J. Immanuel Schochet

We can now return to the earlier questions. The line can and must be drawn in the context of an honest, objective and critical self-evaluation. The line can and must be drawn in the context of a frank and open pursuit of truth, regardless of what the cons...

I would define "cult" as any form of faith or belief that is based on an unfounded commitment: a "blind belief," a "blind leap of faith." To be sure, the believer may be altogether sincere. The doctrines or teachings espoused may appear altogether noble. ...

Many have already observed that mysticism may move man into various and varying directions: some to conservatism, others to revolution; some to deeper commitments, others to anarchy and nihilism. For some the experience is a rediscovery of self, enhancing...

This leads to our basic problem: how authentic is the experience? How reliable are the "vibrations" and how valid are the conclusions? How and where do we draw the line between the authentic and the spurious, between the reliable and the deceptive, the tr...

On the Day of Judgment, when the Holy One, blessed be He, shall judge the whole world in the Valley of Yehoshaphat... the Holy One, blessed be He, shall say (to man): 'My son .... did you look into the Merkavah? Did you look into the Sublime? For there is...

The difficult and complex concepts and doctrines of Jewish Mysticism are all-pervasive in Chassidism. This fact, however, must not deter either the teaching or the learning of it. There is a unique merit, an objectively purifying, edifying and invigoratin...

The Baal Shem Tov's vision in essence reflects an ancient premise of the mystics, as stated in the Zohar: "And they that are wise shall shine as the splendor of the firmament" (Daniel 12:3) with this work of [R. Shimon bar Yochai], i.e., the Book of the Z...

The century following the year 5250 - referred to above - witnessed a phenomenal flourishing and revolutionary expansion in the study of, and preoccupation with, the Kabbalah. It was the age of R. Mosheh Cordovero, whose expository works - of remarkably l...

A new era began with the rise of R. Israel Baal Shem Tov who revealed and propagated the teachings of Chassidism. In this new stage mysticism was popularized on a much wider scale. Chassidism made it possible that not only the discerning scholar but every...

The Zohar's vision of the overall study of Pnimiyut haTorah is not one of merely a formal acceptance in principle or of a transcendental acquaintance, but of an immanent and all-pervasive understanding and comprehension. When R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi int...