Front Matter (PDF) - Stanford University Press

yearlongprogram ended in June 1999, the institute graciously allowed me to
the
an of®ce for the followingyear as well.
retain
the summer of 2000, it was ®nally time to leave the tranquil environment
In
of the institute. Fortunately, Rabbi David Hartman provided me an of®ce
the Shalom Hartman Institute across town, where I spent the followingtwo
at
(2000±2002) in an atmosphere simultaneously peaceful and stimulating.
years
enthusiasm for Torah energizes everyone around him, and I thank him
David's
his support and encouragement, and for his healthy skepticism of mystical
for
I was enriched by my contact with many of the fellows at the Hartman
excess.
especially Donniel Hartman (co-director), Daniel Abrams, Moshe
Institute,
Moshe Idel, Israel Knohl, Levi Lauer, Menachem Lorberbaum, Yair
Halbertal,
Israel Ta-Shma, and Shlomo Naeh. Shlomo was always generous
Lorberbaum,
sharingwith me his immense linguistic knowledge.
in
described in the Translator's Introduction, I have based my English ren-
As
a critical text of the Zohar, which I have constructed by drawingon
deringon
readings from a wide range of manuscripts. I could not have accom-
variant
this task without my indefatigable research assistant, Barry Mark, who
plished
more than ®ve years painstakingly preparing lists of these variants for
spent
®rst two volumes of the translation. I thank him immensely for his years of
the
to this task. Recently, Merav Carmeli has followed in his footsteps,
devotion
a worthy successor, and I am indebted to her as well.
provingherself
Green has carefully read large portions of this translation and
Arthur
criticism and suggestions, for which I am truly grateful. As co-chair
offered
the Academic Committee for the Translation of the Zohar, he has helped
of
the project from its birth.
guide
libraries offered valuable resources, especially the Gershom Scho-
Numerous
Collection and the Institute of Micro®lmed Hebrew Manuscripts, both
lem
in the Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem. I want to
housed
in particular, Esther Liebes (head of the Scholem Collection) for her
thank,
willingness to help, Benjamin Richler (director of the Institute of
constant
Hebrew Manuscripts) alongwith his staff, and Adam Verete for
Micro®lmed
references. Other libraries and collections that provided pre-
checkingobscure
material include: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich; Biblioteca Apostolicacious
Vatican; Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome; Biblioteca Palatina, Parma; Bib-
nationale, Paris; the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford; the
liotheÁque
Library; Cambridge University Library; the Flora Lamson Hewlett
British
of the Graduate Theological Union; the Friedberg Collection, University
Library
of Toronto Library; the GuenzburgCollection of the Russian State Library,
and the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Moscow;
team at Stanford University Press, led by Geoffrey Burn and Norris
The
has been superb to work with and wondrously adept at generating the
Pope,
demandingvolumes of this complex classic. In addition to Geoffrey and
®rst,
Acknowledgments
xxiii
Norris, I want to thank Lowell Britson, Alan Harvey, Randy Hurst, David