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Language, Eros, Being: Kabbalistic Hermeneutics and Poetic Imagination

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This is the second major work by Elliot R. Wolfson on kabbalah. The first, Through a Speculum That Shines, was an analysis of the visual in the Jewish mystical tradition. This volume is a brilliant study of the concept of language in kabbalah. The combination of Wolfson's deep understaning of both kabbalah and philosophical thinkers that range from Plato to Heidegger and beyond make this book THE book to read on the linguistic and Jewish mysticism. This is a "must read" for anyone who wants to delve into the depths of kabbalah. With this, we can only wait for the third work to come out next year on the ethical in kabbalah.

These three studies on the visual, the linguistic, and the ethical demonstrate the philosophical nature of kabbalah. The visual corresponds to epistemology (the study of knowing); the linguistic to ontology (the study of being); and the ethical to axiology (the study of values). This being the case, this book is not for the faint hearted. One should not assume that one comes close to understanding it on the first read. It is an extremely difficult book - one that needs to be read many times. This book is a complex web of philosophy and kabbalah. They say that the devil is in the details - just look at the title "Language, Eros, Being" or LEB which is the Hebrew for 'heart - imagine what one will find in the footnotes!