Walking on the Path:

Tales from the Zohar

A Course for Advanced Practitioners

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Join the Institute for Jewish Spirituality for a six-week intensive journey through the mystical tales of the Zohar, a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. Renowned Israeli scholar and teacher Melila Hellner-Eshed, Ph.D., will guide this advanced course for students with a significant Judaic background (including rabbis, cantors, Jewish educators, and religious studies students).  

The Zohar transmits its ideas and worldview primarily through powerful, mystical narratives, many of which are shared by rabbinic disciples accompanying Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai as they walk together along the path. This Zoharic motif of “walking the path” in sacred community has become a central symbol of Jewish mysticism.

Join an Expert Guide for a Journey through the Narratives of Kabbalah’s Central Text

In this course, Dr. Hellner-Eshed will guide participants to walk the spiritual path alongside the rabbis of the Zohar by exploring one of their narratives each week. We’ll delve deeply into them to derive insights for our own lives and spiritual journeys today.

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Meet your instructor:

Melila Hellner-Eshed, Ph.D

Melila Hellner-Eshed, Ph.D., is a Senior Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute and has taught Jewish mysticism and Zohar at The Hebrew University for 26 years. She is the author of And a River Flows from Eden: On the Language of Mystical Experience in the Zohar and Seekers of the Face: The Secrets of the Idra Rabba of the Zohar. Her forthcoming book, On the Path of the Tree of Life, is co-authored with Omri Shasha (Hebrew edition published by Yediot in February, 2023; English translation by Brandeis University Press). Melila is active in Sulha, a grassroots organization that brings together Israelis and Palestinians from the West Bank, fostering humanization for all peoples impacted by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.