This course, taught by a leading international scholar, is an overview of the main stages in the development of Jewish mysticism and an introduction to its key concepts. It will deal with the mysterious Book of Creation, before going on to discuss the circumstances of the emergence of a Kabbalistic tradition in medieval Spain.

Jewish mysticism is not exclusively synonymous with Kabbalah, and a session will be devoted to the impact of Sufism on Hebrew spirituality. The last session will discuss how the Expulsion from Spain heightened messianic expectations that are reflected in the Eastern Kabbalah of the Holy Land. The weekly topics will include: Ancient beginnings: the Mysteries of the Merkaba and the Book of Creation; the Revelation of the Kabbalistic Tradition in Medieval Spain; the Judeo-Sufis of Egypt; and East and West: the School of R. Isaac Lurya in the Holy Land and Chasidic Ecstatics in central Europe.

A WEEKLY COURSE
(4 sessions) Tuesdays
July 8–29, 8–10pm
08SSJ09T
Members: $80 / Nonmembers: $85
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Paul B. Fenton, PhD, is professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at the Université Paris-Sorbonne. A specialist in Jewish mysticism, philosophy and music in the Islamic context, he is the author of over 10 books, including Obadyah Maimonides’ Treatise of the Pool and Joseph Ibn Waqâr’s The Principles of the Qabbalah.