Perspectives on Jewish Thought and Mysticism

Perspectives on Jewish Thought and Mysticism

Author: Alfred L. Ivry

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-28

Total Pages: 548

ISBN-13: 1136650121

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First Published in 1998. This is the proceedings of the International Conference held by The Institute of Jewish Studies, University College London, 1994, in Celebration of its Fortieth Anniversary. Dedicated to the memory and academic legacy of its Founder Alexander Altmann.


Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism

Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism

Author: Moshe Idel

Publisher: Central European University Press

Published: 2005-01-01

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9789637326035

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Ascensions on high took many forms in Jewish mysticism and they permeated most of its history from its inception until Hasidism. The book surveys the various categories, with an emphasis on the archetectural images of the ascent, like the resort images of pillars, lines, and ladders.


Kabbalah

Kabbalah

Author: Moshe Idel

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1988-01-01

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 9780300046991

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In this prizewinning new interpretation of Jewish mysticism, Moshe Idel emphasizes the need for a comparative and phenomenological approach to Kabbalah and its position in the history of religion. Idel provides fresh insights into the origins of Jewish mysticism, the relation between mystical and historical experience, and the impact of Jewish mysticism on western civilization. "Idel's book is studded with major insights, and innovative approaches to the entire history of Judaism, and mastery of it will be essential for all serious students of Jewish thought."--Arthur Green, New York Times Book Review "Moshe Idel's original, scholarly, and stimulating study of Kabbalah contains the promise of a masterwork."--Elie Wiesel "Moshe Idel's book can help the nonspecialized reader to reconsider the whole of Kabbalistic tradition in comparison with many aspects of contemporary thought."--Umberto Eco "There can be no dispute about the importance and originality of Idel's work. Offering a wealth of complementary insights to Gershom Scholem and his school, it will command a great deal of attention and serious discussion."--Alexander Altmann


The Last Rabbi

The Last Rabbi

Author: William Kolbrener

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2016-09-19

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 0253022320

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Joseph Soloveitchik (1903–1993) was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, philosopher, and theologian. In this new work, William Kolbrener takes on Soloveitchik's controversial legacy and shows how he was torn between the traditionalist demands of his European ancestors and the trajectory of his own radical and often pluralist philosophy. A portrait of this self-professed "lonely man of faith" reveals him to be a reluctant modern who responds to the catastrophic trauma of personal and historical loss by underwriting an idiosyncratic, highly conservative conception of law that is distinct from his Talmudic predecessors, and also paves the way for a return to tradition that hinges on the ethical embrace of multiplicity. As Kolbrener melds these contradictions, he presents Soloveitchik as a good deal more complicated and conflicted than others have suggested. The Last Rabbi affords new perspective on the thought of this major Jewish philosopher and his ideas on the nature of religious authority, knowledge, and pluralism.


Messianic Mystics

Messianic Mystics

Author: Moshe Idel

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2000-05-01

Total Pages: 470

ISBN-13: 9780300082883

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One of the worl'ds leading scholars of Jewish thought examines the long tradition of Jewish messianism and mystical experience.


Kabbalistic Visions

Kabbalistic Visions

Author: Sanford L. Drob

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-04-06

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 1000787427

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In 1944, C. G. Jung experienced a series of visions which he later described as "the most tremendous things I have ever experienced." Central to these visions was the "mystic marriage as it appears in the Kabbalistic tradition", and Jung’s experience of himself as "Rabbi Simon ben Jochai," the presumed author of the sacred Kabbalistic text, the Zohar. Kabbalistic Visions explores Jung’s 1944 Kabbalistic visions, the impact of Jewish mysticism on Jungian psychology, Jung’s archetypal interpretation of Kabbalistic symbolism, and his claim late in life that a Hasidic rabbi, the Maggid of Mezhirech, anticipated his entire psychology. This book places Jung’s encounter with the Kabbalah in the context of the earlier visions and meditations of his Red Book, his abiding interests in Gnosticism and alchemy, and what many regard to be his Anti-Semitism and flirtation with National Socialism. Kabbalistic Visions is the first full-length study of Jung and Jewish mysticism in any language and the first book to present a comprehensive Jungian/archetypal interpretation of Kabbalistic symbolism.


Symbols of the Kabbalah

Symbols of the Kabbalah

Author: Sanford L. Drob

Publisher: Jason Aronson, Incorporated

Published: 1999-11-01

Total Pages: 462

ISBN-13: 1461734150

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Symbols of the Kabbalah: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives provides a philosophical and psychological interpretation of the major symbols of the theosophical Kabbalah. It shows that the Kabbalah, particularly as it is expressed in the school of Isaac Luria, provides a coherent and comprehensive account of the cosmos, and humanity's role within it, that is intellectually, morally, and spiritually significant for contemporary life.


Kabbalah

Kabbalah

Author: Shahar Arzy

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2015-01-01

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 0300152361

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"In this original study, Moshe Idel, an eminent scholar of Jewish mysticism and thought, and the cognitive neuroscientist and neurologist Shahar Arzy combine their considerable expertise to explore the mysteries of the Kabbalah from an entirely new perspective: that of the human brain. In lieu of the theological, sociological, and psychoanalytic approaches that have generally dominated the study of ecstatic mystical experiences, the authors endeavor to decode the brain mechanisms underlying these phenomena. Arzy and Idel analyze first-person descriptions to explore the Kabbalistic techniques employed by most prominent Jewish mystics to effect bodily reduplications, dissociations, and other phenomena, and compare them with recent neurological observationsand modern-day laboratory experiments. The resultant study offers readers a scientific, more brain-based understanding of how ecstatic Kabbalists achieved their most precious mystical experiences. The study further demonstrates how these Kabbalists have long functioned as pioneering investigators of the human self"--


Maimonides' Confrontation with Mysticism

Maimonides' Confrontation with Mysticism

Author: Menachem Kellner

Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Published: 2006-09-21

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 190982108X

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Maimonides’ vision of Judaism was deeply elitist, but at the same time profoundly universalistic. He was highly critical of the regnant Jewish culture of his day, which he perceived as so heavily influenced by ancient Jewish mysticism as to be debased. While focusing on that critique, Menachem Kellner skilfully and accessibly demonstrates how Maimonides used philosophy to purify a corrupted and paganized religion, and to present distinctions fundamental to Judaism as institutional, sociological, and historical, rather than ontological. In Maimonides’ hands, metaphysical distinctions are translated into moral challenges.