Kabbalah of Creation: The Mysticism of Isaac Luria, Founder of Modern Kabbalah

(Paperback)

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Luria devised a cosmic meta system that linked many of the famous characters of the Bible to the important heroes and heroines of Jewish history. Characters from the Bible were linked to the Prophets; the souls of the Prophets were linked to the actions and teachings of the sages of the Talmudic period. Luria also revealed that his soul and the souls of others were incarnations of these past souls.

Reviews

"Eliahu Klein's translations of the Lurianic canon are faithful and yet poetic. His understanding of Isaac Luria's relationship to World Spirituality has an integrity that few have attained. Klein's writing provides the English reader with a rare window into the Kabbalah as it really is."
-Pinchas Giller, Professor of Jewish Thought, Unviversity of Judaism

"Kabbalah of Creation offers readers a readable, verse translation of the intriguing text, 'The Gate of Principles,' that is printed in the beginning of the Hebrew edition of Rabbi Chaim Vital's The Tree of Life. However, this book is much more than a translation. Kabbalah of Creation considerably increases the accessibility of the text with a very useful commentary that explains many otherwise obscure references. With the addition of an informative introduction, containing much useful historical information, a glossary, and an extensive bibliography, Rabbi Klein's work can easily serve as an introductory text for those seeking to enter the gates of Lurianic Kabbalah. Even experienced kabbalists may find something to learn from Rabbi Klein's sometimes daring insightsthe fruit of decades of study, meditation, and spiritual experience."
-Rabbi Miles Krassen, Naropa University

"Eliahu Klein helps us move toward the Real. Unlike many translations of Luria's work, Kabbalah of Creation(Klein's rendition of some of the never-before-translated early work of Reb Luria) is filled not only with Luria's words (as they have come through his discipleswe have nothing of Luria's own writing) but with Klein's, whose commentary makes abundantly clear to us that even while he is ensconced in traditional Judaism, he understands the large implications of Luria's work. His style is human, forgiving, supportive, challenging, and often deeply insightful, everything a guide should be. We could not ask for a better door opener than Luria and his new translator, Eliahu Klein."
-Jason Shulman, Tikkun Magazine

Author Bio

Eliahu Klein has taught Kabbalah and Hassidism for over twenty-five years throughout North America, England, and Israel. He apprenticed under some of the greatest Jewish spiritual teachers of this generation, including Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, and Rabbi Shlomo Twerski of Denver. Rabbi Klein received a private simchah (rabbinic ordination) from the late Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan in 1983, and in 1995 he published Meetings with Remarkable Souls- Legends of the Baal Shem Tov (Jason Aronson). In 2001 he was a visiting scholar at the Oxford Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, an affiliate institute of Oxford University in England. Rabbi Klein has taught at San Francisco State University and The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, and is currently on the faculty of Chochmat Halev Jewish Meditation Center in Berkeley, California, and the Academy of Jewish Religions in Los Angeles. Along with writing meditative commentaries on the Bible, the Haggadah, and the Jewish prayerbook, he is completing a degree in Clinical Pastoral Education at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center. Rabbi Klein lives with his family in Berkeley, California.