Zohar: Annotated & Explained (SkyLight Illuminations)
The best-selling author of The Essential Kabbalah now offers readers the best introduction to the Zohar.
The splendor and enigmatic appeal of the Zohar, the major text of the Jewish mystical tradition, has never intrigued readers of all faiths more than it does today. But how can we truly understand it?
Daniel C. Matt brings together in one place the most important teachings from the Zohar, the cornerstone of Kabbalah―described as a mixture of theology, mystical psychology, anthropology, myth, and poetry―alongside facing-page stories, notes, and historical background that illuminate and explain the text. Ideal for the first-time reader with no prior knowledge of Jewish mysticism.
Guides readers step-by-step through the texts that make up the Zohar―midrash, mystical fantasy, commentary, and Hebrew scripture―and explains the inner meanings of this sacred text, recognized by kabbalists as the most important work of mystical teaching, in a way that is both spiritually enlightening and intellectually fascinating.
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Book details
- Author
- Daniel Matt
- Imprint
- SkyLight Paths, an imprint of Turner Publishing Company
- Published
- Formats
- Paperback, Hardcover
- Subjects
- Religion › Judaism › Kabbalah & Mysticism
- Topics
- Kabbalah · Jewish mysticism · Jewish spirituality · mystical theology · Jewish texts · Jewish tradition
- ISBN-13
- 9781893361515 (Paperback)9781683365075 (Hardcover)
About the author
DANIEL CHANAN MATT is a scholar of Kabbalah whose nine-volume annotated translation The Zohar: Pritzker Edition has been hailed as "a monumental contribution to the history of Jewish thought." His recent books include Becoming Elijah: Prophet of Transformation, God and the Big Bang: Discovering Harmony between Science and Spirituality and The Essential Kabbalah, translated into eight languages.
Matt was awarded the inaugural Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Book Prize for Becoming Elijah: Prophet of Transformation. He holds a Ph.D. from Brandeis University and served for twenty years as Professor of Jewish Spirituality at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and has also taught at Stanford University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Daniel lives in Berkeley, California.