Jewish mystical exegesis

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Practices Torah study Mystical exegesis Mitzvot Minhag Customary immersion in mikveh Meditation Kavanot Teshuvah Deveikut Prayer Nusach Tikkun Chatzot Tikkun Leil Shavuot Pilgrimage to Tzadik Pilgrimage to holy grave Lag BaOmer at Meron Asceticism Rosicrucianism Practical Kabbalah
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Jewish mystical exegesis is a method of interpreting the Bible based on the assumption that the Torah contains secret knowledge regarding creation and the manifestations of God. The only way to find these secrets is to know how to decode the text and reveal them. The method most likely dates back to the 3rd century.

Focusing on the holiness of the text, Jewish mystics consider every nuance of the text to be a clue in discovering divine secrets, from the entire text to the accents on each letter. Once one can find such knowledge, one can use the text in mystical rituals to affect both the upper worlds (heavens) and the lower world (our world). The name of God is considered one of the greatest sources of power and is assumed to be hidden in various forms throughout the text. Much activity involves rearranging the breaks between words to seek out different names for God as well as other aspects of hidden knowledge.

There are two foundational texts within the realm of Jewish mysticism: the Sefer Yezirah and the kabbalistic Zohar.