The Seventh Telling: The Kabbalah of Moshe Katan

by Mitchell Chefitz

The Seventh Telling is a journey into the Kabbalah, a spiritual discipline hidden within the folds of Jewish history. Stephanie and Sidney have been studying with Moshe Katan, a kabbalist who shared his learning only when he perceived that a kabbalistic intervention might be necessary to save the life of Rivkah, his wife. What has happened to Moshe and Rivkah we do not know, only that their house is now being used for an extraordinary storytelling, a spiritual discipline to share with those willing to risk examining the very core of their beliefs.

Genres: Fiction, Judaism

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 2001

Reviews

[Nia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really did not work for me, because on an emotional level it simply did not grip me or move me at all, despite the fact that looking at the cover and the book blurb I imagined it would be very very interesting. I think the perspective of the wife really put me off for some reason.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Situated in a magnificent house, Sidney and Stephanie take turns telling a lengthy series of stories to their paying "students" over a day and a half about another couple, Moshe and Rivkah, and their past experiences practicing kabbalah together. They begin with Moshe and Rivkah's early lives and such mundane stories as Moshe's contract negotiations with his synagogue and his success in the financial markets enabling him to buy a Porsche. Eventually they get to the meat of the book, accounts of Moshe's teaching and practicing kabbalah to classes of students including Sidney and Stephanie. The reader also learns a significant amount about Sidney and Stephanie and their personal issues as the novel pulls back its focus.

On a structural level this creates a frame story for the main text, a frame that I believe the book would have been better, not to mention shorter, without. We don't need it. The idea of the novel, and the idea in the novel, is that hearing these stories of Moshe and Rivkah will be a profound transformational experience for the listeners. This puts the book in the same general spiritual self-help category as Siddartha and The Alchemist, from what I know, not having actually read either of those, or intending to. This would be a Jewish mysticism and midrashic version of the genre; pretty niche, something you'd probably only read if, say, someone at your synagogue recommended it to you.

It does do a fine job of summarizing the sefirot and the Four Worlds of kabbalah, but then this is a novel rather than an introduction to kabbalah text, and it takes a good while to get there in any case. And it sensationalizes kabbalistic meditation, presenting it as dangerous and killing off one of Moshe's students who apparently descended too deeply (Moshe himself almost dies a couple of times following his travels). And that's before it introduces a victim of a satanic cult and a Rosemary's baby situation into the narrative; G-d help me.

Should probably just read Arthur Green.

[Dennis Fischman · Rating 2 out of 5]

To me, this book was a fascinating failure. But what it was to me may not be the most important thing about it. I could not suspend my disbelief in the idea that Kabbalah can be used for therapeutic or healing purposes, and therefore, the book seemed like a fantasy novel. And I have read much better fantasy novels. The characters are underdeveloped, and the older couple, Moshe and Rivka, are even so more real to me than the couple Sidney and Stephanie, who tell the frame story. They seem like devices to get the author's points across.

If you are interested in the kabbalah and not particularly interested in Judaism, this may be a very good book for you. But I cannot recommend it.

[Sarah Bollt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Just ... wow.

[Dr. Herbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story with wonderful insights. Highly recommend.

[DROPPING OUT · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first volume in a projected trilogy. It involves the life and spiritual development of a Reform rabbi in the 1980s (approximately). It is also a gentle satire on the state of Jewish life in America and what congregational rabbis are up against. Four stars because while I enjoyed it, I thought the second volume was more gripping.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would've benfitted from some ruthless editing. The first one-third was extraneous and self-indulgient. The last one-third brought it up from one star to two.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very compelling story and lots of interesting teaching on the Kabbalah folded in as well. Highly Recommended.

[Rhyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a fine mystical story. Modern, touching, erudite. Sequel--not so hot.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good story, but I did not understand most of the Jewish symbolism and mythology. Still....worth reading.

[Devorah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one way to "get" Kaballah -- a novel on its potential. I still think you would need to be a 40 year old male Jew who had completed a traditional Yeshiva education to really understand it.

[Ben Kruskal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! Compelling story woven around the Jewish tradition of Kaballah. After reading this book I finally understood the Sefirot despite having learned them many times before

[Ryusho · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I especially liked the descriptions of prayer.

[Marie-Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soul growing look at death and life through practitioners of Kaballah in present day.