Alongside this, there was also a rise in interest in a form of Jewish mysticism known as the Kabbalah, which was spread across the continent by Pico della Mirandola and Johannes Reuchlin.

In the rabbinic literatures of the Talmud and the Jewish Kabbalah, the scholars agree that there are two types of spiritual places called Garden in Eden.

Thus, although there is an esoteric tradition in Judaism ( Kabbalah ), Rabbinic scholar Max Kadushin has characterized normative Judaism as " normal mysticism ", because it involves everyday personal experiences of God through ways or modes that are common to all Jews.

Though there is a popular myth that one must be a 40 year old Jewish man, and learned in the Talmud before one is allowed to delve into Kabbalah, Chaim Vital says exactly the opposite in his introduction to Eitz Chaim.

In Zoharistic Kabbalah, there were four succubi who mated with archangel Samael.

The cards are traced by some occult writers to ancient Egypt or the Kabbalah but there is no documented evidence of such origins or of the usage of tarot for divination before the 18th century.

Conversely, Elijah Delmedigo ( c. 1458 – c. 1493 ), in his Bechinat ha-Dat endeavored to show that the Zohar could not be attributed to Shimon bar Yochai, arguing that if it were his work, the Zohar would have been mentioned by the Talmud, as has been the case with other works of the Talmudic period, that had bar Yochai known by divine revelation the hidden meaning of the precepts, his decisions on Jewish law from the Talmudic period would have been adopted by the Talmud, that it would not contain the names of rabbis who lived at a later period than that of Simeon ; and that if the Kabbalah was a revealed doctrine, there would have been no divergence of opinion among the Kabbalists concerning the mystic interpretation of the precepts.

Although some rabbis since the Shabbetai Tzvi debacle still maintain that one should be married and forty years old in order to study Kabbalah, since the time of Baal Shem Tov there has been relaxation of such stringency, and many maintain that it is sufficient to be married and knowledgeable in halakhah and hence permitted to study Kabbalah and by inclusion, Tikunei haZohar ; and some rabbis will advise learning Kabbalah without restrictions of marriage or age.

Finally, there are some ( mostly Chassidic or otherwise heavily influenced by Kabbalah ) who eat indoors entirely on Shemini Atzeret, notwithstanding the Gemara's final ruling to the contrary.

Broadly, there are two different sources to traditional Eastern European Jewish civilisation: Firstly, the continuation of Talmudic centred scholarship, augmented by Kabbalah for a reserved elite, known as Lithuanian Orthodoxy, saw itself as continuing and protecting the traditional forms of Jewish worship through advanced study.

In recent years, there has been increased interest in Kabbalah, which many Ashkenazi Jews study outside of the Yeshiva framework.

Although there remains doubt about whether the 1552 " edition " in Naples was ever truly printed, the study of Joseph Dan professor of Kabbalah at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the preface to his 1986 critical edition of the 1625 text concludes, from the Hebrew used and other indications, that the work was in fact written in Naples in the early sixteenth century.

In Kabbalah there has long been a strong belief in Cherubim, with the Cherubim, and other angels, regarded as having mystical roles.

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.

In Kabbalah and especially Hasidism, God's Unity means that there is nothing independent of His essence.

* In Kabbalah, there are 50 Gates of Wisdom ( or Understanding ) and 50 Gates of Impurity

* In the Kabbalah, there are 22 paths between the sephiroth

* In the Kabbalah there are 27 letters, corresponding to 27 channels of communication with God and 27 combinations of the names of God and-13 overt and 14 covert.

In the Kabbalah, there are 32 Kabbalistic Paths of Wisdom.

In the Kabbalah, there are 2 sephiroth located on the 6th level, associated with the left and right eye.

Aside from the fact that by perfecting themselves, the Jews set an example for the rest of the world, there is thus the additional distinction that mitzvot have practical, worldly effects — for example, charity benefits the poor materially, constituting tikkun olam by its improvement of the world physically or socially, in contrast to the mystical effects of mitzvot as held by Lurianic Kabbalah.

In the Sefer Yetzirah, unlike in later Kabbalah, there is no question of the Sefirot being Divine entities or even attributes: they are simply the numerals, considered as the dimensional parameters used in the creation of the world.

Another opinion is that the choice was free in a limited context, thus: although the Jews chose to follow precepts ordained by God, the Kabbalah and Tanya teach that even prior to creation, the " Jewish soul " was already chosen.

Beside such revived currents from late Antiquity, a second major source of esoteric speculation is the Kabbalah, which was lifted out of its Jewish context and adapted to a Christian framework by people such as Johannes Reuchlin.

Although ostensibly derived from Greek, it is largely used in Jewish texts, notably in those associated with the Kabbalah.

She then is depicted in the Talmud and Kabbalah as first wife to God's first creation of man, Adam.

Subsets of Haredi Judaism include: Hasidic Judaism, which is rooted in the Kabbalah and distinguished by reliance on a Rebbe or religious teacher ; and Sephardic Haredi Judaism, which emerged among Sephardic ( Asian and North African ) Jews in Israel.

The Kabbalah Centre, which employs teachers from multiple religions, is a New Age movement that claims to popularize the kabbalah, the Jewish esoteric tradition.

Kabbalah, also spelled Kabala or Cabala ( literally " receiving "), is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought.

Kabbalah is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between an unchanging, eternal and mysterious Ein Sof ( no end ) and the mortal and finite universe ( his creation ).

Kabbalah is considered by its followers as a necessary part of the study of Torah – the study of Torah ( the Tanakh and Rabbinic literature ) being an inherent duty of observant Jews .< ref >

There are monist pantheists and panentheists in Zoroastrianism, Hinduism ( particularly in Advaita and Vishistadvaita ), Judaism ( monistic panentheism is especially found in Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy ), and in Islam ( among the Sufis, especially the Bektashi ).

This study of numerology is based on the evidence of significant double-digit numbers in the Kabbalah, the I-ching, the Pythagorean numerology, the Tarot Arcana of the Eastern faiths, and the Runes of the Viking age.

There is some debate as to whether Lurianic Kabbalah, with its doctrine of Tzimtzum, can be regarded as panentheistic.

In Hasidic Judaism, the Kabbalah presents Satan as an agent of God whose function is to tempt one into sin, then turn around and accuse the sinner on high.

In 1803, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi compiled an authoritative siddur from the sixty siddurim that he checked for compliance with Hebrew grammar, Jewish law, and Kabbalah: this is what is known today as the " Nusach Ari ", and is used by Lubavitch Hasidim.

Song of Songs is one of the overtly mystical Biblical texts for the Kabbalah, which gave esoteric interpretation on all the Hebrew Bible.

In Zoharic Kabbalah, God is represented by a system of ten sephirot emanations, each symbolizing a different attribute of God, comprising both male and female.

* In the Atari 2600 game Swordquest: Fireworld, the map of the game world is patterned after the Kabbalah Tree of Life.

The Zohar (, lit Splendor or Radiance ) is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah.

This accords with the traditional claim by adherents that Kabbalah is the concealed part of the Oral Torah.