Customer Reviews

Kabbalah and Eros

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book completely changed the way I understand Kabbalah. Idel's argument is that Eros is perhaps the major hermeneutic key that we need to understand the worldview of many Kabbalists. Once we have the groundwork that he lays, it becomes possible to see the erotic dimensions of one kabbalistic text and concept after another, thus further heightening the daring and provocative nature of Kabbalah that we already know. His book is meant for those already familiar with academic study of the Kabbalah, so if you are turned off by academic language, this book is not for you. But I think that in order to get into the deeper (and more interesting) aspects of Kabbalistic thinking, it is definitely worth the struggle of reading a world-class scholar like Idel. Also, the burgeoning research in Kabbalah since Scholem, that Idel is a part of and furthering, allows us to understand Kabbalah in ways that were not possible even 20 years ago, and this book is a product of all of this research. Another thing I liked about the book is that it is more coherent, I think, than Idel's "New Perspectives" -- Idel seems to be moving toward a more holistic underdstanding of Kabbalah, although he is always cautious not to oversimplify -- Kabbalah has many streams of thought and practice, and Idel has done much to identify the incredible diversity of Kabbalah. In this book he does so by focusing on various attitudes toward the erotic.