Although some rabbis since the Shabbetai Tzvi debacle still maintain that one should be married and forty years old in order to study Kabbalah, since the time of Baal Shem Tov there has been relaxation of such stringency, and many maintain that it is sufficient to be married and knowledgeable in halakhah and hence permitted to study Kabbalah and by inclusion, Tikunei haZohar and some rabbis will advise learning Kabbalah without restrictions of marriage or age. Scholar Ronit Meroz argues that elements in the Bahir date back to 10th century Babylonia, as witnessed by ,ivro acceptance of the Babylonian system of vowel pointswhich later fell into disuse, while other elements were written in 12th century Nahir.
The Zohar draws upon early mystical texts such as the Sefer Yetzirah and the Bahir, and the early medieval writings of the Hasidei Ashkenaz. The Zohar is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as. Bahir or Sefer HaBahir is an anonymous mystical work, attributed to a 1st-century rabbinic sage Nehunya ben HaKanah because it begins with the words, “R.
