ABSTRACT
This chapter is part of a series of studies tracing central themes in the history of modern Kabbalah. The very exposure of the secret is indebted to its partial disclosure in contemporary Kabbalistic writing, as part of the more general process of the exotericization of Kabbalah during the last and current centuries. Indeed, the strong connection between shamanic practice and the festivals reinforces my opinion that modern Jewish shamanism, though it flirts with transgression is deeply embedded in nomian practice, especially the temporal cycle. Although there is a study of the messianic elements of this school, its more experiential aspects have barely been touched. Indeed, a triumphalist view of messianism, such as that upheld by the current generation of R. Kook's followers, would regard all of modern Jewish messianism as a failure. However, Haviva Pedaya has shown that the failed Messiah should be seen as one of several possible modes legitimated by the Jewish messianic tradition.
