Preface
1. Abraham Abulafia, quoted in Gershom Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (New York: Schocken Books, 1974), p. 134.
Introduction
1. Marcia Prager, The Path of Blessing (New York: Bell Tower, 1998), p. 191.
2. David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous (New York: Vintage Books, 1997), p. 245.
3. Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon, trans., The Zohar, vol. 2 (London: Soncino Press, 1978), p. 111.
4. Daniel Matt, trans., The Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment (New York: Paulist Press, 1983), p. 120.
5. Jiri Langer, Nine Gates to the Hasidic Mysteries (New York: David McKay Company, 1961), p. 16.
6. Baal Shem Tov, quoted in Prager, The Path of Blessing, p. 192.
7. Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous, p. 242.
8. Ibid, p. 243.
9. Stephen Mitchell, trans., Genesis (New York: HarperCollins, 1996), p. xiv.
10. Deuteronomy 18:10-13.
11. See Exodus 28:15-30.
12. Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 6 (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing, 1996), p. 117.
13. Abraham Abulafia, Life of the Future World, 1280, quoted in John Matthews, ed., The World Atlas of Divination (Boston, Toronto & New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1992), p. 74.
14. Quoted in Edward Hoffman, The Heavenly Ladder (East Meadow, NY: Four Worlds Press, 1985), p. 120.
15. Isaiah 7:11.
16. For suggestions regarding consulting oracles see Dianne Skafte, Listening to the Oracle (HarperSanFrancisco, 1997), p. 32.17.
17. Perle Epstein, Kaballah: The Way of the Jewish Mystic (Boston: Shambhala, 1988), pp. 98-99.
18. Abraham Abulafia, quoted in Hoffman, The Heavenly Ladder, p. 125.
19. Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Quest for God (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1954), p. xii.
Chapter 1: Aleph
1. In modern Hebrew, when a vowel symbol is placed below Aleph, one pronounces that vowel sound.
2. Aryeh Kaplan, Meditation and Kabbalah (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, 1982), p. 299.
3. Genesis 1:2.
4. Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim: Early Masters (New York: Schocken Books, 1947), p. 199.
5. Rabbi Yerachmiel Ben Yisrael, quoted in Rami M. Shapiro, ed. and trans., Open Secrets: The Letters of Reb Yerachmiel Ben Yisrael (North Carolina: Human Kindness Foundation, 1994), p. 5.
6. Ibid, p. 28.
7. Proverbs 14:4.
8. Y-H-V-H refers to 
Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei. This is the unpronounceable Name of God often translated as “Adonai” or “Lord.”
9. Genesis 1:6.
10. Zohar 3:75a.
11. Genesis 28:12-15.
12. Genesis 28:16-17.
Chapter 2: Beit
1. Isaiah 56:7.
2. Robert Aitken, The Practice of Perfection (New York and San Francisco: Pantheon, 1994), p. 64.
3. Hakuin Zenji, Chant in Praise of Zazen, quoted in Robert Aitken, Taking the Path of Zen (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1982), p. 113.
4. Naomi Shihab Nye, Words Under the Words: Selected Poems (Portland, Oregon: Eighth Mountain Press, 1994), p. 42.
Chapter 3: Gimmel
1. Robert Bly, Loving a Woman in Two Worlds (Garden City, NY: Dial Books, 1985).
2. Pirkei Avot 1:2.
3. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, quoted in Peninnah Schram, ed., Chosen Tales: Stories Told by Jewish Storytellers (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1995), pp. 70-75.
Chapter 4: Dalet
1. Martin Prechtel, Secrets of the Talking Jaguar (New York: Tarcher/Putnam, 1998), p. 276.
2. Arthur Green and Barry Holtz, eds. and trans., Your Word is Fire (Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights, 1993), p. 51.
3. Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim, Early Masters (New York: Schocken Books, 1947), p. 64.
4. Rebbe Nachman of Breslav, quoted in Moshe Mykoff, ed., The Empty Chair (Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights, 1994), p. 41, 104.
Chapter 5: Hei
1. Nachman of Breslov, quoted in Mykoff, ed., The Empty Chair, p.14.
2. Simone Weil, Waiting for God (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1951), p. 105.
3. Exodus 3:2-4.
4. I Kings 19:11-12.
Chapter 6: Vav
1. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, p. 275.
Chapter 7: Zayin
1. Exodus 20:8.
2. Genesis Rabba 10:9.
3. Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979), p. 19.
4. Deuteronomy Rabba, 3,1.
5. Robert Bly, Iron John (New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1990), p. 4.
Chapter 8: Chet
1. Job 26:7.
2. Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim, Later Masters (New York: Schocken Books, 1948), p. 92.
3. Wu-men, quoted in Aitken, Taking the Path of Zen, p. 96.
4. Gary Snyder, Turtle Island (New York: New Directions, 1974), p. 68.
5. Aryeh Kaplan, Inner Space (Brooklyn, NY: Moznaim Publishing Co., 1990), p.167.
Chapter 9: Tet
1. Genesis 1:4.
2. Exodus 4:2-4.
3. Numbers 21:6-9.
4. Buber, Tales of the Hasidim, Early Masters, p. 237-238.
5. Psalms 23:4.
6. Psalms 23:6
7. Francesco Patricolo, “Come the Evolution” on Bop-A-Ganda (Portland, OR: Willow Sap, 1997).
Chapter 10: Yud
1. Edward Hoffman, The Hebrew Alphabet: A Mystical Journey (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998), p. 47.
2. Numbers 12:3.
3. Deuteronomy 7:7.
4. Eruvin 13b; Zohar II 232.
5. Micah 6:8.
6. Jelaluddin Rumi, The Essential Rumi, trans. Coleman Barks (HarperSan-Francisco, 1995), p. 279.
Chapter 11: Kaf
1. William Stafford, Stories that Could Be True (New York City: Harper and Row, 1977), p. 4.
Chapter 12: Lamed
1. Buber, Tales of the Hasidim, Early Masters, p. 313.
2. Rumi, Illuminated Rumi, p. 81.
3. Dan Millman, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior (Tiburon, CA: H. J. Kramer Inc., 1980), p. 133.
4. Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC (New York. Harper & Row, 1973), p. 95.
Chapter 13: Mem
1. Exodus 34:6-7.
2. Isaiah 11:9.
3. Martin Prechtel, “Grief and Praise: an Evening with Martin Prechtel” (Minneapolis, MN: Hidden Wine Productions, 1997)
4. Rebbe Nachman of Breslav, quoted in Mykoff, ed., The Empty Chair, p. 89.
5. Michael Meade, Men and the Water of Life (HarperSanFrancisco, 1993), p. 344.
6. Aryeh Hirschfield, Wings of Peace (1990).
Chapter 14: Nun
1. Genesis 1:22.
2. Robert Louis Stevenson, Fables (New York, 1896).
Chapter 15: Samech
1. Psalms 91:4.
2. Song of Songs 3:8.
3. Martin Luther King, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
4. Nakagawa Roshi, quoted in Aitken, Taking the Path of Zen, p. 74.
5. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “The Holy Longing,” trans. Robert Bly, in Bly, Hillman, and Meade, eds., The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), p. 382.
6. Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself” (1855).
Chapter 16: Ayin
1. Ayin is a silent letter, but in modern Hebrew when a vowel symbol is placed by ayin, one pronounces that vowel sound.
2. Proverbs 29:18.
3. Numbers 11:24-25.
4. Matsuo Bashō in Robert Aitken, A Zen Wave (New York: Weatherhill, 1978), p. 74.
5. Rebbe Nachman, quoted in Mykoff, ed., The Empty Chair, p. 58.
6. Aitken, Taking the Path of Zen, p. 95-96.
7. Meister Eckhart, quoted in Stephen Mitchell, ed., The Enlightened Mind (New York: HarperPerennial, 1991), p. 114.
8. Isaiah 52:8.
9. Psalms 119:18.
10. Joel 2:28.
11. Proverbs 27:20.
Chapter 17: Peh
1. Numbers 12:8.
2. Exodus 4:10-16.
3. Proverbs 16:23.
4. Proverbs 15:23.
5. Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught (New York: Grove Press, 1959), p. 47.
6. Buber, Tales of the Hasidim, Later Masters, p. 229.
7. Matthew 15:11.
8. Robert Aitken, Encouraging Words (New York and San Francisco: Pantheon Books, 1993), p. 125.
9. Psalms 51:17
10. Beitzah16a; Rashi.
11. Hil. Teshuvah 2:4.
12. Psalms 19:14.
13. Ecclesiastes 5:3.
Chapter 18: Tzadi
1. Proverbs 10:25.
2. David Cooper, God is a Verb (New York: Riverhead Books, 1997), p. 123, 125.
3. Arthur Waskow, Godwrestling — Round 2 (Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights, 1996), p. 212.
4. Cooper, God is a Verb, p. 242.
5. Ibid, p. 125.
6. Baba Bathra 10b.
7. Aitken, The Practice of Perfection, p. 10.
8. Cooper, God is a Verb, p. 125.
Chapter 19: Kuf
1. See Cooper, God is a Verb, p. 11-12, for a concise description of the two traditional schools of Kabbalah.
2. Buber, Tales of the Hasidim, Later Masters, p. 173.
3. Rabbi Abraham Heschel, quoted in Elias Amidon and Elizabeth Roberts, eds., Earth Prayers (HarperSanFrancisco, 1991), p. 365.
4. Rebbe Nachman, quoted in Mykoff, ed., The Empty Chair, p. 59.
Chapter 20: Resh
1. Raphael Kahn “Return Again,” Music by Shlomo Carlebach.
2. Robert Aitken, The Diamond Sangha Newsletter (Honolulu, Hawaii: Koko An Zendo, November 1989), p.1.
Chapter 21: Shin
1. Robert Aitken, The Gateless Barrier (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1991), p. 142.
2. Nanao Sakaki, Break the Mirror (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1987), p. 89.3.
3. Rebbe Nachman, quoted in Mykoff, ed., The Empty Chair, p. 99, 101.
Chapter 22: Tav
1. Michael Munk, The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet (Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah Publications, 1997), p. 222.
2. Sefer Yetzirah. 1:7.
3. Cooper, God is a Verb, p. 29.
4. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, p. 274.
Chapter 23: The Missing Letter
1. Levush HaTecheles 32:43; Pesachim 87b.
2. Zohar 1:2b.
3. Levush, Orach Chaim 32:43.
4. Shlomo Carlebach and Susan Yael Mesinai, Shlomo’s Stories (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1994).
5. Thomas Cleary, trans., Book of Serenity (Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne Press, 1990), p. 86.
6. Carroll, Alice’s Adventures, p. 239.
7. Jalal al-Din Rumi, Illuminated Rumi, p. 128.