"The Book of Concealment. The book that weighs in the balance. For until there was the balance, they did not look at one another face to face, and the Ancient Kings died and their ornaments could not be found and the earth ceased to be." That's how I understand the opening words of the short, … [Read more...]
“Mystery of the Great Dragon” – Zohar, Kabbalah, and Evil
"Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers ..." --Ezekiel 29:3 Ezekiel's Hebrew word for "dragon" is tannim. It's the same word that, in its more common spelling tannin, is used in Genesis 1:21, "And God created great whales." … [Read more...]
Kabbalah, the Zohar, and the Rose (Part 2)
(This is a continuation of last week's post.) How many petals has a rose? Thirteen, according to the Zohar, the great Kabbalistic classic of the Middle Ages. The number isn't fortuitous, either. It's part of a vast symbolic web that ties together the human body, the world of nature, the … [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...]
The Kabbalah Centre, 2003 – Zohar to the Palestinians
Read this post, if you want, as a belated tribute to the World Day of Prayer, observed last Thursday on the day better known as Patriot Day or simply 9/11. Or as a memorial to the late Philip Berg, head of the LA-based "Kabbalah Centre" where the celebs--most visibly, Madonna--learn their … [Read more...]
