Sefer Yetzira: Chronicles of Desire

· University Press of America
eBook
532
Pages
Eligible
Ratings and reviews aren’t verified  Learn more

About this eBook

Sefer Yetzira is a sacred book of great antiquity and power, and one of Judaism's oldest texts after the Bible. In this new translation and commentary, Rabbi Worch leads us step-by-step through innermost chambers of Jewish mysticism. We are allowed to listen in to the arguments between Moses and God, to the whispered dialogue between Rabbis Akiba and Ishmael, and to those fervid and passionate practitioners of whose ecstasies these pages remain redolent. In the beginning was God's desire for us. Sefer Yetzira describes the process whereby desire materializes in the Breath of God and thence into the Ten Sephirot and twenty two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Commentaries to the Sefer Yetzira, through the ages, have reflected the spirit and yearning of those times, the genius and romance of the zeitgeist, be it philosophical, mathematical or contemplative. This commentary reflects the strikingly mystical qualities of Hasidism and the post-modern approach to text. In this book, we read how to listen for the breath of the Living God, how to hear it and breathe it back, in the mystery of our sacred kisses.

About the author

J. Hershy Worch was born in England in 1955 and ordained in 1992 by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. He served as rabbi of Congregation Ohave Shalom of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Currently, he resides in Los Angeles, California, teaching Jewish texts at the Open Yeshiva - Yeshiva Ateret Tzvi. His previously published works include Sacred Fire: Torah from the Years of Fury 1939-1942, The Kabbalist Haggadah - A Handbook of the Seder, and My Soul Thirsts - A Collection of Hasidic Songs.

Rate this eBook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Centre instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.