Isaiah Horowitz: A Jewish Sage

1
Isaiah Horowitz A Jewish Sage
2
Isaiah Horowitz (1570-1626)

• Jewish spirituality is to lead to two things
  Cleaving to God and uniting the Divine Name.

3
Two Tablets of the Covenant

• The two tablets refer to the Jewish tradition
  that there is a written torah and an oral torah.

4
Two Tablets of the Covenant

• The two tablets refer to the Jewish tradition
  that there is a written torah and an oral torah.
• Isaiahs book is a commentary on both the Torah
  and the Talmud from the mystical perspective of
  the Kabbalah

5
The Ten Utterances

• 1. God is one.
• Therefore, the religious goal is to realize and
  experience this oneness in ones heart.

6
The Ten Utterances

• 2. Israel is one entity.
• Today is the day of salvation. Today God makes
  his covenant with you. What will you do about it?

7
The Ten Utterances

• 3. Inner fear and love.
• Isaiah teaches that there are four levels of
  adherence to Gods laws.

8
The Ten Utterances

• 4. Divine service for the need above.
• The command-ments become a way of increasing
  awareness and contemplative abilities.

9
The Ten Utterances

• 5. Eternal service.
• All we do needs to be done in constant worship of
  God. This is unceasing prayer.

10
The Ten Utterances

• 6. The essence of service in the heart.
• The heart of all mystical prayer is gratefulness.
  When we are grateful we are in a state of joy.

11
The Ten Utterances

• 7. Gate of the attributes.
• The goal is not simply to do what God asks, but
  to become like God.

12
The Ten Utterances

• 8. Cleaving of the heart ot God in all ways.
• This quality is associated with the verse in the
  Bible In all your ways know him.

13
The Ten Utterances

• 9. Purity of thought in the heart.
• Isaiah emphasizes the need to bring our thoughts
  into alignment with God as well as our actions.

14
The Ten Utterances

• 10. Shekhinah (Divine Presence) in the heart.
• The practice of the constant presence of God.

15
Conclusion

• 1. Isaiah taught the kabbalistic understanding of
  a holistic universe.
• The world has no independent existence apart from
  God.

• The universe is an emanation of God that is
  continually being created and held in being.

16
Conclusion

• 1. A holistic universe.
• 2. Isaiah emphasized that Hebrew was a holy
  language.

• Even the letters of the alphabet have spiritual
  energies associated with them.

17
Conclusion

• 1. A holistic universe.
• 2. Isaiah emphasized that Hebrew was a holy
  language.
• 3. Isaiah includes the evil urge.

• You dont find holiness by separating from the
  world, but rather by embracing the world.