A bit of thirteenth-century mysticism for your Friday night: Why do we utter letters and move them around? I, a … Continue Reading Thoughts for Shabbat: “I became aware of something sublime arising within”
A marvelous end to an amazing book, here is Gershom Scholem final words in Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, on the … Continue Reading Thoughts for Shabbat: A Bit from the Baal Shem Tov
Four stories from the great Jewish tradition of the sacredness of the Torah, of Hebrew, and of the letters of … Continue Reading The Great Myths #45: Sacred Language Creates the World (Jewish)
And it happened after these things that God tested Abraham. And He said to him, “Abraham!” and he said, “Here … Continue Reading The Great Myths #18: The Sacrifice of Isaac (Jewish)
God has a tree of flowering souls in Paradise. The angel who sits beneath it is the Guardian of Paradise, … Continue Reading The Great Myths #7: The Tree of Souls (Jewish)
Origins of the Kabbalah, by Gershom Scholem [p. 159-60, an excerpt from section 105 of the Bahir, commenting on the Sabbath:] [Every day] … Continue Reading Origins of the Kabbalah, by Gershom Scholem (Favorite Passages)
