The Kabbalah

What It's About

A scholarly study of the origin and evolution of the Kabbalah, tracing the roots of its philosophical concepts back to the ancient Zoroastrians. Franck goes into detail on the doctrines of the Kabbalah as expressed in the Sepher Yetzirah and the Zohar, carefully comparing them with Greek philosophy, the Alexandrians, Philo, and the Gnostics. Although he finds many parallels with Zoroastrian belief, he stops short of naming it as the direct source, concluding instead that the Kabbalah's doctrines took shape during the Babylonian era, when Zoroastrianism was at its height.

Key Concepts

The relationship between Kabbalistic doctrine and Persian dualism; parallels between Jewish mysticism and Platonic, Alexandrian, and Gnostic thought; the dating and origins of the Sepher Yetzirah and the Zohar. Franck's early dating of the Kabbalah and his emphasis on Persian influence proved controversial, and were later disputed by scholars including Moritz Steinschneider and Adolf Jellinek.

About the Author

Adolphe Franck was a French-Jewish philosopher who originally trained for the rabbinate before turning to philosophy under the mentorship of Victor Cousin. He became the first French Jew to receive the agrégation in philosophy, and went on to hold a professorship at the Collège de France. This study of the Kabbalah, first published in 1843, was one of the earliest attempts at a systematic, scholarly account of Jewish mysticism.

About This Edition

This is a 1926 translation by I. Sossnitz.