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...surprising. Matt is embarked on a solo journey through one of the most influential--and maddeningly difficult--works in the history of religious literature. After six years of his labor, Stanford University Press has published the first two books of his translation of the Zohar, the wellspring of Jewish mysticism, or Cabala. He will do nine more volumes, all rendered from the Zohar's original Aramaic. The work has received ecstatic advance reviews ("A superbly fashioned translation and a commentary that opens up the Zohar to the English-speaking world," blurbed lit-crit colossus Harold Bloom), and two weeks...
Remarkably, his book caught on. By 1600 the Jewish world saw the Zohar as its third holiest text, preceded only by the Bible and the Talmud. Cabalistic study and meditation flourished, and zoharic principles formed the basis of Hasidic Judaism. The Zohar's use faded as Judaism absorbed the just-the-facts influence of the European Enlightenment, but it left behind dramatic mementos such as the Bar Mitzvah coming-of-age celebration and the gorgeous Friday-evening song welcoming God's "Sabbath bride." The Zohar also informs the current Cabalistic resurgence, so fascinating to Jews and spiritual adventurers like Madonna...
Enter Matt. By 1995 he had taught Jewish mysticism at the university level, written a book comparing Cabala and scientific cosmology, and translated some Zohar excerpts. Nevertheless he was stunned when Margot Pritzker, wife of the chairman of the Hyatt Corp., who was studying the book, offered to bankroll a full translation. "I told her, optimistically, that it might take 18 years," Matt says. "And she said, 'You're not scaring...
...Israeli public opinion hasn't been affected so much by the images of burning synagogues in the evacuated settlements. The synagogues were deconsecrated before the last Israeli soldiers withdrew. Still, Israelis are reminded of tragic episodes in Jewish history when they see a synagogue burning. Certainly, the synagogues have been a problematic issue. Many rabbis argue that it's forbidden for Jews to destroy a synagogue, unless another is being built. The chief rabbi of the army was able to find a rather hair-splitting justification for dismantling the synagogues entirely, which the army went to Israel's High Court...
...book of travels through Tibet, a libretto and the monumental novel A Suitable Boy. This fall, Seth releases his latest foray into a new genre: a memoir titled Two Lives, which tells the true story of how his Indian granduncle Shanti fell in love with and married a Jewish-German woman after World War II. The book will weave together history, race and love, mixing poignant family biography with personal memoir, all with the author's inimitable style. Expect Seth to master yet another method...