Chil­dren’s

The Secret World of Kabbalah

Judith Z. Abrams
  • Review
By – May 14, 2012

Rab­bi Abrams’ expla­na­tion of the fun­da­men­tals of Kab­bal­ah is based on the anal­o­gy of a jour­ney. In using Mount Ever­est as an eas­i­ly under­stood goal, she is able to illus­trate the per­son­al jour­ney that is required of those wish­ing to study this con­nec­tion to spir­i­tu­al­i­ty. Her pre­sen­ta­tion of the dis­ci­pline and train­ing nec­es­sary to accom­plish that goal is a well-suit­ed approach for the intro­duc­tion of Kab­bal­ah to junior high and high schools stu­dents. Abrams famil­iar­izes the begin­ning stu­dent with the con­cept of Hid­ing in Plain Sight.” Using pre­cise descrip­tions of com­mon dai­ly prayers, she assists in reveal­ing the hid­den mean­ing through the art of numerol­o­gy and the sig­nif­i­cance that it has when applied to lan­guage. She dis­cuss­es the use of the Tanach and the Zohar as texts, as well as the rea­son for the secre­cy of Kab­bal­ah. She has also includ­ed a valu­able sec­tion on how Kab­bal­ah can be put to use in your life and how to assess the cred­i­bil­i­ty of a teacher of Kab­bal­ah. R

Rab­bi Abrams’ guid­ance allows for the read­er to learn the basics skills of inter­pret­ing Kab­bal­ah and opens the door to fur­ther in-depth explo­ration. With the cur­rent pop­u­lar­i­ty of Jew­ish mys­ti­cism, this book serves as an excel­lent intro­duc­tion for teens. For ages 12 and up. 

Chris­tine Maas­dam holds a Mas­ters in Human­i­ties, cer­ti­fi­ca­tions in Muse­um Stud­ies and Cul­tur­al Prop­er­ty Pro­tec­tion. She is cur­rent­ly com­plet­ing her M.L.I.S. Her inter­ests are phi­los­o­phy and the impact of art and tech­nol­o­gy on culture.

Discussion Questions