The Treatise on the Left Emanation () is a Kabbalistic text by Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob ha-Cohen, who with his brother Jacob traveled in Spain and Provence in the period of 1260–1280.Arthur Versluis, Magic and Mysticism: an Introduction to Western Esotericism (2007) p. 65: "We must also note the appearance, in the thirteenth century, of the "Treatise on the Left Emanation" by Isaac ha-Kohen, who with his brother Jacob traveled in Spain and Provence in the period of 1260-1280"
Scholars credit this text with being the first to present a "comprehensive concept of evil", bearing a striking resemblance to that found in Gnosticism. It is also the first to treat Samael and Lilith as a couple, likely inspiring later such depictions in the Zohar.
Isaac may be the pseudepigraphic author of other texts including the Pseudo-R. Eleazar Responsum, and the Pseudo-R. Yehushiel Responsa.Mark Verman, The Books of Contemplation: Medieval Jewish Mystical Sources (1992) p. 176
Publication and translation Gershom Scholem published the Hebrew text in "Kabbalot R. Yaakov veR. Yitzhak" (1927). Mada'e hayahadut. Vol. 2. f. 82r ff. Professor Ronald C. Kiener, published an incomplete translation in The Early Kabbalah, New York: Paulist Press, 1986. A complete translation from Hebrew to English has been published in 2023.
See also Lilith Sitra Achra Moses de Leon Zohar
External links
Treatise on the Left Emanation on the site of the National Library of Israel Treatise on the Left Emanation on the site of the National Library of Israel
References