Introduces renderings of, and commentary on, Kabbalistic verse that emerged directly from Jewish mysticism and that reveals the foundations of both language and existence itself.

These letters between two great German-speaking writers reflect the turmoil of 20th-century history. Celan and Sachs were united by their shared experience of persecution and exile.

This volume brings together a collection of essays on Borges by leading scholar Jaime Alazraki. Together the essays constitute an introduction to important aspects of Borges' oeuvre, including the influence of the Kabbalah, structure and style in the fiction, Borges' poetry, and Borges' impact on Latin American literature.

Kabbalah and Criticism may be justly regarded as the cardinal work of Harold Bloom's enterprise. This book is the keystone in the arch; it clarifies the development of his earlier books and indicates the direction of his future work. Kabbalah and Criticism provides a study of the Kabbalah itself, of its great commentators and the "revisionary ratios" they employed, and of its significance as a model for contemporary criticism. It is thus an indispensable book for all students of literature as well as for all those who are fascinated by this singularly rich body of mystical writings the influence of which is possibly greater now than at any other time.

This long-awaited, magisterial study-an unparalleled blend of philosophy, poetry, and philology-draws on theories of sexuality, phenomenology, comparative religion, philological writings on Kabbalah, Russian formalism, Wittgenstein, Rosenzweig, William Blake, and the very physics of the time-space continuum to establish what will surely be a highwater mark in work on Kabbalah. Not only a study of texts, Language, Eros, Being is perhaps the fullest confrontation of the body in Jewish studies, if not in religious studies as a whole. Elliot R. Wolfson explores the complex gender symbolism that permeates Kabbalistic literature. Focusing on the nexus of asceticism and eroticism, he seeks to define the role of symbolic and poetically charged language in the erotically configured visionary imagination of the medieval Kabbalists. He demonstrates that the traditional Kabbalistic view of gender was a monolithic and androcentric one, in which the feminine was conceived as being derived from the masculine. He does not shrink from the negative implications of this doctrine, but seeks to make an honest acknowledgment of it as the first step toward the redemption of an ancient wisdom. Comparisons with other mystical traditions-including those in Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam-are a remarkable feature throughout the book. They will make it important well beyond Jewish studies, indeed, a must for historians of comparative religion, in particular of comparative mysticism. Praise for Elliot R. Wolfson: "Through a Speculum That Shines is an important and provocative contribution to the study of Jewish mysticism by one of the major scholars now working in this field."-Speculum

A rabbi introduces Kabbalah by providing its history and explaining its basic tenets using simple examples and kid-friendly text.

According to Rodger Kamenetz, Allen Afterman’s Kabbalah and Consciousness makes the major traditions of Jewish mysticism more clear and profoundly revealing than any other work on the subject. Elie Wiesel says, “Poetry and mysticism are magnificently reconciled in Allen Afterman’s book on Kabbalah’s secret imagery and silent invocations.” Here also is Afterman’s poetry, described by Yehuda Amichai as “an almost private religious poetry for our post-religious age.” The book includes an important interview with the author.