Kabbalah for beginners? Moses Cordovero's early oeuvre

This study examines the early works of Moses Cordovero (1522-1570) and their initial reception. Cordovero's early oeuvre is characterized in the article by an encyclopaedic urge to collate and classify medieval Kabbalistic knowledge, while constructing a new Kabbalistic system and clearly introducing it, thus, asserting its veracity and supremacy - especially in light of competing philosophical systems. Cordovero emphasized the value of foundational theoretical propositions, through which Kabbalistic literature must be understood. This study demonstrates that the primary aim of Cordovero's early oeuvre was to establish authoritative foundational knowledge by examining Cordovero's self-perception of his early work and how his later disciples - actual and spiritual - understood and reshaped his teachings. This analysis shows that of Cordovero's disciples some continued to understand his early work as foundational knowledge, while others - in light of certain Kabbalistic theoretical developments - refashioned Cordovero's foundational knowledge into beginners' knowledge.