Note 18 — II.

Before we enter into an examination concerning the date and authorship of this renowned code of the Kabbalistic doctrines, it will be necessary to describe the component parts of the Sohar. It seems that the proper Sohar, which is a commentary on the five Books of Moses, according to the division into Sabbatic sections, was originally called ‏מדרש יהי אור‎ the Midrash or Exposition, Let there be Light, from the words in Gen. i, 4 ; because the real Midrash begins with the exposition of this verse. The name Sohar (‏זוהר‎), i.e. Light, Splendour, was given to it afterwards, either because this document begins with the theme light, or because the word Sohar frequently occurs on the first page. It is referred to by the name of the Book Sohar (‏ספר הזוהר‎) in the component parts of the treatise itself. (Comp. The Faithful Shepherd, Sohar, iii, 153 b.) The Sohar is also called Midrash of R. Simon b. Jochai (‏מדרש של ר׳ שמעון בן יוחאי‎), because this Rabbi is its reputed author.18 Interspersed throughout the Sohar, either as parts of the text with special titles, or in separate columns with distinct superscriptions, are the following dissertations, which we detail according to the order of the pages on which they respectively commence.