Acknowledgments I owe a great debt to my teachers and mentors for their loving guidance. Without the care and effort of Professors Mark Unno, Sumner B. Twiss, Susan Harvey, Wendell Dietrich, Harold Roth, Maud Mandel and Stanley Stowers no such study would have been possible. Professor Dore Levy is to be thanked for her wise advice and supportive mentorship.  Josh Brahman, Randy Friedman, and my father meticulously read an entire draft of this work and contributed significantly to its improvement. John Alex rescued this manuscript from a seemingly fatal computer virus. Kathleen Pappas and Gail Tetreault were also very important for their kindness. I thank everyone who took a genuine interest in me or my work over the past four years. Contents Introduction: Three Weddings 7 Chapter 1: Formation of the Religious Thinker 20 Chapter 2: Legitimacy and Succession: The Role of the Classical West  59 Chapter 3: Return along the Way of Repentence: Zangedo and   T’shuva  120 Chapter 4: Telos: How One Approaches Final Redemption  170 Bibliography:  185