Kabbalah

As followers of the Jewish Messiah Yeshua, the Messianic Jewish movement has the task of communicating the divinity of Messiah to the Jewish world. A popular method for recontextualizing the incarnation as a Jewish concept has been to cite ancient Jewish precedents for the idea. This historical-textual approach, as popularized by Daniel Boyarin and others, has significant benefits. However, it also ignores underlying theological and philosophical issues that make the idea of incarnation nonsensical or redundant in the eyes of religious Jewish people. In order to address the objections of religious Jewish people, the Messianic Jewish movement may need to increase its proficiency in theological and philosophical discourse. This paper outlines a second approach to explaining the deity of Messiah, called the Theological-Philosophical approach.

To identify, clarify and represent the truth, both epistemologically and ontologically has been the telos of inquiry. The origins of philosophical as well as theological thought can be said to lay in the human subject's effort to know, with absolute clarity, the nature and identity of that which is perceived. Knowledge, thus defined, provides thinking subjects the necessary grounds to engage reality with certainty and self-assuredness. Rational categorizations demarcating the boundaries between one thing and the other create the semblance of an ordered world in which the laws of logic dictate the true and the possible. As such, the primary mode in which thinking manifested itself was the authoritative answer. To end the interrogative thought journey with the absolute, totalized statement of fact was seen as the apex of knowledge and wisdom. The positive declaration that enclosed the circle of thought served as the culmination of the thought process. As a result of this logocentric nature of thinking, the answers to queries and philosophical explorations were elevated to a primary status while the questioning act itself was relegated to a secondary, if not negative category. Viewed as such, the question serves a utilitarian purpose in that it creates the opening necessary for knowledge to unfold. The interval between the unexamined presence of being and the enlightened knowledge of being is the question. Inessential on its own, the question creates the space in which thinking, and ultimately knowledge can take root. The question then becomes an impediment which must be traversed in order for the answer to be disclosed. From Socratic questioning through Hegelian dialectics, the difficulties set forth by the question serve a secondary role in a process through which the question is eventually absorbed within the clarified answer. Within our historical moment, however, the binary oppositions that have dictated the hierarchy of values have been overturned. The quest for knowledge can longer be said to close with the absolute answer. With Nietzsche's "great problems and question marks"1 of reality, the passage has been opened through which the essentialist nature of the ontotheological project can be called into question. The turn from the totalized project of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit and the self-conscious Cartesian subject resulted in a paradigmatic shift in which the ideas and concepts once relegated to the margins-of-thought have reasserted themselves into the body-of-thought. Martin Heidegger, in his attempt to move beyond the beginning of western metaphysics claims that ontology, or being, has been taken for granted.

הן הקבלה והן הפסיכואנליזה תופסות את הנפש האנושית כמרובדת ובנויה שכבות על שכבות. פרויד השווה לא אחת את מלאכת האנליטיקאי לארכיאולוג שמשחזר שרידים הקבורים תחת ההריסות, ואף המקובלים מפתחים תורת בריאה וגאולה המושתת על זיכרון של עולמות שחרבו, והמיסטיקון נתפס כמי שמחלץ משמעות המסתתרת בתוך עיי החורבות האלוהיות והפרטיות. כפיתוח לספרי "חבלי אנוש- הלידה בפסיכואנליזה ובקבלה" מאמר זה עוסק במפגש שבין התיאוריה הפסיכואנליטית לבין החשיבה הקבלית והמיסטית סביב סוגיות של הולדה, מיניות והורות. הדיון מתמקד בתפיסה כי הנפש זקוקה להורים כדי לצמוח, ודן בדגם "ההורים העליונים" אותו הוסיפו המקובלים לדמויות הזכר והנקבה באילן האלוהי. בתוך כך נבחנות תפיסות פסיכואנליטיות וקבליות של הורות, כגון דמות הורית משולבת combined parental figure תפיסות אודות קונספציה ופרה-קונספציה, בזיקה לתפיסה הזוהרית של "תרין רעין דלא מתפרשין", מיתוס הנסירה, ועוד.

This paper provides an initial, multidimensional map of the complex relationships among consciousness, mind, brain and the external world in a way that follows both the contours of everyday experience and the findings of science. It then demonstrates how this reflexive monist map can be used to evaluate the utility and resolve some of the oppositions of the many other “isms” that currently populate consciousness studies. While no conventional, one-dimensional “ism” such as physicalism can do justice to this web of relationships, physicalism, functionalism, dualism, neutral monism, and dual-aspect monism can all be seen to provide useful ways of understanding different aspects of the relationships among consciousness, mind, brain and the external world when these are viewed in either a first- or a third-person way from within this web of relationships by sentient creatures such as ourselves. For example, physicalism and functionalism provide a useful understanding of consciousness, mind, brain and external world when viewed from a third-person perspective, while neutral monism provides a useful way of understanding first- versus third-person views of external phenomena. On the other hand, dual-aspect monism provides a useful way of understanding first- versus third-person views of mind, including Eastern versus Western views of mind.  Dual-aspect monism also provides a useful understanding of the “unconscious ground of being” that gives rise to, supports and embeds all these observable phenomena. For an integrated understanding one needs to understand how these phenomena and relationships combine into an integrated whole.

This article presents the Masonic career of a kabbalistic lithograph in the United States in the middle of the 19th century, against the background of a sectarian debate that concerned the religious character of Freemasonry. In their struggle for equality, Jewish Freemasons took advantage of the Solomonic heritage of Masonic mythology and advocated a Jewish origin for the fraternity, in which Kabbalah assumed a role of providing esoteric underpinnings for this narrative. The article shows that within the wider historical framework of Jewish-Christian relations, the kabbalistic lithograph became a tool in the hands of Jewish Freemasons in a Masonic sectarian debate.

This article gives a panoramic picture of Rabbi Yossef Messas' (1892-1974) approach of Kabbalah as a source of law. The article illustrates his doctrine of separation between Halakha and Kabbalah and proves that despite the central place of Kabbala in Morocco, some halakhic authorities attempted to limit its influence on the halakhic discourse, even in the first half of the 20th century.

ערב רב: פנים וחוץ בוויכוח הפרנקיסטי הוא ספר מרתק וחדשני החושף את סיפורה הייחודי של התנועה הפרנקיסטית, תנועה יהודית אפיקורסית שצמחה בפולין והתפשטה במרכז אירופה במחצית השנייה של המאה ה-18.

בעיני רוב היהודים פרנק היה 'משיח שקר' ידוע לשמצה. בעיני נוצרים נאורים ומיסיונרים מילנריסטים היה יהודי-נוצרי ואדם חופשי בדעותיו, שלו קשרים מסתוריים והוא משתמש במגיה ובמאגרי עושר סודיים. עבור מאמיניו היה למבשר שחרור מן המסגרות המקובלות המדכאות של מגדר, הלכה, מעמד, משטר ודת.

התנועה הפרנקיסטית עוררה הדים והיתה סלע מחלוקת גם בקרב גורמים דתיים ופוליטיים לא יהודיים: יוזף השני, קתרינה הגדולה, גתה, קזנובה ואחרים. תורותיו של יעקב פרנק, מנהיג התנועה, הציבו אתגר בפני היהדות הנורמטיבית, אך גם בפני האסלאם וזרמים בנצרות. הספר מברר מחלוקות פנימיות ביהדות המודרנית אך דן גם ביחסים בין יהודים לסביבתם במאות ה-18–ה-19.

ערב רב מבוסס על מקורות פנימיים שחיברו פרנק ומאמיניו, על מקורות יהודיים פולמוסיים אנטי פרנקיסטיים, ועל מקורות שכתבו גורמים לא יהודיים בני הזמן. דרכו המוקצנת של יעקב פרנק עוררה עניין רב בו ובתנועתו, ולקורא מוגש ניתוח מעמיק של פרשה היסטורית ייחודית זו.
המחבר, ד"ר פאבל מצ'ייקו מן האוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים, חוקר את תולדות היהודים בפולין-ליטא בעת החדשה. נולד בוורשה וקיבל תואר דוקטור מאוניברסיטת אוקספורד. פרסומיו הרבים זיכו אותו בפרסים, במלגות ובמענקי מחקר רבים. שימש מרצה אורח באוניברסיטאות שונות, בארצות הברית, בצרפת, בגרמניה ובפולין.

Abraham Abulafia (1240–1290) is considered to be one of the most significant Jewish mystics and is one of the few who taught a comprehensive system of meditative practices designed to induce ecstatic religious experiences. At the heart of Abulafia’s meditation techniques lies the coordination of breath and body while pronouncing the Hebrew letters of the Name of God. Specifically, Abulafia instructs the practitioner to empty and stop the breath, paralleling a technical breathing practice in Yogic Pranayama called “Kumbhaka”. The Islamic polymath Al-Biruni’s (973–1048) Arabic translation of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is proposed as one possible transmission vector for this Yoga technique across radically different cultures and geographies into Abulafia’s method, which then profoundly influenced major Jewish personalities down to our day.

The purpose of this research is to publish a manuscript of the treatise Sefer Habri’a (The Book of Creation), written in 1670 by Rabbi Avraham Binyamin Nathan ben Elisha Chaim Halevi Askhenazy, also known as Nathan Ghazzati or Rabbi Nathan of Gaza. It has been copied into several manuscripts, which ended up scattered around the world, until they were ultimately collected by professor Chaim Wirszubski Z.L. of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the 1930s and 1940s. Wirszubski set out on a project of conducting a scientific edition of the treatise, and even published a small part of it.  However, misfortune has prevented him from finishing his great work, and he was called upon to teach in the Great Yeshiva in heavens. Now, the reader is presented with a full edition, accompanied by a comprehensive and methodical research. The research is separated from the original text, to allow the reader to focus on the text itself, if they so wish. Those who would seek to also delve into the analysis, can easily do so.
It is not everyday that a person is awarded the great privilege of returning a lost book to the collective Jewish library. Even more so when it is a book written by one of the greatest rabbis in recent generations, least of all a halakhic figure of the magnitude of Rabbi Nathan. We are faced with an unparalleled text in Rabbinic messianic and Hebrew literature. It is the central text of the Sabbatean movement after Sabbatai Zevi’s conversion to Islam. Sefer Habri’a was written by the progenitor of the movement, Rabbi Nathan of Gaza. Rabbi Nathan was famously considered a prophet by the spiritual leaders of the Jewish world in his time, and was one of those who declared Sabbatai Zevi to be a messiah. He was the one who explained the profound meaning of Zevi’s conversion, and the one who tried to prevent the masses from converting along with him.
If we wish to be certain that we can indeed declare “thou art our brother” to Nathan, we must look at this renewed text from every possible perspective. The text’s uniqueness, it’s complexity, length and meaning introduce many challenges, both on the technical-philological level and on that of semantic analysis. We should also pay heed to how socially problematic the Sabbatean movement is, following the heated debates that arose several generations after Zevi’s conversion. On that subject, we can view Sefer Habri’a as a treatise which ascribes profound meaning to Zevi’s ‘foreign acts’, through the Ha’ari’s hyper-nomic system. That is, the Lurianic Kabbalah, which unequivocally accepts the Jewish Halakha as sacred, is the treatise’s main method of discourse. It seems that the survival and continuity of Jewish tradition after the crisis was Rabbi Nathan’s main motivation in writing this immense work. That is, the desire to give a profound kabbalic meaning to the commandments of halakha, in the face of a shifting historical reality is at the heart of the text.
Sabbateanism is a grave subject in Jewish history. Therefore, whenever a new Sabbatean document is published, we must ask ourselves how its publication will affect the existing knowledge we have. When people read new material that contradicts what they perceive to be true, they often develop a ‘resistance front’, assuming that every new claim must be proved out of the existing body of knowledge, as if the unknown can be explored from the confines of the known. The problem here is evident - new information cannot be added in this way, and true learning cannot be achieved. All that can happen is that we pour old knowledge into a slightly different mould, at best. That said, there are times when a newly published document is so important that it demands of us to re-examine all of our previous held knowledge. More often than not, those who are tasked with preserving knowledge are not enthusiastic by the appearance of a new research which undermines the well known system to which they adhere. Therefore, if we wish the new knowledge to be properly accepted by people in that position, upon publishing such a document we must present in detail what we retain, and what we reconsider. It is possible that Sefer Habri’a would lead us into rethinking the Sabbatean movement in its entirety. It is, after all, a fundamental text written by the movement’s progenitor, immediately after the conversion. We will soon see that Sefer Habri’a would lead any observant reader to a clear understanding that it is a Kabbalah book that follows directly the writings of the Ha’ari. It is a direct continuation, and some would even say the highlight, of the Lurianic corpus. In this manner we can also see that Torat Israel, the Jewish halakha and the well-being of the nation at a time of crisis were undoubtedly on the mind of the author, Rabbi Nathan of Gaza, and that he was a loyal grand sage of Israel.

More than any other object of historical and anthropological study, Islamicate occult science cuts to the quick of what it means to be modern, to be Western, to be scientific. Yet nowhere else are 19th-century colonialist metaphysics and materialist cosmology more firmly entrenched. The piecemeal, truncated study of “Magic in Islam” to date has thus of-ten been pursued in service of either scientistic or religionist agendas, whereby magic can only ever be failed science or apolitical religion, and Islam can never be the West; Islamic Magic as simply Western and often imperial Science-and-Religion is thereby utterly disappeared from historiographical purview. And even those Islamicist historians of science and historians of religion who eschew ideology in favor of rigorously empirical philology, the majority, have tended to favor outsider, polemical discourses over insider, practitioner ones, and “classical” sources over “postclassical,” resulting in bizarre historiographical distortions and the disenchanting sanitization of Islamicate societies past and present. This manifesto therefore proposes a way out of this dire epistemological and ethical bind. To re-store Islamic Magic to its rightful place in Western intellectual and cultural history, especially history of science, we must take far more seriously the panpsychist cosmology on which it is predicated, and realize that our own reflexive materialism commits us willynilly to a colonialist agenda that is, ironically, both antireligious and antiscientific.

This article discusses the anonymous early kabbalistic work Sefer Maʿayan ha-Ḥokhmah (The Book of the Fountain of Wisdom), one of the pivotal works of ʿIyyun literature. The first part deals with the book's historical and literary aspects. The second part interprets a specific formulation in light of the basic ideas of the book itself, presenting the twofold pattern as a mystical type and as a grounding for linguistic-theological theory. The third part discusses the term " positive theology " in the theosophical and religious dimension, from the phenomenological perspective of extrovertive mysti-cism, and as a linguistic structure that provides the layer of signs as a stable basis for the restrained progress of Tongue. Acquiring the source as hidden but attendant by its constant grounding as a part of linguistic progression, uses the bifocal sight of binary extrovertive mysticism to denote the twofold structure of each being and each part of speech. Keywords early Kabbalah – linguistic theory – medieval theology – mystical phenomenology The theology of Sefer Maʿayan ha-Ḥokhmah (The Book of the Fountain of Wisdom; henceforth MhḤ) is simple and twofold or doubled: " And so all the universals return into particulars and the particulars [return] into univer-sals " (§20). This is an original statement, applying the system of " universal-particular " in Ibn Ezra to the multiplicity of theosophical and cosmological attributes, where the return of the last created beings to their origins is accomplished by the opposite movement of the universals that return to their most

The mystical technique of imagery, i.e. visualizing an imaginary picture, found already in the earliest stages of Kabbalah, reached its peak in the teachings of R. Kalonymous Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of Piazecna (1889-1943). Academic interest in exploring mystical phenomena solely within their historical, social and political contexts has increased in recent years. This article challenges the exclusive quest for historicization in the study of Jewish mysticism, using R. Shapira's remarkable mystical-imagery techniques as a case study. Through employing the concepts of “empowerment” and “intensification” as a lens for the study of mysticism in world religions, this article argues that R. Shapira used imagery techniques as a method for empowerment in ritual, both nomian and anomian, in order to transform normative religious acts into mystical experiences. These imagery exercises are not simply one technique among many. Nor do they just function as an alternative to the experiences made possible by secularism in the early twentieth century, as have been claimed in studies based on historical readings of his works. Historical research that negates a phenomenological perspective impedes the scholar from observing a variety of important insights. R. Shapira used imagery techniques as a powerful tool for intensifying all religious practices, transforming ordinary rituals into encounters with the Divine.

Alexander Barnard Davis, the esteemed leader of the Sydney Jewish community between 1862 and 1913, gave a series of lectures on the origin of the rites and worship of the Hebrews. A fascinating story emerges from the history of these lectures: They were given on a large Kabbalistic lithograph. The paper will trace the circuitous route of the artwork, which will shed light on the hitherto unknown affiliation of Davis with Freemasonry, and will elaborate on the content and the socio-cultural context of the lectures delivered for a multi-denominational audience in Sydney and Melbourne.

˝In reading this book, we have a privilege to learn how wisdom can be used to master and further these two groups of relationships. The more successful we are, the more a third path will open up—our relationship with the divine. This path is neither easy nor straightforward, but the reward we get for taking it is great. In the past, it revealed itself in the form of prophecy. It will open in the same way to a few, if they deserve that same gift.˝
Milko Štimac

Переводчик с фр. / translator from fr.

Ленен Л. Божественная каббала. — СПб.: Издательство «Академия исследования культуры», 2019. — 288 с. — (Серия Code Grimoire). ISBN 978-5-94396-218-9

«Божественная каббала» — это неизвестная до недавнего времени работа французского оккультного автора Лазара Ленена. По сути, она является продолжением и дополнением его книги «Каббалистическая наука», которая была высоко оценена как оккультными авторами прошлого, так и настоящего времени. В книге описаны семьдесят два ангела Великого Имени Бога, Шемхамфораш, вместе с методами их призывания для получения ответов на вопросы, личными ангельскими печатями и молитвами.
В книге представлен критический текст этой работы, выполненный на основании двух английских и одной французской рукописей, копии оригинальных страниц самого красивого из этих манускриптов, различные сравнительные и критические таблицы, комментарии. На русском языке издается впервые.

The color blue is thought to protect against the evil eye in Mediterranean cultures. This article unfolds the yet-unstudied role played by kabbalistic theology, symbolism, and myth in the construction of the color blue as a protective color for Jews. It traces particularly the development of a medieval kabbalistic myth of a dazzling blue garment of the feminine aspect of the godhead, protecting her from contact with evil forces. The article shows how this myth became the foundation for various practices against the evil eye among Jews in the modern period and contextualizes this myth within theories about the evil eye.

Contained within the twenty-two picture cards of the Visconti-Sforza Tarot is a sacred open secret. 2 The Major Arcana is a visual representation of an ancient mnemonic system the formation of which is the central operation of the seminal Kabbalistic text the Sefer Yetzirah.
The paper was presented at the 22nd Annual Conference of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies on Saturday, February 6th, 2016.

Freemasons BELIEVE in the existence of the Supreme Being; Kabbalists KNOW that it exists.

In the beginning there was only God and his endless Light.
Then God had a CREATION THOUGHT. To create Creation and give it fulfillment of every kind.
MAN is the ultimate goal of creation that God had in mind when He decided to create the world. The spiritual and material worlds are there to help and serve man.
There was no plan for man to suffer in any way. Death was not part of the plan either.
This is how it was with the first man, Adam. He had direct contact with God. He was happy and fulfilled. He was just like his Creator.
Then Adam sinned in Eden, thus breaking the covenant with God and the time of suffering and death ensued. The FALL OF MAN took place.
God hid Himself from the direct human understanding by placing veils between himself and them.
The purpose of life is to renew the state we once had. TO BECOME LIKE GOD AGAIN.
To gradually remove the veils that separate us.
That implies a complete change in human nature, from the selfish toward a giving and altruistic one. Only then will we correct and free the Soul.
The Human Soul is a REAL ENTITY. It is our true BEING. The material body only serves as the means for correction of the Soul, so it would go back to its source and BECOME ONE WITH GOD AGAIN.
This requires several reincarnations, but in the end, everyone will accomplish it and all human Souls will become one again, as they had been from the outset.
Every event in our lives is a lesson sent directly by God for the purpose of improving our personality and correction of our Souls.
The spiritual path is raising of consciousness, recognition of these lessons and the knowledge of things that we must correct in ourselves.
The Path to Light is daily training and exercise.
It is hard to walk it alone. There are tools to help us on the way.
HAPPINESS is the basic parameter of whether we are on the right path.
EVERY HUMAN BEING can become COMPLETELY FULFILLED, spiritually, health-wise, emotionally and materially in every way.
This is not a New Age text; these are ancient pearls of wisdom that have been around since the dawn of time.

תיקון שבתי צבי / יונתן מאיר. ההרצאה מבקשת להציג תמונה מורכבת ביחס לשבתי צבי, מכתיבתו הקבלית של נתן העזתי על המשיח הנפוּל, דרך ניסיונות תיקון נשמתו בידי הבעש"ט, ועד לשילובו בנרטיב הלאומי בידי זלמן שז"ר וחוקרים שבאו אחריו. יהא זה ניסיון למשוך קו במחשבה ובהיסטוריוגרפיה היהודית העומד מנגד לתפיסת הצרה בדבר "משיח שקר"

The symbols used by Freemasonry, within guiding and demonstration material, are those of building tools used by the stonemasons of the medieval period: the trowel, the mould, and the square. Those operative masons were the craftsmen who built cathedrals, churches, fortifications, and houses for the British aristocracy when wood was replaced by stone as a building material. In the following lines, we intend to examine the possible connections between the Craft and Kabbalah, a subject usually included in the literature of the fantastic, but not often researched and debated in the Academy.

All of the extant authentic sayings and teachings of Yeshua remembered in the earliest oral Jesus traditions and collections compiled by his Jewish disciples A.D. 30-50 before they were rendered into Greek, misunderstood, and Christianized in the later Gospels.
• Translated in terms of the original Hebrew/Aramaic vocabulary and idioms used by Yeshua
• Interpreted in the context of Second Temple messianic haggadah,  midrash, Merkabah, prophetic, and wisdom traditions
• Organized and presented as a coherent body of exquisite spiritual teaching that was lost and forgotten in Christianity.

This dissertation seeks to define the importance of John Dee’s interpretation of mediaeval and Renaissance esoterica regarding the contacting of daemons and its evolution into a body of astrological and terrestrial correspondences and intelligences that included a Biblical primordial language, or a lingua adamica. The intention and transmission of John Dee’s angel magic is linked to the philosophy outlined in his earlier works, most notably the Monas Hieroglyphica, and so this dissertation also provides a philosophical background to Dee’s angel magic. The aim of this dissertation is to establish Dee’s conversations with angels as a magic system that is a direct descendant of Solomonic and Ficinian magic with unique Kabbalistic elements. It is primarily by the Neoplatonic, Hermetic, Kabbalistic, and alchemical philosophy presented in the Monas Hieroglyphica that interest in Dee’s angel magic was transmitted through the Rosicrucian movement. Through Johann Valentin Andreae’s Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz anno 1459, the emphasis on a spiritual, inner alchemy became attached to Dee’s philosophy. Figures such as Elias Ashmole, Ebenezer Sibley, Francis Barret, and Frederick Hockley were crucial in the transmission of interest in Dee’s practical angel magic and Hermetic philosophy to the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The rituals of the Golden Dawn utilized Dee’s angel magic, in addition to creative Kabbalistic elements, to form a singular practice that has influenced Western esoterica of the modern age. This study utilizes a careful analysis of primary sources including the original manuscripts of the Sloane archives, the most recent scholarly editions of Dee’s works, authoritative editions of original documents linked to Rosicrucianism, and Israel Regardie’s texts on Golden Dawn practices.

Yohanan ben Isaac Alemanno (1435-1505?) was an Italian kabbalist, philosopher and physician. In his less known autograph, Paris, BnF héb. 849, he incorporated contemporary Christian magic sources with kabbalah, providing a practical method to ascend to the upper worlds for gaining prophecy. This article brings together Alemanno’s autograph and contemporary magical works, in order to demonstrate a radical change in Alemanno’s approach towards demonic magic, and the way he interpreted it using a cosmology he developed. Then, Alemanno’s cosmology will be used for reconsidering a concept of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494): The Triplex Merkabah.

An updated version, with the addition of one paragraph. I also recommend that you read the Tree of Life (1st and 2nd Part), which is now also published here in Academia. This is a post on my blog, and also a supplement to my last book titled, The Torah of the Messiah.

Here is my blog: http://secretofbereshit.blogspot.com/

"The most powerful Hasidic teachings made accessible--from some of the world s preeminent authorities on Jewish thought and spirituality.
Hasidism, a great movement of spiritual revival within Judaism, began in eighteenth-century Eastern Europe and continues to have great influence on Jewish life today. A key tool of this revival was the oral sermon, using novel mystical readings of the Torah to open people s minds to thinking more profoundly about the texts and how the wisdom relates directly to their own lives.
While Hasidic tales have become widely known to modern audiences, the teachings that stand at the very heart of Hasidism have remained a closed book for all except scholars. This fascinating selection--presented in two volumes following the weekly Torah reading and the holiday cycle, and featured in English and Hebrew--renders them accessible in an extraordinary way. Volume 1 covers Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus, and includes a history of early Hasidism and a summary of central religious teachings of the Maggid's school. Volume 2 covers Numbers and Deuteronomy and the holiday cycle, and includes brief biographies of the Hasidic figures. Each teaching is presented with a fresh translation and contemporary commentary that builds a bridge between the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries. And each teaching concludes with a dynamic round-table discussion between distinguished Jewish scholar Arthur Green and his closest students--the editors of this volume. They highlight the wisdom most meaningful for them, thus serving as a contemporary circle's reflections on the original mystical circle of master and disciples who created these teachings."

Hillel Zeitlin (1871-1942) was the leading figure of what may be called philosophical neo-Hasidism among Eastern European Jews in the pre-Holocaust era. A tireless author, journalist, and polemicist, he published constantly in both the Yiddish and Hebrew press, offering a bold new vision of contemporary spiritual life grounded in his reading of Hasidic sources. But Zeitlin sought to become an activist as well as a literary figure. He was especially concerned with the situation of the rootless Jewish youth. Throughout his career as a public figure, beginning shortly after World War I, he issued calls for a new organization of Jewish life. In a series of articles published in the 1920s he sought to form an elite Jewish spiritual fraternity to be called Yavneh, the most fully elaborated of his attempts at intentional community. The present study collects together Zeitlin’s Yiddish writings on the Yavneh fellowship, which are here re-printed and translated for the first time. Alongside these we present a newly discovered manuscript signed by Zeitlin, a single-sheet four-sided signed text in which he describes more succinctly and clearly the nature of the group and its intended function.

The narrative figures of the Yanuka (the Wunderkind) and the Sava (the Wise Old Man) are among the most enigmatic characters in zoharic narratives. As shown in this article, these figures represent also the narrative incarnation of God and his Son through the mythical figures of an Old Man and a Young Child. The article’s primary focus is on the close relationship between the Yanuka figure as Son of God and that of Jesus. This objective is accomplished through a survey of various textual clues (e.g. the Yanuka as son of the “Holy Mother”; the symbol of the fish; the Bread and Wine mysteries vs. the Eucharist), which, combined, create a mosaic of Christian elements that run through the the Yanuka and Sava characters.