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I am a scholar of Kabbalah. My father was a rabbi and I grew up studying Torah with him. He was deeply spiritual, and that drew me to exploring the mystical Judaism. After completing my Ph.D. in Jewish studies, I traveled to India, meditated in the Himalayas, and discovered how mystical teachings East and West are remarkably similar. I taught Jewish spirituality for 20 years at a graduate school in Berkeley. Then a wealthy family approached me and commissioned me to translate the Zohar, the masterpiece of Kabbalah. This took me 18 years and the translation was published in 9 volumes by Stanford University. Now I teach Zohar online.
The Zohar is the masterpiece of Kabbalah, a vast mystical commentary on the Bible, composed in 13th-century Spain.
Over the course of 18 years, I translated this dense, cryptic Aramaic text into English, adding an extensive commentary to explain the mystical symbolism. For the Zohar, God is equally male and female, and it is up to us humans to unite the divine couple by living ethically and spiritually. God needs us, in order to be actualized in the world.
This is the first English edition of the Zohar to be based on the original manuscripts. It has been hailed as “a monumental contribution to the history of Jewish thought.”
The first two volumes of The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, translated with commentary by Daniel C. Matt, cover more than half of the Zohar's commentary on the Book of Genesis (through Genesis 32:3). This is the first translation ever made from a critical Aramaic text of the Zohar, which has been established by Professor Matt based on a wide range of original manuscripts. The extensive commentary, appearing at the bottom of each page, clarifies the kabbalistic symbolism and terminology, and cites sources and parallels from biblical, rabbinic, and kabbalistic texts. The translator's introduction is accompanied by a second introduction written by…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I am a scholar of Kabbalah. My father was a rabbi and I grew up studying Torah with him. He was deeply spiritual, and that drew me to exploring the mystical Judaism. After completing my Ph.D. in Jewish studies, I traveled to India, meditated in the Himalayas, and discovered how mystical teachings East and West are remarkably similar. I taught Jewish spirituality for 20 years at a graduate school in Berkeley. Then a wealthy family approached me and commissioned me to translate the Zohar, the masterpiece of Kabbalah. This took me 18 years and the translation was published in 9 volumes by Stanford University. Now I teach Zohar online.
This is a rich survey of Jewish spirituality, starting from the Bible and continuing through the 20th century, including the Talmud, Kabbalah, Ḥasidism, and modern Jewish thought.
Each essay is written by a different prominent scholar. Among the topics covered are: prophecy, the spirituality of Psalms, the relation between law and spirit, the mystical meaning of the mitzvot(commandments), meditation, mystical experience, and the Ḥasidic rebbe.
I like that each essay is based on solid scholarship and yet is very readable.
This book is the first of two columes on the spiritual life as manifest in the history of Judaism. This first volume deals with the classic ages of the Jewish tradition: the biblical, the rabbinic, and the medieval.
I am a scholar of Kabbalah. My father was a rabbi and I grew up studying Torah with him. He was deeply spiritual, and that drew me to exploring the mystical Judaism. After completing my Ph.D. in Jewish studies, I traveled to India, meditated in the Himalayas, and discovered how mystical teachings East and West are remarkably similar. I taught Jewish spirituality for 20 years at a graduate school in Berkeley. Then a wealthy family approached me and commissioned me to translate the Zohar, the masterpiece of Kabbalah. This took me 18 years and the translation was published in 9 volumes by Stanford University. Now I teach Zohar online.
This book concentrates on the experiential side of Kabbalah (the Jewish mystical tradition).
Kaplan describes many techniques of meditation, based on original sources that he translates from Hebrew and Aramaic. He includes teachings from the Talmud, early Jewish mystical texts, the Zohar, Abraham Abulfia, Isaac Luria, and Ḥasidic masters.
This is a very rich collection, which will introduce you to a many profound and inspiring teachings. Kaplan is able to explain complex ideas clearly.
The Kabbalah is divided into three branches-the theoretical, the meditative, and the practical. While many books, both in Hebrew and English, have explored the theoretical Kabbalah, virtually nothing has been published regarding the meditative methods of these schools. This is the first book published in any language that reveals the methodology of the Kabbalists and stresses the meditative techniques that were essential to their discipline. Kaplan offers a lucid presentation of the mantras, mandalas, and other devices used by these schools, as well as a penetrating interpretation of their significance in light of contemporary meditative research. In addition, Meditation and…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
I am a scholar of Kabbalah. My father was a rabbi and I grew up studying Torah with him. He was deeply spiritual, and that drew me to exploring the mystical Judaism. After completing my Ph.D. in Jewish studies, I traveled to India, meditated in the Himalayas, and discovered how mystical teachings East and West are remarkably similar. I taught Jewish spirituality for 20 years at a graduate school in Berkeley. Then a wealthy family approached me and commissioned me to translate the Zohar, the masterpiece of Kabbalah. This took me 18 years and the translation was published in 9 volumes by Stanford University. Now I teach Zohar online.
This is a great collection of essays by some of the leading scholars of Jewish mysticism.
Each chapter is authoritative yet very readable and stimulating. Among the topics are: the nature of the Zohar, the meaning of Torah in Kabbalah, transmigration of souls, the figure of the Tsaddiq(the righteous hero), mystical prayer, a mystical approach to the Sabbath, mystical techniques, and the concept of “nothingness” in Jewish mysticism.
An essential volume of 12th to 17th century papers on the Jewish mysticism of Kabbalah
As recently as 1915, when the legendary scholar of Jewish mysticism Gershom Scholem sought to find someone-anyone-to teach him Kabbalah, the study of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah was largely neglected and treated with disdain. Today, this field has ripened to the point that it occupies a central place in the agenda of contemporary Judaic studies.
While there are many definitions of Kabbalah, this volume focuses on the discrete body of literature which developed between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries. The basis for most of this…
I have been studying Zohar in the original ancient language for fifty years and have written a number of books about how Zohar informs the future of the Earth. For my whole life, I have pursued Truth. Zohar has been my guide through the darkness of life riddled with lies. The words of Zohar promise to become relevant at the End of Days, before the six thousand year calendar runs out in 220 years with the advent of the Thousand Years of Woman and Peace. After fifty years of study, I have deciphered the past and written a book for the ages.
Adin Steinsaltz is another author who can be absolutely trusted in his ability to transmit ancient secrets with clarity, simplicity utilizing a complete concordance of knowledge meant to educate the reader. The first form of creation, as related in the preface to the Zohar, is the thirteen petal rose. Thirteen is the gematria of Echud/One, from here arises the seed to the Tree of Life.
From Madonna's music videos to the glossy pages of celebrity magazines and back to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Jewish mysticism has stepped into the modern consciousness like never before. In this classic work, world-renowned scholar Adin Steinsaltz answers the major questions asked by modern Jews about the nature of existence in God's universe. The title The Thirteen Petalled Rose is taken from the opening of the classic Jewish text on mysticism, the Zohar, and refers to the "collective souls of the Jewish people," which scholars have likened to the fullness of a rose and its thirteen petals. Along…
From about the age of 14, I have been exploring how unusual ideas and experiences might change a person’s life. This led me to become an author and experimental psychologist studying the effects of religious beliefs, rituals, and meditation exercises on our minds and bodies. I have spent a good part of the last 4 years putting together a book which tries to answer many of my questions on the varieties of meditation practices around the world.
From physical travel to the heavens to
elaborate meditations on Hebrew letter permutations and terrifying dialogues
with God: the richness of Jewish religious experience is narrated here with
historical detail and psychological insight. Its final chapters which bring us
close to our times are no less surprising: Scholem describes how the
disillusionment with a prophetic figure who converts to Islam to save his own
life sparked an atheist movement within Judaism. My favorite book on the psychology of
religious experience, though written by a historian.
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
I grew up in a conservative religious environment where the Bible was treated like a rule book: God’s policy manual. But college-level Bible courses taught me to see that academic and even mystical ways of reading the Bible can enhance our appreciation of its ancient wisdom. I’ve been a lay/amateur student of the Bible ever since, and that has paired well with my longstanding interest in Christian Mysticism and spirituality—I’ve learned over the years to appreciate the Bible as a work of art, not some legal code. I love sharing my appreciation of the Bible with others who want an honest and contemporary understanding of scripture.
Growing up as a Christian, I learned a Christian understanding of the Bible, but my appreciation of scripture took a quantum leap when I was exposed to Jewish perspectives, including this brilliant study of the Hebrew Bible (the Christian “Old Testament”) as a guide to meditation.
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan unpacks how instructions for meditation are often carefully encoded in the ancient writings, thereby revealing not only how the Bible supports a meaningful spiritual practice, but also how it is filled with subtle mystical teachings.
I’ll never accept the criticism that “mysticism isn’t in the Bible ever again”—this book shows how that perspective is based on misunderstanding Biblical wisdom.
A highly radical interpretation of the Bible demonstrating the methods of meditation used by the Prophets to attain their unique states of consciousness. First English translation from ancient unpublished manuscripts, with commentary.
I found the tarot at the age of fourteen. Like many teenagers exploring the spirit world, I was curious about witchcraft, prophecies, numerology, astrology – it was a matter of time until I found the Tarot and fell in love with the cards. From studying Tarot, I branched out into Gnosticism, Kabbalah, and finally coming home to my culture’s Hellenic Tradition (Hellenism). I went on to college to receive a B.A. in Religion and later a M.A. in Ancient History. I give the Tarot large credit to all my later achievements in life. Those 78 cards opened my eyes to a whole world of mysteries to be unlocked.
What I love about this book is that it proves the old saying that there is nothing new under the sun to be wrong. Mark Horn’s Tarot and the Gates of Light blends together two traditions already closely linked; Tarot and Kabbalah. While it is Hermetic Qabalah that is mostly applied to Tarot, Mark Horn introduces a unique way to use the Tarot to practice Counting the Omer. This will be the most unique tarot book to have on the shelf as it offers you a rare transformative practice.
An innovative, spiritual workbook that integrates the Tarot and the Kabbalistic tradition of Counting the Omer
* Explores the origins and meaning of the 49-day Kabbalistic meditative practice of Counting the Omer and how it can lead to spiritual revelation, personal insight, and connection with the Divine
* Reveals the correspondence of the Tarot's minor arcana with the Sephirot of the Tree of Life and explains how both relate to the Omer meditation
* Provides a daily practice workbook that explores the related Sephirot and Tarot cards for each day, examines their Kabbalistic and spiritual meanings, and provides questions for…
I have been studying Zohar in the original ancient language for fifty years and have written a number of books about how Zohar informs the future of the Earth. For my whole life, I have pursued Truth. Zohar has been my guide through the darkness of life riddled with lies. The words of Zohar promise to become relevant at the End of Days, before the six thousand year calendar runs out in 220 years with the advent of the Thousand Years of Woman and Peace. After fifty years of study, I have deciphered the past and written a book for the ages.
There are 1835 pages in the book. If you read five pages a day or even just look at these holy words, you will finish the Zohar in a year. Just to have this beautiful sacred book in your library can only bring blessings into a person’s life. Each word in the Zohar is a window to Heaven; each letter is holy—indeed, each word is a Name of God. Treat this book with respect, put no other book above this book, and your actions will be noted in Heaven.
The Sacred Zohar is considered by many to be a Book of Healing & Protection
This book is traditionally known as the world’s most esoteric sources of spiritual knowledge, of Holy Bible and shows the spiritual narrative and wisdom available to people of all faiths so that we may use its principles to live each day. It is the central work in the literature of the Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition, by the greatest authority on Jewish mysticism, offers a sampling of its unique vision of the esoteric wonders of creation.
Please note: the first 30 pages introduction are in…
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the book…
I've always been fascinated by non-linear ways of knowing. I moved to Boston in the ’80s and became a part of a dance community, and a friend invited me to join a dream circle. My immediate response was “Yes!”, followed by, “What’s a dream circle?” I said yes even before I knew what it was, and that decision formed one of my major life paths personally and professionally. (FYI, a dream circle is a group of people who get together regularly to understand their dreams.) Add this to my years as a trauma therapist, and you have the template for Modern Dreamwork and PTSDreams. My next book focuses on healing ancestorial legacy through dreamwork.
Starting from the ancient wisdom of the Kabbalah, Catherine takes us on a journey through esoteric practices that allow us to unlock the power of our own dreaming mind and our intuitive and transformative powers.
She invites us to the perspective that we dream all the time if we know how to attend to waking as well as sleeping dreams. She is one of my spiritual teachers.
In Kabbalah and the Power of DreamingCatherine Shainberg unveils the esoteric practices that allow us to unlock the dreaming mind's transformative and intuitive powers. These are the practices used by ancient prophets, seers, and sages to control dreams and visions. Shainberg draws upon the ancient Sephardic Kabbalah tradition, as well as illustrative