Compassion and Love in Jewish Mystical Sources

Date: Mar 14, 2022

Time: 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Sponsor: Online Learning

Location: Online

Category: Online Learning

Compassion and Love in Jewish Mystical Sources

Part of our spring learning series, The Power of Emotion: Judaism and the Inner Life

March 14, 2022, 2:00–3:30 p.m. ET
Online

Through study of Kabbalistic texts ranging from 13th-century Spain to 16th-century Tzfat, Dr. Eitan Fishbane, associate professor of Jewish Thought, JTS, will explore how the related themes of love and compassion were central to the spiritual and ethical thinking of key Kabbalists. For these mystics, compassion and love were simultaneously ideals in relation to other people and in relation to God; what is more, many understood interpersonal compassion and love as actual manifestations of Divinity in the earthly realm. Our createdness in the image of God brings the ideals of emotion and virtue to life in the physical world.

Dr. Eitan Fishbane

Dr. Eitan P. Fishbane is associate professor of Jewish Thought at JTS, where he teaches courses in the literature and history of Jewish mysticism, from medieval Kabbalah to modern Hasidism. The author or editor of six books, the latest of which was published in 2018 by Oxford University Press, Dr. Fishbane has devoted his research and writing primarily to the development of Kabbalah in medieval Spain. At present his scholarship is devoted to three main topics: the Zohar as mystical poetry, the Sabbath and sacred time in hasidic mysticism, and ideas of the self and identity in the Kabbalah. 

If you have previously registered for another session in this series, your registration admits you to all sessions in the series, and you may attend as many as you’d like. 

Note: The Zoom link for this session will be in the confirmation email that you will receive after you register. 

About the Series

Joy. Grief. Anger. Shame. Love. Emotional experience is often at the center of our lives. Join us for sessions that explore perceptions of emotions in Jewish texts and offer surprising and useful insights for understanding the feelings that make up our inner worlds.

Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? To learn more, contact learninglives@jtsa.edu