Vladimir Nabokov, who taught literature to Cornell undergrads in the '50s, opined that one ought to read books twice. Only after you know the twists in the plot and how it all turns out are you free to fully experience the book. I believe it, but only rarely have I followed his advice.
I enjoyed reading Kushner's "Kabbalah: A Love Story" when it appeared a few weeks ago. I was drawn to read it again. I reread it with new eyes. What an extraordinary book! The first time through I thought it was about Kabbalah. I see now that that's not the case - it is Kabbalah. Those familiar with Kushner's writings know that he is a spiritual seeker, but they know not to look to Kushner for pious platitudes. His characters - like his readers - have one foot in Heaven and the other in the Subway. Read this book as a gripping, multi-layered tale of discovery. Or read it for glimpses of the God that Kushner describes as "The Oneness" - a theology that defies the most rational among us to settle for Atheism.

Rabbi Kushner's novel is a gem. It is a delightful historical love story that weaves in and out of many lives throughout history. R. Kushner is a master story teller. I was totally entranced. The historical vignettes are fascinating, while the personalities of the protagonists jumped out and grabbed me. I yearned to meet the characters in the novel, while at the same time, I wanted to find out more about all the places and times that the novel transported me to.

R. Kushner's novel can be read at many levels. It is simply a great love story. But if you are interested in history, there is much to learn from this book. And if you are familiar with the Jewish Tradition, you might want to delve into all the Tradition that R. Kushner brought into the book.

But above all, this is a masterful mystical novel, in the grand tradition of the great Zohar. R. Kushner's insights are timeless. Like all great teachings, it is inexhaustible. "Turn it, and turn it, for everything is in it."

Rabbi Kushner has written a little marvel.

Reminiscent of "My Name is Red", "Kabbalah, A Love Story" layers story upon hisotry, connecting us to times and places far away and long ago, along with a contemporary story of seeking and finding. He introduces characters we can care about, and shows us how their quests relate to sacred quests and texts, and to ours as well.

He demonstrates a light and engaging touch, bringing us into the world of Jewish mysticism, the streets of Manhattan, fifteen-century Spain and all the while, telling us a story of love, loss, and reunion. This is a book for the mind, the heart and the soul. I consumed it in a weekend, and I bet a wide range of readers will be caught in its spell, as well.

Highly recommended.

For many, knowledge of the term Kabbalah is limited to its association with pop culture icons like Madonna and Britney Spears or esoteric symbols like red string and magical water sold for $8 a bottle. To these casual observers, Kabbalah can safely be assigned to the same pigeonhole as a host of other dubious New Age spiritual practices. Readers seeking an alternative to such a superficial understanding of this ancient strand of Jewish mysticism will find a welcome antidote in Rabbi Lawrence Kushner's new novel.

Kushner is a San Francisco-based rabbi and highly-regarded author of numerous works of theology and spirituality, including HONEY FROM THE ROCK: An Introduction to Jewish Mysticism. In this novel he tries his hand for the first time at a full-length work of fiction. While the novel shows some of the weaknesses of a debut effort, chiefly in the depth of its characterization and occasionally wooden dialogue, its flaws are outweighed by the way in which it engagingly tackles the subject of divine and human love.

KABBALAH: A Love Story stitches together a series of interconnected narratives that range across more than eight centuries and transport the reader from 20th century New York to medieval Spain to Poland during the Holocaust. The main thread that links these tales is the story of Rabbi Kalman Stern, a congenial, if undistinguished, scholar of Jewish mysticism whose psychic scars from his first wife's decision to abandon him for another man early in their marriage have stunted his emotional life, preventing him from connecting with any other women.

In the binding of a 17th century edition of the Zohar, or The Book of Splendor, the preeminent text of Kabbalah --- casually obtained in a pile of discarded manuscripts on a trip to the Israeli city of Safed, one of the early centers of Kabbalistic teaching --- Rabbi Stern discovers a fragment of Aramaic text that will transform his life. The text refers to the "seed point of beginning" and the "mother-womb of being," concepts fundamental to the Kabbalistic view of creation. At the same time, it reads like a cryptic fragment of a love letter. The discovery launches Rabbi Stern on a quest to uncover the text's true meaning.

Rabbi Stern soon encounters Isabel Benveniste, a Columbia University astronomer specializing in cosmology, who shares his fascination with the origins of the universe. Damaged in her own way by the early death of her mother, Isabel slowly finds herself engaged by the Jewish scholar. Their exploration of complementary intellectual disciplines evolves into a genuine, if unlikely, affection.

Paralleling the story of Kalman and Isabel is the tale of Moshe ben Shem Tov de Guadalajara, otherwise known as Moshe de Leon, generally believed to be the principal author of the Zohar in the 13th century. In the novel, de Leon is engaged as the Hebrew tutor to the wife of a prominent Castilian Jewish financier. Their lessons quickly progress from arid discussions of the Hebrew alphabet and grammar to explorations of mystical theology. The senora reveals a penchant for profound spiritual insight, and de Leon is transformed from teacher into student, racing to transcribe her observations as quickly as she utters them, profoundly reshaping his mystical worldview.

True to its mystical context, KABBALAH stops short of offering a definitive resolution to Rabbi Stern's quest. Despite that, he achieves an insight that meaningfully links the cosmic and human realms in which Jewish mysticism dwells, and is transformed as a result. At the novel's end he concludes, "Moshe de Leon, the author of the Zohar, figured out that knowing ultimate truth and giving yourself to your lover are effectively identical. You move from this World of Separation to the World of Unity by giving yourself away, and once you can do that, new life is the reward." That insight leads him to a true understanding of his relationship with Isabel and lays the foundation for their relationship to flourish.

Gershom Scholem, the leading scholar of Jewish mysticism, has described portions of the Zohar's narrative as a "mystical novel." Rabbi Kushner's KABBALAH embodies that same spirit. While it offers only a brief glimpse into the complex and profound subject of Jewish mysticism, for some curious readers it no doubt will serve as a springboard to exploring that subject in greater depth. When they do that, they'll be equipped with tools more useful than the ones offered by pop culture.

--- Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg (mwn52@aol.com)

The colon in the title of the book has meaning (of course, in Kabbalah, everything on the page has meaning). Rabbi Kushner's delightful little book is both a primer on Kabbalah and a love story. The many readers of his earlier books on Jewish mysticism such as The Way into Jewish Mystical Thought, or Eyes Remade for Wonder, or any of his titles will find here as well a lucid and compelling introduction to Jewish mysticism but with the added bonus of a love story that romps through time and space in a delicious and humorous way. As in its half-namesake, Eric Segal's Love Story, we soon become involved in a soulful romance; this time not between doomed young lovers but between Kushner's middle-aged hero, the lonely Rabbi Kalman Stern, and the astronomer, Isabel Beneviste, as they search for ways to forgive their pasts and connect with each other. Unlike Segal's love story, however, this is not a tragedy but something new - a blend of the picaresque, the inspirational, the relevatory and the didactic - or is it new? Sounds like the Zohar to me....