KABBALAH from page 16
forth a rich history of spiritual prac-
tices that were Jewish.
•
The effect of these ideas, the
rabbi says, is found in many other
synagogues in the form of medita-
tive and healing services and the
studying the Tanya (a popular
introduction to Jewish mysticism),
all manifestations of this same
movement."
Davis, founder and co-director of
a Jewish meditation center in
Berkeley, Calif, conducts the after-
noon meditation and discussion at
the retreat. He talks-about becom-
ing alert through meditation.
"Get in touch with what's already
there," he instructs those gathered
around him. "Permit yourself to fall
in love with God. Practice awareness
and loving-kindness."
Bringing People Together
Sunday morning, on a large blan-
ket, a father and daughter partici-
pate in yoga exercises as the sun
rises over the water.
"I got to know my dad more this
weekend," says Lindsay Klein, 24, a
nursing student at the University of
Michigan. "He's much deeper and
more intellectual than I thought.
More expressive."
Her father, Stephen Klein, 47, of
Congregation Beth Shalom in
Atlanta, says he discovered a more
reflective and mature side of his
daughter over the weekend.
Others comment on the impor-
tant connection they've made to a
spiritual community at the retreat.
"I wanted to identify with my
Jewish faith and sense of communi-
ty," says Elizabeth Hall, 16. "I'm
the only religious one in my family,
the only one who belongs to a syna-
gogue [Ahavat Shalom], and I just
know there's something inside of
me that needs to be complete."
Linda Jo Doctor from Ann Arbor
misses the large spiritual communi-
ty she belonged to on the East
Coast. "I'm thrilled that a spiritual
residential retreat center is starting
here in the Midwest. This is a very
safe place for people at different
[spiritual] levels to enter." ❑
Silberberg. "Jewish mysticism was
passed on at Mt. Sinai along with the
oral teachings of the Torah."
He adds that Shimon Bar Yochai,
who lived in the mid-second century,
is the father of the Zohar. Rabbi
Yitzchak Luria, in the 1500s, is credit-
ed with inspiring his students to write
down its mystical concepts.
Green and other modern scholars,
however, say the doctrines of the
Kabbalah are first mentioned in
sources written in the mid-12th centu-
ry around the borders of France and
Spain. "It's impossible to know about
the much older ideas b e cause there's
no documentation," he says, adding
that the Zohar was edited in the 13th
century by Moses de Leon.
"True origins are lost in obscurity,"
Green says. "But probably the
Kabbalah goes back to late antiquity
— and has Jewish and Hellenistic and
Near Eastern origins. That it goes back
to Abraham are legends among the
[traditional] Kabbalists."
The most important person in
recent history of the Kabbalah, Green
adds, is Gershon Scholem. The
founder of modern historic Kabbalah
research (1920-1983) rediscovered
kabbalistic manuscripts in European
libraries, Green says. "Scholem showed
that the Kabbalah was essential to the
history of Judaism."
Only Hebrew University's Elior
gives an explanation for why the many
writings that form the Kabbalah were
written in the first place.
"The Kabbalah was the major
avenue of freedom for the Jews who
had no other kind of freedom," Elior
says. "Jews were in exile under
Christian rulers. The only place to
find dignity and freedom was in the
spiritual world."
These writings arose out of difficult
times, says Elior. The first writings
occurred 50 years after the destruction
of the Temple in 70 C.E., then again
after the Jews were kicked out of Spain
in 1492.
"Mysticism is the history of the
imagination in the context of reli-
gion," she says.
Dangerous Or New Ways?
Though women were not originally
allowed to study the Kabbalah, that
has changed in modern times with
some rabbis. In the mid-1980s,
Marilyn Sontag of New York City and
her husband studied the Kabbalah
KABBALAH on page 20
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