by Katz, Yoram
“I confess I am very curious to know what it was that so infuriated the kind old professor,” said Jeanne hesitantly.
Bennet took his time before answering. “Yeshayahu is a world-class expert in Kabbalah. For him, Kabbalah is the pinnacle of Jewish creation, and he is very emotional about it. The idea I suggested, and which I have since been able to substantiate even further, was that Kabbalah included Christian themes and was founded on Christian principles. Yeshayahu could not accept that. Our quiet, legitimate academic discussion was transformed into a nasty quarrel and ended with a break-up. He started ignoring me. He ostracized me.”
“Ostracized you?”
“Yes.” They could feel the hurt in Bennet’s voice. “He stopped talking to me. This was very hard for me. You see. Yeshayahu was my teacher and mentor. He was father and family to me. At about the same time, I published an essay that made some buzz in the media, and I was being harassed by these Hassidic Haredi fanatics. I needed support, especially his support.”
“Who was harassing you?” asked Luria.
“There is this circle of so-called Kabbalists from Safed, your cousin’s friends, who found my work offensive, and pronounced me a messenger of the devil.”
“And what did they do?”
“It started with threatening letters, which still keep coming. There were some attempts to cause the university to renounce me. The university, of course, stood by me and firmly rejected this outrage. It did not stop there. My car tires have suffered an improbable number of punctures. My front door was once set on fire and there is more. Lately, I have had the honor of becoming the target of a ‘Pulsa Denura’ ritual.”
“I’ve heard about that one," said Luria. “It was widely covered in the media a few weeks ago.”
“Pulsa Denura?” wondered Jeanne. “What is it?”
Bennet gave her a melancholy smile. “’Pulsa Denura’ means ‘a stroke of fire’ in Aramaic. It is one of the most extreme devices in the toolbox of Practical Kabbalah. Its aim is to cause the death of the cursed person within a year.”
Jeanne was startled. “Are you not afraid?” she asked.
Bennet gave a short, nervous laugh. “I am not superstitious, but I admit that this whole situation is quite unsettling.”
“I saw it on TV,” said Luria. “It was crazy.”
Bennet sighed. “It does not end with curses. These men keep trying to intimidate me. Lately, I have a feeling that I am being followed.” The look in his eyes was hard now. “But they will never prevail.”
“And all this because you claim that Kabbalah has Christian origins?” wondered Jeanne.
“Frankly, I must say I find this claim odd,” remarked Luria. “Kabbalah and Christianity? It sounds absurd.”
“Does it? These claims are not that novel. Kabbalah uses lots of Christian themes. Take, for example, the Holy Trinity.”
“The Holy Trinity? You mean the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit? In Kabbalah?” Jeanne was astonished.
“I assume Yeshayahu has told you about the Book of Zohar, the sacred script of Kabbalah.”
Jeanne and Luria nodded.
"Let me give you a few examples to demonstrate my point, OK?" Both nodded again, and Bennet did not require more than that to launch a lecture.
“The Book of Zohar often describes God as a union of three. For example, a few times it discusses the verse “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord" (Deuteronomy 6, 4), a verse which has been used by Jews throughout the generations as an expression of ultimate faith. Note that ‘The Lord’ or ‘God’ is mentioned three times in this verse. Why? The Zohar, always looking for the hidden meaning, explains this verse as indicating the multiplicity of entities within the one God. It interprets this verse as saying ‘there are three aspects of God, and they are one’.”
Luria raised an eyebrow.
"Now, let us look at the Zohar’s interpretation of the first verse of Genesis – ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’ The Hebrew verse starts with the words: ’In the beginning…’ – . Hebrew is a much more concise language than English and the three-word phrase ‘In the beginning’ is just one word in Hebrew – . The first two letters of this word spell out, , meaning ‘son’. The next two letters spell out , meaning ‘fire’, which can be easily interpreted as ‘Holy Spirit’. The third and first letters make up , meaning ‘father’, and here we have the Holy Trinity, present already in the first four letters of Genesis!” Bennet paused. “Did Yeshayahu explain to you the Sefirot and their place in Kabbalah?” he asked. “Did he show you the ‘Tree of Life’ diagram?”
“Yes,” said Luria, vaguely recalling something.
Bennet pointed at a big representation of the diagram, which hung on a nearby wall. “OK. Now look up there and follow me for a little exercise in Kabbalistic interpretation: – father is traditionally identified in Kabbalah with Sefirah number two, which is ‘Chokmah’ – Wisdom. The word , pronounced ‘Binah’ (Understanding), represents Sefirah number three. It is considered in the Zohar to be close to the word – son, similarly pronounced ‘Ben’.
“The word can also be divided into two words. The first three letters make up , meaning ‘created’, and last three letters spell out the word , which is ‘six’ in Aramaic.
“Now, let us do some simple arithmetic. In the Kabbalistic ‘Tree of Life’, the third Sefirah - ‘Binah’ or Understanding, is separated by exactly six Sefirot from the tenth and last Sefirah called ‘Malkuth’ – Kingdom. ‘Malkuth' is identified in the Kabbalah with the - the divine presence, which is the Hebrew equivalent of ‘Holy Spirit’.”
He paused for a second to make sure he was understood. “To summarize, contains references to Sefirot 2 and 3, representing Father and Son, which are – six Sefirot apart from Sefirah 10, which represents the Holy Spirit.” He looked at them triumphantly. “Here, we have a straight line connecting the first word in the Torah with the Holy Trinity!”
Luria looked unconvinced.
“Here is another example for you.” Bennet pressed on enthusiastically. “In the beginning of the fifth chapter of the book of modesty (Zohar, Part 2, Page 178, 72) it says:
meaning: “In the beginning God created – ‘in the beginning’ - a word, ‘created’ – half a word, father and son.”
Luria and Jeanne appeared baffled, and Bennet hurried to explain. “I already pointed out that in Hebrew the word is made up of the first three letters, or half of the word , so the first part of the sentence above can be read like a mathematical equation: is equivalent to a 'word', and is equivalent to half a word!”
Luria was lost. “Sorry, Professor, what does ‘word’ mean in this context?”
Bennet looked at him amused. “An excellent question,” he declared. “Any idea, Jeanne?” Jeanne shook her head, bewildered.
“Strangely enough, the answer is hidden, of all places, in the New Testament,” stated Bennet majestically.
He stood up, walked over to one of the shelves and pulled out a book. Leafing through it, he found the page he was looking for and then laid the open book on the table, for both of them to see. It was a copy of the New Testament in both English and Hebrew.
“Now, look at the beginning of the first chapter of John: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’. A few verses later (verse 14) it says: ‘and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth’. Now, replace ‘Word’ with ‘Son’ and see how the pieces of the puzzle fit together! ‘Word’ is just a code for none other than Jesus Christ - the Son and the bearer of the ‘Word’ – the message!”
He looked at them victoriously. “I have just demonstrated to you that the Book of Zohar has the Father and Son involved in the Creation story, and that the Zohar uses words, which can make sense only in the context of a Christian gospel! Furthermore, the beginning of John is strikingly similar to the excerpt from the Zohar w
e have discussed, and both Kabbalah and Gospel references are, in fact, interpretations of the opening verse of Genesis! The interpretations they supply complement each other to explain this verse as a reference to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Do I need to give you more examples to prove my point?”
“Please pardon me for a moment.” Luria could no longer contain himself. “It may sound simplistic, but all these interpretations are merely word play. It seems to me someone here lost the distinction between word games and the real world.”
The professor’s response surprised him. Bennet’s face got red and he burst into a rolling laughter. Tears came to his eyes, and he slapped his thighs jubilantly. It took him some time to calm down.
36. Jonathan Bennet’s Kabbalah
“Forgive me,” said Bennet eventually and turned to Luria. “I was by no means making fun of you, my young friend. Your question is excellent and puts the issues we have been discussing here in true perspective. I wish every scholar would ask this question once in a while. Now, do you know what ‘Derash’ means?”
“Yes,” replied Luria. “It means a hidden interpretation of the scriptures. Professor Orlev explained that to us.”
“Very good. Then your question represents a critical approach to the Jewish Derash as a whole, and to major parts of any theological literature, for that matter.”
Jeanne looked perplexed.
“The point is that much of Kabbalah literature might be described exactly as you said – as word games, so to speak. Now, have you heard about ‘Sefer Yetzira’ – The Book of Creation?”
“Professor Orlev mentioned it to us,” said Luria. “He told us that, attributed to the Patriarch Abraham, it is believed to be the first Kabbalistic text, older even than the Torah.”
Bennet smiled. “You make a very good student. ’Sefer Yetzira’ is a short text comprising just a few pages. Legend indeed attributes it to Abraham, but research places its origin most probably in the first-century AD. Did Yeshayahu explain its contents to you?”
“No.”
Bennet rose again and approached one of his numerous bookshelves. He came back with a small booklet in an improvised binding, on which the Hebrew words were manually scribbled. He sank in his seat and opened the leaflet. “‘Sefer Yetzira’ deals with the structure of the universe. It uses much of the Kabbalistic terminology found in the Book of Zohar and in other Kabbalistic compositions. Let me read to you its first verse.” He read from the leaflet in Hebrew with a slight American accent and then translated it for Jeanne. “With thirty two wondrous paths of wisdom engraved Yah, the Lord of Hosts, his world in three books, with book, with number, and with story.”
He watched the confused faces of his guests. “The last three words ‘Sefer’- book, ‘Sefirah’ - number or count, and ‘Sippur’ – story, are derived from the same Hebrew root, so it has a certain ring to it in Hebrew, which is lost in translation.”
His guests did not seem to make much of this.
“Many interpretations of this text have been suggested. The most accepted interpretation is that God created the world out of abstract symbols. It follows that the existence of God is the only reality, and the rest is but an illusion. In other words, this universe we are experiencing as reality is but a book or a story, written by God.”
His audience still looked puzzled.
“What are the ‘thirty two wondrous paths of wisdom’?” asked Jeanne.
“The thirty two components making up the story we are experiencing, of course. These include the twenty two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the ten Sefirot. To use a more modern terminology, I would say that what we are daily experiencing is but a virtual reality, like the one in movies, stories and fairy tales.” He looked at his mystified listeners. “Think about that movie, ‘The Matrix’ to get a rough idea. Have you seen it?” Both nodded.
Bennet now addressed Luria. “Do you see the answer to your question now?”
Luria hesitated. “You mean that because the building blocks of the world we know are basically letters and numbers, or Sefirot, then word games are viable tools for dealing with this world?”
“Bravo!” cried Bennet and clapped his hands. “An outstanding observation! I could not have worded it better myself. Now, let me read to you the second verse of ‘Sefer Yetzira’. Again, he read a few words in Hebrew and immediately translated them into English: ‘Ten Sefirot of Nothingness…’ See? The ten Sefirot are void. They are just an illusion!”
“Are these the same ten Sefirot of Kabbalah?” inquired Jeanne.
“The very same! Actually, this is the first source ever to have mentioned them. The book recognizes them to be but an illusion, but also as legitimate tools to explain a world which is itself an illusion.”
Jeanne was thrilled. “This is fascinating. It reminds me of some eastern philosophies. This image of a holy spirit, which emanates spiritual signals that make up the world is much like the Hindu ‘Maya’, which literally means ‘Illusion’ in Sanskrit.” She laughed. “Next you are going to tell us that this book also deals with meditation techniques.”
Bennet smiled, picked up the book again and leafed through it. “Well, since you have mentioned it, I would like you to listen to verse 7”.
He then repeated the routine of reading in Hebrew and translating to English: “Bridle your mouth from speaking and your heart from thinking. And if your mouth runs to speak, and your heart runs to think, return to the place, as it was written ‘running and returning’.”
Jeanne’s mouth opened in amazement but she did not utter a word.
“In fact, some Kabbalists use breathing and relaxation techniques, which are very much like meditation,” continued Bennet. “But why go to the east? What about Western Philosophy? David Hume told us that our only perceptions of the world comprise impressions and concepts, and that we have no way of knowing whether something ‘real’ exists beyond them. Immanuel Kant, horrified by the implications of Hume’s philosophy, proposed a world which we perceive through built-in, inner tools that we utilize to form a partial picture of it. Furthermore, if you go through the heated discussions between Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr about the meaning of Quantum Theory, you will find the same dilemma – what part of the universe can we perceive, and is there really an ‘objective’ universe out there? Philosophers have long been discussing Ontology - the nature of reality vs. Epistemology, which is concerned with what it means to know anything at all, and trying to understand the relationship between the two.”
Bennet raised his voice. “I think that both Hume and Bohr would basically agree with the spirit of these Kabbalistic statements. Though they would never agree with the witch spells of the so-called Practical Kabbalah,” he added immediately. “And now you can better understand why the Practical Kabbalists believe that by playing with words, spells and various names of God, they can influence reality.”
Luria shook his head in doubt. “I admit this is more sophisticated than I have first realized, yet you cannot convince me that by analyzing sentences in Hebrew, you can deduce anything about the structure of the universe.”
“Why not?” retorted Bennet. “Every philologist will tell you that the structure of language has very much to do with the way we perceive the world.”
“I can agree with that,” said Luria. “Yet, Hebrew is but one language. Why would the Hebrew letters serve as the tool for understanding the world? Why not the Egyptian hieroglyphs? Or the Chinese characters, for that matter?”
“As a Jew, you must know the answer to this question,” said Bennet.
Luria looked baffled.
“Jews are the chosen people,” declared Bennet. “They are the people who received the Ten Commandments from Moses.” He paused for a second. “The Commandments were written by God, and in Hebrew.” He folded his arms across his chest, looking like a chess master who has just delivered the ultimate checkmate.
Luria was taken aback. Until that moment, Bennet had somehow been making sense, but th
is sudden switch to the irrational was unacceptable to a professional investigator and a born skeptic like Luria. He remembered Orlev’s words about Bennet: “When I found out that his beliefs were biasing his academic judgment, I broke off all academic contact with him.” Luria was beginning to see Orlev's point.
Bennet pressed on. “Now, let’s go back to the issue of Christian influence on Kabbalah. Just consider the idea of miracles. With a few exceptions, you do not find miracle makers in Judaism after Moses and before Jesus. The Kabbalists, on the other hand, believe in their capacity to heal the sick, chase away evil spirits and influence the heavens by using various names of God and all kinds of spells, charms and psalms. These ideas made their way into today’s Hassidism, with its miracle-performing spiritual master Tzadik, who has an ongoing dialog with God and angels, and who is, like the Pope, infallible. Here is a clear Christian fingerprint for you. I have many more.”
Silence fell over the room as both Luria and Jeanne were contemplating these ideas.
“All right,” said Luria eventually. “We certainly have learned a lot today, but let us return to our original question. What could this document, rumored to have disappeared in Safed, be? We can assume it was a Kabbalistic or Christian text, and that it played a part in Templar history. What would you suggest?”
Bennet thought this out for a while. “The evidence for the existence of the Templar secret treasure or document is purely circumstantial. Let me go through it briefly. The order was founded in 1119 by nine French knights, led by Hugues de Payens, who asked permission from Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem, to protect Christian pilgrims on their way from Jaffa to Jerusalem. The king gave them as headquarters the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, which is where the Jewish Temple used to be. The knights called themselves ‘The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon’ or Templars in short, and relied on charity. Within a span of ten years, they were given unprecedented privileges by the Pope, and then the order grew meteorically. They became a military and economic power which held for 180 years. This phenomenal development facilitated the theory that the nine founders blackmailed the Church by using an artifact they had found among the ruins of the Temple.” He paused for a breath. “A lot of populist notions have been suggested for such an artifact but nobody really knows the truth.”
