From the Kabbalah
FAQ ( http://digital-brilliance.com/kab/faq.htm )
"Kabbalah is an aspect of Jewish mysticism. It consists of a large body of speculation on the nature of divinity, the creation, the origin and fate of the soul, and the role of human
beings. It consists also of meditative, devotional, mystical and magical practices which were taught only to a select few and for this reason Kabbalah is regarded as an esoteric
offshoot of Judaism. Some aspects of Kabbalah have been studied and used by non-Jews for several hundred years (Hermetic Kabbalah)."
Although some of its founding books have been written in
Antiquity, Kabbalah
sensu stricto is thought to have appeared in XIth century
France and spread over all of Europe (most notably
Spain). Increasing
persecution of European
Jews in the
Middle Ages (most notably
the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492) led to a strong emphasis on
messianism, culminating into the self-contained
cosmogony of
Isaac Luria - a triumph of
Theology.
Hassidism has often been related to
Kabbalah.