The Essentials of Kabbalah: Course I.
Everything you need to know about Kabbalah, its ideas and practice.
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The Essentials of Kabbalah
We will outline three prime areas in the elaboration and practice of Kabbalah: 1) The evolution, development and structure of the five planes of reality outlined in Kabbalah (the Divine blueprint); 2) Interactions between elements within each plane of reality and between the various planes of reality themselves; 3) Inspiration and transcendence in Kabbalah (communion and synthesis of the soul with God).
All of the lectures will attempt to address the question, “what does this mean for me and my life?”
The Curriculum
Course I (beginning Sept. 3d. 2018). This course examines the nature and meaning of Kabbalah and its various subdivisions, its Biblical and prophetic origins, and a brief overview of the sources of Kabbalistic wisdom, the reasons and prerequisites for studying it, two approaches to Kabbalah and the goal of Jewish Mysticism.
Course II continues with some of the early works and schools of Kabbalah, including the Prophecy of Ezekiel, the Heichalot literature and the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation), the Bahir and the Zohar, and the prophetic school of Rabbi Abraham Abulafia.
Course III examines the two greatest modern Kabbalists and their works:
a) Rabbi Moshe Cordovero and his systematization of Jewish mystical teachings;
b) The innovative teachings of the founder of modern Kabbalah, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (the Arizal) and his disciples, and some of their fundamental doctrines.
Course IV presents the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and his followers, the Chassidic masters, through the modern era. We will examine the systems of Chabad, Breslov, Komarna and others.
Course V will deal with a more in-depth examination of some of the main concepts and themes in Kabbalah, including Divine Providence, Reincarnation, the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life, Nature and Miracle.
The final section of this course will be an opportunity to have a one-on-one meeting via video or audio conferencing with Rabbi Miller where you can ask any questions you may have. This is available to those who complete all five courses.
Your Instructor
Rabbi Moshe Miller was born in South Africa and received his yeshivah education in Israel and America.
He is a prolific author and translator, with more than twenty books to his name on a wide variety of topics, including a new, authoritative, annotated translation of the Zohar, and a translation of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero's classic Tomer Devorah with original commentary and annotation (Targum Press). He is currently working on a commentary on the Sefer Yetzirah, an ancient kabbalistic classic.
He has also written numerous articles and is the author of one of the most popular JLI courses ever, "The Kabbalah of Character." He lectures on numerous topics, but particularly on topics associated with Kabbalah and Kabbalistic psychology.
He inspires, coaches and guides clients according to a proprietary Kabbalistic model he developed. He currently lives in Chicago