Idel

In his seminal 1988 book Kabbalah: New Perspectives, which has served to redefine the way the Jewish mystical tradition has been read, Idel presents us with a startling text from the martyred messianic pretender Solomon Molcho which provides an excellent opportunity to see the way in which Jewish occultism views the hermeneutical process:

David Shasha: Two Models of Jewish Tradition: Vertical-Hierarchical and Horizontal Pluralist 2010

Idel argues that the common view of the mystical-theurgical Kabbalah as an alien accretion in rational Talmudism, exemplified by the work of Maimonides as inheritor of Sephardic-Andalusian tradition, is incorrect:

David Shasha: Dangerous Mystic Motifs in Judaism 2010

In his seminal 1988 book Kabbalah: New Perspectives, which has served to redefine the way the Jewish mystical tradition has been read, Idel presents us with a startling text from the martyred messianic pretender Solomon Molcho which provides an excellent opportunity to see the way in which Jewish occultism views the hermeneutical process:

David Shasha: Two Models of Jewish Tradition: Vertical-Hierarchical and Horizontal Pluralist 2010

As Idel approvingly remarks, "We again perceive that human capabilities are insufficient to penetrate the secret meaning of the Torah; hence the paranormal states of consciousness -- here the descent of divine forces -- are of paramount importance in decoding these secrets."

David Shasha: Two Models of Jewish Tradition: Vertical-Hierarchical and Horizontal Pluralist 2010

Idel has relentlessly promoted the pro-magic, neo-pagan, anti-rational strain of Jewish tradition also called Kabbalah.

David Shasha: Dangerous Mystic Motifs in Judaism 2010

As Idel approvingly remarks, "We again perceive that human capabilities are insufficient to penetrate the secret meaning of the Torah; hence the paranormal states of consciousness -- here the descent of divine forces -- are of paramount importance in decoding these secrets."

David Shasha: Two Models of Jewish Tradition: Vertical-Hierarchical and Horizontal Pluralist 2010

Like her father, she greatly admired the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and in 1958 she was present at the dedication ceremony of the Idel and Sonia Schwartz Lecture Hall on its campus.

Bertha Solomon. 2009

But Gnosticism: Scholem was convinced and Moshe Idel, to whom I am much closer in every way — he is a close personal friend — Moshe Idel on this agrees with Scholem though frequently they don't: Idel says that fundamentally he thinks that what someone like Hans

An Interview with Harold Bloom 2006

And as the MultiPac materials show, Idel and Bernard Abrams, who ran the Maxwell Street Radio shop, recorded blues and gospel artists in their store -- most often as test or demo records but also for a fledgling blues label they established, Ora Nelle.

This Was Maxwell Street 2008

According to Moshe Idel, arguably the greatest authority on the history of Kabbalah today, extant written works of Kabbalah in Europe date from about the 12th century, which saw the first great flowering of Kabbalah.

Et tu, Roseanne? | Jewschool 2007