"All My Thinking Has But One Focus": Contemplative Seclusion in (Early) Modern Jewish Spirituality
This study investigates the way in which different concepts of contemplation and seclusion are negotiated in Jewish spiritual literature. Focusing on (early) modern examples, it particularly addresses the functions and goals of physical and mental exercises designed to achieve detachment from worldl...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2023
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| In: |
Entangled Religions
Year: 2023, Volume: 14, Issue: 4 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Judaism
/ Spirituality
/ Cabala
/ Contemplation (motif)
/ Seclusion
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| IxTheo Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion BH Judaism |
| Further subjects: | B
Jewish morality
B Jewish spirituality B contemplative seclusion B (Early) Modern Kabbalah B perishut B hitbodedut |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | This study investigates the way in which different concepts of contemplation and seclusion are negotiated in Jewish spiritual literature. Focusing on (early) modern examples, it particularly addresses the functions and goals of physical and mental exercises designed to achieve detachment from worldly concerns. It shows how practices denoted by the terms perishut (lit. "separation") and hitbodedut (lit. "solitude") serve as preparatory steps that enable individuals to approach the divine, with the ultimate goal of bringing about various experiences of oneness with the deity. Against this background, it elucidates how perishut and hitbodedut were considered by some authors instrumental to gain divine knowledge, and how this idea relates to earlier Jewish conceptions of prophecy. Lastly, it will illustrate how in contemporary sources, contemplative seclusion is presented as a practice that transcends the temporal framework to which humans are bound. |
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| ISSN: | 2363-6696 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Entangled Religions
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.46586/er.14.2023.10249 |