Jewish Mysticism and the Spiritual Life

Description

Leading scholars and teachers share their favorite texts of the Jewish mystical tradition—many available in English for the first time—and explore why these materials are meaningful and relevant to us today. New in paperback!

In this unique volume, some of Judaism's most insightful contemporary thinkers bring the words of sages past to bear on the present. They explore how we can become closer to God through our relationships with others, our observance at home and our actions in the world, asking:

• What do mitzvot have to do with mysticism?
• Is spirituality selfish?
• Can mysticism enhance community?

Organized thematically, each section focuses on how mysticism engages and complements the dimensions of religious life, including studying Torah, performing mitzvot and observing halakhah.

Contributors:

Yehonatan Chipman • Mimi Feigelson • Lawrence Fine • Eitan Fishbane • Michael Fishbane • Nancy Flam • Everett Gendler • Joel Hecker • Shai Held • Melila Hellner-Eshed • Barry W. Holtz • Jeremy Kalmanofsky • Judith A. Kates • Lawrence Kushner • Ebn Leader • Shaul Magid • Ron Margolin • Daniel Matt • Haviva Pedaya • Nehemia Polen • Neal and Carol Rose • Or N. Rose • Zalman Schachter-Shalomi • Jonathan P. Slater • Gordon Tucker • Sheila Peltz Weinberg • Chava Weissler

Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii

Part One Discovering God in All Reality
"Pass Not Away": Yearning for a Seamless Life of Connection
Nancy Flam 3
Seeking the Sacred Self
Jeremy Kalmanofsky 15
Yitro, (Neo-)Hasidism, and a New American Piety
Shaul Magid 22

Part Two Spiritual Growth, Inner Transformation
Approaching the Thick Cloud: Working with Obstacles in Our Spiritual Growth
Sheila Peltz Weinberg 33
"Who Am I to Go to Pharoah?"
Lawrence Kushner 39
The Cry of Redemption
Judith A. Kates 46
"All This and Maybe": The Doubting Servant
Mimi Feigelson 51
Rabbi Nahum of Chernobyl and “Second Maturity”
Yehonatan Chipman 59

Part Three Embodied Spiritual Practice
Taking in the Torah of the Timeless Present
Gordon Tucker 67
Holiness in the Kitchen
Chava Weissler 72
Eating as a Spiritual Ecosystem
Joel Hecker 78
Loving God with the Evil Impulse
Daniel Matt 86

Part Four Compassion, Loving Others
“A Better Way of Being in the World, a Way of Compassion”
Jonathan P. Slater 93
Rabbi Nahman's “OD”: An Ode of Human Redemption
Everett Gendler 103
Spiritual Friendship: “Go Among People Who Are
Awake and Where a Light Shines Brightly”
Lawrence Fine 112
The Service of Love
Ebn Leader 119
The Splendid Bird: Reflections on Prayer and Community
Barry W. Holtz 129
Part Five Prayer, Repentance, Healing
Praying from the Depths
Melila Hellner-Eshed 137
The Tainted Produce: A Parable of Possibilities
Neal Rose and Carol Rose 145
Spiritual Wounds
Michael Fishbane 152
Sarah and Moses: God's Teachers of Compassion
Or N. Rose 162
Crisis and Repair, Trauma and Recovery
Haviva Pedaya 171

Part Six Torah, Halakhah, Mitzvot
Shabbat Candle Lighting
Eitan Fishbane 185
Why Do We Need the Mitzvot?
Ron Margolin 192
Jacob's Remedy: A Prayer for the Dislocated
Nehemia Polen 201
On Faith Beyond Perception: The Slonimer Rebbe
Shai Held 209
Conclusion: Teyku—Because Elijah Lives On!
Zalman Schachter-Shalomi 217
Suggestions for Further Reading 221

Sujets

• mysticism
• Philosophie et théologie
• Cábala
• Torah study
• Kabbalah
• Judaism
• Religion
• Kabbale

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 22 mars 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781580235884
• Langue: English

Extrait

Jewish Mysticism and the Spiritual Life: Classical Texts, Contemporary Reflections
2011 Hardcover Edition, First Printing 2011 by Lawrence Fine, Eitan Fishbane, and Or N. Rose
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information regarding permission to reprint material from this book, please mail or fax your request in writing to Jewish Lights Publishing, Permissions Department, at the address / fax number listed below, or e-mail your request to [e-mail] .
Grateful acknowledgment is given for permission to use material from the following sources: The Heart s Counting Knows Only One from The Lives of the Heart by Jane Hirshfield, copyright 1997 by Jane Hirshfield. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Excerpt from The Language of Truth: The Torah Commentary of the Sefat Emet, 1998, translated by Arthur Green, published by The Jewish Publication Society. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. Excerpts from Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl: Upright Practices, The Light of the Eyes, translation and introduction by Arthur Green, copyright 1982 by Arthur Green. Paulist Press, Inc., New York / Mahwah, N.J. Reprinted by permission of Paulist Press, Inc. www.paulistpress.com . Excerpt from Your Word Is Fire: The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer 1993 Arthur Green and Barry W. Holtz (Woodstock, Vt.: Jewish Lights Publishing). Permission granted by Jewish Lights Publishing, P.O. Box 237, Woodstock, VT 05091, www.jewishlights.com . Excerpt from The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, volume 4, translated by Daniel Matt, copyright 2007 by Zohar Educational Project, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with the permission of Stanford University Press, www.sup.org .
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jewish mysticism and the spiritual life: classical texts, contemporary reflections / edited by Lawrence Fine, Eitan Fishbane, and Or N. Rose. -2011 hardcover ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-58023-434-4 (hardcover) 1. Mysticism-Judaism. 2. Spiritual life-Judaism. I. Fine, Lawrence. II. Fishbane, Eitan P., 1975- III. Rose, Or N. BM723.J4854 2011 296.7'12-dc22
2010029713
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Manufactured in the United States of America
Jacket Design: Tim Holtz Jacket Photo: iStockphoto.com /Burwell and Burwell Photography, modified by Tim Holtz Interior Design: Kristi Menter
Published by Jewish Lights Publishing A Division of LongHill Partners, Inc. Sunset Farm Offices, Route 4, P.O. Box 237 Woodstock, VT 05091 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] www.jewishlights.com
For Arthur Green, our teacher, our rabbi, our friend
With the deepest admiration for all that you have taught us and so many others.
Happy is our portion that on this path we have been privileged to hear words of the Ancient of Days from your mouth, that which we had not been honored to hear until now.
Z OHAR 2:168 A
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One Discovering God in All Reality
Pass Not Away : Yearning for a Seamless Life of Connection
Nancy Flam
Seeking the Sacred Self
Jeremy Kalmanofsky
Yitro, (Neo-)Hasidism, and a New American Piety
Shaul Magid
Part Two Spiritual Growth, Inner Transformation
Approaching the Thick Cloud: Working with Obstacles in Our Spiritual Growth
Sheila Peltz Weinberg
Who Am I to Go to Pharoah?
Lawrence Kushner
The Cry of Redemption
Judith A. Kates
All This and Maybe : The Doubting Servant
Mimi Feigelson
Rabbi Nahum of Chernobyl and Second Maturity
Yehonatan Chipman
Part Three Embodied Spiritual Practice
Taking in the Torah of the Timeless Present
Gordon Tucker
Holiness in the Kitchen
Chava Weissler
Eating as a Spiritual Ecosystem
Joel Hecker
Loving God with the Evil Impulse
Daniel Matt
Part Four Compassion, Loving Others
A Better Way of Being in the World, a Way of Compassion
Jonathan P. Slater
Rabbi Nahman s OD : An Ode of Human Redemption
Everett Gendler
Spiritual Friendship: Go Among People Who Are Awake and Where a Light Shines Brightly
Lawrence Fine
The Service of Love
Ebn Leader
The Splendid Bird: Reflections on Prayer and Community
Barry W. Holtz
Part Five Prayer, Repentance, Healing
Praying from the Depths
Melila Hellner-Eshed
The Tainted Produce: A Parable of Possibilities
Neal Rose and Carol Rose
Spiritual Wounds
Michael Fishbane
Sarah and Moses: God s Teachers of Compassion
Or N. Rose
Crisis and Repair, Trauma and Recovery
Haviva Pedaya
Part Six Torah, Halakhah, Mitzvot
Shabbat Candle Lighting
Eitan Fishbane
Why Do We Need the Mitzvot?
Ron Margolin
Jacob s Remedy: A Prayer for the Dislocated
Nehemia Polen
On Faith Beyond Perception: The Slonimer Rebbe
Shai Held
Conclusion: Teyku -Because Elijah Lives On!
Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Suggestions for Further Reading

About Jewish Lights
Copyright
Acknowledgments
It is our pleasure to express our deep thanks to Stuart M. Matlins, the publisher of Jewish Lights, for the strong interest he took in this project from the start. We very much appreciate the wise counsel that we received from Stuart as the idea for this volume began to take shape. Our gratitude also goes to Lauren Hill and Emily Wichland at Jewish Lights for all of their excellent work in helping to bring this book to fruition. We greatly appreciate the assistance in the preparation of the final manuscript from the generous and skilled library and instructional technology staff of Mount Holyoke College. Special thanks for the wonderful work of Leigh Mantle and Susan LeDuc, as well as student assistant Sefakor Mote.
This book is the result of the collective efforts of our contributors. As editors, we were most fortunate that so many distinguished and gifted teachers and scholars agreed with joyful enthusiasm to honor our friend and teacher Arthur Green. We thank each of them for contributions that we believe are of the highest order. Many of the contributors to this volume have been in dialogue with one another over the course of decades. We could not be more delighted to be able to share some of this rich conversation with a wider audience.
Finally, for all their loving friendship and support-without which few of our efforts would result in any success-we want to express our deepest gratitude to Deb, Julia, and Judith.
L AWRENCE F INE E ITAN F ISHBANE O R N. R OSE
Introduction
Contemporary Jewish Spirituality
We live in a time of great spiritual renaissance in American religion in general, and within the Jewish community in particular. People of diverse cultural backgrounds are searching for an authentic language to express their quest for meaning-for substance and depth in a society that can so often fall prey to the allure of materialism and vanity, to the seductions of greed and hedonism. Where are the anchors of value, truth, and beauty amid such a vast sea of superficiality and self-satisfaction? The turn to the spiritual may be seen as a reaction to the often mundane concerns of our society, a yearning to connect to something more enduring, more profound. And yet the spiritual quest is not simply reactive. Human beings have always actively sought deeper meaning and purpose in life.
Our age is also marked by a tension between that spiritual quest and the organized structures of traditional religion. I m spiritual, not religious, we hear from so many seekers. And by this they imply that the existing models of religion do not resonate with their spiritual path. For many Jews, the synagogue in contemporary America is not necessarily a spiritually satisfying experience. As a result, many have become alienated from the traditional forms, assuming that traditional Judaism has little to say to them about their spiritual yearning. Many may feel that Judaism is all about rote observance and uninspired devotion. With such experiences and perceptions, these individuals have sought spiritual nourishment from other sources, whether they be Jewish alternatives or the vibrant models of Eastern religions.
And how may we define this elusive phenomenon of spirituality? It is, first and foremost, a yearning to connect to the deep essence of things, a sense that there is a layer of existence that lies concealed beneath the surface of perception. It is this same quality that is reflected in the mystical sensibility-one of the reasons why the language of mysticism speaks to so many in our day. It is, however, important to emphasize that the mystical dimensions of Judaism do not separate easily, if at all, from the traditional structures of the religion. For while there are certain core ideas that may be extracted from the ritual and textual web of Judaism (divinity as the all-encompassing Oneness of being; God as a force of metaphysical light; the human quest to ascend and merge into divine Oneness), Jewish mystical spirituality is fundamentally inextricable from the ritual framework of Judaism.
For the kabbalists and the Hasidim, from the twelfth century to the present day, what we characterize as mysticism has been a particular way of approaching the Torah and the life of the mitzvot . To these mystics, the path of Torah contains hidden jewels of meaning. The deep mysteries of divinity, the dynamics of God s inner life are secretly alluded to through the symbolic words of the Torah and the commandments. All of the religious life leads the mystic to a transformed consciousness of God; the mitzvot are a ladder of ascent to divinity and to the individual s deep connection to the Source of all being.
For some contemporary Jews the turn to mysticism-to Kabbalah and to modern Hasidism-reflects a quest to infuse the life of mitzvot with spiritual vitality and purpose. How can the commandments