Kabbalah is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal. The definition of Kabbalah varies according to the tradition and aims of those following it, from its origin in medieval Judaism to its later adaptations in Western esotericism. Jewish Kabbalah is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between the unchanging, eternal God—the mysterious Ein Sof —and the mortal, finite universe. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism.
Metatron, or Mattatron, is an angel in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam mentioned three times in the Talmud, in a few brief passages in the Aggadah, and in mystical Kabbalistic texts within Rabbinic literature. The figure forms one of the traces for the presence of dualist proclivities in the otherwise monotheistic visions of both the Tanakh and later Christian doctrine. In the Jewish kabbalistic tradition, he is sometimes portrayed as serving as the celestial scribe. The name Metatron is not mentioned in the Torah or the Bible and how the name originated is a matter of debate. In Islamic tradition, he is also known as Mīṭaṭrūn, the angel of the veil.
The living creatures, living beings, or hayyot are a class of heavenly beings in Jewish mythology. They are described in the prophet Ezekiel's vision of the heavenly chariot in the first and tenth chapters of the Book of Ezekiel. References to the sacred creatures recur in texts of Second Temple Judaism, in rabbinical merkabah ("chariot") literature, in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament, and in the Zohar.
Merkabah or Merkavahmysticism is a school of early Jewish mysticism, c. 100 BCE – 1000 CE, centered on visions such as those found in the Book of Ezekiel chapter 1, or in the hekhalot literature, concerning stories of ascents to the heavenly palaces and the Throne of God. The main corpus of the merkabah literature was composed in the period 200–700 CE, although later references to the Chariot tradition can also be found in the literature of the Chassidei Ashkenaz in the Middle Ages. A major text in this tradition is the Maaseh Merkabah.
Academic study of Jewish mysticism, especially since Gershom Scholem's Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941), draws distinctions between different forms of mysticism which were practiced in different eras of Jewish history. Of these, Kabbalah, which emerged in 12th-century Europe, is the most well known, but it is not the only typological form, nor was it the first form which emerged. Among the previous forms were Merkabah mysticism, and Ashkenazi Hasidim around the time of the emergence of Kabbalah.
Sandalphon is an archangel in Jewish and Christian writings, although not in scripture. Sandalphon figures prominently in the mystical literary traditions of Rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity, notably in the Midrash, Talmud, and Kabbalah and is generally seen as gathering prayers and passing them on to God.
The Second Book of Enoch is a pseudepigraphic text in the apocalyptic genre. It describes the ascent of the patriarch Enoch, ancestor of Noah, through ten heavens of an Earth-centered cosmos. The Slavonic edition and translation of 2 Enoch is of Christian origin in the 8th century but is based on an earlier work. 2 Enoch is distinct from the Book of Enoch, known as 1 Enoch, and there is also an unrelated 3 Enoch, although none of the three books are considered canonical scripture by the majority of Jewish or Christian bodies. The numbering of these texts has been applied by scholars to distinguish each from the others.
The ophanim, alternatively spelled auphanim or ofanim, and also called galgalim, refer to the wheels seen in Ezekiel's vision of the chariot in Ezekiel 1:15–21. One of the Dead Sea scrolls (4Q405) construes them as angels; late sections of the Book of Enoch portray them as a class of celestial beings who never sleep, but guard the throne of God. In Christian angelology, they are one of the choirs (classes) of angels, and are also called Thrones.
The Third Book of Enoch is a Biblical apocryphal book in Hebrew. 3 Enoch purports to have been written in the 2nd century, but its origins can only be traced to the 5th century. Other names for 3 Enoch include The Book of the Palaces, The Book of Rabbi Ishmael the High Priest and The Revelation of Metatron.
Pardes (פרד"ס) is a Kabbalistic theory of Biblical exegesis first advanced by Moses de León. The term, sometimes also rendered PaRDeS, is an Hebrew abbreviation formed from the initials of the following four approaches:
Pardes is the subject of a Jewish aggadah ("legend") about four rabbis of the Mishnaic period who visited the pardes, only one of whom succeeded in leaving the pardes unharmed.
The Ma'aseh Merkabah is a Hebrew-language Jewish mystical text dating from the Gaonic period which comprises a collection of hymns recited by the "descenders" and heard during their ascent. It is part of the tradition of Merkabah mysticism and the Hekhalot literature. The text was first edited by Gershom Scholem (1965). An English translation by Janowitz can be found in her Poetics of Ascent, pages 29–81. The critical edition and translation of the text was published by Michael D. Swartz.
The primary texts of Kabbalah were allegedly once part of an ongoing oral tradition. The written texts are obscure and difficult for readers who are unfamiliar with Jewish spirituality which assumes extensive knowledge of the Tanakh, Midrash and halakha.
Practical Kabbalah in historical Judaism, is a branch of the Jewish mystical tradition that concerns the use of magic. It was considered permitted white magic by its practitioners, reserved for the elite, who could separate its spiritual source from Qliphoth realms of evil if performed under circumstances that were holy (Q-D-Š) and pure, tumah and taharah. The concern of overstepping Judaism's strong prohibitions of impure magic ensured it remained a minor tradition in Jewish history. Its teachings include the use of Divine and angelic names for amulets and incantations.
Shamayim is the dwelling place of God and other heavenly beings according to the Bible. It is one of three components of the biblical cosmology. There are two other ones. Eretz, the earth, home of the living; and sheol, the common grave, the realm of the dead—including, according to post Hebrew-Bible literature, the abode of the righteous dead.
Shi’ur Qomah is a midrashic text that is part of the Hekhalot literature. It purports to record, in anthropomorphic terms, the secret names and precise measurements of God's corporeal limbs and parts. The majority of the text is recorded in the form of sayings or teachings that the angel Metatron revealed to the tanna Rabbi Ishmael, who transmitted it to his students and his contemporary Rabbi Akiva. It is also an exegetical analysis of Song of Songs 5:11-16 and proclaims that anyone who studies it is guaranteed a portion in the World to Come.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Judaism:
Kabbalah, the central system in Jewish mysticism, uses anthropomorphic mythic symbols to metaphorically describe manifestations of God in Judaism. Based on the verses "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" and "from my flesh shall I see God", Kabbalah uses the form of the human body to describe the structure of the human soul, and the nature of supernal Divine emanations. A particular concern of Kabbalah is sexual unity between male and female potencies in Divinity on high, depicted as interaction of the two sides in the sephirot, between archetypal partzufim, and the redemption of the exiled Shekhinah from captivity among the impure forces below.
Ma'aseh Breishit and Ma'aseh Merkavah, literally "work of Creation" and "work of the Chariot", are terms used in the Talmud for the esoteric doctrine of the universe, or for parts of it.
