Pardes Rimonim is a work composed in 1548 by the Jewish Mystic Moses ben Jacob Cordovero

Moses ben Jacob Cordovero

Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, , was a central figure in the historical development of Kabbalah, leader of a mystical school in 16th-century Safed, Israel. He is known by the acronym the Ramak....

.

The Pardes Rimonim is a Kabbalistic work. Cordovera was part of a group of mystics of Safed

Safed

Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...

 in Galilee

Galilee

Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...

. Cordovera indicates in his introduction that the work is based upon notes he took during his study of the Zohar

Zohar

The Zohar is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on Mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology...

, the foundational work of the Kabbalah

Kabbalah

Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...

. He notes that he composed the Pardes Rimonim "in order not to become lost and confused in its [the Zohar] depths."

The work is a systematic summary of the Kabbalah, including an effort to "elucidate all the tenets of the Cabala, such as the doctrines of the sefirot, emanation, the divine names, the import and significance of the alphabet, etc." The Pardes Rimonim was one of the most widely read and influential Kabbalistic works. It was a considered a basis of the Kabbalistic outlook until ultimately being rejected in favor of the works of Isaac Luria

Isaac Luria

Isaac Luria , also called Yitzhak Ben Shlomo Ashkenazi acronym "The Ari" "Ari-Hakadosh", or "Arizal", meaning "The Lion", was a foremost rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region of Ottoman Palestine...

, one of Cordovera's students.

The Pardes Rimmonim is composed of thirteen gates or sections, subdivided into chapters. It was first published at Cracow in 1591. A sample of it was published under the title "Asis Rimmonim," by Samuel Gallico; and subsequent commentaries on some parts of it were written by Menahem Azariah da Fano

Menahem Azariah da Fano

Menahem Azariah da Fano was an Italian rabbi, Talmudist, and Kabbalist.-Life:...

, Mordecai Prszybram, and Isaiah Horowitz

Isaiah Horowitz

Isaiah Horowitz, , also known as the Shelah ha-Kadosh after the title of his best-known work, was a prominent Levite rabbi and mystic.-Biography:...

. The original work was partly translated into Latin by Bartolocci, by Joseph Ciantes (in "De Sanctissima Trinitate Contra Judæos," Rome, 1664), by Athanasius Kircher

Athanasius Kircher

Athanasius Kircher was a 17th century German Jesuit scholar who published around 40 works, most notably in the fields of oriental studies, geology, and medicine...

(Rome, 1652–54), and by Knorr von Rosenroth (in "Kabbala Denudata," Sulzbach, 1677).