Description: Leading scholars and teachers share their favorite texts--many available in English for the first time--and explore why these materials are meaningful today. A rich combination of classical texts and contemporary reflections on Jewish mystical tradition.
Brief description:
Lawrence Fine, Irene Kaplan Leiwant Professor of Jewish Studies at Mount Holyoke College, is author of Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos: Isaac Luria and His Kabbalistic Fellowship, and other books.
Review Quotes:
"A dazzling collection that displays the concerns and insights that animate the [mystical and Hasidic] texts and traditions.... A spiritual feast of religious meaning for those who enter its pages."
-Rabbi David Ellenson, PhD, president, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
"An illuminating and often moving collection that reflects the breadth and depth of contemporary interest in these texts as guides to Jewish spirituality and practice in our time."
-Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, author, The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical
Unconscious
"A landmark collection that deserves to be read and reread. The diverse insights draw the seeker into the wisdom of Judaism in a way that may draw them into the community of practice as well."
-Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author, Hasidic Tales: Annotated & Explained and Ecclesiastes: Annotated & Explained
"Illuminates and probes deeply in multiple fields while speaking to engaged spiritual seekers and scholars. Studded with gems, often overflowing with learning and insights. All who want to grow spiritually, live more deeply, to both connect to tradition and renew it will find something to nurture their souls in this book."
-Rabbi Irving Greenberg, founding president, Jewish Life Network; founding president, Clal: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership
"An orchard of spiritual pomegranates, tended by some of today's most gifted Jewish scholars. A delight to read."
-Jay Michaelson, author, Everything Is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism and God in Your Body: Kabbalah, Mindfulness and Embodied Spiritual Practice