Front Matter (PDF) - Stanford University Press

all the people who have helped me begin to plumb the Zohar would
thank
this book's binding. So here I will briefly trace my path and acknowledge
burst
of those who have helped me alongthe way.
some
father, of blessed memory, Rabbi Hershel Jonah Matt, taught me that
My
is real, and that by studyingTorah you can experience Shekhinah, the
God
Presence. (I have sketched his life and assembled his writings in Walk-
Divine
Humbly with God.) My mother, Gustine, has always been a fountain of love
ing
a source of strength; I am grateful for her deep wisdom.
and
®rst ventured into Sefer ha-Zohar in 1970 duringmy junior year abroad at
I
University in Jerusalem. The thick volumes were simultaneously for-
Hebrew
and alluring; deciphering the Aramaic text was a puzzle, a challenge, a
bidding
Soon I fell in love with the Zohar, captivated by its lush imagery and
quest.
magic. My teachers that year in Kabbalah included Joseph Dan, Efraim
poetic
and Rivka Schatz-UffenheimerÐand a kabbalist, Rav Toledano. I
Gottlieb,
them all for guiding me into the orchard.
thank
Jerusalem I returned to Brandeis University, where I completed my
From
degree and then, after some European travel, plunged into graduate
undergraduate
study in Jewish mysticism with Alexander Altmann, a superb Wissenschaft
and a gem of a man. He directed my doctoral dissertation, which consisted
scholar
of a critical edition of The Book of Mirrors, a previously unpublished
Hebrew commentary on the Torah by David ben Judah he-
fourteenth-century
I chose to edit this text because it included the ®rst extended transla-
Ḥasid.
of the Zohar, from Aramaic to Hebrew. I was encouraged to undertake
tions
project by Gershom Scholem, while servingas his teachingassistant in the
this
of 1975. fall
I completed my dissertation, my friend Arthur Green invited me to
After
an annotated translation of selections from the Zohar for the Paulist
compose
as one volume in their Classics of Western Spirituality. Years earlier, Art
Press,
initiated me into the mystical thought of Hasidism, which stimulated me to
had
its roots in the Zohar. I am grateful for his insight and guidance over
uncover
Acknowledgments
T
o
xxi
the years, and for demonstratinghow to combine scholarship and spirituality.