New Kabbalah for Women » (REV)

Perle Besserman is the author of several classics on Jewish mysticism, women spirituality, and Zen, including Kabbalah: The Way of the Jewish Mystic, Teachings of the Jewish Mystics, Pilgrimage, an autobiographical novel, Owning It: Zen and the Art of Facing Life, and Grassroots Zen with Manfred Steger. She has written for The Village Voice, Lilith, East West, and is also known for her short fiction. She is the founding co-teacher of the Princeton Area Zen Group, and is currently living in Melbourne, Australia.

The red bracelet: it graces the wrists of numerous celebrities - from Madonna to Britney Spears - who have converted to the spiritual practice of Kabbalah. But what is Kabbalah and how can women apply it to their own lives?

In A New Kabbalah for Women, bestselling author and teacher of Jewish mysticism and meditation, Perle Besserman, shares a feminine approach to spirituality. Since the time of Moses, Jewish mysticism has been barred to women, and Shekhinah, the feminine side of God, has been forced underground. Now, many women are adapting traditional mystical practices in radical new ways. Besserman is at the forefront of this revolution. In this book she traces the history of female-centered worship and tells the story of searching for her own path to truth. Combining practices from the Kabbalah with meditation, Besserman walks readers through step-by-step rituals to find their own personal connection with the divine.

Publishers Weekly

From an early age Besserman rebelled against the idea, fostered in her ultra-Orthodox yeshiva (school), that "Jewish women served God by having sons and being 'footstools' to their husbands in heaven after they died." She didn't want to be anyone's footstool-she wanted to see God. Unfortunately, because she was female, those men with the answers refused to acknowledge, much less answer, her questions on spirituality and mysticism, leading her to seek answers in hatha yoga, Zen, the Bhagavad Gita and other Eastern texts, until she finally met a rabbi willing to teach her. Besserman has spent a lifetime honing, teaching and writing of a deep intrinsic spirituality that has gripped her soul from childhood-expertise that shines through in this step-by-step Kabbalah guide for women. She recognizes that for women to be empowered with a strong sense of self, they must overcome the illusions they've been fed of inferiority, as well as remember the "Talmudic claim that the ways to Truth are as numerous and varied as human faces." There is an everywoman quality to Besserman's quest-one that instills an instant camaraderie among women readers seeking spiritual answers, and that makes her meditations and suggested paths seem natural and intuitive. Don't judge this book by its pop iconic cover-it's thoughtful, insightful and deeply spiritual. (Jan.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.