Sephardic vs Hasidic

[dauer]

Are there any major differences between sephardic and hasidic kabbalah?

Dauer

[bananabrain]

the short answer is yes. the not-so-short answer is that they're [somewhat] different systems, albeit both heavily drawing on the system of the ar"i. the ben ish hai was, i believe, a great fan of his. for more on the bi"h's way of doing things, i recommend the site of the NJ iraqi community, http://www.midrash.org which is under the auspices of the hakham of great neck, whose sister is a mate of mine - actually she was the one who taught me correct baghdadi pronunciation; i play oud in her group sometimes.

the primary source-text of hasidic kabbalah is the tanya of r. shneur zalman of liadi, the founder of chabad (which is, of course, an acronym for hokhmah, binah ve'da'at) - there are daily tanya classes on http://www.chabad.org ; i also recommend r. steinsaltz' "opening the tanya" as an introduction. it's almost what i'd call a kabbalistic approach to self-development that goes way beyond mussar.

sephardic kabbalah is, obviously, a huge field; anyone who is undertaking serious studies in this field will have to read the sephardic masters at some point. it is not for the faint-hearted or for those who have a strong objection to haredi opinions or the current political manifestation of the sephardic community in israel - in other words, ovadia yosef's shas party. the best example of this on the web is http://www.koshertorah.com/ - there's a lot of really good stuff there, but you'll probably hate the politics. i'm not keen on it myself but if you can transcend it there's some amazing thought there.

b'shalom

bananabrain