Magic of the Ordinary: Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism »

Rabbi Gershon Winkler, initiated into Jerusalem by the late Kabbalist Rabbi Eliezer Benseon, has devoted his energy over the past decade to reviving and making more accessible the aboriginal elements of Judaism. A frequent lecturer and workshop facilitator in the United States and Israel, Winkler is both a student and practitioner of this lesser-studied dimension of ancient Jewish mystery tradition. He is the author of eleven books on Jewish mysticism, philosophy, and folklore. He lives with his family in the remote wilderness of San Miguel, New Mexico, where he runs the Walking Stick Foundation and Retreat Center.

A spiritual crisis sent Orthodox rabbi Gershon Winkler to remote regions of the Southwest, where he studied with Native American healers. From them he began to recover the long-lost wisdom of what he calls “Aboriginal Judaism”: the religion’s tribal roots. This book tracks his personal journey and draws from a dazzling mix of sources to detail the surprising connections between two seemingly unrelated religions.