Jewish Mysticism, Vol. 1 »

This four-volume work by Professor Joseph Dan is a monumental event in the publishing history of English-language reference books on the subject of Jewish mystical thought and practice. Professor Dan's credentials are of the highest order. The recipient of the Israel Prize (considered to be Israel's highest honor), Joseph Dan is the Gershom Scholem Professor of Kabbalah at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and continues to be a visiting professor at some of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the world.

Library Journal

Dan, a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a leading expert in Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah, presents a fundamental work on the history of Jewish mysticism, the first written on such a large scale and one that represents 30 years of work. Dan expounds on the most essential issues of each period from ancient to recent times. The problems he considers include the origins of Jewish mysticism in the biblical, postbiblical, and medieval periods, the succession of ideas and perceptions from one master to another, and schools of Jewish mystics and their reciprocal influences. Dan clarifies the relationship between mysticism and Kabbalah and their place within the Jewish religion. In the final volume, he deals with matters of a more general or comparative nature. Here he lays out the general characteristics of Jewish mysticism, making it possible to compare its character to similar developments in world religions such as Christianity and Islam. Most of the studies in this field have been translated from the Hebrew, and this large work makes the ideas of Dan and other Israeli researchers especially accessible to academics outside of Israel. Unfortunately, though Dan has included a tremendous amount of information, its presentation is not always successful; the prose is scholarly and dry and could have used some editing. Moshe Idel's Messianic Mystics (LJ 10/1/98) is a clearer work on the subject. Dan's work is recommended primarily for academic institutions dealing with any aspect of Jewish studies and secondly for those concerned with general and comparative religion and theology, as well as occult studies. Because it is comprehensive and written in English, it could also be recommended for public libraries.--Hayim Y. Sheynin, Gratz Coll. Lib., Melrose Park, PA