Mystical Bodies, Mystical Meals is the first book-length study of mystical eating practices and e... more Mystical Bodies, Mystical Meals is the first book-length study of mystical eating practices and experiences in the kabbalah. Focusing on the Jewish mystical literature of late-thirteenth-century Spain, author Joel Hecker analyzes the ways in which the Zohar and other ...
Dans cette analyse, l'A. considere dans le Zohar les pratiques corporelles associees aux repa... more Dans cette analyse, l'A. considere dans le Zohar les pratiques corporelles associees aux repas qui servent a dessein comme techniques et fournissent involontairement un environnement physique pour les rituels de repas accomplis avec une intention mystique. Son but est de rechercher les methodes particulieres utilisees par les kabbalistes au cours de repas pour atteindre a des experiences mystiques et a une connaissance esoterique, ainsi que de delimiter la topographie kabbalistique du corps occasionnee par l'usage de la bouche et de l'estomac.
... subordinating feminine, master subordinating disciplenonetheless, they find avenues ofrecipr... more ... subordinating feminine, master subordinating disciplenonetheless, they find avenues ofreciprocity and equality in the ... When prayers ascend, that is a favorable moment. ... In both prayer and martyrdom, fervor trumps the usual blockages that impede progress towards divinity ...
To this day,” wrote Mordecai Kaplan in 1937, “there is no intellectually formulated conception wh... more To this day,” wrote Mordecai Kaplan in 1937, “there is no intellectually formulated conception which has acquired authoritative recognition in Judaism as the only true idea of God. The inevitable conclusion to which we are led . . . is that the Jewish civilization cannot survive without the God-idea as an integral part of it, but it is in no need of having any specific formulation of that idea authoritative for all Jews.” The Two Gods of Judaism
The Zohar, by any measure the most important work of Kabbalah, is also among the most difficult. ... more The Zohar, by any measure the most important work of Kabbalah, is also among the most difficult. The difficulties that it presents to the interpreter are both historical and theological. Historically, it recounts the mystical adventures and teachings of a fellowship of rabbis in late antiquity, but has been shown by scholars to be the product of a fellowship of late thirteenth-century rabbis. The interpreter thus has to relate to a medieval setting a text that attempts to hide the signs of its medieval provenance. Theologically, its teachings concern the sefirot, the ten powers in which the divine is manifest according to kabbalistic thought. These powers are on the one hand abstract spiritual entities. On the other hand, however, the Zohar, more than any other work of medieval Kabbalah, depicts them in a seemingly endless and shifting series of concrete terms, most prominently anthropomorphic and gendered ones. In attempting to sketch Zoharic theology, the interpreter is thus force...
Typescript. Thesis (Ph.D.)--New York University, Graduate School of Arts and Science, 1996. Inclu... more Typescript. Thesis (Ph.D.)--New York University, Graduate School of Arts and Science, 1996. Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 317-332).
Mystical Bodies, Mystical Meals is the first book-length study of mystical eating practices and e... more Mystical Bodies, Mystical Meals is the first book-length study of mystical eating practices and experiences in the kabbalah. Focusing on the Jewish mystical literature of late-thirteenth-century Spain, author Joel Hecker analyzes the ways in which the Zohar and other ...
Dans cette analyse, l'A. considere dans le Zohar les pratiques corporelles associees aux repa... more Dans cette analyse, l'A. considere dans le Zohar les pratiques corporelles associees aux repas qui servent a dessein comme techniques et fournissent involontairement un environnement physique pour les rituels de repas accomplis avec une intention mystique. Son but est de rechercher les methodes particulieres utilisees par les kabbalistes au cours de repas pour atteindre a des experiences mystiques et a une connaissance esoterique, ainsi que de delimiter la topographie kabbalistique du corps occasionnee par l'usage de la bouche et de l'estomac.
... subordinating feminine, master subordinating disciplenonetheless, they find avenues ofrecipr... more ... subordinating feminine, master subordinating disciplenonetheless, they find avenues ofreciprocity and equality in the ... When prayers ascend, that is a favorable moment. ... In both prayer and martyrdom, fervor trumps the usual blockages that impede progress towards divinity ...
To this day,” wrote Mordecai Kaplan in 1937, “there is no intellectually formulated conception wh... more To this day,” wrote Mordecai Kaplan in 1937, “there is no intellectually formulated conception which has acquired authoritative recognition in Judaism as the only true idea of God. The inevitable conclusion to which we are led . . . is that the Jewish civilization cannot survive without the God-idea as an integral part of it, but it is in no need of having any specific formulation of that idea authoritative for all Jews.” The Two Gods of Judaism
The Zohar, by any measure the most important work of Kabbalah, is also among the most difficult. ... more The Zohar, by any measure the most important work of Kabbalah, is also among the most difficult. The difficulties that it presents to the interpreter are both historical and theological. Historically, it recounts the mystical adventures and teachings of a fellowship of rabbis in late antiquity, but has been shown by scholars to be the product of a fellowship of late thirteenth-century rabbis. The interpreter thus has to relate to a medieval setting a text that attempts to hide the signs of its medieval provenance. Theologically, its teachings concern the sefirot, the ten powers in which the divine is manifest according to kabbalistic thought. These powers are on the one hand abstract spiritual entities. On the other hand, however, the Zohar, more than any other work of medieval Kabbalah, depicts them in a seemingly endless and shifting series of concrete terms, most prominently anthropomorphic and gendered ones. In attempting to sketch Zoharic theology, the interpreter is thus force...
Typescript. Thesis (Ph.D.)--New York University, Graduate School of Arts and Science, 1996. Inclu... more Typescript. Thesis (Ph.D.)--New York University, Graduate School of Arts and Science, 1996. Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 317-332).
Ajs Review-the Journal of The Association for Jewish Studies, Oct 22, 2020
embracing foreign ways, and then some. 2 Rabbi Trani was surprised by this situation. Rena Lauer ... more embracing foreign ways, and then some. 2 Rabbi Trani was surprised by this situation. Rena Lauer has taught us that we should not be.
Ajs Review-the Journal of The Association for Jewish Studies, Nov 1, 2020
Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable... more Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. To the three incarnations of the Shekhinah in my life: my mother, Daisy Berman, my wife, Julie Peters, and my daughter, Kaia Berman Peters. Without them, nothing would be possible.
Qatpira, qesira, qirta, quspita, qustra-and those are just the 'q's. These strange words, neologi... more Qatpira, qesira, qirta, quspita, qustra-and those are just the 'q's. These strange words, neologisms actually, are sprinkled throughout the Zohar with an intention to perplex the reader, forcing her to read, and read again, to decipher the text's meaning. In undertaking to translate Sefer ha-Zoharmore an anthology of mystical writings than a book proper-Daniel Matt has assumed a heroic task, one that has met with well-deserved accolades. Matt has the necessary poetic and scholarly talents, using traditional and modern commentaries to render the Zohar into an English that reveres the text's mysteries while aiming to clarify them and render them transparent. Over the centuries, Sefer ha-Zohar, the Book of Splendor, has assumed many statuses: canonical, sacred, forgery, and heresy. Whatever its ultimate origins, origins that remain in dispute in both scholarly and traditional circles more than 700 years after Moshe de Leon began to circulate pamphlets of a mystical text, the book has had a transformative effect upon Judaism. 1 Mainstreaming Kabbalah, by adopting the form of a mystical midrash and the structure of a Bible commentary, its circle(s) of authors fashioned a text that opened up a genre that had been exclusively elitist until the thirteenth century. Kabbalah's popularity, even celebrity, has exploded in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries with the hucksterism and mass
Finally, on the general question of what is not included in the book, in his last chapter, Eisen ... more Finally, on the general question of what is not included in the book, in his last chapter, Eisen presents a brief survey comparing some medieval and modern (Jewish and non-Jewish) exegetical approaches to Job. The Book of Job in Medieval Jewish Philosophy has whetted our appetite for more, and the last chapter is really just a plate of tantalizing appetizers showing us what could still be done by Eisen in future studies. Let us hope that he treats us to such a feast. In the literature of Jewish mysticism, the Zohar remains the undisputed masterpiece-the gem of kabbalistic imagination whose allure and depth have attracted the sustained study of academics and traditional mystics alike. For modern scholarship, this extraordinary text has proven to be an unending wellspring of insights into kabbalistic theology, devotional experience, exegetical technique, and many other topics. In a manner unique to the history of Jewish mystical creativity , the Zohar has even shown itself to be the great convergence of literary artistry and symbolic homiletics, a weave of the poetic-fictional imagination and that of a theological hermeneutics. It would be no exaggeration to view the Zohar as one of those classic texts that each generation is drawn to interpret and reinterpret anew. It is just this creativity and nuance that is evident in Joel Hecker's first book, Mystical Bodies, Mystical Meals-a work of scholarship that makes a significant contribution to the field in the intersecting realms of ritual studies, performance theory, gender construction, conceptions of embodiment, and historical religious anthropology. Hecker's monograph is very well written, and the prose of scholarship unfolds through an engaging typology of ritual practice and religious experience. The working frame for Hecker's study is the representation of eating as a spiritual practice in the Zohar and related works-a problematic that is used as a lens through which the interpreter of cultures may better understand the kabba-listic perceptions of prescribed sacred behavior and the deeper meaning of such ritual practice. For as Hecker conceives of it, Kabbalah studies will benefit from a localization within the terrain of ritual studies-particularly within the dimension of performative ritual. This emerges as a central category insofar as the ritual dimension is rooted in an embodied and gender-structured matrix; as such, the enactment through the body (and with a particular attitude toward the body) serves as an axial point for the symbolic discourse. By way of zoharic reflections on the nature and meaning of holy eating, the researcher as exegete may view a religious anthropology in (textual) action, and the contours of ritual instruction, behavior, and interpreted meaning emerge in disclosure.
Evil is the theological scandal that won't go away. In Zohar scholarship, Isaiah Tishby's twofold... more Evil is the theological scandal that won't go away. In Zohar scholarship, Isaiah Tishby's twofold approach to the problem of evil has largely been a settled matter. Tishby proffered two options-the Neoplatonic and the dualistic (so-called gnostic) approaches-and argued that these two paths existed in tension on account of unresolved inclinations in the kabbalistic tradition. With literary verve, fresh readings, and compelling argumentation, Nathaniel Berman unsettles this familiar territory in his groundbreaking new book. The effectiveness of Berman's approach, in the first book-length treatment of evil in Zoharic Kabba-lah, derives from his operating on both the microlevel of literary style and the macrolevel of the Zohar's mythical dualism. Berman applies two different methodological tacks that force a reconsideration of the Zohar's thinking about evil. First, using the psychoanalytic framework of the constitution of subjectivity as articulated by Julia Kristeva, he reexamines the nature of the Divine Self. Second, he analyzes the distinctive rhetorical tropes that construct the Zohar's descriptions of the binary dominions of holy and demonic. Wielding these two methods, Berman demonstrates how the iotas of indicatives, conjunctions, and prepositions problematize the erstwhile hoped-for perfection of Divinity. In reconsidering divine subjectivity in chapter 1, Berman employs Kriste-va's psychoanalytic conception of the processes of "ambivalence, splitting, and abjection" in the development of a child's subjectivity. To construct her or his identity, a child must undertake the painful task of identifying the mother as an external entity and, ultimately, cast her as an Other that must be rejected on the path to identifying a coherent self. Applying this approach to the Godhead, Berman argues that in order for the bounded identity of the Holy Ancient One itself to emerge, a similar process of splitting of Self from Self occurs first: identifying and crystallizing the bounded Self that is holy and the bounded Self that is 2. Joseph Trani, She'elot u-teshuvot Maharit, pt. 2 (Tel Aviv: Kulmus, 1959), H. oshen mishpat, no. 6 (end).
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
The Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Religion, Nov 16, 2021
The term “Kabbalah” refers to texts and practices of Jewish mysticism that emerge in the twelfth ... more The term “Kabbalah” refers to texts and practices of Jewish mysticism that emerge in the twelfth century, and continue to the present day. The narrow meaning of the term signifies the literature that assumes that Divinity manifests itself in 10 stages called sefirot . The Kabbalists sought to view and even unite with God, through both upward ascent and downward convergence of Divinity within the world, one's environs, and one's body. Normative Jewish practice, including ritual, study, and prayer, were all understood to be efficacious in unifying the Godhead. NB: The current version has an error that occurred during publication. On page 3, the paragraph before the bullets should open as follows: In contrast to philosophy, however, another primary aim of the kabbalists was not just to know God, but to see or envision Him. The vision described in Ezekiel is the most elaborate, though not isolated appearance of Divinity in the Hebrew Bible.
Wiley Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Religion, 2021
The term "Kabbalah" is frequently used in a nontechnical sense to designate the entire overarchin... more The term "Kabbalah" is frequently used in a nontechnical sense to designate the entire overarching category of Jewish mysticism and esotericism, stretching from ancient times until the present. In Talmudic usage the term has a nonmystical referent, signifying Hebrew biblical works that are outside the Five Books of Moses, while in post-Talmudic literature it can refer to oral traditions of great antiquity. It is only in the early thirteenth century, in the circle of Isaac the Blind of Provence, that the term takes on its current meaning, denoting mystical and esoteric literature and practices, using the theosophic structure of sefirot to describe Divinity. According to this definition, earlier mystical texts and traditions may be sources for Kabbalah, but do not yet represent "Kabbalah," properly speaking; moreover, this is the definition that was used by its earliest practitioners. This entry will explore the ways in which Kabbalah (particularly its earliest forms which established basic approaches and structures) responded to the philosophical questions of its day, specifically, its epistemology, nature of God, evil, the role of law, mystical experience, and language.
A frequent request found inscribed on ancient Egyptian tombs is that passersby wish the deceased ... more A frequent request found inscribed on ancient Egyptian tombs is that passersby wish the deceased "1,000 of bread and beer." These two items were
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