Editing Zohar (section)

===Modern religious views===

In 1892, [[Adolf Neubauer]] called on the [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] rabbinate to reject the ''Zohar'' as a forgery and to remove Zoharic prayers from the liturgy.<ref name=":6" /> However, [[Yechiel Michel Epstein]] (d. 1908) and [[Yisrael Meir Kagan]] (d. 1933) both believed in the authenticity of the ''Zohar'', as did [[Menachem Mendel Kasher]] (d. 1983), [[Aryeh Kaplan]] (d. 1983),<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Kaplan |first=Aryeh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3uc8zB5FRoC |title=Meditation and Kabbalah |date=1985-01-01 |publisher=Weiser Books |isbn=978-0-87728-616-5 |pages=28 |language=en}}</ref> [[David Luria]] (d. 1855),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.daat.ac.il/daat/kitveyet/sinay/hazohar-2.htm |title=Sinai |publisher=Daat.ac.il |access-date=2012-06-06}}</ref> and [[Chaim Kanievsky]] (d. 2022).<ref name=":3" /> The foremost halachik authority of the 20th Century, Moshe Feinstein, stated unequivocally that the ''Zohar'' and ''Tikkunim'' are words of the Tannaim. <ref>https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=920&st=&pgnum=5</ref> [[Aryeh Carmell]] (d. 2006) did not, and [[Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler|Eliyahu Dessler]] (d. 1953) accepted the possibility that it was composed in the 13th century. [[Gedaliah Nadel]] (d. 2004) was unsure if the ''Zohar'' were genuine but was sure that it is acceptable to believe that it is not.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140830135654/http://www.zootorah.com/controversy/ZoharEnglish.pdf#page=39 An Analysis of the Authenticity of the Zohar] (2005), p. 39, with "Rav E" and "Rav G" later identified by the author as Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler and Rabbi Gedaliah Nadel, respectively (Rabbi Dr. [[Marc Shapiro]] in [https://web.archive.org/web/20120416154417/http://www.yctorah.org/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,1861/ Milin Havivin Volume 5] [2011], Is there an obligation to believe that Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai wrote the ''Zohar''?, p. יב [PDF page 133]):
<br />"I approached Rav A [Aryeh Carmell] with some of the questions on the ''Zohar'', and he responded to me - 'and what about [[Niqqud|nikud]]? Nikud is also mentioned in the Zohar despite the fact that it [is] from [[Geonim|Geonic]] times!' he said. I later found this comment in the Mitpachas Seforim. I would just add that not only is nikud mentioned, but only the [[Tiberian vocalization|Tiberian Nikkud]] - the norm in Europe of the middle ages - is mentioned and not the [[Palestinian vocalization|Yerushalmi nikud]] or [[Babylonian vocalization|the Babylonian one]] — which was used then in the Middle East, and is still used by [[Yemenite Jews|Yemenites]] today. Also the [[Hebrew cantillation|Taamay Hamikrah]] - the trop - are referred to in the Zohar - only by their [[Sephardic Jews|Sefardi]] Names. Rav A told me a remarkable piece of testimony: 'My rebbe (this is how he generally refers to Rav E [Elijah Dessler]) accepted the possibility that the Zohar was written sometime in the 13th century.{{' "}}
<br />"Rav G [Gedaliah Nadel] told me that he was still unsure as to the origin and status of the Zohar, but told me it was my absolute right to draw any conclusions I saw fit regarding both the Zohar and the [[Isaac Luria|Ari]]."</ref> [[Ovadia Yosef]] (d. 2013) held that Orthodox Jews should accept the ''Zohar''<nowiki/>'s antiquity in practice based on medieval precedent, but agreed that rejecting it is rational and religiously valid.<ref name=":3">Shapiro, Marc (2010). "האם יש חיוב להאמין שהזוהר נכתב על ידי שמעון בן יוחאי?". [https://web.archive.org/web/20120416154417/http://www.yctorah.org/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,1861/ ''מילין חביבין'' (5)]: 1–20.</ref> [[Joseph Hertz]] (d. 1946) called the claim of ben Yochai's authorship "untenable", citing [[Gershom Scholem]]'s evidence.<ref>''Sermons, Addresses and Studies,'' vol. 3 p. 308.</ref> [[Samuel Belkin]] (d. 1976) argued that the Mystical Midrash section, specifically, predated de León.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Belkin |first=Samuel |date=1956 |title=haMidrash haNeelam uMKorotav |journal=Sura |volume= |issue=3 |pages=25ff}}</ref> [[Joseph B. Soloveitchik]] (d. 1993) apparently dismissed the ''Zohar''<nowiki/>'s antiquity.<ref name=":3" /> [[Moses Gaster]] (d. 1939) wrote that the claim of ben Yochai's authorship was "untenable" but that Moses de León had compiled earlier material.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gaster |first=Moses |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.500005/page/n884/ |title=Encyclopaedia Of Religion And Ethics Vol.12 |date=1921 |editor-last=Hastings |editor-first=James |editor-link=James Hastings |pages=858ff |language= |chapter=Zohar |author-link=Moses Gaster}}</ref> [[Meir Mazuz]] (alive) accepts Emden's arguments.<ref name=":3" /> [[Yeshayahu Leibowitz]] wrote (1990) that "Moses de León composed the ''Zohar'' in the 1270s as certainly as [[Theodor Herzl]] composed ''[[Der Judenstaat]]'' in the 1890s ... the ''Zohar'' was influential because in every generation the idolatrous influence outpowers the true faith".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Leibowitz |first1=Yeshayahu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IY3XAAAAMAAJ |title=רציתי לשאול אותך, פרופ׳ ליבוביץ־־: מכתבים אל ישעיהו ליבוביץ וממנו |last2=ליבוביץ |first2=ישעיהו |date=1999 |publisher=כתר |isbn=978-965-07-0807-8 |pages=59–60 |language=he}}</ref>