Connecting to God: Ancient Kabbalah and Modern Psychology »

Abner Weiss is a clinical member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists and a member of the American Psychological Association. He was senior rabbi of Durban, South Africa, the Riverdale Jewish Center in New York, Beth Jacob Congregation of Beverly Hills, and the Western Marble Arch Synagogue in London. He has held professorships in Jewish thought at the University of Natal, Yeshiva University, and London University and has served as chief judge of the Rabbinical Court (Beth Din) of Los Angeles, president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, and vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America.

Rabbi Weiss has studied Kabbalah since 1965 and given lectures on it in North America, South Africa, Australia, and England. He lives in Los Angeles and is rabbi of the Westwood Village Synagogue and copresident of Village Mental Health Associates.

Distinguished rabbi, marriage and family therapist, kabbalist, and popular lecturer, Abner Weiss is extraordinarily qualified to write this book. In Connecting to God, he elucidates the teachings of Kabbalah, showing how the Ten Sefirot of the Tree of Life are the transformers of divine energy in our bodies and the building blocks of creation-Weiss calls them "our spiritual genome."

He has created a psychological system and diagnostic method from kabbalistic texts, and he uses these clinically tested interventions in his therapeutic practice. Here he tells twenty-eight stories of people he has helped liberate from their dysfunctional behavior, empowering them to achieve spiritual growth. With Rabbi Weiss as our guide, we can use this kabbalistic approach to psychology to inform our lives with its insights, rebalance what is out of kilter, and heal the emotional wounds we have suffered. Connecting to God is a wise, wonderful, and transformational book.

Publishers Weekly

Armed with advance degrees in Jewish philosophy and psychology, as well as decades of work as both a licensed therapist and a congregational rabbi, Weiss thoughtfully shares the fruits of 40 years of Kabbalah study. He merges psychological analysis with a keen awareness of kabbalistic relationships as illustrated by the 10 sefirot (or spiritual roots) of the Tree of Life. In sharing his findings, he gracefully tempers his academic approach with dozens of examples (taken from patients and congregants, as well as the Bible) that illustrate the links between common and rare psychological disorders and imbalances within the development of what he has termed the "spiritual genomes" within all of us. Not for the red-string, pop culture set, this serious examination of psychology and spirituality includes references to and discussions of the ancient and contemporary Jewish sages-including Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Elijah, the Vilna Gaon, Maimonides, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan and Rabbi Schneur Zalman-and a wide array of luminaries in philosophy and psychology, such as Hegel and Jung. Those looking for a more intellectually rigorous approach to spiritual self-help and those in the fields of philosophy and psychology will find this a valuable read. (Sept.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.