The Chosen Will Become Herds: Studies in Twentieth-Century Kabbalah [Paperback]

Jonathan Garb (Author), Yaffah Berkovits-Murciano (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 25, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0300123949 | ISBN-13: 978-0300123944

The popularity of Kabbalah, a Jewish mystical movement at least 900 years old, has grown astonishingly within the context of the vast and ever-expanding social movement commonly referred to as the New Age. This book is the first to provide a broad overview of the major trends in contemporary Kabbalah together with in-depth discussions of major figures and schools.

 

A noted expert on Kabbalah, Jonathan Garb places the “kabbalistic Renaissance” within the global context of the rise of other forms of spirituality, including Sufism and Tibetan Buddhism. He shows how Kabbalah has been transformed by the events of the Holocaust and, following the establishment of Israel, by aliyah. The Chosen Will Become Herds is an original piece of scholarship and, in its own right, a new chapter in the history of Kabbalah.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The first comprehensive survey of the major developments in the history of Kabbalah as well as the spiritual life in Israel in the twentieth-century…This is an original piece of scholarship, written by a first-rank scholar.”—Moshe Idel

(Moshe Idel )

“Garb''s monograph is the grounding study of twentieth-century Kabbalah. The volume offers a profound appreciation of the social and political forces in play amongst the schools that study and produce Kabbalistic literature in our day.”—Daniel Abrams, Bar Ilan University, Editor of Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts

(Daniel Abrams )

“Jonathan Garb traces the astonishing transformation of the Kabbalah from an obscure, initially devalued scholarly domain to a bold, generative movement of twentieth-century mystical speculation. His approach is at once critical, skeptical, and empathic in the finest sense of the word, and the story he tells is illumined by a broad comparative vision and by his immense erudition in the classical Jewish sources. This essay is an exemplary instance of modern, historically informed comparative religion.”—David Shulman, Hebrew University

(David Shulman )

"The best book I''ve read on modern Jewish mysticism. Jonathan Garb gives us an insightful overview of contemporary Kabbalah and Hasidism, including the impact of Zionism, postmodernism, New Age, and the internet."—David R. Loy, author of Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy

(David R. Loy )

“Jonathan Garb presents a fascinating picture of the latest phase of development in Jewish Mysticism, in particular its complete break with esoteric restrictions and traditions.”—Moshe Halbertal, New York University School of Law

(Moshe Halbertal )

"Garb shows how 20th-century Kabbalah impacted multiple political, religious, and cultural arenas in Israel and beyond. Simply put, this is the best available map of modern Kabbalah."—William Parsons, Rice University

(William Parsons )

About the Author

Jonathan Garb, a leading authority on modern Kabbalah, is a senior lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (August 25, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300123949
• ISBN-13: 978-0300123944
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #680,717 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in South Africa, and have lived in Jerusalem since 1973. Since 1983 I have observed the spread of Kabbalah in Israel first-hand. Over the last few years I have conducted fieldwork in two kabbalistic Yeshivas and an elite Yeshiva.
I completed my PHD on power in classical Kabbalah at the Hebrew University in 2000, advised by Professor Moshe Idel. An updated version of this work was published in Hebrew by Magnes Press in 2004. At the same year I lectured on this theme at the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. I was appointed as lecturer at the Hebrew University in 2003, as senior and tenured lecturer in 2007 and as Associate Professor in 2011.
I have taught numerous courses on classical and modern Kabbalah, including a course on twentieth century Kabbalah. I also co-taught two courses on comparative religion, including one (2010) in the Hebrew Univerisities' new Cornerstone Program. In 2007, I delivered a series of guest lectures on "Twentieth century Kabbalah" at L'ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales, Paris. In 2009 I was co-leader, with Professor Philip Wexler, of an international research group on the sociology of contemporary Jewish mysticism at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Jerusalem. In 2010, the President of Hebrew University awarded me the Pollack/Ben-Porat Prize for excellence in research. In 2012, I am a research fellow at the Tikvah Center for Law and Jewish Civilization at New York University.
I am married to Ms. Ronna Brayer-Garb, of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and we have two sons, Evyatar David and Ariel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Chosen Will Become Herds, October 14, 2009

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Emelony (Berlin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Chosen Will Become Herds: Studies in Twentieth-Century Kabbalah (Paperback)

The Chosen Will Become Herds by Jonathan Garb examines twentieth-century Kabbalah in its Israeli and global context, drawing from an impressive range of Hasidic, Lithuanian, Oriental-Sephardic, and Religious Zionist sources. Garb focuses in particular on two of the most popular spiritual Jewish leaders of the last century--R. Avraham Yizhaq Kook and R. Yehuda Ashlag,
Garb's insightful discussions on the dissemination of Kabbalah, exotericism, power, nationalism, the psychologization of mysticism, the status of space and the leader, and the attitude to law, provide the reader an excellent overview into a field that is still in its infancy. It is, to the best of my knowledge, the first monograph that grants the English reader access to this fascinating topic.
Overall, an excellent scholarly piece, which is not only of greatest importance for the student and scholar of Jewish mysticism and Religious studies, but also for those in the social sciences, the field of psychology, or anyone interested in the colorful developments of Jewish mysticism in the last century and its reverberations in contemporary Israeli society.