The Zohar’s Literary and Mystical Vision

From the 15th century onward, the Zohar has been recognized as the central text of Kabbalah. This complex, unusual, and often obscure book combines a midrashic commentary on the Torah, an extended narrative about a group of 2nd-century rabbis, and what Daniel Matt calls a “biography of God.” In conversation with J.J. Kimche, Matt—who supervised a comprehensive translation of the Zohar into English—discusses its literary form, its theology, its use of language, and its critique of Christianity. He also addresses the six-century-old controversy over the work’s origins, observing that “the more we learn about the authorship of the Zohar, the more mysterious it is.” (Audio, 70 minutes.)