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Pardes. The “garden” or “orchard” of mystical speculation.

Perud. “Separation.” The sin of considering the sefirot as though they were fully separate from one another, hence raising the forbidden thought of multiplicity within the Godhead.

Peshat. The plain or obvious meaning of a Scriptural passage.

Qatnut. The “small” or “ordinary state of mind.” Hasidic usage based on prior Kabbalistic terminology.

Sefirah, sefirot. The ten emanations of divinity that channel the energies of eyn sof, first into the configurations of the personified divine Self and then into the formation of the “lower” worlds and all that exists within them. Hence also the channels through which humans seek to “arise” in worship to return to their single divine Source.

Selihot. Penitential prayers, recited around the High Holy Days and on fast days.

Shefa’. “Bounty,” or “influx.” The flow of divine energy as blessing, coursing through the sefirot and into the world, constantly enlivening all existence.

Shekhinah. In rabbinic sources, a designation of God insofar as He dwells within the world. In Kabbalah, a designation for the tenth sefirah. Hasidic usage tends to conflate these two.

Shofar. The ram's horn blown on Rosh Hashanah.

Talmud. The great compendium of Jewish teaching, including both halakhah and aggadah, composed in the third to sixth centuries. Exists in both Babylonian and Jerusalem recensions.

Talmud Torah. “Study of Torah;” the ongoing participation of Jews in the study and expansion of the oral tradition.

Tefillin. Phylacteries, boxes containing key Torah passages, worn during weekday prayers.

Tif'eret. The sixth of the ten sefirot, depicted as the key “male” energy within the system, identified with “the blessed Holy One” of rabbinic tradition.

Tsaddik. “Righteous one.” The “holy man” of Jewish popular religion throughout the ages. In Kabbalah, identified with the ninth sefirah, hence “potency” for energizing divine presence in the world. In Hasidism, the leader of a Hasidic community and object of communal veneration.

Tsimtsum. “Contraction.” The self-contraction of God preceding Creation, required in order for a non-God or universe to exist. A key feature of Lurianic Kabbalah and Hasidic speculation, interpreted in various ways.

Yesh. “Existence.” All that is, identified in Hasidic thought with the defined and finite universe that exists within shekhinah, distinguished from ayin, the world existing only potentially within hokhmah.

Yir ‘ah. The fear of God, awe before God's presence.

INDEX

Aaron of Karlin,

Aaron of Staroselje,

Abel (biblical figure),

Abraham (biblical patriarch),

Abraham ben David of Posquieres,

Abulafia, Abraham,

Adam (biblical figure),

Adler, Felix,

Akiva ben Joseph,

Alkabetz, Shlomo,

Altmann, Alexander,

Anisfeld, Sharon Cohen,

Ashlag, Yehudah,

Azriel of Gerona,

Ba'al Shem Tov (BeShT),

Ben-Aharon, Yariv,

Ben Azzai, Simeon,

Benjamin, Walter,

Berry, Thomas,

BeShT (Ba'al Shem Tov),

Bialik, Hayyim Nahman,

Blidstein, Gerald J.,

Boyarin, Daniel,

Brody, Seth,

Buber, Martin,

Buddha,

Burg, Avram,

Cain (biblical figure),

Camus, Albert,

Carroll, James,

Cohen, Hermann,

Cohen, Jack,

Cordovero, Moses,

Dan, Joseph,

Darwin, Charles,

Da Vidas, Elijah,

Day, Jonathan,

Dov Baer, Maggid of Miedzyrzec,

Elior, Rachel,

Elon, Eli,

Esau (biblical figure),

Ezra ben Solomon of Gerona,

Faur, José,

Fine, Lawrence,

Fishbane, Michael,

Freud, Sigmund,

Gilman, Neil,

Ginzburg, Louis,

Glatzer, Nahum N.,

Goldstein, Joseph,

Goshen-Gottstein, Alon,

Gottlieb, Ephraim,

Hai Gaon,

Hallo, William,

Hananel of Kairouan,

Hanina ben Dosa,

Hayyim of Volozhyn,

Heschel, A. J., (introduction),

Heschel, A. J. (Abraham Joshua Heschel of Apt [Opatow]),

Hillel,

Holtz, Barry W.,

Horowitz, Isaiah,

Horwitz, Rivka,

Ibn Gabbai, Meir,

Ibn Gabirol, Solomon,

Idel, Moshe,

Isaac (biblical patriarch),

Ishmael, Rabbi, H4

Ishmael (biblical figure),

Jacob (biblical