Aramaic Books of the Zohar

The monograph Aramaic of the Book of Zohar presents an overview of the basic morphological phenomena of Zoharic Aramaic. The introduction introduces the reader to the extensive scholarly debate about the nature of the Aramaic of the Zohar and traces the evolution of its perception from the time of the first scholarly works declaring it a debased artificial language to the present day, when it is classified as a natural literary language and part of the broader stream of medieval Aramaic literary production. < br> The first morphological phenomenon presented are names. In addition to personal pronouns and their dual function, where they can also represent the verb "to be", attention is also paid to demonstrative pronouns, interrogative pronouns and independent possessive pronouns. Most of the chapter focuses on nouns, their flexion, the expression of possession and obligation, and adjectives are also briefly discussed. The contents of chapter two, the scope of which constitutes the bulk of the book, is an overview of the verb system of Zoharic Aramaic, i.e., the realization of verb roots in individual verb forms (participial, perfection, imperfect, infinitive, imperative and pronominal suffixes of verbs, which are an important feature of late literary Aramaic). The three final shorter chapters deal with selected adverbs and adverbial prepositions, conjunctions and numerals. The overview of morphological phenomena is always accompanied by examples from the Zohar, which illustrate the described phenomena and also present the fundamental themes of Zoharic mysticism - the concept of G-d, Zoharic cosmology and cosmogony, anthropology, the theurgy of the performance of mitzvot and the doctrine of tikun ha-olam, or belief, that this world can be transformed into a better world. < br> The specific nature of Zoharic Aramaic is an obstacle whose existence poses a difficult challenge to those interested in the study of the Zohar. The monograph makes it easier to overcome this barrier. Above all, it is a valuable resource for comparative philological studies.