As DC implies, there is a tendency to make everything in Judaism more ancient that it actually is, and Kabbalah is the worst in this regard. The Kabbalah rap is that the stuff was so dangerous on many levels that it was kept secret etc.
Aryeh_Kaplan repeats the absurd claim that the
Bahir came from Abraham, in his book (he does mention it is a legend). I found it amusing that
Gershom_Scholem took the time to basically call Kaplan's book a piece of crap while virtually on his deathbed.
Even the slightly more reasonable claims are quite dubious -
Kabbalists ascribed authorship of the Bahir to R. Nehunya, a rabbi of the Mishnaic era, who lived around 100 CE. Medieval Kabbalists write that the Bahir did not come down to them as a unified book, but rather in pieces found in scattered scrolls and booklets. The scattered and fragmentary nature of the Bahir' 's text, which sometimes ends discussion in mid-sentence, and which often jumps randomly from topic to topic, supports this claim.
The historical critical study of this book points to a later date of composition. For some time scholars believed that it was written in the 13th century by Isaac the Blind, or by those in his school.
It is undoubtedly better to read academic works rather than any actual magical texts.
Moshe Idel is probably a good author to look at.
http://www.amazon.com/Moshe-Idel/e/B001HCWWME
Abraham_Abulafia is a key guy.
Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia (Hebrew: אברהם בן שמואל אבולעפיה), the founder of the school of "Prophetic Kabbalah", was born in Zaragoza, Spain, in 1240, and is assumed to have died sometime after 1291, following a stay on the small and windswept island of Comino, the smallest of the three inhabited islands that make up the Maltese archipelago.[1]
Granted, the story of how he attempted to convert the pope to Judaism is very cool...
In obedience to an inner voice, he went in 1280 to Rome, in order to effect the conversion of Pope Nicholas III on the day before the Jewish New Year, 5041. The pope, then in nearby Suriano, heard of it, and issued orders to "burn the fanatic" as soon as he reached that place. Close to the inner gate the stake was erected in preparation; but not in the least disturbed, Abulafia set out for Suriano and reached there August 22. While passing through the outer gate, he heard that the pope had died from an apoplectic stroke during the preceding night. Returning to Rome, he was thrown into prison by the Minorites, but was liberated after four weeks' detention. He was next heard of in Sicily, where he supposedly appeared as a prophet and Jewish Messiah.
Idel has a book - The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia
http://www.amazon.com/Mystical-Experien ... bc?ie=UTF8
Just to conclude with a few references -
The 42 letter name of God was made famous in [wiki]The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_(film)[/wiki].
The biblical reference is 42 Journeys of the Soul - from Numbers 33
These were the marches of the Israelites who started out from the land of Egypt, troop by troop, in the charge of Moses and Aaron.
(Num 33:1 TNK)
etc.
http://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_ ... e-Soul.htm
How that morphed into the name of God is anyone's guess.
Ana Bekoach is a Hebrew prayer that is recited several times daily.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EdL_TLbHsg
The Kabbalists reveal that this sequence of Hebrew letters encompasses the actual power of creation. The Ana B'Koach is built from 42 letters and is also known as the 42 Letter Name of God. Whenever we make a connection the 42 Letter Name, we are tapping into the primordial force of creation."
The prayer is seven lines with six words in each line.
Here is Chabad's take -
http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_ ... eKoach.htm
This is also attributed to Rabbi Nehunia in the first century CE- amazingly none of the Kabbalistic sites mention that this is a legend and not actually a fact. I think Maimonides mentions the prayer in the Guide - a
Maimonides scholar probably could give the chapter and verse immediately but I've never actually seen it. That would indicate that the prayer was known in the 12th century CE, so it is pretty old.
The 72 letter name probably has something to do with 18x4 where 18 is gematria for life. The first reference is -
Shemhamphorasch
The "72-fold name" is highly important to Sefer Raziel,[5][7] and a key (but often missing) component to the magical practices in The Lesser Key of Solomon.[8] It is derived from Exodus 14:19-21,[2][4][5][6] read boustrophedonically[3][8] to produce 72 names of three letters. This method was expounded with no difficulty by Rashi, apparently widely known throughout the Geonic period.[5] Kabbalist and occultist legends state that the 72-fold name was used by Moses to cross the Red Sea, and that it can grant later holymen the power to control demons, heal the sick, prevent natural disasters, and even kill enemies.[6]
14-19 The angel of God, who had been going ahead of the Israelite army, now moved and followed behind them; and the pillar of cloud shifted from in front of them and took up a place behind them,
20 and it came between the army of the Egyptians and the army of Israel. Thus there was the cloud with the darkness, and it cast a spell upon the night, so that the one could not come near the other all through the night.
21 Then Moses held out his arm over the sea and the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind all that night, and turned the sea into dry ground. The waters were split,
וַיִּסַּ֞ע מַלְאַ֣ךְ הָאֱלֹהִ֗ים הַהֹלֵךְ֙ לִפְנֵי֙ מַחֲנֵ֣ה יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וַיֵּ֖לֶךְ מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶ֑ם וַיִּסַּ֞ע עַמּ֤וּד הֶֽעָנָן֙ מִפְּנֵיהֶ֔ם וַיַּֽעֲמֹ֖ד מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶֽם׃
(Exo 14:19 WTT)`
וַיָּבֹ֞א בֵּ֣ין׀ מַחֲנֵ֣ה מִצְרַ֗יִם וּבֵין֙ מַחֲנֵ֣ה יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וַיְהִ֤י הֶֽעָנָן֙ וְהַחֹ֔שֶׁךְ וַיָּ֖אֶר אֶת־הַלָּ֑יְלָה וְלֹא־קָרַ֥ב זֶ֛ה אֶל־זֶ֖ה כָּל־הַלָּֽיְלָה׃
(Exo 14:20 WTT)
וַיֵּ֙ט מֹשֶׁ֣ה אֶת־יָדוֹ֮ עַל־הַיָּם֒ וַיּ֣וֹלֶךְ יְהוָ֣ה׀ אֶת־הַ֠יָּם בְּר֙וּחַ קָדִ֤ים עַזָּה֙ כָּל־הַלַּ֔יְלָה וַיָּ֥שֶׂם אֶת־הַיָּ֖ם לֶחָרָבָ֑ה וַיִּבָּקְע֖וּ הַמָּֽיִם׃
(Exo 14:21 WTT)
Since
Rashi knew this it points to an origin before the 11th century CE. The
Geonic era is given as 589-1038CE. My personal guess is that the latter part of this period is the most likely origin.
However, there is a big step between the significant numbers appearing and any magical (Practical_Kabbalah) discussions.
According to Gershom Scholem, many of the teachings of practical Kabbalah predate and are independent of the theoretical Kabbalah which is usually associated with the term:
Historically speaking, a large part of the contents of practical Kabbalah predate those of the speculative Kabbalah and are not dependent on them. In effect, what came to be considered practical Kabbalah constituted an agglomeration of all the magical practices that developed in Judaism from the Talmudic period down through the Middle Ages. The doctrine of the Sefirot hardly ever played a decisive role in these practices..."[4]
It seems to me that a major issue was that the stuff doesn't actually work.
Isaac_Luria 1534-1572, who was immortalized by Madonna, might have been the inventor of the practice of Yechidus. This is communing with the dead. For Luria, this was sort of a sexual act; the adept would go to the grave of a Tzaddik at night, lie down on it like you're embracing the corpse, and hump it (for want of a better term). This practice was made G rated by the
Baal_Shem_Tov who made it sort of like visiting the extremely sick and continues in Chabad to this day.
Anyway, I prefer the term "grave humping." My Rabbi took some of us to see the Rebbe on the anniversary of his death and when we got back and I was driving home, I got pulled over for a questionable stop at a stop sign. The cop wanted to know where I had been, and I really wanted to say "grave humping" but wisely changed that to a "religious observance" and got off with a warning.
A discussion of magic has to include the
Golem.
In Jewish folklore, a golem (/ˈɡoʊləm/ goh-ləm; Hebrew: גולם) is an animated anthropomorphic being, magically created entirely from inanimate matter. The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material (usually out of stone and clay) in Psalms and medieval writing.[1]
The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late-16th-century rabbi of Prague. There are many tales differing on how the golem was brought to life and afterwards controlled.
It totally amazed me that Chabad believes that Rabbi Judah actually created this thing. The wiki doesn't mention that.