Zvi Hirsch Koidanover's,
Kav Hayashar (Polna'ah 1816 ed.)
Most of us know of the Hasidic "revolution" in Eastern Europe and the Hasidic movement's success in popularizing Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah. But just how exactly did Kabbalah burst onto the scene and make it's way into the backwaters of Galicia?
According to Moshe Idel:
Of special importance for understanding the dissemination of Kabbalah in Eastern Europe in the early eighteenth century is Tsevi Hirsh Koidanover’s Kav ha-yashar. An ethical-kabbalistic collection of stories, moral guidance, and customs, it reflects a deliberate effort to popularize Safedian Kabbalah by adopting a much more understandable style in Hebrew; a Yiddish translation by the author reflects a similar approach. Together with kitsurim (condensations) of Shene luḥot ha-berit, popularizing works such as Shevet musar, and pamphlets offering guidance for daily conduct in light of kabbalistic practice (hanhagot), Kav ha-yashar anticipated the popularization of Kabbalah by Hasidic masters in the vernacular, which started a generation later.
I don't know much about the history and nature of the translation of Jewish texts into Yiddish or whether this was one of the earlier tranlations of Jewish esotericism into Yiddish. But I have to imagine that a bilingual Kav Hayashar was as significant and integral to the spread of Kabballah in a post-Sabbatean world as Artscroll's Talmud is to the spread to the Daf Hayomi in our generation.
On a personal note, this was the only Jewish text, aside from the usual Hebrew Bibles and Siddurim that I found in my grandparents' house when they were moving. Our version was the Romm (Vilna) 1911 edition.
It belonged, according to my Grandmother, to my great, great-grandfather, Moshe Mordechai Hendler.
The book contains many references to the Zohar and some colorful passages on magic, witchcraft and demons. Ever wonder what happened to Bilaam's body after he was killed? Koidanover tells us (based on the Zohar):
"His bones decomposed and from the flesh and body of Bilaam were made snakes, evil serpents..."
And this, Koidanover warns his readers, is the fate of all sorcerers and practitioners of the dark arts.
