Understanding Jewish mysticism : a source reader / [edited] by David R. Blumenthal. v. [1] The Merkabah tradition and the Zoharic tradition -- v. 2. The philosophic-mystical tradition and the Hasidic tradition [The library of judaic learning, 2,4]

2v. ; (V.2) xv, 208 pages ; 23 cm. ISBN 9780870683343 0870682059 0870682253 0870683349 9780870682056 9780870682254 LCCN 78006544 LC BM526 .U5 Dewey 296.16 OCLC 783746064 pictorial stiff paper wrappers ; name on front endpapers ; David R. Blumenthal is Jay and Leslie Cohen Professor of Judaic Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He has significantly contributed to Judaic studies and has written many articles on a variety of topics in medieval Judaica. ; Contents Vol. 1 The Merkabah tradition. Doctrinal summary ; The secrets of creation ; The visionary ascent The Zoharic tradition. Doctrinal summary ; The personality of God ; The role of man ; The Lurianic development -- Acknowledgments Preface Foreword THE MERKABAH TRADITION General intioduction Doctrinal Summary Introductione Jewish Mysticism The Secrets of Creation, Part One Introduction The Secrets of Creation, Part Two Introduction. Sefer Yetsira: The Visionary Ascent, Part One Introduction Ezekiel's Vision The Visionary Ascent, Part Two Introduction Doctrinal Summary Introduction The Historical Setting and Literary Problems How to Decipher a Zoharic Text The Personality of God The Similitude of God The Water and the Vessels . The Luminous Glass The Role of Man The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil The Meaning of the Minyan Sacrifice and the Heavenly Union The Lurianic Development Note to a Lurianic Prayerbook A Meditation Before Barukh ; Jewish Mysticism is a powerful expression within the Jewish tradition. Rooted in antiquity and veiled in mystery until quite recently, Jewish Mysticism has burst into the modern world in guises both illuminating and bewildering. Throughout Jewish history, flashes of the light held within sacred texts have sparked the sages' inquisitive minds throughout the Diaspora. Rising out of the ashes of the Temples once standing in Jerusalem, the texts and theologies associated with Jewish Mysticism have comforted and ecstatically raise those who have used their knowledge. In this book, we'll review key texts, including: Sefir ha BehirSefir YetzirahMa'aseh Merkavah and the accompanying Heikhalot literature But in examining these texts, we'll also delve into the historical contexts in which they were written and how they served as spiritual responses to the tribulations of the Jewish people, interpreted by those who wrote and disseminated them. You'll meet some great sages, chief among them the Father of Lurianic Kabbalah, Isaac Luria, his disciple Moses de Leon, and the great Moses Cordovero, who recognized the need for Messianic hope in the face of oppression.You'll meet the sefirot and be introduced to their mysteries as the emanations of the Divine.You'll learn about key Kabbalistic concepts like tzimtzum, shevirah, and tikkun and what they mean, as a foundation for understanding the operation of the sefirot, set in Etz Chaim (the Tree of Life).You'll see how spiritually powerful texts can be abused through popularization. This always concerned the Kabbalistic sages and is the reason for the traditionally limited transmission of Kabbalah.You'll learn how the Ashkenazi Hassidim came to be the powerful manifestation of Judaism they are today and how they went from being the "bad boys" of Judaism to part of the ultra-Orthodox Haredi movement.You'll meet the Baal Shem Tov, father of the Hassidic renaissance, and the Vilna Gaon, leader of the Mitnagdim, once at war with each other but the originators of a new iteration of Hassidic life and practice, in response to the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment). ; name on front endpaper ; VG/VG.…