Front Matter (PDF) - Stanford University Press

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Abrams Daniel University Bar-Ilan Dan Joseph University Hebrew Elior Rachel University Hebrew Farber-Ginat Asi of Haifa University Fishbane Michael of Chicago University Giller Pinchas of Judaism University Goldreich Amos Aviv University Tel Hallamish Moshe University Bar-Ilan Hellner-Eshed Melila University Hebrew Huss Boaz University Ben-Gurion Idel Moshe University Hebrew Liebes Yehuda University Hebrew Liebes Esther Collection, Jewish National Scholem McGinn Bernard of Chicago University Meroz Ronit Aviv University Tel Mopsik Charles National de la Centre Oron Michal Aviv University Tel Sack Bracha University Ben-Gurion Pedaya Ḥaviva University Ben-Gurion R. Wolfson Elliot York University New Green Arthur Co-Chair, Yehiel Poupko Rabbi Jewish Federation Co-Chair, Pritzker Margot Zohar Education Chair, C. Matt Daniel Zohar Education Translator, Academic Committee for the Translation of the Zohar Recherche Scienti®que Brandeis University of Metropolitan Chicago Project, Inc. Project, Inc. and University Library
ago, I began to study the Torah. As my facility with the text grew, years pursued the midrashic literature of the rabbis, and the interpretations of the I medieval commentators. Eventually, I began to inquire about mystical classic on the Torah. I turned to the Zohar, seekingan English transla- commentaries of its original Aramaic. I soon learned that previous translations not only tion incomplete but also had been undertaken in the early twentieth century. were they did not re¯ect the enormous advances in scholarship since Therefore, by Gershom Scholem and his students. It was at this point that I realized made much I wanted to be able to study the Zohar from an English translation how would draw upon the research and scholarship of the past half-century. I that to sponsor such a translation; the book you hold in your hands is determined result. the its nature and purpose, the Zohar is dif®cult to penetrate. For hundreds By years it was inaccessible to all but a few. Furthermore, after the Sabbatean of of the seventeenth century, the Jewish community became concerned episode the potency of mystical ideas; leaders were anythingbut eager to pro- about the Zohar. Even with the rise of Hasidism as a mystically based movemenmulgate startingin the eighteenth century, the Zohar remained a closed book. bringing the Zohar to the English-reading public wasÐand continues Consequently, to beÐa complex, challenging task. words that can express my appreciation to Daniel C. Matt are found on The page of his translation of the Zohar. His scholarship, his artistry, and his every speak for themselves. You, the reader, are in his debt. poetry odyssey of the past nine years, which will continue for some years to The has been shepherded through a tangle of legal and administrative steps come, the able and devoted skill of Glen Miller. with Arthur Green, who co-chairs the Academic Committee for the Professor of the Zohar, has been a thoughtful and faithful counselor from the Translation of the project. inception husband Tom, while not a student of the Zohar, recognized the magni- My and the importance of this project. He has kept us ever vigilant and tude with his insightful questions and thoughts and his constant support. focused Foreword S ome vii
Page 1 and 2: ZVS ZFHF The Pritzker Edition ZOHAR
Page 3: To Margot
Page 8 and 9: conception through gestation and ®
Page 10 and 11: the same procedure, but upon examin
Page 12 and 13: scribal errors or glosses, but some
Page 14 and 15: and rich ambiguity. Here the commen
Page 16 and 17: translatingbiblical citations, I ha
Page 18 and 19: One divorced Adam, or not.'' 37 As
Page 21 and 22: all the people who have helped me b
Page 23 and 24: yearlongprogram ended in June 1999,
Page 25 and 26: xxv
Page 27 and 28: Zohar is the great medieval Jewish
Page 29 and 30: of the nuances of Hebrew and Aramai
Page 31 and 32: in the settingof the rabbinic world
Page 33 and 34: elements that seem contradictory to
Page 35 and 36: is to discover the mysterious. The
Page 37 and 38: The Franco-Rhenish tradition also h
Page 39 and 40: thought, Rabbi Isaac spun an elabor
Page 41 and 42: epresents a radical departure from
Page 43 and 44: in nature, describingit negatively.
Page 45 and 46: to manifest is Ḥesed, the grace o
Page 47 and 48: in the same manner as those above t
Page 49 and 50: dark on her own but receivingand gi
Page 51 and 52: of the Zohar's teachings was indeed
Page 53 and 54: (homiletical body) of the text, he
Page 55 and 56: the past, lackingin true faith. Thi
Page 57 and 58:
seem to be rather arbitrarily place
Page 59 and 60:
author stood in the process of undr
Page 61 and 62:
of a desire to reveal secrets that
Page 63 and 64:
place that might call to mind a ver
Page 65 and 66:
is this exile that the kabbalists a
Page 67 and 68:
passages where Moses becomes the ka
Page 69 and 70:
``Eden'' (or ``Lebanon'') whence th
Page 71 and 72:
in readingthe text is that of maste
Page 73 and 74:
who probably immigrated to Safed fr
Page 75 and 76:
of rebellingagainst Talmudic author
Page 77:
of Near Eastern JudaismÐas a sourc
show all

Front Matter (PDF) - Stanford University Press

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?