Beyond Appearances: Stories from the Kabbalistic Ethical Writings

By Aryeh Wineman

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 082760307X
• ISBN13: 9780827603073
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Jewish Pubn Society
• Length: 174 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.8" x 6.3"

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Stories from the Kabbalistic Ethical writings

Rabbi Aryeh Wineman who presently serves as Rabbi of Temple Beth El in Troy, New York, has gathered together in this volume fifty- four narratives from the Kabbalistic Ethical literature. Many of these stories are set in Safed in the time immediately after the expulsion from Spain in 1492. The idealized character of the Ari, Rabbi Isaac Luria is at the center of a number of narratives. The narratives though working to enforce traditional Jewish virtues, and to augment the piety of ordinary Jews, also have hidden mystical meaning. Rabbi Wineman in titling the work ' Beyond Appearances' suggests that the true meaning of things is deeper than what is on the surface. In his informative introduction he explains that the Hasid the devout if unlearned person is revealed in these stories as especially close to G-d. And this suggests "There is no person who might not have a crucial influence in transforming the world around him. So too with deeds. None is so insignificant as to not have its influence.In terms of the ideology of the Lurianic Kabbalah a human deed can either promote renewed wholeness or prolonged and more aggravating exile. The enormous significance of the smallest deed, explains according to Rabbi Wineman the tension and anxiety in the stories. For any small error has cosmic effect, and any true act of repentance can help bring about a 'tikkun ' or fixing of the world. The stories fall into three types, legends which deal with historical figures like the Ari, moral tales which tell the story of a ' type' and parables which use a worldly setting to make a spiritual point. The stories are original , surprising and while aiming at reenforcing traditional Jewish virtues such as charity and compassion provide the pleasure that only outstanding Literature can.