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The Mystical Tradition: Insights Into the Nature of the Mystical Tradition in Judaism (Mystical Dimension)

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Dr. Schochet's "The Mystical Tradition", the first volume of an astounding trilogy called "The Mystical Dimension," is an extra-ordinary text that demystifies the Jewish mystical tradition, known as "Kabbalah" to make it understood even by laymen. The first part ("To Be One With the One") explains the basic objective of the Kabbalah and Hassidism: what they teach, their perspective of world, mankind,life, the bond between the material and spiritual, Divine monism and so forth. With practical examples, relating the subject-matters to science and philosophy, carefully annotated to let the original texts speak for themselves, the reader will not only be informed and educated but inspired. The author succeeds in making the contents a relevant living reality, far beyond the merely academic. The second part, "Authentic Tradition vs. Subjective Intuitions," is an absolute must-reading to understand the fundamental difference between historical Jewish Mysticism and "new age philosophies," currently popular neo-Kabbalah teachings in vogue with Hollywood stars, and other cults. It offers important insights to distinguish authentic tradition from subjective cults. The third part explains the rise in the promulgation and popularization of Kabbalah and Hassidism in the last 2 centuries after the Jewish mystical tradition was generally kept cocealed and reserved to the learned initiates. This volume, along with the other 2 ("Deep Calling Unto Deep" and "Chassidic Dimensions") which deal with more specific subjects (the mystical dimensions of Prayer, Repentance,Inter-human relations, Ritual Laws, the Concept of the Saint etc., is an absoilute must-reading for anyone interested in obtaining an authentic view based on, and culled from, the original sources of the Kabbalah and Hassidism.