Kabbalah For Dummies

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ISBN: 9780471915904 | 0471915904
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 11/6/2006

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Kabbalah For Dummies presents a balanced perspective of Kabbalah as an "umbrella" for a complex assemblage of mystical Jewish teachings and codification techniques. Kabbalah For Dummies also shows how Kabbalah simultaneously presents an approach to the study of text, the performance of ritual and the experience of worship, as well as how the reader can apply its teaching to everyday life.

Introduction

(8)

Part I: So, What's the Big Secret? Unmasking Kabbalah

(44)

What Is Kabbalah?

(18)

Getting to Know Kabbalah, ``The Received Tradition''

(2)

Kabbalah is Jewish theology

(1)

Studying Kabbalah: First do it, then understand it

(1)

Hey, What Are the Big Ideas?

(4)

Why did God create the world?

(1)

The point of life is getting to know God, even if it's impossible

(1)

It's all about receiving

(1)

Preparing to know God

(1)

A few more key Kabbalah concepts

(1)

A Constant Search for God

(1)

Missing the forest for the trees

(1)

God is in the details

(1)

Who Can Study Kabbalah?

(2)

Do you have to be Jewish?

(1)

Can an atheist be a Kabbalist?

(1)

Different Approaches to the Study of Kabbalah

(2)

Picking a Kabbalah that Works for You

(6)

Hasidism

(1)

Orthodox (non-Hasidic) Judaism

(1)

Jewish Renewal

(1)

The Kabbalah Centre

(1)

University and general study

(2)

Magic, Mishegas, and Other Things that Kabbalah Isn't

(6)

Setting the Record Straight

(2)

What Kabbalah isn't

(1)

What Kabbalah is

(1)

Trying to Figure Out Who's Legit and Who's Not

(3)

Looking Back: A Brief History Of Kabbalah

(18)

Kabbalists in the Bible

(4)

Adam: First man, first Kabbalist

(2)

Appreciating Abraham and his Kabbalistic contributions

(1)

Moses: The greatest teacher who ever lived

(1)

Kabbalah in the Rabbinic Period

(2)

Rabbi Akiva: A spiritual teacher to the last moment

(1)

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai writes the Zohar

(1)

Thriving in Spain in the 13th Century

(2)

Coming of Age in the Mystical City of Tzfat

(3)

A gathering of great minds

(1)

Important principles taught and revealed by the Ari

(2)

The Bigger You Are, The Harder You Fall: The Shabbatai Tzvi Affair

(1)

The Great Revival: Hasidism

(2)

The rise of the Baal Shem Tov

(2)

A movement is born

(1)

Kabbalah Today

(3)

Kabbalah and Hasidism

(1)

Kabbalah and Jewish Renewal

(1)

Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist Judaism

(1)

Kabbalah and the Kabbalah Centre

(1)

Part II: Cutting to the Core of Kabbalah

(72)

The Link between Heaven and Earth: Kabbalah's Own Top-Ten Countdown

(20)

Seeing below the World's Surface

(3)

The world is filled with God

(1)

God is constantly creating and sustaining the world

(1)

A new creation every moment

(1)

The Ten Fundamental Forces that Sustain the World

(11)

The crown

(1)

Wisdom: The intuitive mind

(1)

Understanding: The analytical mind

(1)

Da'at: The crystallization of awareness

(1)

Expansion: The impulse to give

(1)

Contraction: The impulse to receive

(1)

Harmony: The desire for balance

(1)

Victory: The urge to get things done

(1)

Glory: The way of persistence

(1)

Yesod: The bridge-builder

(1)

Sovereignty: The ultimate receptacle

(1)

Ways to Look at the Tree of Life

(2)

Placement

(1)

Vertical lines

(1)

Horizontal lines

(1)

Triads

(1)

Sefirot within sefirot

(1)

Pulling the Strings of Existence: The Work of the Kabbalist

(4)

Everything (Even a Traffic Jam) Is for the Best

(16)

How Can Everything Possibly Be for the Best?

(2)

Getting the Words Right: Gam Zu L'Tovah

(5)

When bad is actually good

(4)

An important rule about saying ``Everything is for the best''

(1)

Don't Confuse Acceptance with Passivity

(1)

Training Oneself to See Like a Kabbalist

(5)

Having faith

(1)

Being certain that God is perfect

(1)

Attaching yourself to God (and never letting go)

(1)

Knowing that you're under God's supervision

(1)

Hoping for the best

(1)

Understanding that things happen for a reason

(1)

Picking up the Pieces: In the Beginning a Vessel Was Shattered

(2)

Figuring Out Individual Divine Assignments

(2)

Our Bodies Don't Have Souls; Our Souls Have Bodies

(10)

A Spark of God in Everyone

(1)

Getting to the Soul of the Matter

(2)

The soul? It's beyond me

(1)

We're all part of one great soul

(1)

We're all unique, though, too

(1)

Descent for the Sake of Ascension --- That's Life

(1)

No pain, no gain

(1)

Leaving God only to come back again

(1)

Introducing the Four Worlds of Kabbalah

(4)

The progression of the four worlds

(1)

Considering the four realms of human existence

(1)

Who inhabits each world?

(1)

Going Up? The Soul's Journey of Five Levels

(2)

Like Deja Vu All Over Again: Reincarnation in Kabbalah

101

(12)

What Is Reincarnation?

102

(3)

Life with a purpose

102

(1)

The soul's tasks: To repair the world and itself

103

(2)

Birth and Death (Also known as Homecoming and Graduation)

105

(4)

Welcome back, baby!

106

(1)

When death comes a-knockin': A Kabbalist's graduation day

107

(2)

Understanding the Significance of Reincarnation to Kabbalah

109

(4)

Tending God's garden

109

(1)

Viewing life as a classroom

110

(1)

Using reincarnation as a guide for living

111

(2)

Instant Karma's Gonna Get You

113

(12)

Everything Has Meaning --- Everything

113

(2)

Angels: The Kabbalistic Key to Karma

115

(3)

An angel isn't a blonde girl with wings

115

(1)

How angels are made

116

(1)

Making corrections with the help of angels

116

(2)

Suffering Hurts but Isn't Random: The Kabbalistic View

118

(7)

What goes around come around

119

(1)

This is a test: this is only a test

120

(1)

Taking solace from trials in life

121

(1)

Handling the pain

122

(3)

Part III: Livin' La Vida Kabbalah

125

(82)

Living One Day at a Time

127

(22)

Three Daily Tasks of the Kabbalist

127

(11)

Prayer: You can (and should) pray just about anywhere and anytime

128

(2)

Study: Kabbalists do it every day, even if just for five minutes

130

(4)

Acts of lovingkindness: In principle, Kabbalists do as many as possible

134

(4)

Waking Up

138

(1)

Intending to be intentional

138

(1)

Cultivating gratitude at the first moment of consciousness

138

(1)

Getting Washed and Dressed

139

(2)

Washing your hands when you awake

140

(1)

Putting on your shoes with purpose

140

(1)

Dressing with modesty

141

(1)

Offering Prayers and Meditation

141

(2)

Reciting the standard morning blessings

141

(1)

Morning prayers

142

(1)

Focusing on the oneness of the universe: A daily Kabbalistic meditation

143

(1)

Grabbing a Bite

143

(2)

Blessings to say before eating

144

(1)

Blessings to say after eating

145

(1)

Repairing the World

145

(1)

Bed Sheets and Balance Sheets: Ending the Day

146

(3)

Making a nightly accounting

146

(1)

Meditating on the oneness of the universe before falling asleep

147

(2)

Living One Week at a Time

149

(24)

The End of the Week Is also the Beginning

149

(1)

Keeping Your Eye on the Sabbath

150

(1)

Preparing to Receive the Gift of the Sabbath

151

(5)

Getting in the right frame of mind

152

(1)

Dipping in a ritual bath

153

(1)

Checking off Sabbath essentials

154

(2)

Greeting the Sabbath the Kabbalistic Way

156

(3)

Lighting the Sabbath candles

157

(1)

Singing special songs

158

(1)

Transforming the Shabbat Dinner Table into a Holy Altar

159

(5)

Blessing the children

159

(1)

Singing a Kabbalistic love song to your partner

160

(1)

Reciting the 23rd Psalm

161

(1)

Getting wet up to the wrists

162

(1)

Knowing the choreography of the Sabbath evening meal

163

(1)

Observing and Enjoying the Sabbath

164

(6)

Being busy doing nothing

165

(3)

Reading from the Holy Scrolls

168

(1)

Making sure you experience delight

169

(1)

Saying Goodbye to the Sabbath: A Fond and Fragrant Farewell

170

(1)

Gearing Up for the Sabbath All Over Again

170

(3)

The rhythm of the week

171

(1)

The Sabbath: The ultimate receptacle

172

(1)

A Year in the Life of a Kabbalist

173

(18)

Ringing in the New Year without a Noisemaker

174

(2)

Teshuvah in the New Year

175

(1)

Important books to check out

175

(1)

Ten Days in the Early Fall for Introspection and Turning

176

(1)

The Day of ``At-One-Ment''

176

(1)

Acknowledging with Joy That Life Is Temporary

177

(2)

Meditating on Light for Eight Days

179

(2)

Seeing God in Everything

181

(2)

Celebrating the book of Esther

181

(1)

Including God in everything --- without mentioning God at all

182

(1)

Liberating Oneself from Narrowness

183

(1)

A 49-day Kabbalistic Meditation on the Ascent to God

184

(3)

Receiving God's Teachings Constantly

187

(1)

Mourning the Loss of Wholeness

188

(1)

Celebrating Birthdays Kabbalisticly

189

(2)

A Kabbalist's Life Cycle

191

(16)

Beginning with a Bang: Birth

191

(3)

Greeting the newborn

191

(2)

Naming the baby --- it's no minor feat

193

(1)

Coming of Age Kabbalistically

194

(3)

Puberty: More than hormones and acne

195

(1)

Marking the beginning of the battle of good and evil

195

(1)

Good and evil: A matter of timing and dosage

196

(1)

Kabbalistic Marriage

197

(4)

Joining two halves to make a whole

197

(1)

Bringing the divine presence (or presents, if you register)

198

(1)

Gettin' busy the Kabbalistic way

199

(2)

What about divorce?

201

(1)

Death and Dying in Kabbalah

201

(6)

Deathbed customs

202

(1)

When death arrives

202

(1)

Following the steps of mourning

203

(4)

Part IV: Fine-tuning the Essential Skills of the Kabbalist

207

(80)

Discovering the Kabbalistic Books that Really Matter

209

(18)

The Essential Kabbalah Library

209

(11)

Tanakh

210

(4)

Classic Rabbinic literature

214

(2)

Midrashic literature: Classical compilations

216

(2)

The Zohar: The all-time Kabbalistic classic

218

(2)

Other Classic Books Worth Adding to the Collection

220

(4)

Sefer Bahir (The Book of Illumination)

220

(1)

Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation)

221

(1)

Etz Chayim (The Tree of Life)

221

(1)

The Shulchan Aruch (The Prepared Table)

222

(1)

Tomer Devorah (The Palm Tree of Deborah)

222

(1)

The works of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

222

(1)

The Torah commentary of Nachmanides

223

(1)

The Thirteen Petalled Rose

223

(1)

Don't Forget a Few Hasidic Books

224

(3)

The Tanya

224

(1)

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz's discourses

225

(1)

The teachings of Rabbi Nachman

225

(2)

Hitting the Books --- and Kissing Them: Studying Like a Kabbalist

227

(18)

When Kabbalists Hit the Books, They Really Hit Them!

228

(1)

Understanding the Importance of Study in Kabbalah

228

(2)

Receiving an ongoing benefit

229

(1)

Fighting the tendency to forget

229

(1)

Using study to talk to God

230

(1)

Where and When Do I Begin?

230

(4)

Studying the Torah in one year

231

(2)

Studying the Mishnah in one year

233

(1)

Studying the Talmud in 71/2 years

234

(1)

Studying Kabbalah: Where and when do you begin?

234

(1)

Can I Study Kabbalah in English? (You Already Are!)

234

(3)

Translations to consider

235

(1)

Don't rule out learning Hebrew

236

(1)

When the Student is Ready: Finding a Good Teacher

237

(1)

Pairing with a Study Buddy

238

(1)

Studying Ancient Scripture: The Torah

239

(4)

There must be 70 ways to understand the Torah

241

(1)

Finding one's private gate in the Torah

241

(1)

The four levels of Torah study

242

(1)

Discussing Life's Issues with the Sages: The Talmud

243

(2)

Praying Like a Kabbalist

245

(24)

An Overview of Prayer in the Life of a Kabbalist

246

(3)

Following roads to effective prayer

247

(1)

Four kinds of prayer

248

(1)

How to Imagine an Unimaginable God While Praying

249

(2)

God works in every department

249

(1)

Knowing before whom you stand

250

(1)

Shedding conceptions of God

250

(1)

Addressing God Directly

251

(3)

Breaking down basic blessings

251

(1)

Exploring another common phrase in Kabbalistic prayer

252

(2)

Speaking Most Public Prayer in the Plural

254

(1)

Inner Attitude Is What Counts

254

(5)

Praying with kavanah

254

(1)

Movin' on up: Levels of kavanah

255

(2)

Kavanah: Easier said than done

257

(2)

The Kabbalist's Prayer Book

259

(3)

A Kabbalist's Daily Prayer Routine

262

(7)

Conducting three prayer sessions a day

262

(5)

Saying a blessing for (practically) everything

267

(2)

Knowing the Unknowable God

269

(18)

Understanding that You Can't Understand is the First Step Toward Understanding

269

(7)

God is beyond all possible understanding

271

(1)

God is beyond time

272

(1)

God is beyond matter

273

(1)

God is beyond the spirit

274

(1)

God is beyond infinity

274

(1)

So what's the point?

275

(1)

What Kabbalists Know about God, Even Though They Know Nothing about God

276

(2)

Developing a Personal Relationship with an Unfathomable God (Yes, It Can Be Done)

278

(4)

We can't find God, but God always finds us

278

(1)

Becoming a master of return (and I'm not talking tennis)

279

(1)

Talking to God

280

(1)

Why God matters more than you may think

280

(1)

Six ways a Kabbalist relates to God

281

(1)

Calling God by Name (Even Though God's Nameless)

282

(5)

Writing the names of God

284

(1)

Why does God have so many names?

284

(3)

Part V: The Part of Tens

287

(36)

(Almost) Ten Myths about Studying Kabbalah

289

(8)

Ten Great Kabbalists in History

297

(16)

Ten Places that Kabbalists Visit

313

(10)

Part VI: Appendixes

323

(26)

Appendix A: Books and Authors You'll Thank Me for Recommending

325

(4)

Appendix B: Patriarchs, Swindlers, Prophets, and Sinners: Meet 100 Torah Characters

329

(6)

Appendix C: A Glossary of Everything Kabbalah

335

(14)

Index

349

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Kabbalah For Dummies

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials