Introduction

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Zohar. The Zohar is one of the most sacred, authoritative, and influential books in Jewish culture, and it has also attracted the interest of many non-Jews. It is a collection of texts which were probably written by several Castilian authors in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Soon after their first appearance, these texts came to be perceived as part of a literary work attributed to the tana R. Shimon bar Yohai (Rashbi) and called ‘the Zohar’. From its earliest appearance, several kabbalistic circles invested the Zohar with a status of authority and holiness. Yet it only became widely accepted as a pre-eminent source of doctrines, laws, and customs after the finalization and printing of the zoharic corpus in the sixteenth century. However, conflicting approaches to the Zohar have persisted to the present day. There are those who believe in its sanctity and authority, while others appreciate its literary and historical value. Interest in the Zohar has grown significantly in recent years, and its study, ritual reading, research, commentary, translation, and printing have proliferated.