The book is a fictionalized biography of Hayyim Vital, a 16th century kabbalist. He was the student of Isaac Luria another Kabbalist luminary. The book’s major theme is Vital’s struggle for independence, from stepping out of the shadow of his master. His ambition was to be known as the most famous re-founder of Kabbalah, but the book suggests, that he was destined to be known only as the disciple of Luria, who would be known throughout the ages. Vital’s biggest, recurring decision in the book had to be made between the greatness he longed for via Kabbalah and the love he felt for his master’s daughter. We follow several years of his tormented life, until the pressure of making this decision cease to exist for a number of reasons, I won’t spoil.

It was a three to one mixed experience to read the book. The good aspects were the story, the style, and lessons. I kept finding myself surprised about the twists of Vital’s life. I thought there is nothing more that can happen to him, but in the next chapter something unexpected popped up and gave him a new direction. I also kept wondering how much of it was made up by the author, and how much is historical fact. Based on m limited factchecking a surprisingly large portion of the events seem to be real. The second aspect I enjoyed was the author’s and the translator’s style. I cannot judge the original, but I think Tamas Balogh did a great job with the translation. There were only a few places, where I felt that the flow of the language wasn’t the smoothest or where an expression seemed awkward. However the whole of the book was very much an enjoyable biography. The last positive aspect I want to mention was the integration of the novel with Kabbalistic teachings and principles. There weren’t too many of the latter to overwhelm the reader, but there were enough of them to teach them some of the basics. Just right proportions for me.

I have one grievance: I didn’t like the main character. I kept hoping that this is one of those character development stories, where the hero starts out being slightly on the bad side and through his tribulations learns to be good. I hoped for this, because it would have been corresponding to the book’s major theme of humility and putting God and the greater good ahead of your own fame and interest. But the Vital of this book never seemed to have reached that phase of evolution. He kept fighting the same demon: how can I be bigger than my master. One, ok I, would have thought that he can learn the lesson. I was mistaken. I would love to learn more about the characteristics of the historical figure.

Despite this last caveat I am happy that I read the book. I learned a lot about the possibly most important era and location the development of Kabbalah: 16th century Safed.

Technical sidenote: In order to do so I developed a helper tool. It allows opening multiple (25-50-100) URLs at the same time. The users can paste all the URLs into a textbox and then can define how many of them should be opened and which one should be the first one. This allowed me to go through Google Books and the other two sites, 50 by 50 checking whether they have a certain book or not. I made a version of this tool a year ago, but that depended on a mySQL database table. Now it doesn’t have this dependency. I will tweak the tool a bit more and then release it for anybody who is interested.

• a suggest a book feature, with a math exercise to protect against spammers and bots.
• a feature allowing to search sites related to Jewish Kabbalah. It is based on Google’s coop technology, that allows to search a limited, user-predefined set of sites. I created a preliminary set of 30-40 sites. Later I will open it up to others to add sites.
• Google Ads (and tracking the site via Google Analytics.)

• I wanted it short, so names like kabbalahbooks.com or kabbalahlibrary.com are out.
• I wanted a Jewish (sounding) name, so it would indicate that the site is intended to focus on Jewish Kabbalah.
• My first choice, months ago, was baruch.hu. It was even available, but by the time I got around to register it, it was taken.
• My wife suggested kabra.com, as in the combination for Kabbalah and bracha (blessing). But that and its .org/.net version were taken.
• I thought of sefer.com or seferim.com, but they are both taken.

After all these thinking today I registered the seferim.net domain.

On the Road with Rabbi Steinsaltz: 25 Years of Pre-Dawn Car Trips, Mind-Blowing Encounters, and Inspiring Conversations with a Man of Wisdom (published by Wiley)

1. Aaron, David: Inviting God In: Celebrating the Soul-Meaning of the Jewish Holy Days
2. Aaron, David: Living a Joyous Life: The True Spirit of Jewish Practice
3. Aaron, David: The Secret Life of God: Discovering the Divine within You
4. Altshuler, Mor: The Messianic Secret of Hasidism
5. Bardon, Franz: The Key to the True Kabbalah
6. Berg, Philip S.: Astrology, the Star Connection: The Science of Judaic Astrology
7. Berg, Yehuda: Angel Intelligence
8. Berg, Yehuda: Beyond Blame: A Full-Responsibility Approach to Life
9. Berg, Yehuda: Dialing God: Daily Connection Book
10. Berg, Yehuda: God Does Not Create Miracles
11. Berg, Yehuda: Kabbalah on Love
12. Berg, Yehuda: Life Rules
13. Berg, Yehuda: Rebooting: Defeating Depression with the Power of Kabbalah
14. Berg, Yehuda: The 72 Names of God for Kids: A Treasury of Timeless Wisdom
15. Berg, Yehuda: The 72 Names of God: The Course: Technology for the Soul
16. Berg, Yehuda: The Dreams Book: Technology for the Soul–Finding Your Way in the Dark: Kabbalah
17. Berg, Yehuda: The Kabbalah Book of Sex: And Other Mysteries of the Universe
18. Berg, Yehuda: The Monster is Real: How to Face Your Fears and Eliminate Them Forever
19. Berg, Yehuda: The Red String Book: The Power of Protection
20. Berg, Yehuda: The Wisdom Box: Kabbalah
21. Berg, Yehuda: True Prosperity: How to Have Everything
22. Berg, Yehuda (Editor): The Kabbalistic Bible: Exodus
23. Berg, Yehuda (Editor): The Kabbalistic Bible: Genesis
24. Berg, Yehuda (Editor): The Kabbalistic Bible: Leviticus
25. Berg, Yehuda (Editor): The Kabbalistic Bible: Numbers
26. Besserman, Perle: A New Kabbalah for Women
27. Besserman, Perle: Teachings of the Jewish Mystics
28. Boustan, Ra’anan S. (Editor): Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions
29. Cardozo, Abraham Miguel: Abraham Miguel Cardozo: Selected Writings
30. Chajes, J. H.: Between Worlds: Dybbuks, Exorcists, and Early Modern Judaism
31. Cooper, David A.: Ecstatic Kabbalah
32. Cooper, David A.: The Handbook of Jewish Meditation Practices: A Guide for Enriching the Sabbath and Other Days of Your Life
33. Dan, Joseph: Jewish Mysticism: Volume 1: Late Antiquity
34. Dan, Joseph: Jewish Mysticism: Volume 3: The Modern Period
35. Dan, Joseph: Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction
36. Dan, Joseph: The ‘Unique Cherub’ Circle- Jewish Mysticism and Esotericism in Medieval Germany
37. Dan, Joseph: The Ancient Jewish Mysticism
38. Dan, Joseph (Editor): Gershom Scholem and the Mystical Dimension of Jewish History
39. Dan, Joseph (Editor): Studies in Jewish Mysticism: Proceedings
40. Dan, Joseph (Editor): The Heart and the Fountain: An Anthology of Jewish Mystical Experiences
41. Dennis, Geoffrey W.: Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism
42. Elber, Mark: The Everything Kabbalah Book: Explore This Mystical Tradition–From Ancient Rituals to Modern Day Practices
43. Feldman, Ron H.: Fundamentals of Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah
44. Frankiel, Tamar: The Gift of Kabbalah: Discovering the Secrets of Heaven, Renewing Your Life on Earth
45. Frankiel, Tamar, Ph.D.: Kabbalah: A Brief Introduction for Christians
46. Giller, Pinchas: The Enlightened Will Shine: Symbolization and Theurgy in the Later Strata of the Zohar
47. Ginsburgh, Yitzchak: Awakening the Spark Within
48. Ginsburgh, Yitzchak: Body, Mind and Soul: Kabbalah on Human Physiology, Disease and Healing
49. Ginsburgh, Yitzchak: Consciousness & Choice: Finding Your Soulmate
50. Ginsburgh, Yitzchak: Living in Divine Space: Kabbalah and Meditation
51. Ginsburgh, Yitzchak: The Art of Education: Internalizing Ever-new Horizons
52. Ginsburgh, Yitzchak: The Covenant Of Marriage Chassidic Insights
53. Ginsburgh, Yitzchak: The Hebrew Letters: Channels of Creative Consciousness
54. Ginsburgh, Yitzchak: The Mystery of Marriage
55. Ginsburgh, Yitzchak: Transforming Darkness into Light
56. Ginsburgh, Yitzchak: What You Need to Know about Kabbalah
57. Goldwag, Arthur: The Beliefnet Guide to Kabbalah
58. Green, Arthur: A Guide to the Zohar
59. Green, Arthur: Devotion and Commandment: The Faith of Abraham in the Hasidic Imagination
60. Green, Arthur: Ehyeh: A Kabbalah for Tomorrow
61. Green, Arthur: Jewish Spirituality Vol. 1
62. Green, Arthur: Keter
63. Green, Arthur: Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl: Upright Practices, The Light of the Eyes
64. Green, Arthur: Seek My Face: A Jewish Mystical Theology
65. Green, Arthur: These Are the Words: A Vocabulary of Jewish Spiritual Life
66. Green, Arthur: Tormented Master: The Life and Spiritual Quest of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav
67. Green, Arthur (Editor): Jewish Spirituality: From the 16th Century Revival to the Present
68. Green, Arthur (Editor, Translator): Your Word Is Fire: The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer
69. Halevi, Z’eEv ben Shimon: The Anatomy of Fate: Astrology and Kabbalah
70. Halevi, Z’Ev Ben Shimon: The Anointed
71. Hanson, Kenneth: Kabbalah: The Untold Story of the Mystic Tradition
72. Hanson, Kenneth: Secrets From the Lost Bible: Hidden Scriptures Found
73. Idel, Moshe: Abraham Abulafia: An Ecstatic Kabbalist [Two Studies]
74. Idel, Moshe: Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism: Pillars, Lines, Ladders
75. Idel, Moshe: Enchanted Chains: Techniques and Rituals in Jewish Mysticism
76. Isbell, Charles D: Corpus of the Aramaic incantation bowls
77. Ivry, Alfred L., Elliott R. Wolfson, Allan Arkush (Editors): Perspectives on Jewish Thought and Mysticism
78. Katz, Steven T. (Editor): Mysticism and Sacred Scripture
79. Klein, Eliahu: Kabbalah of Creation: The Mysticism of Isaac Luria, Founder of Modern Kabbalah
80. Kurzweil, Arthur: Kabbalah For Dummies
81. Laenen, J. H.: Jewish Mysticism: An Introduction
82. Laitman, Michael: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah
83. Luttikhuizen, Gerard P. (Editor): Paradise Interpreted: Representations of Biblical Paradise in Judaism and Christianity
84. Matt, Daniel C. (Editor): The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Vol. 3
85. Matt, Daniel C. (Editor): Zohar: Annotated & Explained
86. Matt, Daniel C. (Translator): The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Vol. 1
87. Matt, Daniel C. (Translator): The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Vol. 2
88. Noegel, Scott B. (Editor): Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World
89. Nurbhai, Saleel: George Eliot, Judaism And The Novels: Jewish Myth and Mysticism
90. Orlov, Andrei A.: From Apocalypticism to Merkabah Mysticism: Studies in the Slavonic Pseudepigrapha
91. Ozaniec, Naomi: The Kabbalah Experience: The Practical Guide to Kabbalistic Wisdom
92. Petry, Yvonne: Gender, Kabbalah, and the Reformation: The Mystical Theology of Guillaume Postel, (1510-1581)
93. Rosman, Moshe: Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Ba’al Shem Tov
94. Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman: First Steps to a New Jewish Spirit: Reb Zalman’s Guide to Recapturing the Intimacy and Ecstasy in your Relationship with God
95. Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman: Fragments of a future scroll: Hassidism for the here and now
96. Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman: Jewish With Feeling: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Practice
97. Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman: Spiritual Intimacy: A Study of Counseling in Hasidism
98. Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman: The Dream Assembly
99. Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman: Wrapped in a Holy Flame: Teachings and Tales of The Hasidic Masters
100. Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman and Daniel Siegel: Credo of a Modern Kabbalist
101. Schleicher, Marianne: Intertextuality in the Tales of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav: A Close Reading of Sippurey Ma’asiyot
102. Scholem, Gershom: Alchemy and Kabbalah
103. Scholem, Gershom: Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah, Mysticism and Talmudic Tradition
104. Scholem, Gershom: Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism
105. Scholem, Gershom: On the Possibility of Jewish Mysticism in Our Time & Other Essays
106. Scholem, Gershom: Sabbatai Sevi
107. Scholem, Gershom: The Messianic Idea in Judaism: And Other Essays on Jewish Spirituality
108. Schwartz, Howard: The Day the Rabbi Disappeared: Jewish Holiday Tales of Magic
109. Shulamit: Kabbalah of Prayer: Sacred Sounds and the Soul’s Journey
110. Steinsaltz, Adin: Learning From the Tanya: Volume Two in the Definitive Commentary on the Moral and Mystical Teachings of a Classic Work of Kabbalah
111. Steinsaltz, Adin: Opening the Tanya: Discovering the Moral and Mystical Teachings of a Classic Work of Kabbalah
112. Steinsaltz, Adin: Sustaining Utterance : Discoures on Chasidic Thought
113. Steinsaltz, Adin: The Candle of God: Discourses on Chasidic Thought
114. Steinsaltz, Adin: The Miracle of the Seventh Day: A Guide to the Spiritual Meaning, Significance, and Weekly Practice of the Jewish Sabbath
115. Steinsaltz, Adin: Thirteen Petalled Rose: A Discourse on the Essence of Jewish Existence And Belief
116. Steinsaltz, Adin: Understanding the Tanya: Volume Three in the Definitive Commentary on a Classic Work of Kabbalah by the World’s Foremost Authority
117. Strassfeld, Michael: A Book of Life: Embracing Judaism As a Spiritual Practice
118. Sullivan, Kevin P.: Wrestling With Angels: A Study of the Relationship Between Angels and Humans in Ancient Jewish Literature and the New Testament
119. Swartz, Michael D.: Mystical Prayer in Ancient Judaism: An Analysis of Ma’Aseh Merkavah
120. Swartz, Michael D.: Scholastic Magic
121. Trachtenberg, Joshua: Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion
122. Uzzel, Robert, L.: Éliphas Lévi and the Kabbalah – The Masonic and French Connection of the American Mystery Tradition