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About This Text
Author: Moses Cordovero
Composed: Safed, 1548 CE
Pardes Rimonim (Orchard of Pomegranates) is a primary text of Kabbalah composed by the Jewish mystic Moses ben Jacob Cordovero in Safed. It is composed of thirteen gates or sections each subdivided into chapters. He indicates in his introduction that the work is based upon notes he took during his study of the Zohar, the foundational work of the Kabbalah and was designed "in order not to become lost and confused in its [the Zohar] depths". The work is an encyclopaedic summary of the Kabbalah, including an effort to "elucidate all the tenets of the Cabala, such as the doctrines of the sefirot, emanation, the divine names, the import and significance of the alphabet, etc." Pardes Rimonim was the first comprehensive exposition of Medieval Kabbalah, though its rationally influenced scheme was superseded by the subsequent 16th century Safed mythological scheme of Isaac Luria.