A Guide to the Zohar

by Green, Arthur

• ISBN13: 9780804749084
• ISBN10: 0804749086
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr

Summary

The Zohar is the great medieval compendium of Jewish esoteric and mystical teaching, and the basis of the kabbalistic faith. It is, however, a notoriously difficult text, full of hidden codes, concealed meanings, obscure symbols, and ecstatic expression. This illuminating study, based upon the last several decades of modern Zohar scholarship, unravels the historical and intellectual origins of this rich text and provides an excellent introduction to its themes, complex symbolism, narrative structure, and language. A Guide to the Zohar is thus an invaluable companion to the Zohar itself, as well as a useful resource for scholars and students interested in mystical literature, particularly that of the west, from the Middle Ages to the present.

Author Biography

Arthur Green is the Philip W. Lown Professor of Jewish Thought at Brandeis University. A historian of Judaism and also a theologian, Professor Green is the author of a number of works on Jewish mysticism and Jewish spirituality.

Table of Contents

Diagram of the Ten Sefirot	ix
Preface	xi
PART I INTRODUCTION
1 Prologue	3	(6)
2 The Kabbalistic Tradition: A Brief History Until the Zohar	9	(19)
3 Teachings of the Kabbalists:The Ten Sefirot	28	(35)
PART II WHAT IS THE ZOHAR?
4 The Zohar: Midrash on the Torah	63	(8)
5 The Zohar Narrative	71	(6)
6 Mysticism of the Zohar	77	(9)
7 The Zohar in Historical Context	86	(15)
PART III SELECTED THEMES WITHIN THE ZOHAR
8 Creation and Origins	101	(8)
9 Between Worlds	109	(7)
10 Evil and the Demonic	116	(6)
11 Torah and Revelation	122	(4)
12 The Commandments	126	(8)
13 Avodah: The Life of Worship	134	(11)
14 The Tsaddiq and the Life of Piety	145	(6)
15 The Jewish People, Exile, and Messiah	151	(8)
PART IV THE ZOHAR AS TEXT
16 Special Sections of the Zohar	159	(3)
17 The Question of Authorship	162	(7)
18 The Language of the Zohar	169	(5)
19 Editing and Printing of the Zohar	174	(4)
20 Influence and Canonization of the Zohar	178	(11)
Bibliography	189