying it to other fields, and may have difficulty bringing the concept down, within the grasp of their students. to further illustrate, the talmud is replete with a great deal of dialogue and analysis with much reasoning and explanation into the subjects under discussion. however, though talmud study involves comprehension in a way of binah, nonetheless, actual halachic (legal) rulings (either to the positive or to the negative) do not necessarily come to final resolution. this is because the intellect of the talmud is completely inte

e desire is to fulfill the will of his master and king. truly, this is the purpose of man, as stated "in conclusion, after everything has been heard (which, as mentioned before, refers to the understanding and comprehension of binah, fear g-d, and fulfill his commandments, for this is the whole (purpose) of man" lastly, it must be pointed out that "the reward is commensurate to the effort, as the talmud states "he who claims that he has toiled but has not found, is not to be believed, he who claims to have found without toil, is not to be believed. however, he who claims that he has toiled and has found is to be believeevthe arizal never wrote a commentary on the torah per se; in fact, he hardly wrote anything. his teachings were recorded by his disciples, principally rabbi chaim vital (15

RABBI MOSHE WISNEFSKY APPLES FROM THE ORCHARD THE ARIZAL ON THE PARASHAH

eventually rectified, however, as we will [now] explain, please g-d. these souls left [the diminished being of adam] by way of seminal emissions, for [as we are taught, adam] sired evil spirits. this happens when the drop of seminal emission impregnates a female demon. the soul [that has thus become entrapped in evil] must be reincarnated afterwards in order to be rectified. we are taught in the talmud1 that during the 130 years adam separated from eve (after the sin until he fathered seth, he suffered from seminal emissions (the hebrew term for gseminal emission, h keri, applies both to intentional and involuntary seminal emissions. although voluntary emission is considered a more serious sin than involuntary emission, the individual is considered responsible for involuntary emission as

s absolute oneness. the soul of onkelos, the convert, was from this aspect [of reality. onkelos was a roman who converted to judaism and is the author of the standard aramaic translation of the torah. we have discussed the significance of aramaic in this context previously. this is the mystical significance of [the custom of reading the torah] gtwice as in scripture and once in translation. h the talmud enjoins us to review the weekly portion of the torah each week by reading it aloud, each verse twice in the original hebrew followed by once in the translation of onkelos.4 by reading the hebrew together with the aramaic, we are subsuming the mundane, nogah-shell into holiness. the nogah-principle encloses the light of holiness after midnight.5 as we said, the realm of the gfruit h or kerne

were buried in this [cave. 7 bava batra 17a. the arizal on parashat chayei sarah (2) 116 immediately after abraham purchased the machpelah cave and buried sarah in it, we are told that gabraham was old, having arrived in days, and g-d blessed abraham with everything. h8 the word for gwith everything h is bakol. the numerical value of bakol is 52: beit-kaf-lamed= 2+ 20+ 30= 52. it is stated in the talmud that g-d gave the patriarchs a foretaste of the future world while they were still in this world. for abraham, this is alluded to by the verse just quoted: gand g-d blessed abraham with everything [bakol. h for isaac, the allusion is found in the episode wherein jacob stole the blessings he intended to bestow on esau. jacob first fed isaac some food, and about this food, jacob later told es

syphoning off the energy of yesod, his land is mentioned. this answers question #6, posed at the beginning of this exposition. the name of this king, chusham, is missing the lamed of chashmal, since, in this sublime level of emanation, the sign of the holy covenant has not yet been revealed. rather, everything was hidden inside binah, alluded to by the closed mem [of chusham. as is stated in the talmud,9 there are forty gates of binah. thus, the letter mem, whose numerical value is 40, alludes to binah. the closed, final form of the mem thus alludes to a closed, locked up form of binah. and since this light was that of the supernal chesed, which [as is stated in the zohar] gis revealed in the orifice of the pure organ [of procreation, h and this light was concealed, in its place issued th

c sefirah, the throat is just the respository of the initial state of the head. since [the throat] is a narrow and thin organ [the immature mental states] get stuck there. now, it is known that three vital channels or pipelines pass through the throat: the trachea, the esophagus, and the jugular veins, through which all a person fs blood and life-force passes, as is known, and as is stated in the talmud:1 gtake care with the jugular veins, in accordance with the opinion of rabbi yehudah, who said that [the slaughterer] must cut through the jugular veins. h kosher slaughtering demands that these veins be severed, in order to effect instant death to the animal. if the slaughterer does not sever these veins together, the animal is considered to have been killed piecemeal, not ritually slaught

rson will die. we also see that the lower end of the trachea extends into the lungs and the heart, and there is no passageway there through which water that enters the [upper] trachea could exit [elsewhere. the meaning, rather, is that the esophagus carries food and drink and all types of moisture [downward, while the trachea is used only for producing the voice and speech, as is mentioned in the talmud3 and in the passage from the zohar in 1 berachot 8b. 2 3:218b, in ra faya mehemna. 3 berachot 61a; zohar 3:227b. the arizal on parashat vayeisheiv 199 question.4 [in this respect] the trachea is similar to the world to come, in which there is neither eating nor drinking, etc. the air that enters the body via the trachea is used to produce sound. presumably, the sages do not mean to say that

n.2 five times the numerical value of benjamin spelled with the second yud is 810, alluding to the two temples that were built in benjamin fs territory and stood in total 830 years. it is for this reason that his name appears with the second yud only five times, as we said. beit-nun-yud-mem-yud-nun= 2+ 50+ 10+ 40+ 10+ 50= 162. 162 x 5= 810. jersualem was in benjamin fs territory. according to the talmud,3 the first temple stood for 410 years (833 bce. 423 bce, and the second temple for 420 years (350 bce. 70 ce. this gives a total of 830 years. as to the missing 20 in this calculation, the scribe who wrote it down suggests that we add the 17 letters used in spelling out the word binyamin plus the two kolel fs for the two temples, this giving 19, plus another kolel for the word binyamin its

crifice in the second month, for they could not perform it in its time [i.e, in nisan, for not enough priests had sanctified themselves yet, and the people had not been gathered to jerusalem by then. h8 in order to give the repenting populace time to purify themselves before offering the pesach-sacrifice, king hezekiah decided to add an extra month to the calendar. according to one opinion in the talmud, he made this decision in the month of nisan, and added a second nisan so that the festival of pesach could be postponed. according to other opinions, he did intercalate a second adar, but he did this on 30th day of adar, which is forbidden by the sages. since the 30th day of adar can potentially be proclaimed the 1st day of nisan (if witnesses testify that they saw the new moon on that day

embarrassing or even shameful. this is why g-d judges the righteous gto the breadth of a string of hair h: their higher standard of being makes attitudes or actions that would be normally considered innocuous or even meritorious look depraved in context. this higher purgatory is called rephidim, which alludes to the righteous who gwhose hand-grasp of the commandments was weak. h according to the talmud,1 the implication of the name rephidim is that there the jews gloosened their handgrip on the study of the torah, h for the word rephidim is derived from the root rafeh (reish-pei-hei, which means gloose h or gweak. h this means that [in rephidim] the jews did not perform g-d fs commandments properly, but in laziness and unwillingly. similarly here, the soul has already gained entrance to t

h the jewish people. when the jews left egypt, ga mixed multitude also left with them. h4 these were converts from a number of peoples.including egyptians.5 moses also wanted to accept them and take them in under the wings of the shechinah.6 therefore, since joseph began this deed and was the first one to convert them to judaism [it is appropriate that] moses took him with him [personally. in the talmud,7 the sages point out that gwhereas all the [other] jews were occupied with the spoil [of egypt, moses occupied himself with the commandments, h i.e, with fulfilling joseph fs wish to be exhumed and taken to the holy land. the arizal gives a thematic explanation of why this was so. further on, we are told that pharaoh relented that he had let the people go, gand pharaoh took six hundred cho

exodus 21:18. 2 ibid. 21:28. 3 ibid. 21:33. 4 ibid. 22:4. 5 ibid. 22:5. 6 bava kama 1:1. 7 ezekiel 1:10. 8 genesis 26:19. 9 par. psalms 40:3. the arizal on parashat mishpatim (2) 322 the destroyer corresponds to [the sefirah of] tiferet, according to the opinion that the gdestroyer h refers to man,10 as it is written, git is the glory of a man to sit in a house. h11 there are two opinions in the talmud regarding the meaning of the term used for the third category of damage (maveh. according to one opinion, it means a man causing damage. according to the other opinion, it means a grazing animal (and the category of gox h means only a trampling animal. according to this opinion, the gfour principle categories h enumerated by the sages are only categories of damages done by a person fs posse

acing nothing, but facing her mate, z feir anpin. the womens f court ascends to the level of the israelites f court, indicating that the jew (whose soul hails from malchut) must also ascend to the israelites f court on these festivals. therefore the obligation [of the pilgrimage] on these festivals is dependent on the legs, and for this reason lame and blind people are exempt, as mentioned in the talmud, based on the expression gleg-festivals h (regalim).11 even a minor who can make the trip on foot must be educated to do so. for he personifies z feir anpin in its youth, as jacob, which is only in the form of a vav. at this stage, too, we must draw down light from the legs of that level. gjacob h is the name of the immature version of the partzuf of z feir anpin. nonetheless, these levels

is five, which means that there is an innate gfive-ness h in femininity; each of these aspects of femininity comprises five dimensions. the ten sefirot are reflected in each of the five dimensions of these two aspects of femininity. this gives us fifty (5 x 10) sub-aspects for leah, the upper hei, and fifty for rachel, the lower hei. this clearly recalls two teaching of our sages recorded in the talmud. the first is that there are fifty ggates h of understanding,1 that is, fifty subjective levels through which one may conceptualize or relate to g-d. the second is that an additional measure of understanding was given to woman beyond that given to man.2 thus we see that understanding is an intrinsically feminine quality, which is associated with the feminine letter hei and which comprises f

d shaddai, gmy breasts. h thus, there is a radiance of the name shakai= 314] issuing from the yesod [of z feir anpin] at the level of its heart, together with a radiance of the diminishing value of the name ekyeh, whose numerical value is that of the word for gblood h [dam, 44. together they equal the numerical value of the words for gsnake h [nachash] and choshen. according to one opinion in the talmud,6 the reason a woman does not usually menstruate when nursing is because her blood is transformed into milk. whatever this may mean physiologically, we see here a conceptual connection between blood and breastmilk. what have gleaned from this passage is that the union of the choshen and the ephod, i.e, that of z feir anpin and nukva, occurs at both an immature and mature stage. the former i

ant as the emotions are in the full psychological functioning man, they cannot be relied upon themselves to provide him with the proper consciousness he needs to interpret and respond properly to the world. this is because the emotions are entirely subjective. in order for a person to rise above.be free.of the confines of his own subjectivity, he must use his intellect. thus, we are taught in the talmud that there are fifty ggates h of binah, i.e, fifty levels of understanding divinity. binah is the principle sefirah of the intellect, in which the insight of chochmah is developed into a full mental construction and world-view. when the mature understanding of binah permeates all ten sefirot, we have 50 x 10= 500; this is why there are five hundred weights of myrrh in the anointing oil. fra

of connection and transmission; all the preceding sefirot coalesce in it and are channeled through it. in the correspondence that exists between the sefirot and the body, yesod corresponds to the organs of procreation. since the generation of the exodus were the pupils of moses and the original recipients of the torah, they were also elevated to this profound level of consciousness. thus, in the talmud, this generation is referred to as gthe generation of knowledge. h 1 see exodus 12:38. 2 ibid. 32:1-4. the arizal on parashat ki tisa (3) 396 in judaism, sin is defined as something that in some way degrades or perverts a person fs awareness or consciousness of g-d. there are of course many levels of this, ranging from the subtle, ginnocuous h sins of indulging in some permitted pleasure (g

ugh the observance of all the torah fs commandments is just as important as the overall accomplishment of this goal through these general mitzvot [moses] began with the commandment to construct the tabernacle, and said: gsix days shall work be done c. h this refers [not to work in general, but specifically] to building the tabernacle, which is why it is phrased in the imperative. our sages in the talmud derive the categories of work forbidden on the sabbath from the types of work that were necessary to construct the tabernacle. here we can see why this is so: they are juxtaposed as being essentially equivalent to one another; when you are doing one, you do not need to do the other, and vice versa. a jew is meant to be constantly involved in promoting divine consciousness in the world. duri

nto the world, and will be fully able to experience it throughout the holy day. the celebration of shabbat will not be a simple cessation from work, but a palpable experience of holiness in prayer, feasting, torah study and social and family life. even the mundane aspects of life will take on g-dly dimensions and become encounters with the wondrous reality of g-d himself. this is described in the talmud as the familiar metaphor of possessing an gextra soul h on shabbat. together, then, shabbat and the temple constitute the consummate rectification for the sin of the golden calf, the denial or pollution of the idea of g-d fs unified presence throughout all reality.time and space. 6 1 kings 6:7. 399 parashat vayakhel [second installment] the following passage from the writings of the arizal

eaning of gto do evil or to do good h is that the two final letters of the name havayah tend gtoward doing evil h and the first two letters tend gtoward doing good. h this will be explained presently. it follows that this verse is in ascending order. g cto do evil or to do good c h refers to the final two letters and the first two letters of the name havayah. this affords us an explanation of the talmud fs statement: g[he takes] an oath [saying] ei shall eat f or [an oath saying] ei shall not eat. f h why does the talmud use eating as the example of the principle forms of an oath that when transgressed inadvertently requires a guilt offering? to explain: as is known, the seven gkings h that died are [the prototype of] z feir anpin and nukva, which are indicated by the two final letters of

ut and were rectified [the first two letters of the name havayah come into play, which] tend toward gdoing good, h this being the oath/seven that gi will eat. h for then eating and nourishment is given to them to satiety.much more than the minimal life-force required to merely keep them existing.from the first two letters of the name havayah, yudhei, which signify abba and ima. we see now why the talmud uses the example of eating to illustrate taking oaths and breaching them inadvertently. an goath h is a gseven, h an upper or lower two-letters of the name havayah with their first spellingout or part of its second spelling-out. these parts of the name havayah provide sustenance for the seven gkings, h either in the form of the minimal energy required to sustain them when they are trapped i

aragraph concludes this section in sha far hapesukim: regarding wild animals, they are also derived from the lower two states of gevurah as mentioned, and therefore they also require the two signs [of kashrut. but they only derive from the spelling-out of the spelling-out, and therefore there are other, additional signs that differentiate between them and domesticated animals, as mentioned in the talmud.5 i did not receive the mystical interpretation of their explanation [from my master .translated and adapted from sefer halikutim and sha far hapesukim 5 chulin 59ab. 449 parashat tazria background: this week fs parashah begins with three seemingly unrelated topics: the ritual impurity acquired by a woman through giving birth, the commandment to circumcise infant boys on the eighth day of t

RITUEL ET DOGME DE LA HAUTE MAGIE BY ELIPHAS LEVI PART I

monstrous absurdities for in this case believers, involved by the same ignorance, speak the language of sceptics but a monument, as we affirm, which comprises all that philosophical and religious genius has ever accomplished or imagined in the sublime order, a treasure encompassed by thorns, a diamond concealed in a rude and opaque stone: our readers will have guessed already that we refer to the talmud. how strange is the destiny of the jews, those scapegoats, martyrs and saviours of the world, a people full of vitality, a bold and hardy race, which persecutions have preserved intact, because it has not yet accomplished its mission! do not our apostolical traditions declare that after the decline of faith among the gentiles salvation shall again come forth out of the house of jacob, and t

hebrew writers in the collection of pistorius, the sepher yetzirah above all; it is essential in particular to master the great book zohar, to investigate the collection of 1684, entitled kabbala denudata, especially the treatise on kabalistic pneumatics and that on the revolution of souls; and afterwards to enter boldly into the luminous darkness of the whole dogmatic and allegorical body of the talmud. we shall be then in a position to understand william postel, and shall admit secretly that apart from his very premature and overgenerous dreams about the emancipation of women this celebrated, learned, illuminated man could not have been so mad as is pretended by those who have not read him. we have sketched rapidly the history of occult philosophy; we have indicated its sources and analy

of the first principle. when the supreme being became a creator, he erected a jod or a phallus, and to provide a place in the fullness of the uncreated light, it was necessary to hollow out a cteis or trench of shadow equivalent to the dimension determined by his creative desire, and attributed by him to the ideal jod of the radiating light. such is the mysterious language of the kabalists in the talmud, and on account of vulgar ignorance and malignity, it is impossible for us to explain or simplify it further. what then is creation? it is the house of the creative word. what is the cteis? it is the house of the phallus. what is the nature of the active principle? to diffuse. what is that of the passive? to gather in and to fructify. what is man? he who initiates, who toils, who furrows, w

SATANGEL

guardian angels. the other three are traditionally chosen from remi-el, sari-el, ana-el, ragu-el, razi-el and metatron. metatron according to rabbinical texts he is really the greatest angel of all. in christian texts he is variously called prince of the divine face, angel of the covenant, king of angels, and the lesser tetragrammaton (yhvh, and is charged with the sustenance of the world. in the talmud and targum he is the direct link between humankind and god. he appears in the yakult hadash, where the two egyptian magicians jannes and jambre manage to gain unqualified admission to heaven and refuse to leave. micha-el and gabri-el are sent to expel them but are defeated. after metatron defeats the magicians he is set above micha-el and gabri-el. according to one version of his myth he wa

the erelim (thrones, describing him as a brilliant white fire. according to targum ecclesiastes, each day razi-el stands upon the peak of mount horeb, proclaims the secrets to all mankind. 9th choir: angels theses are the last in the heavenly hierarchy and the closest to mankind. many early hebrew sources recognise the existence of angels before creation, as did the early catholic church. in the talmud, however, we are informed that having been created they sing a hymn of praise to god and promptly expire, only to be recreated again the following day. the officially recognised doctrine of modern catholicism states that angels are purely immaterial spiritual beings. the grigori, the watchers the 10th choir according to the bishop of paris in the 13th century, there was once a tenth order o

SCHLAGER NEIL WORLD RELIGIONS REFERENCE LIBRARY

god, and the afterlife. world religions: almanac xxiii words to know metempsychosis: transmigration of souls, or the migration of the soul into a different form, animal, or object after death. mezuzah: a small case containing torah passages that observant jews attach to the doorposts of their houses. midrashim: stories that expand on incidents in the hebrew bible. mishnah: the written text of the talmud. mitzvoth: the laws of judaism contained in the torah. moksha: salvation; liberation from rebirth. monastery: a place where religious people such as monks live, away from the world and following strict religious guidelines. monotheism: belief in one supreme being. morality: following the rules of right behavior and conduct. moshiach: the expected messiah in jewish belief. muezzin: the perso

lence and the ruler of the oceans. svetambara: literally, white-clad; one of the two main sects of jainism. swastika: a pictorial character that symbolizes the eternal nature of brahma because it points in all directions; also used as the official emblem of the nazi party during world war ii (1939 45. takhts: seats of spiritual authority in sikhism. the five takhts are gurdwaras located in india. talmud: traditions that explain and interpret the torah. tanakh: the chief jewish scripture; the hebrew bible. tawba: repentance. theism: belief in the existence of gods or god. theocracy: a form of government in which god or some supreme deity is the ruler. god s laws are then interpreted by a divine king or by a priest class. theology: the study of god and of religions truths. world religions: a

n hebrew as kashrut. magen david: the so-called star of david, a symbol of the jewish faith and nation. menorah: a seven-branched candelabrum; at hanukkah, a nine-branched candelabrum is used. mezuzah: a small case containing torah passages that observant jews attach to the doorposts of their houses. midrashim: stories that expand on incidents in the hebrew bible. mishnah: the written text of the talmud. mitzvoth: the laws of judaism contained in the torah. moshiach: the expected messiah in jewish belief. oral torah: interpretations of the torah and ways to apply their laws. orthodox: the name of one of the sects of judaism, generally referring to traditional jews who are conservative in their outlook. pesach: the feast of passover, commemorating the flight of the jews from egypt. reform:

aism, generally referring to traditional jews who are conservative in their outlook. pesach: the feast of passover, commemorating the flight of the jews from egypt. reform: one of the sects of judaism, generally used to refer to the less traditional branch of the faith. rosh hoshanah: the jewish new year. sephardic: term used to refer to jews of north africa, the middle east, spain, and portugal. talmud: traditions that explain and interpret the torah. tanakh: the chief jewish scripture; the hebrew bible. torah: the first five books of the tanakh: genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, and deuteronomy. yahweh: one of the names for god in the tanakh. yom kippur: the day of atonement. zionism: a movement that began in the nineteenth century to find a permanent home for jews. world religions: a

, but the center of jewish worship is reading from the torah. dress. jews have no particular dress, though women are expected to dress modestly. some orthodox men keep their heads covered. others wear the peyos, or long locks of hair at their sideburns. texts. the chief text of judaism is the tanakh, or hebrew bible, especially the first five books, collectively called the torah. in addition, the talmud contains interpretations and applications of the torah. sites. the most important site for jews is the nation of israel, especially the city of jerusalem. observances. the jewish calendar includes many observances. some of the most important are passover (pesach, rosh hashanah, yom kippur, and hanukkah. phrases. judaism has many widely used phrases, including shabbat shalom( good shabbat, u

ets spoke for god and helped to define the relationship between god and his people. 7. a related belief is that moses was the greatest prophet and that his words are true. 8. the words of the written torah, or the first five books of the tanakh (genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, and deuteronomy, are true and were given to moses by god. similarly, the words of the oral torah, which includes the talmud, or traditions that interpret and explain the scriptures, are accepted as true. in the second century of the common era the talmud was written down in a text called the mishnah. orthodox jews believe that god taught it to moses and that it was handed down orally until then. 9. there will be no other torah. 10. god knows the deeds and thoughts of people. 11. god will reward the good and puni

ouched; instead a pointer in the shape of a hand with a pointing index finger is used. this pointer is called a yad. the scrolls are covered in ornamental cloth and stored in a cabinet called an ark. these scrolls make up the written torah. in addition to the written torah is the oral torah, or interpretations of the torah and ways to apply their laws. these interpretations are referred to as the talmud. mitzvoth the mitzvoth are a comprehensive list of laws contained in the tanakh. some of these are affirmative laws, meaning that they are obligations that jews are required to carry out. others are negative laws, referring to practices that are not allowed. still others are applicable only to jews living in israel. one of the difficulties with the mitzvoth for modern jews is that while som

se of the term torah can be ambiguous. depending on the context, torah can mean the written torah or both the written and oral torah. in connection with the written torah, it is sometimes used to refer to the entire hebrew bible) in the centuries that followed, further commentaries, called the gemara, were written, both in jerusalem and in babylon. so there are actually two talmuds: the jerusalem talmud and the babylonian talmud. the babylonian talmud is more complete and comprehensive. it is usually this version that jews mean when they refer to the talmud. the mishnah, or written text of the talmud, consists of six sections, or sedarim (orders: 1. zera im (seeds, dealing with agricultural laws. 2. mo ed( festival, dealing with festivals as well as sabbath (the period from sundown on frid

( wrongful acts that injure or harm another. 5. kodashim (holy things, dealing with temple worship and sacrifices. 6. toharot( purities, dealing with laws pertaining to ritual purity. each of the sedarim includes further divisions called masekhtots, or tractates. the total number of masekhtot is sixty-three. these tractates deal with specific issues in jewish law. in addition to the torah and the talmud, jews consult two additional sources for insights into the faith. the first is the midrashim, which are essentially stories that expand on incidents in the hebrew bible. the other is an immense body of commentary called the responsa. these consist of answers to questions about jewish law that were written down by respected rabbis (the leader of a jewish congregation, usually with detailed r

es were destroyed. those who survived were taxed highly by the christian authorities and were threatened by attacks from wandering bandits unless they could pay to win their freedom. israel ben eliezer 172 world religions: biographies as a result, judaism in podolia was on the decline at the time of ben eliezer s birth. the intellectual community of scholars and talmudic teachers (teachers of the talmud, a collection of holy writings about the jewish faith) had fled to lithuania, leaving the lower classes and poorer jews with no access to the scholarly pursuits of judaism. also, while jews in other regions lived in thickly settled urban areas close to centers of jewish learning and teaching, the jews of poland and ukraine tended to live in scattered villages away from intellectual centers

ming to be prophets (people through whom the will of god is expressed, saviors, and miracle workers. this was the cultural and historical backdrop of the region into which ben eliezer was born and came of age. after being adopted by the community, he was educated in the village jewish school. he learned to read hebrew by age four, translated the bible by age five, and began a serious study of the talmud by age eight. as a student, ben eliezer seems to have drawn attention to himself only because of his frequent absences from school. he was much more comfortable in the woods and fields surrounding okop than he was in the classroom. at an early age, he began to see god in nature, not just in the teachings of the torah (the first five books of the hebrew scriptures) and the talmud. when he en

further classes at a seminary, a college for those going into religious professions. eventually she decided that she wanted to become a rabbi, but no woman had ever done this before. she went through all the course work necessary to become a rabbi and wrote the thesis, or long research paper, necessary to earn her degree. her thesis topic was whether a woman could become a rabbi according to the talmud, the collection of jewish law and traditions. she concluded that, according to jewish law, a woman could become a rabbi. at first, however, she could find no jewish scholars or rabbis who would ordain her and officially give her this title. many were afraid of the negative reactions of more conservative orthodox jews. finally she found a rabbi who ordained her in 1935, but jonas could still

born on march 30, 1135. most commonly his name is given simply as maimonides, which is greek for son of maimon. he is also frequently referred to as the rambam, a loose acronym, or short form, of his title and name, rabbi moshe ben maimon. early life and wanderings maimonides was born in co rdoba, spain. his father was a judge in the jewish court and shared with his son his vast knowledge of the talmud. the talmud is a set of religious principles that explains and interprets the hebrew scripture, the portion of the christian bible called the old testament. these principles were first written down in the second century in a text called the mishnah. from an early age maimonides was moses maimonides. new york public library picture collection. 249 fascinated by the talmud. his father also en

ks detail the principles of jewish law, the formation of the jewish nation, and god s covenant, or agreement, with the israelites as his chosen people. these five books are often referred to as the written torah. in addition to the written torah is the oral torah, which consists of interpretations of the written torah and methods with which to apply its laws. the oral torah, the first part of the talmud, was written down in the second century and called the mishnah. the mishnah consists of six sections, called seders, which means orders. they are: 1. zeraim, or seeds, deals with agricultural laws. 2. moed, or festival, concerns with festivals and shabbat observances. shabbat is saturday, considered in judaism to be the seventh day of the week and a day of rest and worship. 3. nashim, or wo

s moses maimonides of these, the commentary, occupied maimonides from about 1158 to 1168. he wrote the work in arabic, and it was translated into hebrew in sections over the next two centuries. because of this, it did not have an immediate impact on jewish thought. in later centuries, however, the commentary became the starting point for virtually every study of the mishnah, the first part of the talmud, which explains jewish tradition. the comentary consists of an in-depth examination of the mishnah and discussions on a wide range of theological problems. the central problem addressed is the nature of oral law, which originated on mount sinai when god established his covenant, or agreement, with the jewish people through the ten commandments and other principles. maimonides was especially

mation books arbel, ilil. maimonides: a spiritual biography. new york, ny: crossroads, 2001. davidson, herbert a. moses maimonides: the man and his works. new york, ny: oxford university press, 2004. mangel, nissen. the rambam: a brief biography. brooklyn, ny: kehot publication society, 1998. nuland, sherwin b. maimonides. new york, ny: schocken books, 2005. web sites the mishneh torah. a page of talmud. http//www.acs.ucalgary.ca/ elsegal/ talmudmap/maimonides.html (accessed on june 2, 2006. telushkin, joseph. maimonides/rambam. jewish virtual library. http//www. jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/maimonides.html (accessed on june 2, 2006. 256 world religions: biographies moses maimonides karl marx born: may 5, 1818 trier, prussia died: march 14, 1883 london, england prussian philo

oke with a stammer. although mendelssohn was largely self-taught, he also took part in formal study under a local rabbi named david fra nkel. a rabbi is a person trained in jewish law, ritual, and tradition who is often the head of a synagogue, or jewish house of worship. fra nkel taught mendelssohn the hebrew scriptures, or holy texts, commonly referred to by christians as the old testament; the talmud, which contains traditions that explain and interpret the torah, the first five books of the hebrew scriptures; and the works of moses maimonides. one of maimonides s most important works, guide of the perplexed, was reprinted for the first time in two centuries when mendelssohn was thirteen. the publication of this book signaled a growing interest in jewish thought. in 1743 fra nkel receiv

holars have primarily been responsible for reconstructing moses s life, although many others have also contributed to the effort. rabbinical scholars are those studying to be rabbis, or people trained in jewish ritual, law, and tradition. along with the tanakh, these scholars have drawn on various sources of biblical interpretation and detailed, critical examinations of the hebrew scriptures. the talmud, the authoritative body of jewish tradition, contains many such examinations. the talmud has two parts: the mishnah, which consists of oral interpretations of the torah compiled about the second century, and the gemara, which consists of comments on the mishnah. rather than simply believing the biblical accounts of moses s life to be true or not true, rabbinical scholars analyze the text in

born to leo weiss, a schoolteacher, and regina weiss on march 29, 1819, in steigrub, a town in bohemia. bohemia was at the time part of the austro-hungarian empire but later became a part of the czech republic. as a youngster weiss was a gifted student who showed interest in a range of subjects. his father tutored him in jewish scripture, collectively known as the tanakh, or hebrew bible, and the talmud. the talmud consists of traditions that explain and interpret the first five books of the jewish scripture, which are referred to as the torah. by the time weiss was nine, his father had taught him all he could, so weiss then studied with his grandfather for three years. after his grandfather died, he went to the city of prague, the capital of the modern-day czech republic, and enrolled at

STEINER RUDOLF CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT

TEXE MARRS CODEX MAGICA SECRET SIGNS MYSTERIOUS SYMBOLS AND HIDDEN CODES OF THE ILLUMINATI

14th century which has been adopted for use as a manual of religious instruction in israel's secondary schools. it explains why non-jews ought to be the slave of jews because jews are the elite of the human race. because of this they deserve to have slaves, and these slaves must be non-jews.10 this outrageous and imperious attitude does not take those of us by surprise who have studied the jewish talmud, the rabbis' holiest book. according to the talmud, gentiles are not even to be considered humans "the goyim (gentiles) are not men, but beasts (baba mezia fol. 1146. it should be further noted that the encyclopedia britannica says "the talmud is still the authoritative and practical guide of the great mass of the jews (from the 36 codex magica 9-volume german language translation of the ba

he rabbis' holiest book. according to the talmud, gentiles are not even to be considered humans "the goyim (gentiles) are not men, but beasts (baba mezia fol. 1146. it should be further noted that the encyclopedia britannica says "the talmud is still the authoritative and practical guide of the great mass of the jews (from the 36 codex magica 9-volume german language translation of the babylonian talmud in the library of congress, washington, d.c) slaves and beasts slaves and beasts! that is what the zionists of israel consider those who aren't jewish. now we discover what the elitist, favored sons of the zionist illuminati think of you, me, and the masses. no wonder they kill without conscience through their instigation of world wars, through initiation of regional conflicts, and through

twofold more the child of hell than yourselves (matthew 23:14-15. children of hell, that's what jesus called the jewish religious teachers. that was almost 2,000 years ago. well, guess what? the jewish religionists are even worse now, in the 21st century. they've had almost 2,000 years more to practice and perfect their evil religion. today, those who practice satanic cabalism and believe in the talmud are the children of hell a hundred times over. in codex magica we do not have the space to fully report on the almost unbelievably wicked talmudic and cabalistic religion of the jews. but it is important to understand that the horrific nature of the jews' religion lie in its man-made traditions. in reality, these traditions are satanic in origin. i refer especially to the jewish talmud, the

the teachings of the old testament, satan would not have had such terrible inroads. indeed, if moses and the prophets had been heeded, or if their writings were honored today, the jews would believe in jesus christ as messiah and be saved by faith in his promises. instead, the jews departed from the prophets, and over the centuries the rabbis steadily developed a body of man-made literature (the talmud and the cabala) that is supremely wicked and corrupt. their traditions, moreover, are antithetical to the faith and teachings of moses and the prophets (i do not refer, of course, to the faith of jews who are christian believers) worse, it can be remarkably demonstrated that the philosophy and doctrines of the jewish cabala are the very fount and wellspring of virtually every wicked, occult

states, he did not swear on the holy bible. in this revealing photo published in criminal politics magazine, lawrence patterson, foremost authority on the global conspiracy and on secret societies, points out that ashcroft whom the white house and the press promoted as an "evangelical christian" placed his hands and swore on a mysterious stack of books. were they law books or books of the jewish talmud or? footnotes and references introduction: the occult script a colossal and monstrous conspiracy 1. henry makow "lucifer is the secret god of secular society occult agents control humanity" internet, savethemales.ca, october 13, 2003. 2. ibid vethagirion thomas karlsson the sixth level of the qliphoth (or the fifth counting from levels of initiation) is called thagirion which means dispute

THE BLACK LODGE

tuation of personal servitude. you have complete freedom under them, until you try to be different. then, they jump o you with both feet, or more. for this, and other reasons, it is written in al ii 48 "i console not: i hate the consoled& the consoler" and also, al ii 7" come unto me is a foolish word: for it is i that go" perhaps ths reminds you of the words of "jesus (in truth, a section of the talmud, adapted to roman mentality "come unto me, ye who suffer, and ye shall be consoled? and also al ii 8 "who worshiped heru-pa-kraath have worshiped me; ill, for i am the worshiper" heru-pa-kraath, the babe on the lotus, represents the eternal child, that is, the spiritual seed of our species; he is identical to hadit. it is foolish to worship this child. we are this child. the child hoor and

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the animals that flourished in the garden of eden, and they, too, are considered living souls. nephesh is closely associated with blood, the life-substance, which is drained away from the body at death, thus establishing in hebrew tradition the recognition that a living person is a composite entity made up of flesh and nephesh, the spiritual essence. the body is the sheath of the soul, states the talmud, sanhedrin 108a. the early hebrews believed that after death the soul descended to sheol, a place deep inside the earth where the spirits of the dead were consigned to dust and gloom. all go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again (ecclesiastes 3:20. by the time the book of daniel was written, in about 165 b.c.e, the belief had been established that the dead would be

was portrayed on the walls of tombs as a human-headed bird leaving the body at death. during a person s lifetime, the ba was an intangible essence, associated with the breath. in addition to the ba, each person possessed a ka, a kind of ghostly double t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d afterlife mysteries 15 a white-bearded rabbi reading the talmud (corbis corporation) which was given to each individual at the moment of birth. as long as people kept control of their ka, they lived. but as soon as they died, it began a separate existence, still resembling the body that it formerly occupied, and still requiring food for sustenance. each person also had a ren, or name, which could acquire a separate existence and was once the underlying

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ieved that interpretation of dreams could be accomplished only with the lord s guidance. for god speaketh once, yea twice, yet a man perceiveth it not. in a dream, in a vision of the night, when sleep falleth upon men in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and speaketh their instructions, that he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man (kjv: job 33:14. the talmud, the hebrew sacred book of practical wisdom, reveals that the jews gave great importance both to the dream and to the one whom the lord gave the knowledge to interpret the dream. joseph and daniel were two israelites who attained high regard for their skill as dream interpreters. t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d mysteries of the mind

sking a blessing before every meal became a custom that would eventually be practiced by the followers of all major world religions. the israelites appear to have been among the first to offer prayer before eating out of gratitude for having food to eat. surely it is of what belongs to god that you have eaten. so praise and bless him by whose word the world was created, father abraham admonished (talmud, sota 10b. born into the jewish tradition before his conversion to christianity, paul writes to the church in ephesus that god created foods to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for then it is consecrated by the word of god and prayer (i timothy 4:3 5. in the koran, the holy book of islam, it

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. it was either destroyed along with the city or, as suggested in kings 4:25, taken to babylon as one of the spoils of victory. some biblical scholars theorize that those israelites still faithful to god were forewarned about the fall of jerusalem and moved the ark to safety. jeremiah is said to have moved the ark to a cave on mt. sinai, the mountain in egypt where moses first spoke with god. the talmud, the ancient, authoritative history of the hebrews, indicates that the ark was kept in a secret area of the temple of solomon and survived the destruction and pillaging of jerusalem. the temple of solomon was rebuilt on its original foundation after the t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d 202 objects of mystery and power ark of the coven

THE PATH OF KABBALAH

(thirteen years old, a certain spiritual degree. the light comes from above depending on the correction of his desires and fills him. this means that the soul the light of correction clothes the body, i.e. the will to receive. the soul light passes through the holy worlds, and this is the time of correction. if we render pleasure to the creator in the act of reception, it is called bestowal. the talmud states that if a respectable man marries, he doesn t have to give a ring to his bride. on the contrary, his willingness to marry her is how he gives her, because she respects him. that kind of reception is tantamount to pure bestowal. if man works that way toward the creator when he receives from him with the aim to bring contentment to the creator, it called equivalence of form. at first

tual world and the creator only by changing himself. that is what he can write about and convey to others. the first man wrote about his attainments, abraham the patriarch followed in his footsteps, which in turn was followed by moses, who named his attainments of the creator and creation torah. the kabbalists that followed wrote their feelings and attainments in additional books the mishnah, the talmud and so on. every kabbalist wrote about his research of our world and the way to enter the spiritual world. we call these books holy books, or in general we call them torah, from the hebrew word ohr (light) and hora a (instruction, meaning instructions on how to enter the spiritual world. the books didn t fall out of the blue. they were not carved in stone by some upper power and were not wr

rnity completeness and peace. that spiritual degree (of the end of correction) is not described anywhere in kabbalah or the torah, simply because it is indescribable in words. there is no parallel to it in our language. beyond the end of correction there is a realm that is not described anywhere. it is there that we find the secrets of torah. there are subtle hints to that in the zohar and in the talmud. that spiritual state is called maase merkava and maase bereshit. but those are all very subtle hints. it is in fact impossible to describe these spiritual feelings in words because the words and the letters in our language, are valid only in the correction zone (until the world of atzilut, since that is where they are taken from. we cannot feel anything above the system of correction, and

it is hard for such a student of kabbalah to be in contact with the outside world. he hasn t any patience to see the little egoism in the people he comes across. but each person is created as he should have been created, and we should only try and help others change their properties to altruism. what does it mean to suffer? anything that is against our desire makes us suffer. it is written in the talmud that if a person wants to take a certain coin out of his pocket, but brings out a different coin, he already suffers. anything in life that does not match our desire perfectly causes us to suffer. any bad mood, disease, or a lack of motivation to do this or that thing, is interpreted by us as suffering. but everything that happens actually happens in our favour. everything promotes us one w

seemingly passes from above downward, from a spiritual root to a corresponding material body in our world. the spiritual root is the cause and the worldly branch is the projection, the consequence. the entire torah was written in this descriptive language. it speaks only of spiritual forces, and so do all the other holy books. the books can be divided to ones that use a legal tongue, such as the talmud, or a historic-tale like tongue, such as the pentateuch. but all these books describe nothing but the spiritual worlds. they have no intention whatsoever of referring to our world. the confusion is created only when we read the book and automatically interpret the words according to our understanding, which uses terms of our world. as a result, we begin to think that it speaks of things tha

it is impossible for the whole of israel to attain this great purity, except by the study of the wisdom of kabbalah, which is the easiest way, suitable for the unknowledgeable as well. but through the study of the literal torah alone, it is impossible to attain it but for singled out individuals, and with great efforts, but not for the majority of the people (rabbi yehuda ashlag, introduction to talmud eser sefirot "the attainment begins from the hidden torah, and only afterwards does one attain the remaining portions of the torah, and only in the end does one attain the revealed torah (the vilna gaon- the book of "siddur. i have seen it written that the prohibition from above to refrain from open study in the wisdom of truth, was only for a limited period, until the end of 1490, but from

the torah specifically states: the entire torah is the names of the creator. all the words in the torah tell us either about the vessels, or their operations. this means that the entire torah is the very same wisdom of kabbalah we are studying now, just written in a different language. as a rule, there are four languages: the language of the torah, the language of the agada (legends, that of the talmud and the language of kabbalah. all of them were invented by kabbalists who attained spirituality in order to tell us how to attain the purpose of creation. general outlook the will of the creator is to benefit (delight) the creatures. the creatures are the ones that are supposed to acquire and attain the benevolence of the creator on their own. for that purpose, the creator created an indepe

him from above. we attain in our innermost feeling, in our malchut. however, we do it with the attributes we receive from above. 178 of 273 chapter 3.24 questions and answers what is kabbalah? q: what is kabbalah? a: kabbalah is an ancient teaching that covers a number of languages and many forms of expression. there is the language of tales that the bible uses and the language of rules that the talmud uses. there is also the language of kabbalah itself, which uses drawings, formulas and matrix. kabbalah utilizes pure mathematical rules in order to express spiritual phenomena. there are many ways to depict our sensations and feelings, but the language of kabbalah is the most accurate of all, the most scientific. it is also possible to convey spiritual sensations through music. though we d

fore, people who learn only about the practical laws of the torah and perform them mechanically, without correcting their hearts, are called gentiles. they have the knowledge, but not the light. the torah is the light of the creator that enters one s corrected vessels, while the knowledge is a proficiency in what is written where and how. one can be proficient in the entire torah, know the entire talmud by heart, but still not have any real spiritual attainment. the phenomena exists in the study of kabbalah too: one can be proficient in all the texts of kabbalah, master the text like a university professor, but does that mean that he has corrected his desires? has he replaced his egoism with altruism? that is in fact the purpose of his creation and the purpose of the giving of the torah. i

ct to keeping mitzvot in the physical body, but maintain that it must be accompanied by a spiritual intent, an aim 227 of 273 that gives one the ticket to the spiritual world. however, it is only according to one s altruistic aim that one can rise to higher degrees in the spiritual worlds. although we have received the entire torah, its hidden part, the zohar, which was written at the time of the talmud, was only discovered in recent generations. the talmud was necessary for the purpose of keeping mitzvot and was therefore immediately publicized, whereas the zohar, because of the absence of necessity on the part of the public, was concealed by the kabbalists until they decided it was time to expose it. because souls of a different kind descend to our world in every generation, they also re

fy his ego and think only of others and never of himself? does the creator need it? he doesn t need it whatsoever; we do! doing that, we create a new sense, objective, outside ourselves and disconnected from ourselves. these are the only conditions that allow the building of a temple. q: what do the prayers and the blessings mean in terms of kabbalah (for example the blessing for the food? a: the talmud speaks of a big group of tana im, kabbalists who buried their deceased teacher. after the funeral they sat by the river and had a meal of bread and salt. all of a sudden they realized they could not bless the blessing for the food without their teacher. regrettably they did not succeed in learning this blessing from their teacher. so what is the blessing for the food? the blessing for the f

icts the essence of judaism. the concept that it is not the creator who governs the evil forces is intended to justify ourselves. the torah clearly states the heavy punishments that will befall the chosen people by the creator if they do not follow the path of the torah. catastrophes have happened more than once throughout our history, and every time the creator warned us about it in advance. the talmud speaks of the foretokens of the ruin of the first and second temples before they actually happened. it is written in the torah and in the zohar that in order to reach perfection in a good way, we have to study kabbalah. holidays q: what is the meaning of yom kippur (day of atonement? a: yom kippur is the day when the construction of the spiritual vessel is completed. reality consists of lig

THE STAR IN THE WEST BY CAPTAIN FULLER A CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE WORKS OF ALEISTER CROWLEY

, will give an almost endless antiquity to the ideas contained in their books. in one degree at least they are right, for the mysticism as contained in these systems of thought is as old as thought itself. the great system of the qabalah is one of emanation. a type of spiritual monism, an attempted explanation of the nature of the deity, within the limitations of mind. its correspondence with the talmud is more of method than material. that it was of slow growth is very certain, that it is a conglomerated mass of a multitude of efforts is also most sure. the zohar is its corner-stone, and the date of its construction extends probably from the second to the seventh century of the present era. much of its logic, psychology, metaphysics, philosophy, and theology, is drawn directly from the mi

TYSON DONALD THE POWER OF THE WORD

urple thread-embroidery thread, which comes in many bright colors, is ideal. the threads should be sewn into an appropriate symbolic design. one possible pattern is the single eye of god set within the hexagram of two interlocking triangles ,he greatest magician after moses was solomon, yet none of his magic actually appears in the bible. it has come down to us through such diverse sources as the talmud and jewish folk tales, the koran and the book of a thousand nights and a night of the arabs, and the magical manuscripts of the ethiopians. this widespread fame of solomon as a magician may result from a confusion of names. arabian and persian legends speak of a prehistoric race ruled by seventy-two kings named suleiman. these kings were great masters of magic and commanded all the spirits

e or person he wished (george f. kuntz, rings for the finger (new york: dover, 19731, pp. 288-9. there is some doubt over exactly what the fabulous shamir may have been. in talmudic legend, it seems to be described as a small worm that could eat through any stone, but this is far from clear. rashi called it "a creature from the six days of creation that no hard object can resist" according to the talmud, solomon asked the rabbis how he could build the temple without iron tools (see 1 kings 6:7. they told him there was a thing called a shamir, which moses had used to cut the stones on the breastplate of aaron. to discover where this magical object lay hidden, solomon caused the king of all the demons, ashmodai, to be bound with a ring and a chain inscribed with tetragrammaton. after learnin

banners of ihvh on the breastplate of aaron were also cut into the stones in mirror inversion, allowing these twelve stones to act as seals for the twelve tribes of israel. it seems significant that the fable of the shamir directly connects solomon with the breastplate. the most famous tale about the ring of solomon involves the time it was stolen. there are several versions of this tale. in the talmud, after ashmodai completed the temple for solomon, he tricked the king into handing over his magic ring. at once ashmodai swallowed the ring and hurled solomon a vast distance away from jerusalem, then took up the throne in his place under a false appearance. no one recognized solomon because the demon had changed his features; moreover, the king was prevented by the magic of ashmodai from t

(ieve, in which the facultative being is placed between a past tense without origin, and a future without limit. this admirable word thus exactly signifies the being who is, who was and who will be (la langue hdbraique restitue'e [1810, as translated by a. p. morton in his translation of the tarot of the bohemians by papus [new york: arcanum books, 19581, pp. 18-9, footnote 1) adolphe franck the talmud tells us that in ancient times three names were known to express the idea of god: the famous tetragrammaton, or name of four letters, and two names foreign to the bible, the first of which consisted of twelve letters, the other of forty-two. the first, though forbidden to the masses, tetragrammaton circulated freely enough within the schools "the wise men" the text says "taught it once a we

WICCA MAGICK OCCULT THREE GREEN BOOKS DRUIDISM

ducation and learning let not thy heart be great because of thy knowledge, but converse with the ignorant as with the learned. ancient egyptian i hear and i forget. i see and i remember. i do and i understand. chinese thou dost not practice what thou knowest; why, then, dost thou seek what thou knowest not? muslim he who learns well defends himself well. argentine first learn, then form opinions. talmud knowledge that can be stolen is not worth having. al-ghazdi the men who deserted thee will teach thee knowledge. talmud by searching the old, learn the new. japanese we learn from history that we learn nothing from history. george bernard shaw awareness means suspending judgment for a moment, then seeing, feeling, experiencing what this condition in front of you is all about. stephen altsch

t bright, it is useless to pray for that which is without. shinto call on god for help, but row away from the rocks. indian prayer is not asking. it is a longing of the soul. mohandas ghandi prayer does not change god, but changes him who prays. kierkegaard lord, give me chastity, but not yet. saint augustine priests a rabbi whose congregation does not want to drive him out of town isn t a rabbi. talmud clever preacher, short sermon. japanese us nature mystics got to stick together. ed abbey there are many preachers who don t hear themselves. german when the fox starts preaching, look to your hens. basque to go barefoot does not make the saint. german many of the insights of the saint stem from his experience as a sinner. eric hoffer malta would be a delightful place if every priest were a

nest people have testified that he is a heretic. junaid of baghdad, sufi truth suffers from too much analysis. ancient fremen saying, dune wisdom a narrow place is large to the narrow-minded. turkemestan the supposition of the wise man is better than the certainty of the ignorant. moorish the best preacher is the heart; the best teacher is time; the best book is the world; the best friend is god. talmud the believer is happy, the doubter wise. greek proverb a man should never be ashamed to admit he has been wrong, which is but to say, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday. jonathan swift only the shallow know themselves. oscar wilde for of the wise man as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten

WILLIAM WESCOTT NUMBERS THEIR OCCULT POWER AND MYSTIC VIRTUES

of splendour, viz, the siphra dtzenioutha, the idra rabba and the idra suta. many talmudic and kabalistic quotations may, however, be found in j. p. stehelin s rabbinical literature of 1748; in john allen s modern judaism, of 1816, and in works on the kabalah by adolph franck and christian ginsburg, while hershon has published hebraic lore in his talmudic miscellany, and genesis, according to the talmud. 8. the midrash ha zohar of d. h. joel, leipzig, 1849, narrates the relation between the kabalah and platonism, neo-platonism, greek philosophy and the zoroastrian doctrines of the parsees. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott perhaps the oldest extant kabalistic book is the sepher yetzirah, or book of formation, an english translation of which has appe

have man walking, advancing, with foot set forward, in the letter r. which signifies iens, iturus, or advancing. compare unity, solus, alone, the unique principle of good; with sol, sun god, the emblem of supreme power; and they are identical. the hebrew word for one is achd, achad, and it is often put for god; god s one voice to man is the bath kol, the echo or daughter of the divine voice. the talmud in berachoth vi. i says that the shekinah shall rest even upon one who studies the law. one pang of remorse is of more avail for reformation than many stripes. one thing obtained with difficulty is more valued than a hundred obtained with ease. talmud. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott it is indiscreet for one man to sleep in a house alone, for fear

and one old. when he was forty and inclined to become gray, the young one pulled out all the gray hairs and the old wife pulled out all his black hairs, so he became bald. which things point a moral as well as adorn a tale. given two dry firebrands of wood and one of green, the dry will destroy the green. two dogs once killed a lion, so the minority must at last always give way to a majority. the talmud argues that adam had two faces. some say one before and one behind, while others say one looked to right and one to the left. others say that adam was both a male and a female. others say that eve was made from his thirteenth rib, and was not drawn out from his head, lest she should be vain. not from his eyes, lest she should be wanton; not from his mouth, lest she should talk to much; not

evil tendencies, one in opposition to each of these 4 worlds. an evil inclination, evil thoughts, evil words and evil actions (isaac myer. vulcan gave apollo and diana arrows on the 4th day of their nativity. this say, sir thomas browne, is the gentile equivalent to the creation of the sun and moon on the 4th day. 55. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott the talmud lays down the law as to a woman s drinking, saying one cup of wine is good for her, two do her harm, three demoralize her, and the fourth converts her into a female animal. there are 4 persons who are little better than dead. the blind, the leper, the pauper and he who has no sons. there are 4 sorts of passionate men. he who is easily provoked and is easily pacified, he loses more than he g

who is released from prison. these are referred to in psalm cvii. four men have died from original sin, the work of the serpent, for they themselves did no ill; benjamin, amram, the father of moses, jesse, the father of david, and chilah the son of david. sabbat 55. 2. at the end of the passion fast every hebrew should drink 4 glasses of wine, even if the price robs him of other necessaries. the talmud says that only 4 men had entered paradise (pardes, the garden of holiness; this meant the state of supernal communion with god, the beatific vision, by profound abstraction of mind. these were the rabbis ben azai, ben zoma, asher and akiba. 56. the tractate yoma says god will pardon a man three times for a sin, but the fourth occasion is fatal. the jewish sanhedrin had power to order 4 sort

the western church recognizes 4 great doctors; st. ambrose, st. jerome, st. augustine and st. gregory the great; and the eastern church 4, st. athanasius, st. basil, st. gregory of nazianzen, and st. john chrysostom. there is a vast fund of mystic lore, known to some fratres rosae crucis, concerning the chariot of ezekiel described in the mosheh merkavah or vision of ezekiel. the chagigah of the talmud says it were better never to have been born than to pry into the 4 sides thereof, what is above and below, before and behind it. the ancient legend of the four crowned martyrs, who were masons, who refused to disclaim their christian faith and refused to build an idol, has led in our own time to the consecration of the quatuor coronati lodge of freemasons, which has a corresponding membersh

kings of jerusalem, hebron, jarmuth, lachish and eglon. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott every important measurement of the jewish tabernacle was 5 or a multiple of 5. the hebrew letter h, heh, 5, was in occult kabalah always deemed of female potency. there were 5 principal parts of solomon s temple. david blesses the lord 5 times in psalms ciii, civ. the talmud says that there are 5 little things which are a terror to 5 strong things; the mosquito to the lion; the gnat to the elephant; the ichneumon fly to the scorpion; the flycatcher bird to the eagle and the stickleback to the leviathan. lewisohn, zoology of the talmud. 64. five things have in them a one-sixtieth part of 5 other things; fire is one-sixtieth of hell; honey one-sixtieth of manna;

n; the gnat to the elephant; the ichneumon fly to the scorpion; the flycatcher bird to the eagle and the stickleback to the leviathan. lewisohn, zoology of the talmud. 64. five things have in them a one-sixtieth part of 5 other things; fire is one-sixtieth of hell; honey one-sixtieth of manna; the sabbath one-sixtieth of the sabbath hereafter; sleep of death; and a dream one-sixtieth of prophecy. talmud, berachoth, 57.2. even on the sabbath you may kill 5 things the fly in egypt; the wasp in nineveh; the scorpion of hadabia; numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott the serpent of israel, and the mad dog anywhere. talmud, sabbat, 121. 2. in the first temple of solomon were 5 things, which were not in the second temple; the cherubic ark; the shekinah; the ho

sabbath you may kill 5 things the fly in egypt; the wasp in nineveh; the scorpion of hadabia; numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott the serpent of israel, and the mad dog anywhere. talmud, sabbat, 121. 2. in the first temple of solomon were 5 things, which were not in the second temple; the cherubic ark; the shekinah; the holy spirit, and the urim and thummim. talmud, yoma, 21. 2. rabies in the dog has 5 symptoms; its mouth gapes; it drops spittle; its ears hang down; it carries its tail between it legs, and it keeps to the side of any path. yoma, 83. 2. for suckling mothers, there are 5 things, which are injurious; garlic, cucumber, melon, leeks and onions; said rashi. in one study 5 years and then has found no profit in it, he will never profit by it

almud, yoma, 21. 2. rabies in the dog has 5 symptoms; its mouth gapes; it drops spittle; its ears hang down; it carries its tail between it legs, and it keeps to the side of any path. yoma, 83. 2. for suckling mothers, there are 5 things, which are injurious; garlic, cucumber, melon, leeks and onions; said rashi. in one study 5 years and then has found no profit in it, he will never profit by it. talmud, chullin, 24. 1. five is the number of expiation and of sacrifice, the number of the passions, and the 5 wounds of christ. these were commemorated anciently by 5 crosses inscribed on the altar tables, and the priest made 5 crosses on himself at the canon in the liturgy. w. f. shaw. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott jesus 5 times foretold his passion

in jesus, the christ of the new testament. the blending of the two triangles has also numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott been used to typify the union of fire and water; for the early symbol of fire was the triangle apex upward, and that of water the same apex downward. the symbols of air and earth were two similar triangles, each with a cross bar. 70. the talmud says- six things are disgraceful to a wise man. to walk alone at night; to scent oneself for walking by day; to talk with a strange woman in the street; to talk at table with the ignorant; to wear ragged shoes, and to be late at the house of prayer. berachoth, 43. 2. six things lay up capital for hereafter, and also bear interest in this world. hospitality well ordered; comfort to the sick;

t in this world. hospitality well ordered; comfort to the sick; prayerful meditation; early instruction of children; training in the mosaic law, and charitable treatment of neighbor. sabbat 127. i evil demons have 6 characters; like men, they take food and drink, they beget and they die; like angels, they have wings, they pass from one end of the world to the other, and they can learn the future. talmud. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott solomon is called by six names; solomon, jedidiah, koheleth, son of jakeh, agur and lemuel. see the fathers, aboth, by rabbi nathan. there are 6 kinds of fire--common fire which eats and does not drink; fire that drinks and does not eat, as fever; fire that eats and drinks, that of elijah, i kings xviii. 38; the fir

re which eats and does not drink; fire that drinks and does not eat, as fever; fire that eats and drinks, that of elijah, i kings xviii. 38; the fire on the altar which consumed both moist and dry; the fire of gabriel which consumed other fire, and the essential fire of god which consumed evil angels. yoma, 21. 2. the table of moses were said to have been 6 handsbreadths long, 6 wide and 3 thick. talmud; nedarim, 38.8. hershon reckons that if cut out of sinaitic stone, each table would have weighed 28 tons, but he is in error, reckoning hands-breadth as ells, as 18 inches instead of 4 inches. the angel of death had no power over 6 holy persons; abraham, isaac, jacob, moses, aaron and miriam. bava bathra, 17. i. these died by the divine kiss of death, but it is not so definitely stated in t

kim. 5. auphanim. 6. serpahim. 7. kerubim. the judaic hell was seven names by the kabalists. they are sheol, abaddon, tihahion, bar shacheth, tzelmuth, shaari muth and gehinnom. seven things were formed before the world. law, repentance, paradise, gehenna (that is gai hinnom, the throne of glory, and the messiah. the targum yerushalmi says these were formed 2000 years before the world s creation. talmud, pesachim, 54. i. seven things were hidden from man. the day of death, the time of the resurrection, the final judgment, the opinion of his fellow-man, the time of jewish restoration and the fall of persia (whatever that may mean. pesachim, 54. 2. the talmud in chagijah names 7 heavens and occultists recognize 7 planetary heavens; raquie, zebul, makum, maon, sagun, ghereboth and shamaim. nu

-man, the time of jewish restoration and the fall of persia (whatever that may mean. pesachim, 54. 2. the talmud in chagijah names 7 heavens and occultists recognize 7 planetary heavens; raquie, zebul, makum, maon, sagun, ghereboth and shamaim. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott in micah, chapter v. verse 5, we read that 7 shepherds shall waste assyria; the talmud says they were adam, jacob and methuselah, abraham, jacob and moses, and david. succah. 52. 2. of prophetesses there were 7--sarah, miriam, deborah, hannah, abigail, huldah and esther. in the talmud, kethuboth, 17. i, it is said that it is permissible to the jew to look into his wife s face for 7 days after marriage. after this it is presumably wrong, in their opinion. on the 7th day of the

and moses, and david. succah. 52. 2. of prophetesses there were 7--sarah, miriam, deborah, hannah, abigail, huldah and esther. in the talmud, kethuboth, 17. i, it is said that it is permissible to the jew to look into his wife s face for 7 days after marriage. after this it is presumably wrong, in their opinion. on the 7th day of the month, adar, moses died and the rain of manna ceased, says the talmud, but this appears to be contradicted in joshua v. verses 10-12. he was born on the same day of the same month. 82. the bava kama says that after 7 years a male hyena becomes a bat, in another 7 years a vampire, after another a thorn, and after another is turned into a demon. if a man fails to pray devoutly for 7 years, his spine after death becomes a serpent. numbers--th eir occu lt power a

ted time. this dictum of the treatise sanhedrin is a statement of predestination. a ram has but one voice while alive, but after death his body makes 7 sounds. his horns make two trumpets, his thigh bones two pipes, his skin will cover a drum, the large intestines are formed into strings for the lyre, and the small intestines will make the small strings for the harp. in the sabbat, 152. 2, of the talmud, it is said that the soul of a man watches over his corpse for 7 days. compare this with the theosophic teaching that the linga sarira broods over the body for a week after death. rabbi nathan says that 7 good qualities avail at the judgment. wisdom, righteousness, good opinions, mercy, truth, grace and peace. seven epithets are applied to the earth in the hebrew tongue; aretz, adamah, numb

month should live, whereas it is usual for such to die, although those born either the 7th or the 9th month are usually reared. the jews were accustomed to practice circumcision on male infants upon the 8th day after birth. the jews at the chanukah or feast of dedication lit 8 candles and it lasted 8 days. this is the engkainia of john x. 22. as to conjuring among the ancient jews, it is said in talmud, succah, 53. i, that levi played with 8 knives; samuel in the presence of the king sapor of persia used 8 cups and abaji before rabbi rava used 8 eggs. eight prophets were descended from rahab the harlot, viz, neraiah, seraiah, maasiah, jeremiah, hilkiah, hannemeel and shallum. note also that huldah the prophetess was the grandchild of rahab. 87. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic v

d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott zodiacal sign assigned number virgo ten, 10. pisces eleven, 11. gemini twelve, 12. the first and the second temples of the jews were both destroyed on the 9th day of the jewish month ab. on the 9th day of ab, modern jews do not wear the talith and phylacteries until evening. the day should be spent in tears, and no good comes of work done on that day. the talmud in soteh, 20. i, says that a woman prefers one measure of fun to 9 of pharisaic professional goodness. nine persons have entered alive into the jews paradise; enoch, elijah, messiah, eliezer the servant of abraham, hiram, king of tyre, ebed melek the ethiop, jabez the son of jehuda the prince, bathia daughter of pharaoh, and sarah the daughter of asher. some rabbis add rabbi yoshua son of l

scheme of the zodiac of 10 signs preceded that of 12 signs, but i have been unable to verify the statement, by any ancient work. hebrew and talmudic references are as follows -10 men were necessary to form a legally convened meeting at the synagogue. in london, as much as 1000 (british pounds) a year has been spent in providing spare men for this duty. ten curses were pronounced against eve. see talmud, eiruvin, 100. 2. ten things were created during the twilight of the first sabbath eve. consult pesachim, 54. 1. ten facts proved the presence of a supernatural power in the temple. yoma, 21.1. 98. the rabbis taught that a man should divorce his wife if for 10 years she had no offspring. at funerals, condolences were recited by 10 men, and at weddings by ten men including the bridegroom. te

ers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott when a hebrew boy reached the age of 13 years, he began to fast of for the full time. a girl began at twelve years. the word covenant is written 13 times in the chapter on circumcision. the bava metzia gives 13 reasons for a good breakfast. in the hebrew liturgy are found the 13 logical rules for interpreting the law. hershon, talmud miscellany, pg. 167# 110. chapter eighteen s ome hindu us es of numbers numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott n ancient india, in the sanskrit language, certain words were used as equivalent to the low numbers. for one (1, they said moon or earth. for two (2, they used many words of things in pairs such as the eyes, wings or arms. for three (3, they used

WOLFSON ELLIOT ALEF MEM TAU KABBALISTIC MUSINGS ON TIME TRUTH AND DEATH

g general claims with respect to the rabbinic sages, i feel confident that it is con- linear circularity (a)temporal poetics 63 ceptually sound, and even methodologically valid, to speak of a rabbinic notion of time that is intimately connected to understanding the revelation of torah as a recurring phenomenon. by way of illustration, consider the following declaration preserved in the babylonian talmud: r. judah began [to expound] the honor of torah, and he explicated the verse [moses and the levitical priests spoke to all israel, saying] silence! hear o israel! today you have become the people [of the lord, your god (deut 27:9. was the torah given to israel on that very day? was that day not at the end of the forty years? rather this is to teach you that the torah is cherished by those w

at seals the act of creation, and in the salvific repose of messianic redemption. in this model of time, what is new cannot be surgically severed (either in experience or in theory) from what is old. one of the better known rabbinic formulations of this belief is the aphorism transmitted in the name of r. joshua ben levi that the written torah (miqra) and all the parts of the oral torah (mishnah, talmud, tosefet, haggadah, and even what an exceptional student [talmid watiq] will say in the future, were all spoken to moses at sinai, as it says, look, this one is new (eccles 1:10, but his friend responds to him, it occurred long ago (ibid) 85 the excitement that something genuinely novel is uttered, contained in the enthusiastic explosion, look, this one is new (re eh zeh hadash hu) is immed

clothed in linen with the writing case at his waist. the individuals so inscribed are instructed by the angelic man to slay all those who are guilty. compliant with the biblical text, the mark (tau) empowers the faithful so that they may participate in the dispensation of divine judgment. the second interpretation attested in zohar, by contrast, is based on a homily transmitted in the babylonian talmud in the name of r. aha ben hanina.25 the narrative about god s punishing the jerusalemites in the ninth chapter of ezekiel is presented as the sole textual source for an exception to the theological axiom that a good measure (middah tovah) does not go forth from god and change into evil. according to the exegesis of r. aha, the man clothed in linen refers to gabriel,26 who was commanded by g

ly explained by the fact that the sages typically cited biblical texts from memory. there is, however, a gnawing sense that in this case something is amiss. interestingly, an alternative version is found in shir ha-shirim rabbah, a collection of midrashic dicta organized around the verses of the song. from the standpoint of redactional history this version is later than the one in the palestinian talmud, but from the perspective of textual transmission, it is, in my view, earlier and superior. reish laqish said: why is it emet? alef is at the beginning of the letters [be-ro sh haotiyyot, mem in the middle [be-emsa, and tau in their end [be-sofan, to indicate that i am first and i am last, and besides me there is no god (isa 44:6. i am first, for i have not received my dominion [malkhuti] f

e to the production of zoharic literature that may contribute to our understanding of this mystical doctrine as promulgated in the tightly knit circle of castilian kabbalists responsible for the literary fabrication of zohar. i refer to the commentary on the talmudic aggadah by todros ben joseph ha-levi abulafia.56 the opening line of abulafia s remarks on the relevant passage from the babylonian talmud bodes an auspicious beginning as he reminds the reader that in the words of the rabbis there are several deep secrets, several hidden mysteries, and several hidden matters. the secret, we soon learn, concerns the emanation of judgment from the left that parallels the emanation of mercy from the right. in abulafia s time, this idea was treated as one of the most recondite components of the t

. it is equally plausible to speak of a convergence of the circular and linear to account for the rabbinic sensibility regarding the timeless nature of time and the timely nature of timelessness. also relevant to this question is the analysis of agus, innere zeit, pp. 87 111, and the brief comments regarding the jewish indifference to time in funkenstein, perceptions, pp. 253 254. 22. palestinian talmud, berakhot 4:1, 7c (cited according to the editio princeps, venice 1523 24; babylonian talmud, rosh ha-shanah 9a; yoma 81b; sifra on leviticus, emor 14:5, 107b. in the latter case, the rabbinic ruling is derived exegetically from the scriptural admonition: on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall observe this your sabbath (lev 23:32. 23. babylonian talmud

ssed motif, see bontekoe, dimensions. 30. see wolfson, language, eros, being, pp. xi xxxi. regarding the hermeneutic reversibility in rosenzweig, see idem, facing the effaced, pp. 55 63. 31. aristotle, problemata, 17.3, 916a 33. 32. the version i have cited is from freeman, ancilla, p. 40. see also kirk and raven, presocratic philosophers, p. 235; vernant, myth and thought, p. 87. 33. palestinian talmud, sheqalim 6:1, 49d; babylonian talmud, pesahim 6b. see also mekhilta de-rabbi ishmael, shirata, 7, p. 139; heschel, heavenly torah, pp. 240 243; schl ter, creative force, pp. 59 84. 34. foucault, death and the labyrinth, p. 33. 35. on the distinction between tehillah as beginning and re shit as principle, see maimonides, guide, 2.30, p. 348. see, for instance, kristeva, desire in language

19 131. on the close connection between time and consciousness in buddhist teaching, which displays some phenomenological similarity to heidegger, see thera, abhidhamma studies, pp. 93 114. 42. boer, thinking, pp. 33 37, 79 113. 43. deleuze, proust, p. 17. a similar conclusion is reached by kristeva, time and sense, p. 191 (part of the relevant passage is cited in ch. 1 at n. 326. 44. palestinian talmud, sanhedrin 1:1, 18a. for alternative versions of this passage, see genesis rabbah, 81:1, p. 971; deuteronomy rabbah 1:10; song of songs rabbah, 1:9, p. 38. 45. i am here indebted to the formulation of heidegger, on time and being, p. 24. stambaugh s rendering of the original german es sich gehei des zu denkenden f gt (zur sache des denkens, p. 25) is superb, as she deftly captures the nuanc

that in each and every moment he gives (be-khol et wa-et noten. 55. for discussion of this theme in later hasidic sources, see wolfson, cut that binds, pp. 108 110. on the nexus between the novelty of time and the rabbinic phenomenon of hiddush, innovative textual interpretation, see the account of temps talmudique as temps herm neutique in ouaknin, m ditations rotiques, pp. 80 82. 56. babylonian talmud, berakhot 63b. 57. for instance, see the interpretation of the formulation connected to the promise of the land of canaan to the israelites and has given it to you (exod 13:11) in mekhilta de-rabbi ishmael, bo, 18, p. 70: so that it should not be in your eyes like the inheritance of your fathers, but rather it should be in your eyes as if [ke-illu] it were given to you today. 58. sifre on d

t olam, vol. 1, netiv ha-torah, ch. 3, p. 10. 73. judah loew of prague, tif eret yisra el, ch. 8, p. 132; idem, derekh hayyim, pp. 356, 434, 641. see also derashot maharal mi-pra ag, p. 31, where torah is designated sekhel iyyuni, the theoretical intellect. see ibid, pp. 8, 49, and esp. 54 55, where the rabbinic maxim that torah is not sustained except by one who kills himself over it (babylonian talmud, shabbat 83b, is interpreted in the following way: since torah is the absolute intellect [sekhel gamur, and the intellect is entirely separate from the body, how is it possible for two opposites to be in one subject, that is, the torah, which is an absolute intellect, and man who is 212 notes to pages 64 66 corporeal? therefore, it is impossible for the torah to exist except in one who kill

ionally approximates such a conception. see, for instance, will to power, sec. 462, p. 255: in place of metaphysics and religion, the theory of eternal recurrence (this as a means of breeding and selection. 89. stambaugh, nietzsche s thought, pp. 103 112. 90. see bregman, past and present, pp. 47 49; wolfson, iconic visualization, p. 141, and other references cited on p. 157 n. 37. 91. babylonian talmud, menahot 110a. 92. shalom dovber schneersohn, sefer ha-ma amarim 5663, vol. 2, p. 199. 93. al-qushayri thus referred to the sufi as the son of his moment, ibn waqtihi, that is, the sufi is distinguished by the fact that he lives fully in the moment in which he must fulfill his religious duty. see sells, early islamic mysticism, p. 100; rumi, mathnawi, 1:132 133, 3:1426. the intrinsic connec

e third from the top, is called shiv at yamim, seven days, since it comprises the lower seven sefirot, which are the supernal days that correspond to the days of creation. 172. zohar 3:134b. see tishby, wisdom, p. 283. 173. the expression mi-qedem can assume two connotations: from the east (the sensus literalis of the verse) and from before (the meaning assumed by asher ben david. 174. babylonian talmud, rosh ha-shanah 32a. 175. asher ben david, r. asher ben david, p. 75. 176. this word is lacking in the printed editions that i consulted (berlin, 1850 and warsaw, 1890. i have restored it on the basis of the citation of azriel s passage in ibn gabbai, avodat ha-qodesh, 1:8, p. 17. 177. see n. 111, this chapter. 178. azriel of gerona, perush eser sefirot, 4a. see also r. azriel of gerona per

o him one belongs, as opposed to the orthographic tradition (ketiv, we-lo ehad ba-hem, and not one of them. 199. haver, pithei she arim, pt. 1, seder ha-parsufim, 10, 84a. notes to pages 86 89 223 200. gruenwald, preliminary critical edition, p. 140, sec. 1. 201. the expression is derived from the aramaic blessing uttered by a galilean (galila ah) before rav hisda as it is preserved in babylonian talmud, shabbat 88a: berikh rahamana dihav orya n telita i le-am telita i al yedei telita i be-yom telita i be-yarha telita i, blessed be the merciful one who gave the threefold torah to the tripartite nation through the agency of the one who is third on the third day of the third month. this motif is found elsewhere in rabbinic texts, expressed, however, in the equivalent hebrew formulation, tora

tripartite division of the canon: torah, nevi im, and ketuvim. 202. zohar 3:288b, 289a, 289b (idra zuta. in zohar 1:65a, there is reference to the will that is not known, which is also depicted as the head that is more concealed above. 203. haver, pithei she arim, gadlut di-ze eir anpin, 36, 53b. 204. ibid, seder ha-parsufim, 10, 83b. see ibid, netiv olam ha-tiqqun, 9 10, 68a 69b. 205. babylonian talmud, sanhedrin 97a. 206. that is, hadar, the last of the eight kings who reigned in the land of edom according to the delineation in genesis 36:31 39. 207. babylonian talmud, berakhot 17a. 208. tiqqunei zohar, introduction, 11b, and compare passage from ra aya meheimna in zohar 2:116a. 209. mishnah, avot 1:13. 210. elijah ben solomon, be ur ha-gr a le-sifra di-seni uta, p. 38. 211. see discussi

ides upon. my rendering reflects a metaphorical meaning of the semantic root rkhb known in the time of the composition of this kabbalistic treatise. a likely source would have been maimonides, guide, 1.70, p. 171; see discussion in wolfson, abraham abulafia, pp. 44 45. 214. tiqqunei zohar, sec. 70, 122b. 215. both connotations, ascend to and vanish in, are implied by the root slq. 216. babylonian talmud, berakhot 9b. 217. elijah ben solomon, tiqqunei ha-zohar im be ur ha-gr a, 141b. 218. the kabbalistic gnosis, it seems to me, is conveyed by the vedic wisdom expressed in the maitrayana-brahmana-upanishad, 6:14, cited in m ller, the upanisads, vol. 2, p. 317: he who worships time as brahman, from him time moves away very far. 219. menahem azariah of fano, yonat elem, ch. 38, in sefer ma ame

the maitrayana-brahmana-upanishad, 6:14, cited in m ller, the upanisads, vol. 2, p. 317: he who worships time as brahman, from him time moves away very far. 219. menahem azariah of fano, yonat elem, ch. 38, in sefer ma amerei ha-rav menahem azariah mi-fano, vol. 1, p. 48. 224 notes to pages 89 94 220. liebes, studies in the zohar, pp. 89, 107, 111, 112, 114 115, 119, 123, 126 134. 221. babylonian talmud, mo ed qatan 28a. 222. david ben yehudah he-hasid, book of mirrors, pp. 266 267. on keter as the source of time, see the comment of david ben yehudah, op. cit, p. 194. i will not concern myself with the aspect of temporality linked to the kabbalistic conception of cosmic cycles (shemittot. for a brief background of this idea, see book of mirrors, introduction, pp. 31 33. 223. the thematic c

ation of the philosophical underpinnings of my thought, see wood, time-shelters, pp. 224 241. 266. the kabbalistic conception of time is based on the intermingling of temporality and luminosity; the motion of the infinite light refracted through the prism of the emanations produces the sensibility of duration. for an interesting conceptual analogue, see huyghe, color, pp. 129 165. 267. babylonian talmud, rosh ha-shanah 25a. 268. dov baer schneersohn, imrei binah, 40c. 269. wolfson, divine suffering, pp. 121 135; idem, gender and heresy, pp. 254 262; idem, language, eros, being, pp. 181 186, 382 388. 270. see, for instance, isaac the blind, perush sefer yesirah, p. 2. 271. regarding this rudimentary tenet of rabbinic halakhah, see wegner, chattel or person, p. 152; hoffman, covenant of bloo

eros, being, pp. 181 186, 382 388. 270. see, for instance, isaac the blind, perush sefer yesirah, p. 2. 271. regarding this rudimentary tenet of rabbinic halakhah, see wegner, chattel or person, p. 152; hoffman, covenant of blood, pp. 164 165. 272. the locution day that is entirely long, yom she-kullo arokh, which is attested in earlier medieval sources (for instance, tosafot ha-ro sh, babylonian talmud, shabbat 13a, is based on the more frequently used rabbinic designation for the eschatological state, the world that is entirely long, yom she-kullo arokh, which parallels the expression world that is entirely good, olam she-kullo tov terminology that is linked exegetically to the reward mentioned in conjunction with the command to honor one s parents, that you may endure, and that you may

eschatological state, the world that is entirely long, yom she-kullo arokh, which parallels the expression world that is entirely good, olam she-kullo tov terminology that is linked exegetically to the reward mentioned in conjunction with the command to honor one s parents, that you may endure, and that you may fare well, lema an ya arikhun yameikha u-lema an yitav lakh (deut 5:16. see babylonian talmud, qiddushin 39; hullin 142a. and compare palestinian talmud, hagigah 2:1, 77b, where the related turn of phrase, future that is entirely long, atid she-kullo arokh, appears as a parallel to the world-to-come that is entirely good, le-olam ha-ba she-kullo tov. in that context, the exegetical reference is the scriptural reward for setting the mother bird free when taking the fledglings from th

she-kullo tov. in that context, the exegetical reference is the scriptural reward for setting the mother bird free when taking the fledglings from the nest, in order that you may fare well and have a long life, lema an yitav lakh we-ha arakhtta yamim (deut 22:7. mention should also be made of the related eschatological expression day that is entirely sabbath, yom she-kullo shabbat. see babylonian talmud, rosh ha-shanah 31a; sanhedrin 97a; tamid 3b; avot de-rabbi natan, version a, ch. 1, 3a. on the designation of the world-to-come as the elongated world, olam arokh, see the passages from the ra aya meheimna stratum of zoharic literature, zohar 3:215b, 232a, 252b. 273. dov baer schneersohn, imrei binah, 40c. 274. ibid, 40d. cf. dov baer s formulation in derushei hatunah, p. 676: and it is kn

he expansion [histalqut we-hitpashtut, and by means of this time comes to be. see also shalom dovber schneersohn, be-sha ah shehiqdimu 5672, vol. 1, pp. 339 340. 293. elijah ben solomon, be ur ha-gr a le-sifra di-seni uta, p. 122. 294. shneur zalman of lyady, torah or, 13d. 295. for discussion of this exegetical tradition, see wolfson, circumcision and the divine name, pp. 77 112. 296. babylonian talmud, nedarim 32b. 297. shneur zalman of lyady, torah or, 13c d. 298. scholem, major trends, p. 270. 299. in shneur zalman of lyady, torah or, 85c d, shneur zalman describes moses drawing forth the e ux from the aspect of erekh appayim so that israel would be forgiven even though or precisely on account of the fact that they did not merit this grace on the basis of their deeds. nonetheless, shne

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