On the

Nature and Origin

of the

Doctrine of Emanation

among the

Kabbalists.

An Answer

to the prize-question posed by the Princely Society of Antiquities

in Kassel: whether the

doctrine of the Kabbalists regarding the emanationEmanation is the philosophical and mystical idea that the universe flows out from a divine source, like light from a candle, rather than being created from nothing.

of all things from God’s own essence,

originated from Greek philosophy,

or not?

A treatise which received the prize offered by the P. S. o. A. for the year 1785.

That doctrine, passed through so many hands and through so many centuries, like wine too often decanted, has finally turned to vinegar. original Latin: "Doctrina illa, per tot manus tradita, et per tot saecula, tanquam vinum saepius transfusum, tandem in vappam desiit." This quote from Thomas Burnet's Archaeologiae Philosophicae suggests that ancient wisdom often loses its potency and purity over time.

Burnet.

Johann Friederich Kleuker.

Riga,

published by Johann Friederich Hartknoch 1786.