Herbert Weiner was an ordained American Reform[1] rabbi in South Orange, New Jersey, and the author of The Wild Goats of Ein Gedi and Nine and a Half Mystics. Weiner is credited for introducing Jewish mysticism to many American Jews.[2]

Herbert Weiner
BornOctober 27, 1919
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedApril 22, 2013
Jerusalem, Israel
Known forThe Wild Goats of Ein Gedi, Nine and a Half Mystics

Activities

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Herbert Weiner served as the founding rabbi of Temple Israel in South Orange, New Jersey. He also served as the first administrator of Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem.[1]

Nine and a Half Mystics

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Herbert Weiner's Nine and a Half Mystics, published in 1969, explores themes on Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism. Weiner also recounts his experiences with Jewish groups who incorporate the mystical tradition in their religious practice.[3]

Weiner formed the book after visiting various Jewish communities in his search for Jewish mysticism.[4] For many American Jews, Weiner's work was their first exposure to the Jewish mystical tradition.[1][5]

Impact on Neo-Hasidism

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Weiner's writings on Jewish mysticism help shape the Neo-Hasidic impulses among some American Jews. Rabbi Arthur Green, a leader in the Jewish Renewal movement and a proponent of Neo-Hasidism in general, was first exposed to Jewish mysticism by reading Weiner's Nine and a Half Mystics.[6]

Weiner also authored a preface to neo-Hasidic guru Reb Zalman Schachter's Fragments of a Future Scroll: Hassidism For the Aquarian Age (Leaves of Grass Press, Germantown, PA: 1975).

References

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