Torah and Tantra at 2 a.m, June 1st - The Jewish Book of the Dead at 10 p.m. Come late - Come early
Dear friends,
On Thrusday, June 1st, I will be teaching 2 classess at the New York Kollel for Tikkun Leil Shavuot.
Ma'ariv services begin at 8:30 p.m. Classes begin at 9:00 p.m.
There will be classes offered all night until 5:00 a.m.
Come for an hour, stay all night.
The New York Kollel is inviting you to join them for a night of study commerating the receiving of Torah at Mount Sinai.
Everything is FREE - no prior registration necessary. Bring I.D.
My 10 p.m. class is called DEATH AND DESIRE: THE JEWISH BOOK OF THE DEAD.
We will explore the classic Jewish text on death and dying, Ma'avor YaBok, written by Rabbi Aaron Berechiah b. Moses of Modena, first published in 1626 in Mantua, Italy. While many scholars reference this text, it has never fully been translated into English.
For the first time ever, you will have the opportunity to study key portions of it in a new english translation Like other "books of the dead" (the most famous of these being the Tibetan Book of the Dead) the Jewish Book of the Dead was written to be used as a guide for both the living and the dead.
As a text for the living, it offers us the possibility to explore territories of the psyche prior to our actual biological death.The experiential practice of dying, or "dying before dying" has several important consequences for us today. First of all, it empowers us to begin to liberate ourselves from the fear of death and helps to transform our attitude towards death and dying.
Thus it prepares us to live a fuller, deeper life. And, it helps pave the way for understanding and insight not only into our own biological demise but the death of others as well. In this way, it allows us to explore our own psychological and spiritual confrontation with death, on the one hand, and provides a unique glimpse into the art of death and dying from the heart of the Jewish spiritual tradition.
For those brave souls who study all night (i guess you have to be a mystic or an insomniac or drink many cups of coffee -)
my second class will begin at 2 a.m.
Torah and Tantra: An Ongoing Dialogue
The interest in Eastern Religions continues to be a widespread phenomenon among Jews across the spectrum. Where does the voice of Torah unfold in this conversation? What can Tantra learn from Torah? Some Jewish scholars working in the culture of questions go beyond the known and seek to elicit new revelations of Torah - hiddushei Torah.
The art of the question in the Jewish tradition, represented by such amazing thinkers as
Rabbi Abraham Abulafia, whose kabbalistic techniques of zerufim essentially created what we now call "ecstatic or prophetic kabbalah" was influenced by several religious traditions. Rabbi Abulafia was clearly influenced by Sufi writings - and used very similiar teaching techniques developed and emphasized by the Sufi tradition. And he was also, probably indirectly, influenced by the Indian shunya, which by the time of Rabbi Abulafia was known as the number zero.
Just like other numerals, zero had many synonyms in Hinduism - ananata, the infinitie, vishnupada, Vishnu's foot just to name a few. And the Shunya-chakra, meaning literally "emptiness circle" is still currently used in most notations in India and southeast Asia.
The shunya-bindu, literally the zero dot, used in the regions of Kashmir, represented the archetypical symbol of the dot - the universe in its non-manifested form before its transformation into the world of appearance not unlike Ein SoF in the Kabbalistic tradition.
If you are still awake, we might actually discover and interpret one of the fundemental tools of humankind - alphabets that also have a written position numeration. Perhaps we can stand again, for one brief moment, at Sinia, and on the banks of the Ganges rivers, looking and listening to find a hiddush Torah amid the lightening and thunder iand the flowing rush of the holy river.
Some contemporary Jewish scholars explored uncharted territories of the mind and soul as they travelled through India and South East Asia, particularly - Burma and Thailand. Working in the culture of questions, several of them became a generative part of contemporary Western Indology - thus learning to articulate the mediation of Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism. They began to make connections between Jerusalem, Benares and Bankok.
Tonight, we will seek - through the wisdom of questions, to explore the emerging cross-cultural resonances among several highly developed modes of being that are reached through certain rituals and meditation, study and prayer in all three spiritual traditions
The culture of questions keeps the door open, always allowing an expanding dialogue between diverse spiritual traditions.
So come and imagine - Torah and Tantra - and join in the infinite joyous dance of Shiva, Shechinah and Samadhi.
Hope to see you there.
The New Yew York Kollel is located at the Hebrew Union College, One West 4th Street between Broadway and Mercer.
Subway W,R to 8th Street; a,C,E,F, V to West 4th Street; 6 to Astor place.
For more information see: New York Kollel Spring 2006HUC.edu Kollel Home or contact me at jsaltzman1@yahoo.com
New York Kollel " Torah Study for the city that never sleeps"
On Thrusday, June 1st, I will be teaching 2 classess at the New York Kollel for Tikkun Leil Shavuot.
Ma'ariv services begin at 8:30 p.m. Classes begin at 9:00 p.m.
There will be classes offered all night until 5:00 a.m.
Come for an hour, stay all night.
The New York Kollel is inviting you to join them for a night of study commerating the receiving of Torah at Mount Sinai.
Everything is FREE - no prior registration necessary. Bring I.D.
My 10 p.m. class is called DEATH AND DESIRE: THE JEWISH BOOK OF THE DEAD.
We will explore the classic Jewish text on death and dying, Ma'avor YaBok, written by Rabbi Aaron Berechiah b. Moses of Modena, first published in 1626 in Mantua, Italy. While many scholars reference this text, it has never fully been translated into English.
For the first time ever, you will have the opportunity to study key portions of it in a new english translation Like other "books of the dead" (the most famous of these being the Tibetan Book of the Dead) the Jewish Book of the Dead was written to be used as a guide for both the living and the dead.
As a text for the living, it offers us the possibility to explore territories of the psyche prior to our actual biological death.The experiential practice of dying, or "dying before dying" has several important consequences for us today. First of all, it empowers us to begin to liberate ourselves from the fear of death and helps to transform our attitude towards death and dying.
Thus it prepares us to live a fuller, deeper life. And, it helps pave the way for understanding and insight not only into our own biological demise but the death of others as well. In this way, it allows us to explore our own psychological and spiritual confrontation with death, on the one hand, and provides a unique glimpse into the art of death and dying from the heart of the Jewish spiritual tradition.
For those brave souls who study all night (i guess you have to be a mystic or an insomniac or drink many cups of coffee -)
my second class will begin at 2 a.m.
Torah and Tantra: An Ongoing Dialogue
The interest in Eastern Religions continues to be a widespread phenomenon among Jews across the spectrum. Where does the voice of Torah unfold in this conversation? What can Tantra learn from Torah? Some Jewish scholars working in the culture of questions go beyond the known and seek to elicit new revelations of Torah - hiddushei Torah.
The art of the question in the Jewish tradition, represented by such amazing thinkers as
Rabbi Abraham Abulafia, whose kabbalistic techniques of zerufim essentially created what we now call "ecstatic or prophetic kabbalah" was influenced by several religious traditions. Rabbi Abulafia was clearly influenced by Sufi writings - and used very similiar teaching techniques developed and emphasized by the Sufi tradition. And he was also, probably indirectly, influenced by the Indian shunya, which by the time of Rabbi Abulafia was known as the number zero.
Just like other numerals, zero had many synonyms in Hinduism - ananata, the infinitie, vishnupada, Vishnu's foot just to name a few. And the Shunya-chakra, meaning literally "emptiness circle" is still currently used in most notations in India and southeast Asia.
The shunya-bindu, literally the zero dot, used in the regions of Kashmir, represented the archetypical symbol of the dot - the universe in its non-manifested form before its transformation into the world of appearance not unlike Ein SoF in the Kabbalistic tradition.
If you are still awake, we might actually discover and interpret one of the fundemental tools of humankind - alphabets that also have a written position numeration. Perhaps we can stand again, for one brief moment, at Sinia, and on the banks of the Ganges rivers, looking and listening to find a hiddush Torah amid the lightening and thunder iand the flowing rush of the holy river.
Some contemporary Jewish scholars explored uncharted territories of the mind and soul as they travelled through India and South East Asia, particularly - Burma and Thailand. Working in the culture of questions, several of them became a generative part of contemporary Western Indology - thus learning to articulate the mediation of Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism. They began to make connections between Jerusalem, Benares and Bankok.
Tonight, we will seek - through the wisdom of questions, to explore the emerging cross-cultural resonances among several highly developed modes of being that are reached through certain rituals and meditation, study and prayer in all three spiritual traditions
The culture of questions keeps the door open, always allowing an expanding dialogue between diverse spiritual traditions.
So come and imagine - Torah and Tantra - and join in the infinite joyous dance of Shiva, Shechinah and Samadhi.
Hope to see you there.
The New Yew York Kollel is located at the Hebrew Union College, One West 4th Street between Broadway and Mercer.
Subway W,R to 8th Street; a,C,E,F, V to West 4th Street; 6 to Astor place.
For more information see: New York Kollel Spring 2006HUC.edu Kollel Home or contact me at jsaltzman1@yahoo.com
New York Kollel " Torah Study for the city that never sleeps"
posted by Reb Josh @ 6:50 AM
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