Kabbalah: New Perspectives

In his new interpretation of Jewish mysticism, Moshe Idel emphasizes the need for Comparative and phenomenological approach to Kabbalah and justifies its special look at the history of religion. Idel sheds new light on the sources of Jewish mysticism, which shows the relationship of mystical and historical experience, as well as the influence of Jewish mysticism on Western civilization.

content

foreword
to the Russian edition
introduction

Chapter One .
Notes on the study of Kabbalah
I. The science of Kabbalah , from the Renaissance
2 . Jewish science XIX century. in western Europe
3 . The study of Kabbalah in the XX century .

Chapter Two . methodological notes
1. Quantitative Quandaries
2 . The lost material
3 . The problem of oral transmission
4 . Evaluation of the phenomenological approach
5 . Between scientists and mystics
6. Jewish mysticism as empirical knowledge
7. Kabbalah: The Gnostic echo ?
8. A few words about the reconstruction

Chapter Three .
Varieties dvekut in Jewish mysticism
1. Dvekut : a historical overview
2 . Dvekut : Neo-Platonic influence
3 . cleaving thoughts
4 . Dvekut in Kabbalah and Hasidism
5 . Dvekut as mediation
6. Dvekut and theurgy

Chapter Four .
Unio mystica in Jewish mysticism
1. Unio mystica: Methodological Remarks
2 . Mystical union in ecstatic Kabbalah
3 . Mystical union : the restoration of the unity of the destroyed
4 . Drop and the ocean
5 . The metaphor of " swallowing "

Chapter Five . mystical techniques
1. Nomic and anemic mystical techniques
2 . crying
3 . The ascent of the soul
4 . The combination of the letters of the divine name
5 . Visualization of color and Kabbalistic prayer

Chapter Six . Kabbalistic theosophy
1. Monad Decimal structure and Anthropos
2 . The divine form and strength Z.Du - partsufin
4 . Different concepts of the Sefirot
5 . Theosophy and pantheism
6. Theosophy and History

Chapter Seven .
Early Jewish theurgy
1. Myth and Rabbinic Judaism
2 . Theurgy increase of divine power
3 . Theurgy details of the divine powers of the higher worlds in the lower
4 . The activities supporting peace

Chapter Eight . Kabbalistic theurgy
1. " Like a Shadow"
2 . Theurgy the status quo
3 . Ascension Crown ( Atar )
4 . theurgical crying

Chapter Nine . Kabbalistic hermeneutics
1. Status symbol in Kabbalah
2 . Air interpretation and merging with the Torah

Chapter Ten .
From the Jewish esotericism to the European philosophy :
Kabbalah as a cultural phenomenon
1. The emergence of Kabbalah
2 . From the esoteric to exoterism
3 . Kabbalah: from exile to Hasidism
4 . Theosophy and theurgy
5 . Exile and Kabbalah
6. Kabbalistic anthropology

glossary
Index of sources Index of concepts and terms Bibliography Index of names in Hebrew