- Hardcover: 432 pages
- Publisher: St Martin's Press; First edition (19 April 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312266456
- ISBN-13: 978-0312266455
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.7 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,969,552 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
"You are dead to me," Stephanie's father said when she'd married Sidney. Thirty years there was no contact, until her mother died, and then only a terse note. So begins a journey into the kabbalah, the spiritual discipline hidden within the folds of Jewish history. Stephanie and Sidney have been studying with Moshe Katan, a kabbalist who shared his learning only when he perceived a kabbalistic intervention might be necessary to save the life of Rivkah, his wife. For that reason alone he taught the course that opened Sidney's and Stephanie's eyes, a byproduct of what was intended primarily for Rivkah. What has happened to Moshe and Rivkah we do not know, only that their house is now being used for an extraordinary storytelling, a spiritual discipline to share with those willing to risk examining the very core of their beliefs. THE SEVENTH TELLING is a roller coaster ride through all four worlds of the Kabbalah, a story of transformation, of Moshe, Rivkah, Sidney and Stephanie and, quite possibly, of the reader as well.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I live in Jerusalem and study Chassidut(Chasidism). This book will delight serious spiritual seekers, and will also be very enjoyable and helpful for those with little knowledge.
I enjoyed this book very much. The characters are captivating, the emotions are palpable, and the ideas are clearly presented, skillfully woven throughout the interesting stories. The information and insights are profound, crisp and down to earth.
Reb Moshe Katan's presence is commanding, grounded and genuine. He has much to teach us.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
25 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Captivating message of healing and life changing
15 April 2001
Format:Hardcover
What is Kabbalah? What is the purpose of doing it? How is it different from other spiritual disciplines? How is it similar to psychotherapy, yet different? These are complex questions that cannot be answered simply. However, this book has tried a new and not so new approach - storytelling. Inspired by Talmudic tradition, the Bible, ancient Jewish Kabbalistic texts, and modern spiritualist Rabbis such as Shlomo Carlebach and and Zalman Schachter, we get an introduction to Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, through the retelling of the life of the fictional Moshe Katan. The retelling, which is also very much about Moshe's wife Rivkah, is carried out to a select group of students by a couple who are friends of Moshe and Rivkah, Stephanie and Sidney. In the process of the retelling, we get a direct example of how learning comes through storytelling by watching Stephanie and Sidney's lives transformed, and the lives of other characters as well.
We follow Moshe from his days as Michael Kaytan, wayward and bored young student, who gets accepted into MIT on a fluke, his talent to detect the pattern in an otherwise random field, who winds up in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, studies in a Yeshivah in Israel, and finally becomes an ordained rabbi in the U.S., a commodities trader, spiritual counselor, and teacher.
The first half of the book is mostly narrative, while the second half, although continuing the narrative and the storytelling, is also a beginner's guide into Kabbalistic philosophy, terminology, and meditation techniques.
A point not to be overlooked, is that Moshe's mystical pursuit is not done in isolation and that the spiritual community that he creates around him and the people with whom he prays and celebrates Jewish life, first as an official Rabbi, then small 'r" rabbi, then just Moshe, alternately referred to as Havurah or Minyan, is very much a part of it. As Moshe reminds people, we individuals are not the center of the universe, we are a part of the continuum. Moshe also makes the point that one does not have to be Jewish or know Hebrew to practice Kabbalah. There is a detailed glossary of terms (Kabbalistic, Jewish ritual, and Hebrew) at the end of the book, which is quite useful, and also keeps the flow of the story from being interrupted.
I truly commend the author for the painstaking work of this book. It is an act of humility and love. It never becomes preachy or dictatorial, rather seeks to suggest, to inspire, and provide guideposts for further study to anyone who is interested in a deeper and truer connection with the creator, the mysteries of creation, and doing some very real healing in the here and now.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
A transformative experience
8 April 2002
Format:Hardcover
I don't know why this book called my name as I chanced upon it at a bookstore. But, it did. I picked it up, began reading, read at every opportunity, ordered the sequel before I was finished, moved right on to the sequel, and am now re-reading the first book. I even e-mailed Mitchell Chefitz (he answered my e-mail, by the way). I hardly recognize myself.
This book is transformative. It took this hard-headed realist into the nature of mysticism, slowly, evenly and intelligently. (I think the ancient kabbalists were on to quantum mechanics well before the 20th century physicists were.) It can be read on so many levels that there is something in it for everybody.
It changed my view of death. Read it.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
The Seventh Telling works on many levels
22 Feb 2001
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Seventh Telling is a remarkable book that "works" on many levels. It introduces and explains kabbalistic thought in a very accessible way, and demonstrates how the theory can be put into practice by modern people. However, unlike other guides, this one is also a gripping story, in several layers, whose characters are compellingly human and complex. As we engage in the multiple narratives, we experience the power of the "telling" to open our consciousness to new insights. We are invited to accompany Moshe Katan, the protagonist, as he explores the relationship among the worlds of action, feeling, thought, and pure emanation in his daily life, as well as through the practice of kabbalistic meditation. For those who, for whatever reason, will never directly experience the power of this practice to change oneself and the world, reading The Seventh Telling the next best thing.
Ruth Goldston
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