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Beit HaZohar launches Zohar Talks, its first podcast. For episode 1, scholar Eugene Matanky (Tel Aviv University) traces the life and work of Rabbi Moses Cordovero, the Ramak, one of the greatest kabbalists of 16th-century Safed. The episode is in Hebrew, with French and English subtitles.
A Hebrew podcast, subtitled in French and English
Zohar Talks is recorded and spoken in Hebrew, but every episode is fully subtitled in French and English. You don’t need to understand Hebrew to follow the conversation: on YouTube, simply turn on subtitles (the “CC” icon, or ⚙ Settings → Subtitles/CC) and choose your language. This format — a Hebrew Kabbalah podcast made accessible in French and English — is what sets Zohar Talks apart.
Who was Moses Cordovero, the Ramak?
Rabbi Moses Cordovero (1522-1570), known by his acronym the Ramak, is one of the pillars of Safed Kabbalah, the generation immediately preceding that of the Ari z”l (Rabbi Isaac Luria). Author of the Pardes Rimonim, the first great system organizing earlier kabbalistic thought, and of the Or Yakar, his vast commentary on the Zohar, most of which remains in manuscript, the Ramak is often described as the most prolific kabbalist of his generation.
In the episode, Eugene Matanky explains how Cordovero came, according to tradition, to write nearly a thousand words a day — a pace of writing said to have required the use of two quills at once.
Watch the episode
The episode is in Hebrew. To watch it subtitled, click the “CC” icon (or ⚙ Settings → Subtitles/CC) in the player and choose your language — direct link with English subtitles on.
What this episode covers
Over the course of the conversation, Eugene Matanky discusses:
- Cordovero’s life in Safed, and his relationship with his teacher and brother-in-law Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz, author of Lekha Dodi;
- The Ramak’s recently rediscovered autographs — pages written in his own hand, preserved today in a manuscript held in the Leeds collection;
- The printing of the Zohar in Mantua between 1558 and 1560, a turning point in spreading the book beyond narrow kabbalistic circles;
- The Ramak’s hillula, celebrated every year on 23 Tammuz in Safed, and still alive today.
Eugene Matanky is a researcher at Tel Aviv University, specializing in the history of Safed Kabbalah and the transmission of kabbalistic manuscripts.
Follow Zohar Talks
Zohar Talks is Beit HaZohar’s new podcast devoted to Kabbalah and the Zohar, featuring international scholars and specialists. To catch every episode, subscribe to the Beit HaZohar YouTube channel.
