Q&A: The Origin of the Book of the Zohar
The Origin of the Book of the Zohar
Question
Hello Rabbi.
A. What is your opinion regarding the author of the Book of the Zohar? From checking that I did, it seems quite hard to decide who really wrote it, and certainly it is hard to accept that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai wrote the entire text of the book that we have in our hands, even though in yeshivas there is total agreement that it was Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
B. How does the Rabbi recommend studying Kabbalah? Which books should one start with?
Answer
A. My view is that it is clear that it was not composed by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (after all, it contains passages that were said by sages later than Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai). It is commonly accepted today that it was edited in the Middle Ages, perhaps by Rabbi Moshe de Leon. It is not true that in yeshivas there is total agreement about this. Rabbi Yaakov Emden already pointed this out in Mitpahat Sefarim, and many others as well.
B. Although I have dealt with this, I do not feel I am an authority. I also do not think there is one general path that fits everyone. Each person needs to choose his own path. It is better to find someone and begin studying with him, and then start branching out to books and teachers that seem suitable for you.
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Amir:
It seems to me that Rabbi Yaakov Emden, in Mitpahat Sefarim, attributes the Zohar to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, but casts doubt on the attribution of some parts of it to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and argues that they are a later addition
Incidentally, a very harsh dispute on this issue within the observant community itself [as opposed to people not from the world of Torah who expressed views on the matter—academic researchers of Kabbalah and the like] took place literally in the last generation in Yemen, between the students of Rabbi Yihya Qafih, who argued that the Zohar was written later and that its words did not come from Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and that its words have no holiness; those who followed this path were called “Dor Daim,” and their opponents, the students of Rabbi Yihya Yitzhak Halevi, the ideological opponent of Rabbi Qafih, who believed in the holiness of the Zohar and its attribution to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, were called “Ikshim”
This dispute was harsh and painful, and in certain respects recalled the historic dispute between the Hasidim and the Mitnagdim
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Rabbi:
Thank you.
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Israel:
Do you recommend the books of Gershom Scholem?
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Rabbi:
I haven’t read them (aside from things here and there). It’s interesting. Recommendations are a matter of taste.