The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Volume 1 - Unlocking the Ancient Secrets of Jewish Mysticism

fdfd: As a student of the Zohar, this is a great starting point, it is nicely constructed with footnotes, cross referencing other areas, for future elaboration.
It leaves you thinking.

Beautiful delivery and presentation

United Kingdom on Nov 13, 2022

Lilli G.: So many years of hard work have certainly paid out. The Zohar was only available to Torah scholars and made his way to us "normal people" by this translation and some dedicated people. So many thanks an appreciations to all those who were involved making this happen. It's not a book to simply read it. It requires deep understanding and probably also the wisdom of understanding as some lines in the book state it. In any case an amazing work and book for anyone who is willing to dive deep into the wisdom of the creation.

Germany on Nov 20, 2021

A B.H.(class B) shareholder: Der Zohar wird hier aus den aramäischen Urtexten neu übersetzt. Der Autor strebt dieselbe bilderreiche Sprache an, wie sie der Urtext hat. Er mischt kein NewAge-Gedöns hinein, wie das bei M. Berg leider teilweise der Fall ist - diese Übersetzung wäre vor 50 Jahren (vor NewAge) bereits lesbar gewesen und wird es wohl in 100 Jahren auch noch sein. Dieser erste Band bearbeitet einen Teil der Genesis (Bereshit), mehr nicht, so detailreich ist dort die kabbalistische Interpretation der biblischen Geschichte. Gut die Hälfte der Textfläche sind Fußnoten, Anmerkungen zu anderen möglichen Übersetzungen oder Verweise auf weitere Bibel- oder Zoharstellen. Für Nicht-Aramäer (es gibt noch einige Sprecher im heutigen Syrien) definitiv DER Zugang zum Zohar.

Germany on Dec 05, 2016

Polymath Virtuoso: When I purchased this book two years ago, I was pursuant of the many many mysteries of creation, ranging from the physics and science of the matter as part of my grad school education to all sorts of spiritual and religious viewpoints as well. So this has taken me to various schools of thought but I have found Kabbalah and the interpretation of the Creation found here to be extremely profound in both spiritual and intellectual fulfillment. I do hope to read the other volumes of Matt's translation when money becomes more available to purchase additional volumes (for those who want a full set, the KCI has theirs for 72 dollars for all 23 volumes of its translation at the moment with the Aramaic text included).

For my review I will just focus on a few points that should help the potential buyer into getting this edition (if not this volume).

1, The Zohar presented by Daniel Matt is set into its historical context with references regarding the supposed and actual timelines throughout the text. This includes references to the Talmud along with parallels with the New Testament, other Kabbalistic texts such as Sefer Yetzirah, and important or relevant Rabbis of the time. He...

United States on Mar 30, 2016

Abi: Nothing beats, this is the bible expanded.. the way it has to be done. the purest word, the hard cover, the hebrew engraving. the powerful feel of this book in your hand. your have to breathe it and keep it away from cynics as this holds true power a three to four times deep reading is suggested to form a sublime thought of purity in your mind. Does a man really change !! asking me he does if he goes through the right path. and if the word in this book is not fiction which i totally believe to be true then my friend you have reached the right book. i have my grounding in Indian mysticism and its all culminating into a great eco system. I sincerely pay my respect to mykhel from Austria who is my initiator into qubalah and is till date guiding me. I am very happy that i have reached this place in universe a good place as i must say that i am reading the zohar and i wish to complete all 9. I only hope they were less expensive. as i am a avg earning human>>>>

India on Mar 16, 2016

GHH: Wow. I am not Jewish but after my personal experience with the powers I am looking in many areas to explore the synchronisation of mystical thought. With Qabalah I started with Rabbi Kaplan's Sefer Yetzirah and an interest in gematria whilst deciding how to approach the Zohar, I am only perhaps forty pages into the original introduction and already my mind and soul as been smiling with radiant joy. Though I cannot compare to other translations or the Aramaic, I can say that this is wonderfully presented and the writing is beautifully poetic. This is a very cryptic text, even with the included commentary, but will speak volumes to those who already climb in this or similar areas of thought. I would love to have access to the Aramaic text that the translator worked from as it would add much to the study of the coding, but to include this would add a great deal to the size and costs of the collection so this will do nicely for now. It is good to have the Hebrew text of Torah close to hand as there is much to see in the numerical and hieroglyphic value of the passages mentioned and it seems that only certain key words are touched upon and shown in this form.
This will make your...

United Kingdom on Feb 19, 2014

Jacob Benzaquen: The seminal first of three volumes of a projected 12-volume annotated English translation by noted world-class scholar Daniel C. Matt and Stanford University Press. The first cloth volume is 536 pages and covers just the first 16 chapters of Genesis. Matt based in Berkley and Jerusalem has unearthed many of the major surviving manuscripts of the original language. The extensive commentary of the Aramaic text in not integrated into the volumes but available online and appears at the bottom of each page, clarifies the Kabbalistic symbolism and terminology and cites copious sources and parallels from biblical, rabbinic, and Kabbalistic texts. The translator's introduction is accompanied by a second introduction written by Arthur Green, discussing the origin and significance of the Zohar. This work has justifiably won the Koret Jewish Book Award for Philosophy and Thought, 2003-2004 for both The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Volumes I and II.

The Zohar ('Splendor, radiance') is accepted as the most important work of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism and is one of the greatest hidden works of Judaism and Western culture. Revered next to the Torah and Talmud, the Zohar is not one book, but a...

United States on Sep 03, 2007