Page 6
The Jewish Floridian and Shofar of Hollywood
Friday, April 25, 1975
m

? Ask Abe ?
by ABE HALPERN
QUESTION: Who is the au-
thor of the Zohar?
SAMUEL M. ADLER
Edison, N.J.
ANSWER: Zohar is a Hebrew
word meaning splendor, some-
times translated as brightness.
It is a central work in the
literature of Kabbalah, Jewish
mysticism. In Hebrew this work
is sometimes referred to as Seier
Ha'Zohar (Book of the Zohar)
or Sefer Zohar Torah (Book of
Splendor of the Torah).
Tradition attributes its au-
thorship to the Palestinian Tan-
na (teacher-sage) of the Tal-
mudic era, Rabbi Simeon Bar
Yohai.
Rabbi Simeon Bar Yohai of
the mid second century of the
common era was a pupil of Aki-
va, and when Akiva was impris-
oned for teaching Torah in pub-
lic, Rabbi Simeon continued to
study under and to attend him.
Later Rabbi Simeon himself
was sentenced to death. He and
his son Eleazar were compelled
to flee. They concealed them-
selves in a cave for twelve to
thirteen years and were pre-
served by a miracle until the
death decree was annulled.
Many legends were woven
around this period. It is believed
that during this time he de-
veloped the ideas embodied in
the Zohar.
In my possession I have a set
of the Zohar Commentary in
five volumes, one each for the
Five Books of Moses. Published
in New York in 1926, it is a
Hebrew translation from the
language of the Zohar, which is
Aramaic. The Aramaic and He-
brew are printed side by side.
The Hebrew translation is by
Rabbi Yode! Rosenberg. The
title inscription in every volume
reads in Hebrew "Sefer Zohar
Torah which is a commentary of
the Holy Zohar on the Torah by
Tanna, Rabbi Simeon Bar Yo-
hai."
The Encyclopaedia Judaica,
Volume 16, p. 1209, has the fol-
lowing paragraph:
"According to the deaf testi-
mony of Isaac B. Samuel of
Acre, who assembled the con-
tradictory information concern-
ing the appearance and nature
of the Zohar in the early years
of the 14th century, the book
was published, part by part, not
all at once, by the Spanish kab-
balist, Moses b. Shem Tov de
Leon, who died in 1305, after he
had met Isaac of Acre. This kab-
balist wrote many books in He-
brew bearing his name, from
1286 till after 1293. He was
connected with several kabbal-
ists of his time, including Todros
Abulafia and his son Joseph in
Toledo, one of the leaders of
Castilian Jewry, who supported
Moses de Leon."
Moses ben Siiem Tov de Leon
(1240-1305 c.e.) was apparently
born in Leon near Castile. He
is known to have writen and
published many sections of the
book which is part of the des-
ignation of the works of the
Zohar.
While authorities agree that
he published and edited many
books considered to be the main
substance of the Zohar, part of
his writings are in Aramaic.
Some scholars hesitate in
choosing between Eleazer ben
Hyr*anus and Rabbi Simeon Bar
Yohai as the heio of the con-
struction of the published works
of the 12th and 13th centuries
on the subject of the Zohar.
Most scholars agree that in
the works of Moses de Leon
there are references to other
works which he identifies as fol-
lows. "It is expounded in the in-
ner Midrashim," or "I have seen
a profound matter in the writ-
ings of the ancients," and "I saw
in the Yerushalmi." (Several
quotations from the Zohar ap-
peared under the title Yeru-
shalmi, meaning the Jerusalem
commentary.)
Quotations like these abound
in his writings. Some of them
are present in the Aramaic ver-
sion of the Zohar.
Some modern scholars at-
tribute the authorship of the
Zohar to Moses de Leon himself.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Pleiue send
questions to
??? ASK ABE ??? "V
c/o Jewish Federation of >i
South Broward
2838 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, Fta. S.1O20
Letter to The Editor
Invest In Human Decency
EDITOR, Floridian-shofar:
The dark powers of the Com-
munist forces are trying to
divide the human race into frag-
ments to conquer them later in-
dividually.
The problem facing our na-
tion today is more critical than
at any time in our history, the
division among our people is
wide, and mistrust seems to be
the way man reacts to his broth-
er.
I believe that decent Chris-
tians and Jews can help ease the
tensions of the troubled people.
Some of us have tried to work
and build a brotherhood of man
and great strides have been made
over the last fifty years, but not
great enough to stop the danger
of today.
It is increasingly vital for us
to maintain open lines of com-
munication between young and
old, minority groups and the
general community, between po-
lice and alienated segments of
the community, and to educate
for real brotherhood and against
the crime of bigotry.
We must count on all seg-
ments of our people to invest in
human decency.
EDWARD D. DINCIN
Hallandale
Hadassah Group
To Install Slate
Hemispheres Group of Hadas-
sah held its last meeting of the
season April 15 under the direc-
tion of Mrs. Gertrude Dank,
president. The 1975-76 slate of
officers was voted in and two
new life members were an-
nounced.
The group's non-profit lunch-
eon-installation will be held
Wednesday, May 7, under the
chairmanship of Mary Lipschutz,
with Ann Colin and Sima Feld-
man providing the salads and
other members preparing other
foods.
Dr. Samuel Z. Jaffe, spiritual
leader of Temple Beth El, Hol-
lywood, will be the installing of-
ficer and speaker. Members and
prospective members are invited.
Imperial Towers
Honors Lublins
At Breakfast
A breakfast celebrating the
27th Anniversary of the found-
ing of the State of Israel was
held in the Social Hall of the
Imperial North ht Hallandale
Sunday.
Guests of honor were Mr. and
Mrs. Max Lublin, residents of
the Imperial Towers and former
residents of Washington, D.C.,
who for many years have sup-
ported the State of Israel.
The Lublins have also been ac-
tive in the Histradrut Founda-
tion, Israel Bonds, and the
I'nited Jewish Appeal Israel
Emergency Fund.
Cochairmen for the function
were Leon Lear, Herbert Guild
and Herman Salners.
Special guest sjwaker was Lt.
Michal Kaplan of the Israeli
Army.
Trafalgar Towers I And II
Host UJA Meeting At Temple
An overflow group of Trafal-
gar I and Trafalgar II residents
heard a speech depicting Israel's
plight in the Mid-East delivered
by David Sella. a young Israeli
veteran, at Temple Sinai on
April 13th.
On the same occasion the resi-
d?nts of Trafalgar I honored th"ir
current president. Bernard
Glantz. and the resident-; of Tra-
falgar II honored their first pres-
ident. Samuel E. Jacobs.
Max Merbaum. a Trafalgar I
committee member, added com-
ments about his own personal ex-
periences and observations in Is-
rael.
The committees of both build-
ings are now in the process of
contacting every resident to as-
sure 100 per cent participation
in the 1975 United Jewish Ap-
peal Israel Emergency Fund
Campaign. -
Heading the committee cf res-
idents for Trafalgar I are Abra-
ham Goldberg and Adolph Co-
hen, cochairmen, and Mrs. Bene
Cohen, Allen Dinaburg. E:rnard
Glantz. Jonas Kevelson. Stephen
Mariow, Max Merbaum. Mrs.
Rosalie Oremland, Mrs. Sarah
Schecter, Louis Sher and Abra-
ham Winikoff, committee mem-
bers.
Mrs. Adeline Davis is heading
the Trafalgar II committee winch
includes Louis Ballin. Jo-eph
Davis, Samuel E. Jacobs. Matthew
Levy, Charles Mayer, Martin Nar-
rod, Charles Wolfe and Samuel
Zeal.
Mrs. Adeline Davis served as the Trafal-
gar Towers II chairperson for the UJA
meeting at Temple Sinai which featured
David Sella (right) a young Israeli Army
veteran, as guest speaker. With them are ,
Philip Kohn, (left) Trafalgar II president, '
and Samuel E. Jacobs, the building's hon-
oree. j
Among the Trafalgar Towers I residents
responsible for the success of the recent
UJA meeting at Temple Sinai were (from
left) Max Nerbaum, committee member;
Bernard Glantz, Trafalgar I honoree;
Adolph Cohen and Abraham Goldberg, co-
chairmen.
Students Being
Registered At
Beth Shalom
Dr. Fred Blumenthal, president
and chairman of the School
Board, and Dr. Morton Malavsky,
Rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom!
announce the opening of regis-
tration for the Beth Shalom Day
School for the 1975-76 school
year.
Beth Shalom's Day School is
the only private day school spe-
cializing in Jewish education in
Broward County. Its program
utilizes the concepts of modified
open classrooms and individualiz-
ed instruction with small student-
to-teacher ratio. The program en-
courages the highest level of
achievement through formal and
informal approaches. For the
next school year a fourth grade
will be added.
The school provides lunch daily
and transportation is available.
Classes are conducted from 8:30
a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Monday through
Friday.
^ A
INTRODUCTIONS for Companionship
r Mfrii|. AH Ages. WOULD
WIDE SERVICE Call (305) 491-4020
or writ* for information: LEW
DKK ENTERPRISES, 2501 E. Com-
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