2026 Day of Learning
The Haberman Institute for Jewish Studies and B’nai Israel Congregation are honored to welcome esteemed scholar Dr. Daniel Matt to our community to lead a full day of learning devoted to the Zohar and the central ideas of Jewish mysticism, guided by Matt’s unparalleled scholarship.
Presented by Daniel Matt, Guest Scholar
Kabbalah is both traditional and radical. Although the Jewish mystics were firmly committed to Talmudic teachings and halakhah (Jewish law), they developed new ways to imagine God and Torah. We will delve into some of these, including Shekhinah (the feminine aspect of God), Ein Sof (God as infinity), the Ten Sefirot (aspects of God’s personality), the radical idea that God needs us, and the Zohar’s mystical approach to Torah. Each of these topics will be explored by studying texts from Kabbalah, including passages from the Zohar.
Professor Matt spent 18 years translating this masterpiece of Kabbalah (The Zohar: Pritzker Edition), and he will guide us through some of its most fascinating passages. There will be ample time for questions.
Time: 9:30 AM - 3:30 PM
*Registration: $75
Location: In-person only
B’nai Israel Congregation, Road Rockville, MD 20852
Registration includes: A light breakfast, buffet lunch, and three engaging classes!
*All interested students are encouraged to join us! Should the registration rate become a barrier to enrollment, please contact our Executive Director.
Session 1: Shekhinah, the Feminine Half of God
In all Western religion, God is overwhelmingly masculine. We will explore what is perhaps the greatest contribution of Kabbalah: the celebration of the feminine half of God, Shekhinah. We will study texts showing how this revolutionary theology grows from Rabbinic roots and how it flowers in the Zohar, where Shekhinah is identified with the Sabbath Bride. In today’s (still) patriarchal world, picturing God as feminine is vital, since as feminists have taught us, “As long as God is male, the male is God.”
Session 2: The Personal God—and Beyond
According to Kabbalah, God is ultimately Ein Sof (Endless or Infinity), beyond anything we can conceive, virtually indescribable. God is the energy animating existence. Balancing these “impersonal” facets of God, we will discover the ten Sefirot, aspects of God’s personality, such as Wisdom, Love, Rigor, and Balance. Here, God feels, thinks, and responds to human needs. In fact, God “needs” the human being, in order to actualize the divine potential on Earth. God is incomplete without our awareness and action.
Session 3: How Kabbalah Reimagines Torah
We normally think of the Torah as a text combining narrative and law. But for the Kabbalah, Torah is much more than this. It is a mysterious, animated entity that challenges us to explore the nature of God and our own spiritual potential. Understanding the literal meaning of Torah is only the first step in a continual process of discovery. Daniel Matt will guide us into the mystical dimension of Torah by teaching passages from Kabbalah, including selections from the Zohar.
Thank you to Anne Marie Mack for generously sponsoring this Day of Learning.
Daniel Matt is a scholar of Kabbalah and the Zohar. Among his books are: The Essential Kabbalah (translated into seven languages), God and the Big Bang, and his nine-volume, annotated translation of the Zohar (The Zohar: Pritzker Edition), which has been hailed as “a monumental contribution to the history of Jewish thought.”
In 2022, Daniel’s biography of Elijah the Prophet was published in Yale’s series Jewish Lives: Becoming Elijah: Prophet of Transformation. This book was awarded the inaugural Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Book Prize, established by Yeshiva University.
Matt received his Ph.D. from Brandeis University and for twenty years served as professor at the Center for Jewish Studies, within the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He has also taught at Stanford and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He lives in Berkeley and currently teaches Zohar online (danielcmatt.com).