The Palm Tree of Deborah by Moshe Cordovero as an Exemplification of the Jewish Kabbalistic Ethical Doctrine in the Form of imitatio dei

Abstract

The article is concerned with the subject of Jewish kabbalistic ethical directives, presented in The Palm Tree of Deborah written by a Jewish mystic kabbalist, Moshe Cordovero. The text is based on the fundamental idea of mystical Judaism – the category of the ten sephiroth that in the ethical system under discussion have been, each separately, correlated with the desirable and commendable human ways of behaving, conducting oneself towards fellow human beings. The result of wehalachta bederachaw, i.e. imitatio dei, or the idea of imitating God – expressed here in the rule of imitation of the sephiroth, i.e. the interiorization of the virtues which are moral qualities immanent to the particular sephira attribute (the essence of which is the quality of mercy) – is an ethically perfect person, that is, a person that pleases God.