This is becoming off topic, but it is a point of clarification. 

At 10:01 PM 5/30/98 -0400, Brendan wrote:

Is Evangelion going by the Talmud?  I don't think so!

Oh, well. That's your opinion.

	Actually the real Dead Sea Scrolls are a Talmud as I recall.

  The Dead Sea Scrolls predate the Talmud.  There are actually two Talmuds,
the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud.  The Babylonian Talmud is
usually considered the authoritative one.  Most of Talmud is legal
discussions and opinions.  It consists of two part, Mishna and Gemara.  The
Mishna, which is the same for both Talmuds, was written 200 A.D. by
prominent rabbis in Israel (Then the Roman province of Palestine.  The
Romans changed the name as an insult after the Bar-Kochba revolt since
Palestine means Philistine) and is in Hebrew.  It was compiled by rabbis
concerned about loss of knowledge in the aftermath of the destruction from
the Jewish revolts (66-70 A.D. and 132-135 A.D.) It is basically a set of
laws, rulings, and interpretations derived from Torah law.  Gemara was
written about two hundred to three hundred years later.  Two groups of
rabbis, one in Israel, the other in Babylonia, each wrote a compilation of
commentaries, discussions, clarifications, and opinions on the Mishna to
better enable rabbis and scholars to interpret the laws for daily life.
Both of these were written in Aramaic which was the common language among
Jews by that time (Aramaic is very close to Hebrew).  There are also
sections of Mishna and Talmud which are ethical guidance, anecdotes about
the great rabbis such as Hillel and Akiva, and folklore.  Although not a
sacred work in the same sense as the Bible, the Talmud was the legal
blueprint for Jewish life for the next thousand years or so.  

  The two major works of Jewish mysticism are the Zohar (also known as the
Book of Splendor) and the Kabbalah.  The Zohar is the older work and was
reputedly written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, one of the authors of the
Mishna.  Please note that both of these works were intended for readers who
were Bible scholars.  That chart seen in the opening scene of NGE is
derived from Zohar.  BTW, I believe the term "Sephiroth" is from Zohar. 

  Jewish mysticism is also concerned with understanding the more mystical
parts of the Bible such as Genesis, the Book of Daniel and Ezekiel.  In
general, most mysticism in current Judaism is among some of the Hasidic
sects.  

                                                                   dml