Kabbalah Definition & Meaning

Origin of Kabbalah

Medieval Latin cabala from Hebrew qabbālâ received doctrine, tradition from qibbēl to receive qbl in Semitic roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

In this all-important doctrine of the Sephiroth, the Kabbalah insists upon the fact that these potencies are not creations of the En Soph, which would be a diminution of strength; that they form among themselves and with the En Soph a strict unity, and simply represent different aspects of the same being, just as the different rays which proceed from the light, and which appear different things to the eye, are only different manifestations of one and the same light; that for this reason they all alike partake of the perfections of the En Soph; and that as emanations from the Infinite, the Sephiroth are infinite and perfect like the En Soph, and yet constitute the first finite things.
The conjunction of the Sephiroth, or, according to the language of the Kabbalah, the union of the crowned King and Queen, produced the universe in their own image.
On the influence of the Kabbalah on the Reformation, see Stbckl, Gesch.
According to the Kabbalah all these esoteric doctrines are contained in the Hebrew Scriptures.
To him were attributed the important legal homilies called Sifre and Mekhilta (see Midrash), and above all the Zohar, the Bible of the Kabbalah.

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