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Nine and a Half Mystics: The Kabbala Today is a 1969 book on Jewish mysticism by Rabbi Herbert Weiner. The book includes interviews with a number of Jewish mystics and scholars, as well as the author's encounters with various Jewish groups practicing who incorporate mysticism in their religious practice.

Nine and a Half Mystics

Nine and a Half Mystics explores themes on Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism as well as those Jewish groups where the mystical tradition is active.^[1]

Weiner, a Reform^[2] rabbi, based the book on his travels to various Jewish communities in his search for Jewish mysticism.^[3] For many American Jews, Weiner's work was their first exposure to the Jewish mystical tradition.^[4][2]

Interviews

Nine and a Half Mystics includes a number of interviews with Jewish mystics and scholars including:

• Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe
• Dr. Gershom Sholem
• Dr. Martin Buber
• Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook
• Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
• Rabbi Dovid Cohen, "The Nazir"

Encounters

In addition to interviews, Rabbi Weiner also travelled to various Jewish communities where Jewish mysticism is incorporated in religious practice. Weiner visited the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Brooklyn, the Breslov community in New York and Israel, among others.

See also

• Kabbalah

References