Mystical Bodies, Mystical Meals - Lecture by Dr. Joel Hecker, based on Jewish Kabbalah

P’nai Or Jewish Renewal Congregation of Philadelphia presents

Mystical Bodies, Mystical Meals

Two Lectures by Dr. Joel Hecker

Chair, Department of Modern Jewish Civilization and Associate Professor of Jewish Mysticism at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

About the Program
Kabbalists experience the human body as a perfect
symbol for the Divinity, allowing the intake of divine
light and power and the outward overflow of
fruitfulness and generosity. Nourishment imagery
becomes a metaphor for the flow of divine blessing
from the upper worlds to the lower, from masculine to
feminine, and from Israel to the Godhead. Rabbi Joel
Hecker's book, Mystical Bodies, Mystical
Meals, explores mystical eating practices in Kabbalah
and Hasidut, and takes us on a surprising journey into
the Kabbalists’ path of mystical attainment
through eating, sexuality and the senses. In these two
sessions, dealing with Kabbalah and Hasidut, Joel/Dr.
Hecker will show ways in which food and eating were
seen as vehicles for experiencing unity with Divinity,
opportunities for internalizing holiness, and the
possibility of participating in a divine ecosystem of
food, eating, and prayer.

About Dr. Joel Hecker
Joel Hecker, Ph.D., received his doctorate in Judaic
studies, specializing in Jewish mysticism from New
York University in 1996. A graduate of the University
of Toronto, Hecker received rabbinic ordination from
the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and a
Master’s degree in Jewish philosophy from the Bernard
Revel Graduate School—both at Yeshiva University.
Dr. Hecker is the author of Mystical Bodies, Mystical
Meals: Eating and Embodiment in Medieval Kabbalah
(Wayne State University Press, 2004) and has published
widely on a range of themes in Jewish mysticism. His
scholarly interests include ritual, embodiment, mystical
experience and mystical techniques in the Kabbalah, as
well as the history of Jewish magic. On sabbatical in
Jerusalem next year, Hecker will be working on
translating the Zohar on the Song of Songs and Ruth.


When:
Sunday May 2nd & May 16th
2PM to 4PM

Where:
P’nai Or
6757 Greene Street
Philadelphia, PA 19119

Donation: Members: $18, or $30 both sessions
Non-Members: $25 & $40

Make checks payable to:
P’nai Or--Maggid Fund
Mail in advance to P.O. Box 9917
Phila., PA 19118
or pay at door

Visit www.pnaior-phila.org for more info