Derech HaShem is a philosophical

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 text written in the 1730s by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

Moshe Chaim Luzzatto , also known by the Hebrew acronym RaMCHaL , was a prominent Italian Jewish rabbi, kabbalist, and philosopher.-Padua:Born in Padua at night, he received classical Jewish and Italian educations, showing a...

. It systematizes the basic principles of Jewish

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 belief regarding the existence of God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

, God's purpose in creation, and the logical consequence of other concepts in Judaism.

Presented from a Kabbalistic

Kabbalah

Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...

 perspective, yet presupposing no prior knowledge and without the use of Kabbalistic terminology, this work provides a foundation for understanding the worldview and ideas found in the Zohar

Zohar

The Zohar is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on Mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology...

, the writings of Rabbi Isaac Luria

Isaac Luria

Isaac Luria , also called Yitzhak Ben Shlomo Ashkenazi acronym "The Ari" "Ari-Hakadosh", or "Arizal", meaning "The Lion", was a foremost rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region of Ottoman Palestine...

 the Ari'zal and other Kabbalistic works.

The book is organized into four main sections: the general basis of all existence, God's Divine Providence, prophecy

Prophecy

Prophecy is a process in which one or more messages that have been communicated to a prophet are then communicated to others. Such messages typically involve divine inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of conditioned events to come as well as testimonies or repeated revelations that the...

, and religious observance.

External links

• Hebrew Fulltext, daat.ac.il
• Online classes, Rabbi Yaakov Feldman, torah.org
• The Way of God, trans. Aryeh Kaplan
  Aryeh Kaplan
  Aryeh Moshe Eliyahu Kaplan was a noted American Orthodox rabbi and author known for his "intimate knowledge of both physics and kabbalah." He was lauded as an original thinker and prolific writer, from studies of the Torah, Talmud and mysticism to introductory pamphlets on Jewish beliefs and...
  
  , Feldheim 1997. ISBN 0-87306-769-X