Moshe Idel
Romanian-born Israeli scholar of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah, longtime professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and author of influential works such as Kabbalah: New Perspectives; recipient of major prizes including the Israel Prize.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. Absorbing Perfections
Kabbalah and Interpretation
A study of Jewish mysticism that explores how texts, rituals, and material culture were understood to internalize and reflect divine perfections, transforming interpretation into a mode of spiritual embodiment. It traces metaphors of ingestion, vision, and inscription through which readers and practitioners absorb sanctity, showing how these practices shape creativity, authority, and aesthetics. Situating kabbalistic hermeneutics alongside Neoplatonic and Renaissance currents, it rethinks the relationship between language, symbols, and divine presence across medieval and early modern contexts.
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