Summary
Jasminka Domaš: Jewish meditation: exploring the mystical paths of Judaism
In this book, the author talks about Jewish meditative knowledge that is several thousand years old. The Jews experienced their extremely strong meditative experience during the Revelation on Mount Sinai, and Jewish meditative knowledge was strictly guarded until Abraham Abulafia (1240 - 1295) who wrote down the transmitted knowledge. The full rise of Kabbalistic mysticism was in the 16th century in Safed, led by its most prominent representative, Rabbi Isaac Luria. Several meditative techniques have been preserved, for example, the use of a mantra in the form of the name of God, or the use of Hebrew letters. In the last two decades, more and more Hebrew mystical manuscripts have been discovered in the archives, which provides, as the author says, a better and clearer insight into the system used by Jewish mystics. In addition, the author's approach is not one-sided and closed, but interreligious and open to other systems that nurtured contemplative traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
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