Quite the academic representation! Tedious but highly informative reference book and exhaustive translation from Hebrew Zohar.

My analysis brings the interpretation a little to the left, or right, whichever way you might define certain "political" aspects of religion, but the discerning reader will be able to easily analyze that level.

I found the majority of the translations to be pretty fair representations of the basic Zohar ideology/theology, coinciding with most of my previous research, although there are several translations and descriptions with which I tend to disagree...in some instances, wholeheartedly! (I also disagree with a few of Gershom Sholem's interpretations in a few instances with his translations, to give you a reference point. Leave a comment if you wish to correspond.)

This is an excellent reference book, as well as academic representation with an excellent overall historic background included in the 89 page Introduction written by Arthur Green; with pages that will even help to teach readers Roman Numerals!

Students of Hebrew, the Zohar and Kabbalah will either love or hate the complexity of this book, depending on how deep one wishes to delve!

The only downside I have found is in translations...I wish there were more references and extended examples of "possible translations" making this book THE most EXCLUSIVE translation of Zohar available!

Quite the academic representation! Tedious but highly informative reference book and exhaustive translation from Hebrew Zohar.

My analysis brings the interpretation a little to the left, or right, whichever way you might define certain "political" aspects of religion, but the discerning reader will be able to easily analyze that level.

I found the majority of the translations to be pretty fair representations of the basic Zohar ideology/theology, coinciding with most of my previous research, although there are several translations and descriptions with which I tend to disagree...in some instances, wholeheartedly! (I also disagree with a few of Gershom Sholem's interpretations in a few instances with his translations, to give you a reference point. Leave a comment if you wish to correspond.)

This is an excellent reference book, as well as academic representation with an excellent overall historic background included in the 89 page Introduction written by Arthur Green; with pages that will even help to teach readers Roman Numerals!

Students of Hebrew, the Zohar and Kabbalah will either love or hate the complexity of this book, depending on how deep one wishes to delve!

The only downside I have found is in translations...I wish there were more references and extended examples of "possible translations" making this book THE most EXCLUSIVE translation of Zohar available!

Quite the academic representation! Tedious but highly informative reference book and exhaustive translation from Hebrew Zohar.

My analysis brings the interpretation a little to the left, or right, whichever way you might define certain "political" aspects of religion, but the discerning reader will be able to easily analyze that level.

I found the majority of the translations to be pretty fair representations of the basic Zohar ideology/theology, coinciding with most of my previous research, although there are several translations and descriptions with which I tend to disagree...in some instances, wholeheartedly! (I also disagree with a few of Gershom Sholem's interpretations in a few instances with his translations, to give you a reference point. Leave a comment if you wish to correspond.)

This is an excellent reference book, as well as academic representation with an excellent overall historic background included in the 89 page Introduction written by Arthur Green; with pages that will even help to teach readers Roman Numerals!

Students of Hebrew, the Zohar and Kabbalah will either love or hate the complexity of this book, depending on how deep one wishes to delve!

The only downside I have found is in translations...I wish there were more references and extended examples of "possible translations" making this book THE most EXCLUSIVE translation of Zohar available!

The first of three volumes of a projected 12-volume comprehensively annotated English translation by noted world-class scholar Daniel C. Matt and the Stanford University Press. The first cloth volume is 536 pages and covers just the first 16 chapters of Genesis. Matt based in Berkley and Jerusalem has unearthed many of the major surviving manuscripts of the original language. The extensive commentary, appearing at the bottom of each page, clarifies the Kabbalistic symbolism and terminology, and cites sources and parallels from biblical, rabbinic, and Kabbalistic texts. The translator's introduction is accompanied by a second introduction written by Arthur Green, discussing the origin and significance of the Zohar.
This work has justifiably won the Koret Jewish Book Award for Philosophy and Thought, 2003-2004 for both The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Volumes I and II.

The Zohar ('Splendor, radiance') is accepted as the most important work of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism and is one of the greatest hidden works of Judaism and Western culture. Revered next to the Torah and Talmud, the Zohar is not one book, but a span of awesome, esoteric literature, a Midrash, homily on the Torah written in the form of a mystical novel. In it a group of rabbis (the "Hevrah") wander through the hills of Galilee, discovering and sharing secrets of Torah,(the five books of Moses) whose linguistic character is medieval Aramaic and medieval Hebrew. A dazzling mystical dialectic of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, sin, redemption, good and evil, suffering and related topics

The Zohar assumes four kinds of Biblical exegesis: Peshat ("simple/literal meaning"), Remez ("hint/allusion"), Derash ("interpretative/anagogical), and Sod ("secret/mystic"). The initial letters of these letters (P, R, D, S) form together the word PaRDeS ("Paradise/orchard"), which became the designation for the fourfold meaning of which the mystical sense is the highest part.

The mystic allegory in the Zohar is based on the principle that all visible things, including natural phenomena, have both an exoteric, visible(Niglah) reality and an esoteric, hidden (Nistar) reality, the latter of which instructs Man in that which is invisible.

This principle is the necessary the fundamental doctrine of the Zohar. According to that doctrine, as the universe is a gradation of emanations, it follows that the human mind may recognize in each effect the supreme mark, and thus ascend to the cause of all causes. The Ein Sof, the Endless one.

The Zohar first appeared in Spain in the 13th century, by a Jewish writer named Moses de Leon. De Leon himself ascribed the Zohar to a rabbi of the second century Tannah, Shimon bar Yochai. The Talmud records Rabbi Shimon's true and rash words caused him to hide in a cave for 13 years studying the Torah with his son, Elazar. During this time he was inspired by Elijah the Prophet to write the Zohar. Scarcely fifty years had passed since its appearance in Spain before it was quoted by many Kabbalists, including the Italian mystical writer Menahem Recanati. Its authority was so well established in 15th century Sepharad that Joseph ibn Shem-Tov drew from it arguments in his attacks against Maimonidean rationalism. It is worth noting that most of the major Traditional Halachic authorities accept the Zohar as authentic and/or have written works on the Kabalah. This includes R' Yosef Karo, R' Moses Isserles, R' Solomon Luria, R' Yechiel Michel Epstein, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, The Vilna Gaon and R' Yisrael Meir Kagan.

Yet the arguments of Elijah Delmedigo, in his Bechinat ha-Dat endeavored to show that it could not be attributed to Shimon bar Yochai. His objections were;

1. If the Zohar was the work of Shimon bar Yochai, it would have been mentioned by the Talmud, as has been the case with other works of the Talmudic period and the Zohar contains names of rabbis who lived at a later period than that of Simeon;
2. Were Shimon ben Yochai the father of the Kabbalah, knowing by divine revelation the hidden meaning of the precepts, his decisions on Jewish law would have been adopted by the Talmud earlier but this has not been done;
3.. Were the Kabbalah a revealed doctrine, there would have been no divergence of opinion among the Kabbalists concerning the mystic interpretation of the precepts (Bechinat ha-Dat ed. Vienna, 1833, p. 43).

These arguments and others of the same kind were used by Leon of Modena in his Ari Nohem. A work devoted to the criticism of the Zohar was written, Mipaat Sefarim, by Jacob Emden, who, waging a polemical war against the remaining adherents of the Sabbatai Zevi movement, endeavored to show that the book on which Zevi based his doctrines was a forgery. Emden persausively demonstrates that the Zohar misquotes passages of Scripture; misunderstands the Talmud; contains some ritual observances which were already ordained by later rabbinical authorities; mentions the crusades against the Muslims (who did not exist in the second century); uses the expression esnoga, which is a Portuguese term for "synagogue,"; and gives a mystical explanation of the Hebrew vowel-points, which were not introduced until long after the Talmudic period by the Masoretic Scribes.

Yeshayahu Leibowitz, zl' the noted controversial professor of philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, claimed that "It is clear that the Zohar was written by de Leon as it is clear that Theodore Herzl wrote Medinat HaYehudim ("A State for the Jews")."

Bottom Line. Scholars can argue but Get it. The Zohar is Canonically amazing and you can't buy a better translation and while a legitimate teacher is ideal for serious study, this is an excellent, valid, legitimate start.

The first of three volumes of a projected 12-volume comprehensively annotated English translation by noted world-class scholar Daniel C. Matt and the Stanford University Press. The first cloth volume is 536 pages and covers just the first 16 chapters of Genesis. Matt based in Berkley and Jerusalem has unearthed many of the major surviving manuscripts of the original language. The extensive commentary, appearing at the bottom of each page, clarifies the Kabbalistic symbolism and terminology, and cites sources and parallels from biblical, rabbinic, and Kabbalistic texts. The translator's introduction is accompanied by a second introduction written by Arthur Green, discussing the origin and significance of the Zohar.
This work has justifiably won the Koret Jewish Book Award for Philosophy and Thought, 2003-2004 for both The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Volumes I and II.

The Zohar ('Splendor, radiance') is accepted as the most important work of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism and is one of the greatest hidden works of Judaism and Western culture. Revered next to the Torah and Talmud, the Zohar is not one book, but a span of awesome, esoteric literature, a Midrash, homily on the Torah written in the form of a mystical novel. In it a group of rabbis (the "Hevrah") wander through the hills of Galilee, discovering and sharing secrets of Torah,(the five books of Moses) whose linguistic character is medieval Aramaic and medieval Hebrew. A dazzling mystical dialectic of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, sin, redemption, good and evil, suffering and related topics

The Zohar assumes four kinds of Biblical exegesis: Peshat ("simple/literal meaning"), Remez ("hint/allusion"), Derash ("interpretative/anagogical), and Sod ("secret/mystic"). The initial letters of these letters (P, R, D, S) form together the word PaRDeS ("Paradise/orchard"), which became the designation for the fourfold meaning of which the mystical sense is the highest part.

The mystic allegory in the Zohar is based on the principle that all visible things, including natural phenomena, have both an exoteric, visible(Niglah) reality and an esoteric, hidden (Nistar) reality, the latter of which instructs Man in that which is invisible.

This principle is the necessary the fundamental doctrine of the Zohar. According to that doctrine, as the universe is a gradation of emanations, it follows that the human mind may recognize in each effect the supreme mark, and thus ascend to the cause of all causes. The Ein Sof, the Endless one.

The Zohar first appeared in Spain in the 13th century, by a Jewish writer named Moses de Leon. De Leon himself ascribed the Zohar to a rabbi of the second century Tannah, Shimon bar Yochai. The Talmud records Rabbi Shimon's true and rash words caused him to hide in a cave for 13 years studying the Torah with his son, Elazar. During this time he was inspired by Elijah the Prophet to write the Zohar. Scarcely fifty years had passed since its appearance in Spain before it was quoted by many Kabbalists, including the Italian mystical writer Menahem Recanati. Its authority was so well established in 15th century Sepharad that Joseph ibn Shem-Tov drew from it arguments in his attacks against Maimonidean rationalism. It is worth noting that most of the major Traditional Halachic authorities accept the Zohar as authentic and/or have written works on the Kabalah. This includes R' Yosef Karo, R' Moses Isserles, R' Solomon Luria, R' Yechiel Michel Epstein, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, The Vilna Gaon and R' Yisrael Meir Kagan.

Yet the arguments of Elijah Delmedigo, in his Bechinat ha-Dat endeavored to show that it could not be attributed to Shimon bar Yochai. His objections were;

1. If the Zohar was the work of Shimon bar Yochai, it would have been mentioned by the Talmud, as has been the case with other works of the Talmudic period and the Zohar contains names of rabbis who lived at a later period than that of Simeon;
2. Were Shimon ben Yochai the father of the Kabbalah, knowing by divine revelation the hidden meaning of the precepts, his decisions on Jewish law would have been adopted by the Talmud earlier but this has not been done;
3.. Were the Kabbalah a revealed doctrine, there would have been no divergence of opinion among the Kabbalists concerning the mystic interpretation of the precepts (Bechinat ha-Dat ed. Vienna, 1833, p. 43).

These arguments and others of the same kind were used by Leon of Modena in his Ari Nohem. A work devoted to the criticism of the Zohar was written, Mipaat Sefarim, by Jacob Emden, who, waging a polemical war against the remaining adherents of the Sabbatai Zevi movement, endeavored to show that the book on which Zevi based his doctrines was a forgery. Emden persausively demonstrates that the Zohar misquotes passages of Scripture; misunderstands the Talmud; contains some ritual observances which were already ordained by later rabbinical authorities; mentions the crusades against the Muslims (who did not exist in the second century); uses the expression esnoga, which is a Portuguese term for "synagogue,"; and gives a mystical explanation of the Hebrew vowel-points, which were not introduced until long after the Talmudic period by the Masoretic Scribes.

Yeshayahu Leibowitz, zl' the noted controversial professor of philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, claimed that "It is clear that the Zohar was written by de Leon as it is clear that Theodore Herzl wrote Medinat HaYehudim ("A State for the Jews")."

Bottom Line. Scholars can argue but Get it. The Zohar is Canonically amazing and you can't buy a better translation and while a legitimate teacher is ideal for serious study, this is an excellent, valid, legitimate start.

This volume series is my favorite reading on the Zohar. I know far less about the Zohar in its earlier mystical understandings than I do on Kabbalah generally in its later mystical understandings. Every time I go back to read through the Zohar writings, I discover something new that was still concealed to me during earlier readings. Even though I posses no experience or prowess on Aramaic and linguistics in general, I felt that the author provided a well written translation of the text by how I was able to process the intellectual commentaries of the author in relation to the mystical essence of the Zohar manuscript. The Ten Sefirot reveals the relationship and balance between the transcendent Masculine-Feminine Divine Shekhinah of the Higher world and the "feminine from masculine" Shekhinah of the lower world. The Masculine Shekhinah of the Higher world, Tif'eret is needed for the feminine Shekhinah of the lower world, Malkhut the Sabbath Queen to bridge the gap between the Creator and His creation. This book opened my entire being up to the Light of Heaven so that I would come to understand the balance of my own soul. I believe that the Zohar was written to help us understand the Torah better, and to help us understand our own true spiritual nature as human beings for which the human soul is in the spiritual likeness of our Creator. The human soul is complete when the masculine (man) makes a sacred union with the feminine (woman), thus becoming "one" in the spiritual likeness of our Creator, the One and Eternal Ein Sof. This "oneness" is balance and harmony, the source of Life, Love, and Light. This is what I got out of this first book of "The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, vol. 1". This volume series of the Zohar is a must for anyone who seeks to understand the concealed Light of the Torah.

This volume series is my favorite reading on the Zohar. I know far less about the Zohar in its earlier understandings than I do on the Kabbalah in its later understandings. Every time I go back to read through the Zohar writings, I discover something new that was still concealed to me during earlier readings. Even though I posses no experience or prowess on Aramaic and linguistics in general, I felt that the author provided a well written translation of the text by how I was able to process the intellectual commentaries of the author in relation to the mystical essence of the Zohar manuscript. The Ten Sefirot reveals the relationship between the transcendent Masculine-Feminine Divine Shekhinah of the Higher world and the "feminine from masculine" Shekhinah of the lower world. The Masculine Shekhinah of the Higher world, Tif'eret is needed for the feminine Shekhinah of the lower world, Malkhut the Sabbath Queen to bridge the gap between the Creator and His creation. This book opened my entire being up to the Light of Heaven so that I would come to understand the balance of my own soul. I believe that the Zohar was written to help us understand the Torah better, and to help us understand our own true spiritual nature as human beings for which the human soul is in the spiritual likeness of our Creator. The human soul is complete when the masculine (man) makes a sacred union with the feminine (woman), thus becoming "one" in the spiritual likeness of our Creator, the One and Eternal Ein Sof. This "oneness" is balance and harmony, the source of Life, Love, and Light. This is what I got out of this first book of "The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, vol. 1". This volume series of the Zohar is a must for anyone who seeks to understand the concealed Light of the Torah.

I think Kaballa is BS even though there are good things that can be learned from it. Love will always prevail over hatred. And Hatred consumes people. Jesus died for our sins. Not you or I in general but the sins that man continues to commit due to hatred, Greed, Jelousy and a desire to rule the world no matter what the cost. May God bless you.

I read selections of the Zohar 12 years ago as an undergraduate theology student and was entranced. Since then, I have sought out selections and different translations and not been satisfied with many of them. For the most part, they were aimed at a less scholarly audience and didn't explore the text in as much depth as I would have liked. The Pritzker edition is what I have been searching for. I ordered the first 3 volumes and anticipate it'll take me a few years to really get through them. Even though I am a voracious reader, I have forced myself to take a great deal of care and time reading these books. I'm a month and 86 pages into the first volume and am still finding more and more to contemplate. I highly recommend these books to anyone who is in search of a deeper understanding of the text and a more profound treatment than is widely available.

The 'Zohar'is one of the major Jewish mystical works. I have not really delved much in 'Jewish Mysticism' and am no expert on the subject. But from looking at the Translation and especially the Notes I have that sense that this is a first- class scholarly rendition of the work. The notes enable the reader to better understand what is by its very nature, a problematic, difficult, multiple-meaning text.
This volume is the first in a long enterprise undertaken by Matt in which he hopes to translate and annotate the whole of the 'Zohar'.

My Maggid was not so crazy about recommending reading this one. But having steadfastly worked my way through the Bahir and Sefer Yetzirah, how could I not read the Zohar? Well, I ordered volume I as soon as it became available. The obsessive part of me intends to have all five volumes on a shelf. However, I have still not finished reading it.

The introduction by Arthur Green was outstanding and I loved it. However, when I got to the Zohar itself, things did not go so easily. I have read other books with Zohar excerpts and commentary which were very enjoyable and insightful. But the Zohar did not work for me. I read most of the book but never did finish, even after putting it down for long periods of time. I tried reading the text carefully with the commentary, reading the text and skipping the commentary, reading the text and only reading some of the commentary, all to no avail. I also tried reading the text as commentary to the weekly parsha. Nothing clicked.

I'm going to have to have a teacher before purchasing the other four volumes.

First off I must admit that I do not own this book, or any book in the series. These comments are not so much aimed at this specific text as they are general. To be fair I did seek out some online excerpts to see if this book was different from what was expected.

To be brief, reading the Zohar in English is like listening to Beethoven's 9th Symphony on a $10 clock radio. If you understand the significance of every letter and shape of the letter which is part of the text, you realize how poor a translation would be. While I applaud the goal of making Kabbalah more accessable to people I think the effort would be better spent with a great guide to Aramaic, maybe even a study course in Aramaic, so people who are seriously interested can gain proficiency and read the original text. If you are not willing to gain the proficiency in Aramaic there is no point in studying the Zohar - you will not derive the proper meaning from the text (meaning connotations and other references).

For those who laud the authorship of this book I question the veracity of their statements. Zohar is not fast food. You cannot take a shortcut to understanding the text by reading a translation. In the excerpt I read in English I could not follow what was going on or being said. There were just a bunch of words devoid of meaning. While I am reasonably proficient in the original text (Aramaic) I got nothing from the excerpt and I am also a native English speaker.

I can see this being used maybe as an aid for those who are trying to study the Zohar in Aramaic and periodically need to translate words they are not familiar with. But again, there are so many translations in Hebrew that will more closely match the Aramaic, that I think the English would still fall short in trying to understand concepts.

For those who mention injecting one's Kabbalah into the Zohar I seriously question their credentials. The idea of a translator slanting the text is preposterous. Firstly, this just lays credence to the point that this text should not be translated. Secondly, you are supposed to personalize the text and interpret it as you see it for yourself. There is no serious interpretation of the text that can be ignored or left out when trying to understand things that are considered neither logical nor physical. Thirdly, the idea that there is a more scholarly translation or a less scholarly translation is silly. There is a more brief or a more extensive translation, there is a more broad or a more literal translation. In the end you are still stuck with a translation. Readers may not like to hear it, but a lot will be lost in translation. There is also certain background that is needed as there are many references to other Hebrew texts in the Zohar proper.