Navigating Worlds: Collected Essays Vol. 2 (2006-2020)

Tsimtsum (contraction) and hitpashtut (expansion). These two kabbalistic terms aptly describe the thought of Bezalel Naor. Though diametrically opposed they come together in this unique moment. The author is at once a hedgehog and a fox in the usage of Isaiah Berlin. Naor brings to the table both the intense focus the razor-sharp analysis of Rav Soloveitchik of Boston and the synthetic unitive perception of reality of Rav Kook (whose bon mot was kelaliyut universality).This dialectic thought constantly zooming in and out forever shifting gears from micro to macro is unleashed on the entire process of Judaism: Torah Talmud the challenge of Christianity and Islam Maimonides Kabbalah Hasidism Messianism and the specialty of the house-Rav Kook.The final section of Book Reviews includes a wide array: Kozhnitser Maggid Kafka Paul Celan Leonard Cohen Yehudah Don Yahya Meshulam Rath and Rabbi Nahman of Breslov.The reader is invited to embark on this enchanted intellectual and spiritual journey as the author attempts navigating worlds. (One of the chapters of the book is entitled Rav Kooks Space Odyssey.)