Nine and a Half Mystics

Authors| Herbert Weiner
Language| English
Subject| religion, mysticism
Publisher| Collier Books

Publication date

| 1969
Part of a series on

Kabbalah

Concepts

* Ein Sof
* Tzimtzum
* Ohr
* Ayin and Yesh
* Sefirot
* Four Worlds
* Seder hishtalshelut
* Tree of Life
* The path of the flaming sword
* Merkavah
* Jewish angelic hierarchy
* Shekhinah
* Partzufim
* Qlippoth
* Tohu and Tikun
* Sparks of holiness
* Messianic rectification
* Gilgul
* Kabbalistic astrology
* Gematria
* Notarikon
* Temurah
* Names of God in Judaism
* Shemhamphorasch
* Tzadik
* Tzadikim Nistarim
* Anthropomorphism in Kabbalah
* Panentheism

History

|  Pre-Kabbalistic Jewish mysticism

* Tannaim
* Heichalot
* Sefer Yetzirah
* Chassidei Ashkenaz

Medieval

* Bahir
* Toledano tradition
* Prophetic Kabbalah
* Zohar

Kabbalistic commentaries
on the Bible

Mainstream displacement of
rationalism with Kabbalah

Renaissance

Selective influence on
Western thought

* Hermetic Qabalah

Mysticism after
Spanish expulsion

Mystics of
16th-century Safed

* Cordoveran Kabbalah
* Lurianic Kabbalah
* Maharal's thought

Popular Kabbalistic
Mussar

Early modern

* Baal Shem-Nistarim
* Sabbatean mystical heresies
* Emden–Eybeschutz controversy
* Immigration to the Land of Israel
* Traditional Oriental Kabbalists
* Beit El Synagogue
* Eastern European Judaism
* Hasidic Judaism / philosophy
* Lithuanian Jews
* Hasidic-Mitnagdic schism

Modern

* Hasidic dynasties

Mysticism in
religious Zionism

Academic interest in
Jewish mysticism

Non-Orthodox interest in
Jewish mysticism

* English
* James Lees'

Practices

* Torah study
* Mystical exegesis
* Mitzvot
* Minhag
* Customary immersion in mikveh
* Meditation
* Kavanot
* Teshuvah
* Deveikut
* Prayer
* Nusach
* Tikkun Chatzot
* Tikkun Leil Shavuot
* Pilgrimage to Tzadik
* Pilgrimage to holy grave
* Lag BaOmer at Meron
* Asceticism
* Rosicrucianism
* Practical Kabbalah

People

|  100s

* Four Who Entered the Pardes
* Simeon bar Yochai

1100s

* Isaac the Blind
* Azriel

1200s

* Nahmanides
* Abraham Abulafia
* Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla
* Moses de Leon
* Menahem Recanati

1300s

* Bahya ben Asher

1400s
1500s

* Meir ibn Gabbai
* Joseph Karo
* Shlomo Alkabetz
* Moshe Alshich
* Moses ben Jacob Cordovero
* Isaac Luria
* Chaim Vital
* Judah Loew ben Bezalel

1600s

* Isaiah Horowitz
* Abraham Azulai

1700s

* Chaim ibn Attar
* Baal Shem Tov
* Dov Ber of Mezeritch
* Moshe Chaim Luzzatto
* Shalom Sharabi
* Vilna Gaon
* Chaim Joseph David Azulai
* Nathan Adler
* Schneur Zalman of Liadi
* Chaim Volozhin

1800s

* Nachman of Breslov
* Ben Ish Chai
* Shlomo Eliyashiv
* Sholom Dovber Schneersohn
* Yedidyah Raphael Chai Abulafiya
* Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach

1900s

* Abraham Isaac Kook
* Yehuda Ashlag
* Yitzhak Kaduri
* Yechiel Fishel Eisenbach
* Baba Sali
* Menachem Froman
* Chaim Kanievsky
* Menachem Mendel Schneerson
* Gamliel Rabinowitz
* Monsieur Chouchani

Role

|  History

* Torah
* Tanakh
* Prophecy
* Ruach HaKodesh
* Pardes exegesis
* Talmudical hermeneutics
* Midrash

Jewish commentaries
on the Bible

* Oral Torah
* Eras of Rabbinic Judaism
* Generational descent in Halacha
* Generational ascent in Kabbalah
* Rabbinic literature
* Talmudic theology
* Halakha
* Aggadah
* Hakira
* Classic Mussar literature
* Ashkenazi Judaism
* Sephardi Judaism
* Modern Jewish philosophies
* Jewish studies

Topics

* God in Judaism
* Divine transcendence
* Divine immanence
* Free will
* Divine providence

Kabbalistic reasons
for the 613 Mitzvot

* Jewish principles of faith
* Jewish eschatology
* Primary texts

* v
* t
* e

Nine and a Half Mystics: The Kabbala Today is a 1969 book on Jewish mysticism by Rabbi Herbert Weiner. The book includes interviews with a number of Jewish mystics and scholars, as well as the author's encounters with various Jewish groups practicing who incorporate mysticism in their religious practice.

## Nine and a Half Mystics

[edit]

Nine and a Half Mystics explores themes on Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism as well as those Jewish groups where the mystical tradition is active.[1]

Weiner, a Reform[2] rabbi, based the book on his travels to various Jewish communities in his search for Jewish mysticism.[3] For many American Jews, Weiner's work was their first exposure to the Jewish mystical tradition.[4][2]

## Interviews

[edit]

Nine and a Half Mystics includes a number of interviews with Jewish mystics and scholars including:

* Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe
* Dr. Gershom Sholem
* Dr. Martin Buber
* Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook
* Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
* Rabbi Dovid Cohen, "The Nazir"

## Encounters

[edit]

In addition to interviews, Rabbi Weiner also travelled to various Jewish communities where Jewish mysticism is incorporated in religious practice. Weiner visited the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Brooklyn, the Breslov community in New York and Israel, among others.

## See also

[edit]

* Kabbalah

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Kaplan, Dana Evan. Contemporary American Judaism: Transformation and Renewal. Columbia University Press, Aug 13, 2013. Accessed March 7, 2014.
2. ^ a b Rabbi Herbert Weiner. NJ Jewish News. Accessed March 7, 2014.
3. ^ 9 1/2 Mystics: The Kabbala Today Today by Herbert Weiner. Commentary Magazine. Acceded March 7, 2014.
4. ^ Rabbi Herbert Weiner. The Star Ledger. Accessed March 7, 2014.

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template