The sojourn in Egypt must have exerted an important influence on them,
particularly the educated thinkers of the race, of which, however, there
were but few, owing to the condition in which they were kept as bondsmen
of the Egyptians. Moses, however, owing to his education and training
among the Egyptian priests, must have been fully initiated in the
Mysteries of that land, and the Jewish legends would indicate that he
formed an Inner Circle of the priesthood of his people, after they
escaped from Egypt, and doubtless instructed them fully in the occult
doctrines, which, however, were too advanced and complicated for
preaching to the mass of ignorant people of which the Jewish race of
that time was composed. The lamp of learning among the Jews of that time
was kept alight but by very few priests among them. There has always
been much talk, and legend, concerning this Inner Teaching among the
Jews. The Jewish Rabbis have had so much to say regarding it, and some
of the Early Fathers of the Christian Church were of the opinion that
such Secret Doctrine existed.

Scholars have noted that in important passages in the Jewish Bible,
three distinct terms are used in referring to the immaterial part, or
"soul," of man. These terms are "Nichema," "Rouach," and "Nephesh,"
respectively, and have been translated as "soul," "spirit" or "breath,"
in several senses of these terms. Many good authorities have held that
these three terms did not apply to one conception, but that on the
contrary they referred to three distinct elements of the soul, akin to
the conceptions of the Egyptians and other early peoples, who held to
the trinity of the soul, as we have shown a little further back. Some
Hebrew scholars hold that "Nichema" is the Ego, or Intelligent Spirit;
"Rouach," the lower vehicle of the Ego; and "Nephesh," the Vital Force,
Vitality, or Life.

Students of the Kaballah, or Secret Writings of the Jews, find therein
many references to the complex nature of the soul, and its future
states, as well as undoubted teachings regarding Reincarnation, or
Future Existence in the Body. The Kaballah was the book of the Jewish
Mysteries, and was largely symbolical, so that to those unacquainted
with the symbols employed, it read as if lacking sense or meaning. But
those having the key, were able to read therefrom many bits of hidden
doctrine. The Kaballah is said to be veiled in seven coverings--that is,
its symbology is sevenfold, so that n