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Return to the Place: The Magic, Meditation, and Mystery of Sefer Yetzirah
Rabbi Jill Hammer has taken ancient Jewish mystical text and transformed it into a contemporary guide for meditative practice. In Return to the Place , Rabbi Hammer guides the reader through the story of creation as the ancient text of the Sefer Yetzirah draws readers in and invites them to become participants in the book's vibrant incantations, bringing the Creator's sacred energy into the world.
The Sefer Yetzirah is a creation story like none other, describing the creation of the world in cryptic, mystical, poetic text. Rabbi Jill Hammer has taken a fresh look at this text that scholars believe goes back to the sixth century CE, embracing this text with healing intention.
Through guided meditations at each step along the way, Rabbi Hammer allows readers to dig deeply into the text to experience the potential power of these ancient writings. Hammer builds a thought-provoking bridge from the past to the present-translating the text and focusing on its key aspects to give readers a relevant focus for contemplation.
Advance Praise
"Sefer Yetzirah has been called the foundational text of Jewish mysticism, but despite many scholarly attempts to explain it, readers still find its language baffling and its message indecipherable. Now Rabbi Jill Hammer has clarified the text for us all. Without ruining its mystery, she reveals its cosmic vision of 'space, time, and body-soul.' Beyond this, she has created a new-ancient meditative practice based on this mystical masterpiece. Her superb achievement is a gift for all of us!" -Dr. Daniel Matt, author of The Essential The Heart of Jewish Mysticism
"A tour de force -at once scholarly, whimsical, deeply poetic, and eminently accessible. Hammer combines translation, commentary, and meditations with her uniquely seasoned sensibility, one that balances feminine and masculine, sensual and philosophical." -Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, author of The Reclaiming Jewish Women's Wisdom
"Rabbi Hammer, one of the most original religious guides of our time, opens up for us a text that has fascinated mystics and philosophers for more than a millennium - and yet has remained deeply mysterious. Return to the Place shows us that the Sefer Yetzirah is a 'doorway into the deep structure of creation'-with the power to transform the cosmos as well as each person's most intimate experience." -Dr. Nathaniel Berman, author of Divine and Demonic in the Poetic Mythology of the Zohar
"Like its subject, the mysterious Book of Creation, Return to the Place brilliantly defies categorization. It is a detailed commentary, a bold spirit-guide, and a valuable work of scholarship. It is both audacious and perspicacious. And no one could have written it but Rabbi Dr. Jill Hammer." -Rabbi Dr. Jay Michaelson, author of Everything is The Radical Path of Non-Dual Judaism
The Sefer Yetzirah is a creation story like none other, describing the creation of the world in cryptic, mystical, poetic text. Rabbi Jill Hammer has taken a fresh look at this text that scholars believe goes back to the sixth century CE, embracing this text with healing intention.
Through guided meditations at each step along the way, Rabbi Hammer allows readers to dig deeply into the text to experience the potential power of these ancient writings. Hammer builds a thought-provoking bridge from the past to the present-translating the text and focusing on its key aspects to give readers a relevant focus for contemplation.
Advance Praise
"Sefer Yetzirah has been called the foundational text of Jewish mysticism, but despite many scholarly attempts to explain it, readers still find its language baffling and its message indecipherable. Now Rabbi Jill Hammer has clarified the text for us all. Without ruining its mystery, she reveals its cosmic vision of 'space, time, and body-soul.' Beyond this, she has created a new-ancient meditative practice based on this mystical masterpiece. Her superb achievement is a gift for all of us!" -Dr. Daniel Matt, author of The Essential The Heart of Jewish Mysticism
"A tour de force -at once scholarly, whimsical, deeply poetic, and eminently accessible. Hammer combines translation, commentary, and meditations with her uniquely seasoned sensibility, one that balances feminine and masculine, sensual and philosophical." -Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, author of The Reclaiming Jewish Women's Wisdom
"Rabbi Hammer, one of the most original religious guides of our time, opens up for us a text that has fascinated mystics and philosophers for more than a millennium - and yet has remained deeply mysterious. Return to the Place shows us that the Sefer Yetzirah is a 'doorway into the deep structure of creation'-with the power to transform the cosmos as well as each person's most intimate experience." -Dr. Nathaniel Berman, author of Divine and Demonic in the Poetic Mythology of the Zohar
"Like its subject, the mysterious Book of Creation, Return to the Place brilliantly defies categorization. It is a detailed commentary, a bold spirit-guide, and a valuable work of scholarship. It is both audacious and perspicacious. And no one could have written it but Rabbi Dr. Jill Hammer." -Rabbi Dr. Jay Michaelson, author of Everything is The Radical Path of Non-Dual Judaism
380 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2020
8 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
About the author
Jill Hammer
20 books32 followersJill Hammer is a celebrated author, scholar, poet, rabbi, ritualist and dreamworker. The Moonstone Covenant, forthcoming in fall 2024, is her first work of fantasy. Like some of her characters, she has a deep love of books, trees, water, and mysterious journeys. She is also the author of Undertorah: An Earth-Based Kabbalah of Dreaming, Return to the Place: The Magic, Meditation, and Mystery of Sefer Yetzirah, The Hebrew Priestess: Ancient and New Visions of Jewish Women’s Spiritual Leadership (with Taya Shere), The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons, The Omer Calendar of Biblical Women, Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women, and The Book of Earth and Other Mysteries. She lives with her family in Manhattan. You can learn more about her and her books at themoonstonecovenant.net or jillhammer.net.
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June 16, 2022
Absolutely loved this! With a combination of history, practice, and magic Rabbi Hammer expertly brings Sefer Yetzirah to life both in her own words and in conversation with many other writers both some I knew and some I didn’t. The commentary is deep and thoughtful as well as beautiful and I feel like a better person and scholar of religion having read this beautiful book. I cannot recommend it more. The closing remarks and interpretations made me smile the whole day I absolutely loved this book so much. Coming into this book having taken a short course on Kabbalah (the class that had brought this book to my attention) I was prepared for a special trip through Sefer Yetzirah and I got just that and more as there are many diagrams, practices, and charts that I will carry with me into my studies and my religious journey.
Displaying 1 of 1 review