Daniel C. Matt

This was an okay book. It’s a selection from the very long book The Zohar which is a commentary on the Books of Moses. I decided not to try to acquire as much of the full multi-volume translation as I could, since for me that would verge on the pedantic, but it is nice to experience other cultures slightly, right. “YOU like that too? I only chose that because I thought you hated it! Shit! What do I do now?” Of course, sometimes people make choices, you know; but full-on flaming rejection is more than a simple “choice”, you know. A lot of Christians do have that attitude, you know—YOU like that too?…. What do I do now?—and not only in relation to Jews, but that conflict is certainly part of the Jewish story. It’s actually not even—You like that too? …. Shit….—limited to the religious sphere, both because of the unavoidable influence of religion on life, and the common though not inevitable negativity central to the human experience.

Anyway, I think that this is fine; it’s actually just as good, in itself, as a Christian commentary on these texts, if rather different, perforce…. It’s actually maybe better than some, since it’s very creative and story-sprinkled, not unlike what I write in reviews sometimes. I’ll even go out on a limb and say (even though the only other language I know is intermediate Spanish) that the English translation probably has some points over the Aramaic original, since the original was apparently written with many archaisms and historicisms and basically unnatural language to try to present it as the work of an earlier century—pedantic enough!—almost as if Rachel Held Evans had written one of her books in Latin, right…. The Middle Ages were actually quite mixed; there was creativity as well as pedantry, (actually there was sensuality as well as asceticism), but even the wise old men weren’t supposed to have too much agency or independence, so even in what would retroactively be a million years before industrialization, the wise old men weren’t supposed to be saying that there was something about God and Infinity that the dead old wise men hadn’t unpacked fully…. So it’s mixed, like everything, trying to wiggle out of that trap. But writing a Bible commentary as a story or series of stories is great, you know; much better than the bloodless Kantian crap that would come into fashion later on.

…. For a long time I didn’t really know what I thought; now, let me say: what a strange book, right.

Though, of course, it would be, for me. 😛

…. *Carly and the rabbis are deep in conversation*

Child Hermes: *taps* *whispers* If we sneak out now, they won’t notice that we’re leaving.… (mer)

This books provides a pretty good overview of Kabbalah. If you are a casual reader who may know little of this religious tradition, this may be the book for you. The introductory material is pretty good in laying out some background and history. The rest of the book presents selections from Kabbalistic texts. Overall, the language is pretty accessible. I think Judeo-Christian folks may find some connections here too. The text provides a nice sense of the spirituality of Kabbalah as well as its valuing of the pursuit of knowledge and truth. In the end, I am glad I read it as I learned a few new things.… (mer)