Here are the questions on the reading. You might try placing this reading in relation to the discussion of Maimonides and his reaction to apocalypticism as described in Scholem's first essay.
1. On page 40 of *The Mystic Quest* Ariel summarizes Scholem's ideas about the stages in the development of Judaism. How do Scholem's three stages differently represent the distance between God and humanity? Why is Rabbinic Judaism's position on this best characterized as "paradoxical"? What, in Rabbinic Judaism, is the function of the Shekinah? Why did the rabbis feel the need to develop the notion of the Shekinah? Why did they resist the mystical strain in Judaism? (Refer especially to the story of "the three who entered a garden" on page 20 of Ariel's book.)
2. Describe the Maimonidean conception of God and how the Kabbalists responded to the challenge posed by this conception to the religous life of the Jew.