Henk Schutten

Rehabilitation for a Kabbalah pioneer

Translation of an article by Henk Schutten which appeared in Het Parool on 11 November 2005.

Kabbalah is hip ever since pop stars, film stars and sports stars have discovered the mystical Jewish teaching. The Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam is presenting an exhibition on Johann Reuchlin, pioneer of the Christian Kabbalah, from this week.

The Da Vinci Code is good for everything - the previous exhibition in the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, on the Grail and King Arthur in the Netherlands, was a resounding success. Never before did so many visitors find their way to the library in the Bloemstraat. The new exhibition, on Johann Reuchlin and the Kabbalah, is also expected to draw many visitors. Kabbalah is hip now that scores of pop stars, film stars and sports stars have embraced the ancient mystical Jewish tradition. The exhibition, however, is primarily a tribute to Johann Reuchlin, a Renaissance humanist who was born 550 years ago. At a time when the Christian Church was waging a grim battle against Judaism, Reuchlin managed to prevent the destruction of countless Jewish religious works. He was also a major advocate of the Christian Kabbalah.

Johann Reuchlin, De arte cabalistica, Hagenau, Thomas Anshelm, 1517

Especially in this time of rising fundamentalism a lot can be learnt from Reuchlin, says curator Cis van Heertum. Reuchlin lived at a time when thousands of Jews and Muslims in Spain were expelled or murdered by the Inquisition. In his most important work, De arte cabalistica, Reuchlin introduced three characters: Simon, a Jewish Kabbalist, Marranus, a Muslim, and Philolaus, a Greek philosopher. ‘Those three are interested in each others’ traditions and want to share their learning’, says Van Heertum. ‘De arte cabalistica does away with a great number of prejudices’.

Reuchlin always remained a Christian. But unlike the reformer Martin Luther, who incited believers to burn down synagogues, Reuchlin tried to build bridges to other religious and philosophical traditions. Van Heertum: ‘Luther wanted to win as many souls as possible and urged for a conversion of the Jews, based on the missionary drive which was a constant feature of Christianity. Reuchlin, too, hoped for their conversion, but he opposed force and hoped to persuade the Jews with arguments.’

Reuchlin was considered to be on a par with Erasmus. ‘They also met each other. But Erasmus was a lot more cautious than Reuchlin. He believed that the new movement of humanism had to be defended against the establishment.’

Johann Reuchlin was born in the German city of Pforzheim in 1455. Because he considered first-hand knowledge of Judaism to be essential for a proper understanding of the Bible, he studied Hebrew with Jewish teachers, for instance with the Jewish physician and Kabbalist Obadiah Sforno in Rome in 1498. Reuchlin believed Hebrew to be the language in which God spoke with the angels and with men, says Van Heertum. ‘That is why he wanted to study the Tenach, the Hebrew bible, in the original language. And so he became one of the first Christian Hebraists in Europe.’

Portrait of ‘Johann Reuchlin’ in Johann Nicolaus Weislinger, Huttenus delarvatus. Konstanz and Augsburg, Martin & Thomas Wagner, 1730

In Italy Reuchlin’s interest in the Kabbalah deepened. He encountered Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, a staunch advocate of the ancient pre-Christian traditions, who made himself rather unpopular with the ecclesiastical authorities with his thesis that Christ’s divinity could be best demonstrated by means of Kabbalah and magic. Pico had to flee Italy in 1493 but was rehabilitated by Pope Alexander VI, who looked favourably on magic and astrology. ‘Pico tried to harmonize various traditions, he looked for connecting elements’, says Van Heertum. ‘He regarded magic and Kabbalah as useful for Christianity.’

Reuchlin and Pico were convinced that there was a magical power inherent in Hebrew, or words derived from that language. In De arte cabalistica Reuchlin writes how Moses received on Mount Sinai in addition to the Torah a secret law, to be transmitted orally throughout the centuries. This tradition, Reuchlin writes, is called Kabbalah, ‘reception’, or ‘that which is received’.

Kabbalah teaches that every letter and every word from the Tenach has a hidden meaning. ‘There are 22 letters, all consonants, in the Hebrew alphabet. Every letter has a numerical value’, says Van Heertum. ‘So you can perform magic with language.’

Reuchlin writes in De verbo mirifico that the addition of the letter ‘shin’ in the Hebrew letter combination indicating the tetragrammaton or ineffable name produces the name of Jesus. He was also convinced that the holy Trinity was already announced in the second word of Genesis. The Hebrew word bara (‘created’) is composed of the letters ‘beth’, which stands for the word ben (Son), ‘resh’ (ruach, Ghost) and ‘aleph’ (av, Father). ‘Or take the Hebrew name of Noach, which consists of two letters. If you turn these around you have the word “grace” or “favour”.’ The Kabbalah according to Reuchlin taught men how to decipher secret meanings. But he also believed that by meditating upon the Hebrew names of the angels miracles might be performed. He saw the story of Jacob’s ladder, in which Abraham’s grandson in a dream saw angels ascend and descend a ladder, as a metaphor for the Kabbalah. ‘He believed people could attempt to rise to the divine by means of the Kabbalah’.

The Church did not take kindly to these ideas. After his death in 1522 Reuchlin’s work receded more and more into the background. His pioneering work for a Christian Kabbalah proved in vain.

The Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, founded by the Amsterdam businessman Joost R. Ritman in 1957, hopes with this exhibition to focus once more on the achievement of Reuchlin, says Esther Oosterwijk-Ritman, managing director of the library. ‘Reuchlin was a humanist who searched for mutual sources of wisdom. Via his Jewish teachers he came into contact with a people often viewed with distrust and prejudice, a source of wisdom which threatened to vanish. That is why his place in the library is so appropriate.’

For the Reuchlinforschungsstelle visit: www.reuchlin-forschungsstelle.de


Large gift may just help against cancer
The teaching of the Kabbalah commercially exploited

Kabbalah, traditionally an exclusive lore only to be taught to Jewish sages above the age of forty, has become increasingly popular these past two decades. This is mainly the achievement of the Jewish insurance agent Fievel Gruberger from New York. Gruberger, who nowadays calls himself rabbi Philip Berg, dramatically simplified the kabbalistic teachings, divorced them from their Jewish roots, and made a killing.

Now that scores of celebrities have embraced the Kabbalah, there are simply not enough all-Kabbalah mineral waters and beauty creams as sold by rabbi Berg to go round. More and more ‘Kabbalah Centers’ are opening worldwide. Madonna donated millions of euros to open such a centre in London and changed her name into Esther. Demi Moore and Mick Jagger apparently sought kabbalistic counselling for their marriage problems and even the Dutch footballer Edgar Davis has been spotted with a red cord around his wrist which supposedly protects him against the Evil Eye.

According to Berg, Kabbalah is able to solve the problems of everyday life and even cure diseases – certain Hebrew letters are to possess healing power. Being able to read the highly complicated holy texts isn’t required, it’s enough to touch them.

Naturally orthodox rabbis didn’t want to have anything to do with the Kabbalah light version with which Berg dazzles Hollywood celebrities.

Berg’s movement, however, has recently also caught the eye of the CID. Last week the director of a Kabbalah centre in Tel Aviv was arrested. Allegedly he promised a cancer patient, Leah Zonis, that he could cure her for the sum of more than 40,000 euros. Her husband, Boris Zonis, filed a complaint against the centre. ‘When she was diagnosed with cancer, a friend advised her to go to the Kabbalah Center’, Zonis said to The Guardian last week. ‘She was asked to take part in a number of activities. When her condition deteriorated, she approached the Center’s director, Moshe Rosenberg.’

The director hinted that a large sum of money might contribute towards full recovery. ‘I immediately offered to donate around 5,000 shekel, but we were told that we would have to donate a sum that would be a great deal more painful for us, he was thinking more in the region of 30,000 dollars,’ Zonis said. ‘I thought it was ridiculous, but my wife was so sick and desperate that I agreed in the end.’

Madonna was furious when the allegations were made public. ‘It would be less controversial to join the Nazi party’, she said. Earlier, the singer also drew the ire of Jewish rabbis. The song Isaac on her new CD is an ode to rabbi Isaac Luria, founder of a Kabbalah school in the 16th century. The rabbis who guard his spiritual legacy accuse her of sacrilege.

The Amsterdam rabbi Michael Portnaar, who teaches Kabbalah courses every Thursday evening, doesn’t think much about the teachings of Berg and his Center either. ‘They bring the Kabbalah down by playing upon the egoistical sentiments of people. But really the intention is to raise people above the mundane, and liberate them from their egoistical urges.’

Portnaar, too, has seen them coming: ‘Prominent Dutch and Belgian people who wanted to pay me if I could guarantee success. I told them they first needed to work on themselves. But this they would not do.’