Once upon a time, according to the Jewish mystics known as Kabbalists, there existed a system of worlds--shall we call it a universe?--very much like our own, yet not the one we know today. One day--but back then there were no "days," no time as we know it, because sun and moon and everything … [Read more...]
God in His Mother’s Womb – Journal of an Eibeschuetz Translator
I intended to blog about UFOs this week. I really did. But my mind and spirit have been where they've dwelt for the past several weeks: in the eerie Kabbalistic world of Jonathan Eibeschuetz, the 18th-century rabbi, alleged pornographer, and in fact designer of a new faith that was to redeem all … [Read more...]
“I Came This Day … ” – Journal of an Eibeschuetz Translator
Once upon a time, I've learned from reading the comic strips, schoolkids coming back from summer vacation were made to write essays on "What I Did Last Summer." (Linus to Lucy: "What did I do last summer?" Lucy to Linus: "You read comic books and watched TV.") I was in elementary school back … [Read more...]
Kabbalah, the Zohar, and the Rose (Part 1)
"Rabbi Hizkiah opened with the verse, 'Like a rose among thorns' [Song of Songs 2:2]. What is this 'rose'? The Community of Israel ..." That's the way the Zohar starts off. The Zohar, which first began to trickle into Jewish communal awareness around the year 1300, became over the next few … [Read more...]
Conspiracy Theories Revisited – The Strange Case of Rabbi Jonathan Eibeschuetz (Part 3)
(This is part 3 of a three-part post. For part 1 click here; for part 2 click here.) In last week's post, I began to describe the scandalous book of Kabbalah that surfaced in Germany in 1725, with the title Va-avo ha-Yom el ha-Ayin, "I Came This Day to the Spring." Rumor had it that the book … [Read more...]
