Kabbalah (17 page)

4) In contemporary orthodox Judaism, kabbalah is a central subject in the works of leaders and teachers of various Hasidic communities, and some groups of adherents 111

K A B B A L A H

study it in a traditional manner (mainly the Zohar and the wriitngs of Rabbi Hayyim Vital). An important contribution to twentieth-century study of kabbalah is Rabbi Judah Ashlag’s multivolume commentary to the Zohar.

5) In contemporary Israel there are numerous groups and circles that describe themselves as kabbalistic. Some of them are related to exoteric Hasidic groups, especially those of Bratslav and Habad (Lubavitch). Another contemporary Israeli usage is the tendency of magicians and popular healers to designate themselves as kabbalists.

6) A wide variety of groups and movements, Jewish and Christian, associated with the New Age phenomenon also use the term. They range from orthodox Jewish groups, such as the Center for the Study of Kabbalah, to nonorthodox Jewish seekers of a more spiritual Judaism to mainstream Christian New Age writings, which often identify the kabbalah with magic, alchemy, and astrology. In this context the kabbalah is conceived as universal phenomenon, and it seems that today it is the most potent and dominant usage to the term “kabbalah,”

despite the wide variety of meanings attached to it. Its historical contours cannot yet be clearly defined.

112

F U R T H E R R E A D I N G

Further Reading

Dan, Joseph, and Esther Liebes, eds.
The Catalogue of the
Gershom Scholem Library in Jewish Mysticism
, vols. 1 and 2.

Jerusalem: National and University Library, 1999. Arranged by periods, schools, and main subjects in the history of Jewish mysticism, this work includes more than twenty thousand books and treatises, studies and reviews, making it the most comprehensive general bibliography concerning Jewish mysticism.

Dan, Joseph.
Jewish Mysticism
, vol. 3:
General Characteristics and
Comparative Studies
. Northvale, NJ: Aronson, 1999.

Dan, Joseph.
The Heart and the Fountain
. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Dan, Joseph.
Gershom Scholem and the Mystical Dimension in Jewish History
. New York: New York University Press, 1986.

Green, Arthur, ed.
Jewish Spirituality, vols. 1 and 2.
New York: Crossroads, 1986–1987.

Idel, Moshe.
Kabbalah: New Perspectives
. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989.

113

F U R T H E R R E A D I N G

Idel, Moshe.
Messianic Mystics
. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998.

Jacobs, Louis.
Jewish Mystical Testimonies
. New York: Schocken, 1996.

Scholem, Gershom.
Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism
. New York: Schocken, 1954. Scholem’s work includes chapters devoted to ancient Jewish mysticism, Abraham Abulafia, the Zohar, Safed and Luria, Sabbatianism, and Hasidism.

Scholem, Gershom.
On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism
. New York: Schocken, 1965. Includes articles on the concept of the Torah and the golem.

Scholem, Gershom.
On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead
. New York: Schocken, 1993. Discusses the
shekhinah
and the nature of good and evil.

Scholem, Gershom.
Jewish Messianism and Other Essays
. New York: Schocken, 1973. Covers Sabbatianism and Hasidism.

Scholem, Gershom.
Kabbalah.
Jerusalem: Keter, 1974. This volume contains the author’s articles on Jewish mysticism found in the
Encyclopedia Judaica
.

Dan, Joseph.
The Ancient Jewish Mysticism
. Tel Aviv: MOD, 1993.

Dan, Joseph.
Jewish Mysticism, vol. 1: Late Antiquity
. Northvale, NJ: Aronson, 1998.

Halperin, David.
The Faces of the Chariot.
Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1988.

Hayman, Peter.
Sefer Yesira: Edition, Translation, and Text-Criti-cal Commentary
. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2004.

Schaefer, Peter.
The Hidden and Manifest God: Some Major
Themes in Early Jewish Mysticism.
Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992.

Schaefer, Peter.
Synopse zur Hekhalot-Literatur
. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1981. These are the original Hebrew texts as found in seven key manuscripts.

114

F U R T H E R R E A D I N G

Scholem, Gershom.
Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism and
Talmudic Tradition
. 2nd ed. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1965.

Dan, Joseph, and Ronald Keiner.
The Early Kabbalah
. New York: Paulist Press, 1987. Part of the Classics of Western Spirituality series, this volume includes translations from early kabbalistic treatises.

Dan, Joseph.
Jewish Mysticism, vol. 2:
The Middle Ages.
Northvale, NJ: Aronson, 1998.

Kaplan, Aryeh.
The Bahir
. Northvale, NJ: Aronson, 1995.

Kaplan offers a translation and commentary on this important work.

Idel, Moshe.
The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia
. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988.

Scholem, Gershom.
The Origins of the Kabbalah
. Ed. R. J. Zwi Werblowsky. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987.

Wolfson, Elliot.
Through a Speculum that Shines: Visions and
Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism
. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994.

Liebes, Yehudah.
Studies in the Zohar
. New York: State University of New York Press, 1993.

Matt, Daniel C.
The Zohar: Translation and Commentary,
vols. 1

and 2. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004.

Arthur Green provides the introduction.

Matt, Daniel C.
The Zohar: English Selection
. New York: Paulist Press, 1983.

Tishby, Isaiah.
The Wisdom of the Zohar
, vols. 1 and 2. Trans.

D. Goldstein. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989. Includes an anthology of sections from the Zohar arranged according to subject, with detailed commentary.

115

F U R T H E R R E A D I N G

Dan, Joseph, ed.
The Christian Kabbalah
. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997.

Reuchlin, Johannes.
De arte cabbalistica
. Trans. Martin and Sarah Goodman. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.

Fine, Lawrence.
Safed Spirituality: Rules of Mystical Piety
. New York: Paulist Press, 1984.

Fine, Lawrence.
Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos: Isaac
Luria and His Kabbalistic Fellowship
. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003.

Werblowsky, R. J. Zwi.
Joseph Karo: Lawyer and Mystic
. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1962.

Liebes, Yehudah.
Studies in Jewish Myth and Messianism
. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.

Scholem, Gershom.
Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626–
1676
. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973.

Band, Arnold.
The Stories of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav
. New York: Paulist Press, 1978.

Buber, Martin.
The Tales of the Hasidim
. New York: Schocken, 1991.

Dan, Joseph.
Jewish Mysticism, vol. 4: The Modern Period.

Northvale, NJ: Aronson, 1999.

Dan, Joseph.
The Teachings of Hasidism
. New York: Behrman, 1983.

116

F U R T H E R R E A D I N G

Elior, Rachel.
The Paradoxical Ascent to God: The Kabbalistic The-osophy of Habad Hasidism
. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.

Green, Arthur.
Tormented Master: The Life of Rabbi Nahman of
Bratslav.
University: University of Alabama Press, 1979.

Rapoport-Albert, Ada, ed.
Hasidism Reappraised
. London: Vallentine Mitchel, 1996.

Uffenheimer, Rivkah Schatz.
Hasidism as Mysticism: Qietistic
Elements in Eighteenth-Century Hasidic Outlook.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993.

117

I N D E X

Index

Abraham (biblical), 16, 45,

apocalyptic struggle, 52.
See
105, 106

also under
messianic Abraham of Posquierre, 25

Aramaic, 31, 32, 74

Abulafia, Abraham, 22, 27,

Arieh of Modena, Judah, 30

29, 39, 41, 48, 63

Aristotelians, 39

Adam (biblical), 76–77

Aristotle, 74

Adrat, Shlomo ben, 29

Ashkenazi creativity, 34

Akibah, Rabbi, 13, 14, 15

Ashlag, Judah, 108, 110

alchemy, 67

Asmodeus, 50

Alkabetz, Shlomo, 72

assemblies
(idrot),
31, 32

alphabet, 12, 15, 20–21,

Assyrian religion, 6

105; Hebrew alphabet,

Azriel, Rabbi, 27

16–17, 29, 64, 105, 108.

See also
sefirot
(divine Ba’al Shem Tov, Israel

powers)

(Besht), 95

Alsheikh, Moshe, 72

Baer, Dov (Great Magid), 95,

American culture, 69

96

Amora, Rabbi, 20

Bahir.
See
Book Bahir anarchistic group, 99

“Beliefs and Ideas “ (Saadia), 47

anthropomorphic text, 15,

Berav, Jacob, 71

43, 47, 87

Berg, Philip S., 110

antinomianism, 90, 92

Besht (Israel Ba’al Shem

anti-Semitism, 67

Tov), 95, 99

119

I N D E X

Bialik, Hayyim Nachman, 103

Christian kaballah, 6, 29, 60–

Bible, 18, 27, 29, 63, 80, 89;

69, 109; esotericism and,

heroes of, 44–45; names of

63, 81, 105; magic and, 62,

God in, 46, 47

63, 64, 66

binah
(third
sefirot),
43, 52

Christian mysticism, 8–9, 10,

Blavatsky, Helena, 105

67

Bloom, Harold, 6

Christian theologians, 27

Boehme, Jacob, 66

commandments
(mitzvot),
Book Bahir, 20–22, 24, 25,

34, 68, 72, 90; ethical be—

27, 42; conception of evil

havior and, 57, 58, 78; evil

in, 49, 50; feminine power

powers and, 55, 57–58, 59;

(shekhinah)
in, 48, 49

spiritual power of, 53–59;

Book of Creation, the.
See
theurgical conception of,

Sefer Yezira (The Book of

56, 57–58;
tikkun
(re-Creation) demption) and, 77–78, 79

Bratslav Hasidim, 99, 101, 102

Commentary on the Work of
breaking of vessels, 57, 58,

Genesis
(Ashkenazi), 34

75–76, 78

constriction
(zimzum),
73– Bruno, Giordano, 6

75, 81, 82

Buber, Martin, 99, 109

Cordovero, Moshe, 72, 74,

Bultmann, Rudolph, 23

75, 80

Cornelius Agrippa of Nette—

cabal, 7, 67

sheim, 64

Catharic movement, 23, 24

cosmology, 13, 16–17, 42

Catholic Church, 2, 92, 98

creation, 13, 15–18, 20, 64,

Center for the Study of Kabbalah, 110

74; of golem, 105–108; se—

Chapek, Karl, 107

cret of, 13, 33, 64.
See also
chariot of Ezekiel, 11, 14–15,

Sefer Yezira (The Book of

65

Creation)

Christian Europe, 81

Christian gnosticism, 22, 24,

David (biblical), 45

48–49

Dead Sea Scrolls, 49

Christianity, 2, 6, 53; conver-

De Arte kabbalista
(Reuchlin), sion to, 92; Sabbatian

63

messianism and, 86, 88,

De Harmonia Mundi

89–90

(Giorgio), 66

120

I N D E X

dela Reina, Joseph, 35

Eleazar ben Judah of Worms,

de Leon, Moses, 5, 26, 29,

19, 50

30, 32, 52.
See also
Zohar Eliayahu the Gaon of Vilna,

(de Leon)

95

demiurgic entity, 44

Elijah (prophet), 4

De Occulta Philosophia
“emanations on the left,” 49– (Agrippa), 64

53.
See also
evil powers destruction
(shevirah),
73, emanations
,
19, 39–40, 41, 75–77, 81, 82

43, 44–45, 90

divine emanations
(torah de-emptiness
(tehiru),
74, 75–76

azilut),
19, 39–40, 41, 43,
emunah
(faith), 88

44–45, 90

enlightenment movement,

divine flow
(shefa),
40, 46, 91, 103

54–56, 58

erotic language, 32

divine messenger
(magid),
4, erotic union, 55, 92

39, 72, 87

esotericism, 11, 19, 30, 37,

divine powers, 19, 21, 54.
See
95; of Christian kabbalists,

also
sefirot
(divine powers) 63, 81, 105

divine realm, 33, 38, 39

esoteric treatises, 13–15, 62

divine sparks, 78

Esther (biblical), 104, 110

divine speech, 18

ethics, 2, 19, 27, 38, 45, 83;

divine tree
(ilan),
21–22

commandments and, 57,

divine truth, 2–3, 4, 10, 29

58, 78

divine union, 9

European culture, 6–7, 61,

divine world
,
37, 42

divinity, 41.
See also
God 68–69, 81.
See also
Chris-Donolo, Shabbatai, 16, 17