Cabbala

CABBALA. This word, according to the Hebrew Style, has a very different signification from that wherein we understand it in our Language. The Hebrew Cabbala signifies Tradition¹, and the Rabbins, who are called Cabbalists, study principally the Combination of particular Words, Letters and Numbers; and by this means pretend to discover what is to come, and to see clearly into the sense of many difficult passages in Scripture. There are no sure and certain Principles of this Knowledge, but it depends upon some particular Traditions of the Antients; for which reason it is termed Cabbala. The Cabbalists have abundance of names which they call sacred; these they make use of in invoking Spirits, and imagin that they receive great Lights from them: They tell us, that the Secrets of the Cabbala² were discovered to Moses on Mount Sinai, and that these have been delivered down to them from Father to Son, without interruption, and without any use of Letters; for to write them down, is what they are by no means permitted to do. It is said, that there are many of the Jewish Cabbalists in Poland, and other places in the North. See Basnage’s continuation of Josephus, t. 6. l. ix. c. 7.

The manner wherein Maimonides³ explains the Cabbala, or Tradition of the Jews, is as follows.

God not only delivered the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, but the explanation of it likewise. When he came down, and entred into his Tent, Aaron went to visit him, and Moses acquainted him with the Laws which he had received from God, together with the Explanation of them. After this, Aaron placed himself at the right hand of Moses, Eleazar and Ithamar the Sons of Aaron were admitted, and Moses repeated to them what he had been saying just before to Aaron. These being seated one on the right, the other on the left hand of Moses, the 70 Elders of Israel came in, who composed the Sanhedrin; Moses again declared the same Laws to them, with the Interpretations of them, as he had done before to Aaron and his Sons. Lastly, All whoever pleased of the common People were invited to enter, and Moses instructed them in the same manner as the rest. So that Aaron heard four times what Moses had been taught by God upon the Mountain, Eleazar and Ithamar three times, the 70 Elders twice, and the People once.

Moses afterwards reduced the Laws which he had received into writing, but not the Explanations of them. He thought it sufficient to trust them to the Memory of the persons abovementioned, who being perfectly instructed in them, delivered them to their Children, and these again to theirs from Age to Age. The written Laws of Moses are to be read in his Books, in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, but the Explanation, Tradition or Cabbala of these very Laws, is preserved to this day in the memory of the Hebrews. This is termed likewise the Oral Law, because it passed from Father to Son, from Mouth to Mouth, in order to distinguish it from the written Laws.

Some of these Traditions, or Cabbalas, the Patriarchs are supposed to be the Authors of, and to have been instructed by their Angels.⁴ The Angel Raziel was Adam’s Master, and taught him the Cabbala. Raphiel was Shem’s; Zedekiel was Abraham’s, Raphael Isaac’s, Peliel Jacob’s, Gabriel Joseph’s, Metatron Moses’s, and Malathiel Elias’s. Thus the Rabbins endeavour to give great Authority to their Traditions and Explanations of the Law, against which our Saviour appeared with so much vehemence.

There is another Cabbala called artificial, which consists in searching for abstruse and mysterious Significations of a word in Scripture, from whence they borrow certain Explanations, by combining the Letters which compose it. This Cabbala is divided into three kinds, the Gematrie, the Notaricon, and the Temura or change. The Gematry consists in taking the Letters of a Hebrew word for Cyphers, or arithmetical Numbers, and explaining every word by the arithmetical value of the Letters whereof it is composed; for example, Gen. xlix. 10.the Hebrew Letters of יבא שילה Jabo-schiloh,⁵ Shiloh shall come, make up the same arithmetical Number as משיחMessiach, the Messiah, from whence they conclude, that Shiloh signifies the Messiah.

The second kind of Cabbala, which is called Notaricon, consists in taking every particular letter of a word for an intire diction. For example, of Bereschith⁶, which is the first word of Genesis, composed of the Letters B. R. A. SCH. IT. they make Bara-Rakia-Arez-Schamaim- Jam-Tehomoth⁷. He created the Firmament, the Earth, the Heavens, the Sea and the Deep; or in taking the first Letters of a Sentence to form one Diction only with them; for example,⁸ Atah-Gibbor-Leholam-Adonai. Thou art strong for ever, O Lord. They put the first Letters of this Sentence together, and make the word Agla⁹, which may signify, I will reveal, or a drop of Dew.

The third kind of Cabbala, called Themurah¹⁰, that is to say, change, consists in making different Transpositions or changes of Letters, placing one for the other, or one before the other, much after the manner of making Anagrams in Latin, or any other Language; for example, of the word Bereschith¹¹, with which Genesis begins, they make A-betisri, the first day of the Month Tizri; and infer from it, that the World was created the first day of the Month Tizri, which answers very near to our September.

Among Christians likewise, a certain sort of Magick is by mistake called Cabbala, which consists in using improperly Passages of Scripture for Magick Operations, or in forming Magick Characters or Figures, with Stars and Talismans. Such are the Abraxas so well known among the Antiquaries. Under the same name likewise is sometimes comprehended the hermetical Art, or the search after the Philosopher’s Stone.

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