Chapter IV: Part 4

The cardinal doctrines of the Kabbalah embrace the nature of the Deity, the Divine emanations or _Sephiroth_, the cosmogony, the creation of angels and man, their destiny, and the import of the revealed law. According to this esoteric doctrine, God, who is boundless, and above everything, even above being and thinking, is called _En Soph_ ([Greek: apeiros]); He is the space of the universe containing [Greek: to pan], but the universe is not his space. In this boundlessness He could not be comprehended by the intellect or described in words, and as such the En Soph was in a certain sense _Ayin_, non-existent (_Zohar_, iii. 283).[2] To make his existence known and comprehensible, the En Soph had to become active and creative. As creation involves intention, desire, thought and work, and as these are properties which imply limit and belong to a finite being, and moreover as the imperfect and circumscribed nature of this creation precludes the idea of its being the direct work of the infinite and perfect, the En Soph had to become creative, through the medium of ten Sephiroth or intelligences, which emanated from him like rays proceeding from a luminary.

Now the wish to become manifest and known, and hence the idea of creation, is co-eternal with the inscrutable Deity, and the first manifestation of this primordial will is called the first _Sephirah_ or emanation. This first Sephirah, this spiritual substance which existed in the En Soph from all eternity, contained nine other intelligences or _Sephiroth_. These again emanated one from the other, the second from the first, the third from the second, and so on up to ten.

The ten Sephiroth, which form among themselves and with the En Soph a
strict unity, and which simply represent different aspects of one and
the same being, are respectively denominated (1) the Crown, (2)
Wisdom, (3) Intelligence, (4) Love, (5) Justice, (6) Beauty, (7)
Firmness, (8) Splendour, (9) Foundation, and (10) Kingdom. Their
evolution was as follows: "When the Holy Aged, the concealed of all
concealed, assumed a form, he produced everything in the form of male
and female, as things could not continue in any other form. Hence
Wisdom, the second Sephirah, and the beginning of development, when it
proceeded from the Holy Aged (another name of the first Sephirah)
emanated in male and female, for Wisdom expanded, and Intelligence,
the third Sephirah, proceeded from it, and thus were obtained male and
female, viz. Wisdom the father and Intelligence the mother, from whose
union the other pairs of Sephiroth successively emanated" (_Zohar_,
iii. 290). These two opposite potencies, viz. the masculine Wisdom or
Sephirah No. 2 and the feminine Intelligence or Sephirah No. 3 are
joined together by the first potency, the Crown or Sephirah No. 1;
they yield the first triad of the Sephiric decade, and constitute the
divine head of the archetypal man.

From the junction of Sephiroth Nos. 2 and 3 emanated the masculine
potency Love or Mercy (4) and the feminine potency Justice (5), and
from the junction of the latter two emanated again the uniting potency
Beauty (6). Beauty, the sixth Sephirah, constitutes the chest in the
archetypal man, and unites Love (4) and Justice (5), which constitute
the divine arms, thus yielding the second triad of the Sephiric
decade. From this second conjunction emanated again the masculine
potency Firmness (7) and the feminine potency Splendour (8), which
constitute the divine legs of the archetypal man; and these sent forth
Foundation (9), which is the genital organ and medium of union between
them, thus yielding the third triad in the Sephiric decade. Kingdom
(10), which emanated from the ninth Sephirah, encircles all the other
nine, inasmuch as it is the Shechinah, the divine halo, which
encompasses the whole by its all-glorious presence.

In their totality and unity the ten Sephiroth are not only denominated the World of Sephiroth, or the World of Emanations, but, owing to the above representation, are called the primordial or archetypal man (= [Greek: protogonos]) and the heavenly man. It is this form which, as we are assured, the prophet Ezekiel saw in the mysterious chariot (Ezek. i. 1-28), and of which the earthly man is a faint copy.

As the three triads respectively represent intellectual, moral and physical qualities, the first is called the Intellectual, the second the Moral or Sensuous, and the third the Material World. According to this theory of the archetypal man the three Sephiroth on the right-hand side are masculine and represent the principle of rigour, the three on the left are feminine and represent the principle of mercy, and the four central or uniting Sephiroth represent the principle of mildness. Hence the right is called "the Pillar of Judgment," the left "the Pillar of Mercy," and the centre "the Middle Pillar." The middle Sephiroth are synecdochically used to represent the worlds or triads of which they are the uniting potencies. Hence the Crown, the first Sephirah, which unites Wisdom and Intelligence to constitute the first triad, is by itself denominated the Intellectual World. So Beauty is by itself described as the Sensuous World, and in this capacity is called the Sacred King or simply the King, whilst Kingdom, the tenth Sephirah, which unites all the nine Sephiroth, is used to denote the Material World, and as such is denominated the Queen or the Matron. Thus a trinity of units, viz. the Crown, Beauty and Kingdom, is obtained within the trinity of triads. But further, each Sephirah is as it were a trinity in itself. It (1) has its own absolute character, (2) receives from above, and (3) communicates to what is below. "Just as the Sacred Aged is represented by the number three, so are all the other lights (Sephiroth) of a threefold nature" (_Zohar_, iii. 288). In this all-important doctrine of the Sephiroth, the Kabbalah insists upon the fact that these potencies are not creations of the En Soph, which would be a diminution of strength; that they form among themselves and with the En Soph a strict unity, and simply represent different aspects of the same being, just as the different rays which proceed from the light, and which appear different things to the eye, are only different manifestations of one and the same light; that for this reason they all alike partake of the perfections of the En Soph; and that as emanations from the Infinite, the Sephiroth are infinite and perfect like the En Soph, and yet constitute the first finite things. They are infinite and perfect when the En Soph imparts his fullness to them, and finite and imperfect when that fullness is withdrawn from them.

The Universe.

The conjunction of the Sephiroth, or, according to the language of the Kabbalah, the union of the crowned King and Queen, produced the universe in their own image. Worlds came into existence before the En Soph manifested himself in the human form of emanations, but they could not continue, and necessarily perished because the conditions of development which obtained with the sexual opposites of the Sephiroth did not exist. These worlds which perished are compared to sparks which fly out from a red-hot iron beaten by a hammer, and which are extinguished according to the distance they are removed from the burning mass. Creation is not _ex nihilo_; it is simply a further expansion or evolution of the Sephiroth.[3] The world reveals and makes visible the Boundless and the concealed of the concealed. And, though it exhibits the Deity in less splendour than its Sephiric parents exhibit the En Soph, because it is farther removed from the primordial source of light than the Sephiroth, still, as it is God manifested, all the multifarious forms in the world point out the unity which they represent. Hence nothing in the whole universe can be annihilated. Everything, spirit as well as body, must return to the source whence it emanated (_Zohar_, ii. 218). The universe consists of four different worlds, each of which forms a separate Sephiric system of a decade of emanations.

They were evolved in the following order. (1) The World Of Emanations,
also called the Image and the Heavenly or Archetypal Man, is, as we
have seen, a direct emanation from the En Soph. Hence it is most
intimately allied to the Deity, and is perfect and immutable. From the
conjunction of the King and Queen (i.e. these ten Sephiroth) is
produced (2) the World of Creation, or the Briatic world, also called
"the Throne." Its ten Sephiroth, being farther removed from the En
Soph, are of a more limited and circumscribed potency, though the
substances they comprise are of the purest nature and without any
admixture of matter. The angel Metatron inhabits this world. He alone
constitutes the world of pure spirit, and is the garment of Shaddai,
i.e. the visible manifestation of the Deity. His name is numerically
equivalent to that of the Lord (_Zohar_, iii. 231). He governs the
visible world, preserves the harmony and guides the revolutions of all
the spheres, and is the captain of all the myriads of angelic beings.
This Briatic world again gave rise to (3) the World of Formation, or
Yetziratic World. Its ten Sephiroth, being still farther removed from
the Primordial Source, are of a less refined substance. Still they are
yet without matter. It is the abode of the angels, who are wrapped in
luminous garments, and who assume a sensuous form when they appear to
men. The myriads of the angelic hosts who people this world are
divided into ten ranks, answering to the ten Sephiroth, and each one
of these numerous angels is set over a different part of the universe,
and derives his name from the heavenly body or element which he guards
(_Zohar_, i. 42). From this world finally emanated (4) the World of
Action, also called the World of Matter. Its ten Sephiroth are made up
of the grosser elements of the former three worlds; they consist of
material substance limited by space and perceptible to the senses in a
multiplicity of forms. This world is subject to constant changes and
corruption, and is the dwelling of the evil spirits. These, the
grossest and most deficient of all forms, are also divided into ten
degrees, each lower than the other. The first two are nothing more
than the absence of all visible form and organization; the third
degree is the abode of darkness; whilst the remaining seven are "the
seven infernal halls," occupied by the demons, who are the incarnation
of all human vices. These seven hells are subdivided into innumerable
compartments corresponding to every species of sin, where the demons
torture the poor deluded human beings who have suffered themselves to
be led astray whilst on earth. The prince of this region of darkness
is Samael, the evil spirit, the serpent who seduced Eve. His wife is
the Harlot or the Woman of Whoredom. The two are treated as one
person, and are called "the Beast" (_Zohar_, ii. 255-259, with i. 35).

Doctrine of Man.

The whole universe, however, was incomplete, and did not receive its finishing stroke till man was formed, who is the acme of the creation and the microcosm. "The heavenly Adam (i.e. the ten Sephiroth) who emanated from the highest primordial obscurity (i.e. the En Soph) created the earthly Adam" (_Zohar_, ii. 70). "Man is both the import and the highest degree of creation, for which reason he was formed on the sixth day. As soon as man was created everything was complete, including the upper and nether worlds, for everything is comprised in man. He unites in himself all forms" (_Zohar_, iii. 48). Each member of his body corresponds to a part of the visible universe. "Just as we see in the firmament above, covering all things, different signs which are formed of the stars and the planets, and which contain secret things and profound mysteries studied by those who are wise and expert in these things; so there are in the skin, which is the cover of the body of the son of man, and which is like the sky that covers all things above, signs and features which are the stars and planets of the skin, indicating secret things and profound mysteries whereby the wise are attracted who understand the reading of the mysteries in the human face" (_Zohar_, ii. 76). The human form is shaped after the four letters which constitute the Jewish Tetragrammaton (q.v.; see also JEHOVAH). The head is in the shape of [Hebrew: iod], the arms and the shoulders are like [Hebrew: hei], the breast like [Hebrew: vav], and the two legs with the back again resemble [Hebrew: hei] (_Zohar_, ii. 72). The souls of the whole human race pre-exist in the World of Emanations, and are all destined to inhabit human bodies. Like the Sephiroth from which it emanates, every soul has ten potencies, consisting of a trinity of triads. (1) The Spirit (_neshamah_), which is the highest degree of being, corresponds to and is operated upon by the Crown, which is the highest triad in the Sephiroth, and is called the Intellectual World; (2) the Soul (_ruah_), which is the seat of the moral qualities, corresponds to and is operated upon by Beauty, which is the second triad in the Sephiroth, and is called the Moral World; and (3) the Cruder Soul (_nephesh_), which is immediately connected with the body, and is the cause of its lower instincts and the animal life, corresponds to and is operated upon by Foundation, the third triad in the Sephiroth, called the Material World. Each soul prior to its entering into this world consists of male and female united into one being. When it descends on this earth the two parts are separated and animate two different bodies. "At the time of marriage the Holy One, blessed be he, who knows all souls and spirits, unites them again as they were before; and they again constitute one body and one soul, forming as it were the right and the left of the individual.... This union, however, is influenced by the deeds of the man and by the ways in which he walks. If the man is pure and his conduct is pleasing in the sight of God, he is united with that female part of the soul which was his component part prior to his birth" (_Zohar_, i. 91). The soul's destiny upon earth is to develop those perfections the germs of which are eternally implanted in it, and it ultimately must return to the infinite source from which it emanated. Hence, if, after assuming a body and sojourning upon earth, it becomes polluted by sin and fails to acquire the experience for which it descends from heaven, it must three times reinhabit a body, till it is able to ascend in a purified state through repeated trials. If, after its third residence in a human body, it is still too weak to withstand the contamination of sin, it is united with another soul, in order that by their combined efforts it may resist the pollution which by itself it was unable to conquer. When the whole pleroma of pre-existent souls in the world of the Sephiroth shall have descended and occupied human bodies and have passed their period of probation and have returned purified to the bosom of the infinite Source, then the soul of Messiah will descend from the region of souls; then the great Jubilee will commence. There shall be no more sin, no more temptation, no more suffering. Universal restoration will take place. Satan himself, "the venomous Beast," will be restored to his angelic nature. Life will be an everlasting feast, a Sabbath without end. All souls will be united with the Highest Soul, and will supplement each other in the Holy of Holies of the Seven Halls (_Zohar_, i. 45, 168; ii. 97).

Antiquity and Influence of Kabbalah.

According to the Kabbalah all these esoteric doctrines are contained in the Hebrew Scriptures. The uninitiated cannot perceive them; but they are plainly revealed to the spiritually minded, who discern the profound import of this theosophy beneath the surface of the letters and words of Holy Writ. "If the law simply consists of ordinary expressions and narratives, such as the words of Esau, Hagar, Laban, the ass of Balaam or Balaam himself, why should it be called the law of truth, the perfect law, the true witness of God? Each word contains a sublime source, each narrative points not only to the single instance in question, but also to generals" (_Zohar_, iii. 149, cf. 152).

To obtain these heavenly mysteries, which alone make the Torah
superior to profane codes, definite hermeneutical rules are employed,
of which the following are the most important. (1) The words of
several verses in the Hebrew Scriptures which are regarded as
containing a recondite sense are placed over each other, and the
letters are formed into new words by reading them vertically. (2) The
words of the text are ranged in squares in such a manner as to be read
either vertically or boustrophedon. (3) The words are joined together
and redivided. (4) The initials and final letters of several words are
formed into separate words. (5) Every letter of a word is reduced to
its numerical value, and the word is explained by another of the same
quantity. (6) Every letter of a word is taken to be the initial or
abbreviation of a word. (7) The twenty-two letters of the alphabet are
divided into two halves; one half is placed above the other; and the
two letters which thus become associated are interchanged. By this
permutation, _Aleph_, the first letter of the alphabet, becomes
_Lamed_, the twelfth letter; _Beth_ becomes _Mem_, and so on. This
cipher alphabet is called _Albam_, from the first interchangeable
pairs. (8) The commutation of the twenty-two letters is effected by
the last letter of the alphabet taking the place of the first, the
last but one the place of the second, and so forth. This cipher is
called _Atbash_. These hermeneutical canons are much older than the
Kabbalah. They obtained in the synagogue from time immemorial, and
were used by the Christian fathers in the interpretation of
Scripture.[4] Thus Canon V., according to which a word is reduced to
its numerical value and interpreted by another word of the same value,
is recognized in the New Testament (cf. Rev. xiii. 18). Canon VI. is
adopted by Irenaeus, who tells us that, according to the learned among
the Hebrews, the name Jesus contains two letters and a half, and
signifies that Lord who contains heaven and earth [[Hebrew: ieshu] =
[Hebrew: ieova shamaim vaaretz]] (_Against Heresies_, ii. xxiv., i.
205, ed. Clark). The cipher _Atbash_ (Canon VIII.) is used in Jeremiah
xxv. 26, li. 41, where Sheshach is written for Babel. In Jer. li. 1,
[Hebrew: lev kamai], _Leb-Kamai_ ("the heart of them that rise up
against me"), is written for [Hebrew: kasdim], _Chaldea_, by the same
rule.

Exegesis of this sort is not the characteristic of any single circle, people or century; unscientific methods of biblical interpretation have prevailed from Philo's treatment of the Pentateuch to modern apologetic interpretations of Genesis, ch. i.[5] The Kabbalah itself is but an extreme and remarkable development of certain forms of thought which had never been absent from Judaism; it is bound up with earlier tendencies to mysticism, with man's inherent striving to enter into communion with the Deity. To seek its sources would be futile. The Pythagorean theory of numbers, Neoplatonic ideas of emanation, the Logos, the personified Wisdom, Gnosticism--these and many other features combine to show the antiquity of tendencies which, clad in other shapes, are already found in the old pre-Christian Oriental religions.[6] In its more mature form the Kabbalah belongs to the period when medieval Christian mysticism was beginning to manifest itself (viz. in Eckhart, towards end of 13th century); it is an age which also produced the rationalism of Maimonides (q.v.). Although some of its foremost exponents were famous Talmudists, it was a protest against excessive intellectualism and Aristotelian scholasticism. It laid stress, not on external authority, as did the Jewish law, but on individual experience and inward meditation. "The mystics accorded the first place to prayer, which was considered as a mystical progress towards God, demanding a state of ecstasy."[7] As a result, some of the finest specimens of Jewish devotional literature and some of the best types of Jewish individual character have been Kabbalist.[8] On the other hand, the Kabbalah has been condemned, and nowhere more strongly than among the Jews themselves. Jewish orthodoxy found itself attacked by the more revolutionary aspects of mysticism and its tendencies to alter established customs. While the medieval scholasticism denied the possibility of knowing anything unattainable by reason, the spirit of the Kabbalah held that the Deity could be realized, and it sought to bridge the gulf. Thus it encouraged an unrestrained emotionalism, rank superstition, an unhealthy asceticism, and the employment of artificial means to induce the ecstatic state. That this brought moral laxity was a stronger reason for condemning the Kabbalah, and the evil effects of nervous degeneration find a more recent illustration in the mysticism of the Chasidim (_Hasidim_, "saints"), a Jewish sect in eastern Europe which started from a movement in the 18th century against the exaggerated casuistry of contemporary rabbis, and combined much that was spiritual and beautiful with extreme emotionalism and degradation.[9] The appearance of the Kabbalah and of other forms of mysticism in Judaism may seem contrary to ordinary and narrow conceptions of orthodox Jewish legalism. Its interest lies, not in its doctrines, which have often been absurdly over-estimated (particularly among Christians), but in its contribution to the study of human thought. It supplied a want which has always been felt by certain types, and it became a movement which had mischievous effects upon ill-balanced minds. As usual, the excessive self-introspection was not checked by a rational criticism; the individual was guided by his own reason, the limitations of which he did not realize; and in becoming a law unto himself he ignored the accumulated experiences of civilized humanity.[10]

A feature of greater interest is the extraordinary part which this theosophy played in the Christian Church, especially at the time of the Renaissance. We have already seen that the Sephiric decade or the archetypal man, like Christ, is considered to be of a double nature, both infinite and finite, perfect and imperfect. More distinct, however, is the doctrine of the Trinity. In Deut. vi. 43, where Yahweh occurs first, then Elohenu, and then again Yahweh, we are told "The voice though one, consists of three elements, fire (i.e. warmth), air (i.e. breath), and water (i.e. humidity), yet all three are one in the mystery of the voice and can only be one. Thus also Yahweh, Elohenu, Yahweh, constitute one--three forms which are one" (_Zohar_, ii. 43; compare iii. 65). Discussing the thrice holy in Isaiah vi. 3, one codex of the _Zohar_ had the following remark: "The first holy denotes the Holy Father, the second the Holy Son, and the third the Holy Ghost" (cf. Galatinus, _De arcanis cathol._ lib. ii. c. 3, p. 31; Wolf, _Bibliotheca hebraica_, i. 1136). Still more distinct is the doctrine of the atonement. "The Messiah invokes all the sufferings, pain, and afflictions of Israel to come upon Him. Now if He did not remove them thus and take them upon Himself, no man could endure the sufferings of Israel, due as their punishment for transgressing the law; as it is written (Isa. liii. 4), Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows" (_Zohar_, ii. 12). These and similar statements favouring the doctrines of the New Testament made many Kabbalists of the highest position in the synagogue embrace the Christian faith and write elaborate books to win their Jewish brethren over to Christ. As early as 1450 a company of Jewish converts in Spain, at the head of which were Paul de Heredia, Vidal de Saragossa de Aragon, and Davila, published compilations of Kabbalistic treatises to prove from them the doctrines of Christianity. They were followed by Paul Rici, professor at Pavia, and physician to the emperor Maximilian I. Among the best-known non-Jewish exponents of the Kabbalah were the Italian count Pico di Mirandola (1463-1494), the renowned Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522), Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim (1487-1535), Theophrastus Paracelsus (1493-1541), and, later, the Englishman Robert Fludd (1574-1637). Prominent among the "nine hundred theses" which Mirandola had placarded in Rome, and which he undertook to defend in the presence of all European scholars, whom he invited to the Eternal City, promising to defray their travelling expenses, was the following: "No science yields greater proof of the divinity of Christ than magic and the Kabbalah." Mirandola so convinced Pope Sixtus of the paramount importance of the Kabbalah as an auxiliary to Christianity that his holiness exerted himself to have Kabbalistic writings translated into Latin for the use of divinity students. With equal zeal did Reuchlin act as the apostle of the Kabbalah. His treatises exercised an almost magic influence upon the greatest thinkers of the time. Pope Leo X. and the early Reformers were alike captivated by the charms of the Kabbalah as propounded by Reuchlin, and not only divines, but statesmen and warriors, began to study the Oriental languages in order to be able to fathom the mysteries of Jewish theosophy. The _Zohar_, that farrago of absurdity and spiritual devotion, was the weapon with which these Christians defended Jewish literature against hostile ecclesiastic bodies (Abrahams, _Jew. Lit._ p. 106). Thus the Kabbalah linked the old scholasticism with the new and independent inquiries in learning and philosophy after the Renaissance, and although it had evolved a remarkably bizarre conception of the universe, it partly anticipated, in its own way, the scientific study of natural philosophy.[11] Jewish theosophy, then, with its good and evil tendencies, and with its varied results, may thus claim to have played no unimportant part in the history of European scholarship and thought.

The main sources to be noticed are:--

Main Sources.

1. The _Sepher Yesirah_, or "book of creation," not the old Hilkoth Y.
("rules of creation"), which belongs to the Talmudic period (on which
see Kohler, _Jew. Ency._ xii. 602 seq.), but a later treatise, a
combination of medieval natural philosophy and mysticism. It has been
variously ascribed to the patriarch Abraham and to the illustrious
rabbi 'Aqiba; its essential elements, however, maybe of the 3rd or 4th
century A.D., and it is apparently earlier than the 9th (see L.
Ginzberg, _op. cit._ 603 sqq.). It has "had a greater influence on the
development of the Jewish mind than almost any other book after the
completion of the Talmud" (ibid.).

2. The _Bahir_ ("brilliant," Job. xxxvii. 21), though ascribed to
Nehunyah b. Haqqanah (1st century A.D.), is first quoted by
Nahmanides, and is now attributed to his teacher Ezra or Azriel
(1160-1238). It shows the influence of the _Sepher Yesirah_, is marked
by the teaching of a celestial Trinity, is a rough outline of what the
_Zohar_ was destined to be, and gave the first opening to a thorough
study of metaphysics among the Jews. (See further 1. Broyde, _Jew.
Ency._ ii. 442 seq.).

3. The _Zohar_ ("shining," Dan. xii. 3) is a commentary on the
Pentateuch, according to its division into fifty-two hebdomadal
lessons. It begins with the exposition of Gen. i. 4 ("let there be
light") and includes eleven dissertations: (1) "Additions and
Supplements"; (2) "The Mansions and Abodes," describing the structure
of paradise and hell; (3) "The Mysteries of the Pentateuch,"
describing the evolution of the Sephiroth, &c.; (4) "The Hidden
Interpretation," deducing esoteric doctrine from the narratives in the
Pentateuch; (5) "The Faithful Shepherd," recording discussions between
Moses the faithful shepherd, the prophet Elijah and R. Simon b. Yohai,
the reputed compiler of the _Zohar_; (6) "The Secret of Secrets," a
treatise on physiognomy and psychology; (7) "The Aged," i.e. the
prophet Elijah, discoursing with R. Simon on the doctrine of
transmigration as evolved from Exod. xxi. 1-xxiv. 18; (8) "The Book of
Secrets," discourses on cosmogony and demonology; (9) "The Great
Assembly," discourses of R. Simon to his numerous assembly of
disciples on the form of the Deity and on pneumatology; (10) "The
Young Man," discourses by young men of superhuman origin on the
mysteries of ablutions; and (11) "The Small Assembly," containing the
discourses on the Sephiroth which R. Simon delivered to the small
congregation of six surviving disciples. The _Zohar_ pretends to be a
compilation made by Simon b. Yohai (the second century A.D.) of
doctrines which God communicated to Adam in Paradise, and which have
been received uninterruptedly from the mouths of the patriarchs and
prophets. It was discovered, so the story went, in a cavern in Galilee
where it had been hidden for a thousand years. Amongst the many facts,
however, established by modern criticism which prove the _Zohar_ to be
a compilation of the 13th century, are the following: (1) the _Zohar_
itself praises most fulsomely R. Simon, its reputed author, and exalts
him above Moses; (2) it mystically explains the Hebrew vowel points,
which did not obtain till 570; (3) the compiler borrows two verses
from the celebrated hymn called "The Royal Diadem," written by Ibn
Gabirol, who was born about 1021; (4) it mentions the capture of
Jerusalem by the crusaders and the re-taking of the Holy City by the
Saracens; (5) it speaks of the comet which appeared at Rome, 15th July
1264, under the pontificate of Urban IV.; (6) by a slip the _Zohar_
assigns a reason why its contents were not revealed before 5060-5066
A.M., i.e. 1300-1306 A.D., (7) the doctrine of the En Soph and the
Sephiroth was not known before the 13th century; and (8) the very
existence of the _Zohar_ itself was not known prior to the 13th
century. Hence it is now believed that Moses de Leon (d. 1305), who
first circulated and sold the _Zohar_ as the production of R. Simon,
was himself the author or compiler. That eminent scholars both in the
synagogue and in the church should have been induced to believe in its
antiquity is owing to the fact that the _Zohar_ embodies many older
opinions and doctrines, and the undoubted antiquity of some of them
has served as a lever in the minds of these scholars to raise the late
speculations about the En Soph, the Sephiroth, &c., to the same age.

LITERATURE.--The study of the whole subject being wrapped up with
Gnosticism and Oriental theosophy, the related literature is immense.
Among the more important works may be mentioned, Baron von Rosenroth's
_Kabbala Denudata_ (Sulzbach, 1677-1678; Frankfort, 1684); A. Franck,
_La Kabbale_ (Paris, 2nd ed., 1889; German by Jellinek, Leipzig,
1844); C. D. Ginsburg, _The Kabbalah, its Doctrines, Development and
Literature_ (London, 1865); I. Meyer, _Qabbalah_ (Philadelphia, 1888);
Rubin, _Kabbala und Agada_ (Vienna, 1895), _Heidentum und Kabbalah_
(1893); Karppe, _Et. sur les origines du Zohar_ (Paris, 1891); A. E.
Waite, _Doctrine and Literature of the Kabbalah_ (London, 1902);
Flugel, _Philosophy, Kabbala, &c._ (Baltimore, 1902); D. Neumark,
_Gesch. d. Jud. Philosophie d. Mittelalters_ (Berlin, 1907); also S.
A. Binion, in C. D. Warner's _World's Best Literature_, 8425 sqq. See
further the very full articles in the _Jewish Ency._ by K. Kohler and
L. Ginzberg ("Cabbala"), I. Broyde ("Bahir," "Zohar"), with the
references. (C. D. G.; S. A. C.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] C. Taylor, _Sayings of the Jewish Fathers_ (1897), pp. 106 sqq.,
175 seq.; W. Bacher, _Jew. Quart. Rev._ xx. 572 sqq. (1908).

[2] On the _Zohar_, "the Bible of the Kabbalists," see below.

[3] The view of a mediate creation, in the place of immediate
creation out of nothing, and that the mediate beings were emanations,
was much influenced by Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021-1070).

[4] See F. Weber, _Judische Theologie_ (1897), pp. 118 sqq.

[5] See C. A. Briggs, _Study of Holy Scripture_ (1899), pp. 427 sqq.,
570.

[6] Even the "over-Soul" of the mystic Isaac Luria (1534-1572) is a
conception known in the 3rd century A.D. (Rabbi Resh Lakish). For the
early stages of Kabbalistic theories, see K. Kohler, _Jew. Ency._
iii. 457 seq., and L. Ginzberg, ibid. 459 seq.; and for examples of
the relationship between old Oriental (especially Babylonian) and
Jewish Kabbalistic teaching (early and late), see especially A.
Jeremias, _Babylonisches in N. Test._ (Leipzig, 1905); E. Bischoff,
_Bab. Astrales im Weltbilde des Thalmud u. Midrasch_ (1907).

[7] L. Ginzberg, _Jew. Ency._ iii. 465.

[8] See, especially, on the mystics of Safed in Upper Galilee, S.
Schechter, _Studies_ (1908), pp. 202-285.

[9] See the instructive article by S. Schechter, _Studies in Judaism_
(London, 1896), pp. 1-55.

[10] See the discriminating estimates by S. A. Hirsch, _Jew. Quart.
Rev._ xx. 50-73; I. Abrahams, _Jew. Lit._ (1906), ch. xvii.:
_Judaism_ (1907), ch. vi.

[11] See, e.g., G. Margoliouth, "The Doctrine of Ether in the
Kabbalah," _Jew. Quart. Rev._ xx. 828 sqq. On the influence of the
Kabbalah on the Reformation, see Stockl, _Gesch. d. Philosophie des
Mittelalters_, ii. 232-251.

KABINDA, a Portuguese possession on the west coast of Africa north of the mouth of the Congo. Westwards it borders the Atlantic, N. and N.E. French Congo, S. and S.E. Belgian Congo. It has a coast-line of 93 m., extends inland, at its greatest breadth, 70 m., and has an area of about 3000 sq. m. In its physical features, flora, fauna and inhabitants, it resembles the coast region of French Congo (q.v.). The only considerable river is the Chiloango, which in part forms the boundary between Portuguese and Belgian territory, and in its lower course divides Kabinda into two fairly even portions. The mouth of the river is in 5 deg. 12' S., 12 deg. 5' E. The chief town, named Kabinda, is a seaport on the right bank of the small river Bele, in 5 deg. 33' S., 12 deg. 10' E.; pop. about 10,000. From the beauty of its situation, and the fertility of the adjacent country, it has been called the paradise of the coast. The harbour is sheltered and commodious, with anchorage in four fathoms. Kabinda was formerly a noted slave mart. Farther north are the ports of Landana and Massabi. Between Kabinda and Landana is Molembo at the head of a small bay of the same name. There is a considerable trade in palm oil, ground nuts and other jungle produce, largely in the hands of British and German firms.

The possession of the enclave of Kabinda by Portugal is a result of the efforts made by that nation during the last quarter of the 19th century to obtain sovereignty over both banks of the lower Congo. Whilst Portugal succeeded in obtaining the southern bank of the river to the limit of navigability from the sea, the northern bank became part of the Congo Free State (see AFRICA, S 5). Portuguese claims to the north of the river were, however, to some extent met by the recognition of her right to Kabinda. The southernmost part of Kabinda is 25 m. (following the coast-line) north of the mouth of the Congo. This district as far north as the Chiloango river (and including the adjacent territory of Belgian Congo) is sometimes spoken of as Kacongo. The name Loango (q.v.) was also applied to this region as well as to the coast-lands immediately to the north. Administratively Kabinda forms a division of the Congo district of the province of Angola (q.v.). The inhabitants are Bantu negroes who are called Kabindas. They are an intelligent, energetic and enterprising people, daring sailors and active traders.

KABIR, the most notable of the Vaishnava reformers of religion in northern India, who flourished during the first half of the 15th century. He is counted as one of the twelve disciples of Ramanand, the great preacher in the north (about A.D. 1400) of the doctrine of _bhakti_ addressed to Rama, which originated with Ramanuja (12th century) in southern India. He himself also mentions among his spiritual forerunners Jaideo and Namdeo (or Nama) the earliest Marathi poet (both about 1250). Legend relates that Kabir was the son of a Brahman widow, by whom he was exposed, and was found on a lotus in Lahar Talao, a pond near Benares, by a Musalman weaver named 'Ali (or Nuri), who with his wife Nima adopted him and brought him up in their craft as a Musalman. He lived most of his life at Benares, and afterwards removed to Maghar (or Magahar), in the present district of Basti, where he is said to have died in 1449. There appears to be no reason to doubt that he was originally a Musalman and a weaver; his own name and that of his son Kamal are Mahommedan, not Hindu. His adhesion to the doctrine of Ramanand is not a solitary instance of the religious syncretism which prevailed at this time in northern India. The religion of the earlier Sikh _Gurus_, which was largely based upon his teaching, also aimed at the fusion of Hinduism and Islam; and the example of Malik Muhammad,[1] the author of the Padmawat, who lived a century later than Kabir, shows that the relations between the two creeds were in some cases extremely intimate. It is related that at Kabir's death the Hindus and Musalmans each claimed him as an adherent of their faith, and that when his funeral issued forth from his house at Maghar the contention was only assuaged by the appearance of Kabir himself, who bade them look under the cloth which covered the corpse, and immediately vanished. On raising the cloth they found nothing but a heap of flowers. This was divided between the rival faiths, half being buried by the Musalmans and the other half burned by the Hindus.[2]

Kabir's fame as a preacher of _bhakti_, or enthusiastic devotion to a personal God, whom he preferred to call by the Hindu names of Rama and Hari, is greater than that of any other of the Vaishnava spiritual leaders. His fervent conviction of the truth and power of his doctrine, and the homely and searching expression given to it in his utterances, in the tongue of the people and not in a learned language remote from their understanding, won for him multitudes of adherents; and his sect, the _Kabirpanthis_, is still one of the most numerous in northern India, its numbers exceeding a million. Its headquarters are the _Kabir Chaura_ at Benares, where are preserved the works attributed to Kabir (called the _Granth_), the greater part of which, however, were written by his immediate disciples and their followers in his name.

Those works which seem to have the best claim to be considered his own
compositions are the _Sakhis_, or stanzas, some 5000 in number, which
have a very wide currency even among those who do not formally belong
to the sect, and the _Shabdawali_, consisting of a thousand "words"
(_shabd_), or short doctrinal expositions. Perhaps some of the
_Rekhtas_, or odes (100 in number), and of the _Ramainis_--brief
mystical poems in very obscure language--may also be from his hand. Of
these different forms specimens will be found translated in Professor
H. H. Wilson's _Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus_, i.
79-90. Besides the followers who call themselves by Kabir's name,
there may be reckoned to him many other religious sects which bear
that of some intermediate _guru_ or master, but substantially concur
with Kabir in doctrine and practice. Such, for instance, are the
_Nanakshahis_ in the United Provinces, the Central Provinces, and
Bombay, and the _Dadu-panthis_, numerous in Rajputana (Wilson, _loc.
cit._ pp. 103 sqq.); the Sikhs, numbering two and a half millions in
the Panjab, are also his spiritual descendants, and their _Granth_ or
Scripture is largely stocked with texts drawn from his works.

Kabir taught the life of _bhakti_ (faith, or personal love and devotion), the object of which is a _personal_ God, and not a philosophical abstraction or an impersonal quality-less, all-pervading spiritual substance (as in the Vedanta of Sankaracharya). His utterances do not, like those of Tulsi Das, dwell upon the incidents of the human life of Rama, whom he takes as his type of the Supreme; nevertheless, it is the essence of his creed that God became incarnate to bring salvation to His children, mankind, and that the human mind of this incarnation still subsists in the Divine Person. He proclaims the unity of the Godhead, the vanity of idols, the powerlessness of _brahmans_ or _mullas_ to guide or help, and the divine origin of the human soul, _divinae particula aurae_. All evil in the world is ascribed to _Maya_, illusion or falsehood, and truth in thought, word and deed is enjoined as the chief duty of man: "No act of devotion can equal truth; no crime is so heinous as falsehood; in the heart where truth abides there is My abode."[3] The distinctions of creeds are declared to be of no importance in the presence of God: "The city of _Hara_[4] is to the east, that of '_Ali_[5] is to the west; but explore your own heart, for there are both _Rama_ and _Karim_;"[6] "Behold but One in all things: it is the second that leads you astray. Every man and woman that has ever been born is of the same nature as yourself. _He_, whose is the world, and whose are the children of '_Ali_ and _Rama_, He is my _Guru_, He is my _Pir_." He proclaims the universal brotherhood of man, and the duty of kindness to all living creatures. Life is the gift of God, and must not be violated; the shedding of blood, whether of man or animals, is a heinous crime. The followers of Kabir do not observe celibacy, and live quiet unostentatious lives; Wilson (p. 97) compares them to Quakers for their hatred of violence and unobtrusive piety.

The resemblance of many of Kabir's utterances to those of Christ, and especially to the ideas set forth in St John's gospel, is very striking; still more so is the existence in the ritual of the sect of a sacramental meal, involving the eating of a consecrated wafer and the drinking of water administered by the _Mahant_ or spiritual superior, which bears a remarkable likeness to the Eucharist. Yet, though the deities of Hinduism and the prophet of Islam are frequently mentioned in his sayings, the name of Jesus has nowhere been found in them. It is conjectured that the doctrine of Ramanand, which came from southern India, has been influenced by the Christian settlements in that region, which go back to very early times. It is also possible that Sufiism, the pietistic (as distinguished from the theosophic) form of which seems to owe much to eastern Christianity, has contributed some echo of the Gospel to Kabir's teaching. A third (but scarcely probable) hypothesis is that the sect has borrowed both maxims and ritual, long after Kabir's own time, from the teaching of the Roman Catholic missionaries, who were established at Agra from the reign of Akbar (1556-1605) onwards.

No critical edition of the writings current under the name of Kabir
has yet been published, though collections of his sayings (chiefly the
_Sakhis_) are constantly appearing from Indian presses. The reader is
referred, for a summary account of his life and doctrine, to H. H.
Wilson's _Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus_ (Works, i. 68
sqq.). Dr E. Trumpp's edition of the _Adi Granth_ (Introduction, pp.
xcvii. sqq.) may also be consulted. Recent publications dealing with
the subject are the Rev. G. H. Westcott's _Kabir and the Kabir Panth_
(Cawnpore, 1908), and Mr. M. A. Macauliffe's _The Sikh Religion_
(Oxford, 1909), vi. 122-316. (C. J. L.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See article HINDOSTANI LITERATURE.

[2] An exactly similar tale is told of Nanak, the first _Guru_ of the
Sikhs, who died in 1538.

[3] This and the following passages in quotation marks are from
Professor Wilson's translation of 100 _Sakhis_, pp. 83-90.

[4] Benares; Hara, a name of Siva.

[5] I.e. Mecca.

[6] "The Bountiful," one of the Koranic names of God (Allah).

KABUL, the capital of Afghanistan, standing at an elevation of 6900 ft. above the sea in 34 deg. 32' N. and 69 deg. 14' E. Estimated pop. (1901), 140,000. Lying at the foot of the bare and rocky mountains forming the western boundary of the Kabul valley, just below the gorge made by the Kabul River, the city extends a mile and a half east to west and one mile north to south. Hemmed in by the mountains, there is no way of extending it, except in a northerly direction towards the Sherpur cantonment. As the key of northern India, Kabul has been a city of vast importance for countless ages. It commands all the passes which here debouch from the north through the Hindu Kush, and from the west through Kandahar; and through it passed successive invasions of India by Alexander the Great, Mahmud of Ghazni, Jenghiz Khan, Baber, Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah. Indeed from the time of Baber to that of Nadir Shah (1526-1738) Kabul was part of the empire of Delhi. It is now some 160 m. from the British frontier post of Jamrud near Peshawar.

Kabul was formerly walled; the old wall had seven gates, of which two alone remain, the Lahori and the Sirdar. The city itself is a huddle of narrow and dirty streets, with the Bala Hissar or fort forming the south-east angle, and rising about 150 ft. above the plain. The Amir's palace is situated outside the town about midway between it and the Sherpur cantonment which lies about a mile to the north-east. Formerly the greatest ornament of the city was the arcaded and roofed bazaar called _Chihar Chata_, ascribed to Ali Mardan Khan, a noble of the 17th century, who has left behind him many monuments of his munificent public spirit both in Kabul and in Hindustan. Its four arms had an aggregate length of about 600 ft., with a breadth of 30. The display of goods was remarkable, and in the evening it was illuminated. This edifice was destroyed by Sir G. Pollock on evacuating Kabul in 1842 as a record of the treachery of the city.

The tomb of the Sultan Baber stands on a slope about a mile to the west of the city in a charming spot. The grave is marked by two erect slabs of white marble. Near him lie several of his wives and children; the garden was formerly enclosed by a marble wall; a clear stream waters the flower-beds. From the hill that rises behind the tomb there is a noble prospect of his beloved city, and of the all-fruitful plain stretching to the north of it.

After the accession of Abdur Rahman in 1880 the city underwent great changes. The Bala Hissar was destroyed and has never since been entirely rebuilt, and a fortified cantonment at Sherpur (one side of which was represented by the historic Bemaru ridge) had taken the place of the old earthworks of the British occupation of 1842 which were constructed on nearly the same site. The city streets were as narrow and evil-smelling, the surrounding gardens as picturesque and attractive, and the wealth of fruit was as great, as they had been fifty years previously. The amir, however, effected many improvements. Kabul is now connected by well-planned and metalled roads with Afghan Turkestan on the west, with the Oxus and Bokhara on the north, and with India on the east. The road to India was first made by British and is now maintained by Afghan engineers. The road southwards to Ghazni and Kandahar was always naturally excellent and has probably needed little engineering, but the general principle of road-making in support of a military advance has always been consistently maintained, and the expeditions of Kabul troops to Kafiristan have been supported by a very well graded and substantially constructed road up the Kunar valley from Jalalabad to Asmar, and onwards to the Bashgol valley of Kafiristan. The city ways have been improved until it has become possible for wheeled vehicles to pass, and the various roads connecting the suburbs and the city are efficiently maintained. A purely local railway has also been introduced, to assist in transporting building material. The buildings erected by Abdur Rahman were pretentious, but unmarked by any originality in design and hardly worthy representation of the beauty and dignity of Mahommedan architecture. They included a new palace and a durbar hall, a bridge across the river and embankment, a pavilion and garden laid out around the site of Baber's tomb overlooking the Chardeh valley; and many other buildings of public utility connected with stud arrangements, the manufacture of small arms and ammunition, and the requirements of what may be termed a wholesale shop under European direction, besides hospitals, dispensaries, bazaars, &c. The new palace is within an entrenchment just outside the city. It is enclosed in a fine garden, well planted with trees, where the harem serai (or ladies' apartments) occupies a considerable space. The public portion of the buildings comprise an ornamental and lofty pavilion with entrances on each side, and a high-domed octagonal room in the centre, beautifully fitted and appointed, where public receptions take place. The durbar hall, which is a separate building, is 60 yards long by 20 broad, with a painted roof supported by two rows of pillars. But the arrangement of terraced gardens and the lightly constructed pavilion which graces the western slopes of the hills overlooking Chardeh are the most attractive of these innovations. Here, on a summer's day, with the scent of roses pervading the heated air, the cool refreshment of the passing breezes and of splashing fountains may be enjoyed by the officials of the Kabul court, whilst they look across the beauty of the thickly planted plains of Chardeh to the rugged outlines of Paghman and the snows of the Hindu Kush. The artistic taste of the landscape gardening is excellent, and the mountain scenery is not unworthy of Kashmir. It is pleasant to record that the graveyard of those officers who fell in the Kabul campaign of 1879-1880, which lies at the northern end of the Bemaru ridge, is not uncared for.

Kabul is believed to be the _Ortospanum_ or _Ortospana_ of the
geographies of Alexander's march, a name conjectured to be a
corruption of _Urddhasthana_, "high place." This is the meaning of the
name Bala Hissar. But the actual name is perhaps also found as that of
a people in this position (Ptolemy's _Kabolitae_), if not in the name
of a city apparently identical with Ortospana, _Carura_, in some
copies read_ Cabura_. It was invaded by the Arabs as early as the
thirty-fifth year of the Hegira, but it was long before the
Mahommedans effected any lasting settlement. In the early Mahommedan
histories and geographies we find (according to a favourite Arabic
love of jingle) _Kabul_ and _Zabul_ constantly associated. Zabul
appears to have been the country about Ghazni. Kabul first became a
capital when Baber made himself master of it in 1504, and here he
reigned for fifteen years before his invasion of Hindustan. In modern
times it became a capital again, under Timur Shah (see AFGHANISTAN),
and so has continued both to the end of the Durani dynasty, and under
the Barakzais, who now reign. It was occupied by Sir John Keane in
1839, General Pollock in 1842, and again by Sir Frederick, afterwards
Lord Roberts, in 1879.

Kabul is also the name of the province including the city so called.
It may be considered to embrace the whole of the plains called Koh
Daman and Beghram, &c., to the Hindu Kush northward, with the Kohistan
or hill country adjoining. Eastward it extends to the border of
Jalalabad at Jagdalak; southward it includes the Logar district, and
extends to the border of Ghazni; north-westward it includes the
Paghman hills, and the valley of the upper Kabul river, and so to the
Koh-i-Baba. Roughly it embraces a territory of about 100 m. square,
chiefly mountainous. Wheat and barley are the staple products of the
arable tracts. Artificial grasses are also much cultivated, and fruits
largely, especially in the Koh Daman. A considerable part of the
population spends the summer in tents. The villages are not enclosed
by fortifications, but contain small private castles or fortalices.

See C. Yate, _Northern Afghanistan_ (1888); J. A. Gray, _At the Court
of the Amir_ (1895); Sir T. H. H. Holdich, _The Indian Borderland_
(1901). (T. H. H.*)