The Zohar, or Book of Splendour, is the foundation text of the Kabbalah, the famous theosophical teaching central to Jewish mysticism. This marvellous book, attributed to a 2nd-century rabbi, Schimeon Ben Yochai, was at first kept secret and only brought to wider notice by the 13th-century Spanish rabbi Moses de León.


Kabbalah is the principal source of Jewish mysticism and has inspired centuries of mystical experience, influenced initially by personal encounters with God, such as those of Ezekiel and Moses in the Hebrew Bible. Its influence has penetrated Christian esotericism, and today Jews and non-Jews alike derive spiritual meaning from the Kabbalah.


This fine and authoritative translation of essential passages in the Zohar is by Samuel Liddel MacGregor Mathers, a key figure in the Order of the Golden Dawn. The foreword is by the renowned Kabbalah scholar Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi.


The Sacred Text series offers essential selections from the major writings of the world's spiritual traditions in reliable and accessible translations – editions to treasure and inspire.