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Articles & Books From Arthur Kurzweil
A trustworthy, easy-to-read guide to an integral part of Judaism Kabbalah For Dummies, 2nd Edition is your factual and objective guide to understanding Kabbalah—a spiritual practice, also known as the “received tradition,” that's connected to Judaism. This easy-to-follow resource walks you through how to connect to and better understand the Kabbalistic way of life, through explaining what Kabbalah is and isn't and detailing the Kabbalistic approach to the Torah, the Talmud, the Mishnah, and more Jewish texts.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-02-2022
Understanding Kabbalah starts with studying the fundamental essences, or sefirot, and the core written works central to Kabbalah traditionalists. Discover some common blessings and prayers you can impart daily and the major holy days in Kaballah.The sefirot: Ten fundamental essences of KabbalahA fundamental notion in Kabbalah is the belief that the world is created and sustained by ten channels (sefirot) of divine plenty.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-14-2022
The Torah (the Five Books of Moses) is the essential book of Judaism and a manual for living. If you don't read Hebrew, study an English translation so you can understand and follow the basic principles to guide personal behavior and the Ten Commandments (taken from the Book of Exodus).Recommended English translations of the TorahJewish life is an immersion into the Torah (Five Books of Moses) and the literature the Torah has inspired.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
A fundamental notion in Kabbalah is the belief that the world is created and sustained by ten channels (sefirot) of divine plenty. The sefirot are complex, each with many different meanings and gradation. Two of them, Keter and Da'at, are interchangeable depending on whether the sefirot are seen from God's viewpoint or from the human perspective.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
It isn't surprising that the Torah places great value on the family unit; after all, the Jewish people as a whole are considered to be a family, as implied by the phrase "the Children of Israel." Even though a few million people stood at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, the entire group knew itself to be one large family, with all descended from Jacob, the patriarch.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
While some religious traditions forbid divorce, Judaism does not. In the Torah, divorce is viewed as a common and acceptable occurrence (Deuteronomy 24:1–4), and although the Talmud teaches that the "altar in heaven weeps" on the occasion of a divorce, there's no requirement that a husband and wife continue their marriage if they're miserable together.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
In Jewish tradition, the way to find the path to God is to study the Torah. In addition to all its teachings about behavior and ritual, the Torah is also the main source for information about the nature of God. By studying the Torah and seeing the way in which it describes God, students begin to understand some of God's nature.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Even though the Torah is mainly about God, it's also important to remember that the Torah's author is God. Although the first line of the Torah says, "In the beginning of God's creation of heaven and earth . . .," it's God who is speaking. God chose Moses to receive and write down a divine message, which is why the Torah is also known as the Five Books of Moses, but the Torah emanates from God.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Adam and Eve's first two children were Cain and Abel. The Torah says that "Abel became a shepherd and Cain became a tiller of the ground" (Genesis 4:2). When it came time for each of them to present an offering to God, Cain offered fruit from the ground, and Abel offered the firstborn of his flocks. Then the Torah offers a mysterious line: "God turned to Abel and to his offering, but to Cain and his offering He did not turn" (Genesis 4:4–5).
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
If you're interested in learning about Kaballah, the collection of works listed here alphabetically, is considered a body of the most important written books for traditional Kabbalists throughout history:
The Bahir: Composed of 60 paragraphs; a mystical commentary on verses from the book of Genesis; considered to be one of the major early works of Kabbalah
The Midrash: Compilations of writings created during the centuries following the compiling of the Talmud that serve to explicate the biblical text.