Several works, in which lengthy accounts of the Kabbalah are given, have been omitted, because these descriptions do not contribute anything very striking in their treatment of the Kabbalah, nor have they been the occasion of any remarkable incidents among the followers of this system.
Among the works thus omitted are Buddeus’ Introduction to the History of Hebrew Philosophy;[59] Basnage’s History of the Jews,[60] where a very lengthy account is given of the [[232]]Kabbalah, without any system whatever, chiefly derived from the work of Kircher; Wolfs account of the Jewish Kabbalah, given in his elaborate Bibliographical Thesaurus of Hebrew Literature, where a very extensive catalogue is given of Kabbalistic authors;[61] and Molitor’s Philosophy of History.[62]
We sincerely regret to have omitted noticing Munk’s description of the Kabbalah.[63] For, although he does not attempt to separate the gnostic from the mystical elements, which were afterwards mixed up with the original doctrines of this esoteric system, yet no one can peruse the interesting portion treating on the Kabbalah and the Sohar without deriving from it information not to be found elsewhere.
[1] Comp. Geschichte der Juden, vol. vii, p. 110, &c. [↑]
[2] Vide Ibn Jachja, Shalsheleth Ha-Kabbalah; Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, vii, 88, &c. [↑]
[3] עוד יש בידינו קבלה של אמת כי כל התורה כולה שמותיו של הקב״ה שהתיבו׳ מתחלקות לשמות בענין אחר כאלו תחשוב על דרך משל כי פסוק בראשית יתחלק לתיבות אחרות כגון בראש יתברא אלהים וכל התורה כי מלבד צירופיהן וגימטריותיהן של שמות. [↑]
[4] This remarkable Treatise was first published by R. Abraham, Vilna, 1802; it was then reprinted with all its faults in Lemberg, 1850. The erudite and indefatigable Dr. Jellinek has now reprinted it in his Auswahl kabbalistischer Mystik, part i, Leipzig, 1853, and the above analysis is from the Introduction to this excellent edition. [↑]
[5] Steinschneider, Catalogus Libr. Hebr. in Bibliotheca Bodleiana, 2677–2680. Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, vii, 218, &c. [↑]
[6] Comp. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Kabbala, von Adolph Jellinek, part ii, Leipzig, 1852, p. xiii, &c. [↑]