The Treatise on the Left Emanation (Hebrew: מאמר על האצילות השמאלית, romanized: Ma'amar al ha-Atzilut haSimalit) is a Kabbalistic text by Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob ha-Cohen, who with his brother Jacob traveled in Spain and Provence in the period of 1260–1280.
Scholars credit this text with being the first to present a "comprehensive concept of evil", bearing a striking resemblance to that found in Gnosticism. It is also the first to treat Samael and Lilith as a couple, likely inspiring later such depictions in the Zohar.
Isaac may be the pseudepigraphic author of other texts including the Pseudo-R. Eleazar Responsum, and the Pseudo-R. Yehushiel Responsa.
Translation
- Professor Ronald C. Kiener, published an incomplete translation in The Early Kabbalah, New York: Paulist Press, 1986.
- A complete translation from Hebrew to English has been published in 2023.
See also
References
- Arthur Versluis, Magic and Mysticism: an Introduction to Western Esotericism (2007) p. 65: "We must also note the appearance, in the thirteenth century, of the "Treatise on the Left Emanation" by Isaac ha-Kohen, who with his brother Jacob traveled in Spain and Provence in the period of 1260-1280"
- Dan, Joseph (1980). "Samael, Lilith, and the Concept of Evil in Early Kabbalah". AJS Review. 5: 17–40. doi:10.1017/S0364009400011831. JSTOR 1486451.
- Mark Verman, The Books of Contemplation: Medieval Jewish Mystical Sources (1992) p. 176
- Isaac, ha-Kohen (2023). Treatise on the Left Emanation. ISBN 979-8861657914.
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