Tangle of Matter & Ghost

Aubrey L. Glazer, Ph.D. (University of Toronto) is rabbi of Congregation Beth Sholom, San Francisco. His latest books dedicated to exploring Jewish philosophy in different contexts: Mystical Vertigo: Kabbalistic Hebrew Poetry Dancing Over the Divide (Academic Studies Press, 2013) and A New Physiognomy of Jewish Thinking: Critical Theory After Adorno as Applied to Jewish Thought (Continuum, 2011) recently translated into Hebrew (Resling Press, 2015).

• Acknowledgements Preface: Shaul MagidChapter 1: Prelude: New Skin for Post-Secular Philosophy of Circum/fessionChapter 2: On Exile As Redemption in (Canadian) Jewish MysticismChapter 3: From Darkness, A Love of All This: Seeking Sacred in Post-Secular SongChapter 4: Tangle of Matter & Ghost: Objective Spirit & Non-Dual RealityChapter 5: A Question of Pure Consciousness in the Priestly Blessing of LoveChapter 6: Amen to American AgnosticismChapter 7: Nothing as Whole as a Broken Middle MatzahChapter 8: Falling with Our Angels, So HumanChapter 9: “An Appetite for Something Like Religion”: Unbinding the Binding of Isaac, Jesus Christ & Joan of Arc through ZenChapter 10: Standing Where There Used to Be a Street: 9/11 Post-Secularism & Sacred SongChapter 11: Never Mind this Neuzeit, Here’s Kaddish: Between the Nameless & the NameChapter 12: Coda: A Philosophy of Post-Secular Song in Light of Piyyut as a Cultural LensPostface: Elliot R. Wolfson

“In the first extended encounter with Leonard Cohen’s complex and demanding legacy since Cohen’s death Aubrey Glazer profoundly attunes us to the prophetic, mystical, and Jewish registers of Cohen’s voice and music that are normally an octave too high for our ears. This book reflects a rare combination of erudition and poetic sensitivity needed for the task to guide us along a musical scale ranging from Isaac on the altar to Jesus on the cross to Joan of Arc on the stake; from the medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides to a Hasidic Rebbe against the backdrop of Quebecois culture to the Zen master Roshi; and from the Zohar to Yiddish humour. Cohen’s passing leaves another crack in the world and Glazer’s study allows the light to come streaming through.”