Practical Kabbalah: Jewish Mysticism, Meditation, and Morality*

Course overview:  This course will explore various aspects of Jewish spirituality and their interconnection:  how mystical interpretations of the Hebrew Bible (in the Zohar) can enrich our understanding of Scripture; how the observance of commandments affects the heart and soul; theoretical and practical aspects of Kabbalah, including meditative exercises; and the implications of Jewish mysticism for tikkun olam, the mending of our broken world.  How these insights might impact on Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations will also be addressed—are there affinities on the mystical level that can be tapped for greater interreligious understanding and cooperation?

(Note:  to get the most out of this course, WS-623 or a similar introduction to Jewish spirituality is highly recommended).

Pedagogical methods:  The course will be conducted as a seminar.  Class sessions will feature presentations and guiding questions by the professor, students’ critical text summaries and talking points, facilitated discussions, and audio-visual resources including musical selections.

Methods of Assessment:  Class participation (20%), in-class text summaries and talking points (30%), and quality of the course paper (50%).  Depending on the number of students, each member of the class will be asked to introduce (at least) one session with a critical summary of that week’s readings. A course paper, approximating 15 double-spaced pages, is due by the last class session, May 15.  A one-page preview of the paper with preliminary bibliography should be submitted for feedback by April 17.  (Note:  the Seminary’s plagiarism policy will be strictly enforced; all written work must be original unless properly cited).

Attendance:  Students are expected to be present and prepared for each class.  If you know you will have to miss any class, please inform the professor in advance.

Missing two class sessions will adversely affect the final course grade.  Missing three or more sessions will result in automatic failure of the course.

Course Schedule and Readings

Books recommended for purchase (all five are in paperback):

Goldwag, Arthur.  The Beliefnet Guide to Kabbalah.  New York:  Doubleday/

   Three Leaves Press, 2005, ISBN 0-385-51453-0

Matt, Daniel C. The Essential Kabbalah:  The Heart of Jewish Mysticism. New

   York:  HarperCollins Publishers, 1996, ISBN 0-06-251163-7  

Zohar: Annotated & Explained.  Translation and annotation by Daniel C. Matt.

   Woodstock, VT:  Skylight Paths Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1-893361-51-9

Green, Arthur, and Barry W. Holtz, editors and translators, Your Word is Fire:

   The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer, with a new introduction,

   Woodstock, VT:  Jewish Lights Publishing, 1993, ISBN 978-1879045255

Kaplan, Aryeh.  Jewish Meditation:  A Practical Guide.  New York:  Schocken

   Books, 1985, ISBN 0-8052-0781-3 

(Readings indicated should be read for that session; books listed in bold italics are recommended for purchase; other readings will be on reserve in the library)

January 24:  Kabbalah in Context:  An Introduction to Jewish Spirituality

   Reading:  Principles of Jewish Spirituality by Sara Isaacson, London:

Thorsons/HarperCollins, 1999 (selected chapters—on reserve).

January 31:  An Overview of Kabbalah I 

   Reading:  The Beliefnet Guide to Kabbalah by Arthur Goldwag, introduction by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, New York:  Doubleday/Three Leaves Press, 2005

   Recommended:  Kabbalah:  A Brief Introduction for Christians by Tamar Frankiel, Woodstock, VT:  Jewish Lights Publishing, 2006.

NO CLASS FEBRUARY 7

February 14:  An Overview of Kabbalah II   

   Reading:  The Essential Kabbalah:  The Heart of Jewish Mysticism by

Daniel C. Matt, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1996.

February 21:  Hebrew Words of  Blessing as a Gateway to the Divine   

   Reading:  The Path of Blessing: Experiencing the Energy and Abundance of the Divine by Rabbi Marcia Prager, Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2003.    

February 28:  Introduction to The Zohar

   Reading:  Zohar: Annotated & Explained, translation and annotation by Daniel C. Matt, Woodstock, VT:  Skylight Paths Publishing, 2002.

   Recommended:  Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment, translation and introduction by Daniel Chanan Matt, preface by Arthur Green, Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1983; A Guide to the Zohar by Arthur Green, Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 2004

March 6:  Jewish Mystical Experiences

   Readings:  selections from Jewish Mystical Testimonies by Louis Jacobs,

New York:  Schocken Books, 1977, and Jewish Mystical Autobiographies, translated and introduced by Morris M. Maierstein, preface by Moshe Idel,

New York/Mahwah:  Paulist Press, 1999 (on reserve)

March 13:  Experiencing the Divine Presence in Prayer

   Reading:  Your Word is Fire: The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer, edited and translated by Arthur Green and Barry W. Holtz, with a new introduction, Woodstock, VT:  Jewish Lights Publishing, 1993.

   Recommended:  Hasidic Prayer by Louis Jacobs, New York:  Schocken Books, 1973.

March 20:  Jewish Meditation

   Reading:  Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide by Aryeh Kaplan, New York:  Schocken Books, 1985.

   Recommended:  Meditation and Kabbalah by Aryeh Kaplan, York Beach, Maine:  Samuel Weiser, 1982; Meditation from the Heart of Judaism edited by Avram Davis, Woodstock, VT:  Jewish Lights Publishing, 1997.

March 27:  Revelatory Dreams

   Readings:  selections from The Mystical Meaning of Dreams by Avraham Arieh Trugman, Southfield, MI:  Targum Press, 2006; “Dreams and Dream Interpretation in Said Nursi’s Risale-i Nur:  Islamic, Judaic, and Universal Resonances,” by Yehezkel Landau, in Spiritual Dimensions of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s Risale-i Nur, edited by Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi’, Albany:  State University of New York Press, 2008, pp. 147-174 (on reserve).

NO CLASS APRIL 3—READING WEEK; PASSOVER BEGINS APRIL 6-7

April 10:  Contemporary Women’s Perspectives

   Readings:  “‘Pass Not Away’: Yearning for a Seamless Life of Connection” by

Nancy Flam; “Approaching the Thick Cloud: Working with Obstacles in Our Spiritual Growth” by Sheila Peltz Weinberg; “‘All This and Maybe’: The Doubting Servant” by Mimi Feigelson; and “Praying from the Depths” by Melila Hellner-Eshed, in Jewish Mysticism and the Spiritual Life edited by Lawrence Fine, Eitan

Fishbane, and Or N. Rose (on reserve)

April 17:  Kabbalistic Ethics I

   Readings:  “Sitra Ahra: Good and Evil in the Kabbalah,” “Tsaddik:  The Righteous One,” and “Gilgul:  The Transmigration of Souls,” in On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead:  Basic Concepts in the Kabbalah by Gershom Scholem, New York:  Schocken Books, 1991 (on reserve).

   **PREVIEW OF COURSE PAPER DUE

April 24:  Kabbalistic Ethics II—Contemporary Applications

   Readings: “Great Chain of Being:  Kabbalah for an Environmental Age,” “What about Evil?”, and “Community:  Where Shekhinah Dwells,” in Ehyeh:  A Kabbalah for Tomorrow by Arthur Green, Woodstock, VT:  Jewish Lights Publishing, 2003 (on reserve).

NO CLASS MAY 1

May 8:  A Kabbalistic Perspective on the Holy Land

   Reading:  “The Land of Israel in Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations” by

Yehezkel Landau, from Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations, Volume 3, Issue 1, 2008, Article 17, CP1-12, accessible at http://escholarship.bc.edu/scjr/vol3

May 15:  Kabbalah and Self-Transformation

   Reading:  “The Path of the Tzaddik (Jewish Enlightenment)” in God is a Verb:  Kabbalah and the Practice of Mystical Judaism by Rabbi David A. Cooper, New York:  Riverhead Books, 1997, pp. 184-234 (on reserve).

   Recommended:  Practical Kabbalah:  A Guide to Jewish Wisdom for Everyday Life by Rabbi Laibl Wolf, New York:  Three Rivers Press, 1999.

   **COURSE PAPER DUE