It is not often that one can read a book and then drive over to the shul to speak to the author about it. But readers of Rabbi Lawrence Kushner’s “The Way into Jewish Mystical Tradition” can ask him about his thoughtful book while he serves as scholar-in-residence at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco.
The author is a very knowledgeable and ambitious advocate on the subject. He calls the theory and practice of mysticism the “desire to perfect oneself.”
Mysticism is in fact profoundly personal. It denotes an attitude toward reality and a way of understanding, predicated on the possibility of an unmediated and personal communion with God. Jewish mysticism has a long and convoluted history, with many schools of thought contributing to its traditions.
The Kabbalah, Zohar and Chassidism are among the most well-known of these mystical traditions. But Kushner cautions that mysticism is not about magic, superstition or concepts like reincarnation. While mystics claim insight into ultimate realities, they are not sorcerers or wizards.
Why does this book stand out from others? It does not purport to be an intellectual history, but rather an exploratory excursion into selected concepts that are central to expressions of the Jewish mystical tradition. Crisply organizing the book into 50 discrete mystical ideas, the author presents each in a biblical verse, classical maxim or phrase. The selections are organized within sections with such titles as “presence,” “truth,” “consciousness” and “yearning.”
He has grouped them not only for learning, but also for the reader to try them on for size. This leads to Kushner’s three-stage mystic way: first, an inexpressible reverence before the awe and mystery of creation; second, the conviction that sacred text contains the key to unlocking the secret of being; and third, that a resultant yearning can lead to a life of holiness and righteousness.
Kushner’s mystic is filled with high promise. He “does not merely want to do what God wants, the mystic wants to see what God sees, to know what God knows.” A good example of this is the author’s deconstruction of the biblical quandary about the creation of light in Genesis, as incorporated within the mystic idea of “hidden light.”
The Zohar describes “the light of consciousness,” but this is not the familiar physical illumination we take from the fourth day of Creation. Indeed, if God did not create the sources of light (sun, moon, stars) until the fourth day, where did the light come from that God created on the first day? The Zohar offers a daring conclusion: The first light of creation was not optical, but spiritual, the light of consciousness. Thus consciousness comes before everything, a primordial awareness preceded creation. This is the “hidden light.”
The innate poetry of that formulation is enhanced further in realizing its ultimate purpose: not just to interpret but to urge to right action. In a startling reversal of what is commonly taught, the mystical tradition tells us that “you are not religious in order to be a better person, you must be a better person in order to be religious.” Jewish mysticism and ethics are irrevocably intertwined. We receive the Torah to improve ourselves.
Kushner has written an optimistic book, filled with a sense of awe, joy and self-discovery. He believes — and works hard to convince us, with some success — that “beneath the apparent contradictions, brokenness and discord of this everyday world lies a hidden divine unity.” We all experience fleeting glimpses of this ultimate truth, “those little epiphanies that make us grateful to be human.” We are also grateful to Kushner for helping us find the way into Jewish mystical tradition with his useful introduction.
“The Way into Jewish Mystical Tradition” by Lawrence Kushner (180 pages, Jewish Lights Publishing, $21.95.)