Jewish mysticism

(Redirected from Jewish Mysticism)

Academic study of Jewish mysticism, especially since Gershom Scholem's Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941), draws distinctions between different forms of mysticism which were practiced in different eras of Jewish history. Of these, Kabbalah, which emerged in 12th-century southwestern Europe, is the most well known, but it is not the only typological form, nor was it the first form which emerged. Among the previous forms were Merkabah mysticism (c. 100 BCE – 1000 CE), and Ashkenazi Hasidim (early 13th century) around the time of the emergence of Kabbalah.

Kabbalah means "received tradition", a term which was previously used in other Judaic contexts, but the Medieval Kabbalists adopted it as a term for their own doctrine in order to express the belief that they were not innovating, but were merely revealing the ancient hidden esoteric tradition of the Torah. This issue has been crystalized until today by alternative views on the origin of the Zohar, the main text of Kabbalah, attributed to the circle of its central protagonist Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in the 2nd century CE, for opening up the study of Jewish Mysticism.[1] Traditional Kabbalists regard it as originating in Tannaic times, redacting the Oral Torah, so do not make a sharp distinction between Kabbalah and early Rabbinic Jewish mysticism. Academic scholars regard it as a synthesis from the Middle Ages, when it appeared between the 13th-15th centuries, but assimilating and incorporating into itself earlier forms of Jewish mysticism, possible continuations of ancient esoteric traditions,[2] as well as medieval philosophical elements.

The theosophical aspect of Kabbalah itself developed through two historical forms: "Medieval/Classic/Zoharic Kabbalah" (c.1175 – 1492 – 1570), and Lurianic Kabbalah (1569  – today) which assimilated Medieval Kabbalah into its wider system and became the basis for modern Jewish Kabbalah. After Luria, two new mystical forms popularised Kabbalah in Judaism: antinomian-heretical Sabbatean movements (1666 – 18th century), and Hasidic Judaism (1734 – today). In contemporary Judaism, the only main forms of Jewish mysticism which are practiced are esoteric Lurianic Kabbalah and its later commentaries, the variety of schools of Hasidic Judaism, and Neo-Hasidism (incorporating Neo-Kabbalah) in non-Orthodox Jewish denominations.

Two non-Jewish syncretic traditions also popularized Judaic Kabbalah through their incorporation as part of general Western esoteric culture from the Renaissance onwards: theological Christian Cabala (c. 15th  – 18th century) which adapted Judaic Kabbalistic doctrine to Christian belief, and its diverging occultist offshoot Hermetic Qabalah (c. 19th century – today) which became a main element in esoteric and magical societies and teachings. As separate traditions of development outside Judaism, drawing from, syncretically adapting, and different in nature and aims from Judaic mysticism, they are not listed on this page.

Three aims

The Kabbalistic form of Jewish mysticism itself is divided into three general streams: the Theosophical/Speculative Kabbalah (seeking to understand and describe the divine realm), the Meditative/Ecstatic Kabbalah (seeking to achieve a mystical union with God), and the Practical Kabbalah (seeking to theurgically alter the divine realms and the World). These three different, but inter-relating, methods or aims of mystical involvement are also found throughout the other pre-Kabbalistic and post-Kabbalistic stages in Jewish mystical development, as three general typologies. As in Kabbalah, the same text can contain aspects of all three approaches, though the three streams often distill into three separate literatures under the influence of particular exponents or eras.[citation needed]

Within Kabbalah, the theosophical tradition is distinguished from many forms of mysticism in other religions by its doctrinal form as a mystical "philosophy" of Gnosis esoteric knowledge. Instead, the tradition of Meditative Kabbalah has similarity of aim, if not form, with usual traditions of general mysticism; to unite the individual intuitively with God. The tradition of theurgic Practical Kabbalah in Judaism, censored and restricted by mainstream Jewish Kabbalists, has similarities with non-Jewish Hermetic Qabalah magical Western Esotericism. However, as understood by Jewish Kabbalists, it is censored and forgotten in contemporary times because without the requisite purity and holy motive, it would degenerate into impure and forbidden magic. Consequently, it has formed a minor tradition in Jewish mystical history.[citation needed]

Historical forms

Periods of massive immigration to the land of IsraelPeriods in which the majority of Jews lived in exilePeriods in which the majority of Jews lived in the land of Israel, with full or partial independencePeriods in which a Jewish Temple existedJewish historyShoftimMelakhimFirst TempleSecond TempleZugotTannaimAmoraimSavoraimGeonimRishonimAcharonimAliyotIsraelThe HolocaustDiasporaExpulsion from SpainRoman exileAssyrian Exile (Ten Lost Tribes)Babylonian captivitySecond Temple periodAncient Jewish HistoryChronology of the BibleCommon Era
Historical phase[3]DatesInfluential developments and texts
Early Israelite traditional origins2nd millennium–800 BCEProphetic meditation mystical elements in traditional prehistory and early Bible depiction encounters with the divine:

Hebrew Patriarchs and Matriarchs
Covenant of the pieces
Jacob's Ladder
Jacob wrestling with the angel

Moses
Burning bush
Theophany at Sinai
Yahwism

Early Israelite monarchic and cult prophets:
Elijah's ascension
Prophetic Judaism[4]800–5th century BCEProphetic meditation, divine encounter, heavenly host throne of God visions, mystical elements, in the literary Prophetic books of the Bible, from the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah to the Babylonian captivity and Return to Zion:

Isaiah
Ezekiel
Zechariah
Apocalyptic JudaismBeginning 5th century BCE
300–100 BCE
Continuing to 1st century CE
Mystical and apocalyptic speculation, heavenly angelology and eschatology, in Second Temple Judaism under foreign rule and oppression, after the social institution era of prophecy closed:[5]

Daniel
1 Enoch
Biblical apocrypha-pseudepigrapha
Mystical elements in Second Temple period sectsc. 200 BCE–c. 100 CEMystical, esoteric and pious elements among the diverse Jewish sects, in the religious syncretism of late Second Temple period Judea and the Diaspora:

Second Temple Judaism
Hasideans
Essenes
Therapeutae
Hellenistic Judaism
Jewish Gnosticism
Philo's Platonic philosophy influence on early Christianity
Christian Jewish early Christian mysticism
Early Rabbinic mysticism and mystical elements in classic Rabbinic literature[6]c. 1–200 CE influence to 5th century CEReferences in exoteric Talmud and Midrash to Tannaic early Rabbinic mystical circles, Maaseh Merkabah – Work of the Chariot exegesis and ascent, Maaseh Bereshit – Work of Creation exegesis. Wider continuing mystical elements in aggadah Rabbinic theology and narratives:

Johanan ben Zakai and his disciples
Rabbi Akiva
(Simeon bar Yochai traditional/pseudepigraphical attribution of later Kabbalist Zohar)

  Mystical aggadot examples:
Four who entered the Pardes
Oven of Akhnai Bath ḳōl
Torah: black fire on white fire, God looked in Torah to create World
Shekhinah accompanies Israel in exile
The Messiah at the Gates of Rome
Merkabah-Hekhalot esoteric texts and methodsc. 2nd century–1000Traditional/pseudepigraphical/anonymous esoteric Merkabah mysticism Throne and Hekhalot Palaces ascent literature and methods. Text protagonists are early Tannaic Rabbis, though texts academically dated variously from Talmudic 100–500 to Gaonic 400–800 periods, and sectarian/rabbinic origins debated:

  Earlier texts:
3 Enoch
Hekhalot Rabbati (The Greater Palaces)
Hekhalot Zutari (The Lesser Palaces)
Merkavah Rabbah (The Great Chariot)
  Later texts:
Shi'ur Qomah (Divine Dimensions)

Mystical speculations of the Geonim
Influence of Post-Biblical Jewish mythology and folklore on mysticismc. early CE-early modernityJewish mysticism, from early Hekhalot texts, through medieval spirituality, to the folk religion storytelling of East European shtetls, absorbed motifs of Jewish mythology and folklore through Aggadic creative imagination, reception of earlier Jewish apocrypha traditions, and absorption of outside cultural influences. Later Midrash and smaller Midrashim evolve towards the ethos of Kabbalistic mysticism:

Lilith
Theli
Estries
Ziz
Kefitzat haderech
Evil eye
Dybbuk
Superstition in Judaism
"Practical Kabbalah" white magicc. early CE–early modernityElite Jewish use of white magic (direct spiritual practices to influence the material realm, or to gain spiritual ascent) by mystics, colloquially called "Practical Kabbalah", drawing from syncretically collected traditions of the Talmudic period to early modernity. Distinguished from Kabbalistic theurgy (influencing solely the supernal realm of inter-Divine attributes), from Natural magic interpretations of Kabbalah, and from popular folk magic:[7]

Magical elements in Merkabah mysticism Hekhalot literature ascents
Use of Sefer Yetzirah for magic
Sefer Raziel HaMalakh
Golem
Amulets
Joseph della Reina 1400s attempt to hasten the messiah
16th–19th century European Baal Shem
Proto-Kabbalistic200–600Maaseh Bereshit – Creation speculation text. Describes 10 sephirot, though without their significance to later Kabbalah. Received rationalist interpretations before becoming a source text for Kabbalah:

Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation)
Mystical elements in Medieval Jewish philosophy and culture11th–13th centuriesMystical elements in the thought of Medieval rationalist and anti-rationalist Jewish philosophical theologians:

Solomon ibn Gabirol Jewish Neoplatonism
Isaac Israeli ben Solomon Jewish Neoplatonism
Abraham ibn Ezra Jewish Neoplatonism
Judah Halevi anti-rationalism[8]
Moses Maimonides Neoplatonised Aristotelianism[9]


  Mystical elements in the efflorescence of poetry in Moorish Spanish Jewish culture and Christian Spain[10]
Jewish Sufi piety11th to 15th centuriesJewish mystical piety, influenced by Islamic Sufism, systemising meditative experiential practices:

Bahya ibn Paquda 11th century – Chovot HaLevavot (Duties of the Heart)
Abraham Maimonides and the "Jewish Sufis" of Old Cairo 13th–15th century
Early Kabbalahc. 1174–1200Emergence of mystical-mythic theosophical-theurgic Kabbalah among the Hachmei Provence in Southern France (Occitania).[11] The Bahir, regarded in academia as the first Kabbalistic work,[12] incorporates an earlier source text:

Sefer HaBahir (Book of Brightness)
Abraham ben David of Posquières (The Raavad) critic of Maimonides
Isaac the Blind
"Iyyun" and "Unique Cherub" mystical circles of unknown provenance
Chassidei Ashkenazc. 1150–1250Mystical-ethical piety and speculative theological theory in Ashkenaz-Germany. Shaped by Merkabah-Hekhalot texts, Practical Kabbalah magical elements, mystical reinterpretation of early medieval Jewish philosophy, Rhineland Crusader persecutions and German monastic values. Established a supreme value for devotional selflessness in Judaism:

Samuel of Speyer
Judah of RegensburgSefer Hasidim (Book of the Pious)
Eleazar of Worms
Medieval Kabbalah developmentc. 1200–1492Alternative philosophical vs. mythological interpretations of Theosophical Kabbalah: "Neoplatonic" quasi-philosophical hierarchy, and Jewish-"Gnostic" mythological interest in sexual theurgic and demonic dualism motifs. Centred in Spain's Kabbalistic golden age:


  Early 13th century Girona neoplatonic school:
Azriel of Gerona
Nahmanides (Ramban) – Torah commentary

  13th century Castile gnostic school:
Treatise on the Left Emanation


  The Zohar in Spain from c.1286:
Zohar literature (Book of Splendour) late 1200s–1400s. Castile's gnostic culmination. Canonised as Kabbalah's central poetic visionary scripture. Later strata (Ra'aya Meheimna, Idrot) are most esoteric and anthropomorphic. Subsequent Zohar exegesis dominated other Kabbalah traditions. Possible Kabbalists in Zohar circle:[13]
Moses de León
Todros ben Joseph Abulafia
and others

  Kabbalistic scholarship:
Joseph Gikatilla – Shaarei Orah (Gates of Light) c.1290 Spain
Sefer HaTemunah (Book of the Figure) 13th–14th century influential doctrine in Kabbalah of Cosmic Cycles, later rejected by Cordovero and Luria[14]
Bahya ben Asher Torah commentary
Medieval Ecstatic Kabbalah13th–16th centuriesMedieval Meditative Kabbalah developed its own traditions.[15] Abraham Abulafia's Ecstatic-Prophetic Kabbalah, his Maimonidean alternative competitor to Theosophical Kabbalah, embodies the non-Zoharic ecstatic stream in Spanish Kabbalism. Re-imagining Judaism's prophetic techniques, it remained marginal to mainstream Kabbalah, but established a following in east Mediterranean:


  Abulafian Prophetic Kabbalah school:
Abraham Abulafia Mediterranean area late 13th century
Judah Albotini Jerusalem 15th–16th century

  Other meditative methods:
Isaac of Acco 14th century
Joseph Tzayach Damascus and Jerusalem 16th century
Renaissance era Kabbalah influencesc. 1450s-1600sInfluence of the European Renaissance in crystalising philosophical and magical interpretations of Judaic Kabbalah, and fusions of philosophy with Kabbalah in late medieval-early modern Jewish philosophy:


Italian Jews' historical openness to general culture[16]
Florence centre of Renaissance humanism Perennial philosophy influences on Jewish philosophy[17]
Yohanan Alemanno culmination of Natural magic interpretations of Kabbalah, interpreting Judaism drawing down Divine influx to the material world. Influence on 16th century systemisations of Kabbalah, and later Hasidism[18]
Influence on Pico della Mirandola, Christian Cabala and Western esotericism

  Platonist influenced fusions of Kabbalah with Jewish philosophy:
Abraham Cohen de Herrera early 1600s

  Other mystical elements in early modern Jewish philosophy:
Judah Leon Abravanel (Leone Ebreo) Portuguese-Italian early 1500s "Dialogues of Love" Platonism
Post-1492 and Safed Kabbalah16th centuryTransition from esoteric Medieval Kabbalism to Kabbalah as a national messianic doctrine, after 1492 Expulsion from Spain exile. Judaic renaissance of Palestine:

Joseph Taitazak Salonica
Solomon Molcho Jewish Messiah claimant
Meir ibn Gabbai 16th century early systemiser


  The 2 definitive systemisations of Kabbalah, in latter 1500s Safed-Galilee:
1 Quasi-Rational: Moses Cordovero (Ramak) – Pardes Rimonim. Cordoverian systemisation of Medieval Kabbalah until 1570
2 Supra-Rational: Isaac Luria (the Ari) – new post-Medieval Lurianic systemisation taught 1570–1572

  Other Kabbalists of the Safed mystical and scholarly renaissance:
Joseph Karo central legalist and mystic diarist
Shlomo Alkabetz
Hayim Vital main Lurianic compiler and other writings
Safed Meditative Kabbalah: Vital – Shaarei Kedusha (Gates of Holiness), Luria – Yichudim method
Maharal's mystical theology16th centuryMedieval Kabbalah expressed in non-Kabbalistic philosophical theology:

Judah Loew (Maharal) Prague
Early Lurianic and post-medieval Kabbalism16th-mid–18th centuriesEsoteric Lurianism, the second of Kabbalah's two systems of theosophy after Medieval-Cordoverian, incorporating dynamic myth of exile and redemption in divinity taught by Isaac Luria 1570–1572. Other post-medieval popularising/ethical Kabbalah based itself on the more exoteric system of Moses Cordovero:


  Disciples compile Kitvei Ari Lurianic thought:
Hayim VitalEtz Hayim (Tree of Life)
Israel Sarug spread Lurianism in Europe
Lurianic exegesis and meditative methods dominated other post-medieval Kabbalah trends

  Popularising Kabbalistic Musar and homiletic literature 1550s–1750s:
Moses CordoveroTomer Devorah (Palm Tree of Deborah)
Eliyahu de VidasReshit Chochmah (Beginning of Wisdom)
Kav ha-Yashar
Isaiah Horowitz (Shelah) – Shnei Luchot HaBrit (Tablets of the Covenant) Central Europe


  Kabbalistic renewal and scholarship:
Abraham Azulai
Chaim ibn Attar (Or ha-Hayim) Torah commentary
Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (Ramchal) Italian early 18th century mystical-messianic circle, new public dissemination and revelation of Kabbalah
Joseph Ergas
Sabbatean movements1665–c. 19th centuryKabbalistic messianic-mystical heresies developing antinomian new theologies from Zoharic and Lurianic Kabbalah. Theological spectrum from mild to strong:

Sabbateans:
Sabbatai Zevi messianic claimant Islamic convert
Nathan of Gaza Sabbatean prophet
Moderate-crypto and radical-antinomian factions
Emden-Eybeschutz controversy and Rabbinic excommunication of Sabbateans

Frankism:
Jacob Frank messianic claimant pseudo-Christian convert, late 18th century nihilism
Early and formative Hasidic Judaism1730s–1850sEastern European mystical revival movement, popularising and psychologising Kabbalah through Panentheism and the Tzadik mystical leader. Neutralised messianic danger expressed in Sabbateanism:

Pre-Hasidic origins:
Baal Shem Eastern Europe Practical Kabbalists
Tzadikim Nistarim mythology

Early Hasidism:
Israel ben Eliezer (Baal Shem Tov, Besht) founder of Hasidism
Dov Ber of Mezeritch (The Magid) systemiser and architect of Hasidism
Jacob Joseph of Polonne
Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev


  Main Hasidic schools of thought (mystics after 1850s shown later):

Mainstream Hasidic Tzadikism:
Elimelech of Lizhensk – Noam Elimelech (Pleasantness of Elimelech)
Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin (The Chozeh)

Chabad intellectual Hasidism – Russia:
Shneur Zalman of LiadiTanya (Likutei Amarim-Collected Words) theorist of Hasidism[19]
Aaron of Staroselye

Breslav imaginative Hasidism – Ukraine:
Nachman of Breslav – Likutei Moharan (Collected teachings)
Nathan of Breslav

Peshischa-Kotzk introspective Hasidism – Poland, mystical offshoot from:
Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica – Mei Hashiloach (Waters of Shiloah), personal illumination


  Hasidic storytelling:
Shivchei HaBesht (Praises of the Besht) published 1814
Sippurei Ma'asiyot (Stories that were told) Nachman of Breslav's 13 mystical tales 1816
Later traditional Lurianic Kabbalah18th century–todayTraditionalist esoteric interpretations and practice of Lurianic Kabbalah from 18th century until today, apart from Hasidic adaptions:

Brody Kloiz and pre-Hasidic introverted Hasidim kabbalistic circles in Eastern Europe. Renewed esotericism in response to Sabbatean heresy


  Mitnagdic-Lithuanian non-Hasidic Kabbalah:
Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman (Vilna Gaon, Gra) figurehead of Mitnagdim 18th century
Chaim of Volozhin – Nefesh HaChaim (Soul of Life) theorist of Mitnagdism,[19] founder of Yeshiva movement
Shlomo Elyashiv
Influence of Hasidism on later Lithuanian Musar-ethics of Eliyahu Dessler


  Mizrahi-Sephardi Oriental Kabbalah:
Shalom Sharabi 18th century (from Yemen) and Beit El Synagogue (Jerusalem) introverted esotericism response to Sabbateanism. Lurianic exposition and elite meditation circle
Chaim Yosef David Azulai (Hida) 18th century
Yosef Hayyim (Ben Ish Chai) 19th century Hakham Baghdad
Abuhatzeira Moroccan Kabbalist dynasty
Mordechai Sharabi
Yitzhak Kaduri

  20th century Ashkenazi European Kabbalah (apart from Hasidic thought):
Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva (Jerusalem)
Yehuda Ashlag 20th century Israel – HaSulam (The Ladder) Lurianic Zohar
Later Hasidic Judaism1850s–todayDynastic succession and modernising society turned Hasidism away from pre-18₩10s mystical revivalism, to post-1850s consolidation and rabbinic conservatism. Mystical focus continued in some schools:

Yitzchak Eisik Safrin of Komarno visionary mystic
Chabad-Lubavitch – intellectual Hasidism communication
Zadok HaKohen late 19th century Izbica school
Aharon Roth early 20th century Jerusalem piety
Kalonymus Kalman Shapira response to Holocaust
Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Lubavitch Rebbe) Hasidic outreach and 1990s messianism
Breslav contemporary mystical revivalism
Syntheses of Haskalah, political ideologies and secular culture with mystical elementsc. 1800s-1950sHaskalah Jewish Enlightenment promoted critical Rationalism, strongly opposing Kabbalistic and Hasidic anti-modern mysticism. However, moderate Maskilim began scholarly investigation of Jewish mystical texts, and adapted Haskalah to Orthodox religiosity, while modern Jewish philosophy encountered universalist intellectual mystical elements in German Idealism. Late 1800s East Europe shift to Jewish political movements awakened secular Jewish cultural spirituality:


Elijah Benamozegh 1800s Universalist, modern interpretation of Kabbalah, continuing Italian Jewry's fusion of Kabbalah with general Humanist culture[20]

  Wissenschaft des Judentums early critical-historical scholars of jewish mystical texts:
Adolf Jellinek 1800s Austrian Reform Rabbi scholar

  German Idealist rational mystical elements in modern Jewish philosophy:
Nachman Krochmal Galicia early 1800s, Jewish Hegelianism


  Mystical elements and influences in Post-1880s Jewish political movements and secular Jewish culture:
Secular Yiddish Renaissance mystical themes in Yiddish literature
Jewish Autonomism cultural folkism and Jewish folklorists
Cultural Zionism National revival secular spirituality
Hayim Nahman Bialik, Israel's National Poet, and mystical influences on secular Hebrew literature
Fusions of Kabbalah and Hasidism with Jewish anarchism
Neo-Hasidism and Neo-Kabbalahc. 1900–todayModernist and Non-Orthodox Jewish denominations' adapted spiritual teaching of Kabbalistic and Hasidic theology and mysticism to modern critical thought and interpretations:

Early 20th century:
Martin Buber from existential Neo-Hasidism to dialogical encounter
Hillel Zeitlin Philosophical Neo-Hasidism
Erich Neumann Jungian interpretation of Hasidic Kabbalah and Depth psychology[21]

Post War and contemporary:
Abraham Joshua Heschel Neo-traditional aggadic Judaism
Zalman Schachter-Shalomi Jewish Renewal
Arthur Green Reconstructionist academic and mystical theologian
Lawrence Kushner Reform Neo-Kabbalah
Gershon Winkler shamanic Judaism[22]

Influence on modern and postmodern Jewish philosophy:
Jewish existentialism subjective experience of Divine relationship
Postmodern Jewish philosophy narratives of meaning[23]

Independent scholarship:
Sanford Drob – The New Kabbalah[24]
Zevi Slavin – Seekers of Unity[25]
Zionist and monistic mystical thought of Rav Kookc. 1910s–todayInnovative teachings and influence of Abraham Isaac Kook, pre-State Chief Rabbi of Mandate Palestine and poetic mystic. Harmonistic unity of religion and secularism, halakha and aggadah, activism and quietism, developed from Kabbalistic, Hasidic, philosophic and secular thought:

Abraham Isaac Kook Neo-Hasidic monistic poetic mysticism beyond Kabbalah and Philosophy[26]
Atchalta De'Geulah Religious Zionism
Rav Kook's partial influence on Modern Orthodox Judaism[27]
Academic study of Jewish mysticismc. 1920s–todayCritical-historical study of Jewish mystical texts began in 19th century, but Gershom Scholem's school in the mid-20th century founded the methodological disciple in academia, returning mysticism to a central position in Jewish historiography and Jewish studies departments. Select historian examples:


First generation:
Gershom Scholem discipline founder Hebrew University
Alexander Altmann American initiator

Present generation, multi-disciplinary approaches:
Moshe Idel Hebrew University revisionism
Elliot R. Wolfson feminist contributions

See also

Notes

References

  • Biale, David Gershom Scholem: Kabbalah and counter-history, Harvard University Press
  • Biale, David Not in the Heavens: The Tradition of Jewish Secular Thought, Princeton University Press (secularised jewish adaptions of Kabbalah)
  • Brenner, Michael Prophets of the Past: Interpreters of Jewish History, Princeton University Press (mystical and other historiographies of judaism)
  • Dan, Joseph Gershom Scholem and the Mystical Dimension of Jewish History, NYU Press
  • Dennis, Geoffrey W, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic & Mysticism, Llewellyn Publications 2nd edition illustrated 2016
  • Heschel, Abraham Joshua Heavenly Torah: As Refracted through the Generations, edited and translated by Gordon Tucker, Bloomsbury Academic 2006 (existential-mystical exploration of revelation)
  • Idel, Moshe Old Worlds, New Mirrors: On Jewish Mysticism and Twentieth-Century Thought, University of Pennsylvania Press (influence of jewish mysticism on secular jewish thinkers)
  • Jacobs, Louis Jewish Mystical Testimonies, Schocken
  • Kaplan, Aryeh Meditation and the Bible, Red Wheel/Weiser 1978 (exegesis of prophetic meditation techniques)
  • Scholem, Gershom Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, Schocken, (classic work, first pub.1941)
  • Winkler, Gershon Magic of the Ordinary: Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism, North Atlantic Books

External links