According to a Jewish legend, one of the Essenes, named Menachem, had passed at least some of his mystical knowledge to the Talmudic mystic Nehunya ben HaKanah, to whom the Kabbalistic tradition attributes Sefer HaBahir and, by some opinions, Sefer HaKanah, Sefer HaPeliah and Sefer HaTemunah.

However, the legendary connections between Essene and Kabbalistic tradition are not verified by modern historians.

However, aside from the parts of the Zohar mentioned above, in the Zohar are mentioned tens of earlier sources which Rashbi and his Chevraya Kadisha had, and they were apparently the foundation of the Kabbalistic tradition of the Zohar.

It left aside the abstract philosophical focus of Kabbalah on the Heavenly realms, to relate the relevance of the Kabbalistic tradition to man.

Some, however, believe that these concepts were received as part of the Kabbalistic tradition passed down from Adam, Noah, and the Hebrew patriarchs.

According to tradition, on the day of his death, he revealed the deepest secrets of the Torah in a Kabbalistic work called the Zohar.

Solovyov compiled a philosophy based on Hellenistic philosophy ( see Plato, Aristotle and Plotinus ) and early Christian tradition with Buddhism and Hebrew Kabbalistic elements ( Philo of Alexandria ).

Kabbalistic tradition has long held that Kabbalah is so complicated and so easily misunderstood that students may only begin to approach it with a strong background in Jewish law and only after age 40, the age of wisdom according to the

While surface reading of Kabbalistic texts was viewed as a Divine blessing, the Oral Torah chain of tradition and scholarship required an authentic fidelity.

Hasidism adapts historical Kabbalistic thought in its own characteristic ways, and can be seen as a successive stage of the Jewish mystical tradition.

In Kabbalah, while God is an absolutely simple ( non-compound ), infinite Unity beyond grasp, as described in Jewish philosophy by Maimonides, through His Kabbalistic manifestations such as the Sephirot and the Shekhinah ( Divine Presence ), we relate to the living dynamic Divinity that emanates, enclothes, is revealed in, and incorporates, the multifarious spiritual and physical plurality of Creation within the Infinite Unity.

Accordingly, in the Kabbalistic view, the non-Jewish belief in the Trinity, as well as the beliefs of all religions, have parallel, supernal notions within Kabbalah from which they ultimately exist in the process of Creation.

The Panentheism ( all creation takes place " within God ") taught by the Baal Shem Tov is systematically articulated in Kabbalistic philosophy.

With advanced understanding, the dveikut was allied with ascetic practices, as grasp of Kabbalistic thought was seen to involve spiritual preparation for the intuitive illumination within its structures.

Although these are allegedly Kabbalistic in nature, there is very little or no influence of Kabbala within the pages.

* Minhag Sefaradi: in general refers to the various Sephardi liturgies, but also to obligation / permissibility of Kabbalistic elements within the rite.

Reincarnation is also a belief described in Kabbalistic Judaism as gilgul neshamot ( Reincarnation of Souls ).

The particular Hasidic emphasis and interpretation of this earlier Jewish and Kabbalistic concept, became one of the ideas that singled it out from non-Hasidic Judaism.

גלגול הנשמות ) refers to the concept of reincarnation in Kabbalistic Judaism, found in much Yiddish literature among Ashkenazi Jews.

Rabbi Leone di Modena wrote that if we were to accept the Kabbalah, then the Christian trinity would indeed be compatible with Judaism, as the Trinity closely resembles the Kabbalistic doctrine of the Sefirot.

Hod (" Majesty "; הוד ) in the Kabbalah of Judaism is the eighth sephira of the Kabbalistic tree of life.

Some identify two forms of gematria: the " revealed " form, which is prevalent in many hermeneutic methods found throughout Rabbinic literature, and the " mystical " form, a largely Kabbalistic practice.

According to the Talmud, the Midrash, and the Kabbalistic work, the Zohar, the ' deadline ' by which the Messiah must appear is 6000 years from creation.

In both Kabbalistic and Neoplatonist systems, the Logos, or Divine Wisdom, is the primordial archetype of the universe, and mediates between the divine idea and the material world.

While many other Jews find this idea highly controversial, panentheism, i. e. considering everything and everyone as manifestations of God, is the accepted mainstream Hasidic and Kabbalistic doctrine.

Also notable is the Bet El yeshiva founded in 1737 in Jerusalem for advanced Kabbalistic studies.

Kabbalistic texts say that every sin ( a spiritual descent ), is for the ultimate purpose of raising the person to a new, even higher level ( a greater spiritual ascent ).

This metaphysical process elucidates the Kabbalistic view that every descent is for the purpose of higher ascent.

The traditional tendency to conceal Jewish mysticism is founded on the Kabbalistic notion of the Sephirot.

The Kabbalistic approach is explained in various Chassidic writings ; see for example, Shaar Hayichud, below, for a detailed discussion.

In a manuscript in the British Museum, the Sefer Yetzirah is called the Hilkot Yetzirah and declared to be esoteric lore not accessible to anyone but the pious, and only to be used for Kabbalistic purposes.

An intimate relation exists between the Sefer Yetzirah and the later mystics, and that, although there is a marked difference between the later Kabbalah and the Sefer Yetzirah, the system laid down in the latter is the first visible link in the development of Kabbalistic ideas.

The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses is a European grimoire that is purportedly based on Jewish Kabbalah, though it actually covers little, if any, relation to Kabbalistic thought.

Modern Kabbalistic schools, namely that of the Ari, teach that when one recites the last letter of the word "' eḥad '" ( אחד ), meaning " one ", he or she is to intend that he is ready to " die into God ".

An important body of customs grew up in the Kabbalistic circle of Isaac Luria and his followers in Safed, and many of these have spread to communities throughout the Sephardi world: this is discussed further in the Liturgy section below.

Therefore, in the Kabbalistic system, God is the ultimate reality, so that creation only exists because it is continuously sustained by the will of God.

It is a more esoteric and detailed work of Kabbalistic commentary than the previous sections.

The image of these charismatic figures, often wandering among the people, became shaped by the Kabbalistic legend of the Lamed Vav Tzadikim ( 36 hidden righteous people who sustain the world ).

* the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Western countries, who adopted a certain number of Kabbalistic usages piecemeal in the 17th century but later abandoned them because it was felt that the Lurianic Kabbalah had contributed to the Shabbetai Tzvi disaster.

In Jewish mysticism, the Practical Kabbalah theurgic role of Baal Shem among the common folk was one mystical institution, contrasted with the theosophic and ecstatic roles of elite Kabbalistic study circles, who were more isolated from the populance.

It seems that the Vilna Gaon, who wrote extensive Kabbalistic works, followed the Lurianic system, but diverged from Luria when he felt the Zohar lent itself to another approach.

Adapting former Kabbalistic theosophical terminology, Hasidic thought internalised mystical experience, emphasising deveikut attachment to its Rebbe leadership, who embody and channel the Divine flow of blessing to the world.

# The Saintly Men of Safed – This chapter focuses on the three Rabbis who meet in Safed while escaping the Spanish Inquisition and European pogroms, and their culture clashes between Sephardim, Ashkenazim and Kabbalistic traditions.

Even though he did not write books, he succeeded in gaining powerful disciples to his teachings that were based on the earlier expositions of Rabbi Isaac Luria ( 1534 – 1572 ) known as the Ari who had based much of his Kabbalistic teachings on the Zohar.

The Vilna Gaon, who was himself steeped in both Talmudic and Kabbalistic wisdom, analyzed the theological underpinnings of this new " Hasidism " and in his view, concluded that it was deeply flawed since it had elements of what may be roughly termed as panentheism and perhaps even outright pantheism, dangerous aspirations for bringing the Jewish Messiah that could easily be twisted in unpredictable directions for Jewry as had previously happened with the Zevi and Frank religious " revival " fiascos, and an array of complex rejections of their religious ideology.

He was known to be an extreme eccentric who gave lessons in the magical arts in his apartment and fastidiously translated Kabbalistic and other ancient texts into English.