"Safed in the Sixteenth Century" Part 6 by Solomon Schechter

SAFED IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY A CITY OF LEGISTS AND MYSTICS   by   Solomon Schechter (from "Studies in Judaism" Series Two)   Part 6 Safed reached the zenith of its fame with the advent of Loria [Luria]. Isaac Loria was born in Jerusalem in the year 1534. He was a descendant of the famous German family Loria, on account of which fact he was also called Isaac Ashkenazi. It is not impossible that his ancestors came from the Rhine Provinces, from which most of the earlier scions of the Loria family hailed. Elijah Loanz (flourished about the end of the sixteenth century), who claimed some relationship with our Loria, was a native of Frankfort. One branch of this family settled in Poland, whilst the other seems to have emigrated to Palestine. The emigration of German Jews to Mohammedan countries was by no means confined to this case. The impulse to this expatriation from a land in which they had lived for many centuries and in which they had almost the claim of original settlers, came from the Epistle of a certain Joseph Zarphathi, whom fate drove from Germany to Turkey in his early youth. In this Epistle he described "the happy lot of the Jews under the Crescent as compared with their hard fate under the shadow of the Cross," and called upon them to escape from the German house of bondage and emigrate to Turkey. If the German Jews, he said, could realise but a tenth part of the prosperity awaiting them in Turkey, they would brave rain and snow, and would rest neither by day nor by night before reaching there. Another inducement that he offered them was that there is a route to the Holy Land lying open to them through Turkey. Though distance forbade emigration en masse from Germany, there can be no doubt that Zarphathi's Epistle was not quite without effect, for we soon find small congregations, both in Turkey and in Palestine, composed of Jewish emigrants from Germany. The Karaite Elijah Bashiatsi, of Adrianople, even complained of the bad influence of these newly-arrived Rabbinical students from Germany, alarming the community with their fringes and phylacteries, and their long gowns and their hoods, making themselves conspicuous and overawing the crowds.     The birth of Loria was, as in the case of so many wonder-men, heralded to his father by the prophet Elijah, who said unto him: ".....Be it known unto thee that the Holy One, blessed be he, sent me to bring thee the good message that thy wife will bear thee a son. Thou shalt name him Isaac; he will deliver Israel from the power of the Husks (that is, the powers of evil and contamination which are at war with the powers of the good and the holy, and obscure them); and he will redeem many souls that are undergoing the agony of transmigration, and through him shall be revealed the teaching of the Cabbala to the world." He was further bidden not to begin the initiation of his son into the covenant of Abraham until aware of the prophet's presence in the synagogue. The father did as he was bidden, and the boy proved indeed a wonder-child. At the tender age of eight he was considered to be a marvel of Rabbinical learning, so that none of the Jerusalem scholars could compete with him in a Talmudical discussion.     Unfortunately, the father, Solomon, died about this time, and left his widow in such needy circumstances that she was not able even to procure the necessary books which her son required for his studies. There was nothing left for them to do but emigrate to Cairo, where her brother, the wealthy tax-farmer Mordecai Francis, resided. Mordecai received them kindly, and made generous provision for his sister and those dependent upon her. Her son Loria he adopted as his own, and placed him, under the care of R. Bezaleel Ashkenazi, the famous author of the Shittah Mekubezeth, under whose guidance he continued his Rabbinical studies until he reached the age of fifteen, when he married the daughter of his benefactor. His introduction to the teaching of the Cabbala followed some two years later.     According to legend, it took place in the following way: A stranger, whose business transactions led him to Cairo, came one day to perform his devotions at the synagogue in which Loria was in the habit of worshipping. It so happened that he took his seat opposite Loria and ostensibly began to read his prayers from a written book which he held in his hands. Loria, whose curiosity was evidently aroused by the sight of the manuscript, managed to take a glance at the volume, and was surprised to see that its contents embodied the great mysteries of the faith. Whereupon he approached the owner of the book and questioned him as to his person and his profession, and also demanded from him some information as to the contents of the manuscript. The owner, who felt embarrassed by Loria's importunate questioning, stated finally that he was a mere Marrano, and even ignorant of the Hebrew letters of the Torah, and confessed that he was only simulating the reading of the volume in his hands out of sheer shame before the other worshippers, who were all reading their prayers from the prayer-books open before them. Loria then began to urge him to sell him the manuscript, since it was of no real value to its owner. This request was at first refused, but afterwards our Marrano agreed to part with his treasure on condition that Loria would employ his good offices with his father-in-law, the tax-farmer, to have the duties upon the wares which he was about to import to Egypt remitted for him.     The book, as it seems, proved to be the Book of Splendour, or Sepher ha-Zohar, ascribed to R. Simon ben Yochai, of the second century, and being, as is well known, the main classic of the Cabbalists. Loria then, for eight years, abandoned himself to the study of the Cabbala with all the energy and "fanatical enthusiasm" of which he was capable. The principal subject of his devotion was the Zohar, but it would seem that during the first six years of his study he did not always succeed in divining the real meaning of its supposed author, Simon ben Yochai. However, he received indications from "heaven" that to reach the desired end it would be necessary for him to submit to a more austere mode of living than had been his habit until then. He thereupon retired to a certain village, in the neighbourhood of Cairo, which belonged to his father-in-law, where he built for himself a cottage on the banks of the Nile. Here he lived during the whole week, returning to his family in the city only for the Sabbath. The other six days were spent in strict solitude, and in fasting, praying, and frequent ablutions, beside other kinds of voluntary self-chastisement. This continued for two years, when Loria, by reason of his holy life and complete absorption in meditation upon the holy mysteries, reached the degree of being worthy of the gift of the Holy Spirit, as well as of having communion with the prophet Elijah. Nothing is known of Loria's occupation during the next eight or ten years, preceding his emigration to Safed. We are told that this exodus was undertaken in obedience to a distinct command from Heaven, wluch announced to him that his tenure of life would be a short one, and ordered him, among other things, to leave the polluted land (Egypt) and go up to Safed in Upper Galilee.     It will have been observed that no mention has been made of Loria's master in the department in which he was most to excel. Legend, which has served us as the source for the preceding description, is quite silent on this point. Nor was there any real need for a master in human shape. For, according to legend, it was the prophet Elijah himself who performed the functions of teacher in the case of Loria. It is further narrated that every night Loria's soul, released from all earthly ties, would ascend to heaven in the company of the " ministering angels," who watched over him until he reached the abode of the Celestials. Upon his arrival there, he would have his choice of attending any of' the super-mundane academies, in which the souls of departed saints and great sages continue the occupations which formed their moments of bliss in the course of their earthly careers. But it may be humbly suggested also that Loria had, besides, a very fair library, in which, apart from the Zohar, were contained the works of various mystics who had preceded him. We know that he occasionally referred to them, assigning to each his proper place in the chain of mystical tradition. It is also possible that in the beginning he may have received some aid from R. David ben Zimra, at that time the Chief Rabbi of Cairo, who was also a great Cabbalist; as well as from his master, Bezaleel, who is recorded as having been learned in the mysteries of the Torah.     More important is the indebtedness of Loria to Cordovero. This indebtedness is suggested by a passage in the "Writings " of Loria, in which Cordovero is cited as "our master and teacher." The vagueness of the plural, however, as well as the uncertainty as to the genuineness of these "Writings," make it rather hazardous to base an important biographical fact upon them. But we are fully justified in doing so after the evidence of Sambari, who reports that "Cordovero was the master of Loria for a short time," whilst Conforte describes him as a disciple-colleague of Cordovero. This evidence gathers strength from certain occasional remarks in a version of the life of Loria, in which the personal relations between the two masters are not entirely obliterated. Thus we learn that among the " men of wisdom and understanding whom Loria found in Safed upon his arrival there, were Caro, Cordovero, and R. Joseph Ashkenazi." The fact that these three sages were singled out by name, would suggest that Loria came into close relationship with them. From another place it is clear that it was practically Cordovero himself who designated Loria as his successor. Naturally, legend accounts for it by a miracle. Indeed, we are told that it was only to spare Cordovero's sensitiveness that Loria hesitated so long before revealing his greatness to the world. But we may conclude that while Cordovero lived, Loria occupied the inferior position,—that is, that of a disciple in the presence of his master.     I lay no claim to be initiated in the science of the invisible, and am thus unable to determine with any exactness how far this indebtedness, Loria to Cordovero extended. To cite a Biblical expression frequently used in such connexion, I am merely "looking through the lattice." And what one can perceive by means of such dim vision is that all the Cabbalists laboured under an awful alternative—the dread of confusing the creature with his Creator, and the dread not less keenly felt of the horror vacui, or a God-less world, in addition to the well-known metaphysical, or rather physical, difficulty of the possibility of evolving a finite world from the Infinite. This dread called into being a whole system of emanations and immanations, of straight rays and reflected lights, of radiations and beams, crossing each other and commingling, and forming endless combinations, creating universes. But these universes are, on the other hand, affected by a whole series of checks and balances, or defects and faults, disabling them from becoming identical with the life permeating them, but (just because of these defects) giving them tangible substance, by which process alone the creation of the world, as we see it, becomes possible.     Still, this world, notwithstanding the endless gradations and disguises and husks, is not only reached by a Divine Essence, which created it, but is pervaded by it and is full of it. Cordovero's expression with regard to the first immanations, that they are identical and not identical, may be applied also to all other developments in the scale of the universes. They are just effect enough not to be entirely confused with their cause, but in such close proximity or contiguity to the cause that they cannot be thought separated from the cause. Some mystics were bold enough to declare the world not only united with God, but one with God. Even the lowest worm in this scale becomes to a certain extent identical with all the causes of worlds or emanations preceding it. There is, accordingly, a constant blending of the temporal and the eternal. Indeed, the action of the first emanation, which assumes some room for immanation, became possible only by the process of the Divine Essence concentrating itself into itself, and thus making a place for a world or the possibility of emanations.     This self-concentration of the Divine, creating space for the universes, or for ideas or attributes from which a universe might evolve, is counteracted by a process of expansion, or an outflow of the Divine Essence, thus making Creation God-full. The impossibility, however, on the part of the universes, or the "vessels," to become a real receptacle for the light emitted from Divine Grace, inasmuch as the receptacle cannot be identical with the thing received, caused a deterioration in the descending scala of universes or worlds, which brought about the condition of chaos, in which the origin of evil is to be sought. The chaos is so thorough and so complete that evil cannot be entirely without good, indeed, it would have no existence; whilst the good, in the lower worlds at least, is not entirely free from evil. This is especially the case with this world of ours, the most substantialised. It is the world of the Husks, of mere appearances or disguises, obscuring the real realities, and but for the "sparks," or beams, of the holy and pure scattered in it, it would disappear into nothingness, and be swallowed up by its own unredeemable darkness. The elimination of evil, and the restoration of the world to Divine goodness, is the great problem under which creation is labouring.     Loria is usually described as the author of this system of Concentration, called in Hebrew Zimzum. Now, it is true that Cordovero, as far as I could see, only once uses this term in his Pardes. But it should be remarked that R. Sabbatai Horwitz, the author of the Shepha Tal (Abundance of Dew ), an avowed disciple of Cordovero, and considered the best expounder of his system, is constantly operating with Zimzum, at the same time giving the most lucid expositions of the Concentration theory to be found in any Cabbalistic book; but he never so much as mentions Loria. However, I am prepared to accept in good faith the testimony of R. Menahem Azariah of Fano, mentioned above, who spent a large fortune in procuring the writings of Cordovero and in giving them wide circulation, but who subsequently declared that the system of Loria bears the same relation to that of Cordovero as the latter sustains to the Biblical commentaries of Kimchi, which give only the simple meaning of the Scriptures and never touch on the mysteries of the Torah.     Some light perhaps may be thrown on this point by a remark ascribed by legend to Cordovero himself, to the effect that Cordovero on a certain occasion expressed his opinion that there was no real disagreement between his system and that of his successor (Loria); only whilst he himself dwelt more on the aspect of the Sephiroth (Emanations), his successor enlarged more on the Parzuphim, as they are to be found in the Idras of the Zohar. Parzuphim, a Greek term, signifies, when occurring in the regular Rabbinical literature, faces, visages, forehead, and features. The mystic seemed to use the term in the wider sense of the "full stature," comprising all parts of the human body, allegorised, sublimised, to represent attributes and ideas.     Starting from the favoured notion of the mystics, conceiving man as a microcosm (or the world in miniature), virtually connected with and focussing all the different orders of creation, and pressing (rather unduly) the logical consequence involved in the Scriptural statement, "So God created man in his own image" and similar verses, the mystic reverses the process, and if he does not exactly create God in the image of man, he conceives even in the ideal universe "man in enlargement," and looks to his image for the illustration of all Existence and Generation. His language then becomes less abstract and his metaphors much bolder. He imposes on himself, it is true, absolute silence with regard to the Infinite, or the Unknowable, or the Super-Essential, who is transcendentalised beyond language and beyond thought. But more intrepid grows his phraseology when he reaches the first manifestation of the Most Hidden of all Hidden, which he terms the Original Man, or the Ideal Man ( Adam Kadmon), the archetype of creation, endowed with certain qualities making it possible to establish likeness "between the image and him who fashioned it."     The danger of this system, with its bold negations on the one hand, and its hazardous "anthropology" on the other, is evident enough and needs no further explanation. It should, however, be remarked that no one felt this danger more deeply and warned against it more emphatically than the Cabbalists themselves. It is sufficient here to refer to the compiler of the Idras, which, as just indicated, were the main source of Loria's inspiration. The Idras may, perhaps, be characterised as the mystical anatomy of the "Original Man". They dilate, naturally, upon the corporeal expressions of the Bible in connexion with the Deity, but add to them also limbs and organs of the human body not occurring in the Scriptures, describing them minutely and explaining them in a theosophic and mystical manner. But this lengthy discourse (especially the so-called Great Idra, claiming to have been promulgated in the circle of the ancient Rabbis) is prefaced by a solemn warning by R. Simon ben Yochai, the alleged hero of this gathering, not to take these metaphors and terms literally. He enjoins them to rise and lift their hands when he pronounces the anathema over those not heeding his warning, with the Scriptural words, "Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer, and say Amen" ( Deut. 27:15)     Loria was apparently more given to this branch of the Cabbala than to any other. This is, at least, the impression one receives on examining the works or the hymns attributed to him. There the anthropomorphistic element is more conspicuous, and the terminology more concrete than in the works of his predecessors, and it is not impossible that it was just this novel feature in his teaching which proved attractive to the more daring spirits. But there must have been, besides, something great and attractive about Loria's personality that gave him this overwhelming influence in a city so abounding in great scholars and great mystics as was Safed. This will be more clearly seen if we follow his career in his new home.   (to be continued)

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