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Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

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This is perhaps the best short introduction to the Kabbalah that I've seen. Unlike many popular introductions to the subject, this book does not pretend to make you a Kabbalist or teach you supposedly Kabbalistic techniques and practices. And, unlike many scholarly treatises, it gets right to the point and makes the subject accessible to the average reader.

But don't get me wrong - Joseph Dan - a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem - has impressive scholarly credentials, including his previous works "The Early Kabbalah" and "The Teachings of Hassidism."

Dan describes the competing theories of the origins of the Kabbalah, and traces its development through the Middle Ages and on into modern times. There are chapters on the Christian Kabbalah, the Safed school and Lurianic Kabbalism, and on the controversial "false Messiah," Shabbatai Zevi. Dan also explores the impact of the Kabbalah on Hasidism and the Habad movement, and recounts the often hostile attitude towards the Kabbalah within the rabbinical schools.

Finally, Dan explores the continuing impact of the Kabbalah in popular culture and the New Age movement.

Illustrated with black-and-white woodcuts and illuminations, this book is an excellent introduction to a topic notorious for its obscurity.

Joseph Dan is one of the world's great academic experts on 'Kabbalah'. As he explains in the opening of the book , the word 'Kabbalah' has many meanings in everyday life. It can mean ' the reception' of a hotel, or a 'receipt' for a bill paid. But its meaning in religious terms is 'the reception of religious teaching' of the Torah in its entirety, including the Oral Torah, the Mishna, Gemara and also subsequent mystical texts such as 'The Zohar' and 'The Bahir.'

Dan traces the changing meanings of 'Kabbalah' from the second century on down. He provides brief descriptions of its major teachers, from Shimon Bar Yohai to the Ari. He explains how the Lurianic Kabbalah which developed in Safed become a dynamic transformative element in Jewish history when it helped bring about that spiritual revolution in Jewish Life called 'Hasidism'. Dan also relates to contemporary misusings and cheapenings of the whole concept of Kabbalah in so - called 'New Age' teachings.

He above all shows how the teachings of Kabbalah have been a major element in Jewish spiritual development down the centuries.

This is an excellent summary, and a very good place to study and begin to learn what 'Kabbalah' is truly about.

Kabbalah has been in the news quite a bit lately, primarily due to the influence of several celebrities who claim to have embraced it as their religious practice. However, the fascination with Kabbalah has a very long history, and the term has come to be associated with mystical, secretive and even sinister practices. In the English language for instance the word "cabal" denotes a secretive collusion. With all these ideas floating around, it is very hard to discern what the "true" Kabbalah is all about, and sort out fact from fiction. The aim of this very short introduction is to set the record straight as much as possible, and this book largely succeeds in that regard.

The very term Kabbalah seems to have many different meanings, and it has come to be associated with various practices throughout the centuries. Kabbalah is purported to originate in the ancient Jewish mysticism, but the actual transmission of these ancient practices is at best vague. In fact, the author questions the very appropriateness of the term "mysticism" in a Jewish context, arguing rather that it's a projection of other religions and their attempt to draw parallels between their and Jewish practices. This line of argument feels a bit like hair-splitting, and may have more to do with academic definitions of "mysticism" than with the common understanding of the term. After reading this book I am still fairly comfortable thinking of Kabbalah as a mystic practice.

Kabbalah as we know it today had its origins in the middle ages. This is when (according to most scholars) Zohar, the main work of Kabbalistic literature, was composed. Kabbalah has evolved throughout the ensuing centuries, and one of its developments was the advent of Christian Kabbalah. In modern times among traditional Judaism, Kabbalah is mostly practiced amongst Hasidic sects. Outside of mainstream Judaism many New Age groups have claimed various aspects of Kabbalah, and this book takes a look at some of them.

Overall, this is a very well written and informative book that tries to make clear what Kabbalah is and what it's not. In his attempt to bring some clarity to this subject, the author can at times be a bit pedantic, but this is necessary in order to avoid confusion and write as accurate of an introduction to Kabbalah as possible.

I agree with another reviewer who stated that this is the best introductory Kabbalah book I have ever read. My first book of Kabbalah I read 27 years ago: The Wisdom of the Kabbalah by Alexandre Safran, who was the Chief Rabbi of Romania before the 1947 and later become the Chief Rabbi in Geneva, Switzerland. That book was incomprehensible, but was one of the first ever published in modern times outside an University campus.

By contrast, Joseph Dan is the quintessential academic. He has the skill of an extremely talented teacher. The book has precision to inform the un-initiated, the absolute beginners, what really Kabbalah is. He apeals to every day concepts people know, to get images.

For example, in section Kabbalah and Spiritualization, he explains how Jewish believers - who had to fulfill 613 commandements - were told that G-d is absolutely perfect, infinite and incomprehensible to human mind. If He is infinite and incomprehensible, why fulfill the commandements? We are doing material things (even prayer is not complete if we don't move our lips) to satisfy a perfection with whom we had no communication

Judaism was in the thirteen century practically removed from spirituality. What Kabbalists did, was to transform the rather dry commandments (mitzvot) in a "powerful concept of interdependence between man and G-d, in which the commandments were the instruments used by man in order to influence the processes of he divine world"

As Joseph Dan elucidates, there is divine emanation called "shefa", which each time flows in abundance, the good power are stronger.

I described merely two pages from the book, which is very dense. I need to re-read a few pages, but there was a daylight clarity in every word. There are no fluff. Every phrase and paragraph has clear meanings. One feels as following a theorem in mathematics, where if a line is missed, the proof eludes.

This is not a mystical book - Dan proves the term "mystical" is purely Christian in origin and has no equivalent in the Jewish and Islamic religions. It is not a prayer or a meditation book. It is a scholarly manual, yet with all references and academic reasoning are hidden for the reader. The book has no promises, other than clarity. It invites precise questions. It makes comfortable anyone who graduated from high school or an University has rational and literary questions , rather then "mystical".

Yet the meaning of "mysticism" is defined by Joseph Dan. It is a need for using rituals and metaphors for unique inward feelings and visions and we have no vocabulary to transmit the experience. The book does not cover the un-explained, the from-beyond, other than describe how it may happen in some followers of Kabbalah. The religious high some people expect to live in Kabbalah is not part of this book and will make Joseph Dan smile, if anyone expects it.

This is by far the best and most accessible introduction to the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism ever written. It has actually achieved what few have even dared: a concise history of Jewish esoteric thought over 800 years and beyond - all in 130 pages - an amazing feat!

This book is must for any student of Jewish mysticism and religious thought, and a superb primer on the subject.

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Joseph Dan presents a phenomenal, scholarly, introduction to the Kabbalah as a philosophy and a phenomenon. This book doesn't go into the theology or the specifics of the various schools of Kabbalistic thought. Rather,the author provides an overview of the history of Kabbalah from the beginnings to modern day.

If you are looking for a book that is written by a Harvard professor - this is it (and the author is one). If you are looking to do "pathworking", or study of the Tree of Life, or read the Zohar - look elsewhere.

Joseph Dan presents a phenomenal, scholarly, introduction to the Kabbalah as a philosophy and a phenomenon. This book doesn't go into the theology or the specifics of the various schools of Kabbalistic thought. Rather,the author provides an overview of the history of Kabbalah from the beginnings to modern day.

If you are looking for a book that is written by a Harvard professor - this is it (and the author is one). If you are looking to do "pathworking", or study of the Tree of Life, or read the Zohar - look elsewhere.

Joseph Dan provides a short, concise introduction to the Kabbalah. People unfamiliar with Kabbalah can pick up this book and get a good idea of what Kabbalah means, where it comes from, and how it developed. The book is well written, although I would have preferred more documentation.

Years ago when I tried to find information on Kabala I was met with mostly blank stares. The times have certainly changed and I wouldn't be surprised to see a Kabala commercial for Coke. In this concise introduction Grimes argues that the Kabala has represented so many things throughout history that it's hard to think of it as a single concept.

Almost from the start, though, Kabala has refereed to things kept secret and to knowledge that must be uncovered. There has also been a steady belief that our actions can change the divine will. Grimes explores these central ideas, and others, and gives an excellent overview of the history of Kabalistic though.

A good book. Informative and interesting.