KABBABISH ("goatherds": James Bruce derives the name from _Hebsh_, sheep), a tribe of African nomads of Semitic origin. It is perhaps the largest "Arab" tribe in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and its many clans are scattered over the country extending S.W. from the province of Dongola to the confines of Darfur. The Kabbabish speak Arabic, but their pronunciation differs much from that of the true Arabs. The Kabbabish have a tradition that they came from Tunisia and are of Mogrebin or western descent; but while the chiefs look like Arabs, the tribesmen resemble the Beja family. They themselves declare that one of their clans, Kawahla, is not of Kabbabish blood, but was affiliated to them long ago. Kawahla is a name of Arab formation, and J. L. Burckhardt spoke of the clan as a distinct one living about Abu Haraz and on the Atbara. The Kabbabish probably received Arab rulers, as did the Ababda. They are chiefly employed in cattle, camel and sheep breeding, and before the Sudan wars of 1883-99 they had a monopoly of all transport from the Nile, north of Abu Gussi, to Kordofan. They also cultivate the lowlands which border the Nile, where they have permanent villages. They are of fine physique, dark with black wiry hair, carefully arranged in tightly rolled curls which cling to the head, with regular features and rather thick aquiline noses. Some of the tribes wear large hats like those of the Kabyles of Algeria and Tunisia. See James Bruce, _Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile_ (1790); A. H. Keane, _Ethnology of Egyptian Sudan_ (1884); _Anglo-Egyptian Sudan_ (edited by Count Gleichen, 1905). KABBALAH (late Hebrew _kabbalah_, _qabbalah_), the technical name for the system of Jewish theosophy which played an important part in the Christian Church in the middle ages. The term primarily denotes "reception" and then "doctrines received by tradition." In the older Jewish literature the name is applied to the whole body of received religious doctrine with the exception of the Pentateuch, thus including the Prophets and Hagiographa as well as the oral traditions ultimately embodied in the Mishnah.[1] It is only since the 11th or 12th century that Kabbalah has become the exclusive appellation for the renowned system of theosophy which claims to have been transmitted uninterruptedly by the mouths of the patriarchs and prophets ever since the creation of the first man. Doctrine of the Sephiroth.