Customer Reviews

Adam and the Kabbalistic Tree

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This book, like all of Zev ben Shimon Halevi's works, is written with a precise, scientific approach that will appeal to the detail-minded student of Jewish kabbalah, as well as non-Jews interested in the Tree of Life diagram. First published in 1979, it remains a very good bridge between kabbalah and modern psychology. Halevi uses the Tree diagram as a template for exploring various aspects of the human body, psyche, and soul. Especially useful are the many Tree diagrams which illustrate how the human personality fits into kabbalistic thought. However, the book assumes you know the names of the Sefirot (pronounced sfee-ROTE, by the way) and can picture how they are arranged on the Tree. Beginners could get a bit overwhelmed with all the Hebrew terminology, and might want to start with Halevi's more introductory "The Way of Kabbalah" instead. Still, this book does contain a glossary, and if you go slowly and take the time to learn the definitions and compare the text to the diagrams, you will find that it all fits together quite nicely.

For the serious student of Kabbalah, this book reveals the bigger picture. The four levels of reality are addressed, each in turn. Really helpful!

This book's purpose is to relate the sefirot of the Tree of Life system to the whole of human existence. How well it did so could be debated. I thought that the author did quite nicely with applying the tree systemology to the psyche and soul, but found the interpretations as they apply to physical existence to be forced.

The only part of this book I flat out disagreed with however, was the explanation and resulting implication that divorce is somehow acceptable and necessary to certain people's evolution.

Overall, the psychology used is agreeable in modern schools, but has certainly been influenced by some modern tolerance that is in opposition to the Bible.