mainstream Jewish leaders also, ironically, contributed to the secretive nature of Kabbalah because some of them considered the practice to be contaminated by idolatry and therefore embarrassing to Judaism with its talk of other worlds, God forces and harnessing the powers of Creation. These restrictions were introduced to preserve the tradition’s secrets, which were considered too powerful, dangerous and overwhelming to be handled lightly. The actual origins of Kabbalah are obscure, resulting from the fact that the practice was, for a long time, shrouded in secrecy amidst closed circles, which restricted its study to only certain individuals, such as married men over the age of 40. This tendency toward pseudepigraphy is also found in Apocalyptic literature, which claims that esoteric knowledge such as magic, divination and astrology was transmitted to humans in the mythic past by the two angels, Aza and Azaz'el (in other places, Azaz'el and Uzaz'el) who 'fell' from heaven (see Genesis 6:4). As a result, many Kabbalistic works pseudepigraphically claim ancient authorship. Most claims for the origins of Kabbalah are, accordingly, based on this argument of authority based on antiquity. It is said that God revealed divine secrets to Adam such as the ten emanations of creation (see below), the Godhead, the true nature of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, and the Tree of Life. The origins of Kabbalah are sometimes traced back to the first man in Jewish cosmology, Adam. Jewish mysticism remains an influential stream of Jewish theology today. Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in Kabbalah in the twenty-first century, by both Jews and non-Jews alike. By the Middle Ages, especially between 15 C.E., Kabbalah became very popular and "was widely considered to be the true Jewish theology." Its popularity waned with the rise of the Age of Enlightenment and its focus on rationality over mysticism. Eventually, different mystical Kabbalistic brotherhoods developed called the baale ha-kabbalah (בעלי הקבלה "possessors or masters of the Kabbalah"). Over time, much of the oral law was recorded in the Mishnah but when the Zohar was presented to the public in the thirteenth century, the term Kabbalah specifically began to refer to its mystical teachings. Historically, the term Kabbalah was first used in Jewish Talmudic texts, among the Geonim (early medieval Rabbis) and by Rishonim (later medieval Rabbis) as a reference to the full body of Judaism's oral law.
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