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Shalom Shar'abi and the Kabbalists of Beit El

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Pinchas Giller has created a "scholarly" but altogether readable and accesible account of a group of Sephardic Jews centerd in Israel and how they value and use traditional Kavanot in their structued prayerlife.Kavanot ,roughly translated as intentions, are commonly emphasized in Hassidic Judaism and refer to the the concentration and heartfelt feeling with which one prays or performs mitzvot (commandments). This book however explores a more specialized use of the term. Mostly using letter combinations of divine names the practitioner vizualizes while reciting the various prayers with the intention of causing unifications in the Kaballistic tree of life resulting in a grater influx of divine energy into the earth.Some of these come from Issac Luria and other traditional Kaballistic sources. If the reader is inerested in a more pratical treatment of the subject do see "Walking in the Fire" by Ariel Bar Tzadok (also available from Amazon). The two books make great companions. This is a very neglected matter in Jewish Kabbalah and these two books give a good introdutory coverage of it.Giller's book emphasizes histories,names places, and and questions that naturally arize from them while Tzadok's renders a practical treatment. I recommend both.