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The tree of life (Hebrew: עֵץ חַיִּים, romanized: ʿēṣ ḥayyim or no: אִילָן, romanized: ʾilān, lit. 'tree') is a diagram used in Rabbinical Judaism in kabbalah and other mystical traditions derived from it.[1] It is usually referred to as the "kabbalistic tree of life" to distinguish it from the tree of life that appears alongside the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Genesis creation narrative and well as the archetypal tree of life found in many cultures.[2]
Simo Parpola asserted that the concept of a tree of life with different spheres encompassing aspects of reality traces its origins back to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the ninth century BCE.[2] The Assyrians assigned moral values and specific numbers to Mesopotamian deities similar to those used in Kabbalah and claims that the state tied these to sacred tree images as a model of the king parallel to the idea of Adam Kadmon.[2] However, J. H. Chajes states that the ilan should be regarded as primarily indebted to the Porphyrian tree and maps of the celestial spheres rather than to any speculative ancient sources, Assyrian or otherwise.[3]
Kabbalah's beginnings date to the Middle Ages, originating in the Bahir[4] and the Zohar.[5] Although the earliest extant Hebrew kabbalistic manuscripts dating to the late 13th century contain diagrams, including one labelled "Tree of Wisdom," the now-iconic tree of life emerged during the fourteenth century.[6]
The iconic representation first appeared in print on the cover of the Latin translation of Gates of Light in the year 1516.[7] Scholars have traced the origin of the art in the Porta Lucis cover to Johann Reuchlin.[8]
- ^ Parpola (1993).
- ^ a b c Parpola (1993); Welch & Parry (2011).
- ^ Chajes (2020); Chajes (2020b).
- ^ Scholem (1987), p. [page needed].
- ^ Ashlag (1977), p. 12.
- ^ Chajes (2020); Chajes (2022), pp. 6–36.
- ^ Low (2015), p. [page needed].
- ^ Van Heertum (2005): "The Inventory of Reuchlin's Hebrew works [...] lists Porta lucis under no. 35 [...] This is the first representation of the sefirotic tree in print".