Bibliography for the Study of Cordoverian Kabbalah - Part 1: English translations of Cordovero's works

To begin our study of Cordoverian Kabbalah, we will make a bibliography of study materials.  This list is not intended to be comprehensive of all scholarly aspects of Cordoverian Kabbalah, but just the sources that myself am studying and find useful.  As I continue my research and as the status of these publications changes, I will update this list accordingly. 

First, the primary texts that are available in English.  Only a small percentage of Cordovero's original work has been translated into English.  Let's begin by looking at those works that have been fully translated.

Tomer Devorah - The Palm Tree of Deborah

Tomer Devorah is a very short ethical treatise that is probably Cordovero's most successful work, in terms of its popularity today.  It begins with the idea that to cleave to the sefirot, we must imitate the qualities of the sefirot in our daily actions, especially in our interaction with others.  It consists of a lengthy first chapter on the 13 attributes of Mercy, followed by chapters on each of the sefirot.

The book is available in English translation by Moshe Miller (1993).  It features an introduction and endnotes, as well as the original Hebrew text.  Unfortunately, scholars have pointed out many factual errors in the introduction, so it is not very useful.  There is no notation in the text to indicate which lines have been comment on in the endnotes.  It is out of print, but fortunately there are copies available through Amazon.




There is another translation of Tomer Devorah available on the web.  The host reports that he does not know who the translation is by, but suspects it is by Louis Jacobs (1960).  Here is the link:

http://www.digital-brilliance.com/contributed/deborah/deborah.htm



Or Ne'erav - A Pleasant Light

Described as "an introduction to Kabbalah", Or Ne'erav serves several purposes.  First, there are two main parts to the book.  Part one intends to guide new students who are getting started on the Kabbalistic path.  It first deals with some of the opinions regarding the study of Kabbalah that were current in RaMaK's day, and to give the student the right perspective from which to approach his studies.  There is a chapter on the manner and time of study, dealing also with the consideration of qualified teachers and independent study.  Next follows a chapter on the virtues that can be attained through these studies.  Part two is a very concise summary of essential Kabbalistic teachings, dealing with the main theoretical and philosophical approaches that RaMaK deals with much more extensively in other works.  It is organized by the chapters in Pardes Rimonim, but leaves out some of the more technical systems altogether.  Also at the end is a kind of Kabbalistic dictionary, where much of the technical vocabulary found in Kabbalistic writings is shown in its symbolic correspondences with various sefirot, worlds, angels, and divine names and attributes.

Or Ne'erav is a good way to see how Cordovero studies Kabbalah, but in many ways it is not really an "introduction to Kabbalah".  It could somewhat be called an "introduction to Cordoverian Kabbalah" but even that is misleading.  One of its main purposes in being written was to address the issues of Kabbalistic education that were pressing in his mind at the time, and also to give a kind of "reader's digest" version of the much larger and more complete Pardes Rimonim.

Or Ne'erav is available in English translation by Ira Robinson (1994).  It features a fairly thorough introduction and many scholarly footnotes throughout the text.  There is a bibliography and index of passages quoted by Cordovero in the text.






Pardes Rimonim - The Garden of Pomegranates

Pardes Rimonim is Cordovero's most valuable work among the hardcore Kabbalists.  It could very well be given the subtitle "The Textbook of Kabbalah".  In 32 separate treatises, he attempts to bring together all aspects of Kabbalistic tradition, drawing from source texts such as Sefer Yetzirah, Sefer Bahir, and Sefer haZohar, as well as the writings of many of the great Kabbalists from the previous generations.

The Pardes is organized thematically, dealing first with the doctrines of the sefirot, their ordering and structure, ways of representing them, and their qualities.  It later moves into very technical considerations of letters, vowels, vocalizations, and permutations.  There is also a much more complete Kabbalistic dictionary than what is given in Or Ne'erav, and runs over 100 pages in the Hebrew text.

I will have much more to say about Pardes and its contentson this blog.  Let me point out here the availability of P.R. in English translation.  It is currently in the process of being translated by Elyakim Getz from Providence University.  Their plan is to publish the work in 12 separate volumes.  Currently the first four are available, but I don't know exactly when the remaining volumes will be released.  I will say that the quality of the translation is very readable, although it is lacking many features that would be present in a top-notch scholarly translation.  Regardless, I highly recommend the translation from Providence University as a primary source text for studying Cordoverian Kabbalah.  The publisher is operating on a fairly low budget, so their books are quite expensive.  It is still worth getting, and those who support their efforts are helping to fund future translation projects.  Here are the links to the first four volumes on Amazon:




In the next post, I will list the Hebrew editions of Cordovero's works.  After that, we will look at a few scholarly studies of Cordovero and some other books that deal with aspects of Cordoverian Kabbalah.  To wrap up the bibliography, we will look at some of the works that directly influenced Cordovero, as well as works that Cordovero had a direct influence on.