1. The _Sepher Yesirah_, or "book of creation," not the old Hilkoth Y. ("rules of creation"), which belongs to the Talmudic period (on which see Kohler, _Jew. Ency._ xii. 602 seq.), but a later treatise, a combination of medieval natural philosophy and mysticism. It has been variously ascribed to the patriarch Abraham and to the illustrious rabbi 'Aqiba; its essential elements, however, maybe of the 3rd or 4th century A.D., and it is apparently earlier than the 9th (see L. Ginzberg, _op. cit._ 603 sqq.). It has "had a greater influence on the development of the Jewish mind than almost any other book after the completion of the Talmud" (ibid.).
2. The _Bahir_ ("brilliant," Job. xxxvii. 21), though ascribed to Nehunyah b. Haqqanah (1st century A.D.), is first quoted by Nahmanides, and is now attributed to his teacher Ezra or Azriel (1160-1238). It shows the influence of the _Sepher Yesirah_, is marked by the teaching of a celestial Trinity, is a rough outline of what the _Zohar_ was destined to be, and gave the first opening to a thorough study of metaphysics among the Jews. (See further 1. Broydé, _Jew. Ency._ ii. 442 seq.).
3. The _Zohar_ ("shining," Dan. xii. 3) is a commentary on the Pentateuch, according to its division into fifty-two hebdomadal lessons. It begins with the exposition of Gen. i. 4 ("let there be light") and includes eleven dissertations: (1) "Additions and Supplements"; (2) "The Mansions and Abodes," describing the structure of paradise and hell; (3) "The Mysteries of the Pentateuch," describing the evolution of the Sephiroth, &c.; (4) "The Hidden Interpretation," deducing esoteric doctrine from the narratives in the Pentateuch; (5) "The Faithful Shepherd," recording discussions between Moses the faithful shepherd, the prophet Elijah and R. Simon b. Yohai, the reputed compiler of the _Zohar_; (6) "The Secret of Secrets," a treatise on physiognomy and psychology; (7) "The Aged," i.e. the prophet Elijah, discoursing with R. Simon on the doctrine of transmigration as evolved from Exod. xxi. 1-xxiv. 18; (8) "The Book of Secrets," discourses on cosmogony and demonology; (9) "The Great Assembly," discourses of R. Simon to his numerous assembly of disciples on the form of the Deity and on pneumatology; (10) "The Young Man," discourses by young men of superhuman origin on the mysteries of ablutions; and (11) "The Small Assembly," containing the discourses on the Sephiroth which R. Simon delivered to the small congregation of six surviving disciples. The _Zohar_ pretends to be a compilation made by Simon b. Yohai (the second century A.D.) of doctrines which God communicated to Adam in Paradise, and which have been received uninterruptedly from the mouths of the patriarchs and prophets. It was discovered, so the story went, in a cavern in Galilee where it had been hidden for a thousand years. Amongst the many facts, however, established by modern criticism which prove the _Zohar_ to be a compilation of the 13th century, are the following: (1) the _Zohar_ itself praises most fulsomely R. Simon, its reputed author, and exalts him above Moses; (2) it mystically explains the Hebrew vowel points, which did not obtain till 570; (3) the compiler borrows two verses from the celebrated hymn called "The Royal Diadem," written by Ibn Gabirol, who was born about 1021; (4) it mentions the capture of Jerusalem by the crusaders and the re-taking of the Holy City by the Saracens; (5) it speaks of the comet which appeared at Rome, 15th July 1264, under the pontificate of Urban IV.; (6) by a slip the _Zohar_ assigns a reason why its contents were not revealed before 5060-5066 A.M., i.e. 1300-1306 A.D., (7) the doctrine of the En Soph and the Sephiroth was not known before the 13th century; and (8) the very existence of the _Zohar_ itself was not known prior to the 13th century. Hence it is now believed that Moses de Leon (d. 1305), who first circulated and sold the _Zohar_ as the production of R. Simon, was himself the author or compiler. That eminent scholars both in the synagogue and in the church should have been induced to believe in its antiquity is owing to the fact that the _Zohar_ embodies many older opinions and doctrines, and the undoubted antiquity of some of them has served as a lever in the minds of these scholars to raise the late speculations about the En Soph, the Sephiroth, &c., to the same age.