Transcription
Religion serves many functions in providing for one's understanding of the metaphysical structure of reality. One of the principal roles religion plays in this respect is explaining the origin, nature, and final destiny of evil. Of course, this question has been answered in numerous ways, even within singular religious traditions.
Philosophers have tended to view evil as negation or privation, just as cold or darkness is the privation of heat and light respectively. So too, evil is nothing other than a kind of pervasion of the divine. Other schemes are blatantly dualistic and anthropomorphic, explaining evil as the work of malevolent beings such as demons, often led by a kind of archfiend such as Satan, well bent on eternal rebellion against all goodness.
As a subset of this problem of evil is the famed problem of theodicy: Why do the gods dole out good and evil in such an arbitrary manner? Evil rightly concerns philosophers and theologians alike. It is also deeply concerned mystics. With the rise of the Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism that began to appear in southern Europe in the 12th and especially in the 13th centuries, a rather shocking theory of evil began to emerge here. Evil is the result of processes within the inner dynamism of divinity itself.
In this episode, I want to explore what may be one of the most provocative texts in all of Jewish history, now entitled *Ma'am Has Malit*, or *The Treaties on the Emanations of the Left-Hand Side*, by the 13th-century Kabbalist Isaac binyakov hakowen. This brief but obscure work locates the origin of evil in the very process of creation itself, as part of the manifestation of the divine. Here, evil extends from the divine attributes, or the sephirot, to become a kind of malevolent subset of emanations, giving rise to the realm of demons ruled over by the fearsome Samael and his queen Lilith.
Also, this episode is part of my series on early Kabbalah, and you may want to check out the first video in that series in the card above. But this episode also just stands on its own, so I hope you'll join me as I explore what Gershom Scholem called a text of medieval Jewish Gnosticism and what gave rise to the later theory of the Qliphoth, or the demonic ontological husks. I'm Dr. Justin Sledge, and welcome to Esoterica, where we explore the arcane in history, philosophy, and religion.
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In what appears as a very strange early 9th-century letter of Ago Bard, the Archbishop of Lyon, there is a description of Jewish belief that boggles the mind. There we read: "They, the Jews, also say that their deity is corporeal and is distinguished by his limbs and his various corporeal features, and that like us, he hears with one body part, sees with another, and speaks or does whatever else he does with yet another. And thus, the human body was fashioned in the image of God. That he has inflexible, rigid fingers, as he does not do work with his hands, and he sits like some terrestrial king on a throne bore by four beasts and is housed in some great sort of palace."
Now, this description of Judaism is basically unrecognizable, especially following Maimonides's relentless attack on divine corporate reality. Indeed, it would be just easy to write off Ago Bard's description as more straw man caricatures of Judaism often found in medieval accounts. Though, in this case, oddly, and I mean *oddly*, like, capital *oddly*, a few things deserve more careful attention.
First, we might recall that scholars like Menachem Kellner have made convincing arguments, at least to my mind, that Maimonides's attack on divine corporeality is, in fact, a direct response to a form of pre-Kabbalistic Jewish mysticism now called Shi'ur Qomah, or *The Measurements of the Vastness*, whereby mystics would recount the exact measurements of the divine body in the Persian parasang unit. Even that creepy bit about the rigid fingers even has an echo in some of the Shi'ur Qomah literature. Indeed, the language of beasts and God being housed in a great palace is likely a reference to the schools of the Merkavah, or chariot, and the Heikhalot, or the temples or palaces, schools of pre-Kabbalistic mysticism. I've made a separate episode on just those forms of mysticism; you can explore them by clicking on the card above.
However, for this episode, at least, another line in that epistle is key: the one that reads, "He, i.e., God, even thinks many superfluous and vain thoughts, which because they come to naught, turn into demons." In the original Latin, we read *cogitari etiam illa*. This just seems like another throwaway slur against Judaism, but it might perhaps be a very early hint onto a profound and shocking transformation of the origins of evil within proto-Kabbalah and, by extension, the future of Jewish theology.
Of the many hermeneutical innovations in the history of Judaism, a specific medieval shift in the reading of the creation account in Genesis is perhaps among the most profound. Rather than reading the first few chapters as being merely an account of creation as we know it, or the cosmos as we know it, there was a shift to reading the narrative as an account of a pre-cosmic inner dynamism within the Godhead. Perhaps the most important expression of this shift is in the early Kabbalistic commentary on Genesis by Isaac the Blind, also known in Aramaic as Sagi Nahor, or *The One That Is Full of Light*. It becomes nothing short of an account of God's emergence out of an absolute, ineffable transcendence to the realm of becoming, revelation, and creation—the autogenesis of the outer divine from the inner nothingness, the no-thing-ness of the sublime, empty darkness. In this account, there were worlds and creations much before our little cosmos ever even came into being.
Ago Bard's epistle is important here because later proto-Kabbalists will suggest that these aborted thought worlds not only briefly flickered into existence within the divine dynamism but are nothing short than the origin of evil itself, a kind of primordial evil long older than our realm. Indeed, it seems that the Ago Bard epistle reveals that this concept seems to have long incubated within Jewish circles, at least in France, before it appears in surviving Jewish texts.
It's to one of those earliest and most disturbing of those early proto-Kabbalistic texts that I want to turn to now. The text now known as *Ma'alit*, or *The Treaties on the Emanations of the Left-Hand Side*, was produced by Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob Hakkohen in the later half of the 13th century. Of course, Rabbi Isaac and his brother Rabbi Jacob were part of the immensely influential Castile circle of early Kabbalists whose ideas were decisive in the development of the Kabbalah proper, especially as is expressed in the monumental *Sefer ha-Zohar*, or *The Book of Radiance*. This will especially prove true in the development of evil in Kabbalistic speculation.
Isaac claims that this treatise is actually from two different texts that he synthesized together. The first is speculation on the angelic beings emanated by the various sephirot themselves, direct emanations of the divine. The first part of the treatise claims to come from Rabbi Chaim, a leader of the Yun, or speculation, circle, perhaps one of the most important proto-Kabbalistic movements located either in Spain, though more recent scholarship tends to locate their activity in southern France.
What's really curious about this section of the text, running for the first four chapters, is what appears to be an attempt to synthesize the 13th sephirot system of the Yun circle with the emerging dominant system of the 10 sephirot from the *Sefer ha-Bahir* via the famed *Sefer Yetzirah*. Specifically, the 10th sephirah, Malkhut, is said to contain three further sephirot, which not only mirror the divine world but which redirect the divine flow back up the sephirotic ladder, a regression back to the divine following the progression of the divine emanations, a bit like a wave flowing out and then back to the center. This appears to be classical, kind of Neoplatonic influence. Of course, the ontological priority of the first three sephirot as igniting the further seven or ten, depending on how you count them, is certainly interesting.
The sephardic angelology presented here is also important, as some of the angelic names line up with the sephirot as we know them, while others are a bit unusual. Indeed, the sephirotic angelology is the bridge to what gives the treatise its name: how the sephirotic angels go on to be demonically mirrored. So let's turn to some of those emanations of the left-hand side.
Rabbi Isaac claims that the sections of the text dealing with the demonic emanations was copied from an ancient booklet written in a difficult-to-read script originating in Jerusalem but arriving in Arlay via Damascus. Now, often these accounts of antiquity are spurious at best, but for reasons I'll mention later, I think that there actually may be some truth to all this.
Now, before I get started, let me say that this text is extremely difficult to understand and is profoundly resistant to summary. Exactly how all this is meant to make sense together is difficult to tease out, and my summary could easily be contradicted by another interpretation. All the more reason for you to go and read the text yourself. I discuss where to do that in just a bit, toward the end of the episode. Also, I tried really hard to find the original Hebrew edition while making this episode, but to no avail. It was published by Gresham Scholem in the earliest 20th century, but I was unable to consult either the manuscripts of the text, none of which seemed to be digitized yet, nor Scholem's edition published in the early 20th century in Hebrew. If anyone has access to a digital copy, I would absolutely love to see it. However, none of my analysis of the text is going to turn on any very specific reading, but again, I like to be open about what I have and what I don't have access to while creating content for the channel.
This early Kabbalistic text locates the primary ontological site of rupture with the Sefirah, or the power of repentance. While later Kabbalists, especially Cordovero in his famed *Tomer Devorah*, located repentance with the Sefirah of Binah, it's not exactly clear here to me where in the sephardic system as we know that this entire drama is playing out. I tend to go with Binah because it's the last of the three primary sephirot laid out by the earlier part of this text, and it mirrors the demonic sections we'll describe here in just a moment.
Now, I know those familiar with later Kabbalistic theories of evil are on probably team Sefirah of Din, because that's where the Zohar locates the origin of evil: an excess of severe judgment unchecked by mercy, or Hesed. But I should just point out that while the Din theory of evil is certainly the dominant Kabbalistic theory as it emerges from the Zohar, evil is variously said to emerge from both Keter and Malkhut as well. There just isn't one Kabbalah, and various streams of thought are kind of always present. And so, we're going to go with Binah in this text because I do think that this text is arguing that it emerges from Binah. Also, this does make some logical sense: if Binah is in fact associated with repentance, then we have a logical link with sin or transgression. There's no need for repentance without doing some sin, and sin seems like a pretty good place to start when thinking about evil at any rate.
The power of repentance acts as a kind of screen or barrier, perhaps between the higher and lower emanations, guarded over by the angel Maschiel. Beyond this screen, emanated angelic beings which existed in potential, but before they could be actualized, so to speak, another world of "alien forms and destructive images" was illicitly emanated by the angel of the screen. This alien world was led by the warrior Qamtiel, and he sought to destroy all the other emanations. The angel of the Sefirah of repentance ordered the angel of the screen to destroy this alien parallel world, and thus he did, just as one may extinguish a flaming wick by submerging it in the very oil that keeps it burning.
As the text relates, a second, more hideous world, led by Belial (literally "without God"), is then emanated, which is only destroyed by direct divine power. Finally, a third world is emanated by Itiel, a demonic entity somehow associated with time and perhaps saturnic in character. The beings of this world sought to destroy the very Tree of the Sefirot before the divine will annihilated them as well. These first three worlds, created and destroyed before our cosmos formed, the first three of the aborted sephirot of evil. Note that more and more direct divine power is required to destroy each successive evil ontological realm.
From here, those once merely potential angelic beings become actualized, and the seven heavenly bodies appear with their respective angelic and demonic counterparts, led by the archdemon Samael. Here, the text is unclear if the planetary bodies are in fact just purely demonic, a notion which has clear links to the Archons of so many Gnostic texts, including the key role in those texts played by Samael. Indeed, the whole concept of aborted worlds, which you will see more of in just a moment, is also conspicuous. It's no wonder why Scholem considered this text as an example of Jewish Gnosticism, and it's in fact why I'm also inclined to think this text does indeed have a rather ancient Mediterranean origin.
The strife that rocks the heavens is said to be stirred up by jealousy, inspired by none other than the demoness Lilith. Indeed, Samael and Lilith, and Adam and Eve, are the demonic divine mirrors of one another in this text. Further, the sin of the earthly Eve is also mirrored by some similar kind of sin, likely sexual in nature, which partially weakens the Throne of Glory. Shocking enough, and actually calls Lilith to murder her celestial offspring, though just what all this means is really mysterious. Even the text reminds us that another separate treatise would be required to explain this Lilith business in heaven shaking the divine throne. That text, if it ever existed, is extant, so far as I know.
Again, here we have another creation abortion narrative, now with Eve and Lilith in focus, again strongly paralleling the Sophia narrative in texts like the *Apocryphon of John*. Though, just what all this means is anything than clear. Fascinating, yes. Clear? Hell no.
The text now focuses on the three ethereal layers of the superlunar regions. Here, various kinds of divine names can be used to access the demonic ether and gain prophetic powers, even the ability to magically teleport. A magical key to the second ether is said to be the *Sefer Hal Ma'albush*, or *The Book of the Divine Garment*. This is an Aramaic text of angelic magic preserved in various forms from antiquity. Indeed, the text even reproduces a version of this short magical manual right there. I'll be doing an entire whole episode on this angelic magical text and its companion, the *Sefer Yashar*, at some point soon, so stay tuned for more angel magic.
We now come to the third ether, which itself is composed of three separate regions. The highest of which is ruled by our good old demonic friend Asmodeus, who is also wed to Lilith the Lesser. There are lots of Liliths up here in the ether. The second part of the third heaven is actually ruled by a demon with two alternating wives who produce various kinds of demons and terrible storms. The third part of the third ether is dominated by dog-faced demons created by human sins, for which Psalm 22:21 is apparently a very powerful amulet. Other demons in this third region of the third ether take the form of goats, from which emerged the so-called Azazel demons, which eventually fall to earth and become the Nephilim of of great fame. The Nephilim are famous around here.
There are several other kinds of demonic deities. There are actually more various kinds of Liliths, I'm not kidding. There's a bunch of Liliths up here, and there are various parallels on earth. Finally, we're also told that prior to our world, two other worlds like ours existed: one which was extremely good, for which no human being could ever merit, and one which was extremely evil, for which no human being could ever endure. And that our world, with some mixture of good and evil, proved to be the only suitable testing ground for the internal conflict of human righteousness and transgressions. A similar idea also famously appears in the writings of the Chaste Ashkenazi. It may come from Germany, and it's, unsurprisingly, we actually have tales of the magical teleportations. Remember those magical teleportations earlier? Those are about Eliezer of Worms. He's also famous for the Golem legend. Earlier in the text here.
All in all, the demonic realms are meant to mirror the sephirotic world of the divine emanations and the human world itself, both mirroring both of them, both the divine and the demonic. The end of the text becomes something of a baroque soap opera in which the jealousy inspired by Lilith the Younger, the wife of Asmodeus, you'll remember, and the Elder Lilith, the wife of Samael, causes all kinds of problems, strife in the heavens. Of course, the women are always to get blamed here, whether it's demonic or regular women.
Interestingly, the offspring of Lilith the Younger and Asmodeus both are said to contend and struggle against the Jewish people, but their other offspring becomes the "sword of the Messiah" to be used against the various forces of evil in the final apocalyptic battle. We're also told that a further intermediary exists between Samael and Lilith the Elder. Any guesses out there? Who it is? Leviathan. But a celestially mirrored Leviathan, which allows Samael and Lilith to remain sexually connected and emanate power to one another. Well, at the end of time, Gabriel and Michael will destroy the intermediary, the celestial Leviathan, between Samael and the Elder Lilith, and in turn destroy the demonic couple, which of course will be mirrored in the destruction of the earthly sea monster Leviathan, whose body will be dried, salted, and served up to the righteous. Delicious smoked Leviathan with cream cheese on our apocalypse bagels. Delicious.
And here the text ends with, "Blessed is he that understands these things as they are." Well, count me on blessed, because the... did I just read? Oh yeah. To make matters worse, Rabbi Isaac straight up tells us that he's purposely confusing things so only the truly wise will know what's up, or as he puts it, he's going to "reveal a little and conceal much." Thank you, Rabbi Isaac.
And what I really mean is, *The Treaties on the Emanations of the Left-Hand Side* is admittedly one of the most strange and provocative Kabbalistic or Jewish texts ever written, and my summary and analysis here is definitely no substitution for diving into it. Though the central thesis of the text, that evil emerges within the divine totality in the process of creation itself, will prove deeply influential on the writers of the Zohar and, by extension, all of Kabbalah, especially the concept of the husks, or the Qliphoth, of Lurianic Kabbalah a few centuries later, often all typified as commentary on a seemingly insignificant verse on the various kings of Edom. Indeed, if we really want to extend this line of thinking, we can see this text being influential as far afield as Sabbateanism, the theosophy of Jacob Boehme, and even into the metaphysics of Hegel. Totality without evil, he reminds us, just isn't totality.
Needless to say, this text is essential reading for anyone interested in Kabbalah and Gnosticism, or in demonology. And if you're interested in topics like those, make sure to subscribe, check out my other content on similar topics and other topics in Esotericism. And if you enjoy having access to scholarly and free content on topics like these and Esotericism, I hope you consider supporting my channel through Patreon or with a one-time donation. You can find those links below. Thanks so much for supporting the channel; it makes all this research and presentation possible.
If you want to read *The Treaties on the Emanations of the Left-Hand Side* for yourself, the only accessible version really is to be found in Joseph Dan's very nice volume on early Kabbalah. This translation is mostly complete, and the notes here are also really helpful as well. Indeed, this volume and all the volumes in the Classics of Western Spirituality series are really just wonderful. I have almost an entire shelf filled with them, and I highly recommend them.
If you're interested in the concept or the role of evil and Kabbalah, I would check out Gershom Scholem's article on that topic and his volume on *The Mystical Shape of the Godhead*. I would also check out Tishby's section and volume two of his Zohar collection, along with his really good monograph on *Evil and the Thought of Itzhak Luria*. And Elliot Wolfson, who is a fantastic scholar, also has an article on "Light Through Darkness" in the *Harvard Theological Review*. I think perhaps the most comprehensive analysis of evil in early Kabbalah is Moshe Idel's recent *Primeval Evil and Kabbalah*, which I can't not hear in my head being sung to the tune of the "Conjunction Junction" theme song: *Primeval Evil and Look*.
Okay, I know that some of y'all are probably asking, "Hey, did you skip some stuff from your first episode on early Kabbalah to this one?" Yes, I skipped some stuff, like, I don't know, just little guys like Isaac the Blind and Israel Gerona. Don't worry, I'm going to circle back to them and all the Kabbalistic developments between those guys and this text. For some reason, this really weird book just jumped out at me this week, and I kind of ran with it. Don't worry, more early Kabbalah to come. Until then, I'm Dr. Justin Sledge, and you've been watching Esoterica, where we explore the arcane in history, philosophy, and religion.