the Rashash | David Solomon

David Solomon examines major works and ideas in Kabbalah over the past five centuries in this final part of his lecture series, A Kabbalistic Journey Through Time.

The talk explores the contributions of:

The GR”A, the Vilna Gaon
Rabbi Chaim Luzzatto, the Ramchal
Rabbi Naphtali Bacharach.

It also discusses the ideas of the following rabbis:

Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov
Dov Ber ben Avraham of Mezeritch, the Maggid
Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, the Gramam
Schneur Zalman of Liadi
Nachman of Breslov
Yitzchak Izaak Chaver
Shalom Sharabi, the Rashash
Yehuda Ashlag, the Baal Hasulam
Shlomo Elyashiv, the Leshem.

Some of the concepts covered in the lecture include:

Lurianic kabbalah is an extended allegory
Revelation and concealment in relation to creation
The people of Israel in cosmic and world history
The revelation of esoteric knowledge, the secret level of Torah
The Torah is light
Darkness is a reality, not merely an absence
The role of Sabbateanism
The intersection of Kabbalah and Chassidut.

In addition to providing an overview of the development of Jewish mystical ideas since the AR”Y (Rabbi Isaac Luria), David explains the context of the examined thinkers and their work and provides historical background to their contributions.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:06:33 — 48.1MB)

Continue reading “#105 A Kabbalistic Journey Through Time (4)”

Although many of the remarkable developments in 18th-century Jewish life were set within the boundaries of Europe and Ashkenazi Jewry, so much was happening beyond this region.

In this fascinating podcast episode, David explores some of the most remarkable events, personalities, and contributions of Jews in the Sephardic communities of the 1700s, centred in the:

Ottoman Empire
Land of Israel.

In doing so, he discusses:

Yehudah HaChasid
Avraham Revigo
R. Emmanuel Chai Rikki
R. Chayim Abulafia
R. Chayim ibn Attar, the Or Hachayim
R. Shalom Shar’abi, the Rashash.

View of Jerusalem, from the manuscript of the Georgian travelogue by Timothy Gabashvili between 1755 and 1759. Public domain.

He also relays stories of some of the most notable emissaries from the Land of Israel to the diaspora, including:

R. Haim Yosef David Azulai ben Yitzhak Zerachia, the Hida
R. Moshe Malchi
R. Raphael Carigal.

The lecture also considers developments in the “new world”, including:

In the Americas –

Francis Salvador
Haym Salomon

and in the colony of New South Wales, which was to become part of Australia –

Esther Abrahams
Joseph Samuel.

David concludes the lecture by returning to Europe in the final years of the 18th century to look at the enormous changes happening across the continent and their implications for Jewish life in the coming century.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:43:27 — 93.3MB)

Continue reading “#77 Revelation & Revolution: Jewish History of the 18th Century (4)”