WHAT IS KABBALAH? TOPIC TO BE DISCUSSED
DURING BROWN-BAG LUNCH AT OU

NORMAN – When asked what is Kabbalah, pop-culture aficionados may conjure up images of a mysterious religion with famous followers such as Madonna and Brittany Spears. However, Kabbalah is not about pop icons. Kabbalah literally means “tradition” in Hebrew and more specifically, is the Greek mystical tradition of Judaism.

Norman Stillman, director of the University of Oklahoma Judaic Studies program and professor of Judaic history, said, “Like all mystical traditions, Kabbalah takes in mythical and poetic terms, and sexual imagery, and attempts to bring human beings closer to the infinite. It is very much an intellectual tradition with rich literature.”

The traditions and history of Kabbalah, which has a special view of the universe and the forces within, will be the topic of discussion at a brown-bag lunch Wednesday, Oct. 4, on the OU Norman campus. David Patterson, Bornblum Chair of Excellence in Judaic Studies at the University of Memphis, will discuss “What is Kabbalah?” at noon in 109 Gittinger Hall, 760 Van Vleet Oval.

Patterson, a native Oklahoman born in Bartlesville, has many research interests, which include Israel, Jewish thought, the Holocaust, Judaism, ethics, Russian literature and masterworks of philosophy and literature. He has taught courses at Oklahoma State University and the University of Oregon, has held the Sutton Chair in the Humanities at OU and has served as a guest professor at Pepperdine University.

Of his many accomplishments, Patterson has published more than 100 articles and chapters in journals and books on philosophy, literature, Judaism, the Holocaust and education. He has authored more than a dozen books, including Along the Edge of Annihilation: The Collapse and Recovery of Life in the Holocaust Diary (1999), which won the Koret Jewish Book Award for Jewish Thought/Philosophy. He also is editor and translator of the English edition of The Complete Black Book of Russian Jewry and co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Holocaust Literature.

An active member of the World Union of Jewish Studies and the Association for Jewish Studies, Patterson has delivered lectures at numerous universities and community organizations throughout the United States and Canada as well as in Oxford, Berlin, Moscow and Jerusalem. He is a consultant to the Philadelphia Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, a participant in the Goldner Symposium on the Holocaust, member of the Advisory Board for the Annual Scholar’s Conference on the Holocaust and member of the Scholars’ Platform for the Beth Shalom Holocaust Center, Cambridge, England. Patterson received his bachelor of arts degree in philosophy and his master of arts and doctoral degrees in comparative literature from the University of Oregon.

 The free, public discussion is sponsored by the Judaic Studies Program. For more information or accommodations on the basis of disability, contact Jan Rauh at (405) 325-6508 or jrauh@ou.edu.