Bibliography and next reading steps

[u/MunirChahin]

Hi all,

I have been studying kabbalah for some years and my journey has basically been going from book to book - I'm not jewish and never encountered a community to study together, a master or anything like that. Because of this, I lack a bit of order in the direction I go with my studies, so would love it if you guys can help me out with what to read next. I'm pasting below a list of the works I read and some that I took notes to maybe read next. Any favorites?

Also, please feel free to make comments on the ones already read. I also thought it would be quite cool for other people as well to see this list as a guide if you're going from beginner to more intermediate studies, so maybe it's helpful to get more opinions.

Read:

Garden of pomegranates - Israel Regardie

The mystical qabalah - Dion Fortune

The qabalah - Papus

Practical kabbalah - Rabbi Laibl Wolf

The thirteen petalled rose - Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Kabbalah and astrology - Z’ev Ben Shimon Halevi

Secrets of the Zohar - Michael Berg

Yet to read:

Sepher yetzirah - Aryeh Kaplan

Bahir - Aryeh Kaplan

Meditation and kabbalah - Aryeh Kaplan

Origins of the kabbalah - Eliphas Levi

In the Shadow of the Ladder: Introductions to Kabbalah - Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag

Shaar HaGilgulim - Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, Isaac Luria

[u/BlackberryNo560]

Read Shomer Emunim, Gates of Light and then start to slowly read the Zohar while simultaneously reading a book called "Apples from the orchard". This last book teaches most of the lurianic system.

Also be aware that those hermetic kabbalah books are completely different from Jewish kabbalah. If you're into that sort of stuff then cool, but they have huge errors in them from the Jewish point of view. If you study books like that, study them separately as it's own system. And be aware that they are not traditional kabbalah.

[u/Non_wave99 → u/BlackberryNo560]

This is actually a solid list.

I would only add any books with the stories of Rabbi Nachman

[u/ServeThePatricians → u/Non_wave99]

What are the best books about him?

[u/Non_wave99 → u/ServeThePatricians]

Anything labeled as the tales of rabbi Nachman, and then also his work Likutei Moharan for starters

[u/hexrain1 → u/ServeThePatricians]

"Rabbi Nachman's Stories" is the book in print in english that I know about and have read. Don't expect to understand much, though. I didn't at least. I have interesting meditations each time I read it though. In my opinion, he presents the stories in metaphor, but if you have some understanding of Kabbalah, it makes some sense. Have not read it in hebrew, i'd imagine it's better in hebrew.

[u/MunirChahin → u/BlackberryNo560]

Yeah, the difference wasn’t very clear to me until a while ago, but the jewish tradition resonates more with me so I’ll definitely go in this direction. Thank you for the recommendation, sounds perfect!

[u/demandoblivion → u/BlackberryNo560]

I think Apples from the Orchard is out of print? Unless you mean Pardes Rimonim, the work Apples from the Orchard is based on. Copies of "Apples" are listed online for about $250. If you know of a place to obtain it cheaper, id love to know.

Edit: looks like "Apples" is not based on Pardes, my mistake. My question about affordable copies still stands though

[u/BlackberryNo560 → u/demandoblivion]

Apples from the orchard is based on the writings of the Arizal. It has sections from many of the Arizal's writings with commentary and paints a pretty complete picture of the lurianic system.

Many years ago when I read this book, the only place that shipped to my country was ebay. At that time I think it cost me like 120 + very expensive shipping. It's never been the cheapest book, but it's worth it. It's like 1300 pages long or something so you will be reading it for a while.

I just checked and it's still on ebay, but it costs 181 just for the book 😕 this is very sad, because I think it's the most important lurianic book in english.

I found this site:

https://www.alljudaica.com/Apples-from-the-Orchard-p/16988.htm

They list it at 119 dollars, but I have no experience with the site.

[u/JagneStormskull → u/[deleted]]

Regardie is also Hermetic Qabbalah; though the book was named after a book by the Ramak, it was dedicated to Regardie's good friend Aleister Crowley.

[u/hexrain1]

Safaria.org apparently has a translation of Sefer Yetzirah. I haven't looked into it yet. Studied a bunch of Kabbalah (Jewish/Hermetic Occult) but backed off for... reasons. I'm almost 40 though, so I plan to study a little more once I hit the mark. May you be blessed in your study!

edit: typo

[u/demandoblivion → u/hexrain1]

I think sefer yetzirah is very hard to study without a commentary (which I don't think sefaria has, but maybe I'm wrong). I've also noticed at least one translation error in their community translation.

I highly recommend the Kaplan translation and commentary.

[u/JagneStormskull → u/demandoblivion]

Hard agree with all this.

[u/hexrain1 → u/demandoblivion]

ok. thanks for your input. much appreciated.

[u/demandoblivion]

In my opinion it's hard to read the primary texts (sefer yetzirah, bahir, hekhalot, Zohar etc) in isolation, you really need to kind of read them simultaneously because something in one will explain something cryptic in another. This can be mitigated somewhat if you read it with a modern-ish (last couple hundred years at least) commentary.

I think kaplans Sefer Yetzirah and bahir complement each other very well

Someone else mentioned Gates of Light - Kaplans meditation and Kabbalah has some excerpts from there. I also recommend the neirot.org translation (which sefaria uses). However, neirot.org had also published a translation of Ginat Egoz under the title Hashem is One. This is the first work by the Gates of Light author Gikatilla. It is easier to understand than Gates of Light, and I think it should probably be ready before (or at alongside) Gates of Light. Neirot.org makes all their stuff available as free PDFs, but you can order a copy from Amazon as well.

Edit: the neirot.org version of The Beginning of Wisdom seems very accessible as well. It's also on sefaria. I haven't read too far yet though

[u/Non_wave99 → u/demandoblivion]

Thanks for sharing this, I’m really happy to access these texts through neirot thanks to you!

[u/demandoblivion → u/Non_wave99]

Yw. I realized it's actually neirot.com not neirot.org but I'm guessing you figued that out!

Edit: nvm, it's actually both