Kabbalah: Selections from Classic Kabbalistic Works from Raziel Hamalach to the Present Day

by Avraham Yaakov Finkel

KabbalahHear the authentic wisdom of the Kabbalists, the masters of esoteric, mystical Jewish teachings, throughout the ages. This deeply reverent and beautifully written book offers excerpts from the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1568712189
• ISBN13: 9781568712185
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Targum Press
• Length: 414 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Simply Terrific!

This is a terrific book for both the advanced and basic student of Kabbalah. It includes a brief but good, straight-forward and clear summary of the basic concepts of Kabbalah; the ten sefirot, tzimtzum, the breaking of the vessels, etc. Next Rabbi Finkel introduces and translates excerpts of four classic ancient texts, Raziel HaMalach, Sefer Yetzirah, Sefer HaBahir, and Sefer HaZohar. The next 350 odd pages are devoted to the introduction and translation of the works of individual kabbalists classified into: the Kabbalists of Spain, Italy, and Province; the Medieval European Kabbalists; the Kabbalists of Eretz Yisrael; European Kabbalists of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries; Kabalists of the Chassidic world; and Kabbalists of the Twentieth Century. There is much material here which is diffict to obtain elsewhere. Some cautions however: you must be prepared to swallow whole some difficult sacred cows,viz, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and not Moishe de Leon, who has been conclusively disproved, is the author of the Zohar. And be prepared for the Ashkenazic transliteration of the learned Orthodox Rabbi Finkel, such as 'sefiros.' The book would also be improved by the inclusion of a subject index. But if you are Kabbalah-minded you will enjoy this book.