Editing Zohar (section)

==== Influences ====
Academic studies of the ''Zohar'' show that many of its ideas are based in the Talmud, various works of [[midrash]], and earlier Jewish mystical works. Scholem writes:<ref name=":0" />

:The writer had expert knowledge of the early material and he often used it as a foundation for his expositions, putting into it variations of his own. His main sources were the [[Talmud#Babylonian Talmud|Babylonian Talmud]], the complete [[Midrash Rabba|Midrash Rabbah]], the [[Midrash Tanhuma]], and the two Pesiktot ([[Pesikta de-Rav Kahana|Pesikta De-Rav Kahana]] or [[Pesikta Rabbati]]), the [[Midrash Tehillim|Midrash on Psalms]], the [[Pirkei De-Rabbi Eliezer|Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer]], and the [[Targum Onkelos]]. Generally speaking, they are not quoted exactly, but translated into the peculiar style of the ''Zohar'' and summarized. [...]
:Less use is made of the [[Midrash halakha|halakhic Midrashim]], the [[Jerusalem Talmud]], and the other [[Targum]]s, nor of the Midrashim like the [[Shir HaShirim Rabbah|Aggadat Shir ha-Shirim]], the [[Midrash Proverbs|Midrash on Proverbs]], and the [[Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva|Alfabet de-R. Akiva]]. It is not clear whether the author used the [[Yalkut Shimoni|Yalkut Simeoni]], or whether he knew the sources of its [[aggadah]] separately. Of the smaller Midrashim he used the [[Hekhalot literature|Heikhalot Rabbati]], the [[Alphabet of Sirach|Alfabet de-Ben Sira]], the [[Apocalypse of Zerubbabel|Sefer Zerubabel]], the [[Baraita de-Ma'aseh Bereshit]], [and many others] [...]
At the same time, Scholem says, the author "invent[ed] a number of fictitious works that the ''Zohar'' supposedly quotes, ''e.g.'', the Sifra de-Adam, the Sifra de-Hanokh, the Sifra di-Shelomo Malka, the Sifra de-Rav Hamnuna Sava, the Sifra de-Rav Yeiva Sava, the Sifra de-Aggadeta, the Raza de-Razin and many others."

The ''Zohar'' also draws from the [[Jewish commentaries on the Bible|Bible commentaries]] written by medieval rabbis, including [[Rashi]], [[Abraham ibn Ezra]], [[David Kimhi]] and even authorities as late as [[Nachmanides]] and [[Maimonides]], and earlier mystical texts such as the ''[[Sefer Yetzirah]]'' and the ''[[Bahir]]'' and the medieval writings of the [[Ashkenazi Hasidim|Hasidei Ashkenaz]].

Another influence that Scholem, and scholars like Yehudah Liebes and Ronit Meroz have identified<ref name="bostonglobe.com">{{cite web |title=A mysterious medieval text, decrypted - The Boston Globe |website=[[The Boston Globe]] |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2016/06/25/glinter-kabbalah/cz5YaC9jDc3ZVwTB6L7e7L/story.html}}</ref> was a circle of Spanish Kabbalists in [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]] who dealt with the appearance of an evil side emanating from within the world of the [[sefirot]]. Scholem saw this [[Dualism in cosmology|dualism]] of good and evil within the Godhead as a kind of [[Gnosticism|gnostic]] inclination within Kabbalah, and as a predecessor of the ''[[Qlippoth|Sitra Ahra]]'' (the other, evil side) in the ''Zohar''. The main text of the Castile circle, the ''[[Treatise on the Left Emanation]]'', was written by [[Jacob ha-Cohen]] around 1265.<ref>[[Joseph Dan|Dan, Joseph]] ''Kabbalah: a Very Short Introduction'', Oxford University Press, 2006, p 22</ref>