Jewish Theosophy

Jewish theosophy (also termed Judaeology) is a mystical movement in Judaism. Its fundamental tenet involves the overcoming of existential motives of the ego. The Self becomes more aware of its relationship to God, and thus with the eternal Cosmos. It deals with the improvement of the individual spiritually, physically and emotionally, within the larger framework of society. This relates to the individual's present and future "Selfsoul", through the unconditional belief in God's wisdom and love. The aforementioned "love" refers not to a corporal or emotional entanglement, such as that between living beings, but to a state akin to such stirred from the contemplation of the infinite, similar to the Yiddish term naches. The self and/or soul ("SelfSoul") seeks perfection but can never attain it, for the only Perfection is God and he alone exists outside the constraints and constructs of the Cosmos and spacetime. God is in itself within its own axiomatic system and thus can neither be proven nor disproven within our own system.

This movement was founded by Rabbi Shalom ben Rubin. It has been revealed by ben Rubin that the "World to Come" in the Messianic age will be filled with the resurrected. The re-unification of body and soul. For after death, time ceases and the righteous perceive no lapse in existence, while those without stock in the world-to-come will be trapped in the illusion of time (see Jewish eschatology). At the "end of days" time no longer exists, allowing for the merger of God's world with our own (see Julian Barbour "The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe").

This is not to say that the present is not an important. To the movement, the "here-and-now" is as important, if not more so, than the future. It is of a fundamental concern that each and every individual must strive to "repair the world" (Tikkun olam), broken from the first bite of the Forbidden fruit presented by Eve to Adam. This is God's will and wish. The closer to repair, the closer mankind will get to the Messianic age.

One of the main principles is the belief that the only way to an improved Self is through study (see Mussar movement and Jewish ethics). The major works for this neo-gnostic philosophy are derived from the fundamental syllabus of Judaism. As such, the major source is the Torah and especially in its synthesis, the Talmud. The canon of Jewish theosophy is open, that is to say, the source material can constantly be added to or updated by the group or individual. Material can be derived from other Jewish sources, such as the writings of Jewish Kalam and the Zohar of Jewish mysticism (i.e. kabbalah), or even non-Jewish sources, such as the Sufism of Islam or the Yoga of Hinduism, and classic Hellenistic philosophy of the Platonists and Stoics. Some of these concepts are encapsulated in the works of E. P. Sanders and in the "New Perspective on Paul", through the early works of Philo and his Hellenistic Judaism.

Another tenet of Jewish theosophy is that although God knows all thoughts, decisions and actions of the individual, present and future, the individual does have free will to think and do. This fundamental allows for self-improvement, for the want and good of God and not necessarily for the good of the individual.

It has been postulated that the first major work of Jewish theosophy was Maimonides' The Guide for the Perplexed. In this work Maimonides, in his words, tries "to promote the true understanding of the real spirit of the Law, to guide those religious persons who, adhering to the Torah, have studied philosophy and are embarrassed by the contradictions between the teachings of philosophy and the literal sense of the Torah," and his main purpose is to expound on Maaseh Bereishit and Maaseh Merkavah works of Jewish mysticism regarding the theology of creation from Genesis and the passage of the Chariot from Ezekiel, these being the two main mystical texts in the Tanakh.

More recent texts include Jewish Theosophy by Arthur Edward Waite and the many works of Jewish Renewal by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.