Didn't kabballa emerge in the 13 th century,not long before the witch scare?

Question

I'm wondering if there could be a connection. Especially if taught to non-Jews,that stuff could have easily been taken for demon-worship by the people of the era. I'm not making any moral judgements here; it's just that nothing stands outside the law of cause and effect. Something happened to trigger off the panic. And there is this coincidence of chronology. Opinions?

Oh no. It's roots - supposedly go back thousands of years,but our first published source is the Book of Zohar by Moses de leon,from the 1300's. HE claimed ancient sources - but so did Blavatsky for her "Isis Unveiled" or whatever she called it. Kabballa also became a European craze right after the Book of Zohar began to circulate. That's what I'm talking about.

Answer 1

Actually,i don't know that there is any connection,but your point is valid about the coincidence of timing. Eurpean witch-hunting did not begin in Puritan times; it began around the 1300s - which as i understand is about the time the Book of Zohar started to appear ( first in Spain),eventually becoming quite a craze. It really caught on with non-jews; many even started buying mezuzas from jews,or any other kind of magic talisman. A lot of people starting thinking jews had special powers. But the jews were targeted in the witch-hunts. So that's out. What is interesting here is the idea that kabbalistic practices covertly spreading to non-jews could easily have led to the widespread practice of spells,magic and so forth - all of which would have been perceived as witchcraft,given the flavor of the times. It's an interesting line of speculation,but needs more work. Now that you've made a chronological correlation,I'd start looking for evidence of contact between Jews & accused Chritian witches - and I'd focus on Spain,since that's where the Book of Zohar was first published. An interesting idea,needs more work.

Answer 2

The witch hysteria was in the Puritan times, I think. That is in the 17C in the UK, perhaps a wee bit into the 18C. Maybe slightly different timing in mainland Europe and US.

I haven't heard anyone connecting it with Kabbala before.

My sister once saw some witches in a circle dancing naked in an Oxfordshire country church yard, so I guess the witches might have been doing some unnerving things that oiled the crazy hysteria.

Answer 3

Kabballa goes back to the time of Zoraster. It is the bridge between Hebrew Faith and Zorasticism. It well predates the 13th century.

Answer 4

No, it's a form of ancient Judaism, which would make it older than 2,000 years at the least.