Zohar and Kabbalah - Daniel Matt

Why the Zohar Matters

Daniel Matt presents the Zohar as a challenging, deliberately cryptic work that can reshape readers’ ideas about God and spiritual life. It distinguishes between:

• En Sof (“without end”): God’s infinite, unknowable reality, beyond human categories such as gender and personality.
• The Sefirot: ten qualities or manifestations through which the divine becomes accessible to human understanding. In the Zohar, these include both masculine and feminine aspects of God.

The lecture’s central theological claim is that human conduct affects the divine realm. Living ethically and holily helps unite the masculine and feminine aspects of God; human actions can either foster or hinder that union. God is portrayed not as static, but as dynamically unfolding.

The Roots and Emergence of Kabbalah

Matt traces Jewish mysticism back well before medieval Kabbalah. He points to the biblical vision in Ezekiel, in which the prophet sees a divine figure on a heavenly throne. This vision inspired the tradition known as Maaseh Merkavah, or “the account of the chariot.” Mystical seekers studied and reimagined Ezekiel’s vision, sometimes undertaking arduous spiritual preparation and seeking access to heavenly palaces.

The term Kabbalah means “that which has been received” or “tradition.” Kabbalah took recognizable form in Provence during the 12th century and developed further in 13th-century Spain. Matt distinguishes the broad mystical tradition of Kabbalah from the Zohar, its major text.

The Zohar’s Authorship and “New Ancient” Character

The Zohar began circulating in Spain around 1280, in lyrical, invented-word-rich Aramaic. Moses de León presented it as an ancient work associated with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a 2nd-century sage. Matt says most scholars agree that Moses de León composed most of it in the 13th century, while drawing on earlier material and possibly collaborating with other Kabbalists.

Matt discusses several possible reasons for attributing the work to an ancient authority: the claim may have helped readers accept its radical ideas; Moses de León may have believed he was channeling or communicating with Rabbi Shimon; and financial considerations may also have played a role. The lecture recounts a medieval story in which de León’s wife reportedly said he wrote the work himself, though Matt cautions that the story is secondhand and may not be reliable.

The Zohar is thus “new ancient”: a medieval work rooted in older Jewish texts and traditions, but also committed to fresh interpretation. Its repeated invitation to revisit a verse—“come and see”—expresses the value it places on creative discovery. Matt cites the Kabbalist Jacob ben Sheshet’s view that it is a religious good deed to innovate in Torah interpretation.

How the Zohar Reads Scripture

The Zohar is mainly a mystical commentary on the Torah, but it also reads like a story of wandering sages who encounter strange and unexpectedly wise people. Matt compares its journeys and imaginative quests with works by Dante, Chaucer, and Cervantes.

Its interpretive method looks beyond the peshat, or plain meaning, of biblical text. The Zohar treats each verse as a starting point for uncovering deeper meanings, and it may reverse the apparent sense of a verse to make a theological point. Matt emphasizes that the work’s questions and interpretive boldness are often as important as its conclusions.

The Sefirot and the Divine Image

Matt explains the Sefirot as aspects of divine life, while stressing that they do not depict God’s ultimate reality: En Sof remains beyond representation. A few examples illustrate the system:

• Chesed means love or lovingkindness. It is associated with Abraham, whose hospitality embodies this quality.
• Gevurah represents power or judgment. It is associated with Isaac and the experience of the binding at the altar.
• Tiferet balances these qualities and is associated with Jacob.
• Malkhut, also called Shekhinah, is the feminine divine presence. Tiferet is often represented as masculine; their union is a central goal of the system.
• At the top of the system, Keter (“crown”) is also called Ayin (“nothingness”). This does not mean that God does not exist; it means God is “no thing,” beyond ordinary categories of being. From this unknowable source, the Sefirah of Chokhmah (“wisdom”) emerges as a point or ray of light, which expands into Binah, associated with understanding and the divine name Elohim.

Using the opening words of Genesis, Bereshit bara Elohim, the Zohar plays on the Hebrew word order and reads the phrase as “With beginning, [the unknowable divine] created God”—that is, the hidden infinite source brings forth Elohim, identified with Binah. Matt presents this as a poetic way of saying that human ideas of God do not exhaust the infinite divine reality.

Shekhinah: God’s Feminine Presence

The lecture identifies the Zohar’s most radical contribution as its strong portrayal of Shekhinah as the feminine aspect of God and partner of the masculine divine. The term is not used in the Bible, but it derives from the biblical idea of God dwelling among the people. In rabbinic tradition, Shekhinah is associated with God’s presence everywhere and with God accompanying Israel in exile. The Zohar develops these themes into a more explicitly feminine image.

Matt discusses a Talmudic story in which Rabbi Yosef rises when he hears his mother approaching, saying he is rising before the Shekhinah. He treats this as an early hint of a feminine association, while noting that the Zohar develops the idea much more fully. He also explains a Zohar reading of Genesis: the Hebrew word et, which marks a direct object and spans the alphabet from aleph to tav, becomes a symbolic name for Shekhinah. The verse about God driving Adam from Eden is then reread as Adam having first driven out or separated from Shekhinah.

Matt places this development in both Jewish and broader historical contexts. He describes it as new within medieval Jewish writing, yet as recalling older Near Eastern traditions of goddesses that biblical writers opposed. He also suggests that Christian devotion to Mary in 13th-century Spain may have encouraged Jewish writers to give greater attention to the divine feminine. He cautions that the theological idea did not immediately translate into women’s social or political equality.

The Wheat Parable and Levels of Torah Study

Matt closes with a Zohar parable about a mountain-dweller who eats plain wheat kernels. When offered bread, loaves, and rich pastries, he dismisses them all because they are made from wheat. He knows the basic ingredient but misses the different forms, experiences, and meanings that can develop from it.

Matt interprets the story as a warning against reducing Torah to its basic or literal meaning and against assuming that grasping an abstract spiritual essence is enough. The parable also criticizes overly ascetic approaches that reject the richness of lived experience. Understanding should be developed, enjoyed, and applied in life and community; teachers, too, must show learners what can be made from the “wheat.”

The discussion connects the parable to the four traditional levels of interpretation, remembered by the acronym Pardes:

• Peshat — the plain or literal meaning.
• Remez — an allusion or hint.
• Derash — interpretation or exposition, including Midrash.
• Sod — the secret or mystical meaning.

The lecture’s broader lesson is that Torah invites movement among levels of meaning rather than fixation on only one.

Discussion After the Lecture

In response to audience questions, Matt says that Christian devotion to Mary and the intellectual climate of 13th-century Spain may have influenced the prominence of the feminine in the Zohar. He mentions Alfonso X’s efforts to collect and translate knowledge, including works translated by Jewish and Muslim scholars. He also stresses that there is no single, final “authentic Kabbalah”: the tradition continued to develop. Isaac Luria’s 16th-century system became dominant, but Matt says his own interest is especially in reading the Zohar on its own terms.

Speakers and Sources Mentioned

Speakers

• Daniel Matt — lecturer and principal speaker.
• Audience members — unnamed participants who ask questions and offer comments during the discussion.

Texts, Traditions, and Other Sources Discussed

• The Zohar and the broader tradition of Kabbalah.
• The Hebrew Bible/Torah, especially Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Ezekiel, Proverbs, Daniel, and Jeremiah.
• The Talmud and Midrash.
• Sefer Yetzirah and Tikkunei Zohar.
• The Maaseh Merkavah tradition of mystical interpretation of Ezekiel’s chariot vision.
• A medieval account concerning Moses de León and his wife, presented with Matt’s caution that it is secondhand.
• An archaeological inscription referring to the God of Israel and Asherah.

Historical, Scholarly, and Literary Figures Referenced

• Maimonides; Rabbi Akiva; Rabbi Ishmael; Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai; Moses de León; Jacob ben Sheshet; Gershom Scholem; Alfonso X; Isaac Luria.
• Meister Eckhart and John of the Cross.
• Dante, Chaucer, and Cervantes (Don Quixote).