How Kabbalah changed Judaism
There has always been a strong mystical strain of Judaism, going as far back as the prophet Elijah and the chariot that took him up to heaven.
Jeremy Rosen
Throughout the Bible fire was a metaphor for the mystical world. But it and prophesy, never had an official role in determining Jewish law. Indeed, as the Talmud says (Shabbat 104a) “A prophet is not allowed to innovate laws.”
What we now call Kabbalah emerged a thousand years ago in Spain and Provence. It represented a powerful alternative to the dominant rational world of Spain and, indeed, Islam that flourished at that time. Best illustrated by Maimonides’s Guide to the Perplexed. The Zohar, compiled by Moses De Leon in Spain around 1300 CE is a magnificent, complex, and often obscure combination of theological ideas, some invented and re-formulated, as well as new customs and interpretations of the Torah. But the climax of Kabbalistic innovation came in the sixteenth century in Safed where refugees from Iberia gathered under the benevolence of the Ottoman Empire. Outstanding figures such as Moshe Cordovero (1522-1570), and Yitzchak Luria (1534-1572), brought innovations in the content, song, poetry of prayer, and new customs all in the context of mystical ecstasy. Ultimately this created the Hassidism we know today but it was also largely adopted by the Sephardi world.
Tu Bishvat, the 15th Day of the month of Shevat, is mentioned in the Mishna ( Rosh Hashana 1:1 ) along with the other New Years; spiritual, political, and agricultural in Judaism. The New Year for Trees was the cutoff date for determining when one starts a new “tax year” for fruits. And there are different opinions as to which date in the month it was. It was when the sap began to rise.
A further law forbade eating the fruit of a tree for its first three years of growth. The technical term for fruit in this period is Orlah. The same word as a foreskin ironically. And was regarded as a necessary way of ensuring that fruit trees had time to mature before being harvested. In the fourth year, the produce called Neta Revaiwas dedicated to the Temple and could only be eaten within the walls of Jerusalem.
But there was no reference to any celebration. When did we start having a special Seudah, a meal at which we eat a variety of fruits ideally from Israel? And make the blessing Shehecheyanu , thanking God for enabling us to survive so that we can enjoy the benefit of anything new. Something we should do any time during the year when we eat a new fruit that we have not yet had that year and indeed new clothes. Maybe even a new computer or iPhone.
After the Temple was destroyed given the economic and political changes, agricultural laws tended to fall into abeyance. The issue was whether these laws should continue to apply and if so, outside Israel as well as within its traditional boundaries.
Yitzchak Luria introduced the custom of letting a boy’s hair grow for three years before cutting, based on the law of Orlah mentioned above. It has become much more popular in recent years. So, it was commonly assumed that Luria also initiated the formal celebration of Tu Bishvat, with a special celebratory meal. Others attributed the custom of celebrating Tu Bishvat to Nathan of Gaza the famous guru of Shabbetai Zvi. However,Avraham Yaari initially claimed that it was first mentioned or initiated by Yissachar Ben Susan in his book Ibur Shanim (published in 1578). On the other hand, he also discovered that medieval Ashkenazim had the custom of eating many fruits in honor of the day. And that it was mentioned in a German book of customs first published in 1590 in Worms which also said that both Purim and the 15th of Shevat were vacation days for rabbis and students who did not go to school or study. Instead, they were offered whiskey and sweet cake from the teacher’s own pocket. An example of a custom that has indeed fallen into disuse. The uncertainty of the origin remains. But it is emblematic of the innovations that the Kabbalah injected into Jewish religious life.
The challenge of the Enlightenment, the Haskalah, led to a culture in central Europe of reductionism. Of doing less rather than more. And this led to a ban in very religious quarters on innovation altogether.
Nowadays, we are seeing an explosion of Jewish religious and intellectual life comparable to the Golden Era of Spain or the mystical era of Safed. Within ultra- orthodoxy, most of the innovations can be found within the different Hassidic groups, eager to differentiate themselves from each other by adding extra customs and traditions. And yet, in general, there is still a fear of doing anything or even suggesting changes that were not previously acceptable because of the innate conservatism of religious authority and fear of adulterating the tradition. Why can’t we experience a new era of creativity?
The answer is we can and are, but it is flourishing mainly in Israel today. Inevitably there is a lot of charlatanism, hypocrisy, and abuse as in all religions and ideologies. But in Israel despite all the problems, tensions, conflicts, and dangers, you can find more religious dynamism and variations of Jewish spirituality than at any other time since the days of Cordovero and Luria. And the way Tu Bishvat is now celebrated in all its various ways is proof of that.
The German Israeli scholar of mysticism, Gershom Scholem, suggested that Judaism goes through a significant creative re-birth every five hundred years or so. According to his calculation, we are entering this new era now. We have every cause for optimism. Happy Tu Bishvat!
Rabbi Jeremy Rosen lives in New York. He was born in Manchester. His writings are concerned with religion, culture, history and current affairs – anything he finds interesting or relevant. They are designed to entertain and to stimulate. Disagreement is always welcome.
