Zohar: The Book of Splendor: Basic Readings from the Kabbalah

The book is part commentary on many passages on the Old Testament, part historical bits from the lives of various mystical Rabbis and scholars, and part an exposition of certain distinctive teachings concerning the Zohar. I have gathered from a few other reviews (excellent ones by the way) that the Zohar is a five volume set of writings that is very extensive in scope. This small book probably cannot really encompass this larger book and be anything more than an introduction and perhaps a barely adequate summary of certain highlights of that set. But it does have a number of good stories and passages that definitely give you a feeling for what spirituality itself is for and what kinds of inner experiences you are meant to reach in your contemplative prayer journey. You can get some feeling of the faith and inner life of the various Rabbis that were involved with the Zohar and drew some strength from it and how they esteemed the Torah as central to their lives. As such, this book is a good place to start if you want to learn more about the Zohar, either spiritually or historically. From a Buddhist perspective, the devoted study of the scriptures has a feeling similar to studying various sutras (like the Heart Sutra). This book does not seem to give a meditation methodology or meditation method to go within. It seems that the book does not consider its aim to go there or perhaps you just intuitively feel your way within as you contemplate these passages. I would consider a tradition like this more complete if there were methods of meditation to support these contemplations. It seems that there is a kind of visualization and chanting meditation based on the spheres of the Qabalah in the Tree of Life that may serve this purpose, but this does not seem part of this book.

"The old God whom Kabbalistic gnosis opposed to the God of the philosophers proves, when experienced in all his living richness, to be an even older and archaic one." Mythical Dimension of Judaism "Woe to those who look upon the Torah as simply tales pertaining to things of the world, seeing thus only the outer garment. But those whose gaze penetrates to the very Torah, happy are they." Hidden Meaning of the Torah Jewish Mystical Definitions: Zohar: The Zohar consists of mystical commentaries and homilies on the Pentateuch. It was written by Moses de León, in the 13th century, who attributed it to Simon ben Yohai, a great scholar of the second century, A.D. The two principal sources for the kabbalists are the Zohar (The Book of Enlightenment, The Book of Splendor), and the Sefer Yezirah (Book of Creation), developed in a series of monologues allegedly delivered by Abraham. The doctrine of the Sefirot, the powers emanating from God, through which the world was created and its order is being sustained, was probably written in the third century. The primordial numbers of the later Pythagoreans were used in a system of numerical interpretation. Kabbalistic interpretation of Scripture was transformed, based on the belief that every number, word, or even letter, embraced mysteries unveiled only by those who conceived the secret. The names for the Lord of hosts were believed to contain miraculous power that even each letter of the divine name was regarded as potent; that kabbalistic signs and writings were used as amulets and in magical practices. Kabbalah: kãb'l (Heb., reception), esoteric system of interpretation of the Scriptures based upon a tradition claimed to have been handed down orally from Abraham. The system appears to have started by Philo Judeas, in Alexandria, Egypt, using allegories to interpret scripture exposing its mystical meaning. It has been further developed in the eleventh century in France, and from there spread to Spain. Yet, kabbalistic elements are earlier discernible in the literature of second century Merkavah mysticism inspired by the vision of the chariot-throne (merkavah) in the Book of Ezekiel. Beyond the specific Jewish notions, philosophy scholars debate that Kabbalah reveals a dominant Neoplatonic influence, especially in its doctrines of emanation and the transmigration of souls. Following the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, in 1492, kabbalah became more messianic in its emphasis, as developed by the school of mystics at Safed, Palestine. In this form, Kabbalah had a major influence in the development of Hasidic thoughts and teachings, and still has adherents, especially among Hasidic Jews. Jewish Mysticism & Philosophy: One of the most significant contributions that Gershom Scholem's prolific research has added to the field of Judaica, is the parametric broadening of the Jewish intellectual history since late antiquity to our times. Such expansion of intellectual horizons is most apparent in his stud

This book was primarily written for those people that want to get a flavor for the large compilation of writings known as the Zohar. The Zohar is the most widely used text in the study of Kabbalah. This book, written by Gershom Scholem, takes various exerpts from the Zohar to give the reader a basic idea of what manner of instruction and knowledge one can find in the Zohar. His selections are chosen to cover most of the stages of life and the major questions concerning what lies after and possibly our return. For taking such a small selection, Scholem masterfully picked his selections to provide a smooth transition between subjects. This book is very short and can be read in a couple of days without too much effort. Let the reader beware, if you choose to obtain the full version after reading this book, you might be surprised to find that much of the text is extremely difficult to understand. Scholem definitely chose those exerpts that are not too difficult to understand for this book. In spite of its brevity, I would recommend this book because it adequately portrays the Jews rich scholarship over the centuries and their constant striving to understand the more mysterious matters of their existence.