The Zohar - Pritzker Edition: Volume Two

Matt, Daniel C. (Translation and Commentary by)

ISBN 10: 0804748683 / ISBN 13: 9780804748681

Published by Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 2004

About this Item

Larger octavo. Tan cloth covered boards thirdbound in a brown cloth backstrip with ishiny gilt lettering on the spine. Book has a faint bump at the tail of the spine. Illustrated endpapers. Binding is straight and tight. Pages are all clean, white, and crisp. 460 pages. Illustrated with a diagram in the front The Ten Sefirot. Top third of each page is the translated text; bottom two thirds are annotation. No dust jacket. Heavier than average book will require additional postage on orders requesting International or Priority shipping services. A tight, clean attractive copy.

Seller Inventory # 012572

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Zohar - Pritzker Edition: Volume Two
• Publisher: Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0804748683
• ISBN 13: 9780804748681
• Binding: Hard Cover
• Edition: No Additional Printings Noted.
• Condition: NF
• Seller catalogs:
  • Religious Studies
  • History
  • Philosophy

About this title

Synopsis

Sefer ha-Zohar, "The Book of Radiance," has amazed and overwhelmed readers ever since it emerged mysteriously in medieval Spain toward the end of the thirteenth century. Written in a unique Aramaic, this masterpiece of Kabbalah exceeds the dimensions of a normal book; it is virtually a body of literature, comprising over twenty discrete sections. The bulk of the Zohar consists of a running commentary on the Torah, from Genesis through Deuteronomy. This translation begins and focuses here in what are projected to be ten volumes. Two subsequent volumes will cover other, shorter sections.

The Zohar's commentary is composed in the form of a mystical novel. The hero is Rabbi Shim'on son of Yohai, a saintly disciple of Rabbi Akiva who lived in the second century in the land of Israel. In the Zohar, Rabbi Shim'on and his companions wander through the hills of Galilee, discovering and sharing secrets of Torah.

On one level, biblical figures such as Abraham and Sarah are the main characters, and the mystical companions interpret their words, actions, and personalities. On a deeper level, the text of the Bible is simply the starting point, a springboard for the imagination. For example, when God commands Abraham, Lekh lekha, Go forth... to the land that I will show you (Genesis 12:1), Rabbi El'azar ignores idiomatic usage and insists on reading the words more literally than they were intended, hyperliterally: Lekh lekha, Go to yourself! Search deep within to discover your true self.

At times, the companions themselves become the main characters, and we read about their dramatic mystical sessions with Rabbi Shim'on or their adventures on the road, for example, an encounter with a cantankerous old donkey driver who turns out to be a master of wisdom in disguise.

Ultimately, the plot of the Zohar focuses on the ten sefirot, the various stages of God's inner life, aspects of divine personality, both feminine and masculine. By penetrating the literal surface of the Torah, the mystical commentators transform the biblical narrative into a biography of God. The entire Torah is read as one continuous divine name, expressing divine being. Even a seemingly insignificant verse can reveal the inner dynamics of the sefirot―how God feels, responds and acts, how She and He (the divine feminine and masculine) relate intimately with each other and with the world.

About the Author

Daniel Matt is widely thought to be the best translator of the Zohar into English. His works include Zohar, The Book of Enlightenment (Paulist Press, 1983)―a selection of Zohar passages presented in English―and The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism (Harper San Francisco, 1995). Dr. Matt has recently returned to the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, after a period of work in Jerusalem.