I have learned from reading KABBALAH, NEW PERSPECTIVES by Moshe Idel, professor of Jewish thought at Hebrew University. In this book, Professor Idel surveys the state of Kabbalah Research in the wake of Herr Professor Gershom Scholem's death, the strength of whose research casts a ubiquitous shadow. Further, Professor Idel challenges scholars of mysticism to consider the questions uncovered by the solutions currently offered. Without diminishing, in any way, the importance of the work accomplished by Herr Professor Scholem, Professor Idel calls for an examination of some of his basic assumptions. First, very early in this text, he calls for us to "distinguish between the authentic material and the opinions of scholars on the content of this material." (p17). In the process of following his own advice, he observes that Scholem's "Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism" is undergirded with the implicit assumption that a given cultrual religious phenomenon is closely intertwined with or dependent upon its immediate historical predecessors" (p264). He challenges the reader to consider, not only an historical approach, but also, phemonology as a descriptor of the evolution of religious movements. In recognising the limits of historical research, the two professors are in complete agreement. In his text, "On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism" Herr Professor Scholem writes, "From a historian's point of view, the sum of religious phenomena known as mysticism consists in the attempts of mystics to communicate their 'ways,' there illuminations, their experience, to others." Professor Idel acknowledges this in his discussion of the varieties of "devekut" in Jewish mysticism, "The chance of success in reconstructing the nature of a mystical experience from written texts is close to nil." (p36). In his chapter on Kabbalistic Hermeneutics, he brings a fresh perspective on the status of symbol by distinguishing between a "theosophical" and a "linguistic" approaches, represented by the "Zohar" and R. Abraham Abulafia, respectively. In the former, the symbol is central, and in the latter it matters very little, if at all. Professor Idel offers that, "A more adequate formulation would insist that the two axes of Kabbalah are symbolism, which is related to nonunitive experiences, on the one hand, and unitive experiences, which coalesce with nonsymbolic language, on the other." (p203) From this, I received clarity in my own spiritual commitment. I found that I fall more into the category of "ecstatic" than "theosophic". I feel affirmed in my striving to attain an experience of the Divine, and my reservations that symbols cannot help achieve a better understanding of divine matters. From this text, I learned a great deal about the issues still to be explored in this tradition which spans the centuries. I also learned a little about my own spiritual commitment.

Idel's work explores many hitherto unrecognised issues and motifs within the broad variety of historical Kabbalistic thought. This book maintains an excellent balance of scholarly information and edification, being a lucid phenomenological exploration the two main types of Kabbalah: the Ecstatic and the Theosophical. Facinating chapters and well supported arguments relating to the issue of the antiquity of Jewish mysticism and kabbalistic teaching; as well as a thorough exploration of mystical union with God, often ignored in past scholarship due to primary focus on the speculative aspects of kabbalah. This book demands a revision of the accepted views on the entire history of Jewish mysticsm, and it heralds a new era in kabbalistic scholarship.

Absorbing Perfections is the outstanding work on Kabbalah of this generation. It is a serious ( and heavy) academic work that breaks new ground and adds important dimensions to the work of previous scholars such Scholem and Shatz.
Whereas other popular works on Kabbalah lack the serious historical perspectives and mastery of the original texts Moshe Idel is unique. There is no one like him writing about Kabbalah in the Western World today.
If Scholem was too Germanic, detached and disregarding of the experiences and spiritual achievements of Kabbalah, Idel adds all these dimensions to the solid academic foundations.
This book is a hard read, its style is not easy, but if anyone wants a serious understanding of Kabbalah rather than a comic book version, this has to be the book to read.

This is a wonderful introduction to the Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. Prof. Joseph Dan is one of the leading Kabbalah scholars alive today. In this book, he presents selections from the "early Kabbalists", those of the late 12th and early 13th centuries, before the publication of the *Zohar*. This anthology contains brief and heavily annotated selections from the 'Iyyun Circle, the Book Bahir (*Sefer ha-Bahir*), Rabbi Isaac the Blind of Provence, Rabbi Azriel of Gerona, Rabbi Jacob ben Sheshet of Gerona, and the Kohen brothers, Jacob and Isaac. These are the men who pave the way for the glories of the *Zohar*. These selections are rich in the symbols that later became prevalent in Kabbalah. This book is a particularly good beginning for someone who wants to study Kabbalah in its historical unfolding.

Moshe Idel isn't a light read, to say the least, but if you are interested in the golem or in Jewish mysticism in general, it is possible for a dedicated reader without much background in the area to get through the book. If you're a scholar, you should have even better luck. Idel's thesis, according to the back of the book, is "that the role of the golem concept in Judaism was to confer an exceptional status to the Jewish elite by bestowing it with the capability of supernatural powers deriving from a profound knowledge of the Hebrew language and its magical and mystical powers." The work surveys golem traditions from ancient to modern, and quite thoroughly.

It is a bit unseemly to speak of a bargain when it comes to a book on mysticism but this one really is. The original price was [amount]; I can only assume there was an over-printing. The five writers included in this book are some of the most insightful modern thinkers on the subject. Michael Sells treatment of mysticism in Islam makes for rich reflection. He seems to have a noetic understanding of the subject: "The encountering of the secret is not so much a resolution of mystery (transcending duality) through a comprehensive knowledge as it is a deepening of mystery through unresolvable paradox."

Daniel Merkur makes an excellent discussion of the "unitive experience." He takes a cross cultural approach that gives the reader a fair estimate of what the actual experience of mystical union is for the mystic in practical terms: "Unitive visions are clearly variant forms of unitive ideas in which the ideas have undergone symboliztion into pictorial form, much as ideas do during the dreams of natural sleep.

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