Zohar

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Zohar
Title page of the first printed edition of the Zohar, Mantua, 1558
Information
Religion	Judaism
Author	Moses de León
Language	Aramaic
Period	High medieval
Full text
Zohar at Hebrew Wikisource
Zohar at English Wikisource

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The Zohar (Hebrew: זֹהַר‎, Zōhar, lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance"^[a]) is a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature.^[1] It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah (the five books of Moses) and scriptural interpretations as well as material on mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology. The Zohar contains discussions of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, redemption, the relationship of Ego^{[citation needed]} to Darkness and "true self" to "The Light of God".

The Zohar was first publicized by Moses de León (c. 1240 – 1305 CE), who claimed it was a Tannaitic work recording the teachings of Simeon ben Yochai^[b] (c. 100 CE). This claim is universally rejected by modern scholars, most of whom believe de León, also an infamous forger of Geonic material, wrote the book himself between 1280 and 1286. Some scholars argue that the Zohar is the work of multiple medieval authors and/or contains a small amount of genuinely antique novel material. Later additions to the Zohar, including Tiqqune hazZohar and Ra'ya Meheimna, were composed by a 14th century imitator.

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