<div dir="ltr">On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 2:07 PM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:T613K@aol.com">T613K@aol.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div><font style="background-color: transparent;" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2">RIT: >>As far as Christian nations and Kabbalah, one must
keep in mind that<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>Kabbalah as we know it today began in the Arab countries as
a backlash<br>against philosophy after the Expulsion from
Spain<<</div></font></div>
<div><font style="background-color: transparent;" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font style="background-color: transparent;" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2">TK: Must one keep that in mind? I don't think the
Orthodox consensus is that kabbalah only started after
the Spanish Expulsion 500 years ago. </font></div></blockquote></div><br><br>Kabbalah in its various forms has existed for a long time, but in various forms. The Kabbalah you'll see in Ramban al haTorah is not at all what we're used to. Zohar-based kabbalah, which is probably what Ira meant by "Kabbalah as we know it today" has only existed since the 1300s. (In many circles, such as IIANM sefardim, Zohar-based kabbalah has almost been eclipsed by the Arizal's kabbalah, another variant.) That the reason for its rise in popularity is as a backlash to Medieval rationalist philosophy is a historical theory, and I am not a historian to fully analyze it, but it seems to make a lot of sense.<br>
<br>KT,<br>Michael<br></div>