CABBALA

( Hebrew. ) Tradition. Among the Jews, it principally means the mystical interpretations of their Scriptures, handed down by tradition. The manner in which Maim on ides explains the Cabbala, or Traditions of the Jews, is as follows: “God not only delivered the law to Moses on Mount Sina, but the explanation of it likewise. When Moses came down from the mount, and entered into his tent, Aaron went to visit him, and Moses acquainted Aaron with the laws he had received from God , together with the explanation of them. After this, Aaron placed himself at the right hand of Moses, and Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron, were admitted; to whom Moses repeated what he had just before told to Aaron. These being seated, the one on the right, the other on the left hand of Moses, the seventy elders of Israel, who composed the Sanhedrim, came in. Moses again declared the same laws to them, with the interpretations of them, as he had done before to Aaron and his sons. Lastly, all who pleased of the common people were invited to enter, and Moses instructed them likewise in the same manner as the rest. So that Aaron heard four times what Moses had been taught by God upon Mount Sina; Eleazar and Ithamar three times; the seventy elders twice; and the people once. Moses afterwards reduced the laws, which he had received, into writing, but not the explanations of them; these he thought it sufficient to trust to the memories of the above-mentioned persons, who, being perfectly instructed in them, delivered them to their children, and these again to theirs, from age to age.” The Cabbala, therefore, is properly the Oral Law of the Jews, delivered down, by word of mouth, from father to son; and it is to these interpretations of the written law our Saviour’s censure is to be applied, when he reproves the Jews for “making the commands of God of none effect through their traditions.” Some of the Rabbins pretend that the origin of the Cabbala is to be referred to the angels; that the angel Raziel instructed Adam in it; the angel Japhiel, Shem; the angel Zedekiel, Abraham, . But the truth is, these explications of the Law are only the several interpretations and decisions of the Rabbins on the Law of Moses; in the framing of which they studied principally the combinations of particular words, letters, and numbers, and by that means pretended to discover clearly the true sense of the difficult pa ages of Scripture. This is properly called the Artificial Cabbala , to distinguish it from simple tradition : and it is of three sorts. The first, called Gematria , consists in taking letters as figures , and explaining words by the arithmetical value of the letters of which they are composed. For instance, the Hebrew letters of Jabo-Schiloh (Shiloh shall come) make up the same arithmetical number as Me iach (the Me iah) : from whence they conclude that Shiloh signifies the Me iah . The second kind of Artificial Cabbala , which is called Notaricon , consists in taking each particular letter of a word for an entire diction. For example, of Rereschith , which is the first word of Genesis, composed of the letters B. R. A. S. C. H. J. T., they make Bura-Rakia-Arex-Schamaim-Jain-Tehomoth , i. e. he created the firmament, the earth, the heavens, the sea, and the deep. Or in forming one entire diction out of the initial letters of many: thus, in Atah-Gibbor-Leholam-Adonai , (Thou art strong for ever, O Lord ,) they put the initial letters of this sentence together, and form the word Agla , which signifies either, I will reveal, or, a drop of dew, and is the Cabbalistic name of God . The third kind, called The mura , consists in changing and transposing the letters of a word: thus of the word Bereschith (the first of the book of Genesis) they make A-betisri , the first of the month Tisri , and infer from thence that the world was created on the first day of the month Tisri, which answers very nearly to our September. The Cabbala, according to the Jews, is a noble and sublime science, conducting men by an easy method to the profoundest truths. Without it, the Holy Scriptures could not be distinguished from profane books, wherein we find some miraculous events, and as pure morality as that of the law, if we did not penetrate into the truths locked up under the external cover of the literal sense. As men were gro ly deceived, when, dwelling upon the sensible object, they mistook angels for men; so also they fall into error or ignorance when they insist upon the surface of letters or words, which change with custom, and ascend not up to the ideas of God himself, which are infinitely more noble and spiritual. Certain visionaries among the Jews believe that our ble ed Lord wrought his miracles by virtue of the mysteries of the Cabbala. Some learned men are of opinion, that Pythagoras and Plato learned the Cabbalistic art of the Jews in Egypt; others, on the contrary, say the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato furnished the Jews with the Cabbala. Most of the heretics, in the primitive Christian Church, fell into the vain conceits of the Cabbala; particularly the Gnostics, Val ent in i ans, and Basilidians.— Brought on.