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Revelation versus Concealment in the Reception History of the Zohar
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This chapter explores the tension between the desire to disseminate the Zohar and the wish to limit access to it. This tension is inherent in the economic logic of cultural systems as described by Pierre Bourdieu: ‘all the goods offered tend to lose some of their relative scarcity and their distinctive value as the number of consumers both inclined and able to appropriate them grows’. To increase and maintain the value of cultural products, then, a fine balance must be struck between their circulation, on the one hand, and restrictions on their accessibility on the other. In establishing the Zohar's image as a sacred and authoritative text, some circulation was necessary; yet uncontrolled access to the book was to diminish its value. The chapter focuses on eighteenth-century popularization attempts, mainly by Sabbatians, and the reactions that followed, leading to the imposition of restrictions on kabbalistic study.
Title: Revelation versus Concealment in the Reception History of the Zohar
Description:
This chapter explores the tension between the desire to disseminate the Zohar and the wish to limit access to it.
This tension is inherent in the economic logic of cultural systems as described by Pierre Bourdieu: ‘all the goods offered tend to lose some of their relative scarcity and their distinctive value as the number of consumers both inclined and able to appropriate them grows’.
To increase and maintain the value of cultural products, then, a fine balance must be struck between their circulation, on the one hand, and restrictions on their accessibility on the other.
In establishing the Zohar's image as a sacred and authoritative text, some circulation was necessary; yet uncontrolled access to the book was to diminish its value.
The chapter focuses on eighteenth-century popularization attempts, mainly by Sabbatians, and the reactions that followed, leading to the imposition of restrictions on kabbalistic study.
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