Explore the third of the great literatures in Judaism.
While many readers may have heard of Kabbalah in recent years, how many
understand the origins and unique perspective of this collection of
Jewish mystical beliefs? Handed down in the oral tradition for thousands
of years and transcribed in fourteenth-century Spain, the Kabbalah is
the classical expression of Jewish mysticism.
This collection draws from the main work of Kabbalah - Sepher ha-Zohar,
or The Book of Splendor - and offers insight into the great body of
Hebrew literature that sprang up and grew parallel to the traditional
writings of rabbinical literature. Written in the dialectic style as a
commentary to the Torah, the Kabbalah examines man's mystical union with
God in thoughts of wisdom and deeds of kindness through a symbol-laden
examination of the God before creation. A mix of ethics and mysticism,
Kabbalah's wisdom is frequently imparted through gematria, or a symbolic
language based in numbers that correspond with the letters of the Hebrew
alphabet.
"For truly it is true concerning that man who is not stable in his
spirit nor truthful, that the word which he hath heard is moved hither
and thither, like a straw in the water, until it cometh forth from
him." - The Kabbalah
