The Kabbalah Reader
The Kabbalah Reader

Author: Edward Hoffman

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2010-04-13

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0834822474

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This comprehensive and accessible entrée into the world of Kabbalah covers 1,600 years of Jewish mystical thought and features a variety of thinkers—from the renowned to the obscure—unavailable in any other volume. It’s a fresh take on an ancient tradition compiled by Edward Hoffman, a psychologist and respected scholar of Judaism, who reveals how this supposedly esoteric material is relevant to a host of contemporary concerns, such as ethics, emotional health, intuition and creativity, meditation, social relations and leadership, and higher states of consciousness. Contributors include: Moses Chaim Luzzatto, Moses Cordovero, Abraham Abulafia, Maimonides, Nachmanides, The Maharal, Nachman of Breslov, The Baal Shem Tov, The Gaon of Vilna, The Netziv, The Ben Ish Chai, Yehudah Ashlag, Kalonymus Shapira, Baba Sali, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, Adin Steinsaltz, Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi, Jonathan Sacks, and many others, along with excerpts from the Sefer Yetzirah, Sefer HaBahir, and Sefer HaZohar.

A Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism Reader
A Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism Reader

Author: Daniel M. Horwitz

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2016-04

Total Pages: 674

ISBN-13: 0827612869

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An unprecedented annotated anthology of the most important Jewish mystical works, A Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism Reader is designed to facilitate teaching these works to all levels of learners in adult education and college classroom settings. Daniel M. Horwitz's insightful introductions and commentary accompany readings in the Talmud and Zohar and writings by Ba'al Shem Tov, Rav Kook, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and others. Horwitz's introduction describes five major types of Jewish mysticism and includes a brief chronology of their development, with a timeline. He begins with biblical prophecy and proceeds through the early mystical movements up through current beliefs. Chapters on key subjects characterize mystical expression through the ages, such as Creation and deveikut ("cleaving to God"); the role of Torah; the erotic; inclinations toward good and evil; magic; prayer and ritual; and more. Later chapters deal with Hasidism, the great mystical revival, and twentieth-century mystics, including Abraham Isaac Kook, Kalonymous Kalman Shapira, and Abraham Joshua Heschel. A final chapter addresses today's controversies concerning mysticism's place within Judaism and its potential for enriching the Jewish religion.

Reading the Zohar
Reading the Zohar

Author: Pinchas Giller

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0195118499

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The compilation of texts known as the Zohar represents the collective wisdom of various strands of Jewish mysticism, or kabbalah, up to the 13th century. This text examines how central doctrines of classical kabbalah took shape around the Zohar.

The Enneagram and Kabbalah
The Enneagram and Kabbalah

Author: Howard A. Addison

Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1580232299

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An updated and expanded examination into the groundbreaking exploration and connection of two of the most powerful mystical traditions. Patterns in our lives may escape us; reasons for our behavior often confuse us. To help us better understand the interplay of these dynamics, Rabbi Howard A. Addison combines two of the most powerful maps of consciousness known to humanity: the Tree of Life (the sefirot) from the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah, and the nine-pointed Enneagram that was developed over several generations by mystics of several spiritual traditions. Individually, each offers guidance and wisdom; together, they show the forces that propel us and shape our personalities and behavior. Most important, the two suggest how we can live more harmoniously with ourselves and with others, minimize friction and tension and discover our own spiritual gateway to God. In this updated and expanded edition of his pioneering book, Rabbi Addison explores new understandings of the stages and pitfalls we experience along life's journey and the ways we can transcend the limits of our personalities in search of greater wholeness. He shows that, when brought together, the Enneagram and Kabbalah may enhance understanding of humanity's deepest motivations--both individually and collectively--thus opening wider the gate to personal growth.

Kabbalah
Kabbalah

Author: Perle Epstein

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2001-02-13

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 0834824574

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Unraveling the web of ancient traditions hidden in such texts as the Sefer Yetzirah and the Zohar, this book traces history and offers an accessible introduction to understanding Kabbalah and its practices. Jewish mysticism has flourished—sometimes brilliantly, sometimes darkly—over five thousand years. This pioneering, popular text on Jewish mysticism was the first written for a general audience, and in it, Perle Besserman offers a lively and accessible introduction to the methods, schools, and practitioners of this intriguing world. She traces the history of Kabbalah through the lives of its illustrious scholars and saints and unravels the web of ancient traditions hidden in such texts as Sefer Yetzirah and the Zohar. Running through these pages are the words of the outstanding Kabbalists and mystics—including Simeon bar Yohai, Isaac Luria, Abraham Abulafia, and the Baal Shem Tov—giving instructions on practices ranging from contemplation of the Bible’s secret teachings to ritual, ecstatic prayer, and intensive meditation.

Absorbing Perfections
Absorbing Perfections

Author: Moshe Idel

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2008-10-01

Total Pages: 686

ISBN-13: 0300135076

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In this wide-ranging discussion of Kabbalah—from the mystical trends of medieval Judaism to modern Hasidism—one of the world’s foremost scholars considers different visions of the nature of the sacred text and of the methods to interpret it. Moshe Idel takes as a starting point the fact that the postbiblical Jewish world lost its geographical center with the destruction of the temple and so was left with a textual center, the Holy Book. Idel argues that a text-oriented religion produced language-centered forms of mysticism. Against this background, the author demonstrates how various Jewish mystics amplified the content of the Scriptures so as to include everything: the world, or God, for example. Thus the text becomes a major realm for contemplation, and the interpretation of the text frequently becomes an encounter with the deepest realms of reality. Idel delineates the particular hermeneutics belonging to Jewish mysticism, investigates the progressive filling of the text with secrets and hidden levels of meaning, and considers in detail the various interpretive strategies needed to decodify the arcane dimensions of the text.

Zohar, the Book of Enlightenment
Zohar, the Book of Enlightenment

Author: Daniel Chanan Matt

Publisher: Paulist Press

Published: 1983

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 9780809123872

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This is the first translation with commentary of selections from The Zohar, the major text of the Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. This work was written in 13th-century Spain by Moses de Leon, a Spanish scholar.

Experiencing the Kabbalah
Experiencing the Kabbalah

Author: Chic Cicero

Publisher:

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781567181388

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This text provides a comprehensive beginner's guide that emphasizes basic Kabbalistic concepts through personal, hands-on experience.

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

Kabbalistic Tarot
Kabbalistic Tarot

Author: Dovid Krafchow

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2005-07-11

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 1594776350

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An introduction to the ancient kabbalistic origins and meanings of the tarot • Reveals the intimate relationship of the tarot to the esoteric teachings of the Torah and the Kabbalah • Provides kabbalistic interpretations for all 78 traditional tarot cards • Includes a detailed kabbalistic reading and interpretation of the Tree of Life spread When the Greeks invaded Israel and forbade study of the Torah, the Jewish people began a secret method of Toranic study that appeared to be merely a simple way to fill time: playing cards. These first tarot decks enabled study of the Torah without detection. Once the Maccabees expelled the Greeks from Israel and Israel once again became a Jewish kingdom, tarot cards dropped from sight. Fifteen hundred years later, in response to Jewish disputations with Catholic theologians, political and religious persecutions, and ultimately the Inquisition, the cards resurfaced as a secret learning tool of the Torah. In Kabbalistic Tarot, Dovid Krafchow details how the true meaning of the tarot is locked within the Kabbalah. He shows the correspondence between the 22 Major Arcana cards and the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and how the four suits correspond to the four kabbalistic worlds of Briah, Yitzerah, Asiyah, and Atzilut. He describes the kabbalistic meanings of each of the 78 cards and their relations to the Torah and provides insight into the Tree of Life spread through several kabbalistic readings.