The Zohar and Davening

Re-imagining Prayer through Classical Kabbalah with Nathaniel Berman

“Prayer is itself divinity” [התפלה בעצמה היא אלוקות]: one of the most striking sayings of Pinhas of Koretz, an early Hasidic rebbe. It is far from coincidental that it was this same sage who also thanked God for creating him after the Zohar was revealed, because “the Zohar has kept me within Judaism.”

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Prayer occupies a role in the Zohar and classical kabbalah that often surprises and even shocks those educated in other interpretations of Judaism, and especially those who have found it difficult to find spiritual depths in the traditional liturgy. Under the influence of the Zohar, the meaning of the existing Jewish liturgy was completely re-imagined, deepened, and revitalized — and new prayers, perhaps most famously Kabbalat Shabbat with its central gem, the Lecha Dodi, were introduced.

Under the influence of the Zohar, moreover, all of Jewish practice, perhaps even all of life, perhaps even, as Pinhas of Koretz suggests, the divine itself, was reinterpreted as prayer. In this course, we will study a variety of Zoharic texts:

1. texts concerned with prayer at a general level, portraying its power to perform tikkun on the human soul, the cosmos, and the divine itself;
2. texts concerned with dimensions of Jewish prayer, such as meditations, visualizations, and kavvanot (intentions), that fall outside conventional notions of davening;
3. texts concerned with specific dimensions of the Jewish liturgy, such as the P'sukei D’zimrah (chapters from Psalms that open the morning prayer), the blessings that lead up to the Sh’ma, and the Amidah; and the metaphysical import of the differences between the evening, morning, and afternoon services as well as between weekday, Shabbat, and holiday services.

This course will combine intensive textual study and experiential exercises. We will seek to understand Pinhas of Koretz’s declarations that is was only through the Zohar, with its unique conception of divinity-as-prayer, that he remained within Judaism — and, hopefully, to strive, each of us in his or her own way, for a renewed practice of davening.

Prerequisites

Some background in basic kabbalistic ideas would be terrific, but not required. The main requirement for the course is a commitment to attend consistently and an openness to religious re-imagination and novel experience. The course will have limited enrollment, so if you feel that you cannot attend consistently, please leave the space for those who have the time for a more steady commitment.

Schedule

The class will meet in a private home on the Upper West Side on Sunday nights from 8-10pm. The course begins on February 19th and continue for 10 weeks. Please register as soon as possible; and registration will close definitively on February 21st.

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Fee

Free for Members plus $5 to cover the cost of materials; $180 for non-members. (Become a member here.) Fees must be paid in advance to complete registration.

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