...This chapter discusses a breakthrough by Moshe Idel on the shift in focus in the study of kabbalah and Hasidism from the search for systematic thought and theology to an enquiry into kabbalistic techniques, practices, and rituals. It explores the veritable paradigm shift in kabbalistic scholarship...

... the diverse manifestations of this vision in every phase of Sabbatianism and its offshoots. These include the early promotion of women to centre-stage as messianic prophetesses; their independent affiliation with the movement in their own right; their initiation in the esoteric teachings of the kabbalah...

... and expressed his vision of Judaism because the Jewish world in his day was, in his view, debased and paganized. Seeking to purify Judaism from ‘proto-kabbalah’, what he actually succeeded in doing was to force these currents of thought from the subterranean depths in which they had hitherto flowed up...

... of his opposition to the 'hyperrealism' of proto-kabbalah. food non kosher Gerondi Nissim ben Reuben Kadish Seth commandments Maimonides positivism halakhic sacrifices halakhah Silman Yochanan Freudenthal Gad hyperrealism Seeskin Kenneth Zohar accommodation divine Asharites Halevi Judah...

... but was, they claimed, superior to it. The context for the comparison between R. Shimon and Moses, and for the portrayal of the rabbinic sage as greater than the biblical prophet, is the struggle between competing schools of kabbalah on the Iberian peninsula in the thirteenth century. The dominant school of kabbalah...

...This chapter looks at those Jewish scholars who rejected the value of the Zohar altogether and did everything in their power to subvert its revered status. It surveys the criticism of the Zohar, focusing on the measures the maskilim took against kabbalah in general, and against the Zohar...

... on polygamy, as well as various influences of the growing interest in kabbalah — its impact on synagogue structure, on prayer, and on the spiritual world of women. The growth of hasidism is considered through critical analysis of the legends about its founder, Israel Ba'al Shem Tov. This wealth of topics...

...This chapter chronicles the continued importance of halakhah and Kabbalah within the rabbinic culture and surveys Prague's largely overlooked talmudic academies, Jewish court system, and numerous rabbinic scholars. It considers the kabbalist and poet Avigdor Kara, who composed the well-known elegy...

...Kabbalah played a surprisingly prominent and far-reaching role in eighteenth-century Prague. This book uncovers the centrality of this mystical tradition for Prague's influential Jewish community and its pre-eminent rabbinic authority, Ezekiel Landau, chief rabbi from 1754 to 1793. A rabbinic...

..., innkeepers, and pedlars, all dispensed cures, purveyed folk remedies for different ailments, and gave hope to the sick and their families based on kabbalah, numerology, prayer, and magical Hebrew formulas. Nevertheless, as new sources of knowledge penetrated the traditional world, modern medical ideas gained...

... to substantiate the thesis of the article in question. His groundwork is thus of a philological nature based on intimate acquaintance with the nomenclature employed by the hasidic authors. These drew their terminology from the vast literature of the aggadah and homiletics, medieval philosophy and kabbalah...

...This chapter studies the divergences between Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem on the nature of kabbalah and hasidism and the appropriate methods for exploring their literatures. Guided by his phenomenological approach, Buber ultimately reached the view that hasidism expressed the quintessence...

..., specifically in Congress Poland, with surprising regularity. Rabbi Gershon Henoch of Radzyń revisited medieval Jewish philosophy and kabbalah and attempted to represent this rich tradition within the ideological framework of hasidic spirituality. His project seemed to have numerous goals, none of which...

... Falk and Rabbi Jacob Joshua ben Zevi Hirsch. It also recounts how Falk made the acquaintance of Moses David of Podhajce, of whom he jointly studied with and engaged in practical kabbalah. The chapter talks about Falk's family move from Podhajce to Fürth in Germany, which had become a major centre...

... kabbalah. Many of the publications in question were essentially inexpensive pamphlets written in accessible language and guiding the reader through prayer services and rituals associated with the life cycle. All these were imbued with mystical significance. In this way the individual could feel privy...

... for what is apparently the same phenomenon. Heikhalot literature seems to place greater emphasis on kavod than on shekhinah, while later kabbalah does just the opposite, making shekhinah one of the sefirot — the ten hypostasized attributes...

... way. Ashkenazim inspiration Kabbalah kavvanot Luria Mitnaggedim names divine Poland Prayer Book Prayer House Russia Safed Sefirot contemplation Dov Baer Maggid of Meseritch Kahal masters mysticism Palestine Sephardim Baal Shem Tov Eden Kosov Nahman of Kosov Reuhen tribes...

... on halakhah disappeared, the study of halakhic codes declined drastically, the practical halakhic implications of Talmud study were de-emphasized, and the study of kabbalah ceased. The chapter details these changes. Berlin Rabbi Naftali Tsevi Yehudah Netsiv fundraising Volozhin yeshiva Yosef of Krynki...

...This chapter addresses the extent to which mysticism and kabbalah influenced halakhic study and practice. The group of German mystics of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries known as ‘the German saints’ produced two moralistic works in which there is a blend of mysticism and law. These works came...

... by Luzatto in MS Guenzburg 745. It also explores the poems and prayers in MS Guenzburg 745, which are imbued with the unmistakable spirit of kabbalah and messianism and complete with elements that strongly reflect Luzatto's personality and the characteristics of his group. The chapter discusses how MS...