From Madonna's music videos to the glossy pages of celebrity magazines and back to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Jewish mysticism has stepped into the modern consciousness like never before. In this classic work, world-renowned scholar Adin Steinsaltz answers the major questions asked by modern Jews about the nature of existence in God's universe. The title The Thirteen Petalled Rose is taken from the opening of the classic Jewish text on mysticism, the Zohar, and refers to the "collective souls of the Jewish people," which scholars have likened to the fullness of a rose and its...

This revised edition of a modern classic includes a new Foreword by Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and an Afterword by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, editor of The Talmud: The Steinsaltz Edition, as well as a Coda by the author in which he explores the many paths being traveled today in the search for the treasures of the Kabbala.

One need only browse the shelves of a bookstore (in both the Judaica and "New Age" sections) or listen to the media to know that Kabbalah is a popular subject these days. From Hollywood personalities to local adult education classes, the interest in Kabbalah is clearly on the rise. For many centuries, the study of Kabbalah has been available to very few. The English word cabal derived from the word Kabbalah means a "secret society," pointing to the fact that Kabbalah has, for a long time, been considered a subject for a small number of individuals. Today, with the ease of communication, and...

Friends, family, love, God, death, faith.

These, and others, are deceptively simple words that we use all the time. Do we know what we mean when we use these important words? Do we know what other people mean when they use them? We seldom pause to reflect on these words or to make sure that we understand them, yet we continue to use them, so we misunderstand others and they misunderstand us.

Adin Steinsaltz examines some of the meanings of these powerful words. He transforms each word into a gem, turning it this way, then that, examining it to see more clearly its...

The Mystery of You is a thought-provoking look at ourselves and how we live our lives. It contains a rich tapestry of ideas, beliefs and experiences, challenging the reader in many ways by confront¬ing everyday issues, but always remaining interesting and easy to read. Many questions are discussed, for example: What is happening to humanity? What kind of individuals and communities are we producing? What have morality and ethics got to do with everyday living? Where can we find some clues that will give us a head start in our own journey through the maze of living? The first part of The...