The book touches on all the major spiritual aspects of Judaism, within the confines of a one volume book that is intended as an introduction to the general public. It is not a 'New Age' book or a 'Let's Do Kabbalah and Feel Good' book. The book is based on the traditional spiritual beliefs of Judaism as they are reflected in the written law, the Torah and the oral law, the Talmud. I found the book very refreshing when compared to the many books written by anyone and everyone about Kabbalah and Zohar.... more info
Author took the title too seriously:
This is the first of the "Idiot's Guide" genre that I have read where the author really did assume the readers would be idiots. Spirituality was treated at the depth one uses when teaching Sunday School. The greatest detail was saved for "loshan hora" or politically correct speech. The most annoying portion of the book was his treatment of Kabbalah. In essence, the author said "Kabbalah is very difficult to learn and you wouldn't understand it anyway." Then I bought "Practical Kabbalah" by Rabbi Laibl... more info
Simple but Well-written:
This book, "Jewish Spirituality and Mysticism" manages to take a very complex topic and simplify it -- without "dumbing it down" -- so that the layman can understand it.
While the areas it covers are brief, this book explains them very well. This book is best angled towards people with no background on the subject, or with a little background who are looking for a basic reference or memory refresher.
Worth buying. :)
Complete Idiot's Guide to Jewish Spirituality and Mysticism:
This book is both the oddest and possibly best of the "Complete Idiot's Guide" series. It takes the most complex Jewish mystical ideas and practices, many of which are hundreds if not thousands of years old, and explain's them in laymen's English(and Hebrew) in a way that makes Jewish spirituality accessible to the layperson. Levin quite thoroughly covers the Biblical basis of Jewish Mysticism, also known as Kabbalah(Received Tradition), then proceeds with a brief history of the rest of it's development and... more info
