MARC 269 1889

MISCELLANEOUS

NOTES AND QUERIES,

WITH ANSWERS.

“The soul has three vehicles: first, etherial; second, aerial; third, terrestrial.” -THOMAS TAYLOR.

VOL. VI.

APRIL, 1889.

The Kabbalah.

No. 4.

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Several times in your pages you have mentioned the Kabbalah. I would like to know more of it and its import. OSCAR C. WEBB.

The Kabbalah may be defined as the esoteric Jewish doctrine, applied to the Scriptures to bring out its concealed meaning. It is generally under four heads: Practical, Literal, Unwritten, and Dogmatic. The second, or Literal, is the most important, and is divided into three divisions Gematria, words of similar numerical value; Notaricon (a word meaning shorthand writer), of which there are two kinds, one, each letter of the word is taken as the initial of another word, the other form is the exact reverse; Temura, is when the letters are permutated. We will here give some examples of each class :

Gematria. The letters of the word MTTRVN, Metatron, according to the value assigned to each by the Hebrew, sum 314, and also the letters of the name of the Deity SHDI, Shaddaï sum 314; hence the name of the angel is taken for the Deity and vice versa. Metatron is said to have been the conductor of the children of Israel through the wilderness, and of whom it is recorded that God said: "My name is in him" (Ex. XXIII, 21). The Gematria of phrases is as follows: IBA SHILH, Yeba Shiloh," Shiloh shall come" (Gen. XLIX, 10),