Kabbalah: A Love Story

Rabbi Harold Kushner's 2007 mystical novel is more than a spiritual romance (although it reads quite well as one); it is a celebration of Jewish mysticism and spiritual insight that uses rich metaphor and prose to immerse the reader in an experience rather than just tell a story. Interwoven plots, historical revelations, and profound insight make "Kabbalah, A Love Story" an entertaining introduction to Jewish mysticism. The most profound insight is also one of the simplest- "People become mystics ... for one of three reasons: because they've had a mystical experience, because they want one, or because they're in love."Although the book offers only a brief introduction to a very complex subject, Kushner's spiritual novel can help a reader new to Jewish traditions understand the power and allure of the Kabbalah. In the end, Kalman discovers that "knowing ultimate truth and giving yourself to your lover are effectively identical. You move from this World of Separation to the World of Unity by giving yourself away, and once you can do that, new life is the reward."My take: Kushner's first novel operates on many levels at once, and all deal with love. The late-blossoming romance between Kalman and Isabel parallels another love story in 13th-century Spain that suggests how the Zohar came to be written. However, the greatest love story to me is Kalman's (and Kushner's) love for the Zohar itself. To read "Kabbalah, A Love Story" is to immerse one's self in the magic of Jewish mysticism, where we discover our true nature only by opening ourselves to love.The story feels like magical realism in spiritual expression, rich with metaphors that help expose essential truths- "That's the way it is with a good book: Just when you think you've read all its words, the damn thing falls apart in your hands and you have to start all over again." The novel suffers from a predictable plot and stiff characters, but the beauty of the message, the pull of those multi-layered love stories, and the powerful questions Kushner poses both engaged and challenged me to the last page.

"Kabbalah: A Love Story" is a beautiful book. I enjoyed it while reading, and have continued to think of it often. If John Irving were Jewish, this book could have been written by him.The story of Rabbi Kalman Stern is told on several levels. As a man, he lost his wife's love and has not found another in two decades. As a scholar, he obsesses over a letter he found inside a 1697 printing of the Zohar, which talks to Kalman's craving for a meaning--to his life, to Jews, to human suffering in general. This quest for meaning takes him across the paths of other actors, both in the present time of the story and in the past--near and distant. His journey does not necessarily arrive at answers, but clarity somehow emerges, at it often does with the accumulation of life's experiences--joyous and painful alike.The protagonist, Kalman, is as real as any character across every genre of literature, deep and thoughtful and memorable, and is sourly missed once "The End" comes about. And while the story revolves around Jewish mysticism, history, and the delicious mix of heartache and humor through which the People of the Book have commonly experienced both individual and national life, this novel is written with an artful hand and is accessible to any reader who might lack knowledge of Judaism but appreciates a delightful story.Perhaps this book should have been titled "Kabbalah: A Lovable Story."This review is by Avraham Azrieli, Author of "The Jerusalem Inception" and other novels.

I'd long suspected that there were connections between the cosmology of yoga and that of Genesis, but every attempt to tease out that connection via traditional Jewish sources inevitably led me through a convoluted maze of scholarly and/or mystical intellectualism that I found incomprehensible. In this beautiful novel, Kushner offers a different path; one that is intuitive and uncomplicated while nonetheless being well-researched. And, in his discussions of the Zohar, my suspected connection is laid out clearly and with no room for doubt: The Infinite Mystery, in order to love, be loved and create, "as if" becomes the dual principles of light-seed (masculine consciousness principle) and world-to-become (feminine matter principle; potentia, potency) through which creation, experience and self-exploration can occur. And, of course, it's all interconnected.For this alone I thank Rabbi Kushner; it was more than enough reason to read the bookl But his work also informs and satisfies on many other levels, bringing his revelations to impact on one's personal experience, forcing the reader to sort of down-shift the mind and open up to deeper ways of knowing in order to really flow with what reader and writer are co-creating. I'll cherish this work for a long time to come.

This small, inconspicuous book has multiple storylines and a lot of wisdom to share. I would not recommend it for serious students of Kabbalah. One issue with the book is that the author switches frequently between reality and imagination (or mystical experience). It can be disorienting.

Good read ... not quite what I "expected," but in a way, that's a good thing. I really did enjoy this book ... I even read it all the way through (grin). I profess to be a "Christian," but this kind of book helped me to even better appreciate the variety and richness of our "spiritual heritage." We have so much to be thankful for ... if we can only see it. I have also read other books by Kushner and have liked them as well.

Le début n'est pas si facile, d'autant que le résumé fourni n'est pas du tout représentatif du livre. Il y a incontestablement une part didactique sur la kabbale, mais on se laisse entrainer volontiers jusqu'au bout, le rythme s'amplifie au fur et à mesure;, mêlant diverses époques.