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Category: Kabbalah & Mysticism

Modena, Gilgul, and an Unpublished Letter

Modena, Gilgul, and an Unpublished Letter

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Someone in a comment to a recent post mentioned an article that appears in the latest issue of the journal Ets Hayyim. This journal is published by the “students and hassidim of Bobov.” [Supposedly this journal is a break-off of the excellent journal Kerem Shlomo.] The journal is comprised of what most torah journals are today, there is a section publishing manuscripts hiddushei torah, general hiddushei torah, some articles on halacha etc. In this fourth and most recent issue there…

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Kabbalah Books Online

Kabbalah Books Online

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I am not sure why but it appears that a website in Czech (?) contains numerous Kabbalah seforim in their entirety free. These include the literature from Sefer Yetzirah, Zohar, R. Moshe Chaim Luzzato, Ari”Zal, R. Abraham Abulafia, and many others.

Shnayer Leiman: Did a Disciple of the Maharal Create a Golem?

Shnayer Leiman: Did a Disciple of the Maharal Create a Golem?

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whose article on this topic, “The Adventure of the Maharal of Prague in London: R. Yudl Rosenberg and the Golem of Prague,” appeared in Tradition 36:1 (2002): 26-58 [PDF]. Did a Disciple of the Maharal Create a Golem? Shnayer Leiman I. In March 2006, Dei’ah VeDibur, a Charedi internet newsletter, published an essay on the Maharal and the Golem. Its conclusion was that “it is unclear whether or not the Maharal ever made a golem.” At the time, I responded…

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Ghosts, Demons, Golems and their Halachik Status

Ghosts, Demons, Golems and their Halachik Status

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One explicit mention of a ghost appears in the Talmud Ketubot 103a. The Talmud records that every week Rebbi used to return to his house after he died. The Talmud, however, does not record what Rebbi used to do when he came back. The Sefer Hassidim states that Rebbi was different than other dead people in that he was considered almost fully alive. Rebbi, according to the Sefer Hassidim, would make Kiddush for his family. A much later instance of…

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A Flat or Round Earth and the Zohar

A Flat or Round Earth and the Zohar

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The Babylonian Talmud (“BT”) clearly held the Earth was flat. R. Azariah de Rossi, in his Me’or Enayim devotes more or less a chapter to understanding the view of the BT on this issue. De Rossi explains that there a various passages in the BT which assume a flat earth. For instance, De Rossi quotes the BT Baba Basra “the world is like an exadera [three sides are closed] and the north side is open. When the sun reaches the…

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Az Yashir, Another Kabalah Custom Gone Wrong?

Az Yashir, Another Kabalah Custom Gone Wrong?

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One of the most common and troublesome customs based upon kabalah is the addition of verses and targum to אז ישיר. Everyday, at the end of pesuki de’zimra we recite az yashir. However, we for one, don’t start at the beginning of the shira. The beginning is at the verse that starts ויהי באשמורות הבוקר we begin at the אז ישיר. Secondly, we don’t end at the end of the shira either. Instead, we add either 4 or 6 verses…

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Gettting Kabbalah Customs Wrong, Removing Teffilin on Hol HaMoad

Gettting Kabbalah Customs Wrong, Removing Teffilin on Hol HaMoad

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On the Main Line had a discussion regarding whether one should or should not follow customs based upon kabbalah. He brought up the custom of removing teffilin on Rosh Hodesh “before Mussaf.” However, what is facinating about this custom of removing the teffilin is that most people actually get it wrong. That is, according to just about everyone that discusses this one should not remove ones teffilin right before mussaf. The first to address this custom in a meaningful manner…

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More on story fabrication – The Golem

More on story fabrication – The Golem

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As some have mention in the comments to my previous post, the story of the Mahral and the Golem although many take it as true, it is not. Popularized by Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg, the work is a work of fiction, something even noted in a bibliography published of Rabbi Rosenberg’s works. Some of the people who discuss this are Ira Robinson, “Literary Forgery and Hasidic Judaism: the Case of Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg,” Judaism 40 (1991), pp. 61-78), Shnayer Z. Leiman,…

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