The Name Shadai in Hebrew Amulets - Part 4

Following the previous parts in this set of essays on the Divine Name (Shadai), I received a response directed to me personally by an individual who maintained that since the letter (Shin) is so important in Judaism, i.e. featuring on Mezuzot, Tefillin, etc., that must surely give credence to its importance in the name of the "saviour" Yeheshuah, with special reference to the Renaissance invention called the "pentagrammaton." In this regard, I have noticed that whilst certain individuals readily admit the "YHShVH" to be an invention and equally concede that it is not a genuine Hebrew term, they dismissively and quite glibly repeat a statement made some time ago that "this is a brilliant invention."

So the "false name" is truth? What poppycock! In fact, regarding this fanciful construct, see my earlier essay titled "Christian/Hermetic Kabbalah, the Christian Saviour and Truth" dated 20th January 2012. For the sake of clarity, I am happy to reiterate the stated details which I published in "The Book of Sacred Names" regarding the deliberations, mystical or otherwise, on the letter (Shin) in Jewish thought. In this regard I wrote:

Due to some very fanciful notions regarding the letter Shin by Christian and Hermetic Kabbalists, this glyph has become rather controversial, especially as this letter was allotted a unique status of holiness, when Christian Kabbalists incorporated it into the Ineffable Name () to create the construct Yeheshuah (). This, we have been told, “is the esoteric name of the Messiah of the Jews and the Christ of the Christians,” the meaning of which is said to be “Jah liberates.” As it is, this construct does not have this purported meaning, and since it does not exist in Hebrew, it does not mean anything at all. The correct spelling of a personal name known to have the mentioned meaning is , which is correctly pronounced Yehoshuah, a fairly common Jewish Name.

Even in applying all the rules pertaining to Hebrew letters being interchangeable when they belong to the same phonetic family (i.e. being pronounced in the same spot in the mouth), we notice that although the letters Heh and Ayin are interchangeable (both being gutterals), the Vav and Shin are definitely not. The altering of letters in a Hebrew word, and then expecting it to retain its original meaning, is simply not feasible. Yet, that is exactly what was done with the Yeheshuah construct from the 15th to 17th centuries, by Christian Kabbalists who acted from their own religious bias.

Now, regarding the special holiness assigned to the letter Shin, it should be noted that in Kabbalah all the Hebrew glyphs are “Holy.” The letter Shin is no more holy than any other Hebrew glyph. In fact, it is worth considering that the Hebrew letters comprise both “positive” and “negative” qualities, and this should be kept in mind when studying each letter-sign. In this regard, the letter Shin is termed “the symbol of Divine Power” as well as of “Corruption.” True, it is the initial of two very important Divine Names, i.e. Shadai (“All-sufficient Unlimited One”) and Shalom (“Peace”). To these we might add other significant concepts like Shechinah, Shabbat, etc., and we might also consider that the letter Shin, in representing Shadai, is the single letter shown on every Mezuzah placed on the doors of Jewish homes.

It is true that is known to be the symbol of “Divine Power,” mastery and peace, but it is equally clear that this letter also denotes corruption and Sheker (falsehood), thus being the initial of the name “Shatan” (Satan). In other words, Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism in general, recognise a dual principle in this glyph. For greater comprehension of this fact, we might look again at the.....saga of the Hebrew letters passing before the Holy One, Who finally chose to create the universe by means of the letter Bet. About the letter Shin the Divine One said “True, you stand for (Shadai), Almighty, Who is the essence of Perfection, but for man, Divinity is interspersed with evil and deception. Inevitably, your neighbour (Kof) and (Resh) will draw you into a (Kesher), an alliance with them to establish (Sheker—“falsehood”) on earth.”

We are told that the three letters comprising “falsehood” appear at the end of the Hebrew alphabet, so that they are far removed from the central axis of the array of glyphs, i.e. the letter Mem representing stability. Furthermore, none of the milui, the full spellings, of each of the other letters (e.g. etc.) comprise any of these three letters. We are further informed that “to counteract the dangerous shin with its potential power to ruin mankind, the Alef-Beis ends with the letter tav, which alludes to Emet, Truth.” [Munk, M.L.: The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet: The Sacred Letters as a Guide to Jewish Deed and Thought, Mesorah Publications, Brooklyn 1983] In this regard, we should note that (Alef) is the beginning, (Mem) the centre, and (Tav) the end of the Hebrew Alphabet, and that the combination of these letters in that exact order reads (Emet—“Truth”).

It is certainly clear that the "prediction" made regarding the letter Shin being drawn into a "conspiracy" (Sheker), an alliance which will lead to the propagation of "falsehood" (Kesher), is quite true. Like sheep, many bought the YHShVH invention! The literal meaning of the letter Shin is "teeth"; Kof is a "monkey"; and Resh refers to a "head." Monkeys can chew away quite mindlessly!

(More to follow)

"Kabbalah," "Cabala" or "Qabalah".....?

As said in "The Book of Self Creation," it is clear that while one may understand and accept that much diversification has been going on regarding this Tradition, especially over the last century, and having closely investigated such “variances,” we equally recognise that Kabbalah would become meaningless if its fundamental principles were compromised. In other words, principle Kabbalistic teachings and rudimentary reasoning cannot simply be altered in accordance with personal whims. Hence it is necessary to first understand the central, vital core teachings behind this Tradition, before adjusting parameters in alignment with personal perceptions. One simply can no longer speak of Kabbalah when the supposed stable primary doctrines of this tradition have been sacrificed in the fray. Sadly, such has been the case in a lot of works written in the name of Kabbalah, while they bear little or no relation to the Tradition. Often basic teachings of this tradition are sidelined and even dismissed out of hand.

When you come to think of it, Kabbalah is much more than the current assumption that the doctrine of the “Tree of Life” and the ten Sefirot comprise the entire teaching of Kabbalah. In fact, the “Tree-Concept” was originally only a small part of Kabbalah, and a relatively unimportant one at that. It is mainly Gentiles who expounded and increased it to its current central place in our system. It is certainly a lot clearer, more direct, and much easier to understand than the “letter-number” permutations of early Kabbalah. Yet, if the principles of “Letter-Number Kabbalah” are understood, some remarkable practices, meditations and “inner communications” can be found in this form of mysticism, which can produce some really far-reaching results for the individual who knows the system.

The entire arena of “Ecstatic Kabbalah” is based on this system. Few of these practices were, and still are, available to the modern public. A major part of the system often amounted to no more than mental exercises which enabled the brain to cope with the obscure problems of existence. To some extent it could then be likened to a cryptic crossword, in which the satisfaction came in the exercise of ones mental faculties. This was however never the only value of the “Letter-Number Kabbalah.” There was certainly a lot more to it as the practices of Shemot (Divine Names), Yichudim (unification exercises) and Tzerufim (permutation practices) show quite clearly.

Today the tendency is to think that there is really more than one Kabbalah so to speak, with three categories specifically identified: 1. Traditional Kabbalah—the one as understood to apply to Israel alone; 2. Christian Kabbalah; and 3. Hermetic Kabbalah. The latter two refer to the tradition as interpreted and worked on by Gentile scholars for the Western Inner Tradition at large, and we understand that though the basic formulae are the same, the application and exegesis are very different. End of story? Definitely not. This is a very simplistic and narrow viewpoint, in which the strictly Jewish origins of the Kabbalah are often ignored, not to mention that even in Traditional Kabbalah there are many divergent voices regarding practically every topic within that sector, that one would have to divide what is viewed collectively as “traditional” into many subcategories.

However, most modern researchers are still inclined to speak of “pre-Lurianic” and “Lurianic Kabbalah” in reference to the earlier mentioned two distinct periods in the development of Kabbalah. The first which could be termed “Zoharic,” not entirely correctly as an early Kabbalist like Abraham Abulafia did not belong in this category, culminated in the writings of Moses Cordovero, while his pupil Isaac Luria started a new trend which is now called “Lurianic Kabbalah.”

There are many who, in trying to indicate the distinction between Traditional Kabbalah and the one as applied in the Western Inner Tradition, use the spelling “Qabalah.” It has been suggested by several authors, specifically from the “Hermetic Schools,” that the spelling of the term “Kabbalah” should be varied in order to indicate variant applications, i.e. “Kabbalah” in reference to “Traditional Kabbalah”; “Cabala” to indicate the Christian variety, and “Qabalah” for the “Hermetic Kabbalah.” I have found no use for this kind of variant spelling for a variety of reasons, amongst others:

1. The common use of the “K” spelling is a fairly recent one, apparently introduced to create a consensus. However, it should be noted that many Rabbis, historians and other scholars have been using the “C” spelling when discussing what we might loosely term “Traditional Kabbalah.” In fact, to date there are still French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Swiss authors, amongst others, who are still using that spelling in their studies of mainstream “Kabbalah.” The suggestion that the “C” spelling be used exclusively to designate a Christian variant of Kabbalistic thinking, would create confusion as far as a veritable host of works are concerned, which were written over a period of more than a hundred years. Likewise the “K” spelling was and still is being used by scholars around the globe in their discussions of “Christian Kabbalah.”

2. The division of the Kabbalistic Tradition in this manner into the mentioned three categories is seriously problematic. It suggests a uniform pattern of thought to be prevailing within the “Jewish Mystical Tradition,” which is patently an inaccurate portrayal of the tradition over the thousand and more years of its existence.

Besides the obvious differences between, for example, the teachings of Isaac Luria and that of the author of the Zohar, marking distinct periods in the development of the Tradition, there are enormous differences and major disagreements between Kabbalists living in the same era, with regard to even the most basic tenets of Kabbalah, e.g. the ten Sefirot, etc. Pertaining to this specific concept, there were Kabbalists who did not like the sefirotic system at all, and rarely made use of it. Moreover, there were thinkers within this tradition who did not agree with Talmudic studies, yet these very individuals are considered part of that tradition. In fact, there are several absolutely distinct “Kabbalistic traditions” and diverse schools of thought which developed over the centuries, some of them considered to be heretical, yet many of the latter kind are now generically accepted as part of what mainstream religionists term “Kosher Kabbalah.”

3. As far as I am concerned the word “Kabbalah” is a Hebrew term with only one spelling. The transliteration of this word has been somewhat problematic due to the fact that the sound of its initial letter is represented by two letters in the Hebrew alphabet, i.e. Kaf and Kof. The latter letter is the one used in the word itself, and has been designated “C,” “K,” or “Q” by different authors, thus the variants in the spelling of the word in languages using the Latin alphabet. Trying to use those variants to denote three different approaches within the Tradition does not work for anybody using the Hebrew, Greek or Cyrillic alphabet. Thus such usage cannot be universal.

Settling for one common spelling, i.e. “Kabbalah,” and then clearly indicating a specific subsidiary of this tradition under discussion—Ecstatic Kabbalah, Theurgic Kabbalah, Prophetic Kabbalah, Lurianic Kabbalah, Christian Kabbalah, Hermetic Kabbalah, etc., is far more useful and accurate. Besides, there is in truth only one “Kabbalah,” the teachings of which are wielded in as many ways as there are people to invent them from their personal perspectives. Provided the core principles and doctrines of the tradition are understood and upheld intact, there can be an infinite number of variant interpretations.

Christian/Hermetic Kabbalah, the Christian Saviour and Truth

A couple of days ago, for the umpteenth time, a very "intense" interaction ensued between myself and an individual who, with the fiery zeal of evangelical missionaries, attempted to convince me that the "outmoded deity of the Jews," identified by the four letters of the Tetragrammaton (), was "superseded by Jesus" as expressed in the Hebrew name of the Christian saviour, i.e. the so called "Pentagrammaton" (). I certainly will not burden you with the full details of the altercation, but I thought that since this absurd notion is fairly widespread, I would add my voice to the many who have over the years attempted to set the record straight. The reason is that the mentioned Christian construct is not a Hebrew name, but a Renaissance invention.

Since this elucidation of necessity relates to fundamental doctrines of Christian/Hermetic Kabbalah, I wish to make it absolutely clear that it is not my intention to launch an offensive against the teachings of these traditions. That being said, it should be noted that the "Pentagrammaton" is an invention of the Christian Kabbalah during the Italian Renaissance. The Christian Kabbalists had a great admiration for the concept of the “Divine Name.” In this regard we might consider the teachings of Johannes Reuchlin, who was in fact personally responsible for reformulating the Ineffable Name, YHVH, “christianising” it YHShVH which is often pronounced Yehoshuah or Yeheshuah. It should be noted that there is really no name, divine or otherwise, comprising that spelling in Hebrew, hence it is curious how commonplace it is nowadays amongst Christians of the more fundamentalist mind set, to use this name so glibly and casually as a “genuine” reference to the Christian saviour.

It is certainly clear that over the past two thousand years, the whole of human civilisation has been impacted, sometimes for good and many times for ill, by the overemphasis on the figure of Jesus as “god incarnate,” as well as by the constant drive to “christianize” everything. Whatever Kabbalah may mean to you, I have not seen anywhere in primary Kabbalistic teachings any reference to the exclusiveness of Jesus as a global avatar figure, or to him having had any Kabbalistic mission. I have personally no problem with what people think of Jesus as a “Messianic figure,” since all so-called “believers” are perfectly entitled to their viewpoints applicable to themselves only, in exactly the same manner as those who do not subscribe to the “divinity,” or even the “messiahship” of the Christian saviour.

Johannes Reuchlin invented the YHShVH construct in an attempt to show the importance and divinity of Jesus in kabbalistic thinking. He maintained that human history is divided into three ages. Deriving his ideas about these ages from the Jewish concept of three world ages, these being the “ages” of “Chaos,” the “Torah” and the “Messiah,” and combining these with the teachings of the millennianist Joachim de Fiore, who also spoke of three “Ages” on earth, the first under the rule of the “Father,” the second under the rule of the “Son,” and the third under the “Holy Spirit,” Reuchlin linked his concept of “world ages” to “JHS,” a common abbreviation used in medieval Christian manuscripts in reference to the Christian saviour. To understand his fabrication of the name YHShVH, you need to know what the three “Ages” meant to Reuchlin. He claimed that in the first age, which is that of the Hebrew patriarchs, God revealed himself through the name Shadai; in the second age, considered the Mosaic period, God made Himself known through the Ineffable Name, YHVH; and in the third age, the Christian period which Reuchlin maintained to be the one of “redemption” and “grace,” God is revealing Himself through a five letter name, which is the name YHVH with the interpolated letter, Shin [], thus Yehoshuah which he claimed is the true name of Jesus. In fact, the letter Shin, according to Reuchlin, represents the Logos, the “Word” which became “Flesh” in the person of Jesus as God incarnate.

Due to these and other very fanciful notions regarding the letter Shin by Christian and Hermetic Kabbalists, this glyph has become rather controversial, especially as this letter was allotted a unique status of holiness, when Christian Kabbalists incorporated it into the Ineffable Name to create the Yehoshuah construct. One wonders if there was initially any other reason for the choice of this letter, beyond the fact that this glyph is “three-pronged” in shape (), which gave them lots of ideas about the “trinity”; that it represents “Fire;” and that, interpolated in the Tetragrammaton, it can be pronounced “Yehoshuah.” We are told the latter “is the esoteric name of the Messiah of the Jews and the Christ of the Christians,” the meaning of which is said to be “Jah liberates.” As it is, this construct does not have this purported meaning, and since it does not exist in Hebrew, it does not mean anything at all. The correct spelling of a personal name known to have the mentioned meaning is , which is correctly pronounced Yehoshuah, a fairly common Jewish Name. A “five-letter-name” it is, but not comprising the letters claimed by messers Reuchlin and company.

Now, regarding the special holiness assigned to the letter Shin, it should be noted that in Kabbalah all the Hebrew glyphs are “Holy.” The letter Shin is no more holy than any other Hebrew glyph. In fact, it is worth considering that the Hebrew letters comprise both “positive” and “negative” qualities, and this should be kept in mind when studying each letter-sign. In this regard, the letter Shin is termed “the symbol of Divine Power” as well as of “Corruption.” True, it is the initial of two very important Divine Names, i.e. Shadai (“All-sufficient Unlimited One”) and Shalom (“Peace”). To these we might add other significant concepts like Shechinah, Shabbat, etc., and we might also consider that the letter Shin, in representing Shadai, is the single letter shown on every Mezuzah placed on the doors of Jewish homes.

It is true that is known to be the symbol of “Divine Power,” mastery and peace, but it is equally clear that this letter also denotes corruption and Sheker (falsehood), thus being the initial of the name “Shatan” (Satan). In other words, Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism in general, recognise a dual principle in this glyph. For greater comprehension of this fact, we might consider the saga of the Hebrew letters passing before the Holy One, Who finally chose to create the universe by means of the letter Bet. About the letter Shin the Divine One said “True, you stand for (Shadai), Almighty, Who is the essence of Perfection, but for man, Divinity is interspersed with evil and deception. Inevitably, your neighbour (Kof) and (Resh) will draw you into a (Kesher), an alliance with them to establish (Sheker—“falsehood”) on earth.”

We are told that the three letters comprising “falsehood” appear at the end of the Hebrew alphabet, so that they are far removed from the central axis of the array of glyphs, i.e. the letter Mem representing stability. Furthermore, none of the milui, the full spellings, of each of the other letters comprise any of these three letters. We are further informed that “to counteract the dangerous shin with its potential power to ruin mankind, the Alef-Beis ends with the letter tav, which alludes to Emet, Truth.” In this regard, we should note that (Alef) is the beginning, (Mem) the centre, and (Tav) the end of the Hebrew Alphabet, and that the combination of these letters in that exact order reads (Emet—“Truth”).