 2014 - 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 0690-1701-01 | An Introduction to Jewish Mysticism | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FACULTY OF HUMANITIES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
University credit hours: 2.0
Course description
How can one reconstruct Ezekiel’s vision and have a vision of the chariot? How can one gaze at the Lord’s palace as described by the prophet Isaiah? These are some of the questions that occupied Jewish mystics in the first millennium C. E. We shall begin our course with discussion of motifs drawn by these mystics from the Bible and from the Apocrypha and with the description of the characteristics of their cosmological speculation, their spiritual journey into the higher worlds and the Magical aspects in their writings.
Then we shall examine how these ideas transformed once again in the second Millennium. We will discuss the major concepts which now occupy the Mystics' writings, namely Sefirot and En-Sof (infinity) and discuss the most important writings of Kabbalah such as the Book Bahir, the Zohar and the Kabbalistic texts of 16th century Safed. In each of the stations we shall discuss a spectrum of subjects – from the social status of the writers to their spiritual aspirations and mystical experiences. A central part will be dedicated, of course, to discussing their thoughts about God and His worship and to understanding some key notions like "contraction" (Tsimtsum) or the "breaking of the vessels.
Then we shall examine how these ideas transformed once again in the second Millennium. We will discuss the major concepts which now occupy the Mystics' writings, namely Sefirot and En-Sof (infinity) and discuss the most important writings of Kabbalah such as the Book Bahir, the Zohar and the Kabbalistic texts of 16th century Safed. In each of the stations we shall discuss a spectrum of subjects – from the social status of the writers to their spiritual aspirations and mystical experiences. A central part will be dedicated, of course, to discussing their thoughts about God and His worship and to understanding some key notions like "contraction" (Tsimtsum) or the "breaking of the vessels.