Moses de Leon
Moses de Leon (c. 1250 – 1305), known in Hebrew as Moshe ben Shem-Tov (משה בן שם-טוב די-ליאון), was a Spanish rabbi and Kabbalist who is believed to be the author or redactor of the famous mystical work known as the Zohar. It is a matter of controversy whether the Zohar is his own work, or whether he worked from ancient manuscripts and committed oral traditions dating back to Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai to writing.
Moses de Leon's other works include the Sefer ha-Rimon, written in Hebrew. He was born in Guadalajara, Spain, and his surname thus comes fron his father, Shem-Tov de León. Moses de Leon spent 30 years in Guadalajara and Valladolid before moving to Ávila, where he lived for the rest of his life. He died at Arevalo in 1305 while returning to his home.
Writings in his own name
A serious student of the mystical tradition, Moses de Leon was familiar both with the philosophers of the Middle Ages and the whole literature of Jewish mysticism. He knew and used the writings of Shlomo ibn Gabirol, Yehuda ha-Levi, Maimonides, and others. His writings discplay the ability to charm his readers with brilliant and striking phrases, without necessarily expressing any well-defined thought.
He was a prolific writer and composed several biblical commentaries and kabbalistic works in quick succession. In the comprehensive Sefer ha-Rimon, written under his own name in 1287 and still extant in manuscript form, he treated from a mystical standpoint the objects and reasons for the Jewish ritual laws, dedicating the book to Levi ben Todros Abulafia. In 1290 he wrote Ha-Nefesh ha-Hakhamah, or Ha-Mishqal (published in Basel, 1608, and also frequently found in manuscript), which shows even greater kabbalistic tendencies. In this work he attacks the scholastic philosophers of religion and deals with a range of mystical subjects, including:
- the human soul as "a likeness of its heavenly prototype"
- the state of the soul after death
- the question of the soul's resurrection
- the transmigration of souls.
His Shekel ha-Kodesh (written in 1292), another book of the same kind, is dedicated to Todros ha-Levi Abulafia. In the Mishkan ha-Edut also called Sefer ha-Sodot, finished in 1293, he deals with heaven and hell, basing his view on the apocryphal Book of Enoch. Here, he also treats the subject of atonement. He also wrote a kabbalistic explanation of the first chapter of Ezekiel, a meditation on the heavenly throne/chariot of God, in the tradition of so-called Merkabah mysticism.
The Zohar
Toward the end of the thirteenth century, Moses de Leon wrote or compiled a kabbalistic midrash (commentary) on the Pentateuch full of esoteric mystic allegories and rabbinical legends. This work he ascribed it to Simeon bar Yohai, the great saint of the Tannaim (the early rabbinical sages of the Mishnah).
The work, written in peculiar Aramaic, is entitled Midrash de Rabban Shimon ben Yohai but it is much better known as the Zohar, the Book of Splendor. The book aroused considerable suspicion at the outset considering its supposed authorship. The story runs that after the death of Moses de Leon a rich man from Avila offered his widow, who had been left without considerable means, a large sum of money for the ancient text from her husband had used to compile the work. She, however, explained that her husband himself was the author of the work, which he had composed without reference to any ancient work other than the Hebrew Bible and traditional rabbinical works. She claimed to had asked him several times as to why he had put his teachings into the mouth of another. He reply was that doctrines put into the mouth of the miracle-working Simeon ben Yoḥai would be highly honored, and would also be a rich source of profit.
Despite this admission, many other continued to believe that Moses de Leon was either in possession of now-lost ancient manuscripts, that he was the recipient of ancient mystical oral traditions, or that he wrote the book under the inspiration of the spirit of Simeon ben Yohai and/or God Himself.
Teachings
The Zohar is based on the principle that all visible things have both an external, visible reality and an internal one, which hints at the reality of the spiritual world. Also, the universe consists of a series of emanations, though which humans can gradually ascend toward a consciousness of the Divine.
There are thus four stages of knowledge:
- the exterior aspect of things: "the vision through the mirror that projects an indirect light"
- the essence of things: "the vision through the mirror that projects a direct light"
- intuitive knowledge and
- knowledge through love
Stages of ecstasy
Beyond the stage of "knowledge through love" is the ecstatic state known to the great mystics through their visions of the Divine. This state is entered by quieting the mind and remaining motionless, with the head between the knees, absorbed in contemplation while repeating prayers and hymns. There are seven ecstatic stages, corresponding to seven "heavenly halls," each characterized marked by a vision of a different hue.
The Zohar teaches that man can be glorified and divinized. Its ethical principles are in keeping with the spirit of traditional Talmudic Judaism. It rejects the view Maimonides who stressed the development intellect over mystical spirituality.
Man's efforts toward moral perfection also influences the spiritual world of the divine emanations or Sefirot. The practice of virtue increases the outpouring of divine grace.
Legacy
Through the Zohar, Moses de Leon left a powerful legacy on both Jewish and Christian tradition.
The Zohar was praised by numerous rabbis for its opposition religious formalism. It stimulated the imagination and emotions, reinvigorating the spirituality of many Jews who felt suffocated by Talmudic scholasticism and legalism. Other rabbis, however were distub bed by the Zohar's propagated what they considered to be superstition and even magic. It appeal to the goal of mystical ecstasy produced generations of dreamers, whose spiritual imaginations looked at the as being populated by spirits, demons, and various other spiritual influences rather than looking the practical needs of the here and now.
Elements of the Zohar crept into the liturgy of the 16th and 17th centuries, and the religious poets not only used the allegorism and symbolism of the Zohar in their compositions, but even adopted its style, e.g., the use of erotic terminology to illustrate the relations between man and God.[43] Thus, in the language of some Jewish poets, the beloved one's curls indicate the mysteries of the Deity; sensuous pleasures, and especially intoxication, typify the highest degree of divine love as ecstatic contemplation; while the wine-room represents merely the state through which the human qualities merge or are exalted into those of God.[44]
Originally, many held that only Jewish men who were at least 40 years old could study Kabbalah, and by extension read the Zohar, because they were believed to be too powerful for those less emotionally mature and experienced.
Influence on Christian mysticism
The enthusiasm felt for the Zohar was shared by many Christian scholars, such as Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Johann Reuchlin, Aegidius of Viterbo, etc., all of whom believed that the book contained proofs of the truth of Christianity.[45] They were led to this belief by the analogies existing between some of the teachings of the Zohar and certain Christian dogmas, such as the fall and redemption of man, and the dogma of the Trinity, which seems to be expressed in the Zohar in the following terms: "The Ancient of Days has three heads. He reveals himself in three archetypes, all three forming but one.[46] He is thus symbolized by the number Three. They are revealed in one another.[47][These are: first, secret, hidden 'Wisdom'; above that the Holy Ancient One; and above Him the Unknowable One. [48] None knows what He contains; He is above all conception.[49] He is therefore called for man 'Non-Existing' [Ayin]. [50]
This and other similar doctrines found in the Zohar are now known to be much older than Christianity; but the Christian scholars who were led by the similarity of these teachings to certain Christian dogmas deemed it their duty to propagate the Zohar.[51] Shortly after the publication of the work (Mantua and Cremona, 1558) Joseph de Voisin translated extracts from it which deal with the soul.[52] He was followed by many others.
The disastrous effects of the Sabbatai Zevi messianic movement on the Jewish community dampened the enthusiasm that had been felt for the book in the Jewish community.[53] However, the Zohar is still held in great reverence by many Orthodox Jews, especially the Hasidim (Hasidic Jews).
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Kohler, Kaufmann et al. Leon, Moses (Ben Shem-Tob) de." Jewish Encyclopedia. Funk and Wagnalls, 1901-1906, citing to:
- Ahimaaz Chronicle, ed. London, pp. 95 et seq.;
- Adolf Jellinek, Moses b. Schem-Tob de Leon und Seine Verhältniss zum Sohar, Leipsic, 1851;
- Grätz, Gesch. vii. 231 et seq.;
- Geiger, Das Judenthum und Seine Geschichte, iii. 75 et seq., Breslau, 1871;
- Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi-C. H. Hamberger, Hist. Wörterb. p. 177;
- Moritz Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. cols. 1852 et seq.;
- idem, Hebr. Bibl. x. 156 et seq.
This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.
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