Mysticism

Flow

Matisyahu — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

Three songs performed by the reggae fusion star, along with an interview about his changing relationship to Judaism and, yes, his recently shorn face. (Video)

Good and Evil

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

Maimonides integrated the "good inclination" and "evil inclination" in his Aristotelian theory of the soul; Kabbalah reads the concepts in cosmic terms.

Of Devils and Dybbuks

Allan Nadler — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST

Far more than modern Jews care to admit, demons, imps, and spirits permeate the history, and even the present-day consciousness, of many of their co-religionists.

Vampires, Witches, and Werewolves

Eli Clark — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EST

Among the supernatural creatures detailed in traditional Jewish sources are women called estries, who fly, assume different forms, and suck the blood of their victims.

The Chinese Kabbalist

Jonathan Wilson — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EST

In an interview, the scholar Ying Han reveals her first impressions of Jews, the similarities between Hillel's teachings and Confucianism, and how a translating assignment led her to pursue a PhD in Jewish literature and Kabbalah.

Who Owns Maimonides?

Joshua Halberstam — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EST

Abraham Joshua Heschel once suggested that if one didn't know that "Maimonides" was a person, one would assume it was the name of a university. Heschel was referring to the monumental breadth and influence of the 12th-century philosopher's work.

In and Out of the Ghetto

Roni Weinstein — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EST

Meet Benedetto Blanis, a Jew in early modern Florence who taught Hebrew, alchemy, and kabbalah to one of the Medicis.

Imaginary Vampires, Imagined Jews

Allan Nadler — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EST

1897 was a watershed year in Jewish history. And now, Jewish historians may consider adding a surprising entry to the list of that year's events that proved so repercussive in Jewish history: the publication of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

From Our Archives: Kabbalah and its Discontents

Aryeh Tepper — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EST

Aside from a small circle of students and admirers, Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag was an unknown figure at his death in 1954. Today, religious schools and New Age "educational centers" around the world are actively spreading his ideas, and his writings are being analyzed by professors and graduate students. After spending an hour in the rabbi's stone mausoleum, the pop-diva Madonna emerged with tears in her eyes.

Spirituality Lite: An Exchange

Lawrence Fine, Eitan Fishbane, Or Rose, Aryeh Tepper — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EST

Mystical Pleasures

Peter Cole — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EST

There isn't a great deal of kabbalistic poetry, but the best of it epitomizes a potent if lesser-known aspect of Judaism. (Interview by Robyn Creswell)

Bible Blue

Dina Kraft — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EST

Is a 2,000-year-old patch of dyed fabric the first known physical sample of tekhelet, the color used in ancient Jewish ritual garments?

Between New York and Jerusalem

Steven E. Aschheim — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST

On the friendship between Hannah Arendt and Gershom Scholem, and the decade-long antagonistic correspondence that brought it to an end.

Behind a Best Seller

David Ruderman — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST

One of the most popular Hebrew books in the modern era was an 18th-century tome mixing science, kabbalah, ethics, and a then-radically open attitude toward non-Jews.

The Riddle of the Satmar

Allan Nadler — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST

A prospect terrifying to secular Israelis and Zionists worldwide has been the rapid growth of the Jewish state's ultra-Orthodox (haredi) community. Given the stranglehold of haredi political parties on recent coalition governments, and the encroachments by non-Zionist haredi clerics upon Israel's chief rabbinate, once religiously moderate and firmly Zionist, the fear is not entirely irrational.

Satmar at the White House

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST

In July 2010, a delegation from Williamsburg to Washington, D.C., protested the activities of the "Zionist state." (Video.)

The Satmar Hasidic Dynasty

Allan Nadler — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST

A concise profile of the ultra-Orthodox sect and its founder.

Spirituality Lite

Aryeh Tepper — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST

A simple truth lurks behind the rise of "post-denominationalism" in Jewish religious life. It is that increasing numbers of Jews are becoming less interested in defining what Judaism means than in sampling aspects of the Jewish tradition that seem to promise spiritual vitality.

Hidden Master

Daniel Landes — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST

A modern-Orthodox educator criticizes Arthur Green's Radical Judaism and by extension the Jewish Renewal Movement. (Green responds here.) �

Skeletons in the Closet of Hasidism

Lawrence Grossman — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST

Popular demands for transparency in our institutions and the availability of technological means to achieve it have made it hard to keep secrets. This has affected the conduct not only of government and business but also of religion.