Kabbalah: New Perspectives [Unknown Binding]

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• Unknown Binding
• ISBN-10: 0585375895
• ISBN-13: 978-0585375892
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, but not the place to begin, August 29, 2003

By 

Christopher I. Lehrich (Quincy, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kabbalah: New Perspectives (Paperback)

The "New Perspectives" to which Idel refers in his title depend upon a firm grasp of the foundational work of Gershom Scholem. In order to understand Idel's work here, you really need to know your Scholem pretty well; begin with "Major Trends" and move on from there.
Now once you understand a fair bit about the history of Kabbalah in the Scholem model, you are ready to make sense of Idel's highly constructive critique. In short, Idel notes that Scholem divides Kabbalah into two major blocks: what he calls the "theosophical," i.e. discussions of emanations (sefirot) and related topics, particularly within the tradition of the Sefer Zohar, and the "ecstatic" or "practical," which focuses on various means of achieving mystical unity with the Godhead through revolutions of letters and so forth.
Now Scholem, you must understand, was working against a conception of Kabbalah as basically nonsense: the antisemites saw it as typical ... stupidity, and the philosemites as essentially fodder for antisemitic tracts and thus something to be suppressed. So Scholem focused on theosophical Kabbalah because it is quite congenial to an intellectual, philosophical perspective on mysticism.
Idel, however, is working in the next generation after Scholem. It is no longer necessary to defend Kabbalah: everyone grants that it's an important, legitimate tradition. So in this book, Idel begins the process of rehabilitating ecstatic Kabbalah, particularly that of Abraham Abulafia (on whom Idel wrote his dissertation). There's more to it than that, of course, but this is the basis.
The book is elegantly argued, erudite, and deserved the prize it won. But trust me on this--you really need to know quite a lot to understand what he's on about. You do not, fortunately, need to know Hebrew or Aramaic. If you've never read much about Kabbalah and want an introduction, go to Scholem and come back in a while. If you want to practice Kabbalah, I doubt this will be much use to you. But if you know some Scholem and are ready to work through a rigorous critique very slowly and carefully, "Kabbalah: New Perspectives" is hands-down the best there is.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Major Contribution to Kabbalah Literature, September 30, 2004

By 

Neal J. Pollock (VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kabbalah: New Perspectives (Paperback)

Prior reviews provide much detail on the differences between G. Scholem's approach to Kabbalah and M. Idel's approach while recognizing the differing scholarly climate in which each operated. But, I think there is one more important difference. By restricting "Kabbalah" to the Middle Ages (though he certainly knew of the prior Jewish mystical literature, e.g. Sefer Yetzirah, Heikalot & Shiur Koma, Biblical Chariot, etc.) he failed to recognize an historical, mystical thread in Judaism. He also failed to adequately recognize (discernable, for example, in many other religions) a history of oral tradition (despite the existence of the Mishnah!) in Jewish mysticism. Idel helps to rectify this tremendous oversight. Even if Idel isn't correct that a group of mystics, including de Leon, wrote the Zohar -- perhaps based on an ancient fragment, his thesis deserves to be seriously considered. As a hard scientist, I am unimpressed with Scholem's (and his followers') arguments that de Leon composed the entire work himself. But, then, I've only read it in English (Sperling et al). IMHO, Idel's book is of significant historical importance.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be the new textbook in the study of Kabbalah, May 17, 2000

By 

Crystal M Critchell (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kabbalah: New Perspectives (Paperback)

Idel's work explores many hitherto unrecognised issues and motifs within the broad variety of historical Kabbalistic thought. This book maintains an excellent balance of scholarly information and edification, being a lucid phenomenological exploration the two main types of Kabbalah: the Ecstatic and the Theosophical. Facinating chapters and well supported arguments relating to the issue of the antiquity of Jewish mysticism and kabbalistic teaching; as well as a thorough exploration of mystical union with God, often ignored in past scholarship due to primary focus on the speculative aspects of kabbalah. This book demands a revision of the accepted views on the entire history of Jewish mysticsm, and it heralds a new era in kabbalistic scholarship.