This link will take you to a collection of articles exploring the Kabbalistic background to the Kabbalat Shabbat service, with a special focus on the L’cha Dodi prayer, a central song of the service with deep mystical origins. Compiled by the Jewish scholar, Noam Zion, these resources were shared by the Shalom Hartman Institute, a pluralistic center of research and education deepening and elevating the quality of Jewish life in Israel and around the world. The Table of Contents listing the articles contained within this collection can be seen below.
L’cha Dodi and the Kabbalist Background to Kabbalat Shabbat
- Introducing the Mystical Background of L’cha Dodi and Kabbalat Shabbat
- Rabbi Nachman goes out to the Fields: What is the “Kabbalah” in Kabbalat Shabbat?
- L’cha Dodi – Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz — A Thematic Commentary
- Kabbalist Numbers, Letters and Sefirot in L’cha Dodi
- Reliving the Spiritual Exile – Empathy with the Shekhinah
- On the Sacred Marriage during Kabbalat Shabbat
- L’cha Dodi – An Invitation to a Sacred Wedding
- Kabbalat Shabbat as the Reception of An Extra Soul into one’s own Soul
- A Kabbalist’s Guide to the Sacred Marriage of Shabbat by Elliot Ginsburg
- Appendix: Introduction to the Zohar, the Kabbalah and the Ten Sefirot
- Introducing the Mystical Background of L’cha Dodi and Kabbalat Shabbat