The Holy Grail - The Zohar of Antiquity - revised 4...As he explained, when he was young, Rav Berg revealed some secrets about the Holy Grail: It was not a cup, dish or stone with

The Holy Grail: The Zohar of Antiquity Dr. Peter D. Matthews

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ © 2017-9 inclusive Dr Peter D Matthews. All rights reserved. This academic paper may be freely used for academic purposes, subject to citing Dr Peter D Matthews as the author.

Page 1

Background

I had Billy Phillips from California contact me, who a student of the wisdom of Kabbalah and the eminent Jewish Kabbalist Rav Berg. He was interested in my research into the Bassano and Nasi-Benveniste families and their involvement with the Zohar, and their connections with the Knights Templar during the Crusades. He asked me if I could assist him by researching: the Knights Templar, the Holy Grail legend, the Benveniste family connections to the Knights Templar, how the Jews ultimately financed the Crusades, forcibly or otherwise, the Templar’s visit to Rabbi Solomon Bar Isaac of Troyes (1040-1105) (Rashi), and his incredible prophecy upon Godfrey of Bouillon that might have won and lost them the Temple of Jerusalem. If only they knew the curse upon the ancient scrolls they stole from the Temple of Jerusalem, then maybe Christendom would still hold the Temple Mount to this very day.

Billy had asserted that he had found evidence linking my research to the Holy Grail – The Zohar of Antiquity. As he explained, when he was young, Rav Berg revealed some secrets about the Holy Grail: It was not a cup, dish or stone with miraculous powers according to Arthurian legend, but it was the original Zohar of Antiquity as stated within its own text dating back to the 2nd century tannaitic sage, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Rashbi). He told me how he had archaeologists working in Troyes and had uncovered some documents leading to the Zohar. Now this was of particular interest to me, because the Bassano family were involved in the first printing of The Zohar of Mantua (1557 edition and three volume edition of 1558-60) using the printing press of Giacomo Rufinelli, supervised by a Jewish Rabbi at the Mantuan synagogue by the name of Rabbi Isaac

Figure 1 - Archaeology Site - Outside Southwest Corner Temple Mount - Jerusalem Israel © Copyright 2007 David King, Flickr.



Page 2

Bassano.1 I was certainly up for the challenge, however I would like to discuss a few facts about the Nasi-Benveniste families that I have discovered since publication of ‘Shakespeare Exhumed: The Bassano Chronicles’ and Volume One of ‘Genesis of the Shakespearean Works’ as a background that may surprise even the astute historian or philosopher.

The Nasi-Benveniste Families

My research that Billy was interested in was prompted by Antonio Bassano (The Merchant of Venice) marrying Elena [de] Nasi in Venice on 10 August 1536.2 His brother Jacomo Bassano married her sister Julia de Nasi on the same day. Both were daughters of the Venetian banker and silk merchant named Benedetto [de] Nasi (the Great),3 who was of the Nasi-Benveniste lineages that first appeared in official Jewish documents in Narbonne, Barcelona, and Aragon in the 8th century. In 756AD Abd al-Rahman, the Muslim Ummayid emir of Cordoba, refused to recognize the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad. Prince Charlemagne while standing in for his father Pepin the Short, visited Bagdad and attempted to get Rabbi Makhir to surrender Moorish Narbonne under the Umayyad governor Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri on the pledge of a grant of extensive lands, marriage of a royal princess, and an act that called forth of a protest against Pope Stephen III, Rabbi Makhir agreed on the basis he held royal status of the title of Jewish Principate.4 The result was an uprising in Narbonne and the Ummayid's rule of 40 years ended in 759AD.

Whilst both the ‘Annals of Aniane’ and the ‘Chronicle of Moissac’ attribute the massacre of the Saracen garrison to the Gothic leaders, Professor Arthur Zuckerman asserts Rabbi Makhir is France’s national hero Maghario, Viscount of Narbonne, the very same Aymeri de Narbonne who fought alongside Charlemagne.5 Makhir did in fact receive his royal status of “Theodoric IV” and married Auda Martel, Pepin the Short’s sister, Charlemagne’s aunt, and was granted lands just as Charlemagne pledged. Therefore, Makhir’s son was William of Gellone. Because of this marriage to Auda Martel, Makhir’s descendants became royalty in Burgundy, Spain, Bavaria and Saxony. I have spent considerable time proving the Nasi genealogy, particularly Rabbi Makhir ben Yehudah Zakkai (Makhir) whose lineage of Exilarchs has been proven from Makhir to Jehoiachin (Jeconiah), King of Judah. The Chief Rabbi in Babylon was Rabbi Zakkai-Yehuda bed David, 29th Exilarch Judah II, Son of David Avraham ben Hazub, Exilarch Rab David II, haSofer b'Pumbeditha. Rabbi Zakkai-Yehuda bed David was the father of Rabbi Makhir ben Yehudah Zakkai (Makhir) who was also born in Babylon and both came to France.6 Later their families became the Jewish Administrators and tax collectors for the Kingdom of Aragon and Castile up until the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492AD.7

There were four chief rabbinic houses that descended from the lineage of King David that were brought over from Bagdad (Old Babylon from Aramaic in Babylonian Talmud - "Bag̲h̲dād") at the

1 Matthews, Dr Peter D (2013), Shakespeare Exhumed: The Bassano Chronicles, Bassano Publishing House, Australia, ISBN 9780987365255, pp. 200-201. 2 Glover, Stephen (1829) The History of the County of Derby – Part 2, Harvard University, p. 575. 3 Ibid. 4 Chronicle of Moissactheo 5 Zuckerman, Arthur J (1965), The Nasi of Frankland in the Ninth Century and the 'Colaphus Judaeorum' in Toulouse, Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 33, pp. 51-82. 6 The PEDIGREE of Makir Theodoric AYMERI, Exilarchs back from Makhir to Jehoiachin (Jeconiah), King of Judah. https://fabpedigree.com/s042/f000004.htm 7 Matthews, Dr Peter D (2013), Shakespeare Exhumed: The Bassano Chronicles, Bassano Publishing House, Australia, ISBN 9780987365255, pp. 60-2, 70.



Page 3

request of the Pepin the Short,8 who setup a large Jewish settlement in Narbonne,9 in the south of France.10 The four rabbinic families were given the title “de la Cavalleria” (of the Knights) - a name given by the Knights Templar to their treasurers and tax collectors), and “Don” – a noble person in Aragon and Castile.11 Their original names were Makhir, Hasdai, Sheshet and Shealtiel. Below is the lineage of Rabbi Makhir ben Yehudah Zakkai (Makhir), showing his father, and grandfather, and his children.

Family Tree of David Avraham ben Hazub, Exilarch ‘Rab David II’, haSofer b'Pumbeditha to William of Gellone.

8 Duri, A.A. (2012), Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.): Baghdad, https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/*-COM_0084 Rayan, Abu (2017), Kindled from a Blessed Tree: The Templars, CreateSpace. ISBN 9781544663357, also Abraham ibn Daud, (circa 1161), Sefer ha-Qabbalah (Sefer Ha-Bahir). 9 Asher, Adolf (1800-1853), The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, Hakesheth Publishing Co., New York, pp. 31-2. 10 Benvenisti, David (1984), From Saloniki to Jerusalem - Chapters in Life: Testimony of Meron, Refael and Eyal Benvenisti. http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/benveniste 11 Benvenisti, David (1984), From Saloniki to Jerusalem - Chapters in Life: Testimony of Meron, Refael and Eyal Benvenisti. http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/benveniste



Page 4

The family bore the title of “Nasi” and “Benveniste” in official and legal documents throughout six centuries, and were granted lands according to Charlemagne’s pledge. The other three chief Rabbis from Babylon also took on the name “Nasi” and “Benveniste”. They no longer referred to themselves in their original Babylonian names, although some of their descendants did, but became “Nasi” which means “prince” from the Davidic lineage of King David and Solomon, and “Benveniste” which means “your arrival was good” from the Spanish.12 An interesting connection to Emilia Bassano’s 1611 books of original Kabbalistic poems ‘Salve Deus Rex Judæorum’ (Hail God, King of the Jews) is an earlier Royal Letter of 1364 that records the existence of a “rex Iudaeorum” (King of the Jews) at Narbonne, speaking of Rabbi Makhir.13The Bassano-Nasi family descend from one of these four families. I wonder whether Emilia left us a clue as to which one?

I have also traced Rabbi Yitzhak ben Chyzkia Shealtiel, and the Hasdai family whose son was appointed personal physician to the caliphate Abd ar-Rahman III (912-961). In Numbers 26:1-4 it is recorded how a new census was done:

After the plague had ended, [a] the Lord said to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, 2 “From the whole community of Israel, record the names of all the warriors by their families. List all the men twenty years old or older who are able to go to war.” 3 So there on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho, Moses and Eleazar the priest issued these instructions to the leaders of Israel: 4 “List all the men of Israel twenty years old and older, just as the Lord commanded Moses.” This is the record of all the descendants of Israel who came out of Egypt.14

The census was also for the distribution of lands, and Numbers 32:39 states, “Then the descendants of Makir of the tribe of Manasseh went to Gilead and conquered it, and they drove out the Amorites living there. So Moses gave Gilead to the Makirites, descendants of Manasseh, and they settled there.” We also find in Joshua 17:1 the division of land to Makir, the first born son of Manasseh:

The next allotment of land was given to the half-tribe of Manasseh, the descendants of Joseph’s older son. Makir, the firstborn son of Manasseh, was the father of Gilead. Because his descendants were experienced soldiers, the regions of Gilead and Bashan on the east side of the Jordan had already been given to them.15

These are the ancestors of Rabbi Makhir ben Yehudah Zakkai (Makhir), who we can unequivocally confirm is the Davidic lineage of Manasseh. They also appear in ‘The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela’ from the 12th century, who were spoken of by another Rabbi as “wise, learned, princely men”.16

The descendants of Rabbi Yitzhak ben Chyzkia Shealtiel are mentioned in the anonymous 12th century Castilian epic poem ‘El Cantar de mio Cid’ (The Poem of the Cid), which is literally an epic story of love and war of El Cid, who married the cousin of King Alfonso VI, Doña Ximena. Rabbi Yitzhak’s son Mar Solomon Shealtiel, also known as Felez Ferruz, rode with El Cid with fifty of his Knights of Santiago (Spanish Order of Knights) to Carrion, with a total troops of nine hundred hidalgo (noble) knights and five hundred esquires on foot under King Alfonso VI of Castile-Leon.17

12 Benvenisti, David (1984), From Saloniki to Jerusalem - Chapters in Life: Testimony of Meron, Refael and Eyal Benvenisti. http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/benveniste 13 Doat Collection, pp. 53 et seq., 339-353. 14 Numbers 26:1-4 NLT. 15 Joshua 17:1 NLT. 16 Asher, Adolf (1800-1853), The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, Hakesheth Publishing Co., New York, pp. 31-2,50 17 Southey, Robert (1808), Chronicle of the Cid: From the Spanish. Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, p280. https://ia800303.us.archive.org/8/items/chronicleofcid00sout/chronicleofcid00sout.pdf



Page 5

This is most interesting because the Bassano’s cited ‘Old feeble Carrions, and such suffering Soules’ in Act 2, Scene 1 of Julius Caesar. This refers to the Carrion Jews in Spain, not far from Belmonte de Miranda (The Merchant of Venice),18 who were murdered, imprisoned, and their houses burned to the ground in 1109, after Alfonso VI died. In the final scene of Julius Caesar there is an interesting Zoharic imagery of Creation:

I could be well mou'd, if I were as you, If I could pray to mooue, Prayers would mooue me: But I am constant as the Northerne Starre, Of whose true fixt, and resting quality, There is no fellow in the Firmament. The Skies are painted with vnnumbred sparkes, They are all Fire, and euery one doth shine: But, there's but one in all doth hold his place.19

In the Hasdai lineage, we find Hasdai ibn Shaprut (915-970AD) served as the Jewish vizier (Minister of State) for the Umayyad Muslim leader Abd al-Rahman III from 940-961 and his successor al-Hakam II from 961 – 970 until he passed away.20 Marylin Allen in her Master’s Degree Thesis discovered, “together these two built an educational structure to support scholarly and cultural advancement. They put the scholars and translation teams in place that would impact generations to come, laying much of the foundation for the later European Renaissance.”21 Serving in his position as Jewish Statement, Hasdai ibn Shaprut helped fund advanced scholars in science, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, philosophy, religion, and military. Allen asserted, “He had a similar desire for Jewish spiritual independence from the eastern Jewish intellectual and religious authorities.”22 We find his grandson Yehosúa ben Yosef ibn Ezra Nasi became King Alfonso VII’s Lord Chamberlain, hence the reason Jews of Carrion were protected, whereby the king ordered equality between Christians and Jews.23

Vidal Benveniste de Porta, became an official of Barcelona and the tax collector and treasurer (bailiff) of King Jaume I of Aragon in the 12th century. His brother was Moses ben Nahman-Nasi (Bonastruc ça Porta) (1194-1207AD) also known as “Nahmanides”, the famous Kabbalist who legitimized the Zohar in his commentary of the Bible.24 Their cousin was Rabbi Jonah ben Abraham Gerondi who wrote many works, most famously his work on Sha'arei Teshuvah (The Gates of Repentance) and his commentary on Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers). The Benveniste family were in favour with the King, especially Vidal Benveniste de Porta, so much so that on May 29, 1264, Nahmanides was pardoned for the alleged crime of “vituperating Jesus in the celebrated disputation of 1263” where he was remitted, and the king expressly stating that the

18Matthews, Dr Peter D (2013), Shakespeare Exhumed: The Bassano Chronicles, Bassano Publishing House, Australia, ISBN 9780987365255, pp. 223-224. 19 F1, JC 3.1.1266-73. 20 Allen, Marilyn Penn (2008), Cultural Flourishing in 10th Century Muslim Spain Amongst Jews and Christians, Georgetown University, p49. https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/553279/allenmarilyn.pdf?sequence=1 21 Ibid, Abstract, p.iv. 22 Ibid, p43. 23 Matthews, Dr Peter D. (2019), Genesis of the Shakespearean Works, Volume Two, Bassano Publishing House, Stanthorpe, Australia. 24 Wein, Rabbi Berel (2011), Nachmanides, https://www.jewishhistory.org/nachmanides/



Page 6

pardon was given "amore Benveniste de Porta, fratris tui" because of your (love Benveniste de Porta for your brother).25

Don Vidal Benveniste administered the finances of the Knights of the ‘Order of Santiago’ whose original objectives were the same as the Knights Templar, which were to protect the pilgrim of St. James' Way, to defend Christendom, and to drive out the Muslim Moors from the Iberian Peninsula. Later they also loaned money to many kingdoms like the Knights Templar of St. John. Don Vidal Benveniste was elected as speaker before the Pope by Jewish nobles of Aragon at the beginning of the disputation of Tortosa.26

The First Crusade

In the lead-up to the First Crusade, many Jews remained in the courts of King Louis VII of France up until he passed away on 18 September 1180AD. Soon after Philip August II of France (1180-1223AD) succeeded Louis VII at the age of fifteen, the Christian Monk Rigord reported, he despoiled all of the Jewish synagogues of their gold, silver and the garments:

By his command, the Jews throughout all France were seized in their synagogues and then bespoiled of their gold and silver and garments, as the Jews themselves had spoiled the Egyptians at their exodus from Egypt.27

Philip’s next vile act against the Jews was to listen to Bernard the Hermit, who convinced him of releasing all Christians of all loans made by Jews in France, but this was not an act towards the average poor fellow of France by Philip, because the “Nasi-Benveniste” family had loaned the crown of France more than Philip could ever pay, so what Philip was really doing was expelling the Jews to forgive his own ever-increasing massive debt, and kept 20% of the collections for himself. It was recorded by Rigord in the Gesta Philippi Augusti as follows:

He took counsel with a certain hermit, Bernard by name, a holy and religious man, who at that time dwelt in the forest of Vincennes, and asked him what he should do. By his advice the King released all Christians of his kingdom from their debts to the Jews, and kept a fifth part of the whole amount for himself… In the year of our Lord's Incarnation 1182, in the month of April, which is called by the Jews Nisan, an edict went forth from the most serene king, Philip Augustus, that all the Jews of his kingdom should be prepared to go forth by the coming feast of St. John the Baptist [June 24]. And then the King gave them leave to sell each his movable goods before the time fixed, that is, the feast of St. John the Baptist. But their real estate, that is, houses, fields, vineyards, barns, winepresses, and such like, he reserved for himself and his successors, the kings of the French. [Some of this wealth may have been used to build the Louvre.]28

During the First Crusade, four official Crusader armies started out for Palestine led by French and Norman nobility led by Godfrey of Bouillon and his brothers (Eustace and Baldwin of Boulogne), Raymond of Toulouse (Saint-Gilles), Bohemond of Taranto, and Robert of Flanders, with a collective infantry of around 30,000 Crusaders, consisting of 5,000 Knights, 25,000 infantry, including a large number of senior clerics in the Church.29 Godfrey of Bouillon and his

25 Singer, Isidore (1907), The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, Volume 3, Funk & Wagnalls, p42. 26 Baer, Yitzhak (2001) A History of the Jews in Christian Spain – Vol II, Varda Books, Illinios, USA. 27 Marcus, Jacob (1978), The Jew in the Medieval World: A Sourcebook, Atheneum, taken from The Expulsion of the Jews from France, 1182 CE. Fordham University. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/jewish/1182-jewsfrance1.asp 28 Ibid. 29 Murray, Alan V. (1992), The army of Godfrey of Bouillon, 1096-1099 : Structure and dynamics of a contingent on the First Crusade, Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire, pp. 301-29. https://www.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_1992_num_70_2_3824



Page 7

band of Teutonic Knights slaughtered thousands of Rhineland Jews, in the pursuit of gold, silver and other possessions along the way to fund their cause. Whilst most of the Crusaders burnt their books of Divinity, some of the Crusaders were interested in their books, Raymond of Toulouse (a Nasi-Benveniste descendant), who were interested in their torah scrolls, codexes, and particularly the early Zoharic texts, because of their mystic masonic traditions dating back to Egyptian times. Albert of Aix recorded throughout the Rhineland how the Crusaders murdered the Jews, destroyed their houses and synagogues, and took all of their possessions:

I know n whether by a judgment of the Lord, or by some error of mind;, they rose in a spirit of cruelty against the Jewish people scattered throughout these cities and slaughtered them without mercy, especially in the Kingdom of Lorraine, asserting it to be the beginning of their expedition and their duty against the enemies of the Christian faith. This slaughter of Jews was done first by citizens of Cologne. These suddenly fell upon a small band of Jews and severely wounded and killed many; they destroyed the houses and synagogues of the Jews and divided among themselves a very large, amount of money. When the Jews saw this cruelty, about two hundred in the silence of the night began flight by boat to Neuss. The pilgrims and crusaders discovered them, and after taking away all their possessions, inflicted on them similar slaughter, leaving not even one alive.30

It was recorded that The Count of Emicho and Flonheim was a vir militaris (military commander) with lands in the area of Mainz. He raised an army that persecuted the Jews of Speyer, Worms, Mainz and Cologne in the name of Jesus, believing he would ultimately march on Constantinople and overcome the forces of darkness and fulfil the book of Revelation. Some scholars claim The Count of Emicho’s atrocities against the Jews of the Rhineland were not typical of the Knights Templar, but research confirms these atrocities might have been carried out by Godfrey himself.31 They began their expedition from the Kingdom of Lorraine slaughtering Jews without mercy, which is where Godfrey was from.32 Godfrey was there in the Rhineland during these massacres of 1096, as he extorted money from many Jewish communities along the way. The Hebrew chronicles of 1096 tells of how he threatened to harm Rabbi Kalonymous ben Mashullam, who wrote to Emperor Henry IV to restrain his noble. A large gift of silver by way of extortion was conveyed to Godfrey,33 thus the Jews funded the Crusades in one way or another. The Count of Emicho (Godfrey) led a band of Teutonic Knights (Germanic Templar Order) in pursuit of great riches and spoils that continued them all the way to Jerusalem:34

There Count Emico, a nobleman, a very mighty man in this region, was awaiting, with a large band of Teutons, the arrival of the pilgrims who were coming thither from diverse lands by the King's highway. The Jews of this city, knowing of the slaughter of their brethren, and that they themselves could not escape the hands of so many, fled in hope of safety to Bishop Rothard. They put an infinite treasure in his guard and trust, having much faith in his protection, because he was Bishop of the city. Then that excellent Bishop of the city cautiously set aside the incredible amount of money received from them. He placed the Jews in the very spacious hall of his own house, away

30 Krey, August C. (1921), The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and Participants, Princeton, pp 54-6. Albert of Aix and Ekkehard of Aura: Emico and the Slaughter of the Rhineland Jews. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/1096jews.asp 31 Sicherman, Harvey; Gevaryahu, Gilad, J. (1999), Rashi and the First Crusade: Commentary, Liturgy, Legend, Judaism:spring 1999. p5. http://www.gevaryahu.com/Rashi%20and%20the%20First%20CrusadeWP.pdf Sicherman found the original manuscript which identified the Count of Emicho as “Godfrey”. 32 Krey, August C. (1921), The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and Participants, Princeton, pp 54-6. Albert of Aix and Ekkehard of Aura: Emico and the Slaughter of the Rhineland Jews. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/1096jews.asp 33 Sicherman, Harvey; Gevaryahu, Gilad, J. (1999), Rashi and the First Crusade: Commentary, Liturgy, Legend, Judaism: spring 1999. p5. http://www.gevaryahu.com/Rashi%20and%20the%20First%20CrusadeWP.pdf Sicherman found the original manuscript which identified the Count of Emicho as “Godfrey”. 34 Ibid.



Page 8

from the sight of Count Emico and his followers, that they might remain safe and sound in a very secure and strong place. But Emico and the rest of his band held a council and, after sunrise, attacked the Jews in the hall with arrows and lances. Breaking the bolts and doors, they killed the Jews, about seven hundred in number, who in vain resisted the force and attack of so many thousands. They killed the women, also, and with their swords pierced tender children of whatever age and sex. The Jews, seeing that their Christian enemies were attacking them and their children, and that they were sparing no age, likewise fell upon one another, brother, children, wives, and sisters, and thus they perished at each other's hands. Horrible to say, mothers cut the throats of nursing children with knives and stabbed others, preferring them to perish thus by their own hands rather than to be killed by the weapons of the uncircumcised. From this cruel slaughter of the Jews a few escaped; and a few because of fear, rather than because of love of the Christian faith, were baptized. With very great spoils taken from these people, Count Emico, Clarebold, Thomas, and all that intolerable company of men and women then continued on their way to Jerusalem, directing their course towards the Kingdom of Hungary, where passage along the royal highway was usually not denied the pilgrims.35

From a Hebrew perspective, the victims numbered more than 10,000, and I recently learned one of those martyred souls, Asher ha-Levi, a disciple of Isaac ben Eleazar, and Rashi, who was from the same ha-Levi lineage as me, died together with his mother, his two brothers, and some of their families.36

The Siege of Jerusalem

During the First Crusade, in the Siege of Jerusalem, Raymond of Toulouse (Saint-Gilles), was interested in the Hebrew and Aramaic Torah scrolls, codex’s, and other volumes. The Crusaders under the command of Raymond of Toulouse captured numerous Muslim ‘prisoners of war’ and effectively looted two hundred and thirty bible codices including the ֶּכֶתר ֲאָרם צֹוָבא (Aleppo Codex), one hundred other volumes, and eight Torah scrolls,37 which he deported and held ransom from the southern Italian region of Apulia.38 After Jerusalem fell, the following letter was sent from three prominent members of a Jews community to another town asking for financial assistance:

We thank the Most High who gave us the opportunity of fulfilling this pious deed, and granted to you to take a share in it with us. We spent the money for the ransom of some of the captives, after due consideration of the instructions contained in your letter, that is, we send what was available to those who [had already been ransomed.] We did not fail to reply to what you have written us, and indeed we answered, but we were seeking a man who would bring our reply to you. Afterwards it happened that these illnesses came upon us; plague, pestilence, and leprosy, which filled our minds with anxiety, that we ourselves or some of our relatives might be stricken with the disease. A man whom we trust went from here and must have explained to you the position with respect to the sums you sent: that they reached us safely and that they were spent in the manner indicated [in your letter.] News still reaches us that among those who were redeemed from the Franks and remained in Ascalon some are in danger of dying of want. Others remained in captivity, and yet others were killed before the eyes of the rest, who themselves were killed afterwards with all manner of tortures; [for the enemy murdered them] in order to give vent to his anger on them. We did not hear of a single man of Israel who was in such plight without exerting ourselves to do all that was in our power to

35 Krey, August C. (1921), The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and Participants, Princeton, pp 54-6. Albert of Aix and Ekkehard of Aura: Emico and the Slaughter of the Rhineland Jews. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/1096jews.asp 36 Liber, Maurice (1906), Rashi, The Jewish Publication Society of America. 37 Rustow, Marina (2014), Heresy and the Politics of Community: The Jews of the Fatimid Caliphate, Cornell University Press, ISBN 9780801455308, pp. 343-4. 38 Goitein, S.D. (1952), Contemporary Letters on the Capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, Journal of Jewish Studies 3, pp. 162-177.



Page 9

save him. The Most High has granted opportunities of relief and deliverance to individual fugitives, of which the first most perfect instance—after the compassion of Heaven—has been the presence in Ascalon of the honourable Shaykh ‘Abu l-Fadl Sahl son of Yusha ‘son of Shay’a (may God preserve him), an agent of the sultan (may God bestow glory upon his victories), whose influence is great in Alexandria where his word is very much heeded. He arranged matters wisely and took great pain in securing the ransom; but it would require a lengthy discourse to explain how he did it. But he could only ransom some of the people and had to leave the others. In the end, all those who could be ransomed from [the Franks] were liberated, and only a few whom they kept remained in their hands, including a boy of about eight years of age. It is reported that the Franks urged the latter to embrace the Christian faith of his own free will and promised to treat him well, but he told them, how could he become a Christian priest and be left in peace by them [the Jews], who had disbursed on his behalf a great sum. Until this day these captives remain in their [Franks] hands; as well as those who were taken to Antioch, but these are few; and not counting those who abjured their faith because they lost patience as it was not possible to ransom them, and because they despaired of being permitted to go free. We were not informed, praise be to the Most High, that the accursed ones who are called Ashkenazim (Germans) violated or raped women, as did the others. Now, among those who have reached safety are some who escaped on the second and third days following the battle and left with the governor who was granted safe conduct; and others who, after having being caught by the Franks, remained in their hands for some time and escaped in the end; these are but few. The majority consists of those who were ransomed. To our sorrow, some of them ended their lives under all kind of suffering and affliction. The privations which they had to endure caused some of them to leave for this country without food or protection against the cold, and they died on the way. Others in a similar way perished at sea; and yet others after having arrived here safely, became exposed to a "change of air"; they came at the height of the plague, and a number of them died. And when the aforementioned honoured shaykh arrived, he brought a group of them, i.e., the bulk of those who had reached Ascalon; he spent the Sabbath and celebrated Passover with them on the way in the manner as is required by such circumstances. He contracted a private loan for the sum that he had to pay the camel drivers and for their maintenance on the way as well as caravan guards and for other expenses, after having already spent other sums of money, which he did not charge to the community.39

The Karaite Jewish community of Ascalon paid the ransom at the extremely high price of 700 dinars plus communal property, medical treatment and potions, and practically whatever the Crusaders demanded over a period of months during negotiations.40 This was quite a sum of money because twenty-five dinars was around a year’s income for a lower middle class family, so 700 dinars was the yearly income for an entire Jewish ghetto.41 The Jews paid a heavy price for their relics during the Crusade. In a way, the Jewish communities of Fustat and Ascalon funded the Crusades, along with the thousands of Jews who were murdered for their riches along the way.

The Curse

Interestingly, there is an inscription on the Aleppo Codex that defiles any person stealing the Codex, which may have been the very reason the Crusaders lost the Temple Mount:

Among the inscriptions that were on the Aleppo Codex there was one inscription half in Arabic and half in Hebrew. This inscription was on the first page of the codex, and it relates the ransoming of

39 Contemporary Letters on the Capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, Journal of Jewish Studies, Vol 3, No 4. 1952, pp 162-77. 40 Rustow, Marina (2014), Heresy and the Politics of Community: The Jews of the Fatimid Caliphate, Cornell University Press, ISBN 9780801455308, pp. 343-4. 41 Meri, Josef, W. (2006) Medieval Islamic Civilisation: An Encyclopedia, https://epdf.tips/medieval-islamic-civilization-an-encyclopedia.html



Page 10

the Keter and its dedication to the synagogue in Old Cairo known as “Knisat {Knesset?}That an Arabic form of the word. Yerushalayim” YES NO, because its founders and members had come from Jerusalem. The inscription describes the stage at which the Keter reached Egypt, and here is a translation of it: Transferred [to the possession of the synagogue of the Jerusalemites] according to the law of redemption from imprisonment [in which it had fallen] in Jerusalem, the Holy City, may it be rebuilt and re-established, to the congregation in Egypt of Knisat Yerushalayim, may it be built and established in the life of Israel. “Blessed be he who preserves it and cursed be he who steals it, and cursed be he who sells it, and cursed be he who pawns it. It may not be sold and it may not be defiled forever.” The declaration that ownership of the book was transferred according to the law of redemption from the captivity, into which it had fallen in Jerusalem, is important, because it justifies violating the prohibition against selling it, which is stated specifically in the earlier dedicatory inscriptions, written by the Karaites in Jerusalem.42

This refers to the Hebrew Prophet Zechariah who wrote in post exile after the first fall of Jerusalem in circa 576BC during the reign of Darius, in Zechariah 5:1-3 as follows:

1I looked up again and saw a scroll flying through the air. 2“What do you see?” the angel asked. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied. “It appears to be about 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.” 3Then he said to me, “This scroll contains the curse that is going out over the entire land. One side of the scroll says that those who steal will be banished from the land; the other side says that those who swear falsely will be banished from the land. 4And this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: I am sending this curse into the house of every thief and into the house of everyone who swears falsely using my name. And my curse will remain in that house and completely destroy it—even its timbers and stones.”

Clearly, according to Scripture, the Crusaders were cursed, and this may have been the reason Christendom does not still hold the Temple Mount to this day.

The Grail Legend

The myth of the ‘Holy Grail’ first appeared in written text in Chrétien de Troyes's Old French verse romance, the Conte del Graal (Story of the Grail), or “Perceval”, dated circa 1180 AD,43 which culminated a number of further works in verse and prose over the next two centuries telling of the story of the Grail (a cup or bowl of Christ) from the Crucifixion to the death of King Arthur, with a number of variants. From the 19th century, Tennyson, Wagner, Williams, C.S. Lewis, and John Cowper Powys wrote of the grail as a mysterious object, not necessarily a cup, though shrouded with mystical power.

A number of Jewish Kabbalists, believe the Holy Grail is The Zohar - the greatest force of divine energy known to man, the Tree of Life from the earliest books of the Zohar, such of the Sefer Yetzirah, Sefer Ha-Bahir, and the Zohar of antiquity that is believed to be authored by the 2nd century tannaitic sage Shimon bar Yochai (Rashbi), although some scholars dispute this until now, allegedly claiming it was written by its Spanish translator Rabbi Moses ben Shem Tov de León (circa 1240 – 1305AD). The Zohar was first printed in Mantua in 1557 as Tikunei haZohar in a single volume edition, then expounded in a three volume edition of 1558-60, using the printing press of Giacomo Rufinelli, supervised by a Jewish Rabbi at the Mantuan synagogue by the name of Rabbi Isaac Bassano.44 42 The Vicissitudes of the Aleppo Codex: 4.4 The Crusades and the Ransoming of Books, http://www.aleppocodex.org/10.html 43 Quest of the Holy Grail, British Library. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/mythical/grail.html 44 Matthews, Dr Peter D (2013), Shakespeare Exhumed: The Bassano Chronicles, Bassano Publishing House, Australia, ISBN 9780987365255, pp. 200-201.



Page 11

The Bassano family taught Kabbalah in Venice long before the Zohar was printed. There are numerous evidences including, testimonies during the inquisition,45 and the fact that their Kabbalistic books that were banned in 1554 by the Index Librorum Prohibitorum under the heading of “de occulta philosophia fy de uanitate scientiarum” whereby the Catholic Church assumed Bassano’s Jewish Kabbalistic literary works were ‘secret (occulta) philosophy and the vanity of science’.46 Another evidence that the Zohar was taught in Venice is Fugger's 1549 Venetian manuscript ‘Sefer ha-Zohar’ (Book of Zohar) that existed ten years before the Mantuan publication. It is currently housed in the German Collection, in the Bavarian State Library in Munich.47

Now we have to ascertain whether the Crusaders excavated below the Temple Mount and discovered the Zohar of Antiquity, as a couple of minor commentators have suggested. Clearly, Raymond of Toulouse and the Templar did find two hundred and thirty bible codices including the ֶּכֶתר ֲאָרם צֹוָבא (Aleppo Codex), one hundred other volumes, and eight Torah scrolls,48 which he deported and held ransom from the southern Italian region of Apulia. It is not unreasonable to suggest the Sefer Yetzirah, Sefer Ha-Bahir, and the Zohar of Antiquity may have been amongst these numerous documents found in the Temple of Jerusalem.

Many Masonic writers have discussed the possibility that the Knights Templar excavated below the Temple, with various mysterious conjectures of carving and pillars where the Templars might have found a secret room below the Temple Mount. However, due to the extreme political sensitivity of the site, few archaeological excavations have been conducted on the Temple Mount since that time. There is little evidence of any major excavations below the Temple Mount, only that it was used as a stables during the times of the Crusaders. The fact is Freemasonry was practised in medieval England soon after the time of the Crusades, when the Knights Templar took Jerusalem.49 This would suggest that the Crusaders did in fact find some, if not all, of the Zoharic texts in Jerusalem, or possibly from Troyes as Billy believes via information from Rashi. The Templars had numerous scribes with them, and any number of documents could have been copied before they were provided to the Karaite Jewish community.

I tend to think: why would they need to excavate since they had access to the documents in the Temple? The Crusaders took a number of the priests and Muslim clerics prisoners, and no doubt they would have revealed the location eventually under torture. The only reason I can see the Crusaders would have excavated is to uncover Solomon’s Temple for the Masonic legend of Hiram Abiff, who Masons claim was murdered during the time of King Solomon just outside the Temple grounds and was raised from the dead after three days in a Messiah style resurrection story. They teach the secret of the craft, and how to rebuild the Temple using “Enoch's stone” – a keystone of sorts in the base of the building “bearing the Name of God”.50 These Masonic secrets are allegedly buried under the Temple by order of King Solomon. This may explain why they may have excavated below the Temple Mount.

45 Matthews, Dr Peter D. (2017), Genesis of the Shakespearean Works, Volume One, Bassano Publishing House, Stanthorpe, Australia, ISBN 9780992461607, p281. 46 Ibid, p271. 47 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Fugger's Venetian Sefer ha-Zohar, Obj ID:21102. http://cja.huji.ac.il/browser.php?mode=set&id=21102 48 Rustow, Marina (2014), Heresy and the Politics of Community: The Jews of the Fatimid Caliphate, Cornell University Press, ISBN 9780801455308, pp. 343-4. 49 Prescott, Dr Andrew (2007), A History of British Freemasonry 1425-2000, Centre for Research into Freemasonry. http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/prescott16.html 50 Kitchen, Yvonne (2002), Freemasonry: Death in the Family, Fruitful Vine Publishing House, ISBN 9780646348070.



Page 12

The Prophecy

According to a rather wide-spread legend, Godfrey of Bouillon having heard rumours of the knowledge and wisdom of Rabbi Solomon Bar Isaac of Troyes (1040-1105) (Rashi), and Godfrey came to Rashi’s home to discuss his plan to take Jerusalem. This is the story of Rashi and Godfrey of Bouillon as told by the Spanish-Venetian Rabbi Gedalya Ibn Yahya (1526-1587) in his story ‘Salselet ha-Kabbalâh’ (The Chain of Tradition) or the ‘Chain of Kabbalah’, and the prophecy that Rashi delivered over Godfrey:

I saw it written that there was a certain noble in France named Gottfried in the Greek tongue [Godfrey of Bouillon]. He was a brave soldier, cruel, and a man of destruction. The wisdom of Rashi was known even among the nations, for all nations came to seek him out. [Godfrey] sent for him from the city of Lemrina [Le Mans?], but Rashi refused to go, for he knew about the man. The noble was furious, and he rode with his entire guard to the house of Rashi. He arrived at his study hall and found all the gates open, and all the books open, but nobody was to be seen. He called out loudly, “Solomon! Solomon!” Rashi answered, “What does my master wish?” The noble responded, “Where are you?” Rashi answered, “Here I am!” and they went through this several times. By then the noble was quite amazed. He left the study hall and asked, “Has there been a Jew here?” One of the students appeared before him, and the noble said to him, “Tell your master that he should come to me, and I guarantee him by my head that he will suffer no hurt.” With this Rashi came down to the noble and bowed before him. The noble bid him rise and said to him, “Now I have seen your wisdom. It is therefore my desire that you advise me concerning a great matter that I must undertake, and it is this. I have prepared 100,000 knights and 200 great ships, for it is my desire to capture Jerusalem. I also have 7,000 other knights in the city of Acre, and I have faith in God that I will overcome the Ishmaelites [Muslims] who live there, for they do not possess the knowledge of military technique. Therefore, tell me what you think and do not fear.” Then Rashi responded with only a few words. “You will go and capture Jerusalem, and you will rule over it for three days, but on the fourth day the Ishmaelites will evict you, and you will run away. You will return to this city with three horses.” The noble was very bitter. He responded, “What you say may come true, but if I return with even four horses, I will feed your flesh to the dogs and kill every Jew in France.” … [Godfrey] returned with three horses in addition to his own, following the many wars that he conducted—for it continued four years. He remembered the words of Rashi, and he intended to harm him. God, however, thwarted his plan, for when he entered the gate of the city, a stone fell from the gate’s lintel and killed one of his companions together with the horse on which he rode. The noble was deeply shocked and admitted that the words of the Jew had come true. He came to Rashi to bow before him before he returned to his home, but he discovered that [Rashi] had passed away. He mourned over him very much.51

Some say the legend was embellished by some addition of details, which I have not included here, as this is the earliest written source I could locate, however the late American Jewish writer Harvey Sicherman uncovered Gedalya’s manuscript where Godfrey is described as “Lord of Provence and Lorraine and Anicho (Emicho)” and is identified as “royal descent” which means Godfrey may have also been the Count of Emicho and Flonheim who slaughtered all of the Rhineland Jews, because records only assert the Count of Emicho and his men were involved.52 After all it was Godfrey who swore to “go on this journey only after avenging the blood of the crucified one by shedding Jewish blood and completely eradicating any trace of those bearing the

51 Yahya, Rabbi Gedaliah ibn (1587), Shalshelet ha-Kabbalah (The Chain of Tradition). 52 Sicherman, Harvey; Gevaryahu, Gilad, J. (1999), Rashi and the First Crusade: Commentary, Liturgy, Legend, Judaism: Spring 1999. p8. http://www.gevaryahu.com/Rashi%20and%20the%20First%20CrusadeWP.pdf



Page 13

name 'Jew,' thus assuaging his own burning wrath.”53 When Godfrey and his men searched for Rashi, they found no trace. Sicherman stated:

“The language is obscure: ‘he ascended above in rooms within rooms’ may refer to Rashi's hiding in the attic. His Beit Midrash, or study hall, probably a typically gabled house, could have had an upper chamber not easily accessible. He can see the duke but the duke cannot see him. The duke, in any event, attributes this to magic or "wisdom"; Rashi wisely refuses to appear except under safe conduct and then ‘comes down.’”54

The timing of Rashi’s death was in fact five years after Godfrey’s, but could this just have been a cunning Rabbi who had hid in his attic once again, knowing God did not want him to come down to pay homage to him. Rashi no doubt angered Pope Urban II and Godfrey with his ‘Tankhuma’ to begin his commentary on ‘Breishit’ followed by ‘Breishit Bara’, where he refuted Christian claim to the Holy Land, during the time when his prophecy over Godfrey came true. There is substantial evidence from numerous sources to suggest Rashi and Godfrey had a long and close relationship. Sicherman tells that Rashi was well known throughout France where even judges would call upon him as "Litorai Publicho" for decisions on commercial and family law.55

We do not know whether Rashi and Godfrey had any discussions regarding the location of the Zohar. There is nothing recorded in any of his work that I have found to date, although his works are extensive. It is entirely possible as Godfrey was very busy in the spring of 1096 as Sicherman admits, as he was: “selling property, borrowing money, and raising troops for his eventual departure on August 15 for the long road to Jerusalem and fame.” The interesting fact is Rashi’s famed 11th century comprehensive commentaries on the Torah, where he described the veil that conceals this beaming Zoharic radiance upon Moses’ countenance, which is actually the Aramaic word הוסמ (masveh), not a Hebrew word in Exodus 34:33. Rashi was alluding to the Aramaic divine light of the Zohar, which does give credence to Billy Phillip’s belief that Rashi may have led Godfrey of Bouillon to the Zohar in the 11th century.

:masveh] as the Targum does] (הוסמ) AND HE PUT A VEIL ON HIS FACE — Render it ויתן על פניו מסוהת אפיבי , a cover for his face. הוסמ is an Aramaic expression (from the root סיו , “to look”). It occurs in

the Talmud (Ketubot 62b) “her heart perceived (יוס), and again in Ketubot 60a “הוה קא מסוה לאפה”, where מסוה is an expression for looking: “he looked into her face”, i. e. he gazed at her. Here, too, הוסמ denotes a cloth that was put in front of the face and of the region of the eyes. And out of reverence for the “rays of glory” — that not everybody should feast himself on them — Moses used to put the veil in front of them (the eyes), but took it off during the time when he spoke to Israel, and during the time when the Omnipresent conversed with him until the moment when he was going out and also when he went out he went out without the veil.56

Rashi also wrote two piyutim in the regular Ashkenazic Selikhot book as follows, as explained by Sicherman:

"KAF: kerem niteinu sigseg nitzanim, kasu fanav kharulim kimshonim." [Our planted vineyard which flourished with blossoms is now covered with nettles and thorns.] The vineyard is a traditional metaphor for the Jewish people (see Isaiah 5), but in this case it is even more specific to the Jews of northern France for many were in the vineyard business typical of this area. After lamenting the economic damage, Rashi introduces the catastrophe: "LAMED: limudei harea tzmudei khamanim, lokkhei shokhad rodfei shalmonim." [Men skilled in evil, devoted to sun worship, takers of bribes, pursuing pay-offs.] [25]… Rashi could thus derogate the Christians as idol worshippers in a way meaningful for his Jewish audience without running the risk of a direct public insult to Christianity.

53 Patrick J. Geary, ed. (2003). Readings in Medieval History. Toronto: Broadview Press. 54 Sicherman, Harvey; Gevaryahu, Gilad, J. (1999), Rashi and the First Crusade: Commentary, Liturgy, Legend, Judaism: spring 1999. p8. http://www.gevaryahu.com/Rashi%20and%20the%20First%20CrusadeWP.pdf 55 Ibid, p10. 56 Rashi on Exodus (1929), Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, Exodus 34:33. https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Exodus.34.33.1?lang=bi&with=About&lang2=en



Page 14

The rest of the metaphors could easily refer to the historical facts: the Crusaders who extorted money from the Jews of the Rhineland, such as Peter the Hermit and Godfrey, Duke of Lower Lorraine, and the burghers or other officials who failed in their duty to protect the Jews.57

Interestingly the same imageries are used of sun-worshippers in ‘1 Henry VI’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ to depict Freemasons. Christianity certainly embraces the very same Torah and Prophets that Judaism does, so to call Christians sun-worshippers would be calling Jews sun-worshippers, which is supercilious and insulting to both faiths. However, you can understand Rashi’s frustration when these people murdered so many of his friends in the name of the Pope.

The Chain of Tradition

This 1587 Venetian book by Rabbi Gedalya Ibn Yahya mentioned above is an important work, because it tells not only of the prophecy, but as a Kabbalist inspired by the “holy Zohar”, he tells of the ‘Chain of ha-Kabbalah’ (Chain of Tradition). In his preface to the printed edition of Salselet ha-kabbalâh, Rabbi Gedalya stated his intentions of divided this work into three parts as follows:

I chose to divide this work into three parts: the first part being the chain of Jewish tradition from Adam until the present; the second being to inform you of some of the principles concerning celestial bodies and the heavenly world, the formation of the embryo and its development, and about magic — all this with great brevity ... and about coins and measurements in the Mishnah; the third being the chain of Gentile sages, and the persecutions of Israel, and the noteworthy innovations in each generation.58

Essentially the three parts cover the following aspects: 1. The order of Jewish tradition from Moses until Moses Norzi (1587); 2. The principles concerning celestial bodies and the heavenly world, Creation

(Kabbalistic view of the new-born in the womb), and what will be in the end, and on mysticism, coins, and measures in the Mishnah;

3. The chain of custody within Christian Church Leaders and State Rulers, the persecutions of Israel, and the inventions that came in every generation.59

Rabbi Gedalya shows some expertise as a Kabbalist by his description of the nature of the human soul and the transmigrations after death according to the Zohar. He is certainly a believer in angels, demons and demonic possession. He not only focused upon the Hebrew historiography, but upon the Gentile historiography, which consisted of Greek, Byzantium, Italian, French, Turkish rulers, and Christian Popes, bishops, theologians and fathers who were all involved in the chain of tradition from Adam until 1587,60 however he made a few mistakes in the sixteenth century that is relevant to the Nasi-Benveniste and Bassano families mentioned above, which I will address shortly.

The Zohar of Antiquity Recorded in the First Mishna and Babylonian Talmud

I will attempt to traverse the ‘Chain of Tradition’ of the Zohar from antiquity to the 16th century Mantuan editions of the Zohar. The sections of the Zohar that are from Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Rashbi) himself are described in the Mishnah Rishonah ("the First Mishna") of Antiquity, then we find him cited in the Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 33b, hiding in a cave with his son for 13 years 57 Ibid, p5. 58 Salselet ha-kabbalâ, p4v. 59 David, Abraham (1978), Jewish Thought and Spirituality: R. Gedalya Ibn Yahya’s Shashelet HaKabbalah (Chain of Tradition). http://www.etrfi.info/immanuel/12/Immanuel_12_060.pdf 60 Ibid.



Page 15

where Kabbalists say they learned the deepest secrets of the Torah and God’s Creation, thereby composing the Zohar, though from my examination of the Zohar from a commentator’s point of view, it appears Rabbi Shimon penned the Zohar from oral teachings handed down throughout many generations. Below is the citation in the Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 33b:

אזל הוא ובריה טשו בי מדרשא כל יומא הוה מייתי להו דביתהו ריפתא וכוזא דמיא וכרכי כי תקיף גזירתא אמר ליה לבריה נשים דעתן קלה עליהן דילמא מצערי לה ומגליא לן אזלו טשו במערתא איתרחיש ניסא איברי להו חרובא ועינא

וארייהו בחלא כולי יומא גרסי בעידן צלויי לבשו מיכסו ומצלו והדר משלחי דמיא והוו משלחי מנייהו והוו יתבי עד צמנייהו כי היכי דלא ליבלו איתבו תריסר שני במערתא אתא אליהו וקם אפיתחא דמערתא אמר מאן לודעיה לבר יוחי דמית קיסר ובטיל גזירתיהRabbi Shimon bar Yocḥai and his son, Rabbi El’azar, went and hid in the study hall. Every day Rabbi Shimon’s wife would bring them bread and a jug of water and they would eat. When the decree intensified, Rabbi Shimon said to his son: Women are easily impressionable and, therefore, there is room for concern lest the authorities torture her and she reveal our whereabouts. They went and they hid in a cave. A miracle occurred and a carob tree was created for them as well as a spring of water. They would remove their clothes and sit covered in sand up to their necks. They would study Torah all day in that manner. At the time of prayer, they would dress, cover themselves, and pray, and they would again remove their clothes afterward so that they would not become tattered. They sat in the cave for twelve years. Elijah the Prophet came and stood at the entrance to the cave and said: Who will inform bar Yocḥai that the emperor died and his decree has been abrogated?61

From my extensive research on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Jewish Essenes (forerunners to Christianity), it would seem from Shabbat 33b’s description of the bathing, eating practices, their fervent study of the Torah, their commitment to healing, and especially their focus upon ritual purity, Rashbi and his son probably spent 13 years amongst or in close proximity to the Jewish Essenes in an ascetic life amongst the caves. It would make perfect sense of these legends, where he composed the Zohar of Antiquity, just as the blessed Holy One contemplated the world for two thousand years before Creation.62 I must note that this record of Rabbi Shimon and his writing of the Zohar in the cave experience were developed in the regions of Babylonia and Palestine circa 350AD and 500AD respectively, therefore this in itself gives clear evidence that the Zohar did exist prior to 350AD.

The Zohar purports to be a record of conversations among a number of rabbis wandering Galilee in the 2nd century AD, primarily Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Rashbi) and his son Rabbi El’azar, and other rabbis who served at that time. There are numerous tales weaved of these rabbis, with teachings based upon biblical verses and a commentary in the course of their conversations.63 Modern scholars have tended to believe it was composed in late 13th century AD by in Spain because of a manuscript by Rabbi Yitzchak of Acco that was for centuries believed to be an extant. However, Billy Phillips managed to get his hands on a copy from Boaz Huss from Israel and further supporting information from Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan.

The original texts of the Zohar were concealed for many centuries, and most Kabbalah scholars recognize some of the texts originate from the Geonim or Babylonian period,64 most likely from

61 Talmud, Shabbat 33b. https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.33b.6?lang=bi 62 Matt, Daniel (2002-2014), The Zohar, Pritzker Edition, Stanford University Press, Section 1:2b in Vol 1, p11. 63 Green, Rabbi Arthur (2017), Reclaiming the Zohar: In Celebration of the Pritzker Zohar Translation and Commentary, Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. https://hebrewcollege.edu/reclaiming-the-zohar-in-celebration-of-the-pritzker-zohar-translation-and-commentary/ 64 R. Abraham Galanti (disciple of R. Moshe Cordovero, commentary on Zohar I, 168a, in Ohr Hachamah, Bereishit, p. 159b. Note R. Shalom Buzaglio, Mikdash Melech on Zohar III, 247a, s.v. vedibura kadma'ah. Cf.



Page 16

the Nasi-Benveniste Babylonian priestly lineages of Makhir, Hasdai, Sheshet and Shealtiel that emigrated to France mentioned above.

Shem HaGedolim and Rabbi Yitzchak’s Sefer HaYuchasin

According to a story in the Shem HaGedolim, the renowned Kabbalist Moses ben Nahman-Nasi (Bonastruc ça Porta) (1194-1207AD) also known as “Nahmanides” mentioned above of the Nasi-Benveniste lineage of Babylonian descent, had sent the manuscripts of the Zohar from Israel by ship to his son in Catalonia, but the ship had been diverted to Spain, and the texts ended up in the hands of Rabbi Moses ben Shem Tov de León.65 Another theory is that the Zohar manuscripts were stored in a vault for “a thousand years and had been discovered by an Arabian king, who sent them to Toledo to be deciphered”.66 Others say it was sent to Rabbi Moses ben Shem Tov de León because he was a personal friend of Nahmanides, who he entrusted to translate and redact the work. It is more plausible that the Zohar was already in France, brought in by Nahmanides ancestors, the priests of Babylon mentioned above, and it was secured by Nahmanides and sent it to his friend Rabbi Moses ben Shem Tov de León in secret to translate and redact it.

However it ended up in the hands of Rabbi Moses ben Shem Tov de León, Nahmanides disciple Rabbi Yitzchak travelled to Spain to speak with Moses. The ordeal was recorded in Rabbi Yitzchak's ‘Divrei HaYamim’ (Chronicles) although most scholars believe there is no known manuscript of this text in existence today, and they instead reply on the below account published in ‘Sefer HaYuchasin’ 1857 London Edition by Rabbi Avraham Zacuto, as follows:

Rabbi Yitzchak travelled to Spain, and he met Rabbi Moshe de Leon in Vallidolid. The latter swore under oath that he was in possession of the manuscript written by Rabbi Shimon. He averred that the manuscript was in his hometown of Avila and that he would gladly show it to Rabbi Yitzchak there. They parted company, and on the way back home Rabbi Moshe took ill in Arevalo and died there. Rabbi Yitzchak was extremely upset by this turn of events but decided nevertheless to proceed to Avila. There he found a certain David di Pan Corbo who divulged to him that he had clarified without any doubts that the a work called Zohar had never come to be in Rabbi Moshe's possession nor was there any such work in existence. Rather, Rabbi Moshe had knowledge of the Holy Name by which writing is produced, and this is how he had written the book. He told Rabbi Yitzchak that Rabbi Moshe had written the Zohar and imputed it to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in order to extract large sums of money from the wealthy for copies of the manuscript. When he had heard of Rabbi Moshe's passing, he asked a certain very wealthy man, Yosef di Avila to ask his wife to attempt to acquire the manuscript from Rabbi Moshe's widow in exchange for his son marrying her daughter and a promise to support her for the rest of her life. According to David, both the mother and daughter swore that Rabbi Moshe had never possessed such a work. Rather, he had written it "from his head, his heart, his knowledge and intellect." When Mrs de Leon herself had questioned Rabbi Moshe as to why he claimed to be copying a manuscript (as he would be better off if he told them that he himself had written it), he replied that if he revealed that fact no one would be interested in buying it from him! But if he claimed they were the writings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, they would buy it at a high price. Rabbi Yitzchak was stunned at these words and found them hard to believe. He travelled on to Talavera where he found a great sage named Rabbi Yosef HaLevi, the son of Rabbi Todros (Abulafia) the Kabbalist. Upon making inquiries from the latter he was told that without a doubt Rabbi Moshe

also R. Abraham ben R. Eliyahu, Rav Pe'alim, s.v. Zohar; and R. David Luria, Kadmut Sefer HaZohar, sect. III and IV. 65 Shem HaGedolim, Chida Sefarim, Zayin, 8; and Miller, Moshe (2012), The Zohar's Mysterious Origins, Chabad-Lubavitch Media Centre. https://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380410/jewish/The-Zohars-Mysterious-Origins.htm 66 Ibid.



Page 17

had in his possession the work called the Zohar written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and he would make copies of it and distribute them to whomever he pleased [note that nothing about money was mentioned here - Ed.]. Rabbi Yosef then stated that he himself had put Rabbi Moshe to the test. A long time after Rabbi Moshe had given him a copy of many pages of the Zohar, Rabbi Yosef hid a few pages and claimed that he had lost them, and asked Rabbi Moshe for another copy of those pages. Rabbi Moshe requested to see the pages preceding and following the lost sections, and a few days later he provided Rabbi Yosef with an exact copy of the missing pages. Rabbi Yitzchak decided to continue his investigations and travelled on to Tolitula, where they told him that Rabbi Moshe's chief disciple, a certain Rabbi Yaakov, called heaven and earth to witness that the Zohar that was written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai…67

I have discussed this account first for a reason, because these alleged facts published by Rabbi Avraham Zacuto are not actually true, as Billy Phillips discovered. Rabbi Yitzchak deMin Acco was a personal friend of Rabbi Moses ben Shem Tov de León. When the authorship debate of the Zohar started, he was the one who visited Rabbi Moses’ home town and investigated it personally. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan admits the story is cited in the Sefer HaYuchasin, however most historians have got it wrong. Kaplan explains how centuries of historians have got it wrong:

The whole story is cited in Sefer HaYuchasin, who abruptly breaks off the story just before Rabbi Yitzchok reaches his final conclusion. Most historians maintain that we do not know Rabbi Yitzchok’s final opinion – but they are wrong. Around three years ago, someone [Billy Phillips] came to me and asked me to translate parts of a manuscript of Rabbi Yitzchok deMin Acco, known as Otzar HaChaim. There is only one complete copy of this manuscript in the world, and this is in the Guenzberg Collection in the Lenin Library in Moscow. This person got me a complete photocopy of the manuscript and asked me to translate certain sections. I stated that the only condition I would translate the manuscript is if I get to keep the copy. This is how I got my hands on this very rare and important manuscript. Of course, like every other sefer in my house, it had to be read. It took a while to decipher the handwriting, since it is an ancient script. One of the first things I discovered was that it was written some 20 years after Rabbi Yitzchok investigated the Zohar. He openly, and clearly and unambiguously states that the Zohar was written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. This is something not known to historians, and this is the first time I am discussing it in a public forum. But the fact is that the one person who is historically known to have investigated the authenticity of the Zohar at the time it was first published, unambiguously came to the conclusion that it was an ancient work written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. But Rabbi Yitzchok deMin Acco has another important teaching that is germane to our discussion here. He firmly agrees with the shitah of the Sefer HaTemunah. He then begins speaking about yomo shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu – “G-d’s days.” It is known from the Midrash and Gemara that one of G-d’s days is equal to 1000 years.68

I have provided a link in my paper below for you to download a copy of Rabbi Kaplan’s full paper for yourself, because he continues this discussion of Rabbi Yitzchak’s manuscript and the conclusions he makes by comparing science to the Zohar:

The conclusion of all this is that, if one looks into our mekoros and seforim, and see what our sages have taught us, we see that Judaism is very much at harmony with the world as science sees it. I am not speaking of scientific theories or philosophy, but of scientific evidence and fact. There are no major problems. The problems have been 23 discussed centuries ago, and as long as we keep a firm grounding in our seforim ha-kadoshim and our sacred texts, there are really no conflicts.69

67 Miller, Moshe (2016), The Zohar's Mysterious Origins. https://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380410/jewish/The-Zohars-Mysterious-Origins.htm 68 Kaplan, Rabbi Aryeh (2004), The Age of the Universe: A Torah True Perspective, pp. 17-8. https://www.simpletoremember.com/faqs/Kaplan-SimpleToRemember.com.pdf 69 Ibid, pp. 22-3.



Page 18

Below is a copy of the manuscript supplied by Billy Phillips, care of Boaz Huss, professor of Kabbalah and chair of the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. As you will see the manuscript of Rabbi Yitzchak deMin Acco does exist as part of the Guenzberg Collection in the Russian State Library in Moscow, and Rabbi Yitzchak did in fact confirm the Zohar is an authentic ancient work of antiquity written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

______________________________________



Page 19

© 2017-9 inclusive Dr Peter D Matthews. All rights reserved. This paper may be freely used for academic purposes, subject to citing Dr Peter D Matthews as the author. More information is also available on my website at www.petermatthews.com.au, or you can like my Facebook page to keep abreast of any updated material I find. My academia profile is also available here.

Documents

The Holy Grail - The Zohar of Antiquity - revised 4...As he explained, when he was young, Rav Berg revealed some secrets about the Holy Grail: It was not a cup, dish or stone with