Poetry of Kabbalah

Mystical Verse from the Jewish Tradition

Cole Peter, Dykman Aminadav

This groundbreaking collection presents for the first time in English a substantial body of poetry from the world of Jewish mysticism. Taking up Gershom Scholem's call to plumb the "tremendous poetic potential concealed" in the Kabbalistic tradition, MacArthur-winning poet and translator Peter Cole provides dazzling English renderings of works composed on three continents over a period of some fifteen hundred years. The volume presents the texts in their original languages alongside the English translations. These prayerful poems represent different cultural terrains and take up multiple tacks. The reader will encounter cosmological masterpieces and occasional poems; erotic charms and epic phantasmagoria; ballad-like lyrics and didactic mottoes; and, simple hymns of pure devotion and gnomic verse of numerical intrigue. Cole supplies an insightful introduction along with commentaries on the poems, and in an elegant afterword Aminadav Dykman places Kabbalistic verse in the context of world literature.

About the Author

Peter Cole is the author of three books of poems and the translator of more than a dozen volumes from Hebrew and Arabic. His many honours include the National Jewish Book Award for Poetry and the PEN Translation Award for Poetry. In 2007 he was named a MacArthur Fellow, and in 2010 he received an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He divides his time between New Haven and Jerusalem.

Aminadav Dykman teaches comparative literature at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He has published numerous translations of French, Russian, English, Greek, Latin, and Italian poems into Hebrew.

Reviews

"A groundbreaking work. Cole reveals and explores a subject that has hardly been noticed in previous scholarship or popular writing: the poetic aspect of Jewish mysticism. His translations are superb, his introductions to each section are clear and stimulating, and his notes are learned yet not intimidating, clarifying what would otherwise remain obscure. In short, he brings this material alive for a contemporary reader. This is a marvelous book" – Daniel Matt, author of "The Essential Kabbalah" and translator of "The Zohar: Pritzker Edition"

Back to the list of books