Principal Subjects:
The History of Jewish Mysticism. Within this extensive subject my concerns focus on five central themes:
1.)The Origins of Early Jewish Mysticism as recorded in the Heikalot and Merkavah Literature as well as in the Priestly Library of Holy Scriptures and Sacred Liturgy as found in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
2.)Study of the Messianic Kabbalah in the period of the Jewish Expulsion of Spain and Portugal (1492-1497) and its development through Safed Kabbalah (1535-1575) as well as its use by the Sabbatean and Frankist movements (1648-1815)
3.)The relation between Mysticism and Freedom versus Myth and Enslavement-their literary representations and historical implications.
4.)Hasidism -The Hasidic phenomenon as expressed in the 18 th -20th centuries and its relationship to the Jewish mystical tradition
5.)Aspects of Gender concerning the absence of the voice of women writers in the Jewish written tradition as well as the definition of the female image in the record of Jewish law and myth