The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism (Mystical Classics of the World)

Kabbalah emerged as a distinct movement within Judaism in medieval Europe, and from the beginning is was both committed to traditional observance and profoundly radical. The kabbalists made the fantastic claim that their mystical teachings derived from the Garden of Eden. This suggests that Kabbalah coveys our original nature: the unbounded awareness of Adam and Eve, which we have lost as the inevitable consequence of tasting the fruit of knowledge. The kabbalist years to recover that primordial tradition, to regain cosmic consciousness, without renouncing the world. The Essential Kabbalah offers insightful accounts of the primary aspects of Jewish mysticism, including Ein Sof (the radical transcendence of God), the Sefirot (the ten divine attributes), and the Shekhinah (the feminine aspect of God). A crucial and momentous contribution to the normally esoteric world of Jewish mysticism. The Essential Kabbalah is a rich and vital recourse for the contemporary spiritual seeker.