judaism

I have read a bit about Kabbalah but had never really been exposed to any real practical application of the subject. Moskowitz provides a very good practical application of Kabbalah with this tape set. What is interesting is that the information is really nothing new since it has a common thread with many of the great spiritual and philosophical schools of thought, but Moskowitz has a way of presenting the information on this complex subject in a manner which is easy to grasp and he places emphasis where emphasis really seems to make sense. I am not certain why the tape on Kabbalistic Astrology was added because I thought that it detracted from the overall quality of the entire tape program. I felt that I could have picked up any cheap supermarket astrology magazine and have found the same information. I really couldn't take it very seriously. I think astrology can be useful, but this presentation was just too superficial to be of any real value to anyone. I wish that he had left it out and had just referred the listener to a serious book on kabbalistic astrology instead. Overall it was a good program but I wish it could have been presented in a book format instead. A good bibliography or some book suggestions would have been helpful for those of us who would like to do further research.

The Kabbalah is a system of thought derived from an ancient Hebrew book called the Zohar. To one uninitiated in the system, I have always found books on the subject to be a little too daunting for my taste, with many difficult names and, for me, poorly explained concepts. I am glad to say that Michael Moskowitz manages to demystify the whole subject to an enormous extent.
Although the Kabbalah might be thought of as religious, there is no trace here of religious fervour or any attempts to persuade and convert. On the contrary, it is presented as a philosophical system that can sit alongside any current beliefs you may have, and furthermore is thoroughly grounded in the principle of "no coercion in spirituality".
There are explanations here for the interaction of the material and spiritual realm, for the beginning of the universe, the theory of multiple universes, the nature of miracles, and even the origin of Satan. In every case, these explanations offer genuine illumination for the open-minded.
At the heart of this tape set, as a self-development tool, is the concept of proactive versus reactive thought and action. In this respect, the Kabbalah is interpreted in a way that makes it thoroughly relevant to any modern predicament. The teaching on this subject would sit quite happily with Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. But it also takes the practical benefits of proactivity a little deeper by offering an explanation for why this approach is the right one, and a theory of how it works to replace the reactive chaos of our lives with an alternative place of peace and fulfilment.
There are, it should also be said, some challenging sections to the tape set: sections on reincarnation, the Kabbalistic approach to astrology, and the use of Hebrew letters as an aid to meditation. A guided meditation is included to illustrate this last point, but if I have a criticism of the tape set, it touches too lightly on this area to leave any deep impression of the use of it.
In all, I found this a very useful and accessible introduction to the Kabbalah. I have listened to it several times and not yet tired of it. It will reward anyone who comes to it with an open mind.