Daniel Matt

Daniel C. Matt served as Professor of Jewish Spirituality at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley from 1979-2000. He has taught at Stanford University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is one of the world’s leading authorities on Kabbalah. He has published ten books, including: Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment, The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism (translated into seven languages) and God and the Big Bang: Discovering Harmony between Science and Spirituality. After living in Jerusalem for four years, Dr. Matt returned to the East Bay where he continues to work on the immense project of translating and annotating Sefer ha-Zohar, the masterpiece of Kabbalah. So far, he has completed six volumes of The Zohar: Pritzker Edition (Stanford University Press), covering approximately half of the Zohar. For this work, Daniel has been honored with a National Jewish Book Award and a Koret Jewish Book Award. The Koret award called his translation “a monumental contribution to the history of Jewish thought.” Dr. Matt has been featured in Time Magazine, and has appeared on National Public Radio and the History Channel. Daniel lives in Berkeley with his wife Hana.