Product Description
Illumined in this fascinating work are the centuries of efforts by Kabbalists to discover the secrets of G-d and the universe through symbols of the physical world and the mysteries of language - a mammoth search set against a background of Jewish life in Spain, Portugal, Germany, and the rest of Europe. Brought to life are such remarkable personalities as Shabbetai Zevi, the 17^th-century pseudo-Messiah who raised the Jewish world to near ecstasy before plunging it into disillusion; and the charismatic Jacob Frank, who threatened to disastrously divide the Jewish religion. We learn the connection between the Kabbalah and such haunting legends as the Dybbuk, the Golem, and Lilith, as well as the relationship to the practice of white magic, palm reading, and Satanism.

Long cloaked in obscurity, the Kabbalah is revealed by this book to contain a suggestive power that still entrances both the intellect and the imagination.