Jewish Mysticism

Updated 08/10

The Seventh Beggar by Pearl Abraham
A modern-day young man becomes obsessed with the life and teachings of the legendary nineteenth-century Chasidic master Nachman of Bratslava, a kabbalist, storyteller, and charismatic spiritual leader who developed a cult following, in a novel intertwined with a translation of Nachman's Yiddish tales, including his "Tales of the Seven Beggars."

Bee Season: A Novel by Myla Goldberg
Myla Goldberg's Bee Season is a bittersweet coming-of-age in which wise little Eliza Naumann's quirky passion for spelling bees unites and divides her family while revealing universal truths about the often crippling pain of love.

The Book of Names by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori
Discovering an ancient text that reveals for every generation 36 secret individuals whose lives affect the fate of the world, professor David Shepherd learns that all but three of the current generation's Hidden Ones met unnatural deaths.

Incantation by Alice Hoffman
During the Spanish Inquisition, 16-year-old Estrella, brought up a Catholic, discovers her family's true Jewish identity, and when their secret is betrayed by Estrella's best friend, the consequences are tragic.

Requiem by Graham Joyce
Journeying to modern Jerusalem in search of lost love and the meaning of life after his wife's death, Tom Webster discovers a city haunted by ghosts and djinn, divided by religious conflict, and hiding ancient secrets leading to a woman who might be the restless spirit Mary Magdalen.

An Almost Perfect Moment by Binnie Kirshenbaum
Coming of age in post-Eisenhower Brooklyn, Jewish teen Valentine Kessler struggles with love, enmity and betrayal in the shadow of her mother's sharp-eyed band of Mah Jongg players.

Kaballah: a Love Story by Lawrence Kushner
When an ancient text containing the answer to one of the eternal questions of the heart falls into the hands of Rabbi Kalman Stern, his life is transformed by his encounter with astronomer Isabel Benveniste, but he is unable to let true love into his life until he discovers the life-altering secret of the Zohar.

The Witch of Cologne by Tobsha Learner
A sensuous Jewish midwife is persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition, a chief rabbi is forced to choose between his daughter and his people, and an inquisitor harbors a deeply personal reason for seeking the midwife's condemnation.

He, She and It by Marge Piercy
In the 21st century the world has been ravaged by environmental disaster and war, with much of the populace living in corporate domes. Depressed over child custody problems with Josh, her ex-husband, Shira Shipman returns to her childhood home, one of the few free Jewish towns. There she falls in love with Yod, an illegal cyborg created to defend the town against attack. Filled with fantastic technological description, the plot zooms to a page-turning climax.

The Book of Splendor by Frances Sherwood
Rochel, an illegitimate seamstress, escapes the travails of poverty through an arranged marriage to the tailor Zev, but finds herself falling in love with Yossel, the Golem created by Rabbi Loew to protect the Jewish community of Prague.

The Angel of Forgetfulness by Steve Stern
In a trilogy of connected stories that revolve around an unfinished manuscript and a fallen angel's relationship with his half-mortal son in 1900 New York, three ordinary people are thrown into a series of extraordinary adventures.

Wormwood by G.P. Taylor
In 1756, as a deadly comet hurtles toward London, Dr. Sabian Blake and his 14-year-old housemaid, Agetta, struggle against dark forces that seek an ancient, powerful book in Blake's possession that would enable them to carry out an evil plan in which Agetta unknowingly plays a pivotal role.

The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon by Richard Zimler
Set in the universe of the Jewish Kaballah during the Lisbon massacre of April 1506, this novel tells the story of a secret Jew named Zarco who searches for the killer of his uncle—a renowned kabbalist and manuscript illuminator—and thereby encounters a secret language and code that obscures the truth.