The Kiss of God: Spiritual and Mystical Death in Judaism (The Samuel & Althea Stroum Lectures in Jewish Studies)

By Michael Fishbane

Book Overview

The lines of Michael Fishbane's book trace the spiritual face of Judaism in one of its many appearances. Fishbane explores the quest for spiritual perfection in early rabbinic sources and in Jewish philosophy and mysticism. The "kiss of God," a symbol for union with God, and the ritual practices--meditation and performance--connected with it are presented. The book identifies a persistent passion for religious perfection, expressed as the love of God unto death itself. The masters of the tradition cultivated this ideal in all periods, in diverse genres, and in different modes. Rabbinic law and midrash, medieval philosophy and mysticism, public and private ritual all contributed to its development. Rooted in the understanding that the spiritual life requires discipline, the sages set up different ladders of ascension. For some, the Law itself was the means of spiritual growth; for others, more private practices were built upon its foundation. But all agreed that the purification of desire and the perfection of the soul offered the hope of personal salvation. None denied the historical redemption of the nation.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0295973080
• ISBN13: 9780295973081
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.8" x 0.8" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating Jewish Mystical Sources here-in

Seeking and Soaring: Jewish Approaches to Spiritual DirectionReclaiming Judaism as a Spiritual Practice: Holy Days and ShabbatWhat does spiritual intimacy feel like, read like, in rabbinic literature? How is devekut, the experience of cleaving to God attained? What are the risks of such practices? Michael Fishbane explicates outstanding sources about when Moses' soul was taken by God with a kiss. Unfortunately many are summarized rather than written out whole and the Hebrew texts are referenced but not provided. Still, this pointed me to amazing depths of authentic Jewish mystical study. Thank you Dr. Fishbane!