Customer Reviews

Torah, Tarot, and Tantra: A Guide to Jewish Spiritual Growth

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For years I had been trying, usually unsuccessfully, to convince friends that my interest in (and practice of) such New Age ideas as the studying the seven chakras and reading the Tarot were NOT incompatible with traditional western religion. So not surprisingly, Rabbi Blank's title caught my eye as a promising means of validation of my own views; it was the first (and so far, only) book I'd ever found that attempted to show how one can indeed take the best philosophies and practices of several worlds--spiritually speaking--and make good use of those tools. But don't let the whimsical sounding title fool you into thinking that this slim volume is lightweight, however; the Torah is definitely in there, too, especially toward the end of the book, and Blank's take on a lot of issues, in fact, caused me to reexamine some of my most deeply held beliefs. I found myself reading familiar old stories, but seeing them as if for the first time. Blank's book, for me, was a moment of serendipity that drove me deeper into Judaism on one hand, while allowing me to retain my other "tools" on the other. This book is truly a rarity among the plethora of "guides" of every description available now for us Seekers, and our numbers are legion. Perhaps the meta-message here is that we CAN all work together, particularly in the important work of reaching toward the spirit, seeking a higher self.

The title of this book attracted my attention and so I purchased it. I have studied Tao and Tantra and now as someone returning to a somewhat traditional Jewish lifestyle I was wondering if he had any new take on things. It is a large undertaking to put together a book like this and on that criteria he is to be congratulated but his take on things is decidedly from the reform Judiac backround that he represents and as such some of his arguments are highly opinionated not looking into how traditional judaism would spin it. Of course this would make the book 3x the size and again I can't blame him. Overall an interesting read but if you want to synthesize tantra, tao, tarot, meditation, etc, books by Aryeh Kaplan are suggested. Although not specifically talking about those topics, books like Jewish Meditation discuss auras and kundalini energy from a traditional Judaic perspective and give interesting historic backround. For those interested in the structure of the spiritual universe and angels, demons, realities, Steinsaltz's The Thirteen Petalled Rose is highly reommended. Blank's book is an interesting read nevertheless with some interesting historic facts I was unaware of. One complaint was that although some of his references were great such as Mantak Chia's books on Taoist thinking, the recapitulation of those facts was slightly incorrect. Ok would I recommend the book? Yes, but I would disregard any statements of opinion and definitely read Aryeh Kaplan to get a traditional and more classic reading of those things I mentioned.

What would God say about this book?

Isaiah 2:6 For Thou hast forsaken Thy people the house of Jacob; for they are replenished from the east, and with soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the brood of aliens.

*To "be replenished from the east" means to follow eastern mysticism/teachings

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one that useth divination, a soothsayer, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or one that consulteth a ghost or a familiar spirit, or a necromancer. For whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto the LORD; and because of these abominations the LORD thy God is driving them out from before thee. Thou shalt be whole-hearted with the LORD thy God. For these nations, that thou art to dispossess, hearken unto soothsayers, and unto diviners; but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

This is a p. xiii: "Jewish spiritual guidebook [but] offers its fruits freely to anyone who feels a resonance with it...celebrates their commonalities & underscores their differences" while p. 175: "Looking at the Jewish path from the vantage point of the Far East." The author demonstrates that the Jewish spiritual tradition (as opposed to mainstream Judaism) parallels Eastern mysticism in many areas including: mantra, mandala, meditation, karma, immanence, spiritual sexuality, visualization, the infinite/nothingness, reincarnation, spiritually healing the world, etc. He explains Eastern/Western parallels via psychology: p. iv: "The religious psychology of Carl Gustav Jung offers a key to understanding the unity & diversity among spiritual paths" & p. 106: "Eastern & Jewish tradition both draw their inspiration from the same universal archetypes." Nevertheless, p. xii: "Other spiritual paths can frequently illuminate Torah in new, wonderful & unexpected ways." This open minded approach is valuable because, p. 176: "As religious institutions mature, spiritual experience frequently takes 2nd place to institutional stability. Every human institution, if it is to endure & mature, needs periodic fine tuning of its routines & image." Thus, IMHO cross-cultural comparative religion can help with religious paradigms & religious life cycle [my terms]. The author also provides a number of exercises. Many of these seem aimed at bringing secular Jews into observant practice--stressing the spiritual aspects & interpretation of normative Jewish observances. He does, however, IMHO inject some personal assumptions, untenable arguments (e. g. that kashrut was intended to promote vegetarianism--then why sacrifice animals on the altar & then eat them?), & equivalences religion & spirituality. I liked the final exercise (pp. 231-2) best--it includes visualizing oneself climbing the spiritual mountain then riding a sunray to the sun--and back. As in the Eastern archetype of the Bodhisattva, the spiritual Jew's work is here on Earth--raising the spiritual level of humanity.