THE CHRISTIAN

KABBALAH
JEWISH MYSTICAL BOOKS & THEIR
CHRISTIAN INTERPRETERS

a symposium edited by

JOSEPH DAN

together with
the catalogue of an exhibition at
the Houghton Library, Harvard University
12 March - 26 April 1996

HARVARD C O L L E G E LIBRARY
Cambridge 19 97 Massachusetts
 COPYRIGHT © THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE, 1997

ISBN 0-9I4630-I9-9
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 97-77815

The illustration on page 202 is reproduced by permission of the Bibtioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
and that on page zoy by permission of the British Library.

F&QNTISPTECE:

Kabbalistic trees. In the center of the main tree, Christ appears above his secret name in Hebrew
derived from the Jewish Tetragrammaton. This forms the crossbar of the H in IHS t the other letters
being occupied by Hebrew phrases identifying God and his name ("I am the Lord, this is my name,"
etc.). The inner circle of Hebrew letters includes one of the versions of the name of twelve letters.
The next circle outwards has the formula written in Hebrew "Father • Elohim, Son ■ Elohim, Holy
Spirit - Elohim." This is surrounded by a circle in which the Hebrew holy name of forty-two letters is
inscribed. The seventy-two names of God, based on the letters in the three verses Exodus 14:1911,
are written one to a leaf on the branches at the top of the composition. This number is then the basis
for the division of the outer circles of the main tree into seventy-two parts, corresponding to the
nations of the world, each of which has a four-letter name of God in its language. (The ancient
formula is seventy nations, but it is here assimilated to the number of the components in the holiest
divine name.) On the tree in the bottom right-hand corner are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel
in Latin characters, and in Hebrew the twelve permutations of the Tetragrammaton. This seems to
have represented for our author the holy name of twelve letters. The bottom left comer has a tree
with, again, the holy name of forty-two letters, divided into seven groups of six letters, as is
customary in the Jewish works on the subject. These groups are Labelled with the signs of the seven
planets, and the names of the archangels in charge of them (Athanasius Kircher, Oedipus aegyptiacus,
1653, plate facing vol. 1 p. 287. See below, p. 119)
 CONTENTS
Foreword
BY RICHARD WEND<

Introduction
BYJOSEP

The beginnings of the Christian kabbalah BY

GERSHOM SCHOLEM

THE SYMPOSIUM

The kabbalah of Johannes Reuchlin and its historical significance

BYJOSEPH DAN

Francesco Zorzi, a methodical dreamer

Christian kabbalah in the seventeenth century BY

KLAUS REICHERT

Leibniz, Locke, Newton and the kabbalah BY

ALLISON P. COUDERT

Jacob Frank as Christian kabbalist

BY HlLLEL LEVINE

THE EXHIBITION

THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH Jewish

Mystical Books & Their Christian Interpreters

Catalogue of the exhibition in the Houghton Library, 12

March - 26 April 1996 JOSEPH DAN, curator
 FOREWORD

T HE ESSAYS AND CATALOGUE ENTRIES gathered together in this volume have

their origin in a symposium on the Christian kabbalah held at the Houghton
Library on 18 March 1996. That symposium, accompanied by a major exhibition,
was in turn generated by the scholarly interests and enthusiasm of two friends of
the Houghton Library, Neil and Sharon Greer Phillips, who had indicated their
wish to support a program that would focus on the encounter of Jewish and
Christian cultural forces in early modern Europe.
My colleagues in the Houghton Library joined me in thinking that an
exhibition and program devoted to the Christian kabbalah would provide a
productive forum for these issues to emerge- as indeed they did. In striving to
sharpen our focus as much as possible, we turned to one of the leading scholars in
this field, Joseph Dan, who holds the Gershom Scholem Professorship of
Kabbalah at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. We are greatly indebted to
Joseph Dan for his meticulous and impassioned stewardship of our project.
Professor Dan invited Professors Coudert, Levine, and Reichert to join us that
March afternoon, and he also bore the responsibility - along with my colleague J.
F. Coakley-for mounting the exhibition and preparing a handsome handlist. I
know that I join Joseph Dan in thanking Dr. Coakley for the major contribution he
has made to this project, including a marvelous after-dinner talk a year ago.
We were also joined a year ago by two Harvard colleagues who gra ciously
served as moderators: Professor Sarah Coakley of the Harvard Divinity School,
and Professor Jay Harris of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and
Civilizations. I take pleasure in thanking them once again, as I do Roger Stoddard,
Senior Curator in the Houghton Library, who worked closely with us at every
turn. Leslie Morris and her staff in the Manuscript Department, in particular Vicki
Denby, also took a large and cheerful part in the considerable business of
arranging the exhibition.
 FOREWORD
Professor Dan was anxious that our volume should span more than the
proceedings of one symposium, and at his instigation we have added two more
articles for this published book. One is by Professor Giulio Busi of the University
of Venice, and the other is a translation by Debra Prager of Gershom Scholem's
classic article on the beginnings of Christian kabbalah, previously unavailable in
English.
The generosity of Neil and Sharon Greer Phillips has also made this pub-
lication possible, and we are deeply saddened that Neil, who died injanuary 1997,
did not live to see this book through the press. We have dedicated this volume to
Neil Phillips's memory as an acknowledgment of Harvard's gratitude to the
Phillipses, whose benefactions were augmented by generous grants from Joseph
E. Seagram & Sons, Inc., and by the R. H.W. Founda tion. I hope that, through the
exhibition, symposium, and current publication supported by Neil and Sharron
Phillips, we have begun to shed new light on Jewish mystical books and their
Christian interpreters.
RICHARD WENDORF
Librarian
INTRODUCTION
T
HE INTEGRATION OF KABBALtSTic SOURCES, terms, symbols and meth-
odology into Christian culture, which began in the last two decades of the
fifteenth century and continued well into the eighteenth, is a fascinating chapter in
the history of the inter-relations between scriptural religions, and a meaningful one
in the history of European culture in early modern times. The historical outlines of
this phenomenon have not been demarcated in a precise manner. The beginning,
undoubtedly, is connected with the great Platonic-Hermetic-magical enterprise
associated with the personality and the school of Marsilio Ficino in Florence in the
second half of the fifteenth century under the auspices of the house of Medici. It
received its orientation towards the Hebrew language and the works of Jewish
esoterics and kabbalists, as well as a romantic glow, by the work of Count
Giovanni Pico Delia Mirandola, whose Nine Hundred Theses of i486 were
intended to prove, among many other things, that Christian truth is best attested by
"kabbalah and magic." It became firmly rooted in Hebrew texts and methods by
Johannes Reuchlin, especially in his bookDe arte cabalistka published in 1517,
and the fame of this work carried the body of ideas to central Europe and made it
relevant to Catholics and Protestants alike.
The Christian kabbalah became part of European magical and scientific
traditions when it was integrated with the wide realm of the "occult" in the work
of Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim. It had a significant influence on the works of
English scientists and magicians like John Dee, Francis Bacon and Robert Fludd,
and Michael Maier in Germany. In France, Guillaume Postel, a mystic and
visionary, translated kabbalistic texts. In the Netherlands, Francis Mercurius van
Helmont wrote several works that drew on not only the classical, Spanish
kabbalah but also the new, revolutionary kabbalah which emerged from the school
of Isaac Luria (1534-72) in Safed in the Upper Galilee. Van Helmont's intellectual
contacts with Leibniz introduced a thread of kabbalistic influence into the work of
that great scientist and philosopher. Giordano Bruno absorbed the teachings of the
Christian
 INTRODUCTION
kabbalists, and it is possible that they had some impact on the emerging cells of
the Masonic movement around 1640. Some such elements are to be found in the
works of Isaac Newton and several other pillars of European science.
It is worth stopping a moment here to distinguish two phenomena, Christian
Hebraism and Christian kabbalism. They are often confused because of their
geographical and chronological proximity, and because some figures, like
Reuchlin and Postel, belonged to both. Yet there is a basic differ ence between the
two. A Christian Hebraist believes that acquiring a systematic knowledge of the
Hebrew language enables one to understand better the Hebrew Bible, and thus
gain new insights into the sources of Christianity.* A Christian kabbalist is one
who believes that non-biblical Hebrew traditions, or oral traditions of biblical
interpretation preserved by the kabbalists, serve as an independent source
demonstrating the truth of Christianity. When Pico wrote that magic and the
kabbalah serve as the best demonstrations of Christian truth, he preferred such
newly-discovered and investigated sources to the old ones. Both types of scholars
tended to compose dictionaries and grammars of the Hebrew language (as did
Reuchlin and Postel), but their ultimate purposes were different. The element
which unites them is the renewed interest in Jewish culture and the willingness to
develop a discourse with Jewish scholars (often with the intention of persuading
them to convert). However, while Hebraism was not a new departure in
Christianity - the relevance of the Hebrew Bible and language had never been
absent from Christian culture - interest in the kabbalah was new. It was an
expression of dissatisfaction with the accepted sources and a quest for new
affirmations of the Christian message.
There are, accordingly, two main aspects to the study of the writings of the
Christian kabbalists: first, as a chapter in the history of the relationship between
Judaism and Christianity, and second, as an independent phenom-
* In 1986 the Judaica Department of the Harvard College Library arranged an
exhibition of the works of Christian Hebraists. It is instructive to compare the
catalogue of that exhibition (Christian Hebraism: the study of Jewish culture by Chris-
tian scholars in medieval and early modern times, ed. Charles Berlin and Aaron L.
Katchen; Harvard University Library, 1988) with the present one, and to note the
relatively small number of items in common.
INTRODUCTION
enon within the Christian culture of early modern Europe. These two aspects are
deeply interconnected. The openness of Christian scholars to the texts of Jewish
traditional esoteric literature is a component of a much larger transformation, in
which secret traditions, from Zoroaster and Hermes, Phthagoras and Orpheus, the
"Chaldean Oracles" and Egyptian hieroglyphs, became revered sources of hidden
Truth, which is identified with Christian Truth. One of the most meaningful results
of this integration is the achievement of new prominence by the non-semantic
aspects of language and communication, in which the portions of Jewish traditions
selected by the Christian kabbalists seemed to excel. (This point is presented
strongly in Busi's analysis of Zorzi and mine of Reuchlin in the following pages.)
Frances Yates developed the profound thesis that this new attitude towards signs
and symbols was one of the drives which resulted, in the seventeenth cen tury, in
the development of experimental (i.e., non-semantic) science.
Much scholarly work has been done in the twentieth century concerning the
history and development of the Christian kabbalah. Among the most important
contributions, the numerous volumes and articles by F. Secret are prominent.
There is no doubt that thanks to his work the textual and historical outlines of this
penomenon have been clarified in a meaningful way. The exhaustive studies by
Chaim Wirszubski of Pico's use of esoteric and kabbalistic texts and the
translations of Flavius Mithridates are invaluable for the understanding of the
phenomenon. Gershom Scholem's studies of the background of the relationship
between Christianity and the kabbalah and of Reuchlin and other figures are
landmarks in this field. The comprehensive works of Frances Yates and P O.
Kristeller place the kabbalah within the framework of the Renaissance Hermetic
tradition. Many other scholars have contributed to the study of this field; yet a
great deal remains to be done concerning particular writers and works and
concerning the nature of the phenomenon as a whole and its place in contemporary
European culture. It is hoped that this volume will be a further contribution to this
endeavor.
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE
CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
Gershom Scholem*

T HE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH CAN BE DEFINED as the interpretation of

kabbalistic texts in the interests of Christianity (or, to be more precise,
Catholicism); or the use of kabbalistic concepts and methodology in support of
Christian dogma. Most scholars locate the origins of the Christian kabbalah in the
writings of Count Pico della Mirandola, who in i486 at the age of twenty-three
produced nine hundred conclusiones, or theses, on a Christian synthesis of all
religions and sciences. Pico not only incorporated the kabbalah into his work,
which he presented in Rome for public debate, but made the kabbalah the subject
of many of his propositions. The extraordinary aplomb with which Pico presented
his theses, combined with their inherent paradox and at times sheer
incomprehensibility, seemed appropriate, considering the astounding nature of the
claim that he was putting to the humanists and theologians of his day, namely, that
esoteric Judaism and Christianity were in fact one and the same.
Pico's propositions are hardly proof of an authentic affinity between Judaism
and Christianity, although the concept found many supporters, both Christian and
Jewish. While Christians celebrated Pico's theses, a number of Jewish critics of the
kabbalah welcomed the Christians' kabbalah for very different reasons. It enabled
them to expose and denounce those aspects of the kabbalah which they considered
the be un-Jewish. One continues, in fact, to encounter similar judgments in the
works of modern-day Jewish

* Translated by Debra Prager from "Zur Geschichte der Anfange der cbristlichen
Kabbala," in Essays presented to Leo Baeck (London, 1954), 158-93; with reference to
the French translation by Paul Kessler in Kabbalistes chretiens (Cahiers de
l'Hermetisme; Paris, 1979), 19-46.
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
scholars. In reality, however, the Christian kabbalists' thesis was nothing more
than a variation, applied to the kabbalah, of a notion proposed in the thir teenth
century by Raymundus Martini in his compendium Pugiofidti. In an effort to serve
the interests of Catholic propaganda, Martini maintained that both the Talmudic
haggadah and midrash already bore signs of Christianity and could be given a
Christian interpretation. Martini lived in Catalonia at the end of the twelfth and
well into the thirteenth century, the precise location and period during which a
group of kabbalists, led by Nachmanides, began consolidating kabbahst literature
(1194-c. 1270). Despite Martini's physical proximity, and the fact that his
missionary zeal resulted in a general confiscation of books belonging to
Catalonian Jewish communities, he was not aware of the existence of the
kabbalah. While kabbalist literature burgeoned before his eyes, Martini failed to
notice. Thus, as part of his christological endeavors, Martini pointed to the ancient
Talmudists as the principal authorities of Christianity and credited them with a
historical function to which they were as unsuited as were the kabbalists who
would later replace them.
In fact, the enthusiasm with which Pico and the Christian kabbalists regarded
Jewish esotericism was met with equally profound distrust from other circles, even
those that included reasonably learned Christian Hebraists. For this state of affairs
we have the witness of Johann Albert Widmanstadt (1506-57). Widmanstadt, a
Catholic orientalist, collected the texts that would later form the core of an
important collection of kabbalistic manuscripts located today in Munich. In 1527,
Widmanstadt attended a number of lectures in Turin given by one of Pico's former
teachers, a certain Dattilo, who was by then quite an old man. Dattilo is mentioned
as early as 1487 in Pico's Apologia, although his identity and full Jewish name
have yet to be convincingly established. The name Dattilo is the equivalent among
Italian Jews of the Hebrew Yoab, a popular name in Italy. But we know of no
kabbalist by that name living at this time. Joseph Perles's suggestion that "Dattilo"
may be an alias for the prominent Jewish scholar Johanan Alemanno (c.1435 -
after 1504) is most improbable.' Whatever his true identity may have been, Dattilo
was definitely a Jewish kabbahst, and one who generated varying responses from
his listeners! While Pico cited his friend Antonius Cronicus as a witness to a
conversation in which Dattilo, "who was quite well versed in the kabbalah,
launched into the Christian teachings on the Trinity with great enthusiasm,"' 1
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
Widmanstadt must have come away from Dattilo's lectures with an entirely
different impression. He reports that, while in Turin, he was able, over a period of
several months, to listen to Dattilo's extremely subtle interpretation of arcani de
Divino auditu librii (although it remains unclear whether in referring to these
esoteric books about divine teachings Widmanstadt means Hebrew kabbahst texts
or other writings). According to Widmanstadt Dattilo made frequent references to
a theory concerning the possibility of redemption for all forms of life (animantia).
In the following passage, Widmanstadt describes and criticizes Dattilo's theory.
Certain living seeds lie hidden in the bowels of the earth and in the
elements that surround it. In the course of this world's [that is, nature's]
tireless efforts, and as a result of the struggle of creation and decay, these
living seeds travel through various [forms of] plants, bushes, fruit trees and
living creatures, all the way to the human body, and through to the sentient
soul. Indeed, after a heavenly soul has been poured into them, they are
eventually admitted into eternal bliss, even though they are, by comparison
to this [highest soul] inferior and subject to it, because they are of the
earth. And thus, there are some among the kabbalists who believe that all
living things are granted the hope of redemption. I [here Widmanstadt
interjects his own commentary] have quoted all this in order to point out
the manner in which monstrous ideas burst forth from the kabbalah of the
Jews, as if out of a Trojan horse, to attack the Church of Christ."
Needless to say, every aspect of this passage is quite remarkable, the quotation
itself as well as Widmanstadt's reaction. Widmanstadt saw in the Christian
kabbalah not so much the ultimate proof of Christian truth, but the Trojan horse
that - if we take Widmanstadt's thoughts to their logical conclusion - the Christian
kabbalists, like naive Trojans, had innocently hauled into their own camp.
Abominable theories would emerge from this seemingly useful construction,
theories that contradicted and undermined the Church's teachings on Christ's work
of salvation. Widmanstadt's criticism shows, at least on this particular point, an
unusual understanding both of the kabbalah's true character, and of the ambiguity
inherent in the Christian kabbahst project, especially when, as in Pico's case, that
project was grounded in a belief in syncretism as a positive value.
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
It is true that, in the passage quoted above, the contrast between kabbalist
teachings and Christian dogma appears particularly dramatic. Joseph Perles, who
discovered the passage in one of Widmanstadt's lesser-known works, 5 had hoped
that it would "perhaps enable someone who is well read in kabbalist literature to
establish Dattylus' identity." Perles's hope will remain a futile one, however,
simply because the "monstrous" ideas which Widmanstadt quotes are not Dattilo's
own. We can locate their origins, with some precision, in the history of the
kabbalah. Dattilo was merely presenting, in a slightly veiled form, the cardinal
doctrine concerning the transformation of all things from the simplest life form to
the highest level of the sefirot. Joseph ben Shalom Ashkenazi of Barcelona, also
known as Rabbi Joseph the Tall, was the first to develop the idea in detail during
the period 1300-25. It was the one element of his commentary on Sefer yesirah
(later printed under the name of Abraham ben David of Posquieres, or Rabad) that
was entirely new. A number of other works by Joseph, 6 preserved in manuscript
form, also treat the concept of transformation. Here it is explained under the tides
din bne halof, "law of general transformation," and sod ha-Selah, "mystery of the
transmission."7 The pseudo-Rabad commentary on Sefer yesirah was widely
circulated in Italy around 1500, and Dattilo could have encountered it in any
number of manuscripts. He was quite right, however, to point out, as Widmanstadt
says he did, that only "some" kabbalists subscribed to the belief that because all
things underwent the same process of metamorphosis within primordial matter
without form, they would eventually experience redemption.
As we have seen, there was no consensus of opinion whether kabbalist
teachings could or should be employed in Christian apologetic and propaganda. At
this point, I should like to relate something of the pre-history of the Christian
kabbalah and its beginnings, a topic which has until now received little or no
notice. Only in the last twenty years has there been any serious discussion of the
development of the Christian kabbalah. Eugenio Anagnine has attempted a detailed
analysis of Pico's ideas and an investigation of his sources;8 while Joseph Blau has
produced a synopsis and in places a more accurate analysis of Pico's ideas as well
as those of his successors. Although both authors had to rely on second-hand
sources for their references to the kabbalah, each has, in his own way, contributed
to progress in the held. At the same time, and in both cases, there remain gaps in
their
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
research, and sections that would benefit from criticism or revised treat ment.
Among the questions left unanswered are those concerning the origins of the
Christian kabbalah and the sources that were available to its adherents. We now
have new information which can help to shed some light on those problems, and
which I will proceed to discuss in some detail.
II
Were there attempts, before Pico's, to interpret the kabbalah from a Chris tian
perspective? Blau leaves this question unanswered. 10 Pico's own assertion in his
Apologia that he considered himself "the first among Latin scholars to refer
directly to the kabbalah"11 was carefully worded with good reason: his explicita
mentio of the kabbalah could well have been preceded by an implicita mentio
(which would not have escaped him) by some other author, who may have
referred to the doctrine without explicitly mentioning the word kabbalah.
However, even if we accept my interpretation of this passage as correct (as I
intend to prove), it does not explain Pico's blatant self-contradiction within this
same text, as well as in his De dignitate hominis, where he announces that Pope
Sixtus IV "who preceded the currently [1487] reigning Innocent VIII, acquired
them [the books of the kabbalah] with great care and enthusiasm in order to have
them translated into Latin for the public good of our faith. At the time of his
death, three of them had already been translated (pervenerant ad Latinos)."12
Sixtus IV died in 1484, two years before Pico arrived in Rome, and we know of
no contact between the pope and the Wunderkind Pico della Mirandola, who
would have had a perfect opportunity in the passage quoted above to mention an
early meeting with the pope. There is clearly something amiss here.
Until now the assumption has been that the three books (or volumes) of
kabbalistic writings to which Pico refers, and which had been translated in Rome
by 1484, are identical to the three large Vatican codices Vat. Heb. 189-91- These
were first described by Assemani, and Moses Steinschneider later attempted to
determine their contents without ever actually having seen them."The translator of
these codices, which are particularly valuable because they contain a word-for-
word translation into Latin of an entire library of kabbalist texts, styles himself
Flavius Mithridates; and there can be no doubt that at least two of the texts are in
the translator's handwriting.
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
From 1485, Mithridates spent several years in close contact with Pico della
Mirandola, as his instructor in Hebrew and Chaldean, and as such, remained a
somewhat enigmatic figure in the literary history of his day But Umberto Cassuto
has been able to give us a definitive account of Mithridates' career and identity. 1''
Contrary to a number of wayward hypotheses, which have since been rendered
invalid, the pseudonym Mithridates masked none other than the former Sicilian
Jew Samuel ben Nissim Abu'l-Faradj of Agrigento. After converting to
Christianity, he became an ordained priest and adopted the name Guglielmo
Raimondo Moncada sometime around 1467. This was just one name among others
that the talented scholar and convert took on in the course of his adventuresome
career. Mithridates, whose father we know as a very learned translator of a number
of Hebrew texts, was actually in Rome between 1477 and 1483. Before being
forced to flee the city because of some unspecified crime (perhaps secretiy
practicing Judaism?), it appears that Mithridates was a successful scholar and had
some influence at the Vatican. Could he have suggested to Sixtus IV that he
himself translate the kabbalist texts? It is quite possible.
Even so, Pico's report seems to be historically incorrect. Perhaps he was given
the information by Mithridates, who was simply extolling his own virtues.
According to my own examination of the Vatican codices, the translations were
produced not for Pope Sixtus IV but for Pico della Mirandola himself. They can
therefore be dated to the period between 1485 and 1489. Because a number of
Pico's kabbalist conclusiones, and their various inaccuracies, appear to stem from
the codices themselves, we can assume that at least the manuscripts Vat. Heb. [90
and 191, which contain the kabbalist material proper, were translated at the
beginning of the association between Pico and Mithridates and before Pico wrote
his nine hundred theses." The manuscripts contain extensive passages that
correspond to the teachings of Abulafia and to the discipline which he calls hokmat
ha-seruf, the science of the combination of letters. Pico's repeated references to it,
in his writings of i486 and 1487, lead us to believe that he learned about it from
these manuscripts. Moreover, as is so often the case, a mistake can tell us a great
deal. In the Conclusiones secundum propriam opinionem on Zoroaster and the
Chaldeans (that is, based on the so-called Chaldean Oracles), Pico writes, "In order
to understand what Zoroaster has to say about goats, one must read in the book
Bahir about what are the affinities of goats, and what of sheep, with
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
the spirits."16 In actual fact, there is no such passage in the book Bahir. In certain
manuscripts (such as Cod. Munich 209), however, we find the reference among
the passages that immediately follow the Bahir. All these texts appear ar the end
of Mithridates' Latin collection in Vat. Heb. 191, without a break, after the end of
Bahir." The translator has, in fact, begun die new text in the same line. The BaJu'r
ends on fol. 326r and Pico's citation appears later in the text on fol. 331V! As
chance would have it, I happen to have published the entire passage containing the
quotation some years ago, 18 as an example of Flavius Mithridates's translating
technique. I find it hard to believe that Pico would have studied all of these texts
in the original - they are, in general, extremely difficult! - before they had been
translated for him by an expert.
The antiquated descriptions by Bartolucci and Assemani of the Mithridates
codices fail to mention that the translations include a number of direct references
to Pico. The translator frequendy mentions him by name, often with hints of irony
and criticism." We know that Mithridates returned to Italy from Germany in 1485.
If Pico commissioned him to do the translations around that time, then that would
correspond with the pre-history of the nine hundred theses, as well as with the fact
that Mithridates mentions Pico's absence at least once (we know for a fact that
between July 1485 and March i486 Pico spent some time in Paris). It is highly
unlikely that Mithridates would have translated these works for the pope before
meeting Pico, and then have copied the entire text again, complete with additional
notes and commentary written specifically for Pico. 201 find it more credible that
Mithridates, of whom vanity and boasting were by no means uncharacteristic, was
simply misleading Pico della Mirandola about a commission from Pope Sixtus IV
That commission was most likely never given, let alone carried out.
We can now draw a direct parallel between the Vatican codices and three texts
which, according to Gaffarel, were translated for and belonged to Pico and which
Gaffarel claims to have bought in Venice. 2' We can be certain that all three of
Gaffarel's volumes (of which only the second one contains the identical texts to
one of the Vatican codices, MS 189) are the work of one translator. Gaffarel
appears to have misunderstood the many marginal notes that make critical and
even malicious reference to both Pico and Mithridates himself, and deduced that
they must have been the work of another transla-
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
tor. Much of Gaffarel's very dramatic interpretation of the glosses can be attributed
to his penchant for exaggeration; on the other hand, he was quite correct to point
out Pico's brief, handwritten notes on the translation of Menahem Recanati's
commentary on the Torah. Pico would eventually draw on these notes to write
many of his kabbalist conclusions."
As far as I am aware, the Vatican codices are devoid of any Christian
interpolation or attempts on the part of the translator to "improve" the text (as was
the case with Jean de Pauly's French translation of the Zohar). For our question
about the origins of a Christian interpretation of the kabbalah, and its influence on
Pico's famous and at the time "scandalous" theory that the kabbalah and magic
were the most convincing proof of the divinity of Christ," we must however pay
attention to one assertion of Gaffarel regarding his manuscripts. If Gaffarel had
really read in Mithridates' translation of Recanati's commentary on the Torah a
passage about the coming of the messiah which stated that he had "already come,"
then Pico's translations, too, would have to have contained die same tendentious
mistranslation." In reality, it would appear to me that Gaffarel, who printed this
passage in ordinary type, as opposed to the italic that was customary for direct
quotations, is the one to blame for erroneously paraphrasing a passage that has a
completely different meaning in the original. A clarification of Gaffarel's
misquotations would require closer examination of Mithridates' codices, as his
translations contain numerous passages that discuss the messiah. What I have read
of these texts, however, speaks rather for the unusual accuracy of Mithridates's
translations than the opposite. Any mistakes he might have made in translation
were most probably made in good faith.
Ill
It would make logical sense, in the historical context of Pico's work, that converted
Jews such as Mithridates would have been the first to point him in the direction of
kabbalist literature and its real or supposed affinity to Christianity. In fact, a whole
chain of facts prove that converted Jews were producing "Christian kabbalist"
arguments long before Pico. Pico was the first Christian of non-Jewish origin, but
by no means the first Christian, to go through this kind of thought process. The
succession of Jewish convert kabbalists goes down to the years just prior to Pico's
appearance on the
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
scene, and is connected directly to him by at least one witness. Admittedly, this
version of Christian kabbalah, on account of its missionary focus and its isolation
from the important intellectual developments of the day, remained unproductive
until it was taken up by Pico. But it had played a cer tain role in the Jewish-
Christian debate, and it is the various stages of this role, as far as they are clear to
me, that 1 would now like to pursue.
The oldest documentation of a conversion to Christianity attributable to
kabbalist methods of exegesis (although not kabbalist theologoumena) is
found in the work of Abraham Abulafia (b. 1240). He appears to refer to a
group of pupils whom he had taught in Capua and who later apostatized. It
was probably they, as Abulafia reports, who rearranged the letters of the
word 1V23 ("in his shadow") in Song of Songs 2:3 as ("his cross") to
yield the meaning "I love his cross" or "I live happily in the shadow of his cross";
or, reading 317S, "in the shadow of die crucified."25
There have been attempts in recent years to determine whether Abulafia
exercised any influence on Arnaldo de Villanova, the famous Spanish doctor and
later Spiritual Franciscan. In 1292, Arnaldo published a tract entided Allocutio
super Tetragmmmaton (published by Carreras in its entirety)" in which he (like
Pico later) interprets the consonants of the biblical name of God according to the
doctrine of the Trinity: yod refers to the Father and the existence of a principle
without beginning;" waw to the Son and a principle of beginning; and he to the
Holy Spirit as a spiritual breath emitted by the first two principles. Arnaldo, who
studied Hebrew in Barcelona with Raymundus Martini for a time, stresses the
originality of his speculations 29 and believes they will help him to persuade Jews to
accept the doctrine of the Trinity. One should note here that Arnaldo does not
mention the kabbalah, nor does he cite other Jewish speculations on the letters of
the name of God. M Still, Carreras assumes "undoubtedly a certain influence of the
prophetic kabbalah upon Arnaldo,"30 and in particular some contact with
Abulafia's principal work Or hasekel (written in Italy in 1285). Precisely because
it was my research on Abulafia" that led Carreras to his assumption, I feel I must
say that the text of the Allocutio taken as a whole does not substantiate any
historical connection between Arnaldo and Abulafia. Admittedly, one can speak
within certain limits of an inner parallel in the ap proaches of the two men: both
attempted to discover the secreta majestatis, et potentiae Dei through the
speculative interpretation of the letters of the
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
Hebrew alphabet. But neither Abulafia nor the kabbalists were che first to take up
this approach. Judah Halevi's Kusari and Abraham ibn Ezra's treatises are based on
the same widely-held concept. Both works could just as easily, if not more
probably, be suspected of having inspired Arnaldo's work. Anything that is in any
way specific to Abulafia's position is completely absent from the Allocutio, and I
can find no point of contact in Arnaldo's text with the meditations on the name of
God that characterize Abulafia's Or hasekel. If Arnaldo had been familiar with it,
as Carreras suggests, then there would have to be some recognizable trace in the
Allocutio, if only to distinguish Arnaldo's own christological speculations from
parallel ideas held by the "deluded Jews." Instead, Arnaldo appears to be ignorant
of any Jewish speculation on the individual letters of the alphabet, and he says of
the Jews that they quod universatiter illius nominis sacramentum ignorant. In
order to conclude that, in spite of such statements, there was a secret and implicit
dependence on very detailed interpretations of Jewish sources, one would have to
have proof of some sort of contact in detail, and exactly this proof is not
forthcoming. Therefore, while Arnaldo's Allocutio anticipates, in its reasoning,
similar Christian kabbalist speculations, it lacks a direct historic filiation with the
kabbalah. I would not rule out the possibility, suggested by Baer," that Abulafia,
who worked in Italy, may have associated with the Italian Joachites and
Franciscans; but that his writings, or those of his disciples, were known to
Arnaldo, I consider unprovable and quite improbable.
The first converted Jew to refer specifically to the kabbalah - although it played
only a very secondary role in his thought - was Abner of Burgos. He became a
Christian in 1320 at an advanced age (probably 52) after what was doubtless a
prolonged inner struggle, and took the name Alfonso of Valladolid. Thanks to
Baer's research based on the whole range of Abner's literary output, we are well
informed about him and the themes of his thought. While still a Jew (that is, as a
covert Christian), he wrote the work Milhamot Adonai, "The Battles of God," a
Hebrew book which unfortunately survives only in excerpts and quotations in
Spanish. Based on these fragments, Isidore Loeb has characterized the work as less
a book of polemic than "a type of kabbalistic work full of bold mysticism. "" Loeb
clearly bases his comment on Abner's reports of visions in which (just in the
manner of Abulafia) letter combinations appeared to him. Baer's treatment,
however,
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
probably correctly situates Abner's ideas in relation to trends and intellectual
developments that were quite different and far removed from the kabbalah. His
use of kabbalist sources is nothing more than a continuation of the systematically
christological interpretation of the haggadah and midrash found in the Pugiofidei
of Raymundus Martini. But Alfonso, who relied heavily on the Pugiofidei, also
employed the kabbalah here and there as he thought necessary. He makes frequent
reference to it, for example, in the Spanish version Mostrador dejusticia of his
extensive principal work Moreh sedek first published in Hebrew. I am grateful to
Baer for bringing to my attention a few characteristic passages from the Paris
manuscript of the Mostrador. These clearly demonstrate that Alfonso, who was
highly educated although chiefly in philosophy, had also read kabbalist books.
These were books, which, as I have noted above, Raymundus Martini had not yet
included in his Christian interpretation of the body of Jewish tradition.
In his lengthy discussions, Alfonso attempts to read the Christian doctrine of the
Incarnation3' into Jewish sources. He focuses on the rabbinical conception of the
shckinah and the Jewish gnostic fragments on the shi'ur komah, "measure of the body"
(sc. the body of God),3S as well as on the philosophical reinterpretation of such
concepts by speculative thinkers such as Abraham ibn Ezra. It should be noted that the
Hebrew text, which Baer has partly published from a manuscript in Parma, makes
absolutely no mention of the kabbalists in this context.' 7 However, the complete
Castilian text at the conclusion of its discussion of the shi'ur komah and the Incarnation
reads: "This is the root of the faith of the kabbalah, to which a group of Jews who call
themselves kabbalists adhere and this [their bias towards the doctrine of the
Incarnation!] is proven in their books." 39 Elsewhere, in a discussion of the Trinity,
Alfonso emphasizes that the philosophers, like the kabbalists, recognized - in the
theory of attributes and in the ten sefirot — respectively - that although God was one in
substance, unity and plurality existed simultaneously in God." "Similarly the kabbalists
also say that the three names, T, 'you' and 'he' encompass the Godhead" - which would
seem to suggest that Alfonso had read one of Joseph Gikatilla's works (written c.
1300), in which this particular symbolism was developed."0 Alfonso, in his
interpretation of an etymology that was widespread among thirteenth-century
kabbalists, also identifies Metatron of ancient Jewish Merkaba mysticism with the
figure of the Son in the Trinity, who in his incarnation was
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
the "messenger."'11 These very isolated references to the kabbalah in Alfonso's
work, which was chiefly concerned with other examples of Jewish writing, do
not, however, quite constitute a real Christian kabbalah.
But the question of the relationship between the kabbalah and Christian doctrine
did in fact occupy Jewish and kabbalah-oriented circles in the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries, and it appears to have generated a variety of different
responses. A number of thirteenth-century kabbalistic treatises argue that Metatron
was an angel (as in the texts of Merkabah mysticism) but that die name also, in
certain circumstances, could mean more; it could even be regarded as a symbol of
the Shekinah itself. This symbolism, which appeared to accommodate
christological interpretations such as those of Abner of Burgos, was vehemently
attacked in the thirteenth century by a German kabbalist in his commentary on die
fragments of the shi 'ur komah. This audior denounces as heretics those who
support the idea that the Shekinah could be equated with Metatron, who is also
referred to in the Merkabah books as nacar ("youth"). These heretics, according to
the author, had taken over the idea from Christians: 4^ "and that is the claim of the
non-Jews, and in this matter the Christians are mistaken and speak of the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, and they have taken all [this doctrine] from this [belief about
Metatron]. And that is the first thing against which God warned Moses [according
to die Talmudic interpretation'" of Exodus 23:21]: do not think that he [Metatron] is
God. And all philosophers seize upon this issue and as a result they claim,
incorrecdy, that all of these [kabbalist teachings on] the ten sefirot originated with
the non-Jews, but this is, God forbid, not the case." 44 Thus the author claims that the
doctrine of the Trinity developed out of a misunderstanding regarding the divine
nature of the "youth" Metatron, a misunderstanding which was then shared by
certain kabbalists. While in this case it was a follower of the kabbalah who accused
a group of kabbalists of adopting Christian misconceptions, there were others who
insisted that the Christian dogmas of the Trinity and Incarnation developed out of
the deterioration and misinterpretation of what were in fact valid kabbalistic
assertions. When in the fourteenth century many Jews began to believe that the
origins of the kabbalah were ancient, some concluded that Jesus and his disciples
had been not mere magicians and sorcerers, as they were described in the oldest
texts of the Toledot Yeshu," but, in fact, kabbalists - "only their kabbalah was filled
with mistakes." This thesis formed the Jew-
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
ish counterpart to the Christian kabbalah, with the relationship between Judaism
and Christianity simply reversed. It must have been current in Jewish circles in
1350 if not earlier. In 1397 the Spanish scholar Profiat Duran wrote Kelimat ha-
goyim, "Ignominy of the Christians," an anti-Christian work dedicated to the
philosopher Hasdai Crescas. Duran reports that during his youth he had learned of
this theory from a German Talmudist as well as from followers of the kabbalah. 4*
He adds that, while studying Christian books he himself had found the assumption
to be confirmed, in as much as John and Paul had misunderstood the kabbalistic
symbolism of the sefirot, in particular, Tif'eret and Malkut, and had applied it to
the doctrine of the Son, the Logos and the Holy Spirit. "The doctrine of the
Trinity, which they mistakenly perceive in the Godhead, has resulted from their
misunderstanding of this science [of the kabbalah]; specifically, of the kabbalist
concept of the three lights: the original light, the pure light and the radiant light ...
Similarly, their doctrine of the Incarnation possibly originated in the 'mys tery of
the garment' [the angels and souls in bodies] of which the kabbalists speak." 47
Thus, since both camps, Jewish and Christian, were in complete agreement
concerning die (erroneous) chronology of the kabbalah - even Christians had long
shared the belief that the kabbalah was pre-Christian! - it only required a simple
reversal of judgment to derive the Christian kabbalist theory from the orthodox
Jewish opinion. The doctrine of the three lights which radiate between En-Sof and
the first sefira first appeared c. 1250 in a responsum attributed to Hai Gaon,
before filtering into the kabbalist literature.48 Seventeenth-century Christian
kabbalists, while disregarding its details, placed the doctrine of the three lights fn
parallel to that of the Christian Trinity, just as Profiat Duran did three centuries
earlier.49 Whether the Jewish understanding of the relationship between the two
doctrines originated as a polemical reversal of the Christian one promulgated by
baptized Jews such as Abner-Alfonso, remains an open question on the basis of
the known sources; but I do not think it is impossible.
Unlike the work of Alfonso, who interpreted authentic texts from his Christian
perspective, the kabbalah of fifteenth-century converts from Judaism was
characterized by a series of Christian falsifications which helped the authentic
sources along where they did not sufficiendy validate the desired position.
Documentation of these textual manipulations comes from
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
the period just before Pico della Mirandola's debut. In 1450 the Marrano, Pedro de
la Caballeria,™ wrote his work Zelus Christi, intended as Christian propaganda for
missionary use amongjews and Saracens. The author, who, according to Baer, had
an excellent knowledge of Jewish literature, presented for the first time, in
Aramaic and Latin translation, a Christian trinitarian interpretation of the Trisagion
of Isaiah 6:3 in the form of a quotation from the Zohar: "Holy - that is the Father;
holy - that is the Son; holy - that is the Holy Spirit." 51 The quotation appears again
later in similar forgeries by Jewish converts and was thus widely circulated. It has
even been immortalized on a marble plaque in the cathedral courtyard in Passau in
Bavaria. There it bears the signature of R. "SimeonJohai F[ilius]." Jacob
Obermayer suggests that the plaque was installed "for purposes of conversion"
before the expulsion of the Jews from Passau in 1477." if this were true, it would
offer an unusually striking proof for the early currency of the forgery, which at the
time had not appeared in any book. I think it more likely that the plaque stems
from the sixteenth century, since from 1516 on this quotation, under Simeon ben
Yohai's name, was well known in print. In any case, Zelus Christi provides us with
solid evidence that Christian-kabbalist falsifications were in circulation in Spain 35
years before Pico della Mirandola. There is no mention of the subject in the text of
the Zohar, even in manuscripts written before 1490.
IV
Pedro de la Cabellaria's quotation, however, sheds some light on the
pseudepigrapha that were introduced to the Christian world by Paulus de Heredia,
of Aragon, in a pamphlet published for the first time in 1482 in Flo rence. The date
and place of this publication, which were long unknown,' 3 make it highly unlikely
that Pico, who had a burning interest in its contents, would have been unaware of
it. The fact that he does not mention the work can be explained if Pico's Jewish
acquaintances - and perhaps also ex-Jewish ones such as Flavius Mithridates, who
spurned any kind of falsification - convinced him of the inauthenticity of a text in
which teachers of the Mishnah, presented in wildly inaccurate order, speak the
language of the Niccne Creed. This Epistola de secretis (according to the title) or
Epistola secretorum (in the text) purports to be Heredia's translation of a Hebrew
text entitled
m"T1t?n JTVJtS consisting of two letters "whose authority the Jews would not
dare to deny" (quarum auctoritatem judei negare non audent). "Neumia filius
Haccanae", that is, the Tanna Nehuniah ben Hakanah, known in kabbalist
literature already as the "author" of a number of pseudepigrapha, writes to his son
and his son to him. The first letter treats eight questions concerning biblical
secrets related to messianology, usually with a postscript (postilla) by the
translator. The second letter discusses the genealogy of the messiah. Both letters
are filled with references to two additional texts: a book entided Gakrazaya (using
one word for Gale razaya, KH*1 >7X), or secretorum revelator, by Rabbenus
(sic) Haccados, editor of the Mishnah, in which Haccados responds to eight
questions posedby the Roman consul Antoninus; and a book "Mechar" or
Mechkar hasodot hoc est investigatio secretorum attributed to Simeon ben Yohai,
the purported author of the Zohar." Formulas and anecdotes describing encounters
with the prophet Elijah clearly imitate kabbalist works such as the Zohar, and the
books Kanah and Pehah. In the section corresponding to the fifth question, Rabbi
Simeon ben Yohai recounts how, in prayer, he climbed Mount Gerizim and
encountered the prophet Elijah. He describes their discussion at the summit, his
visions of angels, and the revelation he experienced there concerning the Son of
God and his messianic mission. The narrative framework, as well as the style of
dialogue are close imitations of the corresponding anecdotes in the book Peliah,
whose author also knows of ascents to the summit of Mount Gerizim.' 6 One
quotation, attached to the sixth point, imitates a formula used frequently in the
Zohar at the introduction of a speech, "1DK1 NP» H HITS, except that here, in -
stead of R. Jessa in the Zohar we have one Rab Isaiah who speaks in the Latin
text. In another passage, the prophet Elijah appears to Simeon ben Yohai as he
prays in the cave of Machpelah. While one could easily imagine these stories as
part of an original Hebrew text, and although they appear authentic in form, there
remains the problem of attributing the christological explanations to Hebrew
sources. Nevertheless, even here, the sections on numerology and the numerical
value of various words such as Yeshu, Mariam and brit fit well within the Hebrew
framework. As for the author's total disregard for the real chronology of facts and
figures, he shares his fault with other and less eccentric adherents of the kabbalah,
and with the Zohar itself. He does, however, have inconsistencies of his own:
Nehuniah is made to refer to the much later editor of the Mishnah, and they are all
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
situated several centuries before the birth and life of Jesus which they fore see in
great detail.
As we have known for years,' 6 the author of these "translations" was an
Aragonian Jew who was born at the beginning of the fifteenth century and
converted to Christianity late in life, sometime in the middle of the century after a
debate with Joannes Gattus, a Sicilian Dominican. One can assume, therefore, that
Heredia (or one of his like-minded friends) drafted the pseudepigraphon - perhaps
really in Hebrew initially - in Spain between 1460 and 1480. Based on the manner
in which he uses the first person in the postillae to comment on the petitiones, and
his method of quoting others, however, one can legitimately regard Paulus de
Heredia as the author of the entire publication. According to him (fol. 6v) the
Zohar passage which Pedro de la Caballeria quotes is taken from Targum Jonathan
to Isaiah 6:3." Elsewhere (fol. 6r), he cites a passage that is supposedly an excerpt
from a "Rabbi Symeonis filii Johai in libra qui scribitur zochar [!] super textum
Deuteron. cap. VI Audi Israhel" etc. 58 This passage is a deliberate Christian
interpolation into the authentic text in Zohar III, 263a, which is not without a
certain adroitness. The interpolator begins his text with an authentic opening in
which the first of the three divine names in the "Shema r Israel" are linked to the
sefira Hokhma as "father". He then attaches to this a Trinitarian continuation on
the Son and the Holy Spirit, into which he has worked a second passage (III, 297a)
including the Holy Spirit as a kabbalistic symbol and also a three-part concluding
formula. The passage fits perfectly into its carefully arranged artificial context." Its
phraseology shows quite clearly that the Latin translation was in fact based on an
original text written in the language of the Zohar. In any case, this "quotation" was
certainly crafted with more intelligence than the citations supposedly taken from
the purely fictitious Gale razaya.
The word kabbalah seldom appears in Heredia's writing, despite the central
role of the subject. Paulus de Heredia circles around the term, however, in a
preface dedicated to Don Enigo de Mendocza (sic),60 the Spanish envoy to Pope
Innocent VIII: "Habent siquidam judaicae disciplinae divinarum rerum
perspicuam veritatem quae a sanctissimis patribus vetustis cognita atque explicata
est et a prophetis diu ante anunciata." This "Jewish discipline on the subject of
things divine" which "comes from the patriarchs and the prophets" is - in the
language of a fifteenth-century Spanish Jew - the
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
kabbalah. The text explains the precise formulation by Pico that I cited above at
the beginning of §11. While drafting his Apologia Pico would have been familiar
with Heredia's work, which was printed in Rome at about the same time that Pico
began his studies. Because Heredia's reference to the kabbalah is implicit, Pico
finds himself justified in pointing out that, among Latin writers, he himself is the
first to treat the kabbalah with an explicita mentio.
In fact, there is even a further piece of evidence that points to a personal
relationship between Pico della Mirandola and Paulus de Heredia, who would
have been his teacher. The Epistola de secretis is first cited extensively by
Agostino Giustiniani, bishop of Nebia. The citations appear among the glosses in
his polyglott Psalter, published in 1516 in Genoa. Giustiniani, who in his
commentary on Psalm 67 describes the Epistola as a rare book of which perhaps
only a single copy existed in all of Europe, worked with a Hebrew text of the first
petitio, which he quotes. This text, however, is by no means the putative original,
which Heredia says he translated. Rather, based on its chaotic Latinisms, we can
be sure that it is a retroversion from the Latin. 6' From what we can tell, it is from
this Psalter that Reuchlin took the single quotation from the Epistola de secretis in
his De arte cabalistica of 1517.62 Apparently in a hurry, Reuchlin inserted the
quotation into the end of his text, which is otherwise devoid of spurious quotations
from Jewish sources.
When Pietro Galatino quoted explicitly and extensively from these texts in his
work "on the secrets of Catholic truth" he came under immediate attack from his
detractors, who accused him or some other Christian of having forged the
quotations. In a letter addressed to Pope Paul III and preserved in manuscript,
Galatino defends himself against his accusers and cites as his source "Paulus de
Heredia, the teacher of Count Giovanni Pico della Mirandola." He goes on to
explain that Heredia himself was personally involved in the printing of his book. 63
Unfortunately, however, because we cannot depend on Galatino's reliability, we
cannot accept his word alone on this very important issue. If his statement is
correct, it would prove a direct connection, hitherto overlooked, between Pico and
an adherent of the Judeo-Christian kabbalah that had originated in Spain.
Nevertheless, it is my opinion that we will need additional proof before we can
accept this information as an established fact.
It is Galatino's other remarks on the subject of the Epistola secretorum
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
(discovered in manuscript by Kleinhans) that show his extravagant claims to be
less than reliable. In the 1530s, Galatino, by then a septuagenarian, prepared a
reprint of Heredia's work at the suggestion of Paulus Capisuchi, bishop of
Nicastro. The Heredia text had apparently become impossible to find. Although
Galatino's manuscript, along with his preface, were never published, they were
sent to the bishop for printing and have been preserved at the Vatican. 6'' In his
dedication to Capisuchi, which Kleinhans has given us almost in its entirety,
Galatino claims only - and this is without doubt correct - to have emended the
many mistakes which the printer had made in Paul de Heredia's translation, which
Galatino refers to as "not unskilful."''' He is, however, much less modest in his
letter to the pope, in which he claims to have translated the original text into Latin
from the Hebrew text and in doing so, to have reestablished it in its original
integrity*6- as if he had actually had the Hebrew at his disposal! We may suppose
that Galatino and Giustiniani, who used virtually the same sources, were in
collaboration with one another, especially if we concur with Kleinhans that
Galatino's work, though published in 1518, was for the most part completed in
1515; and that consequently, the purported Hebrew text of the passage in the
Epistolasecretomm could not in fact have been taken from Giustiniani's Psalter,
which did not appear until i5i6. fi7 Given Galatino's penchant for quoting his
sources, one can assume with some certainty that, had he possessed the Hebrew
text in its entirety, he would have mentioned it in one or another of the many
references to other parts of Heredia's work.
There is nothing in the contents of the Epistola that would lead us to conclude
that Pico della Mirandola's theses on the "true," that is, the Christian, kabbalah, are
in any way indebted to Paulus de Heredia. Heredia's interests, which included
speculations on the mother of Christ, his genealogy, the virgin birth and the
christological exegesis of biblical verses, lay far from Pico's concerns. At those
points where both authors do discuss the same topic, their treatment differs
dramatically. Heredia's "quotations" concerning the name of Jesus 69 have nothing
in common with Pico's Trinitarian interpretation of the three consonants: yod the
Father, shin the Logos, waw the Holy Spirit. 69 What is more, Heredia's
mariological interpretation of the closed mem in the word POID^ in the messianic
prophecy of Isaiah 9:6 differs completely from Pico's, which refers it to the
Paraclete.™ Heredia's text is in fact devoid of any reference to the doctrine of the
sefirot, with the
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
exception of the above-mentioned Trinitarian treatment of the Zohar passage (HI,
263a). This would appear to add proof to my contention that Heredia did not
actually come up with the Zohar "quotation" himself, but used some other source.
He would otherwise have been able to employ the symbolism elsewhere in his
text, whereas just the opposite is the case. He plays with getnatria and notarikon
in great detail, but makes no reference to the sefirot symbolism which Pico della
Mirandola found so fascinating. Thus, Pico's claim to originality remains to a
large extent justified, even if, as I take it, he was aware of Heredia's publication.
V
The fact that, in Spain, converted Jews published and distributed a number of texts
in the same genre as Iggeret ha-sodot and Gale razaya is confirmed by the
testimony of Abraham Farissol, an erudite Jew from Ferrara. This piece of
evidence, to which Graetz first called attention, is worth some close consideration
here.71 In his polemical work Magen Abot, written between 1500 and 1504 and
based on his religious disputations with Christian clergy at the Ferrara court,
Farissol reports of falsified aggadic-kabbalist pseudepigrapha which had
"recently" been produced in Spain by an organized group of converted Jews. He
names three members of this group of forgers, but unfortunately cites their names
in corrupt form. The passage reads as follows:
When the scholars participating in the disputations were unable to disprove
the Jewish explanation of the Torah verses, many turned their faces to the
desert72 in order to find other, more convincing evidence of the truth of the
Trinity and of the birth of die messiah as something already accomplished.
They found their proof in certain passages of the haggadah and midrashim
of our sages as well as in the writing of Jonathan ben Uziel and other
scarce texts such as the Midrash hazit, the Midrash to the Psalms" and the
Megiilot and Bereshit rabbah. I have even also discovered that because
these books with their views were not widely distributed, 71 a number of
evil-doingjews" have written passages in the language of the Babylonian
or Jerusalem Talmud, and in die style of the Zohar. They have used these
to prove certain fabrications concerning their messiah and
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
related issues. These passages they have then attributed to the midrashim,
the Bereshit rabbah or to the work of the kabbalists. No matter how
zealous your search, you would never find them there. With the help of
such explanations [sermones, drushim], however, they attempt to prove the
Trinity, the Incarnation, the [virgin] birth, the glorification [of Christ] and
others of the dogmas upon which they have erected the towers of their
theses.... Yes, here in Ferrara, my place of residence, I have just heard,
from a respected Jewish exile, of a group of disloyal Jews who not long
ago established a small society in Spain. The group consists of twelve
young people with one leader and the names of three of them are Alitienzio
of Monzon, Vidal of Saragossa in Aragon, and a third, known by his
nickname "El-ciccico" [?] de Orson [or de Morson?] of Avila. This society
has written and compiled a small collection of blasphemous midrashim, in
the language of the Zohar, Bereshit rabbah and the midrashim. In them
they have defended the doctrines of the Incarnation of God, the birth, the
resurrection, the glorification and other issues that relate to the mes-siah,
along with explanations of biblical verses which [according to them] refer
to these doctrines. They have written under the names of the sages from the
midrashim and claimed to have taken the quoted passages from the midrash
itself; when I looked for them there myself, I was not able to find a single
one. In fact, when they [sc, passages of this sort] were presented to me," I
was amazed and denied that such a thing could exist amongjews.
It is unclear whether Farissol actually saw the collection of pseudo-midrashim
in its entirety or if he had been shown only quotations which would have fitted a
text of this type (whose existence he knew through word of mouth). The latter
seems more probable to me. The quotation said to come from Targum Jonathan
could well have been the one on Isaiah 6:3 which is found in Paulus de Heredia's
work, except that Farissol expressly states further on that this particular
interpretation was presented to him as having been taken from an authentic
midrash but one which he himself had been unable to locate. It is more likely that
the complete Aramaic text which Farissol reproduces was taken from Pedro de la
Caballeria's pseudo-Zohar on Isaiah 6:3." Apparently all of these pseu do-citations
passed through many
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
hands and many editions while still in Spain. It is impossible to say for cer tain
whether there was any correlation between the "authorities of the midrash" under
whose names the Spanish group produced its work, and Heredia's authorities
(Rabbi Nehunia, Rabbenu Haccados, Simeon ben Yohai). Did the Aragonian
forgers have access to Heredia's text or to his sources? Considering that Heredia
most probably wrote in Aragon before 1480, and before leaving for Italy, it is
quite possible. 78 But whatever the circumstances, the group of "young people"
which Farissol describes clearly had a richer repertoire at their disposal than
Heredia.7'
The collection of pseudepigrapha of which Farissol had heard reports and
perhaps saw parts, was probably in circulation before 1492, that is, before his
informants left Spain. For what other purpose could such a text, written in the
language of the Zohar and the midrash, have been designed, than as propaganda
among Hebrew-readingjews who had not yet converted to Christianity? The
answer is not certain. It is also possible that the pseudepigrapha were intended to
influence the Marranos, who had gone over to Christianity only recently, for the
most part in name only, and who in the 1490s had not yet forgotten their Hebrew.
Yet, from a psychological perspective, and given the activities of the Inquisition -
which would hardly have encouraged the distribution among the Converses, the
only Jews still residing in Spain after 1492, of texts that were written in Hebrew
and therefore difficult to control - I think it more likely that we have here a
product of the time before the expulsion of the Jews from Spain.
It would be a great help to know the exact identities of the three persons whom
Farissol names in his report. He apparently provides their Jewish names. The most
interesting is the first. The family name has an Italian ending, and the Hebrew
1K>S3>U>VN is to be read, as Baer has kindly in structed me, as Alitienzi (or
Alitenci, Alintiene). This family name was relatively common in Saragossa in the
fourteenth century, but disappears after 1391 and reappears in 1490 in Huesca,
near Saragossa. The manuscripts of Farissol's book refer to the place names as
pmia and llxVlN. The former would be the Catalonian town Monzon, near Lerida,
where the majority of Jewish residents converted to Christianity in 1414.°° The
latter does not correspond to any known location, and could be a corruption of
some other name. Could it be a reference to Hpl^lN (Huesca)? Or did the
neophyte, a member of the Alitienzi family, perhaps later live in Monzon? In any
case,
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH

thanks to Baer's great work, we have documents detailing the long trial, from or discuss Pico's works.81 One might point out here, however, that at the time of
January to June 1489, of a number of Jews from Huesca, including Abraham Pico's writing, while Italian Platonists were turning to the kabbalah, Jewish
Alitienca. They stood accused of attempting in the previous year to dissuade scholars in Italy were simultaneously turning to a Platonic interpretation of the
Abraham's son, the doctor and rabbi Eliezer Alitienca, from converting to kabbalah's basic principles. Yet one detects, in Juda Messer Leon's extremely
Christianity.8' Could this be the neophyte and author of the Jewish-Christian interesting letter written in about 1490 to the notables of the Jewish community in
kabbalist pseudepigraphon whom Farissol mentions first in his list of three names? Florence, an indirect polemic against the Christian interpretation of the kabbalah.
According to the records of the trial, the younger Alitienca's decision to convert to In his letter, Juda Messer Leon of Mantua (father of the aforementioned David
Christianity together with a friend in Saragossa, the son of Ismael Abenrabi, led to Messer Leon) rejects those trends among kabbalists in recent generations that he
considerable complications in Huesca. The two youths went so far as to write felt could eventually lead to an acceptance of notions of God's corporeality,
letters in Hebrew to one another in which they exchanged oaths that they would mutability and multiplicity. He calls instead for a return to the most ancient
convert to Christianity. According to another statement, it was three, and not two,
authorities of the kabbalah, who were in agreement with the finest parts of the
Jews who committed themselves on oath to convert. The father, Abraham
Platonic world of thought.85
Alitienca, was an official in the community in Huesca and, judging by the
I hope, with this discussion, to have shed a clearer light on some circum -
arguments he wrote in his own defense, a most learned Talmudist and committed
stances which help to explain the emergence and development of the Christian
Jew. Although there is no mention of Eliezer Alitienca's fate, we know that his
kabbalah.
father was burned as a martyr in 1490. Could Farissol's "Vidal de Saragossa" and
Eliezer's friend, who was a student at the time, be one and the same? The
"nickname" of the third person is no doubt a Spanish diminutive of the name
Isaac. If the group of twelve neophytes were really connected with the person
mentioned in the records of the Huesca trial, then we could place their activities in
the last years before the expulsion, that is, after the emergence of Pico della
Mirandola. This is no more than a hypothesis, however, and it is quite possible
that Farissol's group of twelve were different people, who did their work a few
years earlier. Perhaps further data will surface from Spanish records which will
give us more exact information.
It is interesting to note that although Farissol was knowledgeable about the
Spanish converts' Christian kabbalah, he makes no mention of the parallel efforts
of Pico della Mirandola, whom he may have known personally." But then, we have
no record of any reaction from this generation of Jews to Pico's kabbalah (nor, for
that matter, to Paulus de Heredia). The scholar David Messer Leon of Mantua was
close to and inspired by Marsilio Ficino's circle and later wrote a comprehensive
important kabbalistic work entitled Magen David in which he examines explicitly
the relationship between the "divine Plato" and the kabbalah. But even he nowhere
mentions Pico in this context. 9* Only much later do Jewish kabbalists in Italy refer
to
 NOTES

Joseph Perles, Beitrage zur Gesckichte der hebraischen und aramdischen Studien
(Munich, 1884), 191-3. Pico himself does not confirm that Dattilo was his
teacher; he only mentions having met with Dattilo at a friend's house. It is
Widmanstadt who is the first to claim, possibly having heard it from Dattilo
himself, that he was Pico's teacher (or one of his teachers). He mentions this
in two passages in his writings (cf. Perles, 181 and 185; see also E. Anagnine,
Pico della Mirandola (Ban, 1934), 82). Agnanine doubts Widmanstadt's asser-
tion without, however, indicating his reasons.
"Cujus rei [the agreement of the kabbalah with Christian teachings] testem
gravissimum habeo Antonium Cronicum ... qui suis auribus cum apud eum
essem in convivio audivit Dattilum Hebraeum peritum hujus scientiae in
Christianorum prorsus de trinitate scntentiam pedibus manibusque
descendere" (Opera omniajoannis Pici (Basel, 1557), 124}. At the end of his speech
on the dignity of man (Opera, 330) Pico repeats the same sentence. There he
calls the Hebrew "Dactylus." 1 do not interpret this sentence to mean, as
Cassuto takes it (Gli Ebrei a Firenze nell'eta del Rinascimento (Florence, 1918),
317), that Pico was boasting that he had persuaded Dattilo to acknowledge the
Christian dogma of the Trinity. It remains unclear whether Pico had known
Dattilo before their meeting or had only sought further acquaintance as a
result of this conversation - if we accept Widmanstadt's testimony about
Dattilus on this point as reliable.

Perles, 181.
This passage, cited by Perles (p. 186), is important enough to be given in the
original; "Datylus Pici Mirandulani praeceptor quern ego jam decrepirum
menses aliquot audivi, dicere solebat, semina quaedam vitalia in veaceribus
terrac aliisque earn ambientibus elementis latere quae indefessa mundi hujus
contentione, atque ortus interitusque labore, per varias herbas, frutices, ar-
bores fructus et animantia sese humanibus corporibus primum, deinde
sentiendi animae insinuarent, atque postremo cum anima coelitus infusa, se
ea inferiorem banc atque e materia educatam obsequentem habueri(n)t, ad
foelicitatis aeternae partem aliquam admitterentur, Itaque intelligi a nonnullis,
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
 animantium omni genere spem salutis propositam esse. Haec idcirco
commemoravi, ut indicarem, ex hac Judeorum Caballa infinita opinionum
portenta, veluti ex equo Trojano cducta, impetum in Christi ecclesiam fecisse."
5. In the epitome of the Qur'an, Roberto Ketenense interprete, which appeared in
1543 and was accompanied by Widmanstadt's numerous natationes.
6. Cf. my essay on the identity of the pseudo-Rabad with Joseph the Tall in Kiryat
Sefer 4 (1928): 286-302. Almost all of the numerous manuscripts of the Yesirah
commentary were circulated anonymously. Only recently among new acqui-
sitions by the British Museum has a fifteenth-century Italian mansucript sur-
faced which contained the work and a correct identification of the author (MS
Orient. 11,791). Mr. Joseph Weiss has informed me that the manuscript is de -
scribed in the British Museum Quarterly 16 (1952).
7. These phrases are taken from the Bible, Prov. 31:8 andjob 33:18, but their mean-
ings have been completely changed.
8. Anagnine, Pico delia Mirandola, 74-202.
9. Joseph Leon Blau, The Christian interpretation of the Cabala in the Renaissance
(New York, 1944). This work is exceptional in its treatment of nearly forgotten
writers such as Rkci, Jean Thenaud and others.
to. Blau, Cabala, 19: "Some of the work mentioned may have preceded Pico ...
some may have followed" and "whatever had been done before his time, it
was Pico who first attracted his fellow humanists in any considerable number
to the Cabala." In reality, as far as I can judge, everything that Blau cites on pp.
17-18 is dependent on Pico. That holds particularly true for the tract de auditu
kabbalistico which first appeared in Venice in 1518 and which is described on
the title page as Opusatlum Raymundinum. Blau correctly on the basis of the
unanimous judgment of more recent authorities on Ramon Llull denies his
authorship of the tract, and, along with Thorndyke (A history of magic and
experimental science, vol. 5 (1941), 325), assigns it to the end of the fifteenth cen-
tury. In actuality the book, in a title located on an inside page, claims only to
have been written in via Raimundi Lulli, not by him. The idea which emerges
from the title of a parallel between the Lullian philosophy and the Kabbala
stems from Pico's Apologia, p. 180, Blau does not mention this. The idea was
therefore first published in 1487, and so we have this terminus post quern for the
composition of the tract. In the passage in question, Pico has it that the term
kabbalah, whose usage he popularized, is composed of two sciences: the com-
bination of letters, and the highest level of natural magic: "duas scientias ...
unam quae dicitur ars combinandi et est modus quidem procedendi in scientiis
et est simile quid, sicut apud nostros dicitur ars Raymundi, licet forte diverso
modo procedant; aliam ... pars Magiae naturalis suprema." It is easy to dem -
onstrate that Pico here translates as ars combinandi, the ^VPXn JTQDn of
Abraham Abulafia and his school. As of 1485-6, the period during which he
wrote his theses, Pico would have had access to the Latin translations of their
writings. In fact, a number of Pico's theses were taken word for word from the
Latin translation (Vat. Heb. 190) of one of Abulafia's treatises, which Pico
would have had in his hands—a fact which Anagnine (p. 92) has unfortunately
not noticed. An example is the division of the kabbalah into scientia Sephirot et
Semot at the beginning of his "Conclusiones Cabalisticae ... secundum
opinionem propriam." Considering these observations, I find it doubtful that
the manuscript of the tract de auditu kabbalistico which Thorndyke found in
the Vatican and which attributes the work to Petrus de Maynardis, a doctor in
Padua around 1520, could be written in a fifteenth-century hand. Blau is the
sole author who maintains that the name Pietro Mainardi appears on the title
page of the first edition, which I have never seen. In actuality the name Petrus
Maynardus appears in the colophon of the edition as the editor, a fact which I
was able to establish from the description of a copy of the very rare book in
Catalogue 147 of Davis and Orioli in London {no. 101). Of course this does not
exclude the possibility that the real author is actually hiding behind this de-
scription. The spelling of the word Cabbala (not "Cabala" as Pico spells it
without exception) and the fantastic etymology of the word seem to point to
still earlier sources: according to the modernos Kabbalistas die word is put to-
gether from the two Arabic words abba and ala, "Father" and"God"(i6oied., p.
4, where the spelling "Cabbala" is explicitly declared to be the correct one), and
the entire word in Latin means pater abundans sapiential
11. Cf. Anangine, 108; Blau, 19; as well as Giuseppe Oregtia, Giovanni Pico delta
Mirandola e la Cabala (Mirandola, 1894), 33-8.
12. Opera Pici, 122, 330.
13. Hebraische Bibliographic, vol. 21 (1881), 109-15.
14. "Wer war der Orientalist Mithridates?", Zeitschrift fur die Geschichte drrjuden in
Deutschland 5 (1934): 230-6.
15. Pico's treatises were printed in December i486 in Rome, as Thorndyke has
established on the basis of recent detailed study (History of Magic, 5: 486).
16. Opera, 104.
17. In Cod. Heb. 209 in Munich, however, the tests are clearly separated.
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
18. In a number of manuscripts the passage is attributed to Isaak ben Jacob Kohen
from Soria and can be found in my edition of his extant writings in Madda'e
Ha-yahuduth 2 (1927): 179S. The passage which Pico cites is located on p. 283.
19. As in Vat. Heb. 190 fol. 22ivatthe end of a passage on the sefirot: "... natura
male innata que non intendit nisi ad adquirendas possessiones et bonas fortunas
(ut Mithridates) et voluptates sensibiles (ut Picus)." The volume is filled with
such friendly side-swipes.
20. In this connection there occurs a great deal of self-praise of his translation
ability: "pulchre transtuli" and other exuberant statements. He mostly speaks
of himself in the third person: "No one except Mithridates could have trans-
lated this section so well, so difficult is it" and so on.
21. Codicum Cabalisticorum manuscriptorum quibus est usus Joannes Picus ... Index
(Paris, 1651); also at the end of the first volume of Wolf's Bibliotheca Hebraea. 1
cite from the more accurate first edition.
22. While GafFarel's first codex contained Recanati's commentary on the Torah,
which is missing in the Vatican translations, I was able to find in MS 190 fols.
275-336 (confirming Steinschneider's guess) a translation of Recanati's com-
mentary on the prayers. It has yet to be explained why the manuscript with
the works of Eleazar of Worms was copied twice, or indeed whether the two
copies are identical.
23. Opera, 105. This thesis was judged by a papal commission to be particularly
offensive.
24. Gaffarel, Index, 11: "Jam dudum venisse asseritur in ... parascia nona, contra
pertinacissimum quemdam Callirum, qui Davidem Messiham esse
contendebat." The original passage by Recanati (ed. Venice 1545, fol. 62r) has a
completely different meaning; moreover, it contains no mention of an attack
on the poet R. Eleazar Kalir. The quotation (which, in Gaffarel, follows imme-
diately thereafter) from Eleazar of Worms is in no way a semi-Christian
midrash, but rather a completely harmless aggadic interpretation of a masoreric
note on the missing consonant gimel in the enumeration of the kings in David's
lineage (1 Chron. 3:10-17),
25. Ahulafia, Ganna'ul, MS Munich58 fol. 322V: H33PH mpO miaTDI
ixsi> miaiui iixn up msii DJ>X jmru? mwi nxv wvwnv
nnow mr-mir IOD moan n>3»o^3 rmnnn nonisn
ve>rw now >na^i 'man [iVssj r6o loan
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
8'jion p rum nwsiV rrn . . . [ianrm] ~]bn nr bw
numb minn >*13*T. In the Munich manuscript, certain anti-Christian
passages have been intentionally abridged through omission of the most com-
promising words. In the book Peliah (c. 1350), the text is more plainly written
out: "from this the madmen and the fools allowed themselves to be seduced
and become apostates" (ed. Koretz 1784, fol. 52r).
26. In Sefarad 9 (1949)- 75-105. In vol. 8 Carreras wrote an introductory essay about
Arnaldo as an anti-semitic apologist (pp. 49-61),
27. Sefarad 9: 88: "principium sine principio," next to which "principium ex
principio coeternum" would necessarily appear.
28. Ibid., 81.
29. Arnaldo gives entirely correctly (p. 83) the general view of Jews on the mean-
ing of the Tetragrammaton and the reason for the ban on pronouncing it
("assuerint enim ... rationabiliter tenent ... dicunt...")., but all this has abso-
lutely nothing to do with the kabbalah and could easily have been taken from
philosophical writings or from discussions with educated Jews in Barcelona.
30. Sefarad 8: 61.
31. In chap. IV of my Major trends in Jewish mysticism.
32. Y. Baer, A history of the Jews in Christian Spain (Philadelphia, 1961), 1: 438 (pub-
lished originally in Hebrew in 1945).
33. Cf. Baer, l: 327-54; also his German essay "Abner aus Burgos" in
Korrespondenzblatt des Vereins zur Grundung... einerAkademiefur die Wissenschaft
desjudentums (1925), 20-37 and his article in Tarbiz 27 (1958), fasc. 2-3.
34. Revue des Etudes Juives 18 (1889): 58.
35. In Hebrew,
36. Cf. my Major trends (revised ed., 1946), 63-7.
37. See the passage in Baer, 1:344-7-
38. In the Paris manuscript of MostradorfFonds Espagnol cod. 43) fol. Ssr: "esta es
la rayz de la fe de la cabala que tienen la conpafia de algunos judios que se
nombran mecubalim segunt que se proeva por sus libros dellos."
39. Ibid., fol. n8r: "[los] mecubalim otorgan esto en lo disen que es dies cuentas
maguera que uno en su stand a."
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
40. Ibid., fol. 119, This passage is also in the Hebrew manuscript Parma de Rossi
533 fol. 2ir, where it reads J7SH Vj?l K3 WUnn Kim >3N DnalW
"E asi dicen los mecubalim que estos tres nombres
yo e el e tu encieran la divinidad." This appears also in Joseph Gikatilla's Sha'are
Orah (1715), fol- io8r.
41. Baer provides (Korrespondenzblatt, 33) Abner's explanation of Metatron as de-
riving from an allegedly Greek word metater (read metator) in the sense of
"envoy." Abner could have found this explanation, for example, in Nachmanides'
commentary on Ex, 12:12: HIPPO 11' ]Wb2 TVbv >D TT1TD1?. This
meaning seems to have been deduced from the 'Aruch, S.v. "11PPD, along
with the fact that Ex. 23:20 was interpreted as referring to Metatron.
42. For more on this important commentary and its presumed author Moshe, son
of the Eliezer ha-Darshan who lived in Wiirzburg, see my Hebrew book on
the beginnings of the kabbalah, XT'II'SI (1948), 195-238, The com-
plete text of the passage is on p. 202. As is so often the case with manuscripts,
the copyist took the precaution of replacing the word D1TS, "Christianity,"
with the obviously meaningless word in this context Tshmael,"
i.e., Islam, even though the next sentence mentions Edom. The main passage
reads: "mri ITIpV sV O nnV >1S1 mi"PJ3 \Wp V> VTI ]D DS
nns ijrp m b& nViyn mens -raisr na inn 'vxwn sVs .m
rtDn inpV iom unpn [nn]i pm nsn p HEMKI
43. In b. Sanh. 38b.
44- The Hebrew is in part unclear, and the passage appears to contradict itself. It
ends with the statement "We however accept that the sefirot have been called
Metatron" fllTDPO "IpJ '?£>T7!W l&[ND»pl] 'pi). There is a corruption
somewhere.
45. Cf. the pseudo-Aramaic fragment of a text from the high Middle Ages pub -
lished by Louis Ginzberg in Genizah Studies t (1928), 324-38,
46. In Adolf Posnanski's edition of D»1Jn TTD'VD in HSlSn vol. 3, p. 143, in the
chapter on the Trinity: rT3>r'2 »ni>TO JUTOn pJ3 >T!V)3V
noun >wmo >rwnv p mi mnVn ins n;oirsa mim
rm>mr T;S i>n D>Vmpa vTaVm nxun w*v nVnprt
no nw s>nn nnnnno »r^nn pVmi jntwo nrbnp
.napn snjon p o>s:!rpn nnm n>3»3yrro nw^
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
47- ibid., 144: nnV ss> w.niT.S3 n>n>:ra on ii^s TPiVrn mypi
nisi iimp 11s irwn nn o s»nn nrorn irani^nr nao bv
ins 131 nrre? niy^n n!?sn lwsn ,namm3 TIKI ns
TtTPOP ~\W7\ TTDSn (the end of the sentence is corrupt). According to a
following passage, the teachings of the kabbalists agree with those of the
philosophers on the attributes of the highest Principle that they are not the
personifications which Christians hold their Trinity to be! So it is shown that
that German Talmudist has spoken the truth. Then follows the sentence about
the Incarnation: IQS'Ty "1T3'S [incarnatio = ] nDlWnn p5?3 mi
.n!73pn riDDn >M>3 nos> it's wzbn -nra U IVIJWTVP
48. Cf. my study in n*73pn IT'irSI, 171-3.
49. As in the Introductio in Cabalam by Count Carlo Montecuccoli (Modena, 1612),
24-6; apparently from Cordovero's Pardes rrmmonim (published in 1592), where
the doctrine of the three lights is treated extensively, Pico, Ricci and Reuchlin
were unaware of the corresponding texts in the pseudo-Hai.
50. More on him in Baer, 2: 276,
51. Zelus Christi (Venice, 1592), fol. 34: "Scribunt Judaei antiqui, qui dicuntur
mecubalim (quod est apud eos dicere: qui sciunt scire drrina) in quodam libra vocato
Cefer Azohar, quern attribuunt Rabbi Simeoni Beniohay qui liber est in regno
Castellae apud peculiares Judaeos. Et dictus liber scribit et glossat fere totam
bibliam et est liber magni voluminis et magnorum secretorum apud Judaeos. Et
cum est in medis c. 6 Isajae dick: Sanctus David Abba [read S3S ST in Ara -
maic] quod est dicere: Iste est pater. Sanctus Debera ... iste est filius. Sanctus
da Ruha de Cudsa, quod est dicere: iste est Spiritus Sanctus," In addition, the
author states later that he had not seen the whole book Zohar, but only a
fascicle (quaternum), from which he cites a passage on the etymology (treated
in a number of passages in the Zohar) of Bina as ben ya, filius Dei.
52. Jacob Obermayer, Modernesjudentum in Morgen- und Abendland (1907), 36-7.
53. A copy of this apparendy extremely rare edition of Epistola de secretis is in Naples,
as A. Freimann has demonstrated in his brief essay on Paulus de Heredia in the
festschrift for Jakob Guttman (1915), p. 207.1 have used the Vatican library copy
(Stampa Rossiano 1217) of the second edition, which was published around 1487
in Rome. (1979: It turns out that the references given by Freimann to an edition
of 1482, which I trusted, have been refuted by F. Secret. In Convivium 15 (i957X 33,
he proves that there was only one edition of 1487 (or 1488), published in Rome.
The ambassador Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, to whom the book was dedicated,
only arrived in Rome on 13 September i486, and left the city in 1488.)
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
54. Galatino's numerous quotations in De arcanis catholicae verttatis comprise vir-
tually the entire factual contents of the booklet. It is via Galatino's publica tion
that the booklet became relatively well known as of 1518. Galatino, whom I
quote from the 1603 edition, indulges in fantastic explanations about the rarity
of the nonexistent book N'H 'J A: "rarissimus est, et qui eum habent, propter
mysteria Christianae fidei in eo contenta, ipsum penitus occultant, unde
quidam eorum ilium a nobis confictum esse."
55. Cf. the complete text in Galatino, cols. 364-6, as well as 406, 487 and 549.
56. Cf. Graetz, Geschichte derjuden, vol, 8 (1864), 231-2.
57. This is the origin of the citation (without reference to a source!) in Galatino,
col. 42, where Galatino refutes the interlocutor's objection that modern Jews
deny the existence of such a passage in Targum Jonathan. He says that it was
removed from the manuscripts by Jews in the past; but that he himself had
seen a manuscript with the passage! ("In vetustissimis tamen libris, qui rarissimi
sunt, ita prorsus habetur, ut ego retuli. Quorum ipse unum vidi, cum esse
Lieu, quo tempestate Judaei ex toto regno Neapolitano, iussu Regis Catholici
expellerentur [i. e., therefore 1510]. Et ille quidem hoc loco sic omnino habebat,
uti ipse retuli.")
58. All of this is also in Galatino (col. 41, without references to a source), who has
changed only a few words and slightly rearranged one sentence.
59- 'Audi israhel ait rabbi ibha [iO** "1 as it in fact reads in the manuscripts, instead
of the KP" '"1 of the editions] hie est israhel antiquus. Adonai id est deus
principium omnium rerum, antiquus antiquorum, norms radicum et omnium rerum
perfectio et diciturpater. Elohenu id est deus noster profunditas fluminum et fons
[the forgery begins here!] scientiarum quae procedunt ab illo patre et filius
vocatur. Ait aut rabbi symeon: hoc archanum filii non revelabitur unicuique
quousquarn venerit messias ut ait Isaias cap. XI Quia repleta erit terra scientia dei
sicut aquae maris operientes. Adonai id est deus hie est spiritus almus [Galatino:
sanctus] qui a duobus procedit et vocatur mensura vocis. Unus est ut unum cum
altero concludat et colliget. Neque enim alius ab alio dividi potest. Et propeterea
ait Scema idest congrega israhel, hunc parrem et filium et spiritum, eumque fac
unam essenriam unamque substantiam quia quidquiC est in uno, est in altero.
Totus fuit et totus est, totusque erit. (1979: See also the text cited by Secret, from
the manuscript of Ensis Pauli, in Sefarad 26: 264.) 60. According to Freimann,
Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, Marquis dp Santillane; cf. Didot, Nouvelk biographie
generate, 34: 945- 0979: But this incorrect identifica-
tion has been corrected by Francois Secret. It was the Count of Tendilla. Se-
cret has also shown that the term Cabbala is found once in the Epistola de
secretis and several times in his Ensis Pauli from the same year 1487 preserved
in a Vatican manuscript (Conviwum, 1957, p. 32, and Sefarad, 1966, p. 98.))
61. For ea oceule (more complete in Galatino, col. 81: tu autem eafortiter occule, as in
Giustiniani) it has in Hebrew the barbaric expression "T1P3 QpfF) ilTTXl
which possibly points to a translator whose native language was German and
who translated literally "keep it secret" (halte sie geheim)'.
61. Ed. 1603, col. 762, on the twelve-letter name of God which proceeds from the
Tetragrammaton and is said to be nothing other than the Trinity \2 3N Vlpi!
mil. Blau (p. 59) did not recognize that this entire passage concerning the
name of twelve and forty-two letters comes from Paulus de Heredia's book.
(1979: Actually, the passage is borrowed, in all these authors, from the Pugio
fidei of Raymundus Martini, p. 544.)
63. The passage was published by Arduino Kleinhans in his long essay on Galatino
in Antonianutn 1 (Rome, 1926), 172. The main passage reads: "Ilium [libellum
epistolam secretorum appellatum] tamen Paulus de Heredia, Johannis Pici
Comitis mirandulani preceptor, cum esset ab Judaica ceritate ad Christianae
veritatis lumen conversus atque hebraicae eruditionis peritissimus, primus in
latinum vertit, ac formisexcudi fecit." There is no doubt that Paulus was actu-
ally in Italy. The dedication to "the envoy of His Majesty the King of Spain"
proves it, as does a later work of the author (who had by then had reached old
age) dedicated to Pope Innocent VIII that I have not seen myself. It is possible
that he himself attended to the printing of his book in Rome in 1487. That he
must have stayed long in Italy can be deduced from the format of the Hebrew
title (fol. 4V of the incunabulum) "Ex quibus epistolam confaeci eamque
Nigghereth hazodoth hoc est epistolam secretorum appello." If Heredia had
confused the letters aleph and 'ayin, then "Nigghereth" could represent a cor-
ruption, due to the typical Italian-Jewish pronunciation, of iggereth\ Perhaps,
however, it is only a peculiar printing error.
64. Kleinhans, 169, The new title was to read "Nehumiae filii Haccanae de Messiae
mysteriis opusculum epistola secretorum nuncupatum, ante Salvatons nostri
adventum anno circiter quinquagesimo, ex libro galerazeya Rabbeni Haccados
excerptum."
65. Galatino also mentions this in the planned subtitle of the second letter: "Paulus
de heredia ... latinitate donavit et nunc demum Petrus Galatinus revisum
pristinae integrirati restituit."
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
66. "Ilium iterum ex hebreo in latinum traduxi pristinaeque integritati restitui" (p.
172). See also the previous footnote.
67. Kleinhans, 330. At the conclusion of De arcanis the author states that the work
was completed in September 1516.
68. Also quoted in Galatino, col. 154.
69. In the Cone. sec. prop, opinion, nos. 7 and 14; cf. Opera, 108-9.
70. Cf. Galatino, col. 412, and Pico. Opera, 111 no. 41.
71. Graetz, 9:174. The passage is also printed in the complete edition of the book
by Samuel Lowinger in Revue des Etudes Juives 105 (1940)' 43 6.
72. That is, created out of the void?
73. Farissol apparently found quotations taken from both of these identical books,
under the two different titles.
74- This must mean "while profiting from the fact that these books were not well
circulated." The entire passage is quite peculiar, as these midrashim were in
fact widely distributed throughout the Jewish communities.
75. Hebrew VK1U?> >Wl
76. Apparendy in religious discussions between Jewish and Christian scholars.
77> The complete text (Lowinger, 43) is as follows: "b "mm fnvnv
run
'in >3ar rbn p"pp pnofn i«3o >Nn :D>OI?D vbv p"pp
.xisnip nm «wnp trai twnp KDKT xirnp ITDK
The writing of H2X7 instead of X3N NT and X131 instead of N13 NT
contains the same mistakes as the Latin transcription in Zelus Christi: dabera in
a single word, as if it were in the genitive. It is remarkable that Farissol held
this midrash, which he himself says was inaccessible, to be authentic, on the
word of his (Jewish or Christian) informants, and consequently undertook to
explain it as referring, uncontestedly, to the three patriarchs as the proclaimers
of monothesim.
78. (1979: This is no longer possible today.)
79- Cf, Baer, Diejuden im christlichen Spanien, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1929-36), 201, 510, 728.
80. Ibid., 1: 824.
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
81. Ibid, 2:384-90. The majority of the charges related to the circumcision of Chris-
tians and the re-conversion of Conversos to Judaism.
82. Farissol lived at the court of Lorenzo de Medici in 1485. Perles speculated that
this might be the same Abraham that, according to a letter written by Marsilio
Ficino (probably in 1485), was present at numerous disputations in Pico's house.
More precisely, Ficino reports that the learned Jewish "doctors" (sc, scien -
tists?) and peripatetics Elia (del Medigo) and Abraham (Farissol?) met there
with the neophyte scholar Guglielmus Siculus - who we now know was the
learned convert Mithridates - and held discussions. Cf. Perles in the Revue des
Etudes Juives 12 (1886); 251-2.
fol. 5v: DJrfj
83. Cod. Montefiore (Jews' College). Hirschfeld no. 290,
XV1
n>Vm jrnip tiro n«n> mata y->vr& >n >D >nV« top3
.JTiToxn rbzpn >^JN JTBTT nrranmr Vsi n»r6s ooisn
B4. Around 1600 the early Marrano Abraham Herrera quotes a Christian kabbalist
on the question of the order of the ranks of angels. "DJ >J3Q "TTlN DDT)
J1SWH HJODrD "P 17 OJt "W&&, without any polemical criticism. There
can be no doubt that his reference is to Pico's conclusio secundum secretam
doctrinam Hebraeorum, where the passage in question is located in no. 2 (Opera,
Si). Cf. Herrera's Beth Elohim (Amsterdam. 1655), fol. isr. In his antikabbalistic
Work^riN6>Jrem(ed. Libowitz, Jerusalem, 1929), 96, Leon Modena writes that
the kabbalist Joseph Hamiz, who lived in Venice, had Pico's writings in his
possession.
85. The letter is published by Simcha Assaf in the festschrift David
Yellin (Jerusalem, 1935), 226-8.
 THE
SYMPOSIUM
 THE KABBALAH OF
JOHANNES REUCHLIN AND ITS
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Joseph Dan

I. RELEVANCE

T HE ATTITUDE OF CHRISTIAN SCHOLARS, especially the humanists of the late

fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries in Italy, France and Germany, towards
Jewish traditional works in general and the kabbalah in particular1 can be viewed in
two different ways, both of them factual and accurate. One is, to see it as a
continuation of the centuries-old quest of Christianity for the verification of its
experiences, beliefs, rituals and dogma by Jewish sources. The focus of this quest
has been, since the Gospels, the Hebrew Bible, to which later Jewish works, mainly
the Talmud and midrash, were added in the Middle Ages. Several Christian
apologists, from Petrus Alfonsi at the beginning of the twelfth century' to Flavius
Mithridates at the end of the fifteenth, 3 most of them converts from Judaism, led
the process. Similar elements are to be found in the writings of the Christian
kabbalists of the Renaissance. The premise of this attitude is that Christian truth is
complete and beyond doubt; the added Jewish sources are not needed in order to
strengthen it, but mainly to demonstrate its truth to the Jews, and further
demonstrate that only the unnatural stubbornness of the Jews blinds them from
perceiving the inevitability of the recognition of the mission of Jesus Christ. The
scholarly enterprise is directed, therefore, first and foremost towards the Jews.
This, essentially, was the view of Gershom Scholem, which he presented forcefully
in his study of the roots of the Christian kabbalah," and he was followed by other
scholars. 5 There can, however, be a
 THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHL1N
completely different approach, which recent studies of the subject seem to
indicate, and which is adopted in this paper.
The Christian kabbalah, and especially the works of Pico della Mirandola and
Johannes Reuchlin, represent a different, additional message: the non-biblical
Jewish sources are meaningful and relevant to Christianity itself. There is no doubt
that the content of these works strengthens and upholds Christianity; yet their
study has an impact on Christianity itself, and offers a deeper, more profound
understanding of the nature of Christianity. It is not relevant only as arguments
against stubborn Jews; it also benefits the faith of Christians. The message of this
school of thought is not only that the Jews should change, but that Christianity
itself has to be revitalized by a renewed understanding of its ancient origins that
has become possible by the revelation of new sources. These include, first and
foremost, the Hermetic writings, and the kabbalah is to be regarded as an integral
part - if not the oldest and most sacred - of these rediscovered pre-Christian
sources of divine truth.
This notion of relevance is very nearly unique in the history of the three
scriptural religions. I am not aware of any authentic Jewish or Muslim cultural
phenomenon which found Christian sources relevant to the establishment of a
more profound and meaningful Judaism or Islam. Nor am I aware of any other
Christian phenomenon - including contemporary attempts to bring together
Christians and Jews - in which Jewish non-biblical creativity is regarded by
Christians as relevant to their own faith. Nor can one find examples in which Jews
or Muslims found each other's religious traditions relevant to the analysis and
understanding of their creeds.* Such a concept of relevance necessitates an attitude
of respect towards the source included in the tradition of another religion, without
tearing it out of its original context in that culture; in other words, independent of
the primary or ultimate motive for interest in the relevant phenomenon, such
relevancy denotes the existence of some degree of tolerance towards the teachings
of another faith. This does not mean that the scholar emphasizing such rel evance is
in any way hesitant or incomplete in his own faith; on the contrary, he may believe
in the most sincere manner that the analysis of the relevant texts fortifies and
magnifies the superiority of his own faith, compared to those who ignore it.
Relevance of this sort may be described, in terminology used in other areas of
human strife, as the rejection of the
^_________THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
'zero-sum conflict'as expressing the relationship between the two religions. The
Christian kabbalist rejects, knowingly or unknowingly, the concept that
Christianity is right exactly in as much as Judaism is wrong, and any dimin ishing
in the tightness or wrongness of the one immediately is transferred to the rightness
or wrongness of the other. For him, the statement that there is more truth in
Jewish traditions than was supposed before, does not diminish Christian truth but
enhances it. As stated above, I have not been able to find a credible, sustained
parallel to this attitude in earlier or later points of contact between Judaism,
Christianity and Islam.'
The Christian kabbalah has to be regarded, from a historical point of view, as an
unusual chapter in the relationships among scholars from different scriptural
religions, which have been both very close and very far from each other for two
millennia. In order to achieve a historical understanding of this cultural
phenomenon, the two terms which combine in the title of this occurrence should
be investigated; it should not be taken for granted that the term "kabbalah" as a
component of the phrase "Christian kabbalah" has the same meaning that it has in
other, mainly Jewish, contexts; nor should it be taken for granted that
"Christianity" in this phrase is identical in its meaning to any other of the
numerous messages of this term throughout the ages. The main concern of this
study is Johannes Reuchlin's De arte cabalistica, and the discussion of the
meaning of "Christianity" and "kabbalah" is therefore mainly directed at the
usages of these terms in that particular context; yet the implications are more
general, and have relevance concerning the three centuries in which the Christian
kabbalah flourished in early modern Europe.
II. CHRISTIANITY IN "CHRISTIAN KABBALAH"
When Pico della Mirandola published his controversial theses, 8 including the
declaration that the kabbalah (and magic) constitute the best proof of the veracity
of Christianity, he was not pointing out a new and powerful affirmation of
Christianity; rather, he was stating that the kabbalah (and magic) were the ultimate
proof of his own conception of Christianity This thesis of Pico's does not denote
the strengthening of traditional Christianity but the announcement that Christianity
should have a different meaning from the prevailing one, the meaning outlined in
his nine hundred dieses.
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
The term "Christianity" in the phrase "Christian kabbalah" is a new phenomenon,
presented by Pico and his followers."
The period in which die Christian kabbalah came into being is character ized by
three main historical events that changed the Christian world and had far-reaching
impact in bringing the medieval world to its end and in shaping Christianity in the
modern period. The first is the culture of the Renaissance, especially the humanist
currents in Italy, Germany, France and England. The second is the Reformation
and the religious and political upheavals which the first two and a half centuries of
its spread brought to Europe. The third is the Witch Hunts, which began almost
exactly at the same time that the Christian kabbalah appeared, and continued to
dominate Europe for almost exactly the same period as the spread of the Christian
kabbalah. The mere listing of these four phenomena suffices to demonstrate
clearly, that the "Christianity" of the "Christian kabbalah" is completely different
from that of the Witch Hunts, the early Protestant sects and the Catholic reaction,
while it is closely connected with the "Christianity" of the humanists of the
Renaissance. 10 Interest in the Christian kabbalah in the late fifteenth, sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries denoted an affiliation with trends within Christianity which
continued the humanist tradition, while it expressed a remoteness, at least, from
the courts of the Inquisition which judged witches and heretics, and at least some
kind of disengagement from the fierce religious conflicts between the church and
the various manifestations of the great Reform movement. Johannes Reuchlin and
Martin Luther were condemned together, in the same document, by the Pope (in
1517),11 yet the Judaism presented in the writings of Luther is as different as one
can imagine from that presented by Reuchlin, and the Chris tianity of Dearte
cabalistica is remote, in the same measure, from the Christianity of Martin Luther.
There is very little in common between the dieses of Pico della Mirandola and the
Malleus maleficarum, even though diey were published almost at the same time.
While the differences are obvious, it is necessary to try to formulate those
particular points of divergence which are relevant to our subject.
As Reuchlin is our starting point,12 the main difference can be presented in one
word which expresses almost everything: Pythagoras. In 1517 Reuchlin wrote a
letter to the pope, Leo X, the son ot Lorenzo de Medici. The main purpose of the
letter was to declare Reuchlin's innocence of die accusa-
tions made by his persecutors from Cologne, and to introduce the numerous
documents of support for his position. The letter begins with words of praise for
the pope and his family:
The Italian philosophy of the Christian religion, which was once handed
down from Pythagoras, the first parent of its fame, to great men of
excellent minds, submitted for many years to the loudbatking of the
sophists, and lay buried for time in darkness and dense night, until by the
favor of the gods there rose the Sun of all the best kinds of studies, your
renowned father.
The essence of the Medici achievement is described as die rediscovery of the
"Italian philosophy of the Christian religion," the source of which was Pythagoras,
who was persecuted by the "sophists" in the same way fhat Reuchlin is being
hounded by the Cologne clerics now. A more elaborate statement is presented in a
following paragraph:
Considering, therefore, that scholars lacked only the Pythagorean works,
which still lay hidden, dispersed here and there in the Laurentian
Academy, I believed that you would hardly be displeased if I should make
public the doctrines which Pythagoras and the noble Pythagoreans are said
to have held, so that these works which up to now have remained unknown
to the Latins may be read at your happy command. Marsilio [Ficino] has
prepared Plato for Italy, Lefevre d'Etaples has restored Aristotle for the
French, and I, Reuchlin, shall complete the group, and explain to the
Germans the Pythagoras who has been reborn through my efforts, in the
work which i have dedicated to your name. But this task could not be
accomplished without the cabala of the jews, because the philosophy of
Pythagoras had its origins in the precepts of the cabala, and when in the
memory of our ancestors it disappeared from Magna Graecia, it lived again
in the volumes of the cabalists. Then all these works were almost
completely destroyed. I have therefore written On the Cabalistic Art,
which is symbolical philosophy, so that the doctrines of the Pythagoreans
might be better known to scholars. About these doctrines I affirm nothing,
but I simply present a dialogue between Philolaus Junior, a Pythagorean,
and Marranus,
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
 a Moslem, who came together from their various travels in an inn at
in the Laurentian Academy library, the pope would be bound to come to his
Frankfort to listen to Simon the Jew, a man highly trained in the cabala ... l3 assistance, because Reuchlin's enterprise is a Medici enterprise.
Reuchlin expresses his concept of his own work by comparing it to Ficino's
The history of Christianity, Judaism and Pythogoreanism is presented here in
presentation of Plato to the Italians and Lefevre's presentation of Aristotle to tJie
unusual clarity. The "Italian philosophy of the Christian religion" was recorded
French. Pythagoras and the kabbalah are not different from Plato and Aristotle in
first in the works of the Jewish kabbalah. It was then absorbed by Pythagoras and
dreir inherent Christian nature. Being older than the Greek philosophers, and
his disciples. Their writings have been dispersed, and can be reconstructed now
relying on Jewish traditions which originated in a divine revelation, they are more
only by assembling the fragments of the Greek school and combining them with
original; Greek truth is derived from the Jewish one, but both are manifestations
the remaining volumes of the Jewish kabbalah. Together, they represent the lost
of Christianity.
philosophy of Christianity, and this is the essence of Reuchlin's enterprise. There
The details of this identification will be further discussed below. Here we
is no boundary separating Pythagoras from the kabbalah, and there is no boundary
should emphasize the main point, which is that Reuchlin's Christian ity is different
separating both of them from the philosophy of the Christian religion. According
in almost every way from that of the Dominican Kramer or that of Luther. The
to Reuchlin, in his treatise on the art of the kabbalah he himself "affirms nothing";
paragraphs quoted above are not taken from one of Reuchlin's many published
he only presents the dialogue between the kabbalist, Simon, and his Pythagorean
works. They constitute the most important passages in a letter written to the pope,
and Muslim disciples. Christianity does not seem to be present anywhere in this
for the purpose of defending himself against accusations that his Christian
scheme, because it is everywhere. Reuchlin describes himself in this letter as "I
credentials are not perfect. Reuchlin seeks the pope's help in this controversy,
who have suffered such great wrongs for our Christ," and the sincere meaning of
which actually positions the two sides as competing, before the supreme authority,
this statement should not be doubted. Reuchlin, like the other humanists, is not an
to decide who is the better Christian. Thus, in a context in which his faith is under
apologist; he does not seek to reconcile Christianity with other traditions or
judicial review before the pope, Reuchlin does not hesitate to define his beliefs in
differentiate it from them; he is certain that Truth and Christianity are absolutely
the framework of the triple identification of kabbalah, Pythagoras and Christianity.
identical. Therefore any true, ancient tradition, being preserved in Greek, Hebrew,
He does so because he is certain that this is the only true way, and is supported by
Arabic or "Chaldean," is a Christian true tradition. According to his own
the conviction that fliis was the Medici's Christianity, which is also the pope's, and
description, he did not have to point out how the doctrines of Pythagoras and the
therefore the dominant, normative one. Reuchlin did not seem to realize how
kabbalah strengthen or demonstrate this or that element of Christian philosophy,
marginal his concept of Christianity was in that time, and how precarious his
because of his belief that they are Christian philosophy. There can be no
religious position was; even the great Erasmus hesitated to join the controversy
knowledge that is not Christian knowledge, nor can there be any ancient, true
and come overtly to his colleague's assistance.
tradition that is not a Christian tradition. The specific rituals which individuals
This is just one example among many; it proves that the term "Christian" in the
may follow are immaterial; Simon the Jew may observe the Sabbath and other
phrase "Christian kabbalah" denotes a very specific, highly unusual meaning,
Jewish precepts, and his way of life is respected by his listeners, yet the doctrines
shared by very few people before, after or during the period in which this cultural
he presents are Christian ones, as are those of the Pythagoreans; no specific proof
phenomenon flourished. The most important point, I believe, in Reuchlin's
or analysis is needed concerning their Christian nature once their antiquity and
presentation is his sincere belief that his work contributes meaningfully to the
philosophical veracity have been established. Reuchlin beheved that by
wholesomeness of Christianity; it is not intended to prove the veracity of
identifying the kabbalah with Pythagoras, whose writings were found
Christianity to the Jews by pointing out the Christian nature of their own
traditions. He is a reformer of German Christian-
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
ity, who brings the light of the Pythagorean-kabbalistic philosophy to his brothers.
This "Christianity" is not that of Kramer nor that of Luther, but its intrinsic,
sincere Christian orientation cannot be doubted.
III. THE KABBALAH IN "CHRISTIAN KABBALAH"
There is hardly any definition within Jewish culture of the term "kabbalah" with
which the term "Christian kabbalah" could be compared. The word is used in
medieval Hebrew both for tradition in general (especially the oral tradition
revealed by God to Moses, which includes the oral law and the meanings of the
written Torah), and the esoteric tradition as a particular segment of that vast
complex. The kabbalists used this term to denote their insistent claim that the
material presented in their works is not the result of new, individual revelation or
experience (including mystical experience), but traditions preserved in old
manuscripts and by oral transmission of secrets from generation to generation.
The identification of "kabbalah" with mysticism, so common today, is the result
of the adaptation of modern terminology to material which did not include, in an
authentic form, the concept or a term for mysticism. Hebrew (like Arabic) does
not have a word denoting "mysticism," and no kabbalist in the Middle Ages or
early modern times knew that he was supposed to be a mystic. "Kabbalah" and
"mysticism" can be regarded as oppo-sites, because the first emphasizes tradition
and marginalizes individual experience, whereas the latter includes the notion of
an original discovery of a truth by an individual.1''
The Christian kabbalah used the term "kabbalah" in a way which is almost
identical to that of the kabbalists themselves. It viewed the material found in the
Hebrew works as ancient, esoteric tradition; the concept of mysticism does not
play any meaningful part in the descriptions of the Hebrew sources found in the
works of the Christian scholars. They hardly ever relate to a Jewish rabbi having
an experience or revelation; they insist that their informants were the guardians of
the oldest secrets ever revealed by God to Man. The antiquity of the material is the
proof of its veracity rather than a direct relationship with God, as is the case
among Christian mystics. In this sense, the Christian kabbalah should not be
regarded as a phenomenon to be integrated into die history of mysticism. Several
great Christian
mystics made use of the ideas and terms which the Christian kabbalists introduced
to Christian culture, but so also did rationalistic philosophers, scientists,
magicians and others. Research concerning the impact of the kabbalah on the
spiritual world of Jacob Boehme should be balanced by noting the impact of the
same sources on Leibniz and Newton.
The meaning of the word "kabbalah" is, therefore, almost identical in Jewish
and Christian usages. Yet there is a meaningful difference once we compare the
texts denoted by the term. The library of works translated from the Hebrew for the
Christian kabbalists and the Hebrew treatises which they used include books which
are not regarded, within the framework of Jewish culture, as kabbalistic ones. The
most notable group of writings of this kind are the works of Rabbi Judah ben
Samuel of Regensburg and Rabbi Eleazar ben Judah of Worms, the two prominent
writers of the Kalonymus school of Jewish esoterics in medieval Germany who are
usually called the 'Ashkenazi Hasidim."1' These writers presented in their works
esoteric traditions and their own theological discourses (as well as works in the
field of ethics, which are irrelevant to the present context). In modern times they
have been included, sometimes, in the literary tradition of the kabbalah, but despite
meaningful similarities, the main ideas of the kabbalah are absent from their
works.16 It seems that Flavius Mithridates, the great translator of Hebrew
kabbalistic texts into Latin, was attracted to this material, 17 as was Cardinal Egidio
da Viterbo, who had one great collection by Rabbi Eleazar copied for him and read
it carefully, adding many marginal notes in Latin. lfl
The most significant aspect of the Christian understanding of the term
"kabbalah" is the inclusion of numerous Talmudic and midrashic quota tions and
references within the confines of this term. This does not contra dict the Hebrew
meaning of the term, which, as pointed out above, could refer to the oral tradition
as a whole. Christian kabbalists often quoted Talmudic sayings and sections as
"kabbalah"; sometimes this was done because they found this material within the
kabbalistic texts they were discussing. That is, they were not taken from the
Talmud or midrash directly but from the works of Recanati, Gikatilla and others.
In other cases, however, Talmudic material was directly presented as "kabbalah."
I did not find in the literature that I could survey for this study a clear distinction
between Talmudic-midrashic traditions and kabbalistic ones. Such a distinction is
rare in the
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHL1N THE KABBALAH OFJOHANNES REUCHLIN
Jewish sources as well; after all, many kabbalistic works, including the book
Bahir and the Zohar, were presented by the kabbalists as being an integral part of
the Talmudic tradition, preserved and presented by Talmudk sages. This attitude
of the Christian kabbalists reflects loyalty to the nature of the texts which served
them as sources. There is, however, a meaningful difference: The Jewish reader of
kabbalistic works was aware when a Talmudic or midrashic statement is
interwoven into the kabbalistic text (and so, obviously, was the author). Christian
readers were aware of biblical verses integrated into the text, but in most cases
they could not distinguish between kabbalistic statements and Talmudic ones. In
this sense, even an accurate translation into Latin did not convey the same
meaning to Jewish and Christian readers: The first were aware of the many layers
of the text, whereas the Christians in most cases understood all post-biblical
statements as if they were on one linguistic-historical level.
However, by doing so, the Christian kabbalists ignored and denied attitudes and
concepts that had developed in Christianity for many centuries, which designated
the Talmud as an evil and blasphemous work, one that might include the demand
to use the blood of Christian children for Jewish rituals, and that had as its main
purpose the denial of Christianity. In many generations the Talmud was the subject
of trials, and the demand to burn it was a constant one among various Christian
orders. This enmity towards the Talmud serves also as a meaningful component of
the controversy around Reuchlin. 19 Quoting Talmudic sources as reflections of
ancient truth relevant to Christian faith is an act of courage and determination that
separated the Christian kabbalists, especially Pico and ReuchJin, from the Chris-
tian mainstream.20 It was easier to present "kabbalah" as a relevant ancient Jewish
source of truth, because this term did not have evil associations in Christian
culture. There is no doubt, however, that these scholars were aware of their usage
of Talmudic material, and sometimes stated this explicitly. Following the Jewish
concept of the term "kabbalah" demanded a very high price when it was done in a
Christian cultural context.
The most complex problem concerning the term "kabbalah" in the usage of the
Christian kabbalists concerns the main ideas and symbols that this term denotes.
The kabbalah has been identified, both by its practitioners and by scholars, as an
esoteric tradition which is centered around a group of symbols representing the ten
manifestations of God, the sefirot.
Though not all kabbalists accepted this system or used it in an identical way
(Abraham Abulafia is the best-known opponent of this system in the thirteenth
century), it remained the most obvious characteristic distinguishing kabbalistic
from non-kabbalistic works. This system includes also the new idea, first
presented in the book Bahir, that the realm of the sefirot includes a feminine
power, the Shekinah or Malkut." In the Zohar this concept was developed into an
intense sexual depiction of the dynamism in the divine world. Another important
characteristic of this literature is the presence of a second system of sefirot on the
left (evil) side, creating a dualistic concept of existence both in the divine and
earthly realms." These three elements -the pleroma of ten sefirot, the femininity of
the Shekinah and the parallel world of evil powers - are the core of the world-view
presented in the Zohar and in the kabbalistic works that followed it.
If the teachings of the kabbalah were reconstructed from the quotations and
descriptions presented by the founders of the Christian kabbalah, none of these
ideas would hold a central place. If the kabbalah were to be defined as writings
which present these concepts as their main ones, the Christian kabbalah could not
be regarded as rightfully using that tide. It seems that the Christian kabbalists,
consciously and unconsciously, rejected or marginalized the symbols which were
central to the Zohar and most other kabbalistic works. Reuchlin's attitude towards
them will be discussed below in some detail. In this general survey, some reasons
for this marked difference between the Hebrew kabbalah and the Christian one
should be pointed out. They are found, I believe, in three realms.
i. The Hebrew sources available to the Christian kabbalists were less emphatic
concerning these symbols than the whole body of kabbalistic lit erature. The
writings of Judah of Regensburg and Eleazar of Worms did not include them,
because they were not kabbalists in this sense of the term. Abraham Abulafia, one
of the main sources for Pico, rejected them. Recanati and Gikatilla did not
emphasize them in the same way that the Zohar did, though the concepts of the
pleroma and the femininity of the Shekinah are present in their works. It was
easier to reject them when facing the library of works used by the Christian
kabbalists than by someone familiar with the totality of the Hebrew material. The
Christian kabbalah developed in a particular time and context in which de-
emphasizing these elements was more possible than in other times and cultural
contexts.
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
 2.. In many cases, the Christian kabbalists were more interested in detail than in
the general theosophical structure of the material they were using. Pythagoras - as
they understood him - and Plato, and, obviously, the Chris tian tradition, supplied
the general systematic structure, to which the kabbalistic texts added verification,
elucidation of details and particular information. They often treated the texts as
collections of factual information concerning the nature of the universe, rather
than theological treatises presenting a complete theosophical system. This caused
them to study sentences and paragraphs, marginalizing the integrated message of
complete works.
3. All the kabbalistic ideas were problematic when transplanted into a Christian
context. It is very difficult to harmonize the ten divine hypostases, the sefirot, with
the Christian concepts of the Trinity. It was not difficult to find kabbalistic
structures, both in the realm of the sefirot as well as in the analysis of the
Tetragrammaton and other divine names, which support the Trinity, but the
concept of the sefirot as such did not lend itself easily to an integration with the
Trinity. In a similar way, the feminine elements in the concepts of me divine
realm in Christianity, the image of the Mother and sometimes the Holy Spirit,
could not be reconciled without difficulty with the intense sexuality of the
kabbalistic descriptions of the Shekinah.
Concerning the dualism of good and evil, it seems that the period in which the
Christian kabbalah emerged was the most suitable for the fusion of Christian and
kabbalistic concepts of the devil and his realms; the end of the fifteenth century
and the beginning of the sixteenth were the time in which Christian concepts of
such dualism were studied, elaborated and put into practice by the Inquisition. Yet
such a fusion did not happen, and the reason is rather clear. The humanists who
ignored the dualism inherent in some of their kabbalistic sources also ignored, or
opposed, the contemporary dualistic tendencies in Christianity.
The combination of these attitudes makes it imperative that we under stand the
meaning of the term "kabbalah" within the framework of Christian kabbalah as
independent of any definition or conception of the term "kabbalah" within Jewish
culture. The Christian scholars who read and commented on the Hebrew
kabbalistic texts formed their own set of emphases and selections, which created
unique compilations of texts and ideas. These combinations differed considerably
in the writings of the various Christian
kabbalists, and we have no reason to assume that a concept found in the works of
one necessarily reflects the views of another. (This, of course, is true concerning
the Jewish kabbalists as well, each of whom selected from the kabbalistic tradition
whatever suited him, and created his own combination of traditional and original
concepts.) In many cases, the Hebrew texts were not the only sources used by the
early Christian kabbalists. They utilized previous Christian translations and
conceptions concerning Jewish esotericism, and especially the writings of
previous Christian kabbalists: in the case of Reuchlin, for instance, the works of
Pico and Ricci exerted considerable influence on his comprehensive presentation
of the kabbalah. It should also be noted that the image of the kabbalah in the
works of the Christian kabbalists was heavily influenced by the selections made
by their translators and teachers of Hebrew texts, and there is a possibility that
certain aspects of the texts and their meanings were deliberately misrepresented
when transmitted to them. The tension between Judaism and Christianity did not
vanish completely when Jews, Jewish converts to Christianity and Christian
scholars were engaged together in the enterprise of presenting the Christian
kabbalah.
It is impossible, therefore, to transmit any concept automatically from the
Hebrew kabbalah to the Christian one or vice versa. Some of the characteristics of
the Hebrew kabbalah are found in the writings of the Christian kabbalists, while
others are absent. Christian works describe as 'kabbalistic' concepts which cannot
be found in the Hebrew texts. The Hebrew works of kabbalah include many
elements which cannot be found in the Christian kabbalistic literature. Concepts
and terms which are found in both bodies of texts may have different meanings in
each of them. In addition, there is a vast difference in the concept of language
between the two, which will be described below (§V).
IV. THE APOCALYPTIC ELEMENT
Christian humanism in the Renaissance can hardly be described as a chiliastic
phenomenon; what is called in ajewish context "the messianic element" is more
remote from it than from most other trends and directions in Christian culture at
the time. Yet it is possible to discern some marginal manifes tations of messianic
expectations in the works of some of the Christian
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
 kabbalists. Cardinal Egidio da Viterbo is an example, and it is more pronounced
in the sometimes strange ideas of Guillaume Postel.
It seems that any meeting, in a meaningful religious context, between Jews and
Christians raises the expectations of a conversion, or even a mass conversion, of
the Jews to Christianity, and such an event cannot escape chiliastic connotations.
The Christian kabbalists came to know on a personal level - sometimes in an
intense personal contact - various kinds of Jews, kabbalists and non-kabbalists,
copyists and intellectuals, and especially many converted Jews. In a few cases we
know about Jews who converted within the context of the Christian kabbalistic
enterprise, and in others we know about attempts to persuade Jewish scholars to
convert." These examples do not combine to create a picture of a concerted effort,
and it is certainly wrong to suppose that the Christian kabbalists perceived it as
their main mission. However, it should be taken into account as an aspect - ad-
mittedly, a marginal one - of the phenomenon as a whole. But Christian kabbalah
is essentially a Christian phenomenon, a discourse between Christians about the
nature of Christianity.
A particular aspect of this problem, which is directly related to Reuchlin's work,
is the impact on the Christian kabbalah of chiliastic traditions of the school of
Joachim of Fiore. The Joachimite concept of historical evolution, in which each
period reflects a different aspect of the Trinity, culminating in the future revelation
of the Eternal Testament of the Holy Spirit (following the Old Testament of the
Father and the New Testament of the Son), was one of the most potent vehicles of
medieval apocalypticism, and its influence was maintained, in various forms, for
many generations." Gershom Scholem drew attention to the possibility of
Joachimite influence on Reuchlin's concept of spiritual history presented in his
early work on kabbalistic tradition, De verbo mirifico, published in 1494, dealing
mainly with the Tetragrammaton as the miracle-working name in its various forms
- a subject which had meaningful place in the works of Joachim. In Reuchlin's
scheme, history is divided into three parts - the age of the patriarchs, in which the
divine name known was the three-letter Shaddai; the age of the Old Testament, in
which the name was the four-letter Tetragrammaton, and the age of the New
Testament, in which the name is the five-letter YHSWH, that is, Jesus. Reuchlin
derived this sequence from his Jewish sources - purely Talmudic ones - which
divide
the six-thousand-year history of the universe into three parts: the age of tohu
(chaos), the age of Torah, and the age of the messiah. These millennia will be
followed by a thousand years of destruction, after which "the next world" (colam
ka-ba) will be created." The Jewish sources do not associate these stages in history
with different divine names, although the statement that the oldest name of God by
which he was revealed to the patriarchs was Shaddai was made by the Talmudic
sages to explain the difference between that time and the revelation of the holy
name to Moses. 26
Reuchlin's historical description of the evolution of the name can be regarded
as essentially opposite to that of the Joachimite tradition: the final revelation of the
complete name occurred, according to Reuchlin, in the beginning of Christianity,
while Joachim maintained that the Eternal Testament will be revealed in the
future. Thus, while Joachim's teaching could be used as a vehicle for historical
transformation, Reuchlin's includes no historical directive: the change has already
occurred, and therefore no historical consequences are to be derived from this
theory. It may explain and justify the truth of Christianity, but it does not denote
the need for any present or future change. It does not differ markedly from
previous Christian utilizations of the rabbinic concept of history to demonstrate
that the messiah has already come more than a millennium ago, and the Jews did
not listen to the predictions of their own sages. The messiah that had to come near
the end of the fourth millennium was, according to them, Jesus Christ.
Despite this obviously non-millenarian concept, doubts may linger. Is it
possible that Reuchlin believed that there is a particular meaning to the
understanding of the development of the holy name in the original Hebrew? Are
his writings on the subject to be regarded as purely ex-egetical, or does the
discovery of the original letters of the alphabet comprising the name of Christ and
their relationship to previous formulations represent a new age of awareness of the
messianic nature of Jesus and his name? In other words, one may suspect that the
return to Hebrew and the attachment to the Hebrew sacred name was supposed to
represent a historical metamorphosis, and the age of the Hebraists would bring
forth a new spiritual epoch. I do not think that Reuchlin's works, in the present
stage of the study of his voluminous writings,
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REVCHLIN THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
 warrant such an understanding; yet the possibility exists." The dedication to
Hebrew, and to the holy name in Hebrew, may have had a more profound spiritual
significance than just a search for additional information or the deeper
understanding of old truths.29
V. CHRISTIAN KABBALAH AND THE EUROPEAN
HEBRAIST MOVEMENT
Christian kabbalah can be described as an expression of a new attitude to language.
One of its most meaningful manifestations is the rejection of the dominant
Christian concept that truth is expressed in Latin and Greek. Al most all Christian
kabbalists studied several other languages. Reuchlin studied Arabic, and
introduced a Muslim as one of the characters in De arte cabalistica. "Chaldean"
was one of the most important subjects to which their works were dedicated, and
indeed, Aramaic and Syriac became here, for the first time, legitimate components
of European culture. Their writings included assemblages of various alphabets,
actual and fictional. The undeciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs played an important
role in the writings of several Christian kabbalists, magicians and alchemists. 19 The
whole phenomenon can be described as the ascent of Greek into the central place
among languages, with Hebrew in an equal place, and numerous other lan guages,
most of them viewed as ancient, mysterious languages of the East, around them.
This intense philological and linguistic awareness resulted in a new world-view,
free from the confines of the identification of truth with a particular language and
alphabets. The visual concept, that truth can be written using strange signs, and the
auditory one, that it can be expressed by bizarre noises, necessitate a more flexible
and profound attitude towards different cultures.
One of the most striking characteristics of Hebrew kabbalah, and one that had
an impact on the Christian kabbalah, is the extension of meaning to non-semantic
aspects of language. Hebrew exegesis regarded many components of language as
integral parts of divine revelation, including the shapes of the Hebrew characters,
the vocalization signs (nekudot) and the musical signs (te'amim), the names of the
letters and of die signs, the "crowns" (login) adorning the letters in sacred
writings, the numerical value of letters
(gematria), the possibilities of transmuting letters and exchanging them, 30 and
many others. These methodologies have nothing to do with the kabbalah or
mysticism: they are part of midrashic exegesis, which is based on the belief in
language as a divine instrument by which God created the world. 3' Language is an
aspect of divine infinite wisdom, and a human being cannot discern what is
important and what is secondary in it; therefore all methods, leading to different or
even conflicting conclusions, are equally valid. Kabbalists adopted these methods
and utilized them in elucidating ancient texts, though unlike midrashic exegetes
they believed that they knew the ultimate, meta-linguistic divine meaning. For the
Christian kabbalists the midrashic methods seemed to be an integral part of the
kabbalistic tradition (as indeed they were, if one understands the term "kabbalah"
as including Talmudic tradition). In this way, the kabbalah became associated in
European thought with numerology, strange alphabets and other non-semantic
exegetical procedures.32
The Christian kabbalah, despite its efforts, could not make the transition from
the concept of language as a communicative, semantic and human entity, as it is
conceived in a Christian context, to a divine, creative and meta-communicative
tool by which the world was created, as it is viewed in a Jewish context. The
multiplicity of meanings, equal in their veracity despite the differences or even
conflicts between them, has not been accepted by the Christian scholars. These two
dimensions of post-biblical Jewish culture - the midrashic perception of the infinity
of meanings, and the mystical meta-linguistic experiences hiding behind many
kabbalistic texts - were not preserved by the Latin translators. They were not aware
of that, because the core of truth which they believed to be bidden within the texts
they were studying was known to them beforehand. The combination of
Pythagoreanism, neoplatonism, Hermeticism and Christianity that constituted their
innermost conception of truth was discovered in the texts, which were presented as
the proofs of its eternal veracity. It was not doubt which led them to the Hebrew
texts, but complete confidence in their mastery of truth, to which the Hebrew
words served as further demonstrations, rather than a starting-point for a quest.
The Christian kabbalah served as both a continuation of, and as a new impetus
for, the Hebraist movement, which reached its peak in subsequent centuries. But
the concept of Hebrew is different in the two closely-related
 THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
groups. For the Hebraists, Hebrew was a communicative language, governed by
grammatical laws, which, if mastered, could assist in establishing the "true"
meaning of scriptures. For the Christian kabbalists, Hebrew was the instrument by
which esoteric texts could be approached - texts which included great non-
semantic mysteries - using a group of methods which could reveal hidden secrets.
For the Hebraists, Hebrew might supply a better communication with God using
language; for the Christian kabbalists, Hebrew could help in achieving freedom
from the confines of communicative language and approaching God by non-
semantic means, Reuchlin's first book, De verbo mirifico, is centered around the
Holy Name as such a non-semantic divine revelation," while the second, De arte
cabalistica, adds to it the whole range of midrashic methods which are based on
the concept of Hebrew as a divine language.
VI. REUCHLIN, HEBREW AND KABBALAH
The life and works of Johannes Reuchlin have been the subject of extensive study,
both concerning his role in the humanistic movement in the Renaissance in
Germany, and concerning his attitudes to Judaism and the kabbalah. One of the
most extensive studies is included in the Geschickte derjuden by Heinrich Graetz.54
Salo Baron complained that Graetz allotted too much space and detail to the
subject,35 but this is understandable: an optimistic view about the role of Jews in
German society and culture, and the quest for tolerance of Judaism in Germany,
must start with Reuchlin, and he can be understood as representing the beginnings
of the integration of Jews in modern German society. Graetz had to overcome his
aversion to the kabbalah when he portrayed Reuchlin as the hero of this important
chapter in history;36 it was very difficult for him to admit that it was Jewish
mysticism, which he regarded as superstitious and irrational, that served as the
vehicle for the first meaningful meeting between German culture and Judaism.
Gershom Scholem was in a much more comfortable position when he dedicated to
Reuchlin a central place in his study of the Christian kabbalah, 37 as well as several
specific discussions,** though he could not, of course, share Graetz's optimism
concerning the place of Judaism in German culture.'" Baron's complaint is
misplaced: despite the episodical nature of Reuchlin's acceptance of Jewish culture,
it is a unique and meaningful chapter in the
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
history of the relationship between Judaism and modern culture in Europe. Recent
studies concerning the history of the impact of Christian kabbalah on subsequent
generations of major figures in seventeenth-century European philosophy seem to
indicate that the meaning of this phenomenon has not been exhaustively described
as yet,10 and that further study may support Graetz's position rather than Baron's
skeptical attitude.
Reuchlin's works clearly exemplify the problem indicated in the previous
chapter: the relationship between Hebraism and Christian kabbalah, a relationship
which is fully complementary on the one hand, but also includes undercurrents of
tension. Hebraism, to which Reuchlin was dedicated from the beginning to the
end of his creative endeavor, is concerned first and foremost with the elucidation
of the Hebrew Bible as a source of Christian truth. Reuchlin's study of the
kabbalah is directed, like that of Pico, Postel and Ricci, to the unification of the
classical philosophical tradition, the esoteric traditions of the East, and the non-
biblical Jewish traditions, into a whole which demonstrates the truth of
Christianity. At the same time it is an achievement in its own right, and should be
regarded as the core of human intellectual endeavor directed at producing a
perfect scholar-intellectual whose main quest is for the truth. This second aspect is
the one which distinguishes Reuchlin from anti-Jewish Christian polemicists and
apologists (including Jewish converts to Christianity) in previous centuries and in
his own time.41
VII. DE ARTE C A B A L I S T I C A
The literary format of De arte cabalistica represents the main themes of Reuchlin's
concept of Judaism and the kabbalah. The presentation of three main characters,
each of whom represents one of the three monotheistic religions, is highly unusual
in itself; the fact that the representative of Christianity is not the dominant figure is
even more unusual. It is doubtful whether there is in European literature a figure
comparable to that of Simon, the Jewish kabbalist, as portrayed by Reuchlin.
Nothing is said in the book concerning the personal background of Marranus, who
represents Islam, and Philolaus, the Christian; Simon is described as a descendent
of Rabbi Simon bar Yohai, the author of the Zohar. Thus, he is not only a scholar,
but a physical embodiment of his own teachings.
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
 The respect shown by the author to Simon is evident in the very structure of the
work. The first and third parts are dedicated mainly to presenta tions by Simon;
they occur on Friday and Sunday. The second part, occurring on Saturday, the
Jewish Sabbath, is dedicated to a discussion between Marranus and Philolaus, who
analyse what they have heard on the previous day from Simon. The teacher is
absent because of his obligations to the Sabbath's rituals. When on Sunday Simon
suggests that they postpone their discussions for the Christian day of rest and
worship, Philolaus declines, stating that absorbing Simon's teachings is superior to
any other kind of worship. In this way, Simon is presented as one who is devoted
to the practice of his religion in a much more devout way than the two others. It
cannot be doubted that Reuchlin expressed, in this way, his deep respect and
deference to the figure of the Jewish kabbalist. The book was written during the
height of Reuchlin's persecution by the Dominicans in Cologne, when his case was
submitted to the pope, and some sections in the book (especially the beginning of
the third part) refer to that affair. It is evident mat the fierce criticism and
denunciation to which Reuchlin was subjected in the years preceding the writing of
this work did not cause him to hesitate in expressing clearly his appreciation of the
teachings of the kabbalah and the personality of the fictional teacher.
The structure of the book also allows the reader to distinguish between the
kabbalistic teachings and the way they were absorbed by the disciples, who
represent Reuchlin himself. The second part of the book
- the discussion between Marranus and Philolaus in the absence of Simon
- gives us an opportunity to check what they derived from Simon's series of
presentations in the first part. Simon's lectures include long paraphrases and
translations from kabbalistic sources; it is difficult to assess, in the first and third
parts, how these quotations were understood, and what conclusions were derived
from them. This is given in the second part. It is evident in many cases in this part
of the work that the more abstract generalizations arrived at by the participants in
the discussion are actually independent of the kabbalistic texts presented. The
consistent drive to identify the teachings of Simon the kabbalist with the
Pythagorean, Zoroastrian and Hermetic traditions often relegates the kabbalistic
reference to a marginal, superficial position. When Reuchlin states a very
profound truth that is undoubtedly meaningful and central
in a kabbalistic world-view, he often does so by using traditional Christian
sources, For instance, Philolaus states that:
divine causes do not run parallel with those of nature, nor can a science of
nature rule the divine, still less can it demonstrate that knowl edge of what
rests solely on trust can be acquired by human reasoning. One does not
infer that what is just "believed" is "known" in the ordinary course of
things. That friend of yours, Dionysius the Areopagite (who has, I think,
learned something from the Pythagoreans, or is at least strongly
reminiscent of them), says in his book On divine names, in the passages
dealing with theology: "There is no logically necessary relationship
between causes and what is caused. What is caused holds the image of its
causes. The causes themselves are abstracted from what they cause, and
are enthroned above as their inherent nature requires" (Part II, p. 141).
This is a profound statement of a mystical world-view that is, indeed, preva lent
among kabbalists, but it is inherent as well in the Christian-neoplatonic tradition.
This principle was used extensively by later writers, especially when expounding
the microcosmos-macrocosmos concepts of existence that became very popular in
the seventeenth century and were often presented as kabbalistic. 4*
In Reuchlin's letter to the pope, he declared emphatically that De arte
cabalistica was a factual, informative presentation of the teachings of the
kabbalah, without the author's intervention; the book, according to him, did not
present any theses or conclusions. This is true concerning many sections of the
first and third parts of the work; we can learn from them what Reuchlin read and
how he translated the texts at his disposal. It is the second part which includes
Reuchlin's analysis of this information and the way in which he integrated it in his
own world-view.
A large section in the first half of the third part of the work is dedicated to the
analysis of the Hebrew divine names, mainly the Tetragrammaton and the holy
name of the "seventy-two letters." This discussion is most meaningful for the
attitude of Reuchlin, his sources and his heroes, to language, and in demonstrating
his awareness of the non-semantic aspects of language, in which Hebrew differs
significantly from Latin. One might say that Latin, as used by the church, has only
one non-semantic term, the name
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
 Jesus. Other terms referring to the divine realm are words which have a semantic
message. 4' In Hebrew, most of the references to the divine realm and to God
himself are non-semantic. 44 Reuchlin, however, quotes Pico della Mirandola, who
had declared in his nine hundred conclusions that "Mean ingless sounds have more
magical power than meaningful ones" (III, 271), While this seems to be confined
to magical formulae, it seems that Reuchlin extended it to the spiritual and
religious realms, under the impact of his Jewish esoteric sources. 45
A case in point is Reuchlin's treatment of the subject of the "name of seventy-
two letters," which is quoted and discussed in relatively great detail. This name is
derived from three consecutive verses in Exodus (14:19-21), each of which
includes, in Hebrew, exactly seventy-two letters. This fact gave rise, long before the
kabbalah appeared, to a Jewish esoteric practice of deriving from these verses
seventy-two groups of three letters each, which together - and each of them
independently - represent the most secret and sublime name of God. This is
achieved by writing the seventy-two letters of the first verse in a line, and below
that the letters of the second verse in an inverse order, beginning with the last letter
in it. Below these two rows the third verse is written, in the usual order. The name
is derived from reading these three rows downwards; thus the first element is
composed of the first letter of the first verse, the last letter of the second verse and
the first letter of the third verse; the second group - the second letter of the first
verse, the one-before-last from the second verse and the second letter of the third
verse, and so on, seventy-two times. The name, therefore, includes actually two
hundred and sixteen letters, in seventy-two groups of three letters each. Reuchlin,
following his kabbalistic sources, describes this practice in detail, with complete
accuracy, and copies in Hebrew the full name (III, 259-73).
This practice represents a radical destruction of the semantic message of the
biblical text. The verses relate the passing of the Red Sea when the lews fled from
the pursuing Egyptian armies. Instead of the straight narrative, this esoteric re-
arrangement of the letters produces seventy-two groups of three letters which are
completely deprived of any semantic message. Seen in this way, the biblical
narrative is but a thin cover of mysterious structures which have no
communicative meaning. No wonder that kabbalists posed the question why only
these three verses should represent a hidden divine name, and concluded that all
scriptures are
the names of God, or even that the whole scriptures are one supreme name of
God.47
It is evident that Reuchlin understood the procedure, but missed its im-
plications. According to his understanding (which is occasionally found in
Hebrew sources), this series of names is actually a list of names of angels.
Philolaus responds to this exposition: "Never have 1 seen these angels or known
their names" (III, 263). This is in response to Simon's statement: 'All these names
spring from the quality of forbearance, say the kabbalists. This forbearance
comes from the ten numerations. I will outline the tree of numerations, please
God" (III, 263).4e Marranus and Philolaus deliberately misunderstand Simon's
words. He describes these names as being included in the divine structure of the
ten sefirot, while they understand them as being a list of names of angels. As
these scholars represent Reuchlin himself, this deliberate misunderstanding has to
be attributed to him. This is continued later, when Simon states:
So there are seventy-two sacred names. They are (in one word), the
Semhamaphores that explain the holy Tetragrammaton. They are to be
spoken only by men dedicated and devoted to God and must be
pronounced thus in fear and trembling through invocations of the angels:
Vehuiah, Ieliel, Sitael, Elemiah..." (111,273).
This list of seventy-two names, all of them meaningless, are constructs of the
three-letter groups, with the addition of "el" or "yah" which are the characteristic
endings of the names of angels in Hebrew, as Reuchlin correctly explains. By
transforming them into angelic names, the conclusion announced by Simon is:
Gentlemen, you now have access to words with which you can do more
than mutter secretly to yourselves in the depth of your hearts, for now
you can express sounds aloud and in conjunction. You can summon
whatever angel you like by his own symbolic name (ibid.).
Instead of the secret name of God, connected with the divine structure of the ten
sefirot, we are presented with a list of meaningless sounds which can be used to
conjure powerful angels. Mystical inquiry concerning the divine realm has been
turned into an exercise in the acquisition of magical knowledge, empowering the
user in achieving his mundane purposes.
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
 A radically different attitude is found in Reuchlin's discussion concerning the
holy name of forty-two letters. The tradition concerning such a name is ancient,
and a reference to it is found in tannaitic literature of the second century, though it
is not certain that it is related to the same groups of letters which we know from
medieval texts.40 The text of this name, as it was known in the Hebrew esoteric
tradition, is of seven groups of six letters each, which do not produce any semantic
message. Medieval scholars associated this name with the first forty-two letters of
the Torah, Genesis 1:1-2. This connection is describedby a radical use of the
methodologies of temurah, the permutation of letters and the substitution of a
desired letter instead of the written one. In this way the communicative message of
the first words of the book of Genesis was completely destroyed, and a sequence of
meaningless letters was substituted for it, letters which were claimed to be the
secret name of God.
Reuchlin uses the discussion of this name in order to introduce, in great detail,
the methodology of temurah and explain it in an elaborate manner. This is a
subject which is very difficult for people who are not familiar with Hebrew
exegesis, because more than any other method, it denies completely the validity of
language as communication of meaning. No word is what it seems; every group of
letters can be transformed to any other group; meaning is ephemeral, easily
exchanged with another group of letters conveying a completely different meaning
or none at all. Reuchlin understood this sub ject completely; his examples are
accurate, and the diverse sources he used in this section are relevant and elucidate
the subject in a coherent manner. In this section Reuchlin demonstrated that he had
indeed mastered the Hebrew language in a dynamic manner; he was not only able
to understand words and translate them, but was familiar with the intrinsic
structure of the language and the rabbinic understanding of its infinite possibilities.
There are many interesting elements in Reuchlin's exposition of the name of
forty-two letters, but the conclusion is most meaningful. Simon-Reuchlin states:
There are other Kabbalists who have indulged in higher speculation and
transcend creation and the creatures, who stand in the sole emanation of
the Deity. In holy manner they bestow that emanation, under a vow of
silence and through the holy name of twelve letters
and the name of 42 letters, upon those worthy men who are devoted to
God. This traditional name is written in the Book of Secret Letters,™
where, in answer to the question of the Roman Antoninus about the holy
names, Rabbi Hakados says that from the Tetragrammaton comes the
name of 12 letters: Av Ben veRuakh haKadosh, meaning: Father, Son and
Holy Spirit; and from this is derived the name of 42 letters: Av Elohim,
Ben Elohim, Ruah hakadosh Elohim, Shalosha beehad, ehad besheloshah,
which means: "God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, Three in
One and One in Three." What heights and what depths in matters
understood by faith alone! (Ill, 339).
This statement is described as the culmination of Simon's presentation. He wished
to stop here, but his two disciples requested him to continue, and he did; but the
passage quoted still serves as a climax of the detailed discussion of the holy
names, the main subject of this part of the book. So indeed it is, by being the most
explicit christological statement in the work. The kabbalistic holy name of twelve
letters is identified as the Trinity, and the name of forty-two letters is transmuted
to declare the divinity and unity of the three powers of the Trinity. The authority
in whose name this statement is made is not a kabbalist, but Rabbenu ha-Kadosh,
a usual rabbinic reference to Rabbi Judah the Prince, the great rabbinic authority
to whom the conclusion of the Mishnah is traditionally attributed, at the end of the
second century.
The question that will remain unanswered is whether Reuchlin was aware of the
fact that his detailed exposition concerning the nature of the Hebrew method of
temurah rendered his christological conclusion meaningless. If every letter can be
substituted for every other letter, and every group of words can be transformed
into any other, than the Trinitarian formula is just one among an infinite number of
possibilities. It is not the hidden secret, the ultimate underlying truth, but one more
possible permutation; it is not very difficult to derive the formula "there is no God
besides Allah and Muhammad is his prophet" from the same group of letters. It is
the inner conviction, independent of this procedure, concerning the Trinity which
makes the derivation of this sentence from the forty-two letters meaningful, rather
than the procedure itself, which can tolerate any combination and every meaning.
Did Reuchlin's grasp of Hebrew and the midrashic methods of exegesis extend far
enough for him to realize that his presenta-
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
 tion in this case was self-defeating, making the core of the Christian con cept of
the Godhead one possible alternative among an infinity of others, most of them
meaningless?
Reuchlin's analysis of the divine names includes a magical element, but we do
not find the same intense emphasis on the connection between kabbalah and magic
which is present in the works of Pico, which reflect to some extent the impact of
Ficino's ideas. Yet the association of the kabbalah with magic remained a
meaningful characteristic of the Christian kabbalah, especially after a series of
more recent works re-emphasized it in the second half of the sixteenth century."
There can be little doubt that this was the result, to some extent, of me medieval
Christian identification of Jewish wisdom and knowledge with magic. The
Christian kabbalists in this way expressed not only a change of attitude towards
Jewish traditions, but also their renewed interest and appreciation of die subject of
magic." However, the term "magic" itself represents, in this period, a most
complicated concept, often markedly remote from the usual meanings of this
word.53
VIII. CONCLUSION
When assessing the main contribution of Reuchlin to the concept of the kabbalah
among Christians in the sixteenth century and proceeding into the seventeenth and
the eighteenth, it seems to me that the aspect most in need of emphasis is the
establishment of the essence of the kabbalah as a non-semantic message. Reading
De arte cabalistica one gets an impression that the kabbalah is mainly an
exegetical phenomenon, which employs non-semantic methodologies to discover
secrets concerning other non-semantic elements of language, especially the secret
names of God. Such an image does not emerge from reading Pico della Mirandola's
theses concerning the kabbalah. It is Reuchlin's work which placed the kabbalah
within the framework of the Hermetic-estotericist context as far as language is
concerned; Pico's main message was the recognition of the antiquity and
authenticity of the kabbalah. Reuchlin's concepts characterized the kabbalah for
centuries to come as an obscure, mysterious doctrine which departs from the
ordinary use of language and inhabits instead a bizarre, illogical realm vis ited only
by magicians, visionaries and the superstitious. It came to be regarded as a sister-
doctrine to alchemy and astrology, and ultimately was
positioned in opposition to science, enlightenment and the communicative use of
language. This image of the kabbalah, enhanced by later writers and especially by
the great impact of Agrippa von Nettesheim's De occulta philosophia and the
many works which followed it, remains dominant to this very day. It has shaped
not only the meaning of the term "kabbalah" in European languages, but also the
image of this doctrine in the writings of Jewish scholars in the nineteenth century
and the twentieth who have not bothered to read the original Hebrew sources and
have relied, instead, on die impression derived from Christian descriptions and
attitudes. The intense rejection, indeed the hatred towards the kabbalah
amongjewish intellectuals of the Enlightenment, including the fathers of Reform
Judaism and the scholars of the Wissenschafi desjudentnms, is derived at least in
part from this image, which seemed to clash with their insisted attempts to present
Judaism as a rationalistic-ethical phenomenon worthy of emancipated citizens of
an enlightened European culture. The kabbalah, for them, became an
embarrassment, and they did not realize that it is the image of the Chris tian
kabbalistic texts, rather than the original Hebrew ones, which served as a basis for
this attitude."
Needless to say, this image is contrary to Reuchlin's intention and to the
intellectual message of De arte cabalistica. For him, die Zohar, Gikatilla and
Abulafia were as rational as Plato, Pythagoras and the Gospels. Esotericism,
occultism and magic were not conceived, in his works and the works of those who
continued to develop die study of Christian kabbalah, as inferior, superstitious
doctrines, but as the keys to divine truth, inseparable from science and logic. The
studies of Lynn Thorndike, Frances Yates and Antoine Faivre" have clearly
established the intrinsic connections between what was regarded in the
Enlightenment as superstitious and illogical and sources of scientific method and
the cultural environment which enabled the development of modern science and
philosophy. The separation between these two is the result of modern prejudices
rather than a historical characterization of cultural phenomena.
It is the suggestion of this paper to view the differences between the kabbalah
and the Christian kabbalah, and also between the authentic Christian kabbalah and
its image in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as resulting from different
concepts of language. The non-semantic methods of exegesis emphasized so
prominently by Reuchlin are not essen-
 THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN___________________

tially kabbalistic but are based on midrashic concepts which were adopted and ing the burning of books which Reuchlin regarded as including most meaningful
developed by the medieval Jewish esoterics, especially the Ashkenazi Hasidim and human and Christian truth.
some kabbalists (like Abraham Abulafia); they are not, within the Hebrew context, As a result of Reuchlin's work, there was a kabbalistic component in many
specific characteristics of the kabbalah. They were presented in the writings of major spiritual developments in European culture. The names of Giordano Bruno
Reuchlin and others as identical with the message of the kabbalah, whereas in the and Francis Bacon, Robert Fludd and John Dee, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and
original sources they were methodologies which can be used for the presentation Isaac Newton belong to the history of the Jewish impact on early modern science
of any world-view. The great enterprise of the kabbalah of the thirteenth century in Europe. Although there was always strong opposition to this trend from various
and the beginning of the fourteenth (a period from which most of the sources used segments of Christianity, the influence of the Christian kabbalah came to an end in
by Pico and Reuchlin were derived) was the exegetical transformation of the the eighteenth century not because of Christian dogmatism but as a result of the
Hebrew classical sources - the Bible, Talmud and midrash - into revelations of the all-conquering rationalistic Enlightenment which engulfed European thought and
secret dynamic processes within the divine pleroma. Most of this exegesis was science.
performed by means of midrashic semantic methods, intrinsically supported by an
intense mystical sense of spiritual communion with these realms and visionary
experiences hidden behind the exegetical and homiletical genres of expression.
Neither this exegetical enterprise itself, nor its underlying mystical intensity, were
rendered into Latin in Reuchlin's monograph, and they remained, to a very large
extent, unknown to the Christian adherents of the kabbalah. The ancient methods
were accepted as if they were the message, and were presented in a
disproportionate way, undue emphasis being given to the non-semantic ones.
This fact should not overshadow the uniqueness of Reuchlin's work within the
context of Christian-Jewish cultural relations. During the fifteen centuries of
separation between Judaism and Christianity before Reuchlin, no other Christian
scholar dedicated so much effort to the study of the Hebrew language and Hebrew
non-biblical texts as did Reuchlin, and no one presented the conclusions of his
study in such a spirit of empathy and understanding. There are very few examples
which equal Reuchlin's work in the centuries following him. The near-monopoly
held by Jewish converts to Christianity in medieval times over the presentation of
non-biblical Jewish sources to the Christian world was totally broken by Pico and
Reuchlin; the door was opened for Christian scholars to approach this material
without intermediaries who might have personal agendas in the presentation of
Jewish traditions. The clash between Reuchlin and Pfefferkom, a convert, is very
instructive in this sense, the ex-Jew demand-
 NOTES

There are a few general surveys of the history of the Christian kabbalah.
Among the most important are Joseph L. Blau, The Christian interpretation of
the cabala in the Renaissance (New York, 1944) and Francois Secret, Les kabbalistes
Chretiens de la Renaissance (Paris, 1964). The subject plays an important part in
the studies of Frances Yates, as well as those of Paul O. Kristeller, some of
which are mentioned in the following notes. The studies of G. Scholem and
C. Wirszubski are also listed in the following notes.
See Bernard McGinn, "Cabalists and Christians: reflections on cabala in medi -
eval and Renaissance thought," m Jewish Christians and Christian Jews, ed. R.H.
Popkin and CM. Weiner (Dordrecht, 1994), 11-34. The author presents the
christological interpretation of the Tetragrammaton by Petrus Alfonsi, a con-
verted Jew, in his Dialogi contrajudaeos, which was written in rno. Alfonsi quotes
a Jewish esoterical work, Secreta secretorum, as his Hebrew source. This book
should be identified, I believe, with the Hebrew-Aramaic Raza rabba or Sod
ha-sodot, which deals with interpretations of the Tetragrammaton and served
as a source for the kabbalistic book Bahir, the earliest text of the kabbalah
(end of the twelfth century). Concerning Alfonsi, see also: Anna Sapir Abulafia,
Christians and Jews in the twelfth-century Renaissance (London and New York,
1995), 91-4 et passim; G. Dahan, Les intellectuels chretiens et lesjuifs au Moyen Age
(Paris, 1990), 239-70; A. Grabois, "The histories veritas and Jewish-Christian
intellecrual relations in the twelfth century," Speculum 50 (t975): 613-34; J- Tolan,
Petrus Alfonsi and his medieval readers (Gainsville, Fla., 1993), 37-8 et passim.
Concerning Mithridates see below, n. 17.
This article is published in an English translation in this volume, pp. 17-51.
See especially the introduction of M. Idel to the Marrin and Sarah Goodman
translation of De arte cabalistica (Lincoln, Neb., 1983). Quotations in the present
article are from this translation.
The inrerest of Jewish rationalist philosophers in the Middle Ages in the great
Arabic philosophical works of the gth-mh centuries cannor be regarded as an
expression of such a concept of relevance. The Jewish writers were interested

L_
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
 in the Greek philosophical ideas and methods on which these works were
based, and, to some extent, in the process of adaptation of these theories in a
monotheistic, scriptural structure. It should be noted that even that was ex-
tremely one-sided. Arab philosophers did not express similar interest in Jewish
r2. It is a long time since Reuchlin's life and work received a comprehensive, new
philosophical works (which were written in Judeo-Arabic in the Hebrew script,
and thus dosed in most cases to non-Jews). Later, Jewish interest in the works of
Christian scholastics in the 14th century, for instance, is similar in nature, ex-
pressing interest in methodoology and particular philosophical problems.
7. It should be noted with some sadness that the situation in scholarship con -
cerning the three religions was not, and is not today, much better than the one
found in the writings of theologians and teachers of these religions. It is still a
rare phenomenon to find adequate attention given to Jewish sources of the
post-biblical period in the study of the history of religion and culture, both in
Christianity and Islam. While the situation is somewhat better concerning
historical Studies in the narrow sense, histories of culture and spirituality are
still confined, in most cases, within one or another religious framework.
8. On the publication of Pico's theses see the catalogue in this volume, item 13,
The theses relating to the kabbalah have been analysed by Chaim Wirszubski,
Pico della Mirandola's encounter with Jewish mysticism (Jerusalem and Cambridge,
Mass., 1989).
13, Johann Reuchlins Briefwechsel, ed. L. Geiger (Tubingen, r875); translated by Mary
9. Scholem was aware of this fact, and at the beginning of his study (p. 18 above)
he pointed out the opposition of traditional Christians to Pico's assertion. Yet
the main thrust of his article is the emphasis on the traditional character of this
phenomenon rather than its innovative, or even revolutionary nature within
the framework of Christianity and its attitude towards Jewish sources.
10. Even within the culture of Renaissance humanism, the Christian kabbalists
constituted a different and radical element. Frances Yates has pointed out,
correctly and vigorously, the difference between the Latin humanists, of whom
Erasmus is a prominent example, for whom the main value to be derived from
classical antiquity is the perfection of Latin style and the aesthetic rhetorical
norms in opposition to medieval scholasticism; and on the other hand the
"Greek" or "magical" schools, including Ficino and Pico, for whom the con
tent of ancient esoteric works was paramount. See F. A, Yates, Giordano Bruno
and the Hermetic tradition (Chicago and London, 1964), r59-68 et passim. Dis
cussion of this important observation is presented in her other studies as well.
The Christian kabbalists should be regarded as the most radical wing among
the "Greek-magic-science" schools in Yates's distinction.
ir. Pope Leo X, despite his deep sympathy to Reuchlin, banned the treatise written
to defend his views, the Augenspiegel, in 1520, together with the writings of
Martin Luther.
scholarly treatment. The classic biographies are still used - especially Ludwig
Geiger's johann Reuchlin, sein Leben und seine Werke (Leipzig, 1871). Geiger also
published Reuchlin's vast correspondence (see the next note). Compare also
Francis Barham, The life and times of John Reuchlin, or Capnion, the father of the
German reformation (London, 1843). An important contribution to our subject
is the bibliography of Reuchlin's Judaica library: Karl Christ, Die Bibliothek
Reuchlins in Pforzheim (Leipzig, 1924), 36-50; and compare Johannes Reuchlin:
Gutachten uber dasjudische Schrifttum, ed. Antonie Leinz-v. Dessauer (Stuttgart,
1965)- See also: Guido Kisch, Zasius und Reuchlin; eine rechtsgeschichtlich-
vergletchende Studie zum Toleranzproblem im 16.Jahrhundert (Stuttgart, 1961) and
Noel L. Brann, "Humanism in Germany," in Humanism: foundations, forms,
legacy, ed. A. Rabil, Jr. (Philadelphia, 1988), 2:123-56. Another aspect is explored
in Heiko A. Oberman's monograph Wurzeln des Antisemitismus: Christenangst
undjudenplage im Zietalter von Humanismus und Reformation (Berlin, 1981; a de-
tailed discussion of the attitudes of Reuchlin, Pfefferkorn, Erasmus and Luther
to Judaism).
Martin McLaughlin, reprinted in TJie portable Renaissance reader (New York,
1968), 409-14. Reuchlin's dedication at the beginning of De arte cabalistted, which
is presented to Pope Leo, includes paragraphs similar to that letter.
14. An example expressing this conflict can be found in the history of the most
important work of the kabbalah, the book Zohar. The work was published, in
separate treatises, by Rabbi Moshe de Leon in Castile at the end of the 13th
century and in the first years of the r4th, claiming that he was copying these
secrets from an old manuscript brought from the Holy Land. When Rabbi
Moshe died in 1305, he left his wife destitute, and a rich kabbalist offered the
widow a large sum of money for the original manuscript. The wife could not
produce the manuscript, and claimed that her late husband "was writing from
his mind" (see G. Scholem, Major trends in Jewish mysticism (New York, r954),
190-1; and I. Tishby, The wisdom of the Zohar, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1989), 13-17). Rabbi
Moshe claimed to be a kabbalist, a copyist of traditions, while his wife insisted
that he was a mystic, writing down his own experiences. See Scholem, Major
trends, 80-118; idem. The origins of the kabbalah (Princeton, 1987), 180-98 et
passim; I. Marcus, Piety and society (Leiden, 1980); J. Dan, The esoteric theology
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN THE KABBALAH OP JOHANNES REUCHLIN
 of Ashkenazi Hasidism (Jerusalem, 1968 (in Hebrew)); idem, "The emergence
of Jewish mysticism in medieval Germany," in Mystics of the book, ed. R. A.
Herrera (New York, 1993), 57-95. A general survey and bibliography on the
subject are included in my article 'Ashkenazi Hasidism 1941-1991" in Gershom
Scholem's Major trends in Jewish mysticism: fifty years after, ed. P. Schaefer and J.
Dan (Tubingen, 1993), 87-101. A. Epstein, "The Ashkenazi Kabbalah," in the
collection of his studies mi-Kadmoniot ha-Yehudim (Jerusalem, 1955), 237-50 (in
Hebrew); and J. Dan, "The Ashkenazi kabbalah - a renewed discussion," Jerusa-
lem Studies injewish Thought 6; 3-4 (1987); 125-39 (in Hebrew).
17.Wirszubski, Pico ddla Mirandola's encounter with Jewish mysticism, 69-76- The
main work translated by Mithridates is the collection of treatises, most of them
by Rabbi Judah and two by Rabbi Eleazar, preserved in Hebrew in the Oxford
manuscript Bodeleian Library 1567, Oppenheim collection 540, and in Latin in
the Vatican MS Heb. 189. It seems that Mithridates used the same, or a very
similar, Hebrew source.
18.MS British Library Add. 27,199; this is the Sodey Razaya collection by Rabbi
Eleazar of Worms, which includes the extensive commentary on the
Tetragrammaton, Sefer ha-shem.
17.See below, section VI.
20. Their attitude should be compared to that of Mithridates, who presented, in
the sermon he delivered before the pope, Talmudic sayings which he derived
from the fiercely anti-Talmudic treatise of Raymundus Martini as 'hitherto
unknown secret tradition of the Jews'. See C. Wirszubski, Flavins Mithridates
Sermo de Passione Domini (Jerusalem, 1963}- Jewish converts to Christianity were
in the forefront of the attacks against the Talmud (though they did not partici
pate in the attribution of the Blood Libel to Talmudic sources. The first Jew to
do that was Jacob Frank, die Sabbatian "Messiah" of the 18th century, who
supported this accusation in 1757 and 1760, just before he and his followers
converted to Christianity in Poland).
2i. See G- Scholem , The mystical shape of the Godhead (New York, 1991), 56-87;
Tishby, Wisdom of the Zohar, 2: 447-546; J. Dan, "Samael, Lilith and the concept
of evil in early kabbalah," AJS Review 5 (1980): 17-40; idem, "Kabbalistic and
gnostic dualism," in Jewish intellectual history in the Middle Ages, Binah, vol. 3
(New York, 1994), 19-34.
22, The first presentation of a dualistic concept of the realm of the sefirot, divided
into right (sacred) and a left (evil) sides is presented in Rabbi Isa.ic ha-Kohen's
Treatise on the emanation on the left. The Hebrew text was published by G. Scholem
in Mada'e ha-Yahadut 2 (1927): 244-64. An English translation of part of the text is
included in; J. Dan andR. Kiener, The early kabbalah (New York, 1986), 165-81.
23. G. Scholem, in his studies of the Christian kabbalah, was intensely interested
in this subject. See in his article in this volume, p. 25.
24. Concerning the whole phenomenon see B. McGinn, The Calabrian abbot:
Joachim of Fiore. in the history of western thought (New York, 1985X161-203; Joachim
of Fiore in Christian thought: essays on the influence of the Calabrian prophet, ed.
Delno C. West (New York, 1975), especially M. Reeves, "Joachimist influences
on the idea of a last world emperor", 2: 511-58 and B. Hirsch-Reich, "Joachim
von Fiore und dasjudentum," 2; 473-510. Scholem's comparison with the early
kabbalah is presented in Origins of the kabbalah, pp. 463-5.
25. B. Sanhedrin 77b.
26. This subject is discussed in great detail in Rabbi Eleazar of Worms's treatise
on the Holy Name {Sefer ha-shem), which is a part of the great collection of his
works, Sodey Razaya, which was copied for Cardinal da Viterbo.
27. It should be taken into account that a century after the publication of Reuchlin's
work such ideas were used by the Rosicrucian "invisible underground" in
Germany between 1613 and 1620. See in detail the analysis presented by Frances
Yates in her The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (London and New York, 1972). It is
most striking that although the Tetragrammaton has a central position in many
contexts in Christian kabbalah, the drawings of the writers associated with the
Rosicrucians are the most emphatic in presenting the four Hebrew letters as
the source of all existence, under whose wings the righteous reside.
18. Within Judaism, there occurred a development which led a similar historical
concept from the non-historical into radical messianic activity. The theory of the
Sefer ha-temunah in the 14th century, which associated each epoch in the history
of the universe with one of the divine sefirot, did not have any direct historical
consequences, because it was maintained that between one epoch and the other
there was a millennium of destruction. This was changed in the messianic
Shabbatian movement of the 17th century into a potent chiliastic symbol by
maintaining that the transition from one stage to the other might occur within
history. See G. Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi; the mystical messiah, 1626-1676, trans. R, J.
Zwi Werblowsky (Princeton, 1973), 98-9. 29. A prominent example is that of John
Dee's Monas hieroglyphica which had an important role in the beginnings of
Rosicrudanism; see Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, 50-3 et passim.
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
 30. The best-known method of transmuting letters is the one called etbash, in
which the first letter is written instead of the last, the second instead of the one
before last, etc. This is attested in the Bible itself, when Jeremiah calls
Babylonia "Sheshak", using this method. There are scores of similar examples
used by medieval exegetes.
31. See: J. Dan, "The language of the mystics in medieval Germany," in Mysticism,
magic and kabbalah in Askkenazi Judaism, ed. K. Groezinger and J. Dan (Berlin
and New York, 1995), 6-27.
32. This is most perplexing especially concerning "numerology", because Hebrew
is not different from Greek, Latin and Arabic, each of which used letters to
designate numbers. It should be noted that the first gematria to be found in
any text is present in the New Testament, in Greek, namely in Rev. 13:18 where
the "number of the beast," 666, is the value of "Nero Caesar" in Hebrew. See
B. McGinn's discussion in Antichrist, 52-3-
30. Concerning the Holy Name in the kabbalah see the references below, n. 47.
33. H. Graetz, Geschichte derjuden, 4th edition, vol. 9, pp. 63ff., 477ff n. 2. See the
following note, and compare S. A. Hirsch, Johann Pfefferkorn and the battle of
the books (1892), reprinted in the author's A book of essays (London, 1905), pp.
73-115- For further bibliography see Baron (next note), p. 408, nn. 28-9.
35. S. W Baron, A social and religious history of the Jews, 2nd edition, vol. 13: Inqui
sition, Renaissance and Reformation (New York and Philadelphia, 1969), pp.
184-5. Although the importance of this episode in Jewish and general history
of the early sixteenth century cannot easily be overestimated, it was mainly
Heinrich Graetz's personal exuberance and Germano-centrism which induced
him to devote to this issue fully one-fifth of a volume covering the history of
Jews in many lands during a crucial period of a century and a quarter (1492-
1618). There is no question, however, that the ensuing litigation drew ever
wider circles, and, from a local conflict primarily affecting certain Rhineland
communities, it ultimately became an international political and religious is
sue, drawing the attention of leaders of the Holy Roman Empire, France, the
Papacy, and an ecumenical council. Baron's measured historical assessment
neglects the intellectual and spiritual meaning of the conflict; it problematized
some of the most cherished concepts of the previous millennium of Christian
culture, and its impact on subsequent European thought still remains to be
fully described and evaluated.
36. Concerning Graetz's attitude towards the kabbalah see G. Scholem, Origins of
the kabbalah, 3-12.
37- G. Scholem, "The beginnings of the Christian kabbalah," (German original
1954), in this volume, above pp. 17-51. Among recent studies of the subject see
especially: K. Reichert, "Pico della Mirandola and the beginning of the Chris-
tian kabbalah," in Mysticism, magic and kabbalah in Askkenazi Judaism, ed.
Groezinger and Dan, 195-207.
38. G. Scholem, DieErforschung der Kabbalah, vonReuchlin biszurGegenwarUVortrag
gehalten anlasslich der Entgegennahme der Rcucklin-Preises der Stadt Pforzkeim, 10
Sept. 1969 (Pforzheim: Selbstverlag der Stadt, 1970). Compare also: idem,
Kabbalah (Jerusalem, 1974), 198-9,
39. See G. Scholem, Onjews andjudaism in crisis (New York, 1976), passim. Con-
cerning the impact of the Christian kabbalah on subsequent European culture,
Salo Baron expresses a cautionary note. When assessing J. L. Blau's evaluation
of the Christian kabbalah (in the preface to his Tke Christian interpretation of
the cabala; see above, n. 1) as a "fad," and the responses of several scholars to
this attitude (Baron, p. 406 n. 23), the great historian writes: "Viewing the
modern development of Western culture, with its growing secularization, one
may indeed opine that the manifestations of Christian kabbalism, however
numerous and fraught with emotion for the individual participants, created
only a ripple on the stream of cultural progress; not at all comparable with the
impact of modern science. However, there is no question that much of the
energy invested in Renaissance mysticism did not vanish from the cultural
heritage of later generations." With all admiration for Salo Baron's historical
achievements and intuitions, in this case he seems to be following several
premises which are manifestly wrong. The key term in his statement is "mys -
ticism," which is juxtaposed with "modern science". Baron denies the mean-
ingfulness of the impact of the Christian kabbalah because mysticism receded
in modern culture, together with religion, to make way for "modern science"
and secularization. In doing this he neglects the cultural and spiritual aspects
of modern culture on the one hand, and the scientific, rationalistic aspect of the
Christian kabbalah on the other. The quest for knowledge, the development of
comparative philology, the opening for different cultures, the revival of
classical culture and other important aspects of the humanistic movement in
general and the Christian kabbalah in particular cannot be separated from the
history of modern culture, whose scientific and "rationalistic" foundations
seem today to be less secure than devotees of the Enlightenment supposed. If
indeed some elements of this phenomenon can be found in the works of
Leibniz and Newton, as postulated in two studies in this volume and sev eral
other recent scholarly works, the separation between "mysticism" and
"science" is less absolute than expressed in Baron's statement. The discussion
THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN
 above, concerning the meaning of "kabbalah" in Christian kabbalah, attempted
to demonstrate that the mystical aspect of the Hebrew kabbalah has been
minimized in the Christian kabbalah. It seems that Baron was not aware of this
meaningful difference, and attributed to the Christian kabbalah the same
characteristics which he found in the Hebrew one, about which he was not
particularly enthusiastic and did not believe that it had a meaningful place in
contemporary Jewish culture. These prejudices, reflecting a contemporary
Jewish world-view, seem to have influenced his attitude towards the Christian
historical phenomenon.
40. The most recent comprehensive study on the subject is Allison P. Coudert,
Leibniz and the kabbalah (Dordrecht and Boston, i995); the book includes de-
tailed bibliography (pp. 203-11). Compare also Prof. Coudert's contribution in
this volume, and also her previous studies: 'A Cambridge Platonist's kabbalistic
nightmare," Journal of the History of Ideas 35 (1975): 633-52; "Henry More, the
kabbalah and the Quakers" in Philosophy, science, and religion in England, 1640-
1700, ed. R. Kroll, R. Ashcraft, and R Zagorin (Cambridge and New York, 1992),
31-67. Early versions of these two studies were given to G. Scholem, and are
now in his library; see the forthcoming catalogue of the Gershom Scholem
Library, vol. 1, nos. 7129, 7130. Compare also Prof. Klaus Reichert's contribu-
tion in this volume. These and other studies clearly indicate that the impact of
the Christian kabbalah on 17th-century European philosophy and its later
manifestations far exceeds what earlier scholars supposed.
41. It should be noted, however, that the emphasis on the study of Hebrew which
characterized some cultural trends in New England in the 17th and 18th centu-
ries, a phenomenon which had meaningful impact on shaping the cultural
character of institutions like Harvard and Yale, was motivated at least to some
extent by this quest for a whole human being, and not only for an accom-
plished Christian apologist.
42. Especially in the works of Robert Fludd and Giordano Bruno, as well as the
Rosicrucian writers; see, for instance, E Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic
tradition, 308-11 et passim; idem. The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, 74-80. The state-
ment as presented here by Reuchlin can be read as an anti-scientific one, and it
may have been such for several centuries. Four centuries later, however, both
physicists and historians came to adopt this view.
43. Other non-semantic terms in Christian worship are taken from die Hebrew:
Amen (also non-semantic in Hebrew) and Halleluja (which is a semantic term
in Hebrew: "praise God"),
44. This is partly the result of the astonishing fact that the first translators of the
Hebrew Bible into Greek, the authors of the Septuagint in the second century
B.C.E., chose to render the Hebrew names of God in a semantic way, render-
ing Adonai as "the Lord" and Elohim as "God" (iheos), thus creating the illu-
sion that the Hebrew text describes the divine realm using words with specific
meanings. The Vulgate followed the same tradition in Latin, and European
languages imitated it. In Arabic, only the name Allah itself is non-semantic,
leaving Hebrew the only language used by the monotheistic religions with
many non-semantic appellations of God.
45. This may be the reason for Egidio da Viterbo's intense interest in Rabbi
Eleazar of Worms's Book of the holy name, which he read in the copy made
for him by Elijah Levitas and on which he commented extensively in the
margins. This treatise is the most detailed Hebrew discussion of the non-
semantic names of God.
46. A possible explanation of this method may be found in the fact that the last
word in the second verse, "the night", can be read in Hebrew equally from
beginning to end and from end to beginning, This could have sug-
gested that this verse should be read from the end to the beginning.
47. See J. Dan, "The name of God, the name of the rose and the concept of lan -
guage in Jewish mysticism" in Medieval encounters 2 (1996): 228-48. Compare
G. Scholem, "The name of God and the linguistic theory of the kabbalah,"
Diogenes 79 (1972): 59-80; 80 (1972). 164-94-
48. The next section is dedicated, indeed, to the detailed description of the tree of
the sefirot.
49. It has been suggested that this name, like the name of twelve letters, was a
pyramidal arrangement of the letters of the Tetragrammaton; this is a dis tinct
possibility, but nothing concerning this subject has been definitely proven.
50. A better translation of the tide Igeret ha-Sodot would be Tfte epistle concerning
secrets. Concerning the history of this quotation, which Reuchlin received
from earlier discussions, see Scholem, in this volume, pp. 30, 3 2- See the re-
cent discussion of this text in the new Italian edition of Rcuchlin's work:
Johannes Reuchlin, L'Arte Cabalistica, ed. Giulio Busi and Savario Campanini
(Florence, 1995), p. LXX of the Introduction. This is the best treatment of
Reuchlin's treatise to date.
51. On this trend, which is present in De occulta philosophia and repeated constantly
during the seventeenth century, see, for instance: Paola Zambrelli, "Scholastic
 THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN THE KABBALAH OF JOHANNES REUCHLIN

and humanist views of Hermeticism and witchcraft" in Hermeticism and the 7 (1995): 99-119- A general discussion of the subject is presented by Pamela O.
Renaissance, ed. I. Merkel and A. G. Debus (Washington, 1988), 125-53, Long, "Humanism and science" in: Renaissance humanism: foundations, forms
and legacy (n. 12 above), 3: 486-512; and see also: TJ. Reiss, The discourse of mod-
52. As noted above, it is most surprising that this change took place at the same
ernism (Ithaca, NY, 1982). It seems that the post-modernist writers in France
time that the intensified Christian dualism and the enmity towards Satanic
(especially Michel Foucault) contributed meaningfully to the new apprecia-
heresy caused magic to become more feared and hated in many segments of
tion of this field as a result of the increasing criticism of modernity and sci -
Christian culture than ever before; indeed, it was becoming an offense punish-
ence as the expressions of eternal cultural values. From the point of view of
able by the Inquisition, as presented in the works of Springer and Kramer and
this study, it is impossible to ignore the connection between the renewed in-
their like. The seclusion of the Christian kabbalah in small circles of intellec -
terest in Hermetism, Christian kabbalah and the other disciplines and the dis-
tuals, who were remote from the popular culture of their time, is emphasized
appointment and negation of the communicative power of language, expressed
by this fact. The obvious argument was that this is "white magic," unhke the
mainly by deconstruction. Both represent a new awareness of the non-semantic
Satanic "black magic." See an example presented by Leland L. Estes, "Good
aspects of communication, which is also the root of the contemporary fasci -
witches, wise men, astrologers and scientists: William Perkins and the limits of
nation with semiotics.
the European witch-hunts" in Hermeticism and the Renaissance (see the pre-
vious note), 154-65.
53. This is one of the major subjects discussed in the volumes of Lynn Thorndike's
History of magic and experimental science (New York, 1958); see, however,
Thorndike's monograph The place of magic in the intellectual history of Europe
(New York, 1967).

54. The result of this concept was the neglect of the kabbalah, or enmity towards
it, which Gershom Scholem had to face when he started to study the Hebrew
texts. It is vividly described in the pages of his autobiography From Berlin to
Jerusalem: memories of my youth, translated from the German by Harry Zohn
(New York, 1980). Scholem's work was dedicated to changing this attitude and
the establishment of scholarly study of the original texts in their historical
context.

55. It should be noted, however, that for Thorndike and, to some extent, Yates,
the Hermetic-magical works of the isth-ryth centuries were meaningful first
and foremost as the origins and background of modern science, philosophy
and (in the case of Yates) Elizabethan theatre. The study of esotericism, as
formulated in the last few decades by Faivre is different in its endeavor to
investigate these phenomena on their own terms, without apologizing by
pointing out their importance to the development of "really meaningful" con
sequences which are acceptable to contemporary prejudices. See, for instance:
Antoine Faivre, Access to western esotericism (Albany, 1994); idem, "The children
of Hermes and the science of man," in Hermeticism and the Renaissance, ed.
Merkel and Debus, pp. 424-435. Many other articles in the volume are impor
tant contributions to this subject. See also: Wouter J. Hanegraaf, "Empirical
method in the study of esotericism," Method ami Theory in the Study of Religion
 FRANCESCO ZORZI A
METHODICAL DREAMER
Giulio Busi

F RANCESCO ZORZI (1467-1540) HAS BEEN CONSIDERED a central figure in

sixteenth-century Christian kabbalah both by his contemporaries and by
1
modern scholars. In spite of the considerable number of studies that have been
dedicated to his literary works, it is still difficult to perceive the complexity and
the richness of the outstanding personality of this friar. While playing an
important role in the Franciscan Order of Minor Friars in Venice, where he lived,
he was also the prolific author of voluminous texts on mystical symbolism. His
writings, which cover thousands of pages, won him the reputation of a deep
erudition and a great originality.
From the chronicles of his relative Marin Sanudo, 2 the famous diarist of
Renaissance Venice, we know that Zorzi was considered the most eminent
preacher of the city, his sermons being followed by the authorities of the Republic
in the most important church of the State: the Basilica of San Marco.' His
eloquence was an effective blend of rhetorical skill and sincere religious feeling.
From the testimonies of the persons who made his acquaintance, one gets the idea
of a kind of inner fire burning behind his aristocratic manners.
Son of a noble family, Francesco conserved, even under the rough Franciscan
cowl, the prerogatives of his class, remaining in touch, all his life long, with the
oligarchic rulers of the Serenissima. In order to thoroughly understand his
thought, it is therefore important to consider his public career and his involvement
as an unofficial representative of Venetian diplomatic interests in highly important
negotiations. The prestige of his accomplishments certainly gave him an
uncommon freedom of expression, making more acceptable his innovative and
non-conformist theories. In fact, the cultural elite of sixteenth-century Venice was
deeply fascinated by his
 FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
thought, but, at the same time, perceived the danger concealed in his el egant
discourses and writings. It is well known that, although at the end of his life his
works aroused the suspicion of ecclesiastical hierarchies, the attitude of the high
prelates who expressed their doubts about Zorzi's orthodoxy showed a deep
respect for his outstanding personality. One of his censors, the Benedictine
Gregorio Cortese, went as far as to say that even his oddest ideas seemed tolerable
when he explained them directly, thanks to the energy and the vivacity of his
eloquent speech.4 In Francesco Zorzi, the deep mysticism and the simplicity of the
Franciscan tradition coexisted with the highly learned humanistic heritage.
Indeed there was a third element that gave a very particular flavor to his literary
career: he possessed an unusual command of Hebrew, and was convinced of the
importance of Jewish literature, and especially of Jewish mysticism. After
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, who was the founder of the Christian kabbalah,
Zorzi can claim the second place; that is to say that he is certainly the Italian
sixteenth-century author who left the most comprehensive and well-documented
presentation of Jewish symboUsm. Most of the studies devoted to Zorzi's works
are very detailed in discussing the Latin, Italian and Greek sources, while the
Hebrew foundation of his work, although generally considered of extreme
importance, has remained almost unexplored. Some attempts have been made,
notably by Francois Secret, Chaim Wirszubski and Jean-Francois Maillard, 5 to
trace the major works in his Hebrew library. Zorzi is commonly considered a
kabbalist, but this definition seems to assume a kind of absolute value, deprived of
any concrete historical evidence. How did he become a kabbalist? Which kind of
readings and personal acquaintances enabled him to penetrate the obscure world of
Jewish tradition? Far from being a mere curiosity, the discovering of Hebrew
literature represented for Zorzi a meaningful itinerary in a foreign land. Thanks to
his belief in the essential harmony of human cultures, Zorzi was able to transform
the Jewish heritage into an essential component of his inner spirituality.
We shall now investigate the evolution of Zorzi's Jewish knowledge, fol lowing
the progressive widening of his readings and the development of his linguistic
skills. Very little is known about the early years of Zorzi's life: he probably
studied in Padua,6 where he certainly had the opportunity to learn the rudiments of
Hebrew.7 The Jewish studies of our aristocratic Venetian
FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
friar followed a fourfold path. In this regard, the first important experience in his
life must have been the period Francesco spent in the Holy Land. After having
entered the Franciscan Order in 1481, in 1493 he set out on a journey to Palestine,
where the Franciscan Order was then in charge of the Custodia Terrae Sanctae.
This stay contributed to transforming Zorzi's interest in Jewish history into a
living and creative experience. In his writings, he repeatedly refers to the scenes
he saw in the Holy Land, according to his habit of describing the empirical aspects
of life. While we have no systematic diary of Francesco's journey, through the
passages scattered throughout his books it is possible to follow many steps of his
visit, from the first appearance of the coast of the Promised Land, which, he
writes, "emanates its perfume into the sea for many miles" to the rich variety of
fruits and to the ancient monuments of Jerusalem. 8
The second way Zorzi must have acquired an intimate knowledge of Judaism
was personal contact with learned Jews and converts from Judaism. The oldest
evidence refers to his acquaintance with Girolamo Soncino. In the dedication of a
book printed by Soncino in 1502, the humanist Laurentius Abstemius testifies to
the friendship that linked the Jewish printer to the Venetian friar. 9 In this short
text, conceived as an epistle to Zorzi, Abstemius declares Soncino tui
amantissimns, meaning that the printer held Francesco in great esteem. The
relationship between the two must have therefore been quite close and had
certainly developed during Soncino's sojourn in Venice between 1498 and 1501. 10
In 1528 Zorzi delivered, in the Basilica of San Marco, a sermon on the
conversion of a Jew, of Neapolitan origin, named Jacob. 11 This convert is probably
the same famous rabbi that Zorzi claims to have induced to abandon Judaism for
Christianity through theological arguments based on Jewish literature.1* At the
beginning of the third decade of the sixteenth century, another convert, highly
esteemed for his learning, named Marco Raphael, was very close to Zorzi, 13 while
a famous Jewish physician and translator, Jacob Mantino, is reported discussing
Jewish matters in the "chamber" of the friar.11
The third path followed by Zorzi in his quest for the Jewish roots of the
Christian faith was the study of the texts of the early Christian kabbalists, namely
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Johannes Reuchlin. To the Conclusiones
cabalisticae of Pico, Zorzi consecrated an extensive commen-
 FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
tary, which had a large diffusion under the false authorship of Zorzi's dis ciple
Arcangelo of Borgonovo, who published the work under his own name, after the
death of his master." This important text methodically analyses the passages of
Pico directly concerningjewish mysticism, showing Zorzi's knowledge and
adherence to the original Hebrew texts. As we have seen, Zorzi did not publish
this text concerning Pico, and it must be pointed out that, in the works printed
during his life, he never mentions either Pico or Reuchlin by name. A basic reason
for this can be found in Zorzi's concern for avoiding the mention of authors
already considered suspect by Catholic hierarchies. Nevertheless there is another
motive which might have caused Zorzi's silence: that is his tendency to quote
explicitly only ancient or medieval sources, in a colloquy with the past that
intentionally seems to exclude every reference to contemporary authorities. It is
interesting to note how a person so deeply involved in the political and
administrative life of his Order, conceived culture mainly as a lesson of the past,
given by authors whose truthfulness had been already sanctioned by elapsed time.
It is therefore in an indirect way that Zorzi reveals his knowledge of the
writings of the Christian kabbalist Johannes Reuchlin. The catalogue of Hebrew
authors and texts that Zorzi offers in his De harmonia mundiH is in fact mainly
taken from Reuchlin's De arte cabalistica." The Venetian friar seems to have used
Reuchlin as his bibliographical guide in the complex and confusing field of Jewish
literature. This looked like a logical choice, since Reuchlin had been the first
Christian author to give a comparatively clear and detailed outline of the Hebrew
literary heritage. It is very likely that Zorzi - at least when he wrote the De
harmonia mundi - had not seen all the Hebrew books listed by Reuchlin, as we can
deduce from the mistakes he makes in the names of Jewish authors and from the
false attributions. In these errors, Zorzi follows Reuchlin, thus clearly showing his
dependence on the German scholar.18
If it is true that Zorzi did not see all the books he quotes, it is also true that he
was able to reach texts that remained inaccessible to Reuchlin. In the list we have
already referred to, Zorzi numbers authors not mentioned by his predecessors,
and, even if most of these authors cannot be identified, one gets the impression
that the extent of Zorzi's Hebrew reading was really considerable. The
characteristics of his Hebrew library represent a ma-
FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
jor point in the reconstruction of Zorzi's thought, and it is therefore surprising to
observe how little has been done on this subject.
[n order to start anew our research in this unexplored field, first of all we have
to find out what Hebrew sources Zorzi had at his disposal in early sixteenth-
century Venice. The bibliographical tools used by our Christian kabbalist are the
fourth and perhaps the most important element that contributed to the making of
his peculiar Utopian theology.
The development of the Venetian historical situation, during the first decades
of the sixteenth century, led to a complete transformation in the availability of
Hebrew books in the city. At the beginning of the century the Jews were almost
completely excluded from the lagoon and their settlement was permitted only in
the Terraferma. In his attempt to promote the publishing of Hebrew books in
Venice, the most famous humanistic printer, Aldo Manuzio, failed to organize an
appropriate editorial staff mainly because of the impossibility of finding Jewish
printers and proof readers in Venice."
This situation changed completely in 1509 when, after the battle of Agnadello,
the Jews of the Venetian mainland, who were trying to escape from the horrors of
the war, were admitted to the city. Venice then began to receive an increasing
number of Jews, and naturally, Hebrew books, till then almost unobtainable,
started to circulate. There is evidence that, at least from 1513 on, Hebrew
manuscripts were copied in the city,20 while between 1511 and 1515 a major event
took place in the history of Hebrew printing: the appearance of the first books
published by Daniel Bomberg. 21 The activity of Bomberg's typography - which in
the following forty years produced more than two hundred editions - transformed
Venice into the most important center in the world for the production of Hebrew
books. The activity of such a large publishing house necessarily involved the work
of experts on Jewish literature as well as a wide circulation of texts. At the
beginning of his activity, Bomberg availed himself of the collaboration of a Jewish
convert, the friar Felice da Prato, while in the following years the editing of
Hebrew books was undertaken by two learned Jews, Jacob ben Chayyim ibn
Adoniyya and Elias Levita." It stands to reason that Francesco Zorzi, one of the
main figures of Venetian cultural life, not only took advantage of the Hebrew
production of Bomberg's press but also had contacts with the circle of the famous
printer.
 FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
In the same years another event greatly improved the Hebrew biblio graphical
resources of Venice: Cardinal Domenico Grimani bequeathed to the convent of
Sant'Antonio al Castello his magnificent library, including the precious Aramaic
and Hebrew codices he had purchased from the heirs of Pico della Mirandola. 2'
Grimani's books were the largest and most important collection of Hebrew texts
owned by a Christian bibliophile. It is therefore probable that Zorzi took advantage
of this treasure, deposited not further than half a mile from his convent. In 1525
Augustinus Steucus, himself a learned Hebraist, was put in charge of the library at
Sant'Antonio: the relationship between the two learned friars must have been
assiduous, given that Steucos' Cosmopoeia shows the influence of Zorzi's writings,
notwithstanding the differences of their views about Jewish mysticism and
kabbalah." In addition to the bibliographical resources offered by Venice,
Francesco Zorzi probably possessed a good number of Hebrew texts himself. His
position as an important figure in the powerful Franciscan Order of the Vene tian
Republic certainly enabled him to acquire Hebrew books, then often rare and
expensive. In a letter dated 14 December 1513, the Cardinal Egidio da Viterbo
expresses his curiosity for the Jewish texts collected by our friar: "I will be
delighted [he writes] to know the titles of the books possessed, as you said, by the
friar of San Francesco; furthermore I would like to learn if somebody else has other
Hebrew volumes."" Zorzi's Hebrew library must have been quite interesting for an
exigent collector like Egidio to have noticed it. The number of volumes probably
increased in the following years, as we can see from the number of the Hebrew
sources quoted by Zorzi in his writings. If we compare the quotations from Jewish
texts that appear in the De harmonia mundi printed in 1525, with the massive use
of Hebrew literature in the Problemata, published in 1536, we immediately
perceive a sharp rise in quality. The main difference is represented by Zorzi's use
of the Zohar, almost absent in the De harmonia mundi but widely referred to in the
Problemata. From the way he alludes to this seminal book of Sephardic kabbalah
in the De harmonia mundi, it is clear that Zorzi - at least till 1525 -possessed
neither the original Aramaic, nor a Latin translation of the Zohar. Quite different is
the case of the Problemata. in which he follows the Zohar as his main guide, using
the text as a basic midrash to the Pentateuch." In fact, in the ten years that elapsed
between the two works, Zorzi had an unexpected opportunity to acquire new pieces
for his collection.
FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
In 1530 our friar played a central role in a dispute of high political relevance in
which his knowledge of Jewish literature was mingled with a secret diplomatic
affair. The main lines of the story are well known: in his desire to divorce
Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII of England was looking for a juridical
justification. The question was extremely delicate, since Catherine was the widow
of Henry's brother, Arthur, as well as the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella and
the aunt of the emperor Charles V The union between Henry and the wife of his
deceased brother recalled the pattern of Jewish levirate marriage, and therefore the
reasons for the divorce might be looked for in the Jewish tradition. In order to
solve the matter, a secret agent of Henry, the humanist Richard Croke, was sent to
Italy under the false name of Giovanni di Fiandra. He arrived in Venice at the end
of 1529, and Francesco Zorzi was among the first persons he contacted for advice.
Zorzi soon became the main supporter of the English party, playing a fundamental
role in collecting opinions on behalf of Henry, from both Jews and Catholic
experts.27 From Croke's correspondence with the English court, we know that
Zorzi was crucial in obtaining the help of die convert Marco Raphael and of the
Jewish physician Eliyyah Menachem Halfon.i8 Zorzi translated from Hebrew a text
written by Halfon and prepared a memorandum taken from a Chaldaic
"commentary" which, according to Leviticus 18, proved the legitimacy of
divorce." From Croke's testimony we know that the king of England was ready to
pay large sums in order to achieve his goal and, in fact, the English agent paid also
for Hebrew books needed by his Italian advisors. In a letter, dated 20 February
1530, Croke affirms that he bought from a Jew a "concordance" and another
Hebrew book, probably required by the Jewish interpreters who worked for him. 30
Thus we may presume that Zorzi too benefited from this unexpected source of
new bibliographical acquisitions. One could also go as far as to suppose that the
study of the Zohar was one of the consequences of Zorzi's dangerous involvement
in the divorce affair.
Zorzi probably kept his books in the library of the convent of S. Francesco
della Vigna, in the Venetian Sestriere of Castello. 31 During the present research, I
discovered evidence of Zorzi's Hebrew library: in a manuscript copied in 1565,
the Jewish convert, Vittorio Eliano, the grandson of Elias Levita, writes in
Hebrew that he has copied a text from a codex "kept in the depository of the
convent of the friars of San Francesco della Vigna, that
FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
was once in possession of the great sage and theologian Fra Francesco Zorzi, from
the Holy Congregation." This manuscript is now at the Bodleian Library in Oxford,
and the sentence quoted can be read on its title page." The first thing to be noted is
the literary genre of the text. The manuscript owned by Zorzi and copied by Eliano
contained the Sefer ha-Peliah, a rare work of kabbalah. In the codex itself, the
book is named Sefer ka-Kanah we-hu ha-nikra Sefer ha-Peliah, that is ro say "The
book of Qanah, that is called the book of Peliah."" In his writings Zorzi actually
quotes Elcana mirabilis mentis elevatione ("Elkanah of wondrous elevation of
mind")'4 and makes repeated use of peculiar kabbalistic ideas expressed in the Sefer
ha-Peliah. It must be added that the Sefer ha-Peliah, which remained unedited for
centuries, had been excluded from the main stream of kabbalistic literature. Nev -
ertheless, during the first half of sixteenth century, this text seems to have been
widely read in Venice, where it was repeatedly copied. Curiously enough, the Sefer
ha-Peliah was the first Hebrew text copied in the city after the admission of a large
number of Jews in 1509; in 1513 a Jew called Isaac ben Moses ben Zerach copied
it for an unknown owner.*5 The same writer prepared, three years later, a second
copy for "Messer Raphael," 36 and a third one, once more in Venice, in 1534. 37 As
soon as the Sefer ha-Peliah began to circulate among the Jews of Venice, the
Christian Zorzi too was probably able to obtain his own hand-written copy of the
book, either directly from Isaac ben Zerach or through the help of one of his Jewish
acquaintances. Unfortunately, at the present state of the research, we are not able to
identify the original manuscript used by the Franciscan friar, nor can we trace any
of his other Hebrew books. However the fact that Zorzi possessed a manuscript of
the Sefer ha-Peliah is for us a precious clue, since it definitively proves that the
Hebrew sources of Zorzi's theology were more complex and sophisticated than it
was previously thought. It must be added that the Sefer ha-Peliah contains a few
anti-Christian passages, in which Jesus is qualified as ish tachbulot, a "deceitful
man," who chose to conceal the truth from his followers. 3" It is difficult to think
that a careful reader like Zorzi could overlook these statements: he probably
decided that the precious secrets hidden in the book were more important than the
occasional polemical attitude of its author. As early as 1525, when the De
harmonia mundi was printed, Zorzi appears to have been influenced by the Sefer
ha-Peliah. Chaim Wirszubski, although unaware of the existence of Zorzi's copy of
the book,
already pointed out one passage of De harmonia that clearly depends on this
Jewish text.3' It is important to quote here a few more significant examples. In the
chapter bearing the long Latin title Quomodo iota unum, aut unus apex legis non
praeteribit non completus, et non verificatus in Christo ("In which way every iota
and every apex of the Law were completed and became true through Christ"),
Zorzi fists the work of "Elchana," that is to say the Sefer ha-Peliah, among the
main sources about the symbolism of the Hebrew alphabet: "Iota is the littlest
among the letters of the alphabet, and an apex is a dot or an accent. All these
things are contained in the Scripture in the proper number in such a manner that
Rabbi Simeon ben Yochai and, after him, Elkanah and others, tried to interpret not
only the sentences, but also to explain the letters, as well as their shapes and the
apexes situated above and under them."40 In the examples that follow this
statement, Zorzi quotes repeatedly the Sefer ha-Peliah: "The third letter (in the
Hebrew word hereshit) is aleph, that indicates the Godhead. It acts upon bet and
resk, originating and giving life to the matter through the Son, who is the creative
wisdom and the life of all beings." 41 What Zorzi proposes here is a Christian
reinter-pretation of an idea expressed by the author of the Sep- ha-Peliah: "The
letter aleph, in the middle of Bereshit, shows that the power of bereshit derives
from aleph [i.e., from the One]. Aleph, together with wisdom, represents the
beginning [ro'sk]. If it departs, resh is left." A few sentences later, Zorzi once
more quotes "Elchana": "Taw, that indicates the assembly of Israel, as Elkanah
explicitly states."42 The corresponding words can be found at the beginning of the
Sefer ha-Peliah: "The letter taw alludes to the assembly of Israel."43 Furthermore,
from the Sefer ha-Peliah Zorzi derives the mysterious division of the Hebrew
letter yod into six "thorns" that he proposes in another section of the De harmonia
mundi: "The most secretive among the Jewish theologians affirmed that the letter
yod - which is the last of numbers and the first of tens and therefore signifies the
beginning and the end - has six 'thorns.'" 44 The source of this idea is obviously a
sentence of the Sefer ha-Peliah, in which the author states that: "the letter yod ...
alludes to Chokmah and has six apices.'' 5 The superior apex symbolises the Keter
'elyon and all the six apices together symbolize the sefirot of the circumference
[heqqef."*6 It must be noted that Zorzi, in the passage quoted, as often elsewhere,
adds to the Hebrew original a note of his own, referring to the symbolism of the
number ten.
 FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
Another passage of interest concerns the esoteric meaning of the Hebrew word
tal, "dew." Zorzi writes in the first part of the De harmonia: "Tal, which means
'dew,' is the involucre of the Holiest Tetragrammaton, as can be deduced from the
secrets of the hidden theology of the Jews." 17 In the second "canticum" of the work
he adds: 'According to the knowledge of numbers, tal alludes to the great hidden
Name, from which all things flow."48 In fact, an illustration of the numerical
relationship between tal and the names of God is offered in the Sefer ha-Peliah,
where we read: "The numerical value of the word 'Yhy corresponds, according to
the 'small number,' to the value of the word tal, 49 and this is the meaning of the
verse: Ehyeh ka-tal le-Yisra'el ('I will be as the dew to Israel,' Hos. 14:6). The final
letters of the Hebrew words that compose the verse are fin the reverse orderj
lamed, lamed and he,™ and therefore correspond to the ineffable Name."*'
Another Jewish authority that seems to have deeply influenced Zorzi is the
Spanish thirteenth-century exegete, preacher and kabbalist Bachya ben Asher. At
the beginning of the sixteenth century, Bachya was in fact very popular, as is
testified by the three editions of his commentary to the Pentateuch, printed by
Zorzi's friend, Gershom Soncino, between 1507 and 1517. Zorzi evidently
appreciated the symbolical exegesis of Bachya (whom he calls "Rabbi Bahaie,"
"Bachaie" or "Bacchaie"), 52 using his commentary as a source of kabbalistic
interpretation.
Zorzi explicidy quotes Bachya at least twice in the De harmonia mundi. The
most interesting case is related to the interpretation of the Hebrew word tarshish,
referring to which he writes: "Rabbi Bachya interprets tarshish as "chrysolite",
which is called "cariolic" in Hebrew. He adds that this stone is blue, as the deep
sea, and that it helps digestion and weight gain."" The source of Zorzi's passage
can be found in the commentary 5'' of Bachya, including the Hebrew misspelling of
the name of Greek origin chrysalithos, "golden stone" (chrysolite). It is worth
noting that Zorzi's respect for the Holy Tongue goes so far as to accept Bachya's
cariolic as an appellative of a precious stone that he rightly identifies with the
correct Latin name chrysolitum. The wealth of Jewish tradition, together with the
classical and patristic heritage, gives life to the elegant Latin writings of Zorzi. His
style, at the same time rich and accurate, develops a wide range of images, pass ing
through a succession of symbolical themes. In his literary career, Zorzi
demonstrated a high degree of rhetorical skill, his works covering different
FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
literary genres, from the philosophical prose of the De harmonia mundi to the
exegetical axioms of the Problemata and to the inspired poetry of the Elegante
poema. The literary output of our Franciscan friar was in fact fairly large, his
indefatigable activity being extended also to liturgical texts and to an extensive
correspondence.55 In addition to his three major works, Zorzi wrote a series of
Latin litanies, which were published posthumously in Austria at the end of the
sixteenth century. These prayers, quite elegant and elaborate, have escaped till
now the attention of scholars, concealed as they were in a curious booklet printed
in Salzburg in 1596." Quite surprisingly, Zorzi was able not only to change his
style, but also to adapt his arguments to the characteristic of the expressive
manner he chose. Only a patient analysis of his pages permits us to perceive the
rich nuances of his thought, which is often based on the creative tools offered by
die Hebrew language.
So far, proper attention has not been drawn to the fact that the reflection on
Hebrew words and the play with the Hebrew alphabet represent the real center of
Zorzi's method. This process is particularly evident in the De harmonia mundi,
the most elaborate text of Zorzi.57
Indeed, more than a philosophical treatise, as it has been generally considered
by modern scholars, the De harmonia mundi is a systematic inventory of symbols.
Each chapter of the work can be considered a single unity and it is, in some way,
completely autonomous with respect to the other sections. 58 Most of the chapters
of the De harmonia mundi are built following a common pattern: Zorzi starts with
a short statement in which he links the symbol discussed in the previous section
with die one he is going to introduce. This link, extremely concise, is by no means
exhaustive, since the connection between two symbolical images cannot usually
be explained but only alluded to. In the sentences that follow, the Venetian
kabbalist defines the semantic area that contains the symbol he wants to discuss.
At this stage he usually quotes his main authorities, like Plato, Augustine, Paul
and so on, trying to transpose philosophical ideas to the sound of words.
Let us take, as an example, the chapter in which Zorzi describes the sym bol of
the sun. Here the first sentence introduces the idea of sun, passing through the
image of the fire that was the subject of the previous section: "This elementary
fire corresponds to the sun, which is the true and celestial fire." What Zorzi wants
to say is that the sun can be considered like a celestial fire, that it is like a unique
fire which concentrates the energy of all fires,
 FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
"as Speusippus derived from the Platonic laboratory" (i.e. from the Platonic
school). Zorzi then continues, saying that this was the way Apollo was described
in the classical mythology and reminding us of the animal associated with Apollo:
the white rooster. He further examines the Greek etymology of the name Apollo as
a compound of a, that means "without," and polu meaning "multitude or
multiplicity." This is the reason - Zorzi adds -why Latin uses the word sol (sun),
since it is solum lucentem (shining alone).
It is at this point of his argumentation that Zorzi introduces the Hebrew word
for sun, saying that "The Jews (call it) shemesh, that can be appropriately
interpreted as the thing whose principle is light and (which derives) his benefit
from itself"" This definition, quite difficult to understand, repre sents the core of
Zorzi's discussion of the sun. It is clear that the "appropriate" translation does not
translate a simple Hebrew term. Instead of transposing Hebrew into Latin, Zorzi is
trying to transfer all the wealth of his erudition in the three letters that compose the
word shemesh. In this case, as often happens with his Hebrew etymologies, Zorzi
uses the Holy Tongue as a kind of algebraic formula which concisely expresses a
long symbolical itinerary. In his view, the three Hebrew consonants shin, mem,
shin which - together with the two vowels segol - physically create the word
shemesh, contain the loneliness of the sun in the middle of the sky, as well as its
value as a symbol of the transcendence of God and the never-ending fire that burns
in heaven. The conception that underlies this linguistic analysis is one of the main
features of Zorzi's Christian kabbalah. What Zorzi sees in the Hebrew language is
an opportunity for synthesizing, in a single word, many different aspects of reality:
the harmony of vowels and the links that tie together consonants are considered the
closest mirror of nature.6'
After this, albeit very short, excursion in the Hebrew field, Zorzi goes on in his
discussion about the sun, touching many subjects and using classical as well as
patristic and biblical sources. Then, at the end of this same chapter, our author
resumes the discussion about Hebrew, explicitly stating his view concerning the
matter. Since it reflects the creative process that transforms an undetermined idea
into real objects - Zorzi states - Hebrew must be considered superior to other
languages. "If we want to further inquire into the origin of this determination, we
shall find that it comes out from matter, form and spirit. This can be perceived
through the letters, the vowels and the accents of the Holy Tongue, according to
the most hidden se-
FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
crets of Hebrew theology."'', What Zorzi means is that the graphic structure of the
Holy Tongue, combining consonants, vowels and accents alludes to the secret of
the union of matter, form and spirit. Therefore he sees in the formal aspects of
Hebrew a deep philosophical and cosmogonic message. In this respect even
Greek, the vehicle of the classical heritage and of Plato's philosophy, can be
considered as an inferior language, and Zorzi goes as far as to say that Greek,
compared to Hebrew, is like a foetus spurins, that is, an "illegitimate offspring."
Greek, he concludes "is inferior to this mysterious and holy speech in which, by
order of God, Adam imposed to the things their names, according to their
properties."" This sentence expresses an idea deeply rooted in Jewish mysticism.
The kabbalists actually believed that when Adam, under the guidance of God,
gave a name to the different things, he determined also the path along which the
things would find a way to their identity. Thus, the actual pattern of Hebrew is the
pattern of the world, since it was through Hebrew that the world came into
existence and through Adam that it was "expressed" for the first time. If the word
of God called reality into being from absolute nothingness, the Hebrew names
given by Adam were the perfect image of the divine plan. Illuminated by the holy
light, the mirror of the names reflects the secret wisdom, even in the most minute
details.
It must be firmly kept in mind that in Jewish kabbalah, as well as in Zorzi's
belief, the holiness of Hebrew includes all the aspects of language, even the
graphical ones. Zorzi, who was deeply imbued with the aesthetic sensibility of
Italian Humanism, was ready to accept the concept of the alphabet de veloped by
the Jewish tradition, in which the harmony of lines and strokes, and the
ornamental crowns, that embellish the Hebrew writing, are a for mal but essential
way to express the true meaning of creation. Therefore the graphical shapes of
letters, vowels and accents are full of meaning; that is to say that they can be seen
and perceived as signs.
Zorzi shows an uncommon attention to the vocalic structure of Hebrew,
probably due to his sensibility to the melodic pattern of language. In fact, the De
harmonui mundi is conceived as a treatise on the harmony of the creation, mainly
in a musical sense. In this work, the sound of words plays a very important role:
regarding the etymologies of Hebrew terms, Zorzi is very accurate in
distinguishing between words composed of the same consonants but different
vowels. It must be pointed out that this linguistic ap-
 FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
proach - even if explained by the author through grammatical reasoning -is rooted
in a symbolical idea of vowels as the soul and guidance of words." 3 In discussing
the word 'aravot, for instance, Zorzi rejects Jerome's translation of the term as
occasion, that is, "sunset," on the basis of vocalic argumentation. "cErev [sunset] -
he writes - has two vowels segal, while carav [plain], with patach and qamatz has a
completely different meaning." In this way Zorzi connects the word 'aravot of
Psalm 68:5 (Sollu la-rokev ba-'aravot), with the meaning of "being sweet" or
"being plain." Therefore he discards the Vulgate's translation of the biblical verse
"Iter facite ei qui ascendit super occasum," rendering the verse with the image of
God that equitat super iocunditatem etplanitiem, that is to say, "that rides on
pleasure and plain."'4 Using this play on words, Zorzi exploits the double meaning
of the root carav, thus following a typical Jewish way of interpreting biblical
sentences. In fact, a similar pun can be found also in Hebrew exegesis. In the
Midrash on Psalms, for instance, we read: "Him that rideth upon the heavens
(caravot)" (Ps. 68:5)... R. Chalafta ben Jacob taught in the name of R. Judah bar
Simeon: The Holy One, blessed be He, saw the deeds of the righteous and their
deeds pleased (crb) Him."6' As is the case with the midrash, Zorzi creates, with the
ambivalence of the word 'aravot, a deeper way into the text. The relationship
between joy and heavenly fields evokes then, in Zorzi's imagination, a scene of
enchanting poetical intensity: 'As the supra-mundane waters continuously praise
the Lord ... in the same way the archetype contains fields that give origin to every
kind of pleasant, sweet, delicate and delectable things." 6' This scenery, produced by
the exegesis of the Venetian friar, is surprisingly similar to the description included
in an anonymous early medieval Jewish treatise, the Seder rabba di-beresb.it. "In
the seventh day the Holy One, blessed be He, sat on the throne of joy and let the
prince of heavens pass in joy in front of him, and the prince of the earth [passed] in
great joy, the prince of waters in great joy, the prince of rivers in great joy, the
prince of mountains in great joy, the prince of hills in great joy, the prince of abyss
in great joy, the prince of the sun in great joy, the prince of the moon in great joy,
the prince of desire in great joy and plains (caravot) of the firmament were full of
joy, voices and glory..." 67 We do not know if Zorzi read this beautiful Hebrew text,
which - broadly speaking - can be considered as a part of the so-called Hekalot
literature.68 As far as can be deduced from the catalogue of the Grimani collection,
the Seder rabba di-bereshit was not among
FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
the works available in the library kept in Sant'Antonio al Castello. On the other
hand, Zorzi does not explicitly quote the booklet, or rather, it is not possible to
recognize it among the Latin titles of Hebrew books quoted by Zorzi in his
writings. However, the lack of evidence is by no means definitive, since Zorzi
translated the titles into Latin in such a way that it is often impossible to recognize
the Hebrew originals that lay behind his puzzling lists. Zorzi's direct use of the
Seder rabba di-beresh.it would be an important testimony to the diffusion of rare
esoteric Jewish texts among Christian Italian humanists.
In any case, in the De harmonia mundi, the aforementioned passage about
'Oravot is included in a long discussion of the symbolism of the celestial world, in
which Zorzi takes into account the same symbols listed in the Seder rabba di-
bereshit. He proposes in fact a kind of mystical geography, where the supra-
mundane waters, the heavens, the mountains, the plains and the hills of the divine
world participate to the joy of the Creator. Even if the suggestive hypothesis of a
dependence of our author on the Hebrew source cannot be proved, the striking
similarity between the rwo passages offers us an important example of Zorzi's
close affinity with the method of Jewish exegesis. Zorzi, following an
interpretative principle based on combinations and plays on Hebrew words,
obtained a result actually quite close to the one reached by Jewish mystical
imagination. The fact that the highly visionary text of the Seder rabba di-bereshit
has a parallel in Zorzi's Latin prose, proves to what extent the Jewish heritage was
significant for him: his profound knowledge of Hebrew enabled him to abandon
the well-trodden path of Christian biblical interpretation and to discover a new
world of inexhaustible imagery.
Over the years, Zorzi developed a great ability in using the combination of
Hebrew words as a demonstrative tool for his theories. Particularly inter esting is
the case of the tripartite division of the soul, which constitutes a central theme of
the De harmonia mundi as well as of the Problemata and of the Elegante poema.
In Zorzi's mind, the human soul can be divided into three parts that bear different
names and correspond to different levels of reality. This threefold division of the
soul, far from being a mere repetition of the Aristotelian idea of vegetative,
sensitive and intellective soul, is presented by Zorzi as an alternative to the
peripatetic view. He explicitly states he is following Neoplatonic and Jewish
sources: "Plotinus - he writes in the
 FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
De harmonia mundi - distinguishes three levels in the man: the highest, the lowest
and the middle. The highest is the divine level ... The lowest is the one called by
Paul the 'animal man.' 69 The middle is the soul, or spirit, which connects both. The
Jews unanimously call them nefesh, ruach, neshamah."70 While connecting the
Plotinian distinction with the Hebrew words for soul, Zorzi takes nefesh as
referring to the living soul, while conceiving ruach as the breath of life, or spirit,
and attributing to neshamah the highest quality of immortal soul.
Starting from the three Hebrew terms, Zorzi develops a rich symbolical theory
of the soul. The term ruach, translated as spiritus, becomes the center of Zorzi's
speculation. The word is taken to represent the central point of the movement from
earth to heaven, the immaterial line that separates light from darkness. Zorzi first
analyses the sound material of the word, distinguishing the letters that form it,
namely resh, waw and diet. The waw, he writes, "is the letter of the divine
principle, which represents the number six. This number was used by the supernal
spirit... in giving an order to the whole structure of this world." The letter chct, he
adds, "is the letter of the life ... since life is called chai. The third letter is resh,
which means two hundred and alludes to matter or to the physical world. In fact
the duality denotes the matter.71 In this discussion of the meaning of the three
letters, Zorzi applies the basic principle of symbolism, according to which each
part of a symbolical system reflects the structure and the inner division of the
whole. Thus resh, chet and waw reproduce the tripartite division of the soul: resh
standing for nefesh, chet for ruach and waw for neshamah. Zorzi's definition of the
meaning of the letters is coherent with the general symbolism followed by our
Franciscan friar, which is deeply rooted in Jewish tradition. In Jewish kabbalistic
symbolism the letter waw represents the sefirah Tif'eret, that is to say, the bright
light of the sun in the center of the universe. Zorzi repeatedly affirms that the
divine part of the human soul corresponds to the sun. In his intense mystical
vision, the globe of the sun gives light to the earth, as neshamah shines in the
body. When the divine soul leaves the man, the corpse remains in obscurity, just
like the earth is obscure during the night.
Taking a further step in the analysis of ruach - in another passage of the De
harmonia mundi - Zorzi transforms the word into its graphical opposite, that is to
say, into Hebrew chur. This reverse sequence of the letters means
FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
"hole," "passing through which the animal body transforms itself into a spiritual
one, in order to reach the happiness together with the superior principle ...
However if the spirit falls, getting mixed with the inferior body, it passes through
this hole as through a sieve: then all the frail parts of the superior principle
disperse."72 The middle soul, or ruach, is the balancing point of the man. From
ruach we can ascend to God or descend to the devil: if we refine our spirit, it will
become immaterial as the light, but if we give way to our passions the body will
overwhelm the divine principle. From ruach we can move towards neshamah (the
superior soul) or towards nefesh (the animal soul). In Zorzi's opinion, the
corporeal aspect of our life must be considered a prison for the superior soul
which, according to the basic platonic scheme, longs to elevate itself. The soul is
eager to abandon the body but at the same time the body is trying to capture the
light and to mix it with obscurity. The ruach is the battlefield for this struggle, the
inner space where the two armies clash. In the middle between God and the
demoniac forces, the ruach symbolizes the human level, which does not have a
form in itself and can therefore assume any form. From this intermediate point
man can move towards the divine principle or can fall back into the obscurity of
the material plane. The sieve through which man has to pass is, in fact, the
spiritual level, that is to say, the ruach.
Zorzi recalls this tripartite division of the soul both in the Problemata and in
his last work, the Elegante poema. Briefly resuming the long analysis of the De
harmonia mundi, the passage of the Problemata explains: "The middle soul, which
is the rational soul, combines the characteristics of the other two, linking each
other. The Jews call it ruach, that is to say spirit, whose characteristic is to
connect. This is why the spirit is called "connection" by our (Latin) authors." 7' The
Elegante poema offers instead a more detailed discussion of the matter. Here the
definition of the soul as una e trina is followed by a highly poetical description of
its three levels:
Et come la miglior d'alta rugiata Vive et
Valtra di terra giu s'impingue, Etfra ambe
duo la terza e collocata Qual una in tre, non
sol Platon distingue Con suo' seguaci, et
sapienti Hebrei, Ma ed altri anchor di varie
schole et lingue.
 FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER

("The best [part of the soul] lives on supernal dew, while the lowest thrives on
dust and the third one is placed between the two. The soul is one and threefold: so
not only Plato and his followers affirm, but also the Jewish sages, as well as
others of various schools and languages.") The philosophical terms of Zorzi's
Latin treatises become, in the Elegante poema, a precious component of poetry.
Shifting from the sober motif of the De harmonia and from the scholastic
precision of the Probkmata, Zorzi transposes his thought on to a higher stylistic
level.
The nourishment of the supernal soul is here the dew, and the demoniac limit
of the animal soul is the heavy dust of the earth. It is evident that Jewish sages still
remain one of the most important authorities for our friar, who - though excluding
Hebrew letters from the Italian verses of the Poema - sometimes introduces
Hebrew terms in Latin characters, with unusual results for Italian Renaissance
poetry. So, again about the tripartite soul, he writes:
Questa da Hebrei Nessama chiamaxa,
Oltra le duo gid date inferiori,
Fu in me dal sommo opefice inspirata
Et la locata media fra duo amori
Del cielo et terra, di accostarsi haforza.
ary style of Zorzi has here undergone the first transformation towards a new
sensibility. While in the text written by Zorzi the levels of the soul are portrayed
mainly as metaphysical entities, Camillo gives to nefesh, ruach and neshamah the
characteristics of real protagonists of an inner drama. The theatre described by
Giulio Camillo is at the same time die realm of the human mind and a real theatre
of a supra-mundane representation. If neshamah remains a general term for divine
perfection, nefesh is transformed in a vivid symbol of a cunning demon, while
ruach becomes a frightened actor of an earthly and everlasting comedy.
Zorzi was probably the first and the most influential Christian author to
discover the Jewish tradition as a store of literary metaphors. Therefore he showed
to the educated readers of Italy and Europe that it was possible to draw from
Hebrew texts new material of literary relevance. The refined Latin of the De
harmonia, and even more the Italian verses of the Elegante poema, are a
testimony to Zorzi's efforts to transform Jewish symbols into organic expressive
devices. Camillo was not the only European intellectual to be eager to learn and
follow his teaching. From the poet Guy Le Fevre de La Boderie, who, in 1578,
translated Zorzi's De harmonia mundi into French,76 to the English circles of John
Dee and Robert Fludd, up to the verses of Milton, 77 the Jewish imagery discovered
by Zorzi became one of the hidden sources of European literature.

("In addition to the two inferior ones, the [supernal soul], called "Nessama" by the
Jews, was infused in me by the Creator. And the middle [soul] settled as it is
between two loves, is able to draw near to the sky as well as to the earth.") These
words - imagined as pronounced by Adam - testify to Zorzi's effort to find new
ways of expression. In his quest, Zorzi combines the model of the Dantesque
terzine with the contents of Christian Kabbalah. The result is a new style in which
the wording of the Italian poetry is enriched by new Hebrew terms.
It is interesting to note that Zorzi's lesson had an immediate echo in
contemporary Italian literature. In his famous work La idea del theatro, the young
admirer of Zorzi, Giulio Camillo Delminio, 7J discusses at length the tripartite
division of the soul, repeating and enlarging Zorzi's arguments. 'And as the
'Nephes' is tempted by the Devil through the demon, in the same way the
'Nessamah' is elevated by God through the angel. The unlucky in the middle [i.e.
the ruach] is urged on by both sides."75 The vision-
 NOTES

i. The recent literature about Francesco Zorzi is quite rich. The most relevant
studies are: F. Secret, "Franciscus Georgms Venetus et ses references a Proclus,"
Bibliotheque d'Humanisme et Renaissance 36 (1974): 78-81; Ch. Wirszubski,
"Francesco Giorgio's commentary on Giovanni Pico's kabbalistic theses", Journal
of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 37 (1974): 145-56; C. Vasoli, Profezia e
ragione (Naples, 1974), 129-403; F. A. Yates, The occult philosophy in the Elizabe-
than Age (London, 1979); A. Foscari and M. Tafuri, L'armonia e i conflitti. La
chiesa di San Francesco della Vigna nella Venezia del '_joo (Turin, 1983), 13-16. F
Secret, Les kabbalistes chretiens de la Renaissance, nouvelle edition mise a jour et
augmentee (Milan, 1985), 126-40; C. Vasoli, "Marsilio Ficino e Francesco Giorgio
Veneto," in Marsilio Ficino e il ritorno di Platone. Studi e documents (Florence,
1986), 2: 533-54; E. Scapparone, "'Sapienza riposta' e lingua volgare. Note
suW'Elegante Poema di Francesco Giorgio Veneto," Sudi Veneziani NS 13 (1987):
349-386; V. Marchetti, "Francesco Giorgi e la mistica del seme maschile,"
Asmodeo 1 (1989): 57-76; L. Pierozzi, "Intorno al 'Commento sopra il Poema di
Francesco Giorgio Veneto," Rinascimento 30 (1990): 283-307; E. Scapparone,
"Temi filosofici e teologici nelTElegante poema' di Francesco Giorgio Veneto,"
Rivista di storia della filosofia 45 (1990): 37-80; Francesco Giorgio Veneto, L'elegante
poema & Commento sopra il Poema, edition critique par J.-F. Maillard, preface de J.
Mesnard (Milan, 1991); F. Secret, Hermetisme et kabbale (Naples, 1992), 15-89; S.
Campanini, "Haophan betoc haophan. La struttura simbolica del De Harmonia
mundi di Francesco Zorzi", Materiagiudaica3 (i997)- r3-r7-
2. Marin Sanudo (1466-1536) was Zorzi's cousin; more precisely, he was the son
of a brother of Zorzi's mother, Bianca Sanudo.
3. Cf. the relevant passages of Sanudo's Diari quoted by A. M. Berengo Morte,
"Francescani Predicatori nella Basilica di S. Marco in Venezia (nei 'Diarii' di
Marin Sanudo)," he Venezie Francescane 13 (1946): 62-78. The best general biog-
raphy about Zorzi is still U Vicentini, "Francesco Zorzi O.F.M. Teologo
cabbalista," Le Venezie Francescane 21 (1954): m-59,174-214; 24 (1957): 25-56.
4. See the letter written by Cortese to Gaspare Contarini, dated 20 June 1537:
"Et in vero a sentire di bocca sua quelle medesime cose ma dette in altro modo,
FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
 non hanno tanto di absurdo" (quoted by Vicentini, "Francesco Zorzi," 37).
5. Seen. 1 above.
6. The hypothesis that Zorzi studied in Padua was suggested already by his first biographer, G. Degli
Agostini, Notizie storico critiche intorno alia vita e le opere degli scrittori veneziani, 2 vols.
(Venice, 1752-4), 2: 332-62. specif. 333. See also Vasoli, Profezia e ragione, 143-9-
7. About the knowledge of Hebrew in the Christian circles of Padua during the fifteenth century see
G. Tamani, ""Piero da Montagnana studioso e traduttore di testi ebraici," Italia medioevale e
umanistica 16 (1973), 349-58.
8. Some of the passages in which Zorzi refers to his journey to the Holy Land have been collected
by U Vicentini, "Francesco Zorzi e la Palestina," La Venezie Francescane 19 (1952): 174-6; F.
Secret, "Un pelerin oublie de Terre Sainte." Revue lies studies juives 134 (1975): 99-100.
9. The epistle is printed in the Opuscula latina variorum auctorum ... published by Soncino at Fano
in April 10, 1502: "Quum Hieronymus Soncinus tui amantissimus in hac urbe non nulla opera est
impressurus ..." (G. Manzoni. Annali tipografici dei Soncino, Parte seconda, vol. 1 (Bologna
1883-6), 1; see also M. Marx, "Gershom (Hieronymus) Soncino's Wander Years in Italy, 1498-
1527. Exemplar judaicae vitae," Hebrew Union College Annual 11 (1936): 427-501, specif. 441
n. 23).
10. About Soncino's sojourn in Venice see G. Busi, "Gershom Soncino e Venezia. Cronaca di una
disillusione," in L'attivitd editoriak di Gershom Soncino: 1501-152.7. Atti del convegno (Soncino,
ljsettembre 1995), ed. G. Tamani (Soncino. 1997, forthcoming).
11. Sanudo. Diari, quoted by Berengo Morte, Francescani predicatori, 76; Vasoli. Profezia, 181.
12. Francisci Georgii Veneti Minoritani in Scripturam sacram problemata (Venice, 1536) 1.9.499
(fol-64r).
13. Letters and papers foreign and domestic, of the reign of Henry VIII, ed. J. S. Brewer, 4-3
(London, 1876), 2758-9 no. 6J73. See also Vasoli, Profezia e ragione, 190-1.
14- Letters and papers, 2753 no. 6165: "While in the chamber of Father Francis. Jacob Mantineus, a
Jewish doctor, came in..." About Marco Raphael see Vasoli, Profezia e ragione, 209 n. 214.
15. Zorzi's authorship has been demonstrated by Wirzsubski. "Francesco Giorgio's
commentary." The first edition of the commentary appeared, undei Arcangelo's name, in
Bologna in 1564 (the text was reprinted by J. Pistorius : Artis Cabalisticae, hoc est, reconditae
phitosophiae et theologiae, scriptorum (Basle 1587), 731-868).
16. Francisci Georgii Veneti minoritanaefamiliae de harmonia mundi totius Cantka trit 1.2.7 (Paris,
1546), fol. 3m
17. loannis Reuchlin Phorcensis LI doc. de arte cabalistka libri tres (Hagenau, 1517), fol i3b-i4a
("Quibus libri Cabalae autor in conscribendis voluminibus his sit usus"). An Italian translation of
the text (together with an extensive discussion oi Reuchlin's Hebrew sources) can be found in
Johannes Reuchlin, L'arte cabbalistica (De arte cabalistica), ed. G. Busi and S. Campanini
(Florence, 1995), 45.
r8. Reuchlin's mistakes, followed by Zorzi. are, for instance, "Tedacus Levi" (as an appellative of
Todros ben Yosef ha-Lewi Abulafia) and 'Abraham Alaphia" (instead of Abraham Abulafia).
19. In fact, Manuzio published only a few words in Hebrew in Angelo Poliziano's Opera, dated 1498
and in the famous Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499). Further attempts were a bilingual
Introductio to the Hebrew grammar, written by Gershom Soncino ([4] fols.), printed as an
appendix to Constantini Lascaris Byzantini De octo partibus orationis liber (1501) and a sample
page of a polyglot edition of the Bible (1501; see A. A. Renouard, Annales de Vimprimerie des
Aides ou Histoire des trois Manuce et de kur editions (Paris, 3d ed. 1834), 388-99)- From a letter
of the German humanist Wilibald Pirckheimer to Konrad Celtis, dated 17 November 1503, we
know that Manuzio planned to employ, in his printing office, a convert. The plan failed because
the Jew decided not to apostatize: H. Rupprich, Der Briefwechsel des Konrad Celtis (Munich,
1929). 541-2 no. 302.
20. See n. 35.
21. 1511 is the date printed in the frontispiece of a Biblia hebraea (I. Mehlmann, "Bet defuso shel
Daniel Bomberg be-Venezia", Areshet 3 (1961): 93-8, specif. 94-5). For a general description of
all Bomberg's editions see A. M. Habermann, The printer Daniel Bomberg and the list of books
published by his press (in Hebrew; Zefat, 1978).
22. Habermann, The printer Daniel Bomberg.
23. The inventory of Grimani's Hebrew library, together with the identification and the analysis of all
the titles listed, has been made accessible by G. Tamani, "I libri ebraici del cardinal Domenico
Grimani," Annali di Ca' Foscari 34.3, s.o. 26 (1995): 5-52.
FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
24. See T. Freudenberger, Augustinus Steuchus aus Gubbio. Augustinerchorherr und papstlicher
Bibliothekar (14Q7-1J4&) (Minister i.W., 1935). 216; M. Muccillo, "La prisca theologia nel De
perenni philosophic di Agostino Steuco," Rinascimento NS 28 (1988), 41-111, specif. 59, 61, 99.
Steucus had close ties both with Christian Hebraists and with Jewish intellectuals: his Jewish
acquaintances included, e.g., the famous Abraham Farissol: see G. Busi, U succo dtifavi. Studi
sull'Umanesimo ebraico (Bologna, 1992). 55-
25. "Hard ben grandissimo piacere me fate sapere I nomi de li libri; quali come scriuete ha el frate de
san francesco et se si trovano apud alios aha volumina hebrea" (letter dated 14 December 1513
and sent by Egidio to Gabriele della Volta (Gabriele Veneto): see Vasoli, Profezia e ragione 151
n. 62),
26. A partial hst of Zorzi's quotations from the Zohar can be found in F, Secret, Le Zohar chez les
kabbalistes Chretiens de la Renaissance (Paris, 2d ed. 1964). Unfortunately, Secret gives his
references according de Pauly's French "translation" of the Zohar (Jean de Pauly, Sepher ka-
Zohar. Le Livre de la Splendeur, 6 vols., Paris, 1906-11), and his pioneering attempt must be
therefore taken with caution. It is quite interesting to note that Zorzi quotes the Zohar page after
page, generally following the order of the Aramaic text. To offer an example, I give here a list of
Zorzi's quotations in the first 20 pages of the Problemata (my references are, as usual, to the
Mantua edition of the Zohar): T.28b (t.1.129, fol- 4v), 1.34a (1-1,53, fol. 8v), 1.54b (1.1.69, fol.
iov), 1.63a (1-1.90, fol. i3r), 1.67b (loc.cit.), 1.69b (1.1.98, fol. i4r), T.73a (1.1.100, fol. 14V),
1.73b (1.1.103, f°l- 14"), T.Sib (1.1.112, fol. i6r), I.86b (1.1.113, fol. I6v), 1.87b (1.1.115, fol.
I6v), I.n8a (1.1.140, fol. 19V), 1.147a (1.1.146, fol. 2or), 1.90b (1.1.150, fol. 2ov), 1.118 b
(1.1.151, fol. iov).
27. On Zorzi's involvement in the dispute aroused by the divorce of Henry V1I1 see C. Roth, Venice
(Philadelphia, 1930), 79-81; idem. TheJews in the Renaissance (Philadelphia, 1939). 159-61; J.-F.
Maillard, "Henry VIII et Georges de Venise. Documents sur l'affaire du divorce," Revue de
I'histoire des religions 181 (1972): 157-86; Vasoli, Profezia e ragione, 181-212.
28. On the role played by Marco Raphael and Eliyyah Halfon see also H. Vogelstein and P. Rieger,
Geschichte derjuden in Rom (Berlin, 1895-6), 51-3.
29. Croke's letter dated 11 March 1530 (Letters and papers, 2819 no. 6266): "Sends some extracts
made by father Francis from the Chaldaic commentaries that the Levitical prohibitions are part of
the law of nature."
30. Letters and papers, 2863 no. 6375: "For a concordance and another book from a jew, 2
cr[owns]." Croke registers also the money he gave "to two Jews, for coming home to you daily
and writing" (ibid.).
31. About the vicissitudes of the library of S. Francesco della Vigna see C. Albasini, "La biblioteca di
S. Francesco della Vigna in Venezia, "Le Venezie Francescane 19 (1952): 177-81. The library
was almost completely deprived of its volumes in 1810, and again in 1866.
32. MS Mich. 407: cf. A. Neubauer, Catalogue of the Hebrew manuscripts in the Bodleian Library
and in the college libraries of Oxford, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1886-1906), col. 541 no. 1547.
33. About the Sefer ha-Peliah see M. Kushnir-Oron, "The Sefer ha-Peli'ak and the Sefer ha-Kanak.
Their kabbalistic principles, social and religious criticism and literary composition" (in Hebrew),
Ph.D. thesis, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1980.
34. De harmonia mundi 1.2.7 (fol. 3ir). Elcana (or "Elchana") is quoted also in Problemata 1.1.34
(fol. 5v: "Cui adstipulatur Elchana, dicens, quod lex erat in verbo et sapientia Dei: antequam
daretur"), 1.9.482 (fol. 6iv: "sapientia inferior quae ab Elchana didtur filia"), 2.8.443 (fol.i29r:
"lex praexistebat in verbo Dei antequam daretur: ut non modo Augustinus, sed Elchana insignis
doctor Hebraeus, aperte profitentur"), 3-8-378 (fol. 183T: "verbum incarnatum: in quo erat lex (ut
Elchana ait) antequam daretur"); Elegante poetna (ed. Maillard), p. 565 (76.151: "Elchana,
Abram, et altri assai") and, in the commentary, p. 88 ("Elchana, Dottore celebratissimo hebreo"),
393; Declarationes conclusionum cabalisticarum Jo. Pici Mirandulani (Jerusalem, Jewish
National and University Library, MS Yahuda Var. 24, fols. i2ov-i2ir: cf. Wirzsubski, "Francesco
Giorgio's commentary," 155-6; a different version of the text is conserved in the ms. VII/57 of the
Biblioteca Comunale Piancastelli in Forli). For further quotations of "Elchana" in De harmonia
mundi see n. 38.
35. Moscow, Russian State Library, MS Guenzburg377 (this manuscript is not listed by Oron, "The
Sefer ha-Peli'ak").
36. London, British Library, MS Harl. 5515; cf. G. Margoliouth, Catalogue of the Hebrew and
Samaritan manuscripts in the British Museum, 3 vols. (London, 1899-1915). V- 95-6 no. 789.
37. Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense, MS 3154; cf. G. Sacerdote, Catalogo dei codici ebraici della
Biblioteca CasanateiuefFlorence, 1897), 601 no. 187. This manuscript bears many marginal notes
in Latin.
38. Sefer ha-Peliah, ed.S. Diamant (Przemysl, 1883), fol 12c. (this passage is briefly examined by
Oron, p. 316); see also fol. 16c.
FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER
39. Wirszubski, "Francesco Giorgio's commentary," 154-5- An additional reference
can be found in the Elegante poema, 88 n. 25.
40. "Iota minima est alphabet! litera, apex vero punctus, sive accentus: Quae omnia in scriptura
debito numero, pondere, et sacramento collocata sunt, adeo, ut Rabbi Symeon Ben Iochai et post
eum Elchana, et alii, non solum sententias, et verba interpretari conati sint, sed etiam rationem
reddere de Uteris, et ipsarum figuris, cum apicibus sub, et supra positis" (De harmonia mundi
2.4.4 (fol. 25or)).
41. "Tertio loco ponitur Aleph litera quidem divinitatis ... qui (ut Elchana ait) in fluens in Bet et res
dat, ut materia formetur, et vivificetur per filium, que est sapientia ereatrix et omnium return vita"
(ibid.),
42. "Tau, quodcongregationem Israel significat, sicuti Elchana expresse ait" (ibid., fol. 250V).
43. Sefer ha-Peliah, fol. ic.
44. "... dixere reconditissimi theologi Hebraeorum illam literam divinitatis, quae est yod, significans
principium ec finem, cum sit finis numerorum, et principium denariorum, habere sex spinulas"
(De harmonia mundi 3.5.1 (fol. 383V)).
45. Qotzim, in Hebrew, i.e., literally, "thorns."
46. Sefer ha-Peliah, fol. iv. See also ibid., fol. ic.
47. "Tal quod ros significat, est vagina sacratissimi nominis quadrilitteri, ut aliquid de secretis
reconditae theologiae Hebraeorum pandamus" (De harmonia mundi i.7.i8(fol. 144V)).
48. "Tal... per viam numerorum cognomen important magni nominis reconditi, a quo fluunt omnia"
(ibid., 3.8.16, fol. 46ir).
49. In the gematria, the "small number" does not take into account tens or hun dreds: according to
this calculation, the value of both 'Hyh (1+5+1+5) and tal (9+1) is therefore 12.
W:, LI h is one of the 72 Names obtained from Exodus 14:19-21. See, for instance, the Sefer ha-Bahir
79 (Margaliot no): G. Scholem, Das Buch Bahir. Ein Schriftdenkmal aus der Fruhzeit der
Kabbala (Leipzig, 1923, 3d ed. Darmstadt, 1980), 89; D. Abrams, The Book Bahir. An edition
based on the earliest manuscripts (Los Angeles, 1994), 167. Compare also Zohar I.ioSb. The
correspondence between tal and Yhwh (through the intermediate passage Kwzw (Y= fe, h = w, w
= z)) is mentioned also in Zohar II.261b.
51. Sefer ha-Peliah, fol. 14c.
52. De harmonia mundi 1.2.7 (fol. 3iv), 1.4,3 (fols. s8v-59r),
53. "Rabbi Bachaie quoque tharsim chrysolitum interpretatur: quem hebraice det, qari'oliq cariolic,
Et hunc esse colons coelestis, aut maris elati, et eius virtutum favere ad digerendum, et
impinguandum" (De harmonia mundi 1.4,4 (fol- 59r)). About the equivalence tarshish - sea,
compare also De harmonia 1.7.12 (fol. i38r): "[Ionas] iter arripuit ad ipsum mare per Tharsis
aliquando significatum, ut etiam sentit Hieronymus in commentariis Ieremiae."
54. Rabbenu Bachya Be'ur 'al ha-Torah, ed. Ch. D. Chavel, 3 vols. (Jerusalem, 1966), 2:301.
55. Zorzi's letters are scattered through Italian libraries and archives, and it is often arduous to
identify them. See, for instance, the important epistle written by Zorzi for the Catena evangelica
of the humanist Aurelio Dall'Acqua, found by M. Morresi, "Cooperation and collaboration in
Vicenza before Palladio, Jacopo Sansovino and the Pedemuro masters at the high altar of the
cathedral of Vicenza," JournaI of the Society of Architectural Historians 55.2 (1996): 158-77:
165. Another previously unknown letter, signed "Prater Franciscus Georgi" is quoted by C. M,
Brown, "The 'Camera del Mapamondo et del Caiero' in the Palazzo San Sebastiano in Mantua. A
fragment of a view of Jerusalem and Vittorio Carpaccio's letter to Francesco Gonzaga of 155-1,
"Journal of Jewish Art 10 (1984): 32-46: 35 n. 5-
56. Hebdomas animae christianae, caiholicas, et apprime salutares, ac varias per Ferias ad Deum,
Sanctosque omnes Litanias complectens: Serenissime, et insigni pietate conspicue D.D. Annae
Catharinae Archiducissae Austriae, DucissaeMantuae, et c. dicatus. Authore F. Georgia Veneto,
D. Francisci Ordinis Cappuccino., Salisburgi, Superiorum consensu excudebat Conradus
Kurnerus Typographus Mencropoliticus Anno Domini MDXCVI, [4], 155 pp.. i"-8°. I found a
copy of this tiny book at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Rome. Although it does not give
any further information about the origin of the text printed, some of the litanies leave no doubt
about Zorzi's authorship. See, e.g., the invocation to 'Adonai Domine ... lehoua Deus ... Helohim
Deus ... Sabaoth Domine" (pp. 29-31) or the beautiful prayer "Ad In flammatos Seraphinos ... O
Acensi Seraphim, vestris piis precibus calefacite et in flammate nos in amore Dei et proximi: ita
ut corda nostra ardeant in via per quam ambulamus ..." (p. 78).
57. An annotated Italian translation of this seminal late-Renaissance text is now being prepared by
Dr. Saverio Campanini.
 FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER FRANCESCO ZORZI A METHODICAL DREAMER

58. These characteristics have been rightly pointed our by Campanini, "Haophan inem noncupat. Medium est anima, vel spiritus utrusque connectens. Quae
betoc haophan," 14. tria Hebraei omnes dicunt: nefesh ruah neshamah" (De harmonia mundi 3.5.3
(fol. 385r».
59. "Elementaris hie ignis, soli respondet: qui est verus, et coelestis ignis (ut ex
offidna Platonica Speusippus deprompsit) ... Hebrei vero Semes, quod 71. Waw is "litera divinitatis, importans numerum senarium, secundum quern
proprium interpretari potest, eo quod lux et eius beneficium sibiipsi proprium ipse spiritus summus ... disposuit ... totam hanc mundi machinam." CTiet is
sit" (De harmonia mundi 1.4.17 (fol. 74?))- "litera vitae ... nam vita dicitus, chai. Tertia est, resh, quae binos centenarios,
et materiam aut corporeitatem quandam significat: Binarius enim materiam
60. Compare, for instance, the long discussion on the symbolical meaning of lan-
importat" (De harmonia mundi 3.5.1 (fol, 383V)).
guage in general, and of Hebrew in particular, offered by Zorzi, De harmonia
mundi 3.8.11.2 (fols. 446v-447r). 72. "... per quod transiens corpus animale fit spirituale, ut unitum cum speriori
beatificetur ... Si autem decidens conglutinatur cum inferiore, tunc per ipsum
61. "Si voluerimus acutius inspicere, unde veniat haec determinatio, comperietur:
tamquam per foramina cribri distillat, et desperditur quicquid ex superiore
quod a materia, forma et spiritu provenit: quod per literas punctaturas et
deteriorari potest" (De harmonia mundi 3.5.8 (fol. 387r)).
accentus sacri idiomatis innuitur, ut habetur in recondissimis arcanis Hebraicae
theologiae." 73. "Media vero quale rarionalis est, de utraque participat et utranque connectit,
Hinc ab Haebraeis dicitur ruach, id est spiritus, cuius proprium est connectere.
62. "Deficit ab ipso sacro, et mysterioso eloquio: In quo secondum rerum
Iccirco spiritus a nostris dicitur nexus."
proprietate nomina ab Adam, iubente Deo, imposita fuere."
74. On Giulio Camillo Delminio see L. Bolzoni, 11 teatro delta memoria. Studi su
63. The most obvious reference is Sefer ha-Bahir 83 (114), ed. Abrams, p. 169.
Giulio Camillo (Padua, 1984); C. Vasoli, "Uno scritto inedito di Giulio Camillo
64. Compare De harmonia mundi 1.1.5 (fol- 6v): "Unde et super haravah, id est, De l'Humana deificatione," Rinascimento NS 24 (1984): 191-227; L. Bolzoni, La
planities equitare dkitur: quod traductio nostra habet occasum." stanza della memoria. Modelli letterari e iconografici nell'etd delta stampa (Turin,
65. The Midrash on Psalms, trans. WG. Braude,2vols. (New Haven, 1959): 2:215-16. 1995).
75. "Et si come - he writes for instance - la Nephes ha il diavolo, che le ministra il
66. "Sicut sunt acquae supercoelestes, quae Dominum continue laudant ... pari
dimonio per tentatore, cosi la Nessamah ha Dio che le ministra l'angelo. La
modo sunt in archetypo illo planities, a quibus omnia iucunda, lenia, dulcia,
poverella di mezo da amendue le parti e stimolata " (Giulio Camillo, L'idea del
amoena et declectabilia procedunt" (De harmonia mundi 1.7,8 (fol. 132V)).
theatro, ed. Una Bolzoni (Palermo, 1991), 128).
67. Synapsezur Hekhabt-Literatur: in Zusammenarbeit mit M. Schliiter und H.G.
76. L'harmonie du monde divisee en trois cantiques. Oeuvre ...premierement composi en
von Mutius, ed. P. Schafer (Tubingen, 1981), # 849.
latin par Francois Georges Venitien, et depuis traduict et illustrepar Guy Le Fevre
68. It is interesting to note that at least one among the very few manuscripts con - de La Boderie (Paris, 1578). See F. Secret, L'esoterisme de Guy Le Fevre de La
taining the Seder rabbah di-bereshit comes from Renaissance Venice: MS Munich, Boderie (Geneva, 1969), 113-22.
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Hebr. 40, copied in 1548 by Ya'aqov ben Yosef; cf.
77. A general survey of Zorzi's influence on English humanists of the late sixteenth
M. Steinschneider, Die hebrdischen Handschriften der K. Hof-und Staatsbibliothek
and seventeenth centuries has been offered by Yates, The occult philosophy.
in Miinchen (2d ed., Munich, 1895), 26-7.
69. 1 Corinthians 2:14: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God" {Authorized Version); the Vulgate translates: 'Animalis autem homo
non percipit ea quae sunt Spiritus Dei."
70. "Plotinus enim tria ponit in homine, supremum, infimum et medium,
Supremum est illud divinum ... Infimum est, quod Paulus animalem hom-
L

CHRISTIAN KABBALAH IN THE

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
Klaus Reichert

Morgenglanz der Ewigkeit, Licht

vom unerschopften Lichte, Schick
mu diese Morgenzeit deine
Strahlen zu Gesichte und vertreib
durch deine Macht unsre Nacht.'

O NE KNOWS THESE LINES from the one hymn by Christian Knorr von
Rosenroth that has survived in the Protestant hymnal - one out of the
countless ones that were sung by the Pietists in seventeenth and eighteenth-century
Germany. The hymn is so familiar to German Protestants -one may call it part of
their socialization - that no one is aware of its source in kabbalist thinking. Where
does the light come from? From the sun, which is called the visible tabernacle of
God by the psalmist, and which for this reason played some part in legitimizing the
heliocentric world picture? The sun, however, was not created before the fourth
day - after day and night, after heaven and earth, even after the plants. What God
calls "day" was at first called "light" and was the work - if it was a work after all -
of the first day of creation. God said ~I1N TP1 TIN >i~P: "There maybe,
orbccome, or happen light, and light there was." This is hardly more than the
claiming of existence by logicians, existet, and is only made plain in translation.
The Septuagint gives yet^TlSllTCJ ^cos Kal kyiveTO <t>ws; that is, it speaks
about being engendered and being born, about inception and making. In a similar
way the Vulgate: \tsfiat lux is resumed unequivocally as a work of creation: Et
facta est lux. Thus the origin of light as creation is undisputed in
 CHRISTIAN KABBALAH IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
Christian tradition. It forms the first day, together with God's separation of light
and darkness, which are then called day and night. The Hebrew original, as I said,
is far from being very precise, even though most of the rabbis do not call into
question the fact of its creation. It was only with the kabbalists that what happened
became a matter of speculation. Perhaps the light had always been there, and
Elohim, the God of creation, who after all figures among the sefirot, only
summons it. Thus it is previous to creation, it shows itself, it may be seen; or
however we may put it, it is a reflexive being in itself which appears.
More than a hundred years after Knorr's hymn, the theosophist Friedrich
Christoph Oetinger, who was deeply imbued with Christian kabbalah, states in his
Biblisches und Embiematisches Worterbuch of 1776 under the caption "light":
"The light does not seem to have been created, but revealed ... God called up the
light from chaos: Let there be light, and there was light: God's glory is the
primeval light and Jesus Christ is the reflection of this light from which all the
reflections of the seven spirits emerge." 2 The background of these sentences is the
Christianized concept of the emanations as set forth by the kabbalists: Jesus as the
coming-into-the-world in the form of the three upper sefirot, from which the seven
lower sefirot, called spirits, take their reflection. Previous to all this is the
uncreated light, the Urlicht, which is held to be one with God's glory.
At first these are concepts inherent in the dynamics of the notion of God, and
hence remain abstract. They become visualized and concrete in the Lurianic lore
of the simsutn, the self-contraction of God.' It was Knorr von Rosenroth who took
up this lore and introduced it to his Christian readers. In the first of the 131 Theses
Cabbalisticae printed in the Kabbah, denudata -theses 1-18 are under the caption
"simsum" - it is stated: 4 "In order to create the world, God has contracted his
presence (contraxit praesentiam suam)." This led to space (unde spatium, thesis 2)
which is called aerprimus, and within this remained, thesis 3, the vestigia lucis
divinae that are also called aura prima and splendor supemns, "heavenly
splendor." This is to say that traces of the divine primal light have remained
visible (remanserunt) in the world (and, after passing through the various steps of
emanations, also as soul sparks in the creatures) and, further, that this light is to be
distinguished from the created light of the sun. The passage in Jeremiah referred
to usually for the "setting" of the divine presence says: 'A glorious high throne
from the be-
CHRISTIAN KABBALAH IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
ginning is the place of our sanctuary" (17:12, Kingjames Version). "From the
beginning" fpU'iOO) it says, not "in the beginning" (rW?03), and the "glorious
high throne" (TOD HtD) is the shining throne of glory and splendor, for the
Hebrew word associates manifestations of light, or as Oetinger states: "God's glory
is the primeval light." If we recall the powerful images of Knorr's hymn, they do
not seem to be metaphorical at all. They are to be understood literally: it is the
splendor of morning, aurora, that makes visible the uncreated light, the Urlicht,
which radiates from the eternal throne of divine glory, before the sun, its
reflection, appears. If this light is to dispel the night, this may also be understood
in the primeval context, for before the light there was darkness, out of which it was
summoned or called upon by God. Further, the word Macht ("power," "might")
may refer to the fifth sefirah, Gevurah, which assigns the potencies of the soul, set
against the "spiritual" powers in the higher sphere and the "natural" ones in the
lower. Incidentally, the divine name for Gevurah is "Elohim": it is the God who
summons the light and sets in motion the process of creation.
I have put Knorr's hymn at the beginning of my paper because it is part of the
tradition of Protestant belief and feeling to such a degree that no one realizes any
longer how kabbalistic motifs are bundled up here as if in a burning-glass, motifs
that may be traced all the way to young Goethe and the Romantics. Even Gustav
Mahler composed an Urlicht-Lied for his Resurrection symphony. Hence we
cannot say that Christian kabbalah was some comparatively short-lived, irrelevant
episode which was washed away by the broad stream of intellectual and scientific
development. On the contrary, one can maintain that it exerted its influence in
various and vastly different disciplines, albeit mostly unrecognized. More
importantly, one can show that the debates opened up or led by Christian kabbalah
lead right into the center of the religious and scientific paradigm-shifts that were
brought about in the early modern period, especially in Germany, Holland and
England. That eventually the mechanistic world picture carried the day is not to
say that rival world pictures had become obsolete once and for all. For instance, as
to the question whether there is an empty space or not, present-day physicists and
biologists are rather inclined to the opinions of the kabbalists that there is not. Let
me outline some main features of the unsettled and unsettling modernity of
kabbalist thinking. But before doing so I want to discuss some of the historical
prerequisites.
 CHRISTIAN KABBALAH IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
The beginnings of Christian kabbalah in late fifteenth-century Italy must be
seen in connection with the search for a prisca theologia, a kind of primeval
theology, supposedly older than the relatively clear Mosaic testimonies on
questions of ethics, theology, and philosophy. These testimonies would then
encapsulate a primary revelation that had been encoded by Moses in order to ward
off profane eyes. Traces of that original revelation had, however, survived in the
cryptic sayings of presocratic philosophers, with the Pythagoreans, the Orphics, in
hieroglyphs, in the Corpus Hermeticum held to be older than Plato, and of course
in Plato himself, who was dubbed by some "Moses atticus," by others a disciple of
Jeremiah.5 Following these traces it was possible to reconstruct a "unity" of
theology if one succeeded in laying bare the kernel of the various manifest forms
of utterance by applying the relevant hermeneutic tools. These texts had in
common that they were very hard to understand, or if one did understand
something, it was hardly imaginable that the triteness or crudity of a saying was
what was really meant by the ancient document. The search for the hidden, the se -
cret, the occult may be seen in many fields of thinking from the late Middle Ages
to the early modern period. It causes Paracelsus to search out the occult virtues of
plants, metals and stones by quasi-chemical analysis; it leads to the invention of
microscope and telescope; it calls in question any sensory experience in general; it
motivates even a Kepler to assume a conjunction of planets behind the Homeric
assembly of the gods - after all, they were called by the same names - until it
results eventually in the postulation of verifiable natural laws which, however,
even with Newton aimed at theosophy
In the field of textual theory there were the kabbalists who had devel oped
precise instruments for decoding the secret meaning of words, that is, for laying
bare what was really meant. What was new for non-Jews was that this was a
method that did not pile layer upon layer according to typology or the lore of
fourfold meaning without calling into question the relatively safe semantic
denotation of the text. Now the words themselves were suddenly at one's disposal:
they could be dissected into their parts, analogously to the Paracelsian analytic
procedure, and be reassembled anagrammarically. Secondly, by this method the
totality of the Torah could be brought to yield up its secret meaning. Even the
tedious lists of names and generations that were usually skipped became
transparent. This second point is especially relevant if seen in connection with the
concept of plenitude or pleroma: if
CHRISTIAN KABBALAH IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
space is filled, down to the least atom, with the presence of God, this could now
be demonstrated and proved by and from the word itself by which God had
manifested and revealed himself to Moses.
The attraction of kabbalistic hermeneutics 6 seems to have come, partly at least,
from the assumption that it vindicated a "plurality of worlds." The relatively
stable and static meanings of words became fluid and assumed a dynamism which
had nothing to do with the limited possible range of associations or simple
"connotations." By the shifting of reference systems, common lexical meanings
could be seen as one way of understanding out of a variety of possible patterns.
Out of the words themselves categorically different semantizations are
extrapolated, not mediating layers. The words do not connote, they denote
differently. In the same way, ocular evidence may be interpreted differently,
while its underlying laws can only be detected by the shifting of reference
systems, mathematical demonstration replacing sense data.
Let me mention three such methods of proceeding; notarikon, gematria and
the combination or permutation of letters. According to notarikon, the letters of a
word form a chain of the initials of different words. For instance, the name by
which Maimonides is usually referred to, Rambam, is a contraction of the first
letters of his full name Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon. Thus from the first word of the
Bible, J"Pl^i03, one could draw out according to this method mW VN~I1!» 'hzpW
n>r6K iTtn Jl>1Wa3I "In the beginning Elohim saw that Israel would receive the
Torah." A Christian kabbalist might draw out from the same word 0>»TJ *TTl>
U5Wbv 3X nil p "Son, Spirit, Father, their Trinity, complete oneness."
Since every letter is also a number, the method gematria adds up the numbers
to give a numerical value for each word, thus establishing connections between
words which have nothing to do with each other on the lexical level; or it decodes
their secret meanings, as when Jacob says to his sons "Go down (1T1) to Egypt"
and the numerical value of ITT, 210, states the years they spent there. Such a
concept of the meaningfulness of numbers is of course pre-mathematical - it is
magical or symbolical - but we may not discard it as absurd only because we have
a different understanding of numbers. Even a Kepler used two systems of
numbers, a magical one and a numerical-relational one; even a Bacon - one of the
founders of natural science in the modern sense of the word - was suspicious of
mathematics
 CHRISTIAN KABBALAH IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
because for him it was only a magical-operational procedure. On the other hand it
was John Dee, the great magician and teacher of mathematics to Queen Elizabeth,
who introduced Euclidean geometry to England. And we may perhaps also
remember that operating with numerical correspondences has remained essential
for the arts, especially music, irrespective of its being discarded from the sciences.
Let us sum up for our purpose: the idea of the secret meanings of words on the
basis of their numerical values was a daring attempt to prove the ever presence of
God in His scripture - and the analogy is not entirely beside the point that the book
of nature too is written in numbers. To this change of paradigm the kabbalistic
theory of numbers may have contributed. But this is open to speculation.
Now for the third method, permutations, the arbitrary recombination of the
letters of a given word. Precisely this method, next to that of notarikon, might have
been the main reason why Christians got interested in kabbalah. For if Jesus and
the Holy Spirit were co-existing with the Father and had been there from the very
beginning, this fact could and must be found in the word revealed to Moses. How
to extrapolate by permutation a hidden meaning from the first word of Torah
TPUW13, Talmudists and kabbalists had already shown, but it was Pico della
Mirandola7 who gave a Christian twist to it. Pico permutes the six letters of
JT>1OT**13 and draws twelve words from it: 3N "Father", ~Q3 "in or with the
Son," and so on. He then puts the words next to each other and gets the following
phrase: "The Father, in the Son or through the Son, beginning and end or rest
(TOUT), created the head, the fire, and the fundament of the big man in a good
covenant (3112 TT>~l3, foedere bono)." Pico then explains the symbolic value of
the phrase by establishing a subtle net of correspondences: the "big man" is, as
Moses had said elsewhere, the threefold world, the macrocosm, corresponding to
which terrestrial man is the microcosm; the head is on the one hand the uppermost
world, the spiritual or angelic one, and on the other hand the brain or seat of reason
in man; fire is the middle world or heaven, where life, movement and warmth have
their origin and which is governed by the sun, as lift in man is governed by the
heart in his breast. "Fundament," then, is the sublunar world, subjected to change,
to becoming and perishing, corresponding to which are the sexual organs in man.
By the "good covenant," finally, is to be understood that in the correspondences of
the twice-three worlds everything is founded in harmony, friendship and peace. But
the most aston-
ISTIAN KABBALAH IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
ishing thought is yet to come, a thought which may be pursued through the whole
list of Christian kabbalists, and which found its most precise elaboration with
Leibniz: it is what has been called Pico's monadology. He writes: "Whatever is in
any of the worlds is at the same time contained in each, and there is no one of
them in which is not to be found whatever is in each of the others." 8 He somewhat
takes back this thought neoplatonically by distinguishing again a hierarchy of
steps and qualities, so that, for example, the terrestrial element fire burns, the
heavenly one gives life, and the one beyond the heavens is love. The idea,
however, of a concentration (or a mirroring) of the totality of the world in each
particular, is one that cannot now be forgotten, although it took two centuries for
it to become the basis of a philosophical system.
If we survey Pico's nine hundred Conclusiones it strikes us that kabbalah is far
from playing a prominent role. The theses are the bold attempt of an extremely
learned young man to combine "everything" that had been thought by mankind in
a great synthesis, to uncover correspondences and work out structural analogies,
with a view toward a priscu theologia under a Christian flag. The synthesis would
include the divine Plato and the hardly less divine Plotinus and Hermes
Trismegistus. In this attempt kabbalah comes in with its analogies to Plato and the
neoplatonic systems, its much more practical magic than that of the Orphics and
Pythagoreans, its clearer - or if one may say so, its more rational - methods of
decoding texts. And it is one of the first attempts on the part of a Christian to take
Jewish thinking as seriously as that of the sanctified heathen philosophers.
Although not evident here (passages from Pico's Heptaplus make it clearer),
the early Christian kabbalah had an apologetic thrust which aimed at a conversion
of the Jews. Since the appearance of Christ could, by kabbalistic methods, be
proved to have happened at the beginning of Genesis, it was possible to beat the
Jews with their own weapons and to open their eyes to the fact that the Son was
co-existent with the Father and the Holy Spirit and that creation had been initiated
by him and through him. The Trinitarian argument was further enhanced by
finding it expressly stated in the three upper sefirot, which were then consequently
interpreted according to Christian doctrine. Such interpretations were, of course,
in line with neither Christian nor Jewish thinking, and it is quite understandable
that the orthodoxies of both camps refuted or banned them. Throughout the
sixteenth
 century Christian kabbalah remained a marginal phenomenon in esoteric circles
suspected of heresy, and it was only in the next century that it became of
paramount importance for the theosophical debates, for theism and pantheism,
Spinozism and Leibniz.
The intimations, gleanings and conclusions of Pico were taken up by Johannes
Reuchlin, who was the first to present kabbalah to the Christian public in somewhat
systematic form. Fascinated by the possibilities of permutations, he practiced the
so-called kabbalah of names that culminated in the name of Jesus by inserting the
letter shin into the Tetragrammaton, and he described new ways and means of
contemplation for elevating the mind through written symbols to the upper world
of the divine spheres.' According to him, kabbalah is paradisal knowledge that was
lost after the Fall but could be divined, if not regained, through quiet contemplation
of the Hebrew letters, self-absorption and the love of God.
In the wake of Reuchlin one must mention Agrippa of Nettesheim, who was
denigrated as a magician who had made a pact with the devil, and who contributed to
the figure of Doctor Faustus in Protestant propaganda. Yet his magic, which combines
kabbalistic elements of numerology, permutation and the sefirot on the one hand with
neoplatonic elements on the other, is the first detailed system of early modern phi-
losophy of nature. He too uses the generally accepted concept of a tripartite cosmos, but
he draws the conclusion that because of the catenation of correspondences, of
sympathies and antipathies, it must be possible to draw down the celestial powers,
virtues, potencies and intelligences that inhabit the stars at God's servants, with the help
of astrology and mathematics, that is, of natural magic. Agrippa was no wizard as the
world around him thought him to be. His occulta philosaphia is an attempt, beyond the
Paracelsian discovery of the secret virtues of plants and metals, to make visible the
invisible. In Agrippa we sense a true spirit of research that indicates a shift in thinking
preparatory to the gradual change of paradigm of more than a century later. That the air
around us is filled with particles, that we are surrounded by rays and potencies that we
do not see, became the great challenge to science from then on. Even the great founders
of physics and chemistry in seventeenth-century England knew that they were
surrounded by witches and demons, and that it was blatant atheism to deny their
existence.
Pico, Reuchlin, and Agrippa are Renaissance humanists, believers in tl word
and the letter, in a world that had not yet been challenged by metho ological
doubt, experiment and empiricism. Their syntheses tried once mor by including
newly available texts like the kabbalistic ones, to explain tl world or the worlds
in their entirety. The rise of science in the modei sense begins some hundred
years later by concentrating on special pro lems: Kepler does not want to
understand the whole of the celestial arcf lecture but restricts himself to finding
out the laws of the movements • the planets only, by observing and calculating
in such a way that these lav could be verified. In this context it seems difficult at
first glance to find re sons for the new attraction of Christian kabbalah,
especially in the secon half of the seventeenth century. It is all the more
surprising in that it is n( propagated only by the learned scholars who drew on
new sources such ; Lurianic kabbalah, like the German Christian Knorr von
Rosenroth or h collaborator, the Dutchman Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont
or theos* phists like Jacob Boehme. Its relevance and importance were
recognize also by philosophers from entirely different traditions of thinking like
tfc Cambridge Platonists, and like Spinoza and Leibniz, some of whom wei in
close personal contact with the kabbalists mentioned.
As a reason for the emergence of kabbalah in twelfth and thirteentl century
Spain and southern France, Moshe Idel has suggested a reaction t the rationalistic
challenge of Maimonides, "an ongoing building of an altei native to his system
on the basis of earlier materials." 10 A similar reaso may be adduced for the
attraction of kabbalah, particularly in the sever teenth century. It also offered an
alternative, for example to the atheisti materialism of a Hobbes or to the new
focus on the laws of nature on a exclusively rationalistic basis. And kabbalah, in
its resort to "earlier mater als," had a parallel in that paragon of early modern
philosophy and scienct Francis Bacon, who had used presocratic philosophers
and inspected Gree myths for their hidden truths in order to bring about a
revolutio in the hit tory of mankind and to restore eventually a paradisal state.
The Cartesiai turn had not yet taken place, and would not take place for a long
time.
Another reason for the interest in kabbalah is surely to be found in tb
fascination exerted by the Old Testament over Protestants of various creeds
especially over the Puritans. It assumed the sort of equal rank with the Nev
Testament which it had never before held in Christianity. The Puritans re
[134 J
[135]
 CHRISTIAN KABBALAH IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
spected the Hebrew language most highly, holding that it was the earliest language
of mankind. They tried to adapt parts of the Mosaic law to then-way of life: they
argued for decades whether Saturday, that is the Sabbath, was the true Sunday,
etc.11 Since these debates are documented well enough, there is no need to present
them here again. Instead I want to concentrate on three reasons - unequal in weight
- that seem to me to have been important for the prominence and recognition of
kabbalah at that time: aJlegorization, opposition to Cartesian dualism and the
mechanistic world picture, and, finally, individualization.
As is well known, allegory played a major part in the Baroque period as a form of
thinking, a form of imagining. Allegory presents a composite image that is obscure
and is meant to be decoded. Thus it is in diametrical opposition to the incipient
mathematization of the world at the same time which was, of course, not confined to
the natural sciences. Thinkers like Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, and organizations like
the Royal Society fought an embittered battle in the name of clarity and distinctness
of expression: the meaning of words should not depend upon rhetorical persuasion
that could shuffle them round until they meant the opposite of what they denoted; they
should on the contrary be unequivocal and definite like mathematical symbols. This
gulf between mutually exclusive styles of thinking was, I believe, bridged by the
kabbaJists. On the one hand they insisted upon the existence of hidden layers of
meaning, of a difference or otherness of expression, an dAAr|yop€LK, necessitated by
certain contents, the deciphering of which was based upon clearly defined linguistic
operations, not upon external presuppositions as was the case with emblems. On the
other hand, and by virtue of the same procedures, they argued that their model pre-
sented a coherent - the Cambridge Platonist Henry More even says, a rational - model
for explaining the world, a model, moreover, that had the advantage of being more
comprehensive, excluding less than competitive models. (Reduction as a prerequisite
of scientific understanding, such as the shift from etiology to symptomatology in early
modern medicine, did not yet have common consent; nor does it have it any longer
today.)
Seen in this light, kabbalah could be called a rehabilitation of allegory as a
form of understanding on a rational basis. The visible world and its appearances
are only the images or emblems of a higher spiritual world; each single thing is
only, to use Boehme's word, "signature." On the first level
CHRISTIAN KABBALAH IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
this is of course platonic-neoplatonic lore and is connected with the baroque creed
of the illusory character of the world - the world as emblem or Sinnbild - but it is
extended kabbalistically. What we see in nature is at the same time the signature
of the written word, not its vestment to be decoded mathematically. Nature and
writing, Knorr von Rosenroth contends, are one. He speaks about the "natural
alphabet of the holy language," which is the primeval language, the language of
Adam and Christ, and therefore "no other language in the world is so closely
united with nature; under its homely historical letters are hidden glorious secrets
both of nature and of morality." 12 The interrelation and interpenetration of
primeval language and the essence of nature is based upon a double unity, the
unity of word and thought and that of thought and being or essence. The word
originated when the divine thought first conceived it and then manifested itself by
and in the word, when the idea became reality in letter and sound. (Behind this is
the old notion of a primeval Torah that preceded the world and according to which
it was built.)
The simultaneity of creation and word Knorr illustrated in the frontispiece of
his Kabbala denudata, where he shows two scrolls next to each other. On the one
it says Q>nVl< JTO TT'l^TD, on the other EN APXH HN O AOrOC. But the
unity of idea and written word is not to be taken figuratively, it is meant to be
quite concrete. In articulation, our organs of speech reshape the form of the
Hebrew characters, so that every articulation retains a live trace of the divine
thought. In his preface to van Helmont's Natural alphabet Knorr writes:
To prove this there is no better example than that of our first father Adam,
who gave names to all the animals. He must have found out that he could
re-shape clearly and in an orderly way all the interior motions of his mind
by a certain change of his voice and his sounding. For all human beings
still have a shadow of this within themselves ... since they change their
voice as the circumstances require. But when I say all human beings have
but a shadow of it, it is because they do not know what is innermost in
themselves as did Adam in his supreme wisdom.11
(Jacob Boehme too thought that the voice made audible the hidden spirit. It is
interesting to note that in the traditional Christian view this indicator would have
been the eyes, and later the face.1")
[136]
[137]
 In spite of the retrenchment of post-Adamic man, man as microcosm is
endowed potentially with a likeness of creation and creator. By this the of Genesis
1:27 gets a different bent: it is not in his image mat God created man, but in his
likeness, which means that there is postulated an astonishing correspondence
between God and man. This consideration becomes even clearer in Knorr's notion
of the unity of thought and being. For understanding ultimately leads to a
suspension of the split between subject and object. If thought and word are
identical and if the word calls forth the world, then all things are identical with the
idea and at the same time an "inner condition" of man. Man as a knowing subject
is transformed into what he has comprehended or discerned, which at the same
time he has brought forth himself in virtue of his divine descent." From there it is
not all that far to the philosophy of identity.
Let me turn to my next point, which derives in part from what I have just said,
the opposition to Cartesian dualism. At first the ideas of Descartes were taken as
the decisive blow to the late scholastic cobwebs against which Bacon, and in his
way Bruno too, had earlier striven. They entailed the positioning of pure res
cogitans over against the res extensa; the assertion of soulless matter which was
moved only from the outside, obeying mechanical, not organic, laws; the
replacement of qualities and potencies in nature - the Paracelsian "virtues" - by
quantifiable movement; the bridging of the division of matter and spirit that cannot
act upon each other by the supposition of a god who continuously exerts his
influence, in the literal sense of the word, upon the world. Much of this was found
plausible, at least at first, and was approved especially in England, for example by
the scholars of the Royal Society and the Cambridge Platonists. Henry More even
tried to integrate Descartes' philosophy of nature into his platonic-kabbalistic
system. It was Descartes' rationalism that attracted him: he held that it was
compatible with the alleged rationalism of Plato, and that both could work together
for the foundation of theology on a rationalistic basis. In a letter to Descartes More
writes: "That which enravishes me most is that we both setting out from the same
lists, though taking several wayes, the one travelling in the lower road of
Democritisme, amidst the thick dust of Atoms and flying particles of Matter; the
other tracing it over the high and aeiry Hills of Platonism, in that more thin and
subtil Region of Immateriality, meet together notwithstanding at last."16 As late as
1710 More's biographer Richard
Ward writes that the platonism of More and Cartesianism converged in the secret
revelation of the Mosaic text. Taken together they offered "the most approvable
philosophical interpretation of the first chapters of Genesis as ever was yet
offered to the world since the loss of the Judaical Cabala." 17
But by that time the incompatibility of both systems had already become
manifest. Apart from their different assessment of mathematics they disagreed in
their notions of matter, of space, and of the - external or internal - influence of
God upon the world. Matter, More contends, is by no means dead; matter is spirit,
and as such identical with the essence of God. In the sixteen axioms of More's
Fundamenta Philosophiae sive Cabbaiae > which Knorr included in his Kabbttia
denudata, he says
1. Ex nihilo nihil posse creari.
2. Ac proinde nee Materiam creari posse. ...
4. Nullam igitur Materiam esse in rerum natura.
5. Quicquid vero est, Spiritum esse.
If matter is spirit, it must have always been there, that is before the creation,
which is probably only conceivable under the presupposition of simsum, not
mentioned here but referred to by More elsewhere:
6. Spiritum autem hunc, increatum esse, & aeternum, intellectualem,
sensibilem, vitalem, per se moventem, infinitum amplitudine & a se
necessario existentem.
6. Ac proinde Spiritum hunc revera esse Essentiam Divinam.'*
Spirit defined in this way coincides with res extensa: God and nature are one.
To Knorr the polemical thrust of these definitions was obvious. In his
annotations to the translation of Giambattista della Porta's Magia naturalis he
points to the "Enchiridion Metaphysicum, or Of bodiless things" by the "excellent
Englishman Dr. Henricus Morus," "in which he proved by sharp and mathematical
analysis in twenty main tenets, against the Cartesians and Hobbesians, that there is
something more in the world than sheer matter from which originate the common
effects of nature."1* And somewhere else in the same text he claims: "The spirit of
nature, he [More] says, is a bodyless being which pervades matter in the whole of
the world ■ • ■"20
This spirit is a force (it is calledby Cudworth, another Cambridge Platonist,
"plastic force" or "nature") which is emitted by the emanations of God and
[138] [139]
 CHRISTIAN KABBALAH IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
which bears His traces until the end of days. This spirit is operating in everything,
it is "self-moving" or "autokinetical." "The inward Spirit in every thing is that
which operates all things."1' If it were otherwise the defenders of the mechanical
world picture would be in the right and hving beings would be nothing but
marionettes. Cudworth claims:
They that are acted only by an outward Law, are but like Neurospasts; or
those little Puppets that skip nimbly up and down, and seem to be full of
quick and sprighdy motion, whereas they are all the while moved
artificially by certain Wires and Strings from without, and not by any
Principle of Motion, from themselves within ... But they that are acted by
the new Law of the Gospel, by the Law of the Spirit, they have an inward
principle of life in them, that from the Centre of it self, puts forth it self
freely and constandy into all obedience to the will of Christ..."
This "quickening Spirit within us"" is the trace God left within us in His act of
self-contraction, the simsum, and which he leaves always anew in a creation that
is thought of as a permanently ongoing process, a trace that connects us with
nature and everything hving.
More's space, too, is a spiritual entity It is everywhere, even in the invisible
atom; it is animated; it is not identical with deity but is to be conceived within it; it
has self-consciousness; it is self-preservative and immortal." It is no relational
notion of the mind that is posed and posited by consciousness as with Descartes.
Instead, it has its real substantial foundation within the deity and is co-extensive
with it. In the first of the Theses Cabbalisticae it is stated: "Deus creaturus
mundos contraxit praesentiam suam." The second thesis runs: "Unde spatium quod
dicitur Aer primus." Thus space has a "real foundation that has to be presupposed
by any positioning of relations."" Cassirer, who drew on other sources where he
found the same thought expressed, comments:
Since space does not consist of physical elements it cannot be dissolved
into them. The dissection of it we undertake in our minds is only
meaningful in the abstract or logically. Furthermore, if God as independent
existence is opposed to things, then space is no less self-sufficient and self-
contained in relation to objects, as it has no need of them for its own
existence but admits them into it, as it were, post
-__________________ r------i______
CHRISTIAN KABBALAH IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
festum ... Therefore if we would conceive of everything as being annihilated,
we could never think of its existence as absent. 26
Sensual extension is only the symbol of intelligible being. In More's words: "The
spiritual object which we call space is only a dwindling shadow, which presents to
us the real general nature of the incessant divine ever-presence in the dim fight of
our intellects, until we are able to view it with wakeful eyes more closely.""
As to how this is to be understood concretely, we must resort to the notion of
the monad which was so important for the kabbalists and was taken over from
them by Leibniz and became a cornerstone in his system. In the monad, as is stated
in the Kabbala denudata, divine spirits and parts of the divine essence are
contracted and condensed. As space is to be conceived in total inde pendence of its
extension, the smallest part of it - today, we should say, each cell - contains it
completely in its structure, constitution and quality. It is "one and simple ... eternal
and complete in itself ... independent and existent in itself, infinite and
indestructible, uncreated and ever-present. " 1B The characteristics of All-in-One,
One-in-All recall the aggregate conditions of the sefirot. Although they are
elaborated and differentiated, each sefirah contains nonetheless all the others in a
continuous dynamic process of symbolic relationships and interactions which also
implies the unity of the opposed and the diversity of the identical. Though all of
these notions are esoteric and theo-sophical, neutralizing sense perception - after
all, according to Cassirer, it was More who made conceivable Newton's absolute
space - on the other hand it is indisputable that the accent is put on man, the
microcosmic mirror, as cognitive, sensible, and acting subject. On the one hand,
from God as the immovable monad all forms of being radiate; he is ever present in
the soul of each creature and each atom. On the other hand, and the other way
round, the soul may ascend from where it is all the way up along the various steps
of the cosmos (which the kabbalists took over from neoplatonism) because the
soul possesses a self-acting divine creative power of its own. Moshe Idel finds this
theurgic potential already in the Zohar, which was made available to non-Jewish
readers for the first time in the Kabbala denudata. He writes: "I propose seeing not
only God as the source of energy and man as the 'prism' or 'recy cling agent' but
also the opposite: man as the source and the sefirotic system as a prism and
recycling agency." He goes on to speak of a "structuring of
 the Divine by human intention."29 Probably More was the most radical in
expressing human potentiality. As he put it in Knorr's compendium: 'And
therefore such a microcosmic partial spirit may turn from man into angel, from
angel into god, a creator of a new world and a new heaven. In the same way this
may be maintained about each single particle of divine essence; they are of
necessity either divided by an act or at least divisible, all are gods, creators of
earths and heavens, or may become so." 30 The almost solitary speculations of a
Bruno are getting a reasonable foundation here, and this, of all possibilities, under
the premises of a rational Christian religiosity deeply imbued with kabbalistic
thinking.
More's example testifies to the immense, unheard-of powers attributed to man,
not because of an autonomous Ego that sets himself up as absolute, as was the case
in the Renaissance, but because of the divine substance acting in man. This brings
me to my last point, individualization. It is also a sign of the times. In the wake of
Reformation and Counter-reformation, of the numerous sects, each with its own
special idea of salvation, and of scepticism, the individual dares for the first time to
turn radically to himself or herself. Everybody is writing now his own chiliastic
eternal or third testament for himself, it is said. I think, therefore I am. Montaigne
dissects his soul and does not find it. Descartes finds it in the peneal gland which
unfortunately looks alike in everybody. The Puritans descend into it, daily if pos -
sible, in order to give account of the minutest stirrings agreeable to God. At the
same time man mutates into a citizen and a legal subject protected by law. Again, it
was kabbalah which offered a way of its own: on the one hand it attributed the
highest rank to individual activity of mind and soul; on the other hand the extra- or
supraindividual aim of understanding was indisputable, which called for a
retraction of the J or its becoming one with the aim. Knorr speaks of the
metamorphosis of the knowing subject into the object known; he calls this
Verselbsten,'1 which may be translated as "becoming oneself" but also "getting rid
of oneself." Discernment, understanding, knowing, cognition is not really a
comprehending (Begreifen) but a being struck, seized, moved, touched upon. The
German word Ergrijfenwerden puns on our word for notion, Begriff, by turning it
into something acted upon, something passive, and having overtones of mystical
experience at the same time. This action backwards and forwards of subject and
object is a dynamic process. Ultimately the aim of knowing is to reach - through its
forms of
appearance in the world and through its ten potencies - the En-Sof, the Eternal
One, the Inconceivable One, the One beyond the heavens, or a; Knorr says, the
Deeply Hidden One (der Tiejverborgene) and the Unknow able One (der
Unerkannte), the Urgrund, that is the primeval fundament o everything or, in
Boehme's terms, the Ungrund, i.e. the Un-Basis of all be ing. It is the Nothing of
the German mystics and the negation of Nichola; of Cusa. In its silence and
immobility it is the dialectical unity of all oppo sites, of male and female, of good
and bad, left and right. It is the one and al and infinite. It is only possible to speak
about it in paradoxical and antinomic terms; hence Knorr, like Boehme, uses in
his poetry extremely far-fetchec images, often erotic ones, in order to contract
forcibly the most incompatible and contradictory ideas. "If you want to know
more," he states in the Kabbala denudata, "you will find nothing but an
amazement, a silence." It if here that the Lurianic teaching of simsum becomes
most important. Scholem comments upon this concept:
The first act of En-Sof, the Infinite Being, is therefore not a step outside
but a step inside, a movement of recoil, of falling back upon oneself, of
withdrawing into oneself. Instead of emanation we have the opposite,
contraction. The God who revealed himself in firm contours was
superseded by one who descended deeper into the recess of His own
Being, who concentrated Himself into Himself, and had done so from the
very beginning of creation."
Thus God did not leave His traces in the world once for all by self-concen tration
and veiling, but does so again and again; otherwise the world could not and would
not continue. Knorr, van Helmont, and More ask something similar of the
knowing subject: permanent self-concentration, a descent into oneself in a state of
silence and immobility, of composure." Only in this state of self-submersion and
self-effacement does it become possible to effuse, as if from a power station, one's
own creative potency and become thereby, acting and receiving, a participant in
living creation.
So werd ich mich denn endlich scheiden
Von Ichheyt, Zweyheit und von beiden:
Ich werd Em-all und All-in-eitt R£cht
Ich, und Eins und alles sein.14
Ti42] f 143]
 NOTES

i. "Morning splendor of eternity, / light of uncreated light, / send us at this

morning hour / your rays to see / and dispel by your might / our night,"
2. "Das Licht scheinet nicht geschaffen, sondern nur geoffenbarer zu seyn ...
Gott rufte dem Licht aus dem Chaos: Es seye Licht, und es ward Licht: Gottes
Herrlichkeit ist das urspriingliche Licht, und Jesus Christus ist der Abglanz
dieses Lichts, woraus alle Abglanze der 7 Geister sich hervor geben."

3. G. Scholem, Major trends injewish mysticism (New York, 1954), 261.

4. Christian Knorr von Rosenroth, Kabbala denudata (Sulzbach, 1677), L pars 11,150.
5. Sarah Hutton, "Edward Stillingfleet, Henry More, and the decline of Moses
Atticus" in Philosophy, science, and religion in England, 1640-1700, ed. R. Kioll, R.
Ashcraft, P. Zagorin (Cambridge, 1992), 68ff.
6. Moshe Idel, "Kabbalistic Hermeneutics" in his Kabbalah: New perspectives (New
Haven and London, 1988), 20ofF.
7. See my "Pico della Mirandola and the beginnings of Christian kabbala" in
Mysticism, magic, and kabbalah in Ashkenazi Judaism, ed. K. E. Grozinger and J.
Dan (Berlin and New York, 1995), 195-207.
8. Second proem to Heptaplus, quoted in the translation of Douglas Carmichael,
in Pico della Mirandola "On the Dignity of Man" (Indianapolis, 1977). 77-
9. According to the kabbalist Simon in Reuchlin's De arte cabalistica, quoted by
Scholem, "Die Erforschung der Kabbala von Reuchlin bis zur Gegenwart" in
his Judaica (Frankfurt, 1973), 3: 25°f-
10. Idel, New perspectives, 253,
n. David S. Katz, Sabbath and sectarianism in seventeenth-century England (Leiden,
1988).
12. From Knorr's preface to van Helmont's Naturalpbabet, quoted in Kurt Salecker,
Christian Knorr von Rosenroth (Leipzig, 1931), 119. 1 follow in part Salecker for
the summary of Knorr's theses.

[145]
 CHRISTIAN KABBALAH IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (,'HKJ»1J/1N KAtSHAl.fl.ri uv J .. ^ ...... ______

13. Ibid.,inf. 27 Opera I. iTtff., quoted by Cassirer, Erkenntnisprobletn, 446.

14. In De signatura rerum (1622) Boehme writes: "... denn an der ausserlichen Gestaltniifi aller 28. "ein Eines und Einfaches, ... ein Ewiges und in sich Vollendetes ... ein Unabhangiges und fur

Creaturen / an ihrem Trieb und Begierde / item an ihrem auUgehenden Hall / Stimm und sich Bestehendes, ein Unendliches und UnzerstSrliches, ein Unerschaffenes und

Sprache / kennt man den verborgenen Geist" (1.16; "for by the outward shape of all creatures / by Allgegenwartiges" (Ernst Cassirer, Die platoniscne Renaissance in England und die Schule von
Cambridge, Leipzig and Berlin, 1932,104). Again, Cassirer makes no mention of kabbalah.
their drive and desire/ also by the sound that issues from them / by their voice and language / one
recognizes the hidden spirit.") 29. Idel, 268.

15. Salecker, 112. 30. After Salecker, 114.

16. Quoted after Joseph Levine, "Latitudinarians, neoplatonists, and the ancient wisdom," in 31. This and the following after Salecker, n8ff.
Philosophy, science, and religion in England, 97-
32. Scholem, Major trends, 261.
17. Ibid.
33. The will "zeucht sich selber in sich und findet sich selber in sich" ("The will draws within itself
18. Henry More, Opera omnia, II. 1 (London, 1679- Reprint, Hildesheim, 1966), 523. and finds itself in itself"): Jacob Boehme, De signatura re-rum, II. 7-

19. After Salecker, 89- 34. Knorr, Ncuer Helifeon, Aria LXX; quoted by Salecker, 97: "So I shall part from being I, being
two, and from both: I shall become One-all and All-in-one, Really I, and One and everything."
20. Ibid.

21. More, A collection of aphorisms (London, 1704), part 1, aphorism 34; quoted after Alan Gabbey,
"Cudworth, More, and mechanical analogy" in Philosophy, science, and religion in England, 126.

22. Quoted after Gabbey, 117.

23. Ibid., 120.

24. Salecker, 961".

25. It has a "reales Fundament, das bei jeder Setzung von Beziehungen ... bereits zugrunde gelegt
werden mull": Ernst Cassirer, Das ErfcenntnisproHem in der Philosophic und Wissenschaji der
neueren Zeit (Darmstadt, 1974), 2: 443. Cassirer paraphrases a passage from Enchiridium
metapftysicum.

26. Ibid., 445 ("Denn so wenig er [der Raum] aus physischen Elementen besteht, so wenig kann er in
sie wahrhaft aufgelost werden; vielmehr besitzt alle Zerlegung, die wir in der Vorstellung mit
ihm vornehmen, lediglich abstrakte und logische Bedeutung. Wird ferner Gott den Dingen als
wnabhangige Existenz entgegengesetzt, so steht der Raum den Objekten nicht minder
selbstgeniigsam gegeniiber, da er ihrer fur sein eigenes Dasein nicht bedarf, sondern sie, als in
sich selbst fertige und abgeschlossene Natur, nur nachtraglich in sich eingehen laBt. Denken wir
uns daher selbst alle Dinge vernichtet, so konnen wir uns doch seine Existenz niemals
fortdenken.").
[i46] [147]
 LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND
THE KABBALAH
Allison P. Coudert

I N THE FALL OF 1614 A HUSHED AND EXPECTANT CROWD Watchedjan Baptista van
Helmont, one of the greatest chemists of his age, carefully place a pinch of
saffron colored powder on a scrap of paper, roll up the edges, and throw the tiny
package into a crucible containing quick-silver. As the paper shriveled in the heat,
the molten metal hissed, bubbled, and suddenly congealed into nine and three
quarter ounces of the purest, brightest gold.' A short while later van Helmont's
youngest son was born and christened simply "Mercury" to commemorate the
extraordinary event. Mercury was hardly an ordinary name, signifying as it did for
all alchemists the precious, mysterious matter, the philosopher's "mercury" and
tool of transmutation, and calling to mind the very founder of the art of alchemy,
Hermes, or Mercurius, Trismegistus.
The mysterious associations of his name clung to the younger van Helmont
throughout his long life. His contemporaries believed he was one of the fortunate
few to possess the philosopher's stone and elixir of life, for how otherwise could
one explain van Helmont's ability to live so well for so long on so little? A less
romantic explanation lay in van Helmont's undoubted charm, which made him a
welcome guest. By all accounts he was a most engaging character. Just thinking of
his good qualities brought tears to the eyes of the Cambridge Platonist Henry
More as the two friends were parting after a lengthy visit. "He has a hearte so
good, so kind, so officious, so plaine and simple, and so desirous of the publick
good," More explained later, "that the consideration of that ... putt me into such a
passion of joy and benignity, that I could not for my life keep my eyes from letting
down teares. ... " z As a true Englishman, More calmed his "passion" with a can of
Norden ale and a glass of canary, excusing himself by saying that as a chem-

iM9]
 LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH

ist van Helmont could draw moisture from flint. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who reform in all areas of life. He translated and published Octavius Pisani's Lycurgus
knew van Helmont well for many years, shared More's respect and admiration. Italicus, a remarkably progressive book on penal reform, which anticipated
When van Helmont died, Leibniz wrote the following epitaph: Beccaria's suggestions a century later.5 He cogently criticized the medical
establishment for its scientific rigidity and social elitism. He entered the political
Here lies the other van Helmont, in no way inferior to his father. He
arena as an adviser to Karl Ludwig of the Palatinate (1617-80) and Christian
joined together the arts and sciences and Revived the sacred August of Sulzbach (1622-1708), suggesting ways to restore the shattered
doctrines of Pythagoras and the Cabala. Like Elaus he was able to economies and reduce religious tensions in these two territories devastated by the
make everything he needed with Thirty Years' War. Van Helmont's published work advocates an ideal of religious
his own hands. Had he been born in earlier toleration that makes inspiring reading to this day - and 1 mean true religious
centuries among the Greeks, He would now be numbered toleration, especially towards the Jews. Van Helmont's philosemitism was unique
among the stars. 1 because he accepted Jews as Jews and not simply as potential Christian converts.*
Yet the major impetus behind van Helmont's zeal for scientific progress, social
The century into which van Helmont was born was one of stark contrasts:
reform, and religious toleration appears strange from a twentieth-century
witch burnings and the brilliant mathematical physics of Isaac Newton; John
perspective and requires explanation; for it involved his life-long commitment to
Locke's plea for tolerance and the palpable lack of it; the richness of intellectual
the doctrines of the Jewish kabbalah. This commitment is demonstrated by his role
and artistic life and the poverty of material life. Yet for all the poverty, insecurity,
in the publication of the Kabbala denudata, a collection and translation of the
pain, and superstition, the seventeenth century produced a stunning galaxy of
largest number of kabbalistic texts available to the Latin-reading public until the
writers, artists, philosophers, and scientists, who laid the foundation for modern
nineteenth century. No less an authority than Gershom Scholem has remarked on
culture. To paraphrase Alfred North Whitehead, we are still living off the capital
the generally high caliber of the translations in the Kabbala denudata.7 These were
accumulated by seventeenth-century intellectuals.
made by van Helmont's close friend and collaborator, Christian Knorr von
Much has been written about the crucial role the late seventeenth century
Rosenroth (1636-89), and the work was published in the tiny principality of
played in preparing the way for the Enlightenment. In ways that may never be
Sulzbach, some forty miles southwest of Numberg, at the Hebrew printing press
fully understood Luther and Calvin's view of man as a lowly worm so inextricably
financed by van Helmont, von Rosenroth, and their patron, Prince Christian
inured in sin that he could do absolutely nothing to mollify an angry God or to
August. Because the subject matter of the Kabbala denudata appears so esoteric, it
ensure his own salvation gradually gave way to the optimistic idea that man was in
has never been appreciated as a significant text for understanding the emergence
charge of his own destiny as well as the world's. Out of the obscure and confusing
of modern thought. But within this work one can find the bases for the faith in
mix of mystical, occult, and magical beliefs that characterized so much of the
science, belief in progress, and commitment to religious toleration characteristic of
thinking of the early modern period a rationalist philosophy gradually emerged
the best aspects of western culture.
based on the conviction that man was essentially good and reason a noble tool in
Van Helmont and von Rosenroth's intention in publishing the Kabbala
the inevitable march of progress. The belief in the power and perspicacity of man
denudata was to offer Christians a translation of the high points of the Zohar. 8 The
arose in part from what I would describe as occult and gnostic sources, from
Zohar, along with other kabbalistic writings, came to possess the same attractions
alchemy, Hermeticism, Renaissance neoplatonism, and the kabbalah. In different
for Christians as the Hermetica, the Sibylline Prophecies, and the Orphica. All
ways each of these philosophies advocated the idea that man could perfect himself
were thought to contain elements of that ancient, esoteric wisdom that God had
and the world. 4 This is where van Helmont becomes important, for van Helmont
imparted to Moses on Mount Sinai, but being Jewish
was an alchemist and a kabbalist committed to
[150] [i5i ]
 LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH
and not pagan in origin the kabbalah was thought by many to be the pre eminent
source for this prisca theologian Like their Christian-kabbalist predecessors, van
Helmont and von Rosenroth began their work believing that the kabbalah was an
irrefutable source for proving the truth and universality of the Christian revelation.
By the time they had finished, however, the Christianity they espoused was
thoroughly heretical or, one might say, far more Jewish than Christian.
In order to help the reader understand the Zohar, whose text is notoriously
difficult, von Rosenroth included lengthy excerpts from later kabbalistic works.
He includes Gikatilla's Shtfarei orah; Cordovero's Pardes rimmonim; an
alchemical work, Esh ha-mezaref, which is only preserved in the extracts
translated by von Rosenroth; selections from Naphtali Bacharach's Emek ha-
melek; and an abridged translation of Sha'ar ha-shamayim by Abraham Cohen de
Herrera. But the largest number of selections came from the Lurianic kabbalah in
treatises written by Hayyim Vital and Israel Sarug, disciples of Isaac Luria.
Isaac Luria was born in Jerusalem in 1534 and died in Safed in 1572 at the age
of thirty-eight. This presented a problem for his disciples because in Judaism an
early death was considered divine punishment for a grave sin. It was suggested
that Luria's sin lay in revealing divine secrets to his disciples, a notion which only
served to enhance his reputation. Luria wrote little. He admitted that he was
incapable of writing down his ideas because every time he picked up his pen he
was overwhelmed by visions too complex to channel through a slender quill.
Consequently, what is known about his theories comes from his disciples, who do
not always agree. But whatever the inconsistencies in the extant versions of Luria's
teachings, the Lurianic kabbalah is distinct. Where the Zohar and earlier
kabbalistic works concentrate on cosmology, the Lurianic kabbalah focuses on
redemption and the impending millennium.
In Lurianic thought exile is both a prerequisite to creation and the cause of evil
and sin. Luria reasons that in order for there to be a place for the world, God had
to withdraw from a part of himself. This doctrine of simsum (withdrawal) was both
profound and ambiguous. It provided a symbol of exile in the deepest sense,
within the divinity itself, but it also implied that evil was intrinsic to the creation
process and not attributable to man alone. Two other doctrines are crucial to
Luria's radical theology, the "breaking of
LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, JVfcW 1 u» -^ » -■■■^ ^.--..-....
the vessels" (shevirat ha-kdim) and tikkun, or restoration. Both explained how the
evil that emerged with creation represented a temporary state which would end
with the perfection of all things.10
According to the complex mythology of the Lurianic kabbalah, after God
withdrew from himself, traces of light were left in the void. These traces were
formed into the image of the primordial man, Adam kadmon, who was thus the
first manifested configuration of the divine. However, at this point a catastrophe
occurred. Further divine lights burst forth from Adam kadmon, but the "vessels"
meant to contain them shattered. With "the breaking of the vessels" evil came into
the world as sparks of light (souls) became sunk in matter, The implication of this
myth of the shevirah is that the potential for destruction, hence evil, lay within the
Godhead itself.
The most revolutionary aspect of the Lurianic kabbalah is found in the concept
of tikkun, the mending or correcting of the shevirah. Man is given a central role in
this process, for it is only through his actions that the souls, trapped among the
shards of the broken vessels, can be reunited with the divine light. Luria
interpreted history as a constant struggle between the forces of good and evil, in
which each successive generation from Adam up to the present participates in the
process of tikkun. Each time a Jew sins, more souls fall into the abyss, but with
each good deed souls are freed. For Luria this mythic struggle between good and
evil is played out by the same cast of characters, who experience repeated
reincarnations igilgul) until they become perfect. But although the process of
tikkun will be long and arduous, restoration will eventually occur as each exiled
being moves up the ladder of creation, becoming better and increasingly spiritual
until finally freed from the cycle of rebirth. Luria's belief in the inevitability of
universal salvation was a corollary of his theory that creation occurred through a
process of divine emanation. Matter therefore ultimately derived from God and
would return to God. In this philosophy spirit and matter do not differ in their
essential nature; they are simply the opposite ends of a continuum. Matter is
passive, while spirit is active.
The focus of the Lurianic kabbalah on redemption and the millennium had
enormous appeal for van Helmont and von Rosenroth, who found in the concepts
of tikkun and gilgul the basis for an impregnable theodicy. By attributing the
inequalities, misfortunes, and horrors of fife to the faults of previous existences,
Luria reaffirmed God's goodness and justice. Human
[152] [153 ]
 LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH
beings were responsible for their own sin and suffering; but God was lenient and
granted every soul the necessary time and assistance to achieve redemption. On the
basis of Luria's doctrine of tikkun van Helmont categorically rejected the existence of
an eternal hell. Punishment was "medicinal"; it was only inflicted on a creature for its
own good and improvement." This was an extremely unorthodox and unusual view at
the time since the fear of hell was considered the only way to keep most people,
especially the common sort, in line.1* The Lurianic kabbalah is important for another
reason as well. It transformed mysticism into an activist historical force. The Lurianic
kabbalist could not retreat into his own private world. He had to participate in a cosmic
millennial drama in which his every action counted. The Lurianic kabbalah was the
first Jewish theology which envisioned perfection in terms of a future state, not in
terms of some forfeited ideal past, and as such it contributed to the idea of progress
emerging in the West."
During the past thirty years there has been an increasing willingness to recognize
the important ways in which mystical and occult thinking contributed to the
development of science and the emergence of toleration.1J However, the kabbalah,
particularly the Lurianic kabbalah with its optimistic, vitalist philosophy of
perfectionism and universal salvation has not yet been integrated into the new
historiography, although it richly deserves to be. During the seventeenth century
interest in the kabbalah was not restricted to the small circle of Christian kabbalists at
the Sulzbach court. Van Helmont traveled extensively and wherever he went, the
kabbalah went with him. One place he visited frequently was Hanover, where he spent
long periods of time with Leibniz. As I have argued in my book Leibniz and the
kabbalah, Leibniz was neither the fatuous fool Voltaire made him out the be in the
character of Dr. Pangloss nor the supreme rationalist described by so many subsequent
philosophers and historians of science.'* He was, in my opinion, a humanist in all
senses of the word, who was committed to the improvement of the human condition on
every level; and many of the ideas he brought to this life-long task came from the
esoteric philosophy of the Lurianic kabbalah. Once this somewhat startling fact is
recognized, key areas in Leibniz's philosophy, which have perplexed scholars, for
example, his concept of monads, his theodicy, and his defense of free will, can be
understood in entirely new ways.
LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH
What made me suspect that Leibniz's philosophy could not be what it is
generally presented as being is that it would then have absolutely no relevance to
his activities as a human being. If Leibniz actually believed, as Voltaire claimed,
that this was the "best of all possible worlds," and if his concept of "pre-
established harmony" inevitably led him to an inescapable form of determinism,
as most modern commentators contend, 16 how can we possibly explain his life-
long and passionate commitment to ecumenism, education, and science? If, in
Leibniz's philosophy, progress is out of the question because each and every
created entity is preordained to follow a specific path, why was he so committed
to doing all that was possible to improve the human condition, first, by working
for religious unity and toleration and, second, by devising all kinds of socially
useful inventions? His calculator is perhaps the best known of these. But in
addition to that, Leibniz proposed plans for such things as a high-speed coach that
would proceed along tracks on something like ball bearings, a scheme for draining
water from the Hartz mines, an inland navigation system, the utilization of waste
heat in furnaces, tax reform, a public health and fire service, steam-powered
fountains, street lighting, a state bank, and isolation wards for plague victims.17 On
a more mundane level, he drew up plans for a more efficient wheelbarrow, better
cooking pots, and even shoes with springs to allow for "fast getaways."' 8 He did
many of these things in the company of van Helmont. The friendship between
these two men was very close, close enough for Leibniz to ghost van Helmont's
last book." Ghost-writing a book for a self-proclaimed kabbalist is an
extraordinary act for someone supposedly unaffected by kabbalistic theories.
It has been alleged that Leibniz derived the term "monad" from various
philosophers, ranging from Giordano Bruno to Henry More. However, a strong
case can be made for van Helmont as his most direct and important source. Van
Helmont accepted the Lurianic idea that matter and spirit were simply opposite
ends of a continuum, which consisted of an infinity of monads in various states of
awareness. "Dull," "sluggish," or "sleepy" monads, to use van Helmont's
adjectives, were clustered at the material end of the spectrum, while "active," and
"awake" monads gravitated to the spiritual end. 20 This was the direction all
monads eventually would take as a result of repeated reincarnations. As I have
argued in my book, I believe that Leibniz adopted this scheme in his own work,
expressing it, however,
[154]
[155 j
 LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH
in a more readily accessible philosophical vocabulary. Michael Gottlieb Hansch
describes Leibniz musing on these matters while chatting over a cup of caffe latte.
As he reports:
I remember that once, when Leibniz and I met in Leipzig and were
drinking caffe latte, a beverage which he greatly savored, he said that in
the cup from which he was drinking there might be, for all we know,
monads that in future time would become human souls. 11
I contend that by the end of his life Leibniz accepted the radical, kabbalistic idea of
tikkun and consequently believed that every created thing would eventually reach a
state of perfection as a result of repeated transformations. 22 Leibniz was not the
only friend van Helmont introduced to the kabbalah. In 1670 he traveled to
England and while there met the Cambridge Platonist Henry More, who implored
van Helmont to visit his good friend Lady Anne Conway. From the age of eighteen
Lady Conway suffered from increasingly severe and incapacitating headaches that
had baffled such eminent physicians as William Harvey, Theodore Mayerne, and
Thomas Willis." More hoped that van Helmont's skill as an alchemist and
physician who reputedly possessed miraculous medicines would prove equal to the
task of curing her. He was to be disappointed. But although van Helmont could not
help Lady Conway as a physician, he helped her as a kabbalist by enabling her to
envision her own suffering as part of the divine redemptive process of tikkun. Van
Helmont stayed with Lady Conway to the end of her life nine years later. During
this period they collaborated on several kabbalistic works. Lady Conway also
wrote a small treatise on her own, The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern
Philosophy, in which she employed kabbalistic theories to refute the theories of
Hobbes, Descartes, and Spinoza. This was posthumously published by van
Helmont.24 It is arguably the most interesting work published by a woman in the
seventeenth century, and all the more interesting because Leibniz thought highly of
it."
Van Helmont's association with Lady Conway is not only memorable for their
mutual interest in the kabbalah but also for the profound effect their kabbalistic
philosophy had on contemporary Quakers. The Quakers were ardent proselytizers,
but when they made their first missionary visit to Lady Conway in 1675, they
found more than they bargained for in van Helmont, who was as eager as they
were to proselytize. A sect of so-called
"Helrnontian" Quakers arose from this encounter. These Quakers found in the
kabbalah - and particularly in the Lurianic idea of reincarnation - a solution to the
problem posed by the fact that Christianity had developed in a specific time and
place. For how could such a religion promise love and mercy if the vast majority
of human beings were bound to be eternally damned because they lived either
before Jesus was born or in parts of the world that had never heard of him? The
Lurianic doctrine of tifekwn and gilgul solved this problem by offering a theodicy
in which there was no place for the concept of an eternal hell since God provided
each individual with the opportunity to be reincarnated until they achieved
salvation. This solution was not, however, to the liking of the Quakers as a whole.
George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, was particularly critical. After Lady
Conway's death he called for a meeting to investigate van Helmont's ideas. They
were eventually rejected, and van Helmont left the Society, although he spoke
with admiration of the Quakers to his dying day. 26 But this was not the end of the
story; the next step leads to van Helmont's association with John Locke.
Van Helmont figures prominently in Locke's correspondence, but as in the case
of van Helmont's association with Leibniz, this has been entirely overlooked. For
what could John Locke, the defender of reason and most famous exponent of
British empiricism, possibly have to say to an alchemist, kabbalist, and Quaker?
The answer is, a lot. The two were mutual friends of the merchant, Quaker, and
eventual free thinker Benjamin Furly (1636-1714). Both stayed with Furly in
Rotterdam for extended periods, and both were members of the "Lantern," a group
of free-spirited individuals founded by Furly, who saw themselves as beacons of
light in an all-too-intolerant world. 27 From Locke's correspondence with Furly it is
clear that they both read van Helmont's books, commented on them, and even
helped to get them published. Locke's library contained van Helmont's Paradoxal
Discourses (1685); Observationes circa hominem ejusq morbos (1692); The Divine
Beingand its Attributes (1693); Ouaedampraemeditatae et consideratae Cogitationes
super ... Genesis (1697); Seder OUm (1693); A Cabbalistic Dialogue (1682); the
Adumbratio Kabbalae Christianae (1684); and Two Hundred Queries ... concerning
the doctrine of the Revolution of Humane Souls (1684). Locke owned two works
elaborating on this last treatise as well: A Letter to a Gentleman touching the
treatise entitled Two Hundred Queries ... (1690) and The harmlesse Opin-
[156] Li57]
 LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH
ion of the Revolution of Humane Souks (London, 1694)- Locke also possessed J.
B. van Helmont's Onus Medicinae and two books by von Rosenroth, his
Explication of the Visions of the Book of Revelation, which Knorr had written
under the pseudonym Peganius and which the secretary of the Royal Society,
Henry Oldenburg, had translated into English in 1670, and A Dissertation
concerning thepre-existence of Souls (i684).is
It is perhaps even more surprising to find excerpts from the Kabbala denudata
among Locke's manuscripts. These include portions of a preparatory letter written
by Knorr about the utility of the Zohar for Christians 2' and five pages of notes
written in a miniscule hand on the Adumbratio Kabbalae Christianae, the last
treatise in the Kabbala denudata, which was also printed in a separate edition.
Locke is clearly criticial of the kabbalah. He titles his notes, "Dubia circa
philosophiam Orientalem," and brings up a point he makes so forcefully
throughout his Essay Concerning Human Understanding about the danger of
using "words without a clear and distinct notion." 50 But while he had his doubts
about the solutions offered by the Kabbala denudata, he was clearly interested in
the very same questions broached in that work: what is the nature of God, the
messiah, spirits, and matter; why was the world created, and why did souls fall; do
souls preexist and are they restored to their original purity? However critical
Locke was of the Kabbala denudata, he thought highly enough of it to have the
publisher Nicolas Wetstein send a copy to Nicolas Toinard and to procure the
second volume for himself."
In addition to these excerpts from the Kabbala denudata, Locke's papers
include a discussion of Hebrew chronology taken from van Helmont's Seder Olam
(1694). Like the majority of his contemporaries, including Sir Isaac Newton,
Locke was convinced that the millennium was at hand and was consequently
intrigued by the various calculations used to determine its advent. According to
the scheme Locke transcribed from the Seder Olam, the fullness of the Gentiles
would occur in 1702., the conversion of the Jews in 1732, and the millennium,
which would follow Christ's second coming, would begin in 1777.^ A further note
appears among Locke's manuscripts on the resurrection. It is headed "RM.V.H."
and contains a passage advocating van Helmont's belief that hell is not eternal but
"only for ye good of ye creature, it cannot remain forever in torment but shall
suffer greater & longer proportionable to his sins 8i shall come out as soon as it
has pd [paid] the utmost farthing."" Locke was well aware of van Helmont's
conviction that
LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH
pain and suffering were "medicinal," an idea that Lady Conway emphasizes in her
own treatise, which van Helmont had published in Latin (1690) and English
(1692) during the years of his friendship with Locke. It is hard to imagine that van
Helmont would not have spoken to Locke about Lady Conway (as he did to
Leibniz). If he did, it would help to explain why a manuscript copy of a poem "on
the Love of Pain" dedicated to Lady Conway and written by Adam Boreel, who
was a member of the Lantern, appears among Locke's papers."
In addition to the excerpts and notes described above, there is a short critique
by Knorr von Rosenroth of the abridged version of Locke's Essay Concerning
Human Understanding published in French in 1688. This was one of the earliest
critiques of Locke's Essay. Knorr wrote it Latin and entitled "Observations on the
treatise of Mr. J. Locke on the Understanding: after the doctrine of the Hebrews
and the ancient philosophers."" All the accumulated evidence so far described
suggests that Locke was interested enough in van Helmont's kabbalistic theories to
consider them carefully.
Van Helmont's medical and scientific theories also interested Locke. Locke
was himself a member of the Royal Society, and he had studied medicine with no
less a physician than Thomas Sydenham. In the journals Locke kept while in
Holland, he included van Helmont's recipes for making boot polish, preparing a
primitive blackboard from kid's skin, and preserving beer. Jfi Like most natural
philosophers of the period, Locke and van Helmont were interested in practical
inventions, which explains the presence among Locke's papers of a drawing dated
1688 illustrating a device made by van Helmont for polishing stones. 37
In his journals Locke also recorded van Helmont's cures for gangrene, plague,
and scabies and his observations on the way crystals and pebbles "grow and
nourish."38 As we have seen, van Helmont believed everything in the world was
alive. He was a vitalist and consequently rejected the mechanical philosophy.
Although Locke is often thought of as subscribing to the mechanical philosophy,
he was acutely aware of the difficulty, if not impossibility, of providing
mechanical explanations for natural phenomena. In his Essay Concerning Human
Understanding he discusses the major problems facing mechanists: 1) how can
one explain in mechanical terms the forces or properties that keep atoms or
corpuscles together and allow them to develop into large-scale organisms? 2.) how
are secondary qualities re-
[158] [159 ]
 LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND JHfc (.ADBflLfln
lated to primary qualities? 3) and even more problematic was the question of how
one could explain the interaction between the mind and body in mechanical
terms.3" Margaret Wilson has argued that Locke's professed pessimism about the
possibility of attaining genuine scientific knowledge undermined his adherence to
mechanism. She believes that Locke came to the conclusion that it was impossible
to explain all secondary qualities as consequences of primary ones, and
consequently that some properties must have been added by God. J(l The fact that
Locke bothered to copy down van Helmont's observations may indicate that in the
face of these obstacles to a comprehensive mechanical philosophy he was willing
to consider the kind of vitalistic explanations offered by van Helmont.
On a trip to England in 1693-4, Van Helmont visited Locke at Oates, the home
of Lady Masham and her husband, Sir Francis, where Locke lived for the last
years of his life. The fact that van Helmont apparently remained at Oates for five
months, from October to February, 41 suggests a degree of friendship that would
appear inexplicable if one accepts conventional categorizations in the history of
science and philosophy. Even more improbable is the visit made to Oates during
this period by William Clarke, one of the "Helmontian" Quakers. While at Oates,
Clarke showed Locke, van Helmont, and the Mashams a small tract he had written
in defense of van Helmont's kabbalistic theory of reincarnation. The following
year Clarke's tract was attacked by one "J. H." in a book entitled An Answer to
some Queries propos'd by W. C, or, A Rejutation of Helmont's Pernicious Error
(that every Man is often born, and hath Twelve Ages or Tryals allow'd him in the
world by GOD) warmly Contended for in, and about Lamboum in Wiltshire. At the
time I completed my doctorate on van Helmont in 1972,1 was unable to find a
copy of William Clarke's original pamphlet or even identify him with certainty. It
was not until 1979 when the fifth volume of Edmund de Beer's edition of The
correspondence of John Locke was published that both the author and his text,
which I had presumed lost, came to light. In a letter to Locke dated 1 August 1694
William Clarke describes the attack on his book. But what is more surprising still
is that he asks if Locke would be willing to write a rebuttal, with the expectation
that he might be. As Clarke says, "I Am in some hops you may make some
remarkes your selfe on this booke tho you put not your nam to the publick. ...""
Clarke even included a draft of his pamphlet on the grounds that J. H. had
significantly misrepresented what
he had said. This letter, with its request for Locke's intervention in a debate over
the kabbalah, appears so extraordinary in the light of modern apprais als of John
Locke that I quote it in full in the appendix. (The reader is forewarned that
Clarke's spelling is highly idiosyncratic.)
How can one explain this friendship between men usually seen as belonging
on opposite ends of the philosophical and scientific spectrum? The answer must
be that the clear-cut divisions made by nineteenth- and twentieth-century
historians between rationalists and empiricists, occultists and scientists, vitalists
and mechanists are misleading; our categories simply were not theirs." Locke and
van Helmont were friends because of their mutual interest in alchemy and natural
philosophy, their sincere interest in religion, and their heartfelt desire to promote
tolerance and ecumenism. Locke was not a purely secular philosopher; his interest
in epistemology was a result of his deep religious concerns and wish to establish a
firm basis for Christianity.41
The same reasons for the friendship between van Helmont and Locke apply, as
we have seen, to van Helmont's friendship with Leibniz. The year after van
Helmont visited Locke in 1693, he was at Hanover visiting Leibniz. With the
exception of Nicholas jolley, most scholars have emphasized the lack of
communication between Leibniz and Locke. Even Jolley thinks the only possible
go-between was Leibniz's Scottish correspondent Thomas Burnett. 45 There is
evidence, however, of another and to my mind more important link, and that, of
course, is van Helmont. Van Helmont brought the abridged French version of
Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding to the attention of Knorr von
Rosenroth, who sent Locke a critique of it in 1688, as we have seen. 46 It is hard to
believe that van Helmont would not have played the role of intermediary between
Leibniz and Locke, and there is indeed evidence to prove that he did so. Leibniz's
first criticisms of Locke's Essay were written during the period he was in closest
contact with van Helmont, which began in 1694, a year after van Helmont's stay
with Locke. It is surely interesting that for all their philosophical differences,
Leibniz and Locke shared certain unorthodox religious views that were similar in
many regards to those advocated by van Helmont. All three men rejected the doc-
trine of original sin, predestination, and the eternity of hell. 47 But even more
significantly, they rejected Christ's essential role in salvation. Such ideas were
highly unorthodox in terms of Christianity, though obviously not in terms
[160 ] [161]
 of the kabbalah. Orthodox Christians routinely dubbed any diminution in Christ's
role as "Jewish," which helps to explain why van Helmont was im prisoned by the
Roman Inquisition for two years on the charge of "Judaizing." 48 The stigma of
being a "judaizer" was also attached to Locke, for he was accused of being, and
probably was, a Socinian or Arian.49 The Arian Jesus is far more like the
kabbalah's Adam kadmon than the Christian Christ. He is the first among creatures
and the mediator between God and man, but not in any way equal or
consubstantial with the Father. The Christian Hebraist Constantine L'Empereur
contemptuously referred to this Socinian view of Christ as a "Jewish" error. As he
wrote, "Many people, even some who profess Christianity, do not shrink from
frank approval of the Jewish error. They completely reject Christ's expiation for
our sins."50
Another Arian influenced by van Helmont, albeit in a different way from
Leibniz and Locke, was no less a figure than Isaac Newton. It has been sug gested
that Newton's conceptions of time and space were indebted to the kabbalah, and
one scholar, Serge Hutin, has gone as far as to describe New ton as a "Christian
kabbalist."" But as Matt Goldish has amply illustrated, Newton's palpable hostility
to the kabbalah undermines such suppositions." This does not mean that Newton
was uninfluenced by the kabbalah. In fact, I would argue that it was his reading of
the Kabbala denudata, which had been presented to him by van Helmont, that
provided him with ammunition in his battle against Leibniz." The Leibniz-Clarke
debate, in which Newton's hand is evident, cannot be fully understood without
appreciating that Newton's hostility to Gnosticism lies at its heart. While Newton
rejected all varieties of gnostic thought, he was especially antagonized by the
Jewish kabbalah. He considered the kabbalah a major source of the gnostic
ideology that had, in his view, distorted early Christianity by introducing abstruse
metaphysical theories and the pantheistic notion of emanation. Newton knew
something that most scholars have been unaware of or have strenuously denied to
this day, namely that Leibniz was a gnostic and a kabbalist. Other people
apparently knew this as well. In an anonymous review of Leibniz's system of pre-
established harmony published in the Histoire Critique de la Republique des
hettres, the author comes right out and says that although he finds Leibniz's
philosophy unintelligible, there is nothing novel about it; it comes straight out of
the Kabbala denudata?'1
I hope this brief review shows how important it is to integrate the study
of the kabbalah into the broader history of Europe. The kabbalah offered
something of a permeable barrier between Christians and Jews, allowing the
circulation of ideas. Both Christianity and the kabbalah were profoundly
influenced by the same neoplatonic doctrines." Christians were therefore not
wrong to discover Christian (or neoplatonized Christian) concepts in the kabbalah,
for Jewish kabbalists lived for the most part among Christians and absorbed
Christian ideas.56 But the ideas absorbed were attenuated, shorn of dogmatic
subtleties, and mixed with Jewish concepts. When Christians rediscovered these
ideas, they were therefore very different from their original form. As 1 suggested
earlier, although van Helmont's and von Rosenroth's intention to convert the Jews
provided the impetus for the publication of the Kabbala denudata, a careful
reading of the texts included in the work together with van Helmont and von
Rosenroth's commentaries reveals that the Christianity proffered to the potential
convert is decidedly unorthodox. This is especially clear in regard to the central
Christian doctrine of Jesus as the messiah. Van Helmont's identification of Jesus
with Adam kadmon leads to a radical reinterpretation and rejection of basic
Christian concepts. For example, in the Lurianic kabbalah Adam kadmon is
identified as the primordial man, the first being emanated from the Godhead, who
contains the souls of all subsequent men. Thus, one could argue that if all souls
were originally contained in Adam kadmon, or Christ, then Christ was essentially
in all souls, a shocking notion when taken literally because it suggested that each
individual had the power to save himself by his own efforts and that, indeed,
human beings were potentially, if not actually, divine. This concept of Christ
obviated any need for his sacrifice and death in anything but a metaphorical or
allegorical sense and suggested instead that man controlled his own destiny as well
as that of the universe. It is perhaps paradoxical that for all the abstruseness of
their kabbalistic thought, or perhaps because of it, men like van Helmont (and, I
would argue, Leibniz and perhaps Locke as well) ended up with a far more
tolerant and ecumenical outlook than many other Christians who have been
singled out for their enlightened religious views. By accepting the Lurianic
doctrine of tffcfeun, which undermined the doctrine of an eternal hell, van
Helmont undercut the need for any institutionalized system of belief. Anyone
could and would be saved, whatever his faith. 57 As I argue in Leibniz and the
kabbalah,, I believe this is the position Leibniz came to as a result of his
immersion in the kabbalah. Thus the
[162] [i<53]
 LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH
kabbalistic studies of ecumenically-minded Christians like Francis Mercury van
Helmont contributed to the development of the optimistic, non-dogmatic
philosophy characteristic of the Enlightenment.
When I first described van Helmont's kabbalistic theories in a lecture at the
Warburg Institute many years ago, I was asked if he were insane. To the twentieth-
century questioner he may well appear to have been, but for those of us who have
spent a lifetime reading about the bitter and bloody religious battles of the early
modern period (or even those in our own day), van Helmont's philosophy comes
as a breath of fresh air. Van Helmont had no mental "index"; he read, explored,
and investigated everything to the best of his ability. The world was a marvel to
him and the individuals he met along the way were his equals and brothers. As he
wandered the continent in the simple garments woven by his own hands, advising
German princes on how to help the destitute in their war-torn lands and
encouraging everyone he met to practice charity and brotherly love, it is easy to
forget that he was inspired by kabbalistic visions. But it is precisely the power and
application of these visions that make the kabbalah a force to be reckoned with in
the development of modern thought.
APPENDIX
William Clarke to John Locke, 1 August 1694 (The correspondence of John Locke,
ed. E. S. de Beer, 8 vols. (Oxford, 1976 -89), 5:1765,97-102)
Worthy sir
I have made bould to Trespas on your patience to read this letter, and a
scandolus book printed in answer to my 8 queres as I had at Sir Francis's when
last with the Baron of Helmont, and I have sent you a True copy of the Queres
That so you may see what answer is given and what is left out in the lth quere,
And how they have abused me and the Baron, but my thoughts are They have
done that which will prove of good service, peopl are in great Expectations of
the reply, which I hop a friend of mine will do who can do it better than I, (I
have sent one of the protended Answers to holland to go to the Baron, I have
directed to a friend of myne in Amsterdam that I use to writ to, I have for the
present sent out sevrall papers in print-hand to keepe up the life that is stiring
in many tell [til] some or other shall do somthing Effetialy, here followeth a
Copy of it: There will be shordy printed a Reply to a Scandolus Book falsy
Tided An Answer to 8 Queres of William Clarkes (Printed at Oxford) wherein
theire grosse pervertions, lyes, and slanders will be made apeare, with an Il-
lustration of the doctring of the Revolution of Human Souls: Sir I hop you
will not take it amiss the Charge from Harlow will be somthing, pray pardon
my bouldness, I tock care to have the Coachman payd to the Crown in harlow,
my kinde love and respects to your self and to Sir Francis and his good Lady
and to the young Lady: 55 my thoughts are this book might not be unwelcom to
any of you, which you will see how poore the university is in true knowidge. Sir
I left them without Excuse before they had printed, when I understood they
would print, I sent a letter to let them know what bookes were in print that
they might read them, that so they might not Expose themselves in print, or be
Exposed by some other, these are the bookes I gave them an account of, 200
Queries, the prexistance of Souls, a letter to a gendman, Seder Olam, the
Ulger Philosephy refuted as the Paradoxe, etc:s' Sir I Am in some hops you to
[164] 1165]
 LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH
the publick. Sir 1 should be glad to have 2 or 3 lines from you whether you have
received it for my satisfaction, but if you would give me 3 or 4 lines you may
direct it thus. Leave this at William whits in Newbery groser for William Clarke,
and a few of your thoughts on this booke, and I should be glad if you Come into
our Countery to see you, tho I Cannot give such a parson entertainment,
So 1 Rest Your Affctionated friend, Pray forgett not to give my service: to Sir Fr:
and the good ladys and I hartily thainck them for their love and Kindness to me
William Clarke
AGUST THE FIRST
Lambom woodlands in berks sheir within 10 mile of Newbery
I do heare they at the university have sent 200 of those bookes to London
[The enclosure]
Some queries proposed, by an Inquiring man after truth (that if hapily mayfinde it)
1 query [Clarke cites in the margin to this query: "mat 7:2, luck 6:37. Rom 2.r, luck
6:4"] how shall we understand that place of Scriptur which saith the same
measure you met, the same measure shall be meted or measured to you againe,
whether it may not be thus understood, that a Rich man in this worlds goods,
and is not kind to the poore, and his hart is set in his Riches, whether the
meaning of those words of Christ may not Import thus much, that this rich
man, must be Born into this world and become poore, and misrable, and know
want, and hunger, as he made or Indavered to make the poore to know, and
may be born a foole into the bargain, having now the use of sence and reason
and have abused it,
2 query how shall we understand that saing of John rev: 13, v. 10 he that killeth
with the sword, shall be killed with the sword, he that leadeth into Captivety,
shall go into Captivety, what otherwise can be understood by this, but that if
thos men should dye on their beds, must not they be born againe into this
world to have the same measure meted to them which they have measured to
others, elce how can the Justis of god be vindicated, seeing it is said god is Just
and all his ways are equal.
LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH
3query And doth not the Justis of god the good husbandman, appere by still new
grafting, and Transplanting; so that at last, they may bring forth good frut,
elce to what purpos doth a gardiner grafft, and Transplant, lop, and inoculat,
if it were not for to have good frut, and how much more shall the great gardinar
do that planted the world.
4query how shall we understand the apostle paul to the Romans Ch: 9.V 27 where
he saith tho the Children of Israll were as the sand of the sea yet but a rem -
nant was to be saved at that tim, do he therfore Exdud them in all filter times,
shurly no, read rom. n. v. 25.26 where mention is made that when the fullness
of the gentils are come in all Israll shall be saved, see how the apostle Calls it
A mistery, now it playnly appereth that the fullness of the gentils is not yet
com in, And what is become of the 10 Tribs that have been in Captivety for it
may be for above 2000 years, are not thos born of gentils, and must it not be
according to the apostles words fulfilled, when the fullness of the gentils are
come in all Israll shall be saved, being born of gentils.
5th query what may be the meaning of thos words of Christ in mat: the 23. v 35
that upon you may com all the Rightou [sic] blood shed upon the Earth, from
the blood of Righouts able unto the Bood of Zacharias son of barachias, whom
ye slew between the tempel and the alter, do'it not playnly appeare that they
were the very men that did kill Zacarias, etc, Eke what Justis were there in
god, to punish them for that which their fathers had acted forty generations or
nere 4000 years before, seeing god no where promised to visit the sines of the
fathers beyond the 3d and 4th genration under the law
6 query what may be the meaning of the prophet Eze: Ch. 16: v: 55 when thy sister
sodom and her daughter shall return to theier formar Estat and Simaria and
her daughters shall return to theier formar Estat, then thou and thy daughters
shall return To your former Estat, (that is Jerusalem and her daughters) seeing
it playnly appears that they were dead and gon, how is this posable to com to
pass, To return to dieier format [sic] Estat without being born a new into this
world. —
query 7 what is the meaning of thos words of moses in the 90 psl. thou turns man
to distruction, and saith return ye Cheldren of men, were it not the same men
that was turned to distruction, that was to return againe, that so they being
new grafftted might bring forth better frut, and doth not Soloman say in Eel:
Ch. 1. v. 4 as it is in the Original, genration goeth and genration Cometh, not
one genration goeth and another cometh, (one and another is added by the
translators)
[166] L i « 7]
 LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, ISn w

Tsnug MLugLJRAHW AB RWDW I1.WH RWD Postscript

S qu What may be the meaning of thos words of peter i: Cha: 3. v 18. 19. 20 for Thes queris 1 have shewed and proffred them to som of the Clargy of the
Christ also hath once suffred for sins the Just for the unjust that he might bring Curch of England and I could not finde them willing to meddl with it, (As to
us to god, being put to death in the flesh, but quickned by the spirit, by which Answer it in the Negitive.) and I sent it to the Learned of the prisbiteriens for
also he went and preached to the spirits in prison, the greek words) to the them to answer it, I having heard of ther Exclaiming much against it, and if I
same Spirits) which were somtimes disobediant, when once the loung suffring recive no answer to it from any of the divers Congregations as it is preposed
of god waited in the days of noah, while the arke was a preparing, wherein to them, 1 shall conclud it is becaus they are not able to do it
few, that is Eight souls were saved by water, Was it not the same souls that
Vale
were living in the bodys of flesh againe at the tim of Christ and his apostls on W:C
Earth, that so they might have his death and resarection preached to them, eke
FEBRUARY THE IITH 1694/3
what Benifitt could thes men have had of the dath of Christ, had they not lived
and had the grace and favor of ouer Lord Jesus Christ Tendred to them — as it
is written he tasted Death for Every man: now if any man would put pen to
paper To denigh the return of souls, I would put my hand to paper to prove,
that man, or those men denigh there is any god, but what they have made and
Concived, writn by a seeking man affter truth, But if any should Answer and
say, it is not worth Answring, and yet say — it is damnable doctring, as I heard
one say within 3 days past. Now I would aske a question, whether it be not a
duty incumbant on the Teachers, to refut this doctring if they are able (that men
might not be drawn into such damnable erros, as som of them Call it) but
seeing this doctring hath beene printed in divers Lainguages, and in divers
Cunterys, and no man as we can here of hath hetherto Writen againest it,
therfore I thinck it altogether Iposable, Except that they can prove that man as
to his body doth not proceed from his parents, which is altogeather Imposable
for them to do

William Clarke
DECEMBER THE 16 1693
Written in hast (any one that will undertake to Answer thes questions)
and send it to me, it shall be kindly recived, for truth needs no great Am-

L
plification, (any one that doth recive this) I mean a teacher of any of the
divers Congrengations) and if he cannot Answer it, 1 would desier it might
be returned to me againe, or Elce an answer to it, which shall be kindly
and lovingly recived by me

William Clarke (vale)

[ 168 ] [i69]
 NOTES

J. B. van Helmont, Oruxtirke, or Pkysick Refined..., tr. J. Chandler (London,

1662), 807.

Sarah Hutton, ed., The Conway letters. Edited by Marjorie Hope Nicolson.
Revised edition with an introduction and new material (Oxford, 1992), 329.
Hanover, Niedersachsische Landesbibliothek, LBr. 389, fol. 125: "Nil patre in-
feriorjacet hie Helmontius alter/ Quijunxit varias mentis et artis opes;/ Per
quem Pythagoras et Cabbala sacra revhtit,/ Elausque potest qui dare cuncta
sibi./ Quod si Graja virum tellus, et prisca tulissent/ Secula, nunc inter lu-
mina prima foret." In a note Leibniz explains the reference to Elaus: "Hippias
patria Elaus, professione philosophus, qui omnia quibus opus, manu sua
elaborare poterat." Leibniz's statement that van Helmont would have been
deified in earlier centuries implied that throughout his life he had lived up to
the prevailing ideal of a perfect gentleman, who worked for the public rather
than his own private good. John Locke described this ideal as follows: "By
virtuous actions of this kind heroic men in former times were raised to the
sky and placed among the number of gods, purchasing heaven not with a
mass of riches brought together form all sides, but with toil, hazards, and
liberality" (quoted in John Marshall John Locke: Resistance, religion and respon-
sibility (Cambridge, 1994), 166). For a discussion of the ideal gentleman in
early-modern thought see Marshall, chap. 5
In a recent article Joseph Dan argues against the use of the terms "Gnosti -
cism" and "gnostic" on the grounds that they are too imprecisely used to be
meaningful ("Jewish Gnosticism?" Jewish Studies Quarterly 2 (1995)" 309-28). I*
is therefore with some trepidation that I use the term in this article. I do so
simply because I can think of no better term to describe the radical (and from
an orthodox Christian perspective, heretical) idea that individuals can gain the
necessary knowledge for salvation through their own efforts, without the
intervention of the Church or Jesus. I agree with Elaine Pagels that this idea,
characteristic of gnostic Christians, survived as a suppressed current, remerging
periodically, especially among radical sectarians in the seventeenth century.

[171]
 LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH
See Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (New York, 1979), I5°- To further com-
plicate matters, the kind of Gnosticism I describe as characteristic of van
Helmont's understanding of the Lurianic kabbalah is monistic and not dualis-
tic. Although most descriptions of Gnosticism insist on its dualistic nature,
there was a variety of "monadic gnosis" described by Clement of Alexandria
and characteristic of the Valentinian tests discovered at Nag Hammadi as well
as portions of the Hermetica, which exerted a profound influence on van
Helmont. While Dan argues that the Lurianic kabbalah is "the most profound
expression in Judaism of an extreme dualistic world-view" (p. 326), this is not
the way that van Helmont interpreted it, as I hope to show.
5. Derltalienish Lycurus oder Gesetze und Ordnungen durch und nack welcher die Rechte
und Schluenige Gerectigkeitverfugt wird..., durck Octavium Pisani (Sulzbach, 1666).
A Latin edition also appeared in the same year. Cesare Bonesana, Marchese de
Beccaria (1738-94) published Dei delitti e dellepene (On crimes and punishment) in
1764. The small volume went through six editions in eighteen months and was
translated into twenty-two languages. Voltaire wrote a preface for the French
edition. Beccaria was more concerned with preventing than punishing crime.
He condemned capital punishment, torture, and the confiscation of properly,
6. As a number of scholars have pointed out, the vast majority of Christians
who have been described as philosemites did not like Jews as Jews but only as
potential converts to Christianity or as ideal Mosaic types long dead. See David
S. Katz, "The Abendana brothers and the Christian Hebraists of seventeenth-
century England," Journal of Ecclesiastical History 40 (1989): 32: 'As was almost
always the case when Christians took an interest in the spiritual welfare of
Jews, the ultimate aim was their conversion." Ernestine van der Wall, "The
Amsterdam millenarian Petrus Serrarius (1600-69) and the Anglo-Dutch circle
of philojudaists," Jewish-Christian relations in the seventeenth century. Studies and
documents, ed. J. van den Berg and E. van der Wall (Dordrecht, 1988), 73: ".,,
philo-Judaism has to be seen in a conversionist light, which at once indicates
the limits of their pro-Jewishness: their philo-Judaism was a conditional sym
pathy." Jacob Katz refers to "these so-called philo-Semites" and says they "re
tained the Christian vision of the absorption of the Jews after their conversion"
("Reflecting on German-Jewish history," In and out of the ghetto: Jewish-Gentile
relations in late medieval and early modern Germany, ed. R. Po-chia Hsia and
Hartmut Lehmann (New York, 1995,3). In his article, "The idea of the restora
tion of the Jews in English Protestant thought: 1660-1701" (Harvard Theological
Review 78 (1985): 115-48), Nabil I. Matar thinks it is "doubtful whether the term
philo-semitism can be correctly applied to the period under consideration"
LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH
(p. 117). He makes much the same point in 'John Locke and the Jews,"Journal
of Ecclesiastical History 44 (i993)' 45-79- As 1 have argued elsewhere,
philosemitism was really only possible for two kinds of "Christians": her etics
and converts to Judaism - in other words for non-Christians. See Allison P.
Coudert, "Seventeenth-century Christian Hebraists: philosemites or
antisemites?" Biblical criticism and Latin Judaica in the seventeenth century, ed.
Richard H. Popkin, Sarah Hutton, and Allison P. Coudert (Dordrecht, forth-
coming).
7. Gershom Scholem, "Christian Knorr von Rosenroth," in his Kabbalah (Jerusa-
lem, 1974). 416-19.
8. The Zohar ("[the book of] splendor") is the central work in the literature of the
Jewish kabbalah. Written in Aramaic in the style of the Talmud, it was
assumed to be the work of Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai, a renowned sage of the
school of Rabbi Akiva, but Gershom Scholem conclusively proved that the
work was written by Moses de Leon at the end of the thirteenth century (Ma -
jor trends injewish mysticism. New York, 1954). More of a library than a book,
the Zohar consisists of some twenty independent works. Generations of Jew-
ish mystics have been captivated by the complex and daring symbolism of the
Zohar and by the richness and breadth of its treatment of all aspects of human
life from the most subbme level of spirituality to the trivia and confusion of
ordinary living. See The wisdom of the Zohar. An anthology of texts arranged by
Fischel Lachower and Isaiah Tishby with extensive introductions and ex-
planations by Isaiah Tishby. Translated from the Hebrew by David Goldstein
(The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization. 3 vols., Oxford, 1991)'
9. D. P. Walker, The ancient theology: studies in Christian platonism from the
fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries (London, 1972).
10. Scholem, Major trends; Moshe Idel, Kabbalah: new perspectives (New Haven, 1988).
n. "If God be unchangeable, as certainly he is, can he absolutely hate any of his
Creatures, which once he loved? and if when he most severely punishes his
creatures, he loveth them, is not then his punishing them an Act of Love, and
consequently medicinal, or in order to their recovery?" Two Hundred Queries
moderately propounded concerning the Doctrine of the Revolution of Humane Soub
(London, 1684), 115.
12. D. P. Walker, The decline of hell: seventeenth century discussions of eternal torment
(London, 1964)-
12. Wisdom of the Zohar, i: 232.
[172] [173]
 LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH
14. For a good overview of this issue (with appropriate bibliography) see G.
MacDonald Ross, "Occultism and philosophy in the seventeeth century," in
Philosophy, its history and historiography, ed. A. J. Holland (Dordrecht, i98s),95-
115; Simon Schaffer, "Occultism and reason," Ibid., 117-43; and Ross' "Reply to
Simon Schaffer," Ibid., 147, in which he sums up his own paper in the follow-
ing words: "I have made a number of claims [which] I would expect to raise a
number of eyebrows in certain circles. 1 have interpreted Descartes' cogito as
an example of relatively conventional occultist mysticism; I have interpreted
Locke's way of ideas as a hang-over from belief in the effluence theory of
perception, and the existence of magically knowable occult virtues; and 1 have
related empiricism to the philosophy of the village wise-woman plucking her
herbs in the light of the moon. I personally do not think this is any more
radical than drawing attention to the alchemical activities of a Newton of a
Leibniz, or to the religious and even prophetic dimension of seventeenth-cen-
tury science. On the other hand, I do not believe that such issues have had a
sufficient airing in philosophical circles, and it was my purpose in writing my
paper to draw attention to a perspective which is still out of fashion in such
circles." See also Walter Pageljoan Baptista van Helmont: reformer of science and
medicine (Cambridge, 1982); idem, "Religious motives in the medical biology of
the XVIIth century," Bulletin of the History of Medicine 3 (1935); idem,
Paracelsus: an introduction to philosophical medecine in the era of the Renaissance
(Basle and New York, 1958). As Pagel says of Paracelsus, "The proto-scientific
as well as the non-scientific parts are products of the same mind and of the
same cultural climate - the era of the Renaissance" ("Paracelsus and the
neoplatonic and gnostic tradition," in Religion and neoplatonism in Renaisance
medicine, ed. Marianne Winder (London, 1985), 125. See also Richard H. Popkin,
"Newton's biblical theology and his theological physics," in Newton's scientific
and philosophical legacy, ed. P. B. Scheurer and G. Debrock (Dordrecht, 1988),
81-97; idem, "The religious background of seventeenth-century philosophy,"
Journal of the History of Philosophy 25 (1987): 35-5°; idem, "The third force in
17th-century philosophy: scepticism, science and biblical prophecy," Nouvelles
de la Republique des Lettres 1 (1983): 35-63; idem, The third force in seventeenth-
century thought (Leiden, 199a). Richard S. Westfall, The construction of modern
science; mechanism and mechanics (Chicago, 1971); idem, "Newton and alchemy,"
Occult and scientific mentalities in the Renaissance, ed. Brian Vickers (Cambridge,
1984), 315-35; B. J. T. Dobbs, The/oundations of Newton's alchemy: or, "The Hunt-
ing of the green lyon" (Cambridge, 1975); idem, TheJanus face of genius: the role of
alchemy in Newton's thought (Cambridge 1991); idem, "Newton's alchemy and
his 'active principle' of gravitation," in Newton's scientific and pJulosophtcaUegacy,
ed. P. B. Scheuer and G. Debrock (Dordrecht, 1988), 55-80; idem, "The Signifi-
cance of alchemy in the age of Newton,"in Science, pseudo-science and utopianism
in early modern thought, ed. Stephen A. McKnight (Columbia, Missouri, 1992),
55-87. Newton suspected that Boyle had been instrumental in procuring
Parliament's repeal of the statute against alchemy because of his experiments
on transmutation. See The correspondence of Isaac Newton, ed. H. W. Turnbull
(Cambridge, 1941), iii: 217. G. MacDonald Ross, "Leibniz and Alchemy," Magia
wturaltiunddkEntttehungdermodernenNaturwissenschajien, Studia Leibnitiana,
Sonderheft 7 (Wiesbaden, 1978), 166-77; K. Theodore Hoppen, "The nature of
the early Royal Society," British Journal of the History of Science 9 (1976): 1-24;
243-73; Michael Hunter, "The social basis and changing fortunes of an early sci-
entific institution: an analysis of the membership of the Royal Society, 1660-85,"
Notes and Records of the Royal Society 31 (1976): 9-114.
15. Allison P. Coudert, Leibniz and the kabbalah (Dordrecht, 1995).
16. The literature on this subject is enormous, as a look through Studia Leibnitiana
and collections of essays on Leibniz readily reveals.
17. R. W. Meyer, Leibnitz and the seventeenth-century revolution, trans. J. P. Stern
(Chicago, 1952; first published in German in 1948), ii8ff; G. MacDonald Ross,
Leibniz (Oxford, 1984), 5S.
18. Tagebuch, in Leibniz, GeschichtlicheAu/so'tzeund Gedichte, ed. H. Pertz (Hannover,
1847; reprint Hildesheim, 1966): "7. August. Habe diesen Abend mit Herrn
von Helmont viel geredet, wegen Erd ausbringen: ob Schiebekarmguth. Durch
motum bominis mit den Karrn viel tempus und vergebene Mahe. Praestat,
hominem movere sine motu tanto sui. Von Gold schlagen. Von Braten und
Kochen mit eisern Kasten. Zu redressiren, so krumb gewachsen, darinn er in
Tractatu de Microcosmo et Macrocosmo, so teutsch nicht vollig sub tit.
Paradoxa abersetzt. Von Drucken mit dem Fuss: mit beiden Handen spinnen.
Hechel(p. 189)...
8. August ... Den Hern. Helmont meine Gedancken gesagt vom
geschwinden fortkommen auff Schuhfedern. Von Voiture auf allezeit glatten
Boden ..." (p. 190),
19. Anne Becco, "Aux sources de la monade: paleographie et lexicographic
leibniziennes," Etudes Philosophiques 3 (T975): 279-94-; idem. "Leibniz et R M.
van Helmont; bagatelle pour des monades," Magia naturalis, Studia Leibnitiana,
Sonderheft 7 (n. 14 above), 119-42.
20. F.M. van Helmont, A Cabbaiisrical Dialogue in answer to the Opinion of a learend
Doctor in Philosophy and Theology [Henry More], that the World was made of Noth-
[174] [175]
 LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND lttb HAaajiL/it,
ing ... (1682): "For these are our Positions, 1) That the Creator first brings into
being a spiritual Nature. 2) And that either arbitrarily (when he please;) or
continually, as he continually understands, generates, etc. 3) That some of
these spirits, for some certain cause or reason, are slipt down from the state of
knowing, of Penetration. 4) That these Monades or single Beings being now
become spiritless or dull, did cling or come together after various manners. 5)
That this coalition or clinging together, so long as it remains such, is called
matter. 6) That out of this matter, all things material do consist, which yet
shall in time return again to a more loosned and free state. No contradiction is
involved in all these. Hence the Creator may also be said to be the efficient
cause of all things materiated or made material, although not immediately."
For a fuller discussion of Leibniz's indebtedness to van Helmont for the
concept of monad, see Coudert, Leibniz and the kabbalah, chap. 4.
21. Michael Gottlieb Hansch, GodofrediGuilielmi LeibnitiiPrincipia Phitosophiae More
Geometrico Demonstrata (Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1728), 135. Voltaire, in his usual
way, ups the ante and says that Leibniz claimed even a drop of urine of a bit of
excrement contains and infinity of monads (Elements de la philosophic de New-
ton, in The Complete Works of Voltaire, ed. Robert L. Walters and W. H. Barber
(Oxford, 1992), xv, 242, 244).
22. Coudert, Leibniz and the kabbalah, chap. 6.
23. Gilbert Roy Owen, "The famous case of Lady Anne Conway," Annals of Medi-
cal History, new series 9 (1937): 567-71; Sarah Hurton, "Of physic and philoso-
phy: Anne Conway, F. M. van Helmont and seventeenth-century medicine,"
in Religio Media, ed. A. Cunningham and O. Erell (forthcoming).
24. Allison P. Coudert, 'A Cambridge Platonist's kabbalist nightmare," JournaI of
the History of Ideas 36 (1975): 633-52; Anne Conway, The Principles of the Most
Ancient and Modern Philosophy. Edited and translated by Allison P. Coudert and
Taylor Corse (Cambridge, 1996).
25. "My philosophical views approach somewhat closely those of the late Count-
ess Conway, and hold a middle position between Plato and Democritus, be-
cause I hold that all things take place mechanically as Democritus and Descartes
contend against the view of Henry More and his followers, and hold too, nev -
ertheless, that every thing takes place according to a living principle and ac -
cording to final causes - all things are full of life and consciousness, contrary
to the views of the atomists" (Die philosophischen Scriften von G. W Leibniz, ed.
C. 1. Gerhardt, 7 vols. (Berlin, 1875-90; reprint Hildesheim, 1962), 3:217). Leibniz's
annotated copy of Lady Conway's treatise is in Hanover in the N ie de rs
aschsische Lande sb ibliothe k.
26. Allison P. Coudert, "A Quake r-kabbalist controversy: George Fox's reaction to
Francis Mercury van Helmont," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes
39 (1976): 171-89.
27. Marshall describes Furly's house as being at the epicenter of the early
Enlightement (John Locke, 331). William I. Hull, Benjamin Furly and Quakerism
in Rotterdam, Swarthmore College Monographs on Quaker History, no. 5
(Swarthmore, Pa., 1941).
28. The Library of John Locke, ed. John Harrison and Peter Laslett (Oxford, 1971):
items 1413-14163 (p. 152) and items 2470-2473 (P- 220).
29. Oxford, Bodleian Library, Lovelace Collection of the Papers of John Locke, MS
Locke c. 17a, fols. 256-7. This comes from the Kabbala denudaia, 1, pt. 2, A 2-3.
30. MS. Locke c. 17, "Dubia circa Philosophiam Orientalem," fol. 75-
31. The correspondence of John Locke, 3: 1060A, 478-9. On 20/30 June 1688, Hendrik
Wetstein writes Locke, telling him that he will send the first volume of the Kabbala
denudata along with Locke's Abregi to Nicolas Toinard in the coming week
32. Locke MS,, c. 17, fols. 258-61.
33. Ibid., fol. 248.
34. MS. Locke c. 32, fol. 47-
35. "Observationes In Tractatum Dn. J. Locke de Intellects secundum doctrfnam
Hebraeorum et Philosophorum antiquorum." MS. Locke c. 13, fol. 14. This is
printed with an English translation in The correspondence of John Locke, y.
399-405.
36. Kenneth Dewhurst John Locke ("1632-1704), physician and philosopher: a medical
biography with an edition of the medical notes in his Journals (London: Wellcome
Historical Medical Library, 1963), 276-7, 280-1.
37. MS. Locke c. 30, fol. 98: "Machina ad poliendos lapides pretiosos, [Francis
Mercry van] Helmont, [i6]88." Among the "Curiosities" listed in the catalogue
of Furly's library were several made by Locke and van Helmont. Locke, for
example, presented Furly with a special bookcase he had designed with "Book-
shelves for all sizes of books, invented by John Locke, Esq., being very conve-
nient for transportation without removing the books from them" (Bibliotheca
Furliana, Rotterdam, 1714, no. 59, p. 352).
[176] [177]
 LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH
38. Kenneth Dewhurst,John Locke, 276-7, 288, 280-1.
39. "Of the Extent of Humane Knowledge," Essay, Bk iv, chap, iii, 29, 559.
38. Margaret Wilson, "Superadded properties: the limits of mechanism in Locke,"
American Philosophical Quarterly 16 (1979)-143-5°-
39. Van Helmont arrived at Oates on 7 October 1693 (Correspondence of John Locke,
3:1662,730). He was apparently still there when William Popple wrote to Locke
on 3 February 1694 because at the end of his letter Popple presents his "humble
service" to van Helmont (Ibid., 5:1704,7).
40. See appendix for the full letter.
40. After I delivered a shortened version of this paper at the Houghton Library, a
woman objected that I was blurring boundaries to the point that the history of
philosophy was no longer intelligible. But I would argue that false catego ries
make for false history. Rather than blurring boundaries, I hope I am making
them more precise.
41. Marshall, John Locke, chap. 4.
45- Nicholas Jolley, Leibniz and Locke (Oxford, 1984), 36.
46. See n. 35.
47- For Locke, see Marshall, John Locke, chap. 4, esp. pp. 131ft". For Leibinz, see
Coudert, Leibniz and the kabbalah, chap. 6.
48. Coudert, " Quaker-kabbalist controversy," 174-5.
49. Marshall John Locke, i3iff.
50. Peter T. van Rooden, "Constantijn L'Empereur's contacts with the Amsterdam
Jews and his confutation of Judaism," Jewish-Christian relations in the seven-
teenth century. Studies and documents, ed. J. van den Berg and E. van der Wall
(Dordecht, 1988), 62.
51. Brian Copenhaver, "Jewish theologies of space in the scientific revolution:
Henry More, Joseph Raphson, Isaac Newton and their predecessors," Annals
of'Science 37 (1980): 515ft; Serge Hutin, "Note sur la creation chez trois kabbalistes
Chretiens anglais: Robert Fludd, Henry More et Isaac Newton," Kabbalistes
chretiens, Cahiers de l'Hermerisme, directeurs: Antoine Faivre and Frederick
Tristan (Paris, 1979), 149-56.
LEIBNIZ, LOCKE, NEWTON AND THE KABBALAH
52. Matt Goldish, "Newton on kabbalah," The books of nature and scripture: recent
essays on natural philosophy, theology, and biblical criticism in the Netherlands of
Spinoza's time and the British Isles of Newton's time, ed. Richard Popkin and James
E. Force (Dordrecht, 1994), 89-103.
53. Newton appears to have perused the Kabbala denudata carefully. Harrison says
some fifteen pages have been turned "down" or "up," and that there are "sev-
eral other signs of dog-earing" (John Harrison, The library of Isaac Newton
(Cambridge, 1978)).
54. Histoire critique de la Republique des Lettres, 1716, Article V, pp. 116-19.
55. Neoplatonism and Christian thought, ed. Dominic O'Meara (Albany, 1982);
Neoplatonism andjewish thought ed. Lenn E. Goodman (Albany, 1992)- See es-
pecially in the latter volume Moshe Idel's article, "Jewish kabbalah and
platonism in the Middle Ages and Renaissance," pp. 319-51.
56. Yehuda Liebes, "Christian influences on the Zohar," Studies in the Zohar, trans.
Arnold Schwartz, Stephanie Nakache, Penina Peli (Albany, 1993).
57. This was one of the charges brought against van Helmont by the Inquisition.
As the indictment reads: "... Helmont maintains without doubt that anyone in
his own faith of whatever kind may be saved" (Archivo Segreto Vaticano, Archivo
della Nunziatura de Colonia 81). The inquisition records relating to van
Helmont's imprisonment have been printed as an appendix in Klaus Jaitner, "Der
Pfalz-Sulzbacher Hof in der europaischen Ideengeschichte des 17. Jahrhunderts,"
in Wolfenbiittler Beitrage, ed. Paul Raabe (Wolfenbtittel, 1988), 273-404.
58. Probably Esther Masham.
59. Two Hundred Queries moderately propounded concerning the doctrine of the Revolu-
tion of Humane Souls, and its Conformity with the Truth of the Christian Religion.
.. To which is added, A dissertation concerning the Preexistence of Souls (London,
1684); A Letter to a Gentleman touching the Treatise, entituled, "200 Queries. . ."
(London, 1689); Seder Ohm, Or, The Order of Ages.... Translated out of Latin,
by J. Clark, M. D. upon the Leave and Recommendation of F. M. Baron of
Helmont (London, 1694). The Vulgar Philosphy refuted appears to be a transla-
tion of Jean Gironnet's Philosophia Vulgaris Refutata (Frankfurt, 1668). Nicolas
Toinard describes his efforts to get this book for Locke (Correspondence of John
Locke, 3:1109,560), but I have found no such translation. He was successful, for it
appears as no. 1250a. See also Paradoxical Discourses of M. van Helmont, Con-
cerning the Macrocosm and Microcosm, of the Greater and Lesser World (London,
1685).
[178] [ 179 ]
 JACOB FRANK AS
CHRISTIAN KABBALIST
Hillel Levine

T HE STUDY OF FRANKISM IN RELATION TO THE BOUNDARIES and the

hermeneutics of Christian kabbalah well might be viewed as the flagrant
case. That flagrancy is most obvious to any observer of Jacob Frank and the
movement that he generated in its different phases.
Frank was born in a small town in Podolia in southeastern Poland in 1726. His
travels brought him into contact with the main centers of eigh teenth-century
Jewish life in Poland, the Balkans, Brunn, and Offenbach near Frankfurt am
Main, where he died in 1791.1
Frank's father was a man of moderate means. Frank was not subjected to the
same poverty and precariousness experienced by so many other Jews at this time.
His messianism is no simple illustration of the religion of the "oppressed." In later
years, Frank claimed that his father was a rabbi, learned and observant. More
likely, he was of the town's secondary elite. In Podolia, many of his father's
background were followers of Shabbatai Zevi, the seventeenth-century messiah-
claimant who for a short time aroused the hopes of an overwhelming majority of
world Jewry. Following Shabbatai Zevi's conversion to Islam in 1666, most Jews
were disenchanted and tried to repress all memories of the episode. A few,
particularly in Saloniki in the Ottoman Empire, viewed Shabbatai Zevi's "strange
act" as exemplary and maintained themselves as an Islamic sect through the
twentieth century. In Poland and particularly in Podolia, some Jews, and likely
Frank's father among them, hedged. They maintained secret loyalties to Shabbatai
Zevi, even preserving a modicum of a subterranean sectarian organization while
maintaining appearances of conformity with the doctrine and practice of the larger
Jewish community.

[.81]
JACOB FRANK AS CHRISTIAN KABBALIST JACOB FRANK AS CHRISTIAN KABHAL1ST
 Jacob Frank, therefore, was most likely exposed to syncretism from an early
age. This was reinforced by the contacts that he himself made as a young adult. As
a trader in cloth and precious stones, among other things, he wandered through the
Balkans meeting with the radical Sabbateans of the Baruchiah sect as well as
various Sufi and dervish groups. What we have of his aphorisms indicates that he
most likely did receive a basic Jewish education consisting of the Bible and its
commentaries and homilies. He himself, in his later years, would boast of his
ignorance of Talmud and rabbinic law, knowledge of which was a prerequisite to
conventional religious leadership within the Jewish community. That boast well
served his purposes of scorning the authority of the past as well as announcing his
unconventional legitimations for leadership.2
He began to attract disciples in 1756. Following a meeting which he had in
Lanckorona, reports circulated about Frank leading these disciples in antinomian
acts. An investigation by local rabbis and condemnations led to his arrest. Turks
suddenly appeared, "it is not known from where," as it is described in the Kronika,
the internal memoir of the movement, and released Frank and his followers. These
Turks were likely hajohiks, bandits who had free rein in these border regions. It is
about this time that Frank and several of his followers had converted to Islam,
earning for them this special protection.
By 1759 he had led many, but by no means all, of his disciples to the baptismal
fonts. Some report that as many as one thousand Jews "voluntarily" converted to
Christianity. This followed public debates reminiscent of the Middle Ages when
venerable rabbis were forced into polemics on matters of doctrine and faith in
which their rhetorical successes and failures were fraught with special dangers. It is
not altogether clear whether Frank and his disciples voluntarily initiated these
attacks or complied as a means of winning support from powerful patrons, well
placed in the church, the nobility, and even the royal court. Whatever the
circumstances and whoever authored the details of the accusations, the early
Frankists' condemnation of "rabbinic" Jews included charges that these Jews used
the blood of Christian children for ritual purposes. In so far as the dangerous blood
libel was enjoying a revival at this time in Poland, these accusations were par -
ticularly dangerous. The fervor of the Polish Catholic clergy and their ambitious
concerns for Jewish souls blinded them, at least at first, to the
mounting evidence: Frank, rather than encouraging his disciples to be loyal to
their new faith, was leading his followers into a syncretic cult with anticipation of
changing the workings of the cosmos as well as with fantasies of changing the
social, political, and economic status of his disciples. By 1760, in the hope of
making of those Jewish neophytes monolithic Catholics and true believers and to
curtail Frank's intrigues, church leaders prevailed upon the Polish king to imprison
Frank and cut him off from his followers. His isolation was only partial. He
maintained contact, but failed to keep control over his disciples, who scattered and
were divided by the annexation of Poland. In 1772, Frank was released from his
imprisonment in Czestochowa. He may have regained his freedom through the
intervention of Russian officials whom Frank convinced of his interest in still
another religion: then-Russian Orthodoxy. Frank spent his last years seeking the
favors of royalty, and establishing the trappings of a feudal court, even to the
extent of providing military training to his male and female devotees. From his
teachings and exhortations which seem to have been collected and edited by his
disciples after his death, perhaps from earlier transcriptions, Frank seems to have
been prompted in his actions by some grand cosmic vision not bereft of kabbalistic
themes. And that vision inspired and satisfied the needs of generations of disciples
from diverse backgrounds. Frankism, like its precursor movement, Sabbateanism,
maintained a subterranean sectarian organization well after the demise of the
leader.
In assessing Frank as a Christian kabbalist, we would have to question the
influence of his thinking in several directions. 1. How did he mobilize a mass
social movement? 2. In contrast with the small coteries in which most Christian
kabbalists were involved, what were the intellectual and emotional solutions that
one man provided for thousands of disciples over several gen-erations? 3. What
were the sources of his millennialism, of his antinomianism, of his conversionary
fervor? 4- What were the sources of the violence that he unleashes, directed
largely towards former co-religionists, as for example, the unthinkable collusion of
Frankists in i/59 in giving false testimony in regard to the blood libel? g. Where
does Frank stand in relation to traditional Jewish theodicies and with what sources
of kabbalah does he explain the suffering and vulnerability of the Jewish people?
The late Professor Gershom Scholem suggested that Frank was "immersed
entirely in a mythological world of his own making."* That world
[182] [183]
 JACOB FRANK AS CHRISTIAN KABBALIST
surely would be under die influence of kabbalah. Yet, there was enough of the
quotidian to Frank that some commentators, including Scholem, would
characterize him as one who promoted the social welfare of his followers, even in
the domains of proto-territorialism and entrepreneurialism. Whatever the effect of
his teaching, he had a moderating effect on some of his disciples who did not
convert. One can even locate in some of these disciples proto-unitarianism,
religious reform, and enlightenment. 3 All this is to say that it is difficult to typify
Jacob Frank, even in regard to his flagrancy! The flagrant case is of special interest
to us because it demarcates the outer limits. In the case of Frankism, does it draw
those lines standing within the parameters of Christian kabbalism or does Frank, in
his flagrancy, stand beyond the pale?
To answer this we must consider the rich historiography of Christian
kabbalism. Scholars have emphasized three types, i. In conversions, like diat of
Abner of Burgos, Christian kabbalism functioned as something of a cognitive and
spiritual bridge. 2. The kabbalah could be used as a means of legitimating the truth
claims of Christianity. This approach has been illustrated by the late Professor
Chaim Wirszubski in his study of Pico della Mirandola. 5 The Christian kabbalists
whom he studies provided a mystical interpretation of Christianity as an
independent discipline. Evangelical activities were not of paramount concern even
if missionizing increased. 3. Christian kabbalism went along with enthusiasm for
the recovery of ancient wisdom and its appropriation in a non-polemical manner,
at least not for polemics against Jews. This approach is underscored by Frances
Yates and Richard Popkin.6
Where does Frank stand in relation to any of these types of Christian kabbalah?
En Frankism's early stage, at least, Frank himself seemed to con cur that the schism
did have something to do with kabbalah. The issue of kabbalah is integral to the
original schism in Brody in 1756 and the manner in which rabbis explained and
perceived Frank's assault upon their hegemony. They reiterated the
excommunication against the study of kabbalah at coo young an age. At the
disputation in Kamieniec in June 1757, Frankists were called Zoharites and anti-
Talmudists. His Catholic patrons thought that he was espousing kabbalistic glosses
to Christian Trinitarian doctrines. Frank, rather, was referring to Shabbatai Zevi
and Baruchiah, earlier leaders of Jewish millennial movements, and likely to
himself.
JACOB FRANK AS CHRISTIAN KABBALIST____________________
Frank himself manifests little learnedness and litde knowledge of the major
sources of kabbalah. Some of his disciples were more erudite. If we were to assess
the aphorisms ascribed to him, we would find little authentic kabbalistic material.
Popular phrases that are cited are often presented with an original twist. 7 Much of
what he presents is derived from the Baruchiah sect of Saloniki and the
hodgepodge of Balkan mysticism, including Sufism, and the radical doctrines of
Bakteshi and dissimulation. Decades after Leibniz had been so influenced by
Lurianic kabbalah, Jacob Frank's connection to sixteenth-century Safad was
expressed in a single song of Israel Najara, "Yigal kevod malkutekha," "May the
glory of your kingdom be revealed upon an impoverished people, may that rock
that reigned before any other king be eternal sovereign." Far more pronounced in
the kabbalistic influences is the doctrine of the two Torahs - de'atzilut and
de'beriya.* These are used to legitimate antinomianism.
Christianity is a screen behind which lay hidden the true faith of Edom. Frank
is less interested in harmonizing or legitimating than he is in moving beyond that
screen and adumbrating the foundations for syncretism. Frank is quite candid
about his relationship to Christianity: "Bederekh hamelekh neileikh," "Until we
cross your boundaries" (Numbers 21:22). The conversion to Christianity that he
espouses is in fulfillment of the doctrine of tattiye or dissimulation. In addition to
those worldly benefits that he envisioned, Frank's syncretism ensured that his
disciples would be totally dependent upon him. What Frank called das Edom -
ostensibly Catholicism - was a transitional stage spawning creative chaos in the
upper spheres while providing a useful, albeit temporary, hedge: "It is good to
hold onto this and not remove one's hand from that.. ."*
We might view Frank as a Christian kabbalist in the most limited sense of
being an apostate from Judaism influenced by kabbalah. But notwith standing his
syncretism, neither is he interested in validating Christianity through the use of
kabbalistic imagery or epistemology, nor is he concerned to provide a mystical
interpretation of Christianity as an independent discipline. His syncretism is
nihilistic. Frank himself aspires to be neither a Christian nor a kabbalist though
both are important for him, symbolically and instrumentally. Kabbalah provides
him a language with which to image transitions and gather followers rather than a
bridge, a motive, or even an after-the-fact rationalization.
[184] 1185]
 JACOB FRANK AS CHRISTIAN KABBALIST

This nihilistic syncretism well may have had unanticipated consequences

among his disciples who moved closer to older models of Christian kabbalism.
Whatever, this exploration of Frank himself may not be a total loss for our
understanding of Christian kabbalism. For, as it often happens, the flagrant case NOTES
points to tensions and contradictions that we might search for more in the
mainstream.
i. For a concise summary of his life, doctrines, and activities, see Gershom
Scholem, "Jacob Frank and the Frankists," in his Kabbalah (New York, 1974),
287-309.

2. The "Kronika": onjacob Frank and the Frankist movement (Hebrew with English
introduction and summary), ed. and trans. Hiliel Levine (Jerusalem, 1984), is.
3. Scholem, "Redemption through sin" in his The messianic idea in Judaism (New
York, 1971), 127.

4. For an assessment of the worldly effects of Frankism, see Hiliel Levine,

"Frankism as a 'cargo cult' and the Haskalah connection: myth, ideology, and
the modernization of Jewish consciousness," in Essays in modernjewish history,
ed. P. Alpert and F. Hoffman (Rutherford, N. J., 1982), 81-94; Hiliel Levine,
"Frankism as worldly messianism" in Gershom Scholem's Major Trends in Jewish
Mysticism, ed. J. Dan and P. Schafer (Tubingen, 1993), 283-300.
5. Chaim Wirszubski, Pico della Miranddla's encounter with Jewish mysticism (Cam-
bridge, Mass., 1989).
6. Frances Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic tradition (London, 1984); Jewish
Christians and Christian Jews from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, ed. Rich-
ard Popkin and Gordon Weiner (Dordrecht and Boston, 1997).

2. "Kronika," articles 23, 33, 38, 4°-

7. Gershom Scholem, On the kabbalah and its symbolism (New York, 1965), 66-8,
83-5-
8. Lublin ms. Ksi?ga Slow Panskich, article 2184, National and Hebrew University
Library, Jerusalem, Israel.
[186]
[is?]
 THE
EXHIBITION
 THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH

The catalogue below reflects the layout of the Houghton Library exhibition room in March-
April 1996, so that each of the main headings represents one display case, or part of a case.
Just a few items have been rearranged for this published version. Some of the descriptions
preserve an indication of the pages to which the volumes were open in the exhibition. The
selection of items for display was based to some extent on their ability to convey their
character and interest from a single page-opening. Consequently, the catalogue is by no
means to be read as a complete inventory of relevant books and manuscripts in Harvard's
collections. Still less is it a full bibliography of the subject of the Christian kabbalah.

SEFER YESIRAH: THE BOOK OF CREATION

THIS SHORT TREATISE, describingthe process of creation and the structure of the
universe, was regarded in the Middle Ages as the most impor tant text concerning
the nature of God and the cosmos. Between the tenth and fourteenth centuries,
scores of commentaries were written on it, first by rationalistic philosophers and
scientists, and later, beginning at the end of the twelfth century, by Jewish mystics
and kabbalists. It was the first text that Christian kabbalists confronted and
interpreted.

1. Scferyesirah (manuscript, fifteenth or sixteenth century).

The text begins: "With thirty-two paths of hidden wisdom God the Lord of
Hosts the God of Israel the living God, decreed ... and created the world."
These "paths" are the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet plus the ten
sefirot (a word originally referring to the primary numbers 1-10). Seferyesirah
is found in many scores of Hebrew manuscripts. In our manuscript it is
followed by the commentary of Donash ben Tamim (tenth century) and
accompanied by other rationalistic works.

FELIX FRIEDMANN COLLECTION, 1951.

[191 ]
 THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH 3.
2. Abmhami patriarchae liber Jezirah, Latin translation by Guillaume Postel
(Paris, 1552). m>3> ~)3P (Sefer ye-sirah, Mantua, 1562).

The first printed edition of Seferyesirah in any language was this translation into This edition, which includes several of the commentaries on the work, served as
Latin by Guillaume Postel (on whom see further, items 39-41, below). The text a basis for numerous later Hebrew editions.
of Seferyesirah implies in its last paragraph that Abraham, who could not have FELIX FRIEDMANN COLLECTION, 1951.
read the Torah, given centuries later to Moses, came to his belief in God by MEB 7024.465*.
understanding the secrets of the book. The implication that Abraham was
himself the author, which was already found in Hebrew manuscripts, was taken
over by Postel and is reflected on the title page.
4. Seferyesirah :id est, Liber lezirah qui Abrahamo Patriarchae adscribitur, ed. J. S.
DEC RAND l-'UND, i960.
Rittangel (Amsterdam, 1642).
*FC5 P8458.552(A).
This was the first edition of Sefer yesirah with Hebrew text and Latin
translation. It also includes the kabbalistic commentary attributed to Rabbi
- - - —■ - .. ___^

A BR AHA J Abraham ben David of Posquieres.

MI P A T R I A E - PELIX FRIEDMANN COLLECTION, I95I

HEB 7024.465.2*.
fine Foraiatioiiis mendi, pambus c$uid£
Abiabajiiitqioia jsraecdkBEibtM reucia-
tut.fei! ab if fa «ta Abrahamo expoSim ' .|
I&aco.StperFrafetaiii nunuspoftcriati
eonftrrLiaiiHiijJlisautiUj 71. Mo (is audita-
j 5. Isaac the Blind, Commenatry on Sefer yesirah (manuscript, sixteenth century?)
ribui in feeoiwto diuie* veritatis loco, ,;j
lloceflin ranone^uicftpoiUnoiaulbo ^£ The author was head of a group of kabbalists in Provence at the begin ning of
fiutchakuui. jp-': the thirteenth century. His commentary was the first non-anonymous work of
:•• '*' ' ':4 kabbalah and the first kabbalistic commentary on the Seferyesirah. In it, Rabbi
Isaac transforms the text into a neoplatonic description of the emergence of the
&*? Iff], "d ffubymntt rwtusm. "
dynamic divine powers, the ten sefirot, within the divine realm, and of their
lielnwt IfofltikliXs- ■ ' \ functions in directing and governing creation. The basic concepts presented
■ -;.^.v - _: &* here prevailed in the kabbalah and were accepted by the Christian kabbalists.
CAJMSIIS, FELIX FRIEDMANN COLLECTION, 195V,
:
VancuntipiSautiiQri,i6seintei,fTet!, ' FORMERLY OWNED BY ADOLF JELLLNEK.
- G.Poftello,Infcliolwliftlomm, i!f;\i MS HEBREW 58-

.; * rToT ' <""":" ■" -I

li-l^jaL.................. * ,_j^_. ■__________
Title page of Postel's translation of Sefer yesiraJi,
[ 192 ]
[193]
 THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH THE
ZOHAR
CHRISTIAN KABBALISTS, like all those interested in the kabbalah, viewed the Zohar
as the most important work of Jewish mysticism. It is also the one which most
clearly expresses the concept that the kabbalah is an ancient tradition, revealed by
God to Moses on Mount Sinai and transmitted since then by Jewish sages from
generation to generation. The difficult language of the work (an artificial Aramaic,
formulated by the author himself) and its intense, often obscure symbolism
enhanced its prestige as a source of anrienr secrets. The work, a series of sermons
on the Pentateuch and other parts of the Hebrew Bible, is presented in a
pseudepigraphic manner as the product of a group of sages in second-century Eretz
Israel. It was actually written by Rabbi Moshe de Leon in Castile, between the
1270s and the author's death in 1305. The core of the Zohar is the "mystery of gen -
esis," the intricate narrative of the emergence of the sefirot from the depths of the
supreme divine entity which is beyond comprehension and symbol-ization, the En-
sof. A combination of neoplatonic and mystical symbols, reminiscent of the
Christian pseudo-Dionysian treatises, characterizes Zoharic symbolism. The main
two elements which give intensity and color to Zoharic mysticism are the inclusion
of the feminine element, the Shekinah, within the system of the sefirot, and the
dualistic concept of the universe as the battleground between the powers of good on
the right side and those of evil on the left (the sitra ahra, the "other side").
6. minn bv -imrn TQC (Sefer ha-Zohar'dlwTorak, 3 volumes, Mantua, 1558-60).
This, the first printed edition of the Zohar, was published amidst fierce
controversy. Many kabbalists insisted that the teachings of the kabbalah should
remain secret, while others connected its publication with the coming of
messianic times. This became the standard edition of the Zohar, reprinted
around seventy times in subsequent centuries.
GIFT OF RANDOLPH COOLIDGE AND ARCHIBALD CARY COOLIDGE;
FROM THE LIBRARY OF COUNT PAUL RIANT,
HEB.7023-490F*.
THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
7. mini! by "initn ~\£V (Sefer ha-Zoharcalha-Torah, Cremona, 1558-60).
This edition, called by the kabbalists Zohar gadol ("large Zohar"), was printed
in competition with the Mantua edition. It is based on different manuscripts,
and has variant readings and differences in the order of sections. It was
reprinted twice, in Lublin in 1623 and in Sulzbach in 1684, the latter
publication being assisted by the Christian kabbalist Knorr von Rosenroth.
GIFT OF LUCIUS NATHAN LITTAUBR, 1937.
HEB 702.3.49OF*.
8. Midrash ha-ntfelam on Ruth (manuscript, sixteenth century).
The two editions of the Zohar include most of the Zoharic literature, but not
all of it. Two subsequently printed volumes, which became known as Zohar
hadash ("new Zohar"), included many parts of the earliest stratum of the
Zohar, written by Moshe de Leon before the main body of the work, under the
title of Midrash ha-ne'elam ("secret midrash"). This text is mainly in Hebrew
and lacks the pseudepigraphic framework of the Zohar itself. Our manuscript
is one of several in which the Midrash ha-ne'elam on the book of Ruth is
found separately.
FELIX PRIEDMANN COLLECTION, 1951. MS
HEBREW 63.
9. Pedro de la Cavalleria, Zelus Christi (manuscript, Naples, 149a)-
The first citation of the Zohar in Christian literature turns out to be spurious.
The book entitled Zeal of Christ against the Jews, Saracens and Infidels,
written about 1450, contains a citation of "Sefer Azobar" (that is, Sefer ha-
Zohar) according to which the secret reference of the trisagion ("Holy holy
holy") of Isaiah 6:3 is to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Many later authors
copied this pretended quotation.
GIFT OF RANDOLPH COOLIDGE AND ARCHIBALD CARY COOLIDGE;
PROM THE LIBRARY OF COUNT PAUL RIANT.
MS RIANT 39.
[ 194 ] [195]
THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
 RECANATI AND GIKATILLA
ONE OP THE MAIN SOURCES of kabbalistic knowlcge, for Jews and Christians alike,
was the commentary on the Pentateuch written by Rabbi Menahem Recanati in die
fourteenth century. The author was among the first kabbalists in Italy, and his
commentaries on the Pentateuch and Jewish prayerbook include some of the earliest
extensive quotations from the Zohar. It seems that Recanati had at his disposal only
some sections from the Zohar, but using them in a popular, exoteric work made
them available to a wide public when manuscripts of Zoharic sections were scarce.
When Christians began to be interested in this material, Recanati was one of the
first available Hebrew sources.
11. Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla, miN ^W IQt? (Sefer shctare orah, Riva di
Trento, 1561).
Sha'are orah ("Gates of light") is Gikatilla's most influential work, and was
regarded as a key to the mysteries of the Zohar. Its ten chapters describe in
detail the ten sefirot, starting from the last (the feminine power, the Shekinah)
and ascending to the highest, Keter ("crown").
GIFT OF LUCIUS NATHAN LITTAUER.
HEB 7029.150* (B).

.. Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla, Portae lucis haec est porta tetragmmmaton iusti
inlrabunt *peam. Latin translation by Paolo Ricci (Augsburg, 1516).
10. Menahem ben Benjamin Recanati, Pevusk ha-Torah (manuscript, fifteenth
century). Ricci's abbreviated translation of Gikatilla became one of the important works
to influence the Christian kabbalists. The title page shows the usual
On Genesis 1:1 Recanati alludes to the Aramaic version which reads "In the
arrangement of the ten sefirot.
beginnings ...". He connects the plural with the "thirty-two paths of wisdom" in
Sefer yesirah. This exegesis was taken up by Pico della Mirandola (item 13 t> HOFEB, 1941.

ORTA
*YP 52,0.16.425.
below).

FELIX FRJEDMANN COLLECTION, 1951. MS Title page of Ricci's

HEBREW 59. translation of Gikatilla.

RABBI J O S E P H GIKATILLA (1248-1325) was born in Medinaceli in Castile, and

first studied under the kabbalist rabbi Abraham Abulafia. Abulafia belonged to a
school which opposed the concept of the ten divine emanations, the sefirot. After
1280, however, Gikatilla became the associate and collaborator of the author of the
Zohar, Moshe de Leon. It is possible that he participated in the composition of the
Zohar itself.
[196] L197 J
 THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH GIOVANNI PICO
DELLA MIRANDOLA
THE YOUNG INTBLLECTUAL PRODI GT of Florence, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
(1463-94), contributed by his work and personality more than anyone else to the
establishment of the kabbalah as a department of Christian theology. Pico was
influenced mainly by Marsilio Ficino and the school of "Greek" humanists, for
whom Plato and neoplatonism were the dominant philosophy. Ficino translated
into Latin the treatises attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, described as an ancient
Egyptian master of secrets, and in doing so he introduced a strong magical
component into Italian Renaissance culture. Pico added the kabbalah into this
syncretism. His claim that kabbalah should be regarded as a scientific source
proving the divinity of Christ was based on the belief that these were ancient texts
which had served as sources for the Hermetic treatises and the classical Greek
philosophers. Pico's enterprise, like that of Ficino, was carried out under the
auspices of the ruling Medici family and was assisted by their unique library.
13. Conclusiones nongentae, in omni genere scientiarum : quas olim Io. Picus
Mimndula Romae disputandas proposuit: quarum quingentae sunt inphilosophi
veterum. Mathematica. Cabala. Magia (Nuremberg, 1532).
Pico's Conclusiones nongentae ("nine hundred theses") include forty-seven
kabbalistic propositions derived from texts such as Recanati*s commentaries.
A further seventy-two propositions express Pico's own conclusions from the
kabbalistic material he studied. The theses have been analysed in detail by
Chaim Wirszubski in his Pico della Mirandola's encounter with Jewish
mysticism (Harvard University Press, 1989). The theses were first published in
i486 for a public debate, but this was suspended at the intervention of Pope
Innocent VIII.
LANE FUND, 1902.
*ic.P588i.486cic.
THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
14. loannes Picus Mirandulanus Comes Concordiae Oratio de hominis dignitate.
Latin text with English translation by Elizabeth Livermore Forbes (Lex
ington, Kentucky, 1953).
The Oration on the dignity of man was written by Pico for the public debate on
his nine hundred theses. In it he defends the kabbalah as a genuine tradition
going back to Moses and only written down in Ezra's day (in the seventy "last
books" mentioned in 2 Esdras 14:44). Some of the same books, Pico says,
were translated for him into Latin, and they turned out to be full of implicitly
Christian doctrine. The Oration, itself a "major document of Renaissance
thought" (P. O. Kristeller), is exhibited here in a modern edition designed by
Victor Hammer in humanistic style.
GIFT OF WILLIAM A. JACKSON, 1953-
*TYP 970.53.6926F.
15. Apologiajoannis Pici Mirandulani Concordiae Comitis (Naples, 1487); bound
with Petrus Garsias, Determinationes magistrates contra conclusionesjohannes
Pici Mirandulae (Rome, 1489).
Pico's Apologia of 1487 did not dispel the accusation of heresy against him,
and the Inquisitor Pietro Garcias pronounced against the Conclusiones in
1489. Pico's proposition that "There is no science which better certifies to us
the divinity of Christ than magic and kabbalah" Garcias calls simpliciter falsa
et heretica ad superstitionem gentilium et perfidiam damnabilem iudeorum
pertinens. Only in 1492. was Pico's status restored by Pope Alexander VI.
DUPLICATES FUND, 1968.
*INC 6723.IO.
[198 ] [199]
 THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
16. The workes of Sir Thomas More, Knyght (London, 1555).
A Jewish scholar, Samuel ben Nissim Abulfaraj, who converted to Chris tianity
Pico became known to English readers from the life written by his nephew for
and was known by the names Raymond Moncada, Flavius Mithridates and others,
the posthumous edition of his works in 1496 and soon afterwards translated by
was the translator of many of the treatises used by Pico della Mirandola. When
Sir Thomas More as "The life of John Picus Erie of Myrandula." It tells the
Mithridates himself delivered a sermon before the pope on the esoteric ancient
story of Pico's theses: they were the work of one who was "ful of pride, 6i
Jewish sources which prove Christian dogma, he used mainly Talmudic sayings
desirous of marines praise"; but Pico's persecution for heresy was the doing of
and avoided the kabbalah. His translations for Pico include many non-kabbalistic
older men who were jealous of his youth and accomplishments.
treatises, like the works of Rabbi Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg and Rabbi
GIFT OF FRANCIS GREENWOOD PEABODY, 1932. Eleazar of Worms. He also included treatises by Rabbi Abraham Abulafia, who
TSTC 18076 v.i. opposed the traditions of the main stream of the kabbalah and emphasized the
analysis of numbers, names and letters rather than the system of the sefirot.

17. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Expositio psalmi quinqwgesimi (manuscript,

Italian, ca. 1500).
18. Judah the Pious, Mystical works (manuscript, German, late fifteenth
This manuscript, an unicum, contains Pico's commentary, as yet unpublished,
on Psalm 50 (51 in the English Bible). It consists of a tituhts et defensio
litterae giving the variant readings from the Vulgate, Septuagint and the
Hebrew Bible, a brief argumentum, and the expositio. In his Apologia Pico
writes: "Hilary and Origen praise this psalm and the kabbalistic authors agree,
who attribute the number 50 to the Holy Spirit and say also that it symbolizes
fire."
century).
Judah the Pious of Regensburg (ca. 1150-1217) was an influential scholar and
teacher, although he never attached his name to his writings. Mithridates made
his Latin translation of the Book of angeb from this manuscript or one that was
textually identical.
PHOTOGRAPH FROM MS OXFORD, BODLEIAN LIBRARY HEB. I567.

CHARLES ELIOT NORTON COLLECTION, 1905-MS

TYP 78.
19. Johann Christoph Wolf, Bibihtheca Hebraea, vol. 1 (Hamburg, 1715).

Wolf's four-volume work on Hebrew bibliography includes a contribution by

THE TEACHERS OF PICO DELLA
MIRANDOLA
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH, which are
often very different from those of the Hebrew mystical traditions, were shaped
both by the preferences and inclinations of the Christian writers and by the
selection of sources that was available to them. Several Jewish scholars, not all of
them kabbalists, and Jewish converts to Christianity served as teachers and
translators, thus influencing the image of the Jewish esoteric traditions which
entered European culture.
Jacques Gaffarel entitled "Codicum cabbalisticorum manuscriptorum quibus
est usus Joannes Picus Comes Mirandulanus, Index." In this, Gaffarel (whose
own interest in the kabbalah is shown by item 46 below) describes three Latin
manuscripts containing translations of kabbalistic texts which, he says, Pico
used. The first of these was a manuscript, now lost, of Recananti's commentary
on the Pentateuch. The other two may not really have been used by Pico.

[ 200 ]
 THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
). Kabbalistic texts in Latin translation by Flavius Mithridates.
Some of the translations made by Flavius Mithridates for Pico survive, in four
manuscripts, probably all his autographs, in the Vatican Library. The
manuscripts contain works by Recanati, Gikarilla, Eleazar of Worms, and
Abraham Abulafia.
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM MSS VATICAN HER. 189, 190, 191, CHICI A. VT 190.
Atta^af^
THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
21. Sejei" ha-Bahir (manuscript, Spanish or Maghribi, 1298).
In addition to the texts translated for him into Latin, Pico used some original
Hebrew texts in manuscript. One such manuscript, containing the important
early kabbalistic book entitled Bahir, was identified by the young Gershom
Scholem in Munich in 1921. Scholem did not publish his discovery, however,
and it is presently unclear on what evidence he con cluded that the manuscript
was used by Pico.
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM MS MUNICH HEB. 209.
22. Yohanan Alemanno, pl^nn ~lin^ "l£)t7 (Sefersha'ar ha-hesheq, Livorno,
1790).
Another of Pico's teachers was himself" a kabbalist, Yohanan Alemanno. He
wrote extensively on science and magic, but this is his only published work,
the Gate of desire, a commentary on the Song of Songs. The commentary
draws widely on philosophical and other secular sources.
GIFT OF LUCIUS NATHAN LITTAUER, I937.
HEB 7491.150.
JOHANNES REUCHLIN BESIDES PICO,
Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522) is the best-known and most influential Christian
kabbalist. Reuchlin's mature work De arte cabalistica, published in 1517, became
the main source and inspiration for Christian kabbalists for two centuries. Tt was
also a milestone in the history of the relationship between Jewish and Christian
culture, because it not only dealt with the kabbalah but also included a detailed
portrayal of a kabbalist that is probably the first favorable description of a Jewish
scholar to appear in Christian literature after a millennium of enmity.
The signature Mithri.ial.c intcrpraatur subscribed to a translation made
for Pico della Mirandola (MS Vat. Heb. 191, fol. 287V).
[ 202 ]
THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
23. Johannes Reuchlin, De rudirntmiis hebrmcis (Pforzheim, 1506).
This was Reuchlin's pioneering philological work and the one for which he is
most celebrated. In the lexicon, which forms the majority of the book, the entry
for 73p ("to receive") rightly explains the derivation of kabbalah. Reuchlin also
connects the word with Greek KofjaAeta, "trickery" -the Greeks, he says,
having seen only the negative side of it,
GIFT OF THOMAS HOLLIS.
*fGC5.P3i74.5o6d(B).
26. Johannes Reuchlin, De arte cabalistica libri tres Leoni X. Axcati
(Hagenau, 1517).
The masterpiece of Christian kabbalah, Reuchlin's work is presented as a series
of dialogues between two non-Jewish scholars and a Jewish kabbalist. It is
divided into three parts. In the first and third the main speaker is the kabbalist,
while in the second, the two others discuss among themselves what they have
heard in the first part. This second part takes place on the sabbath, when the
Jew would not teach. Direct quotations from kabbalistic works in Hebrew
constitute nearly a third of the text.

BOUND WITH REUCHLIN'S DE VERBO M1RIFICO (TUBINGEN, 1514).

24. Johannes Reuchlin, De verba minfica (fourth edition, Leiden, 1552). GIET OF PROFESSOR TAYLOR STARCK, 1955-
*fGC.R3i74-5l?Li.
This, Reuchlin's first work in the field of kabbalah, was a continuation of a
Christian tradition, going back to the twelfth century, of interest in the biblical
name of God, the so-called Temtgrammaton. Reuchlin held that the four-letter
name of God attained its full meaning only by the addition of the letter shin in

Br i^^l|h
the middle which would produce a secret form of the name "Jesus." The first
(1494) and second (1514) editions of this work (Houghton's copy of the second
edition is bound with De arte cabalistica, item 16) did not have the benefit of
Hebrew type.

GIFT C)i- CLARFNCK S. BM'CMAM, J92J.

n
*GC5.R.3174.,|9<l'd.
Device used by
Reuchlin's printer
(T A B = Thomas
25. Johannes Reuchlin, Rabi loseph Hyssopaeus Parpinianensis ludaeorum poeta Anshelm Badensis)
dulcissimus (Tubingen, 1512). incorporating the
five-letter name of
Reuchlin's secret name of Jesus, PlWH', was taken over by his printer Thomas Jesus.
Anshelm, and used as his mark on Reuchlin's books, even those, like this one,
unrelated to the kabbalah.
[ 2°4 ] [ 205 ]
 THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
27. Johannes Reuchlin, Augenspiegel (Tubingen, 1511).

In 1510 Reuchlin had entered the "battie of the books" against the Do minicans
of Cologne who were agitating for all Jewish books to be banned in the Holy
Roman Empire. This famous pamphlet ('eyeglasses") was Reuchlin's reply to a k ■** petuaafc** JvJf 3* Ui
tract called Handspiegel ("hand mirror") written by his chief Dominican •
opponent johann Pfefferkorn. Reuchlin defended the books of kabbalah as "not I
•9mt
only innocent but in the highest degree useful for our Christian faith." In 1520,
however, Augenspiegel was condemned by the same Pope Leo X to whom
Reuchlin had dedicared De arte cabalisixca three years before.
<WJ*F
BEQUEST OF LEE M. FRIEDMAN, !'.)%■.
*GC5.R3i74.5iiw.
A work of Rabbi

28. Jacob van Hoogstraten, Datructio aibalc sen Cabatisticeperfidie ab loanne •:.- Eleazar of Worms
annotated probably by
Reuchlin Capnione iampridem in luccm aiite (Cologne, 1519). As the Cardinal Egidio da
n^ Tf«^^mm mm p E$K5 - ■••»* - Viterbo (MS Brit. Lib.
controversy over his orthodoxy intensified, Reuchlin's interest in the kabbalah
Add. 27199, fol. 24ir).
was made an object of attack by the Inquisitor Jacob van Hoogstraten (1460-
1527).

BEQUEST OF LEE M. FRIEDMAN (95/.

*GC5.U7026.57Q(!.
iw. e%tjV @* ft-** U ^h,
OTHER EARLY KABBAL1STS 29. Eleazar of
" TZT'**™ ~*-wlky*t/m shir
Worms, Mystical works (manuscript, Italian, 1525).
A rare opportunity to view the way Christian kabbalisrs studied Hebrew texts is
furnished by a Hebrew manuscript copied for the humanist scholar Cardinal
Egidio da Viterbo (1469-1532), and containing marginal notes probably by him.
The leaf illustrated shows part of the work Sefer ha-shem ("book of the name")
by Rabbi Eleazar of Worms (ca. 1160-1230), alluding to a story from the Jewish 30. Agostino Giustiniani, Psaitenum. hebraeumgmeaitii arahicum &chaldaeum,
life of Jesus (Toiedot Yeshu) in which Jesus struggles with a rabbi and is cum iribus intinis mtcrpn.UUioiiibus t? glos.tis (Genoa, 1516).
defeated, The Christian reader has commented blasfimat impius. Egidio da Viterbo had some association with two other Christian schol ars of
PHOTOGRAPHS OF BRITISH LIBRARY MS ADD. 27199.
kabbalah, Agostino Giustiniani and Pietro Colonna (Galatino). The Psalter
which Giustiniani edited is the earliest of the Renaissance polyglot editions of
Scripture. Giustiniani's scholia, in the right-hand column, are sprinkecl with
[ 206 ] kabbalistic exegesis, for example on Psalm 119 where he gives a list of the
seventy names of God.

DUPLICATES FUND, 1971.

*TYP 525.16.21 OF.
THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
 mrr
31. Pietro Galatino, Opus toti ehrisnanae reipubliaic maxime utile, de arcanis
catholicae veritatis (Ortona, 151S).
3lturmfIlmo]p>:BicftM ac ©no B>.fricenc6 DiicfSaronwe 0>arcbfont ifcfffe
Galatino's work in twleve books, written in defense of Reuchlin, was widely 4 <■■!' ...........'■'■ ................""; —■""»««

read and quoted in the Renaissance. The first edition was finely executed by
the Jewish printer Gershom ben Moses Soncino, although the tone of the work
itself is anti-Jewish. Galatino quotes extensively from a supposedly early
Jewish book called Reveakr of Secrets by a certain Rabbenus Haccados. This
recounts some surprising Jewish traditions, for example that the
Tetragrammaton secretly reveals a Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The
book is, however, a Christian forgery dating only from the later fifteenth
century. *,s;ES
BEQUEST OF LEE M. FRIEDMAN, 1957.

*fiC5.Gi3i/f.5iSd.

32. Johannes Boschenstein, Ulustrissimo piiriLipc de dtimino (.{, h'ideiicc duct

Saxonia ...Johann. Boeschenstain ... humiliter se commendat (broadside, in 7|T< nonfaflri[Br>tlMSi*!(4niopp66fti«sairtrupirpoP ,!tiini BliipililiMvu'aWSIOfit £>■
iwiift;i»!^jniii!p)ifni!>.3{BlscsljBrai!iiir6ei!i{jffalVoiiilBiiiepi!ipil«
Augsburg, 1518?). m ZriatiM f3niw fitdsfa ittoilo mmta ijfirnw««n«.

arba*Keatas
Boschenstein (1472-1540) was a teacher of Hebrew and follower of Reuchlin. Pttfjite <i mi js (ffiISI f iimnwrn !i=ji(«a nis pa
atann^Zmo Ifngwin qstfe mm* f*W»
At the probable time of this publication he had a post under Philip Melanchthon ■©bfUMelait.
maimed" !U=i™»n«iiHfS!>fK* a»i S'li owe
at Wittenberg. The broadside on the Tetragrammaton, addressed to the Elector p ms. omtt. mi m"iw »P<o-

of Saxony, Frederick III (Luther's protector), might be considered the first eilnwns&ifltionlliim*

Protestant document of Christian kabbalah. The printer having no Hebrew type,

the biblical quotations as well as the large letters bad to be written in by hand.

BOUND IN BETWEEN A HEBREW TEXTBOOK BT A. REUCHLIN (1554)

AND ANOTHER COPY OF J. REUCHLIN'S DE VERBO MIRIF1CO (2ND ED. 15U). Broadside c n the Tetragrammaton by Johannes Boschenstein.

GIFT OF THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, I938.

*fGC5.R3l72-554t-
[ 208 ] [ 209 ]
 THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH AGRIPPA
33. Paolo Ricci, In cahiilistarum seu allegorizantium eruditionem isagogae
(Augsburg, 1515) issued with other works by Ricci. VON NETTESHEIM

Paolo Ricci (d. 1543) was one of the few Jewish converts to Christianity who
made a mark as a student of Judaism. Besides original works like this one, he
published several translations, the most important of which was Gikatilla's
Portae lucis (item 12 above). Ricci's introduction to the kabbalah was
published a year before that translation while he was in Augsburg as physician
to the Emperor MimmiHau.
BEQUEST OP LEE M. FRIEDMAN, 1957.
*GC5 -R4l97-B5l5d.
34. Opusculmn Raymundinum de auditu kabbalistico sive ad omnes scientias
introducLcrum (Venice, 1518).
HEINRICH CORNELIUS AGRIPPA of Nettesheim : 1486-1535), court secre tar}' to the
Emperor Charles V and physician of Louise of Savoy, was tru author of De
occulta philosophia, a work which gave currency to the associa tion in Christian
culture between kabbalah and magical and occult practices Agrippa followed Pico
and Reuchlin, but went further in two main respects He declared that magic and
kabbalah are the best means to the understanding of God and the universe in all
their aspects; and he claimed that kabbalistic knowledge endows the practitioner
with magical powers which can be o: service to meet human needs. (He held this
view not only as a theory: he waf removed from his position as orator in Metz
after he defended an accusec witch in court.) Agrippa also followed Reuchlin in
being denounced by the Dominicans and inquistors of Cologne, and was banished
from Germany.

This curious work purports to be a kabbalistic treatise by the Spanish mystical

poet Ramon Llull (d. 1316) - which if genuine would push the history of the 36. Agrippa von Nettesheim, De occulta philosophia libri tres (Cologne, 1533).
Christian kabbalah back more than a century Internal evidence, however, Agrippa's cosmological and magical discussions include numerous quotations
shows it to be dependent on Pico. from kabbalistic texts, and many illustrations. This one shows three powerful
signs, the first revealed to Constantine, the second to Antiochus Epiphanes,
DEGRAND FUND, 1952..
and the third to Judah Maccabee.
*SC.L9(595olSd.
GIFT OP WILLIAM KING RICHARDSON, 1950.
WKR 13.2.2..

35. Francesco Zorzi, De harmonia rn.um.ii tonus cantica tria (Venice, 1525).

The Venetian Francesco Zorzi, whose name is more usually encountered as

Georgius Venetus, was a Franciscan preacher and public figure who traveled in
Palestine and read widely in Hebrew esoteric literature. This work, "a
systematic inventory of symbols" (G. Busi), takes up many of the concerns and
methods of Pico and Reuchlin, especially its view of the Hebrew language and
alphabet as vehicles of theology.

BEQUEST OE JOHN HARVEY TREAT, l888. Agrippa von Nettesheim, De occulta

PHIL 250. J*. philosophia, CCLXXVII.
[210] I 2il 1
THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
37. HmridConieKiAgtippaeliba-quan^deoca{iiapMU)sopiria(MAxburg7,1565).
This publication appeared after Agrippa's death in a single small volume along
with the book of the medieval magician Petrus de Abano. Both works consist
largely of magical formulas. Later editions of Agrippa's works included this
fourth book alongside the genuine three, and it secured his reputation as a
magician, but it is now recognized to be spurious.
(see item 4 above) was printed in his lifetime. His translations were accompanied
by detailed expositions of his own views - for example, that the traditional author
of the Zohar, "Rabbi Simeon," was the old man Simeon who took Christ in his
arms in the temple (Luke 2:28). Omitted here is Postel's treatise published in 1548
on the Jewish sacred lamp (menorah) in Latin and Hebrew, pointing out its
kabbalistic and mystical esoteric meaning.

GIFT OP MARY BRYANT BRANDEGEE.

*GC5.Ag855.AZ559db,

38. La ClaviculeMagique et Cabalistique du Sage Row Salomon. Traduite du Texte

Original hebraique, en Latin par k. scavant Segmmancien \_sic~] Corneille
Agrippa, et mise enjrancois par Rabis Nazar Chef de la Societe de la Grande
Caballe de la Ville D'arte ... (manuscript, eighteenth century?).

The "Key of Solomon" is a magical manual found in a number of manuscript

copies, mostly in European languages (this is one of three copies in Houghton)
though also in Hebrew. There seems to be some relationship to Agrippa's
"fourth book," though not to his genuine works. That the supposed translation
from Hebrew was attributed to Agrippa shows his reputation as the source of
arcane Hebrew knowledge.

DE GRAND FUND, 192a, 24252-

89.5*.

GUILLAUME POSTEL
THE FOUNDER OF THE FRENCH SCHOOL of Christian kabbalists, Guillaume Postel
(1510-81) was an individual and visionary thinker. He was in close contact with
Jewish scholars, and his knowledge of Hebrew and the scope of his kabbalistic
knowledge were unusual even among the Christian kabbalists. Postel's
eschatological views were, to say the least, unorthodox, and he had trouble in
publishing his books. Although he made translations of part of the Zohar, the book
Bahir, and Sefir yesirah, only the last of these
[ 212 ] [ 213 ]
THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
39. Andre Thevet, Vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres (Paris, 1584). THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH IN THE LATER
Postel is shown looking at a page of (meaningless) Hebrew - a recognition of RENAISSANCE
his fame as a Christian Hebraist rather than as a kabbalist, however.
42, Michael Ncandcr, Sanctae linguae hebmeac erotemata (Basle, 1567).
GIFT OF THE FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY, I948.
In the part of this work entitled "Testimonia veterum Hebraeorum,
*TYP 5i5.84.83n-.
Rabbinorum, Thalmudistarum, ac C abb a list arum, de Christo" we find
kabbalistic exegesis alongside the more conventional Christian treatments of
putative messianic testimonia. For example, the author retails the interpretation
40. Guillaume Postel, Description et chant: de la Tcrrc Saincte (Paris, 1553?).
of Genesis 49:10 as a secret Christian prophecy: the first letters of successive
This book, hardly noticed in the secondary literature on Postel, combines Hebrew words in the verse (usually translated "until Shiloh comes") spell
geographical information with eschatological speculation and mystical Yeshu.
interpretaions of the territories of the Twelve Tribes.
DUPLICATES FUND, I963.
dFT OF J. RANDOLPH COOLIDGE AND ARCHIBALD CARY COOL1DGE; *GC5-N2634-556sb.
FROM THE LIBRARY OF COUNT PAUL RIANT, I9OO.
ASIA 92I5-35-5*-

43. Marin Mersenne, Quaestiones celeberrimae in Genesim (Paris, 1623).

41. Guillaume Postel, I,mguarumditodedm characterises differentiumalphabetum The massive commentary on Genesis by Marin Mersenne (1588-1648) is a
(Paris, 1538). work of rationality and Catholic orthodoxy directed against esoteric and occult
interpretations of Genesis. Discussing the first word in the Hebrew text,
Postel's introductory book on ancient languages was a contribution to TT^N"Q, Mersenne disputes the exegesis of Pico, who claimed to find an
comparative philology and not to Christian kabbalah. However, the page implicit reference to the Christian Trinity.
devoted to illustrating Syriac (which Postel calls "Chaldean") shows an
DEGRAND FUND, I959.
ordinary alphabet and, along the outside margin, another one. The latter, Postel
*fFC6.M5.557-<S23q.
says, was used in a manuscript of kabbalah copied for him by a certain Jewish
physician, Mose Almuli, in Constantinople.
44. Cesare d'Evoli, De divinis attribute, quae sephirot ab Hebraeis nuncupata
GIFT OF THOMAS HOLLIS, I764.
'FC5.P8458.B56u-.
(Venice, 1573).

Cesare d'Evoli (1532-98) is better known to history as a military commander,

but he wrote two philosophical works, the other being De causis antipa.th.iae,
etsympaihiaerermnnaturalium. His book on the sefirot shows the perpetual
attraction of this conception to platonizing philosophers.

MARIE-LOUISE AND SAMUEL R. ROSENTHAL FUND, 1994-

*95-57i.

[215]
 THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH

46. Jacques Carfare], Unheard-of curiosities: concerning the talismanical scul

hire of the Persians; the horoscope of the Patriark.es; and the reading of u
stars (London, 1650; translation of the French edition of 1637).

The blending of kabbalistic themes with other magical interests is show at

one level by this popular book which tried to defend the science of th
ancients. The author argues from such biblical verses as Isaiah 34:4 (Th
heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll") that the stars must be di; posed in
the sky according to a pattern of Hebrew letters.

GIFT OF MARY BRYANT ERANDEGEI

£4215.12,2*

C&pr-WAi-.s, Ik divinu twininibus. fol. 26v.

45. Chrysostomus a Capranica, De divinis nominibus
(manuscript, Rome, 1620).

The Franciscan friar (later bishop) Chrysostom a Capranica composed this

trearise in 1620 for the new Emperor Ferdinand II so that he might have
victory over the Turks in hoc signo, that is, in the sign of the Tetragrammaton.
The illustration above shows the Emperor and Brother Chrysostom receiving
God's promise of victory by the power of his name. Two of the other
illuminations in this manuscript, one of which is reproduced on the cover of
this volume, show the usual triangular iconography of the Trinity transformed
by mystical labels in Hebrew in the center and at each corner. The present
exhibition marks the first notice of tlris manuscript in any scholarly publication
.since I.,. Wadding, Scriptores Ordinis Minorum (Rome, 1650).

, 1957; FORMERLY PHILLIPS MS 790.

MS JUDIACA 18.

ing a pattern of Hebrew letters,

[216] according to j. Carfare!
 THE C H R I S T I A N K A B B A L A H
47. Robert Fludd, Dep'aetematurah uLriusqus inundi msioru; (volume 2, tractate
2 of Utriusque cosmi maicris scilicet, et minori.s metaphysial, physia atque
technica historic: Frankfurt, 1621).
Robert Fludd ([574-16.37) is often considered the last Renaissance occult
philosopher, unmoved by the new scientific outlook of the seventeenth
century. He clung to the belief that the Hermetic writings and the kabbalah
represented the ultimate wisdom of the ancients. Fludd's many-part (and
unfinished) work. The history of the macrocosm and microcosm, allots one
sub-section of the Microcosm (vol. 2) to rheosophy and kabbalah. The
illustration shows Fludd's original representation of the sefirot as -<,-.t an
upside-down tree. \ Hochma, wisdom, receives a Christian gloss as i "son."
From the bottom, •1 Malkuth, come the leaves, I which are the sefirot ;';
again, each identified ■ I with one of the orders of angels.
■Ui
•.,'
*fBC.F6707.B638p V
I An interpretation of
the sefirot by Robert Fludd
<De praeternaturali utriusque
, mundi kistoria, p. 157).
THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
ATHANAS1US KIRCHER
A CELEBRATED SCHOLAR of his day, Athanasius Kircher, S. J. (1601-80), was born
in Fulda (Thuringia) but served most of his life as teacher of philosophy,
mathematics and oriental languages at the Jesuit college in Rome. He began his
writing career in 1631 with Ars magnesia, a treatise on magnetism, and went on to
publish some thirty-eight works in all. His books, many of which are lavish folios
with elaborate plates, exotic types, and other illustrations, are now - as far as their
contents are concerned -unevenly regarded. Some are mere curiosities (such as his
books on Noah's ark and the Tower of Babel) or of only historical interest (such as
his attempt to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics in Oedipus aegyptiacus, [652 ;;■
His description of the kabbalah, however, in the second volume of this work, is
particularly well informed and draws on a good deal of original material.
48. Athanasius Kircher. Oedipus aegypnucus: hoc est Universalis hieroglyphicae
veterum doctrinae temporum inuria abolitae instauratio, vol. 21 and 12
(Rome, 1653).
Kircher's interest in the kabbalah was various. He took over from Reuchlin the
interest in the mystical five-letter name of Jesus derived from the name of God
in Hebrew. He also made a parallel between the sefirot and other ways of
dividing the celestial world (for example, according to the planets) that give
true insight into the way of God's revelation. The kabbalistic concept of
primeval man, or Anthropos, expressing the totality of the uppermost divine
world, was of obvious christological value for him. Some of these themes can
be seen together in the frontispiece of the present volume.
BEQUEST OF JONATHAN BROWN BRIGHT, l884-
*fGc6.K6323-652° v-2' AND 2-1-
[218] I 219 ]
 THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH

49. Athanasius Kircher, Arithmologia; sive, De abditis N mysterijs 50. Athanasius Kircher, Itinerarium exstaticum que mundi opificium
(Rome, 1665). (Rome, 1656).
From the frontispiece of this book of Kircher we see how the kabbalist (seated In spite of the interest Kircher showed in the kabbaiah and his
at left) with his symbols, and the Pythagorean (at right) with his theorem, acknowledgement of the insights to be had from it, he denied the antiq uity of
r OF ANDOVER- the kabbalah as an extra-biblical tradition. His position may be seen in, among
together contemplate the mystery of numbers. other places, the dialogue between pupil and teacher in his Itinerarium
THEOLOGICAL L exstaticum.
*Gc6.K63i3.66|>a.
GIFT OF DAVID PLNGREE WHEATLAND, 1971.

,•:«-,
 IIBB M • % KNORR VON ROSENROTH, HIS CIRCLE
AND INFLUENCE

CHRISTIAN KNORR VON ROSENROTH (1636-89), philosopher, mystic and adviser to

Prince Christian August of Bavaria, was the author of the Kabbala denudata, the
unsurpassed description of the kabbalah in Latin. It opened the world of the
kabbalah to Protestant scholars and to Latin readers generally in Europe. Knorr
was in close touch with the Cambridge Platonist Henry More and with the Belgian
mystic, Prans Mercurius van Helmont. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was so
impressed by Knorr's work that he visited him in 1687 and exchanged ideas with
him.

51. Christian Knorr von Rosenroth, Kabbala denudata (2 vols., Sulzbach, 1677-
84).

The main part of the Kabbala denudata is a series of translations of important

Hebrew kabbalistic texts. These include sections of the Zohar, Moses
Cordovero's Pardes rimmonim, an abridged version of Abraham Herera's
Ska'ar ka-skamayitn ("Gate of heaven"), Emek ha-melck ("Valley of the king")
by Naphtali Bacharach, Sefer ha-gilgulim ("Book of the transmigration of
souls") by Rabbi I lavyim Vital, the great disciple of Luria, and other texts.
Some of the most mysterious parts of the Zohar, the Sijra de-senicuta and the
Idra zuta, are included. There is also a dictionary

L"i ]
^
Athanasius Kircher, Ariihmologi., frontispiece.

[ 220 ]
 THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
52. Henry More, Opera omnia, vol. 1 (London, 1679).
of kabbalistic symbols and Lurianic terminology. Many complex diagrams
depict the sefirot. Shown is the evolution of four lower worlds from the
Godhead. They retain the structure of the ten sefirot inside them, and their
groupings in every subsequent grade reflect the same structure. Included in
some copies of the book (not ours) is a treatise entitled Adumbmtio kabbalae
ChrUtianae written by van Helmont.

*Cc6.K7578.677k(A).
BEQUEST OF DANIEL SILVER, 1990-

Christian Knorr
von Rosen roth,
Kabbala denudata,
vol. i plate 16.

In the writings of the Cambridge Platonist Henry More (1614-87) "kabbalah"

stands for the whole of the supposed ancient philosophica wisdom of the
Hebrews. The illustration comes from a treatise entitlec "An exposition of the
vision of Ezekiel, or of the chariot, constructec from the principles of
Pythagorean philosophy and especially from the remnants of Jewish
theosophy." There are other treatises in the volume. including another one on
Ezekiel's vision, which draw on the kabbalah in the narrower sense.

BEMIS FUND, 1952.

*52-7*fv.I.

[ 223 ]

[ 222 ]
 THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
The pronunciation of the Hebrew letter gimel,
53. Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont, The paradoxal discourses of F. U. Van according to van Helmont.
Helmont concerning the. macrocosm and microcosm, or the greater and lesser
world, and their union (London, 1685).

Van Helmont's chapter "Concerning the revolution of humane souls" makes

clear his debt on this subject to the intense development of the concept in the
kabbalah of the I.u.rianic school - although, van Helmont says, "I find several
things there, concerning which 1 desire to be further satisfied and to have my
difficulties answered by the Learned Jews themselves."

BEQUEST OF JAMBS WALKER, 1875.

*Nc6.H3<5i)4.fiS5p.

54. Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont, Alphabeti vere naturalis Hebraici

brevissima delineatw (Sulzbach, 1667).

Van Helmont here expounds the essentially kabbalistic notion that the Hebrew
language and alphabet arc inherent in the human constitution. According to
this little book the Hebrew language is the natural language of mankind - and
not only the language, but the script also. In the illustra tions it is demonstrated
how the vocal apparatus assumes the shape of the Hebrew letters when
pronouncing their sounds.

BEQUEST OF LEE M. FRIEDMAN, 1957.

*Nc6,H3694-667a.

55. Johann Georg Wachter, hiuci.darj.us cabalisticus .live recondiiae Hebrdeorum

philosophia brevis ir succincta recensio (Rome [i.e. Amsterdam]1,1706).

By comparing the kabbalah as a philosophical system to that of Spinoza, this

little book - an early work by the future lexicographer of German -showed how
far the subject had come toward the main stream of intel lectual history.
Leibniz wrote appreciatively about this work.

GIFT OF FRITZ BAMBERGER, 196^-

'GC7.WII45.706C.

[ 224 ]
INDEX
Abano, Petrus de, 212
Abner of Burgos, 26-9, 184
Abraham ben David of Posqui^res, 20, 193
Abstemius, Laurentius, 99
Abulafia, Abraham, 25-6, 65, 82,196, 201
Adam kadmon, i6z, 163,119
Agrippa, Cornelius, of Nettesheim, 13, 81,
134, 3II-.12
Alemanno.Johanan, 18, 203
Alexander VI, Pope, 199
Alfonsi, Petrus, 55
Alirien^a, Abraham and Eliezer, 38
Alioemio of Monzon, 36
Allegory, 136-8
Anagnine, Eugenio, 20
Angels, 77,218
Arcangelo of Borgonovo, 100
Arians, 162
Arnaldo de Villanova, 25-6
Ashkenazi Hasidim, 63, 82
Bacharach, Naphtali, 152, 221
Bachya ben Asher, 106 Bacon,
Francis, 13, 83,131,135 Baer,
Yitzhaq, 26 Bahir, the book,
22,64,65, 203
Baruchiah sect, 182,184
Bible
Genesis 1:1,127,137,196,215
-1:27,13S
- 49:10, 215
Numbers 21:22,185
Psalm 51, 200
-68:5, no
Song of Songs 2:3, 25 Isaiah
6:3 195
- 9-6, 34
Jeremiah 17:11,128-9 Hosea
14:6,106 Luke 2:28, 213
Revelation 13:18, 90 n. 32
Blau, Joseph, 20
Blood libel, 64,182
Boeh me, Jacob, 63,136,137
Bomberg, Daniel, 101 Bored,
Adam, 159 Boschenste in,
Johannes, 208 Bruno, Giordano,
13, 83,142,155
Cambridge Platonists, r35,138-9
Carreras yArtau, Joaquin, 25
Cassirer, Ernst, 140-r
Cassuto, Umberto, 22
Chaldean Oracles, 15,22
Christian August, Prince of Sulzbach, 151
Chrysos torn a Capranica, 216
Clarke, William, 160-1
Conway, Lady Anne, 156-9
Cordovero, Moses, 152
Cortese, Gregorio, 98
Croke, Richard, 103
Cronicus, Antonius, 18
Cudworth, Ralph, 139-40
Dattilo, 18-19
David benJudah of Mantua, 38
Dee, John, 13, 83,115,132
Delminio, Giulio Camilla 114-15
Descartes, Rene, 138,142
Dionysius the Areopagite, 75
Donash ben Tamim, 191 Duran,
Prof! at, 29
Eleazar ben Judah of Worms, 63.65, 201,
Eliano, Vittorio, 103
Bvoli, Cesare d', 215
Farissol, Abraham, 35 Faivre,
Antoine, 8J Fidno, Marsilio,
13,38,59,198 Fludd, Robert, 13,
83,115,117 Frank, Jacob, 181-6
Gaffarel, Jacques, 23, 203, 217
Galatino, Pietro, 33-4, 207-8
Gale mzaya, 31,208
INDEX INDEX
Garcias, Pietro, 199 Leo X, Pope, 58-61
Gematria, 35, 90 n. 32,131 Levita, Elias, 101
Gikatilla, Joseph, 27, 63, 65,152, 196-7- 210 Llul, Ramon 42, 210
Cilgul, 153,157. 221 Locke, John, 157-61, 165
Giustiniani, Agostino, 33-4, 207 Luria, Isaac, 13,152
"Gnosticism," 171 n. 4 Lurianic kabbalah, 118,152-4,172 n. 4, 220-1,
Graetz, Heinrich, 72
Grimani, Domenico, 102, no Luther, Martin, 58, 61
Haccados, Rabbenus, 31,37,79 "Magic," 80 Mahler,
Halfon, Eliyyah Menachem, 103 Gustav, 129
Hansch, Michael Gottlieb, 156 Manuscripts
Hebraism, Christian, 14,70-2 British Library Add. 27199: 206-7
Hekalot literature, no Vatican Heb. 189-91: 21-4, 202
Helmont, Jan Baptista van, 149 Houghton Library
Helmont, Francis Mercurius van, 13,149-64,
-Hebrew 58: 193
165, nr, 124-5 Henry V1I1 of
- Hebrew 59:196
England, 103 Herera, Abraham, 221
- Hebrew 63: 195 -
Hermetica, 15,130,151,198,218
Judaica 18: 216
Hokhmah, 32. See also sefirot
- Riant 39:195
Hoogstraten, Jacob von, 206
- Typ 78: 200 -24252.89.5*: 212
Munich Heb. 209: 23, 203 Oxford
Idel, Moshe, 135,141-2 Innocent
Bodleian Heb. 1567: 201
VIII, Pope, 21,198 Isaac ben Moses
Ma ntino, Jacob, 99
ben Zerach, 104 Isaac the Blind, 193
Manuzio, Aldo, 101
Marranos, 30, 37
Jacob ben Chayyim ibn Adoniyya, 101 Martini, Raymundus, 18, 25, 27
Joachim of Fiore, 68-9 Masham, Sir Francis and Lady. 160,165
Joseph ben Samuel of Regensburg, 63, 64, Medici family, 13, 58-9, 61
Merkabah mysticism, 28
Joseph ben Shalom Ashkenazi, 20 Mersenne, Marin, 215
Metatron, 27-8
Kalonymus school, 63 Midrash ha-ne'elam, 195
Karl Ludwig, Elector Palatine, 151 Milton, John, 115
Kepler, Johannes, 130,131,135 Mithridates, Flavius, 21, 30, 51 n. 82, 55, 63,
Key of Solomon, 212
Kircher, Athanasius, 7, 219-21 Monads, 141
Knorr von Rosenroth, Christian, 127,135, Moncada, Guglielmo Raimondo, see
'37,139-43, '44, 151-1,158-61,163, 195, 221-2 Mithridates More, Henry, 136. 138-
Kristeller, P. O., 15 9,142,149, 155,156,
La Cavalleria, Pedro de, 30,195 Lefevre More, Sir Thomas, 200
d'Etaples, Jacques, 59 Le Fevre de la Boderie, Moshe de Leon, 87 n. 14, 194,196
Guy, 115 Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, 135, "Mysticism," 62, 91 n. 39
t4'> '5°> '54-5, '61-3,"[
Nachmanides, 18
Najara, Israel, 185
Name of Jesus. 7,68, 134, 204-5,215,219
Names of God, 7, 68-9,206,207
of 12 letters, 79
of 42 letters, 7, 78, 79
of 72 letters. 7, 75-6
see aim Tetragrammaton
Neander, Michael, 215 Nehuniah,
Rabbi, 31,37 Newton, Isaac,
14,130,162 Notariktm, 35,131
Oetinger, Friedrich, Christoph, 128-9
Paraclesus, 130
Paulus de Heredia, 30-5
Paulyjeande, 24
Peliah, Seferha-, 104-6
Pedes, Joseph, 20
Pfefferkorn, Johannes, 82, 206
"Philosernites," 6,172 n. 6.
Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni, 13, 17, 21-4,
30, 35, 38-9, 42. 56, 57, 76, 99-100, 133-4,
198-200 Pisani, Octavius, 151
Plato, 38, 66.130,198 Platonism,
133,137-8,163,198 Plorinus, in
Popkin, Richard, r84 Postel,
Guillaume, 14,192, 212-14
Pythagoras, 15, 58-61, 66, 220
Quakers, 156-7
Rabad, see Abraham ben David Raphael,
Marco, 99, 103 Recanati, Menahem, 24, 63,
65, 196 Reuchlin, Johannes, 13,14,33, 56-8,
68-9,70-
83.100, 134, 203-5 Ricci, Paolo,
67,197, 210 Rosicrucians, 89 n. 27
Rosenroth, see Knorr von Rosenroth,
Christian
Samuel ben Nissim Abu 'l-Faradj, see
Mithridates
Sanudo, Marin, 97
Sarug, Israel, 152
Scholem, Gershom, 15,55, 68,143,183-4
Secret Francois, 15,47 n. 53,48 n. 60,98
Sefirot, 64-5, 77, 128,191, [97, 218, 222
En Sof, 143, 198
Gevurah, 129
Hokmah, 105,218
Malkut, 65
Shehinah, 27, 65,66,194,197
TIT™, ..2
Skevirai ha-kelim, 153 Shi'ur komah,
17 Sibylline Oracles, 151 Simeon ben
Yohai, 30, 31,37,73 Simsum,
128,140,143,152 Siiftus IV, Pope, 21-3
Soncino, Gershom, 99, 208 Spinoza,
Benedictus de, 135, 224
Steinschneider. Moses, 21 Steucus,
Augustinus, 102
Temurah, 78
Tetragrammaton, 7, 45 n. 29, 66,106,197,
Thorndike, Lynn, 81
Tikkun, 153-4, '57,163
Toledot Yeshu, 28, 206
Trinity, the 25,34, 49 n. 62,66,131,133,207
Trisagion, 30,195
Vidal of Saragossa, 36
Viterbo, Egidio da, 63,102,206-7
Vital, Hayyim, r52, 221
Wachter, Johann Georg, 224
Widmanstadt, Johann Albert, 18-20
Wilson, Margaret, 160 Wirszubski,
Chaim, 15, 98, 104-5, '84
Yates, Frances, 15, Si, 86 n. 10,184
Yeshah, Sefer, 20,191-3,196
Zevi, Shabbatai, 181,184 Zohar,
64-5,102,151,194-7.1201
Zoroaster, 15, 22 Zorzi, Francesco,
15, 97-115, 210
[230 J [231 J