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November 6, 1998/ 17 Cheshvan 5759, Vol. 51, No. 7
Old, new forces in Jewish life converge in flood of Kabbalah books
SYLVIA ROTHCHILD
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism, something handed down by Jewish tradition, has long been associated with the mysteries of the hidden life of God and the relationship between the Divine and the life of man and the rest of creation.
It was a secret tradition, cultivated by charismatic teachers for small groups of participants - an aspect of Judaism forbidden to unmarried men under 40.
Kabbalah has a long history, dating back to the time of the Second Temple and kept alive through the centuries by the small pious groups seeking a refuge from the world. Its vocabulary included references to angels, white magic, dybbuks, gematria and resurrection. Its symbols and movements found their way into the prayer book. Its stories became part of Jewish literature and folklore.
Contemporary Jews involved with Jewish renewal are learning about Kabbalah, not from scholarly historical studies, but from a spectrum of trendy self-help books written by psychologists, therapists and rabbis who are responding to what they call "a hunger for spirituality" in a Jewish generation that went searching for it in Eastern religions and returned to Judaism hoping to find in it what Buddhism and Hinduism did not offer.
A search for "Jewish spirituality" on the Internet uncovers hundreds of sites and a growing literature on spirituality based on Kabbalah. The books on the subject that come to me for review range from serious efforts, offering historical background along with prayers, psalms and meditation exercises, to trendy New Age exercises closer to the so-called human potential movement than to traditional Torah study.
In "Everyday Kabbalah" by Melinda Ribner (Citadel, $10.95, paperback), a psychotherapist who uses meditation as a treatment modality, one finds meditations on "the inner child and love"; suggestions that one keep a journal in which one writes letters to God asking for what one needs; and meditations for coping with loss, increasing self-esteem and combating addictions. She lived for several years in India, in an ashram with Israelis searching for spirituality, and spent 20 years studying with Shlomo Carlebach, from whom she says she received "a nonrabbinical ordination to teach meditation." She has taught classes at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Hebrew Union College and Luba-vitch Women's Organizations and recommends her meditation exercises to anyone over 13. Her self-described "high spiritual energy" and her ability to hear angel's voices may unsettle those who do not share her faith in easy transformations.
"Judaic Mysticism" by Dr. Avram Davis and Manuela Dunn Mascetti (Hyperion, $24.95) is a primer with an introduction to teachings from Judaism's rich heritage of mystical practices. It includes stories by the Baal Shem Tov and Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav, reminders of the connections between modern and ancient mysticism and the ties between mystical experience and ethical and political awareness.
"Community," he writes, "is the holy ground from which we relate to God."
Blessing, prayer and meditation are his pathways to God. God, for Davis, however, is not a being but a process. He nevertheless urges his readers to speak to God for a half-hour every day, to find the sacred ground between them and God. His pronouncements are complex and confusing but more credible than the easier directions and promises found in "Everyday Kabbalah."
"Endless Light" by Rabbi David Aaron (Simon and Schuster, $22), head of the Isralight Institute in Jerusalem, is subtitled "The Ancient Path of the Kabbala to Love, Spiritual Growth and Personal Power." He describes his search in the Bible and Kabbalah for answers in the most basic questions: "Who am I? Why am I? What is life all about?" He offers answers from the Torah, Kabbalah that is bound to Torah, and his own experiences.
Aaron refers to mystical language as "a code, relating to life like sheet music to songs." His Kabbalah is for personal growth, happiness, love, for learning about balance, integration - "to make sure your actions are in accordance with your principles."
These are only a few samples from the flood of books about Kabbalah, mysticism and meditation - evidence of the convergence of the new and old forces in Jewish life. Gershom Scholem, who devoted his life to researching Jewish mysticism, was fascinated by it but kept a scholarly, rationalist distance. "Mysticism," he once said, "is nonsense. The study of mysticism, however, is scholarship."
The new writers seem inclined to see it as a source of therapy, rather than nonsense. A generation that lost its faith in the efficacy of reason is not embarrassed to look into mystical sources of wisdom.
Sylvia Rothchild is a correspondent for the Jewish Advocate in Boston. Her column was distributed by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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