Jewish Mysticism

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
RACHEL ELIOR
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Mysticism

Jewish Mysticism Looks at the Human Potential

PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 52 (35) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Sales
Keyword(s):  
Human Potential ◽  
Jewish Mysticism

Messianic ideas in Jewish mysticism

1991 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-99
Author(s):  
Karl Erich Grözinger
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Mysticism ◽  
King David ◽  
The Core ◽  
Theological Thought

The Jewish belief in a final redemption brought about by a kingly messiah, the descendant of the dynasty of King David, emerged in biblical times under specific historical and ideological circumstances which are gone long ago. Nevertheless, the core of the messianic idea remained within Judaism and became even stronger and stimulated Jewish yearnings and thought. Around this core of messianic belief grew, in the course of time, a garland of interpretations which sought to accommodate the persisting messianic hope to the new historical situations and even more to the changing philosophical and theological thought. Regarding all the messianic testimonies handed down to us, we might find three major types of interpretation depicting the messianic events: There is the more traditional apocalyptic view, then a somewhat distinct philosophical-rationalistic one and finally a mystical approach to messianism.

Some methodological reflections on the study of Jewish mysticism

Religion ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-114
Author(s):  
David R Blumenthal
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Mysticism

“For the Letter Kills, but the Spirit Gives Life”: Halakha Versus Kabbalah in the Study of Jewish Mysticim1

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boaz Huss
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Jewish Mysticism ◽  
Renaissance Period ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Wissenschaft Des Judentums ◽  
Academic Study

Abstract In the 19th century, some Jewish scholars of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement presented Kabbalah as the vital, spiritual and mystical aspect of Judaism, and juxtaposed it to legalistic, conservative, and petrified Halakha. Jewish neo-romantic and Zionist thinkers adopted this perception, which Christian Kabbalists and Hebraists first formulated in the Renaissance period. The assumption concerning the distinction and tension between Jewish mysticism and Halakha had a significant impact on the modern academic study of Judaism and it still governs the academic discipline of Jewish mysticism that Gershom Scholem and his disciples founded. This article argues that the modern identification of Kabbala as Jewish mysticism, and the assumed dichotomy between spiritual, vital Kabbalah, and dogmatic, petrified Halakha are a modern Jewish adaptation of the Pauline antithesis between the letter that kills and the Spirit that gives life.

The Study of Heikhalot Literature: Between Mystical Experience and Textual Artifact

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ra'Anan S. Boustan
Keyword(s):  
Mystical Experience ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Important Work ◽  
Complex Material ◽  
Jewish Mysticism ◽  
The Past ◽  
Religious Significance ◽  
Heterogeneous Nature ◽  
Material Conditions

This essay outlines the fundamental methodological and empirical advances that the study of Heikhalot literature has experienced during the past 25 years with the aim of encouraging specialists and enabling non-specialists to approach this complex material with greater precision and sophistication. The field of early Jewish mysticism has been profoundly shaped by the increasing integration in the humanities of cultural and material histories, resulting in an increased focus on scribal practice and other material conditions that shaped the production and transmission of these texts. Against previous assumptions, recent research has shown Heikhalot literature to be a radically unstable literature. This article will review the research tools (editions, concordances, translations, etc.) that now allow for careful analysis of Heikhalot and related texts. Tracing recent research, I demonstrate how our new understanding of the fluid and heterogeneous nature of the Heikhalot corpus will better enable scholars to pursue the important work of understanding its social and religious significance, within the broader landscape of late antique and medieval religions.

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