Bible in the Eyes of Kabbalah: How Jewish Mysticism Plays With & Reshapes the Bible to Create New Meanings & Foster New Visions
Code: HB608
Dates: July 21, 2025 - July 25, 2025
Time: 9:00 am for 3 hours
Medieval Kabbalah is both famous and infamous for its eisegesis that finds the most extraordinary meanings, often in the most ordinary passages and verses. This course will examine various Kabbalistic techniques for multiplying scriptural meaning to compound an intoxicating vision of what Torah is and what it can teach us about ultimate reality. We will look at the use of hypostatization, letter mysticism, gematria, mythical etymology, and more to understand what is compelling about a system of textuality that expounds infinite meaning from finite texts. This class will include analyzing selections from the Zohar each day, alongside other Kabbalistic sources like Bahir, Luria, and Cordovero.
Pre-requisite: HB500 or permission of the instructor
Synchronous only