Boaz Huss

Boaz Huss (born 1959)[1] is a professor of Kabbalah at the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is a leading scholar in contemporary Kabbalah.

Boaz Huss
Born
Jerusalem, Israel
NationalityIsraeli
OccupationProfessor of Kabbalah
Known forChair of the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, leading scholar in contemporary Kabbalah

Early life and education

Boaz Huss was born in Jerusalem, Israel.[1] He completed his undergraduate and graduate work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he earned a B.A. in Philosophy and History of Jewish Thought in 1986 and a Ph.D. in History of Jewish Thought in 1993.[2] His doctoral thesis, Ketem Paz – The Kabbalistic Doctrine of Rabbi Simeon Lavi in His Commentary to the Zohar,[3] was supervised by Professor Moshe Idel.[2]

He was a Fulbright post-doctoral fellow at Yale University (1993/4), a Starr fellow at the Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University (2002), and a fellow at The Institute for Advanced Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1998/9, 2008/9).[4] He lectured at Hebrew University (1994–1996) and Tel Aviv University (1995–1996) before coming to the Goldstein-Goren department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University;[5] he has chaired the department in 2010-2012.[6] He has received several research grants, including two 4-year grants from the Israel Science Foundation on the subjects of "Major Trends in 20th Century Kabbalah" (2005) and "Kabbalah and the Theosophical Society (1875-1936)".[7]

Huss is a Board member of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism, and has served on the editorial boards of the Zohar Education Project in Chicago and the International Journal for the Study of New Religions.[6]

Scholarship

Huss' research interests cover the Zohar and its reception, modern and contemporary Kabbalah, Western esotericism, and the New Age. His first monograph was dedicated to the Kabbalah of Rabbi Shimon Lavi, one of the first commentators of the Zohar. In his second monograph he examined the reception of the Zohar and the construction of its symbolic value. Huss was one of the first scholars to "take seriously more contemporary expressions of Jewish mysticism that have been largely ignored by scholars".[8]

He has written about the communist Kabbalah of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag,[9] about Kabbalistic motifs used by Madonna,[10] and about the New Age and postmodern characteristic of contemporary Kabbalah.[11] Huss also studied the history of Kabbalah research, and criticized the use of the term "mysticism" as the defining category of Kabbalah and Hasidism, and the theological framework of the academic study of Jewish mysticism.[12] He is widely quoted in contemporary Kabbalah literature.[13][14][15][16]

In 2006 he appeared as himself in the TV movie "Decoding the Past: Secrets of Kabbalah", together with other Kabbalah scholars such as Michael Berg, Pinchas Giller, Moshe Idel, Daniel C. Matt, Ronit Meroz, and Byron Sherwin.[17]

Selected bibliography
  • The Zohar: Reception and impact. Littman. October 2015. ISBN 978-1-904113-96-6.
  • Kabbalah and Contemporary Spiritual Revival. Beer Sheva: Ben-Gurion University Press. 2011. ISBN 9789655360431.
  • Kabbalah and Modernity: Interpretations, Transformations, Adaptations. Brill. 2010. ISBN 978-9004182844. (ed. with Marco Pasi, Kocku von Stuckrad)
  • Like the Radiance of the Sky: Chapters in the reception history of the Zohar and the construction of its symbolic value. Jerusalem: Bialik Press & Ben Zvi Institute. 2008. Archived from the original on 2013-10-09. Retrieved 2013-12-18.
  • Sockets of Fine Gold: The Kabbalah of R. Shimo'n Ibn Lavi. Jerusalem: Magnes Press & Ben-Zvi Institute. 2000.

References
  1. "Boaz Huss". Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  2. "Boaz Huss – Education". Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  3. Huss, Boaz (October 1992). "Ketem Paz – The Kabbalistic Doctrine of Rabbi Simeon Lavi in his Commentary of the Zohar".
  4. "Boaz Huss – Awards and Fellowships". Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  5. "Boaz Huss – Employment History (Academic Appointments)". Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  6. "Boaz Huss – Professional Activities". Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  7. "Boaz Huss – Research Grants". Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  8. Wolfson, Elliot R. (2007). "Structure, Innovation, and Diremptive Temporality: The Use of Models to Study Continuity and Discontinuity in Kabbalistic Tradition". Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies. 6 (18): 162.
  9. Odenheimer, Micha. "Latter-Day Luminary". Haaretz. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  10. Huss, Boaz (Fall 2005). "All You Need Is LAV: Madonna and Postmodern Kabbalah". Jewish Quarterly Review. 95 (4): 611–624. doi:10.1353/jqr.2005.0077.
  11. "The New Age of Kabbalah: Contemporary Kabbalah, New Age, and Postmodern Spirituality". Modern Jewish Studies. 6 (2): 107–125. July 2007. doi:10.1080/14725880701423014.
  12. "Is Kabbalah Mysticism? Continuing the Debate". Zeek. 17 October 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  13. Hellner-Eshed, Melila; Wolski, Nathan (2009). A River Flows from Eden: The Language of Mystical Experience in the Zohar. Stanford University Press. pp. 429–430. ISBN 978-0804776240. huss.
  14. Fishbane, Etan (2009). As Light Before Dawn: The Inner World of a Medieval Kabbalist. Stanford University Press. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-0804774871.
  15. Ogren, Brian (2009). Renaissance and Rebirth: Reincarnation in Early Modern Italian Kabbalah. Brill. p. 53. ISBN 978-9004177642.
  16. Kaplan, Marion A.; Dash Moore, Deborah (2011). Gender and Jewish History. Indiana University Press. pp. 222–223. ISBN 978-0253222633.
  17. "Decoding the Past: Secrets of Kabbalah". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
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