Zohar: Annotated & Explained (SkyLight Illuminations) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1893361519 ISBN 13: 9781893361515

Publisher: SkyLight Paths, 2002

Synopsis

The best-selling author of The Essential Kabbalah now
offers readers the best introduction to the Zohar.

The splendor and enigmatic appeal of the Zohar, the major text of the Jewish mystical tradition, has never intrigued readers of all faiths more than it does today. But how can we truly understand it?

Daniel C. Matt brings together in one place the most important teachings from the Zohar, the cornerstone of Kabbalah―described as a mixture of theology, mystical psychology, anthropology, myth, and poetry―alongside facing-page stories, notes, and historical background that illuminate and explain the text. Ideal for the first-time reader with no prior knowledge of Jewish mysticism.

Guides readers step-by-step through the texts that make up the Zohar―midrash, mystical fantasy, commentary, and Hebrew scripture―and explains the inner meanings of this sacred text, recognized by kabbalists as the most important work of mystical teaching, in a way that is both spiritually enlightening and intellectually fascinating.

About this title

About the Authors

Daniel C. Matt is a leading authority on the Zohar and Kabbalah. He is the author of the best-selling The Essential Kabbalah (translated into seven languages); Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment; God and the Big Bang: Discovering Harmony Between Science and Spirituality (Jewish Lights); and Zohar: Annotated and Explained (SkyLight Paths). He was professor of Jewish spirituality for over twenty years at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, and he continues to lecture around the country on Jewish mysticism and spirituality. He is the author of the first nine volumes of the annotated translation The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, hailed as "a monumental contribution to the history of Jewish thought."

Andrew Harvey is the author of many critically acclaimed books, including Son of Man. His memoir A Journey in Ladakh was praised as "one of the best books available on the Western experience of Tibetan spiritual life." His just-published memoir Sun at Midnight was praised by Deepak Chopra, who said, "for those who have gone through the dark night of the soul and for those seeking a genuine understanding of spirituality, this is a very inspiring story." Harvey is also the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Born in India, he was the youngest person ever awarded a fellowship to All Souls College, Oxford. He has devoted the past thirty years of his life to study and experiencing the world's spiritual traditions and is widely recognized as one of our greatest communicators of mysticism and contemplative living today.

Reviews

SkyLight Paths continues its Illuminations series with this edition of the Zohar, which series editor Andrew Harvey explains in his foreword is "the cornerstone of Kabbalah." This central text of Jewish mysticism is notoriously recondite and lends itself to multiple interpretations, making its study the life's work of many a Jewish scholar. More recently, individuals of other religious traditions (Exhibit A being Madonna) have begun to dabble in the Zohar, and this edition is particularly geared to them. It is based on short selections rather than the full text, and it offers wonderful facing-page explanations of key concepts and terms, so readers will not have to dig through endnotes looking for information. Matt, a former professor of Jewish mysticism at Berkeley and author of The Essential Kabbalah, doesn't "dumb down" the more abstruse passages of the Zohar, and he provides a very effective introduction that outlines its importance for the reader.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

There are many fine books that explain the Zohar, the mostimportant text of the mystical Jewish movement, kabbalah. This one hasseveral advantages, however, over the others. First, it has awonderful foreword by Harvey, editor of the SkyLight Illuminationsseries, of which the book is a member. In it Harvey evocativelyintroduces a kabbalist named Ezekiel, who teaches Harvey about thepossibilities and power of the mystic tradition, generally andparticularly. Interested readers will be as exhilarated as Harvey isby Ezekiel's provocative statements. Next, the solid preface explainsthe Zohar 's origins, which aren't lost in the mists of time asmany believe, and basic concepts. The text proper is the Zoharwith commentary by translator Matt that explains references to theBible and Midrash and draws on the writings of Jewish philosophers forfurther illumination. A fine starting place for most readersinterested in Jewish mysticism. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: SkyLight Paths
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1893361519
• ISBN 13: 9781893361515
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176
• Editor: Daniel Chanan Matt