Moshe Idel, considered the world’s leading scholar of Jewish mysticism by many, joins us in conversation to discuss his unique relationship to the texts of Jewish mysticism, his psychedelics experiences and the role of mystical experiences in the study of mysticism, Jewish Mysticism’s relationship to other mystical traditions, ‘Unio Mystica’ in Judaism and the techniques employed to achieve it, the Divine Feminine and the centrality of Mitzvot in Kabbalah and lastly whether he finds any truth, meaning or beauty in mysticism. Join us for this momentous conversation.

Moshe Idel is a Senior Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute and the Max Cooper Professor of Jewish Thought at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Professor Idel has served as a visiting professor and researcher at universities and institutions worldwide, including Yale, Harvard, and Princeton universities in the United States, and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris.
Professor Idel’s book, Ben: Sonship and Jewish Mysticism, won the 2007 National Jewish Book Award, and was published by the Institute’s Kogod Library of Judaic Studies. In total, he has published over one hundred books, translated into a dozen different languages.
Amongst a long list of professional achievements, Professor Idel was a recipient of the Rothschild Prize for Jewish studies in 2012, and was elected to the Israel Academy for Sciences and Humanities in 2006. In 1999, he became an Israel Prize laureate for excellent achievement in the field of Jewish philosophy.

00:00 Excerpt
00:33 Overview
00:53 Biographical
08:23 The Accidental Scholar
11:15 Reading Manuscripts
13:23 Meeting Scholem
17:03 New Perspectives
20:59 Documentation
22:15 The Enigma
27:54 Instability of Texts
32:26 ‘Phenomenological’
37:28 Communicating with Kabbalists
39:03 Experiencing with the Mystics
40:35 Easy Experiences
41:39 Abulafia
48:11 Unio Mystica
52:04 Jewish Unio Mystica
53:47 Techniques
54:32 The Common
57:08 Whence the Drive?
1:03:00 Definition
1:02:32 Continuity
1:06:36 Hans Jonas
1:08:22 Traditionalism
1:09:10 Inner Readings
1:12:15 Divine Feminine
1:17:58 Mitzvot
1:19:48 Terrestrial Mysticism
1:21:25 Unique to Jewish Mysticism?
1:23:14 The Essence of Jewish Mysticism?
1:24:28 Italian Kabbalists
1:25:58 Perennialism & Eranos
1:30:29 Unity?
1:32:08 Beyond Particularism?
1:34:09 Truth?
1:36:49 Meaning?
1:38:42 Hasidism Ashkenaz
1:45:10 The Besht
1:47:36 Lightning Round
1:58:15 Jewish Mysticism and other Mysticism
2:03:36 Final Questions
2:05:14 Thank you
2:06:34 Beauty

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