Lecture
Thursday, Jan 17, 2008, 7 PM

Boaz Huss

Professor at The Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought, Ben Gurion University of the Negev

The New Age of Kabbalah. The Revival of Jewish Mysticism in the late 20th Century

Moderator: Prof. Dr. Christoph Schulte, Potsdam

In recent years a remarkable revival of interest in Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism transpired in Israel, the United States, and other, mostly Western countries. Numerous Kabbalistic Yeshivot, institutes and study groups operate in Israel, America and Europe, in which thousands of people study and practice Kabbalah. Thousands of books about Kabbalah were published in the last decades, hundreds of Kabbalistic internet sites can be found on the Web, and various Kabbalistic themes are integrated in today’s popular culture. The lecture will examine some of the major features of contemporary Kabbalah, and the context of the revival of Jewish Mysticism in today’s culture. We will discuss the relation of contemporary Kabbalah to earlier forms of Jewish Mysticism, as well as its relation to other contemporary culture formation, foremostly, to Postmodern culture and New Age spiritualities.

Boaz Huss is a senior lecturer at the Goren-Goldstein Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His forthcoming book Like the Splendor of the Sky: the reception history of the Zohar and the construction of its symbolic value will be published soon in Ben Zvi Institute Press. He is currently engaged in a research project Major Trends in 20th Kabbalah, funded by Israeli Science Foundation.

The event will be held in English