Boaz Huss | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Jerusalem, Israel |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Occupation | Professor of Kabbalah |
| Known for | Chair of the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, leading scholar in contemporary Kabbalah |
Boaz Huss (born 1959) [1] is a professor of Kabbalah at the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is a leading scholar in contemporary Kabbalah.
Boaz Huss was born in Jerusalem, Israel. [1] He completed his undergraduate and graduate work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he earned a B.A. in Philosophy and History of Jewish Thought in 1986 and a Ph.D. in History of Jewish Thought in 1993. [2] His doctoral thesis, Ketem Paz – The Kabbalistic Doctrine of Rabbi Simeon Lavi in His Commentary to the Zohar, [3] was supervised by Professor Moshe Idel. [2]
He was a Fulbright post-doctoral fellow at Yale University (1993/4), a Starr fellow at the Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University (2002), and a fellow at The Institute for Advanced Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1998/9, 2008/9). [4] He lectured at Hebrew University (1994–1996) and Tel Aviv University (1995–1996) before coming to the Goldstein-Goren department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University; [5] he has chaired the department in 2010-2012. [6] He has received several research grants, including two 4-year grants from the Israel Science Foundation on the subjects of "Major Trends in 20th Century Kabbalah" (2005) and "Kabbalah and the Theosophical Society (1875-1936)". [7]
Huss is a board member of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism, and has served on the editorial boards of the Zohar Education Project in Chicago and the International Journal for the Study of New Religions. [6]
Huss' research interests cover the Zohar and its reception, modern and contemporary Kabbalah, Western esotericism, and the New Age. His first monograph was dedicated to the Kabbalah of Rabbi Shimon Lavi, one of the first commentators of the Zohar. In his second monograph he examined the reception of the Zohar and the construction of its symbolic value. Huss was one of the first scholars to "take seriously more contemporary expressions of Jewish mysticism that have been largely ignored by scholars". [8]
He has written about the communist Kabbalah of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, [9] about Kabbalistic motifs used by Madonna, [10] and about the New Age and postmodern characteristic of contemporary Kabbalah. [11] Huss also studied the history of Kabbalah research, and criticized the use of the term "mysticism" as the defining category of Kabbalah and Hasidism, and the theological framework of the academic study of Jewish mysticism. [12] He is widely quoted in contemporary Kabbalah literature. [13] [14] [15] [16]
In 2006 he appeared as himself in the TV movie "Decoding the Past: Secrets of Kabbalah", together with other Kabbalah scholars such as Michael Berg, Pinchas Giller, Moshe Idel, Daniel C. Matt, Ronit Meroz, and Byron Sherwin. [17]
Kabbalah is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal. The definition of Kabbalah varies according to the tradition and aims of those following it, from its origin in medieval Judaism to its later adaptations in Western esotericism. Jewish Kabbalah is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between the unchanging, eternal God—the mysterious Ein Sof —and the mortal, finite universe. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism.
The Zohar is a foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology. The Zohar contains discussions of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, redemption, the relationship of Ego to Darkness and "true self" to "The Light of God".
Isaac ben Solomon Luria Ashkenazi, commonly known in Jewish religious circles as "Ha'ARI", "Ha'ARI Hakadosh" or "ARIZaL", was a leading rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region of Ottoman Syria, now Israel. He is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah, his teachings being referred to as Lurianic Kabbalah. While his direct literary contribution to the Kabbalistic school of Safed was extremely minute, his spiritual fame led to their veneration and the acceptance of his authority. The works of his disciples compiled his oral teachings into writing. Every custom of Luria was scrutinized, and many were accepted, even against previous practice.
Academic study of Jewish mysticism, especially since Gershom Scholem's Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941), draws distinctions between different forms of mysticism which were practiced in different eras of Jewish history. Of these, Kabbalah, which emerged in 12th-century Europe, is the most well known, but it is not the only typological form, nor was it the first form which emerged. Among the previous forms were Merkabah mysticism, and Ashkenazi Hasidim around the time of the emergence of Kabbalah.
The Kabbalah Centre International is a non-profit organization located in Los Angeles, California that provides courses on the Zohar and Kabbalistic teachings online as well as through its regional and city-based centers and study groups worldwide. The Kabbalah Centre's presentation of Kabbalah was developed by its director, Philip Berg, along with his wife, Karen Berg.
Philip S. Berg was an American rabbi and dean of the worldwide Kabbalah Centre organization.
Jewish meditation includes practices of settling the mind, introspection, visualization, emotional insight, contemplation of divine names, or concentration on philosophical, ethical or mystical ideas. Meditation may accompany unstructured, personal Jewish prayer, may be part of structured Jewish services, or may be separate from prayer practices. Jewish mystics have viewed meditation as leading to devekut. Hebrew terms for meditation include hitbodedut or hitbonenut/hisbonenus ("contemplation").
The primary texts of Kabbalah were allegedly once part of an ongoing oral tradition. The written texts are obscure and difficult for readers who are unfamiliar with Jewish spirituality which assumes extensive knowledge of the Tanakh, Midrash and halakha.
Practical Kabbalah in historical Judaism, is a branch of the Jewish mystical tradition that concerns the use of magic. It was considered permitted white magic by its practitioners, reserved for the elite, who could separate its spiritual source from Qliphoth realms of evil if performed under circumstances that were holy (Q-D-Š) and pure, tumah and taharah. The concern of overstepping Judaism's strong prohibitions of impure magic ensured it remained a minor tradition in Jewish history. Its teachings include the use of Divine and angelic names for amulets and incantations.
Jonathan Garb is an Israeli scholar of Kabbalah. He is Holder of the Gershom Scholem chair in Kabbalah in the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Howard "Haim" Kreisel is a professor of medieval Jewish philosophy in the department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (emeritus) and directs the Goldstein-Goren-International Center for Jewish Thought
The concepts and structures of Jewish Kabbalah have been used in the contemporary world to open comparative dialogue and cross-fertilization with modern secular disciplines in the Sciences and Humanities. This has been an uncommon phenomenon, since it requires wide internal understanding of both traditionalist Kabbalah and modern secular thought, and for social reasons Jewish modernity has seen isolation and entrenchment between the two. Skilled authorities in both traditions have included contemporary traditionalist Orthodox teachers of Kabbalah, as well as Neo-Kabbalistic and Academic scholars who read Kabbalah in a critical, universalist way.
Yaakov Israel Ifargan, also known as the X-ray, is an Israeli Kabbalist rabbi and spiritual adviser who operates in Netivot, a town in southern Israel. He is known among his followers for his supposed healing and prognostic powers. Ifargan's admirers includes a mix of low income Mizrahi Jewish people from southern Israel, as well as high profile Israeli politicians, businessmen and celebrities. Ifargan also has a following among a group of Breslov Hasidim.
Bnei Baruch is a universalist kabbalah association founded by Michael Laitman in the early 1990s. It is estimated to have around 50,000 students in Israel, and some 150,000 around the world.
Moshe Idel is a Romanian-Israeli historian and philosopher of Jewish mysticism. He is Emeritus Max Cooper Professor in Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and a Senior Researcher at the Shalom Hartman Institute.
"Bar Yochai" is a kabbalistic piyyut extolling the spiritual attainments of Rabbi Simeon bar Yochai, the purported author of the preeminent kabbalistic work, the Zohar. Composed in the 16th century by Rabbi Shimon Lavi, a Sephardi Hakham and kabbalist in Tripoli, Libya, it is the most prominent and popular kabbalistic hymn, being sung by Jewish communities around the world. The hymn is sung by Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews alike on Lag BaOmer, the Yom Hillula of bar Yochai, and is also sung during synagogue services and at the Shabbat evening meal by certain groups. Incorporating expressions from the Tanakh, rabbinical commentaries, and the Zohar, the hymn displays its author's own mastery of Torah and kabbalah.
Shimon Lavi was a Sephardi Hakham, kabbalist, physician, astronomer, and poet. He is credited with the founding of religious institutions and the revival of Torah study in Tripoli, Libya, in the mid-sixteenth century, where he served as spiritual leader and dayan for more than three decades. He authored a commentary on the Zohar titled Ketem Paz and the piyyut, "Bar Yochai", a kabbalistic hymn which became widely popular in the Jewish world. Libyan Jews consider him their greatest scholar.
Yehuda Liebes is an Israeli academic and scholar. He is the Gershom Scholem Professor Emeritus of Kabbalah at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is considered a leading scholar of Kabbalah; his other research interests include Jewish myth, Sabbateanism, and the links between Judaism and ancient Greek religion, Christianity, and Islam. He is the recipient of the 1997 Bialik Prize, the 1999 Gershom Scholem Prize for Kabbalah Research, the 2006 EMET Prize for Art, Science and Culture, and the 2017 Israel Prize in Jewish thought.
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