The Formation of the Zoharic Canon

This chapter details the formation of the zoharic manuscript collections, from the early fourteenth century until the first print editions in the second half of the sixteenth century. Cultural goods such as pictures, books, dictionaries, instruments, and the like are forms of ‘cultural capital’, that is, they are part of the knowledge and skills that give people cultural advantages which in turn enable them to attain or preserve a higher status in society. The chapter argues that the collectors and scribes of the zoharic manuscripts were accumulating cultural capital: possession of these texts, and the ability to quote from them, increased the power and influence of those who copied, collected, and edited them. As long as the scope of the zoharic canon remained undefined, that is, before the printing of the book, the collectors and editors strove to compile collections as comprehensive as they could, and thus enhance their cultural capital. This process shaped, to a great extent, the scope of the zoharic canon, which was ultimately defined by the first printers of zoharic literature in the second half of the sixteenth century.