The Bahir - Rilegato

Aryeh Kaplan

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 1568213832 ISBN 13: 9781568213835

Casa editrice: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group Inc, 2018

Riassunto

The Bahir is one of the oldest and most important of all classical Kabbalah texts. Until the publication of theZohar, the Bahir was the most influential and widely quoted primary source of Kabbalistic teachings. TheBahir is quoted in every major book on Kabbalah, the earliest being the Raavad's commentary on Sefer Yetzirah, and it is cited numerous times by Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Ramban) in his commentary on the Torah. It is also quoted many times in theZohar. It was first published around 1176 by the Provence school of Kabbalists; the first printed edition appeared in Amsterdam in 1651. The nameBahir is derived from the first verse quoted in the text (Job 37:21), "And now they do not see light, it is brilliant (Bahir) in the skies." It is also called the "Midrash of Rabbi Nehuniah ben HaKana," particularly by the Ramban. The reason might be that Rabbi Nehuniah's name is at the very beginning of the book, but most Kabbalists actually attribute theBahir to him and his school. Some consider it the oldest kabbalistic text ever written. Although theBahir is a fairly small book, some 12,000 words in all, it was very highly esteemed among those who probed its mysteries. Rabbi Judah Chayit, a prominent fifteenth-century Kabbalist, writes, "Make this book a crown for your head." Much of the text is very difficult to understand, and Rabbi Moshe Cordevero (1522-1570), head of the Safed school of Kabbalah, says, "The words of this text are bright (Bahir) and sparkling, but their brilliance can blind the eye." One of the most important concepts revealed in the Bahir is that of the Ten Sefirot, and careful analysis of these discussions yields much of what will be found in later kabbalistic works, as well as their relation to anthropomorphism and the reason for the commandments. Also included is a discussion of reincarnation, or Gilgul, an interpretation of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the Thirty-two Paths of Wisdom, and the concept of Tzimtzum, the s

Su questo libro

L'autore:

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan was born in New York City and was educated in The Torah Voda'as and Mir Yeshivot in Brooklyn. After years of study at Jerusalem's Mir Yeshiva, he was ordained by some of Israel's foremost rabbinic authorities. He also earned a master's degree in physics and was listed in Who's Who in Physics in the United States. In the course of a writing career spanning only twelve years, Rabbi Kaplan earned a reputation as one of the most effective, persuasive, scholarly, and prolific exponents of Judaism in the English language. He died on January 28, 1983, at the age of 48.

Product Description:

Book by None

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group Inc
• Data di pubblicazione: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1568213832
• ISBN 13: 9781568213835
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 74