The Beliefnet Guide to Kabbalah

by Arthur Goldwag

This lively, easy-to-follow guide to Kabbalah introduces the ancient Jewish mystical tradition that has captured the interest of Hollywood stars and the general public alike. With celebrities like... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385514530
• ISBN13: 9780385514538
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: Three Leaves Publishing
• Length: 171 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Intro text

For anyone interested in the venerable Kabbalah, this is an excellent introduction and brief overview. For example, the exposition of Kabbalistic meditation techiniques is clear and includes selections from both contemporary and ancient Kabbalists. This is a fine little book; accessible, concise and clear.

Kabbalah for Dummies?

Is the Kabbalah a system for gaining insight into God and the universe or a pseudo-religious, pseudoscientific bunch of gobbledygook? The answer to that question will not be found in the Beliefnet Guide to Kabbalah, which provides a good description of what Kabbalah is without any real judgments as to its effectiveness. Essentially, Kabbalah is the most well-known form of Jewish mysticism. Mystics, in general, look for the hidden strings that operate the universe, and Jewish mystics - Kabbalists in particular - use Jewish texts to find these truths. The Torah is the principal source of knowledge, but Kabbalah looks below the surface language to draw other conclusions. As Kabbalah as evolved over the centuries, some fundamental ideas have arisen. The biggest of these are the Seifrot, the ten divine emanations that are aspects of Ein Sof, which is roughly equivalent to God. But God, in this case, is not so much an aloof puppeteer but rather is a part of everything. The divine essence is in every person and object. Although Kabbalah has many books offering insights, the primary text is the Zohar, written several centuries ago. It is impossible to describe the complex ideas of Kabbalah in just a couple paragraphs, and even this book only scratches the surface. That is, however, the book's intent: to provide an overview. We get a brief history of Kabbalah along with an introduction to the main concepts and texts. Although the ideas are complicated, author Arthur Goldwag does a good job at describing their basic themes. Is this a book by a believer? I don't know. Goldwag remains relatively objective. He doesn't put forth an opinion as to whether Kabbalah really works or not, but he does seem to embrace the idea that for some, it provides comfort and gives a type of illumination (whether real or not). If you are interested in learning about Kabbalah, this book is a good place to start. It is not designed to convert or dissuade, but educate, and it effectively does so.