Selected
Jewish Mysticism:
A Source Reader;
The Merkabah Tradition
and
The Zoharic Tradition",
[From
the Preface,
page xii]:
"This is not a book
which can be read.
It must be studied,
for such is the nature
of the material.
Mysticism
is itself
an elusive
and complex
phenomenon,
and
Jewish mysticism,
because of
its deep roots
in Jewish tradition,
is
a very difficult
area
to examine.
The reader
must be
drawn into
studying,
puzzling over,
and
then
reflecting upon
these texts.
Otherwise,
he will not
understand them
or
the people
who wrote them.
If the reader
is drawn into
deeper study
and consideration
of these issues,
the purposes
of this book
will have been
accomplished.
One may well ask:
Why have I gone to
so much trouble
to make available,
at the beginning
of the last quarter
of
the twentieth century,
a group of texts
which are so remote
from modern man,
texts whose
piety and experience
are probably very far
from that
of the reader.
The answer lies
in the fact
that religious traditions
in general,
and
Judaism among them,
have
many levels
of existence.
There is
a certain
sociological momentum
to
a religious tradition
because
people and institutions
have
a tendency
to endure.
There is
also
a certain
intellectual momentum
to
a religious tradition
because
ideas
and
the intellectual molding
of reality
are
ongoing processes.
But ultimately
the momentum
of a religious tradition
derives from
the irreducibly religious
experiences
that it generates.
Some of these
experiences
are
more rarified
than others.
Some are
popular,
and some are
for the elite.
Yet in them all,
there is the contact
with the numinous,
the awareness
of otherness,
that is
core
and
central
to religious experience.
As I have written
(in "The Academic Study
of Judaism,
Second Series",
by Jacob Neusner, p. 88):
'Man is
a being
who stands
not only
at the nexus
of nature,
the intellect,
and
moral judgment
but
he is a being
who stands
at the nexus
of
the mundane
and
the transcendent.
Man stands
not only
in the sunlight
of this world
but
in the shadow
of God.
Man is not only
the most powerful
of the animals,
he is also
a little lower
than the angels.
Humankind
is
the crown
of Creation --
the point where
nature and society
meet with
the Force
that motivates them;
where mind,
feeling,
and
judgment
meet with
the Presence
which is
their well-spring.'
Or , as A. J. Heschel
has so beautifully put it
in 'Who Is Man?' (p. 66):
'Existence is interspersed
with suggestions
of transcendence,
and
openness to transcendence
is a constitutive element
of being human.'
In presenting these texts --
and they represent
the experience of
the elite, not the masses --
I hope that the reader
will be able
to grasp, even fleetingly,
some of
the grandeur, power,
and indeed
some of the holiness
that these texts contain."
+
[From the
"Foreword",
pages xv - xviii]:
The study
of Mysticism
has
a certain attraction
for students
in the last quarter
of
the twentieth century.
We live
in an era
in which
we have
very little control
over
our destinies,
and
the prospect
of some
inner domain
which is
truly our own
is
very engaging.
We live
in a world
in which
the quantity
of Knowledge
is so great
that no one
can master it,
and
the prospect of
a domain
of personal
Consciousness
which is
truly ours,
which is not
subject
to the onslaught
of complex
modern living,
is very tantalizing.
Perhaps this
has always been
the attraction
of Mysticism.
Perhaps
the Holy man
or woman,
the person
who has mastered
the pressures
of everyday life
by discipline
of
the inner life,
has always
held
fascination
for
the rest of us,
who see
ourselves
as suffering
through
existence.
Yet
it is
not so.
Perhaps
it was
never so.
Spirituality
as
a quality of living
is won
by hard work,
by knowledge,
by practice.
Talent
helps,
but it is not
sufficient.
One must be
haunted
by
the Spiritual,
fleeing it
at times
and
greeting it joyously
at others.
One must be
pursued
by the Spiritual,
seeking
refuge from it
as did Jonah,
and
courageously
confronting it
as did Jeremiah.
What is
the "Spiritual'
which so many
have sensed?
What is
the Reality
from which
so many have
flown,
only to be
pursued?
To define
the "spiritual"
we must begin
with language,
for it is in words
that
we communicate.
We must begin
by noting
that
Mankind
communicates
in
many languages.
I do not mean
in many
national tongues;
I mean
in many languages --
in the language
of Art,
in the language of
the Body,
in Music,
in Words.
Yet even
in the realm
of Words,
Mankind
communicates
in many languages --
the language
of Beauty
(Aesthetics),
the language
of Right and Wrong
(Morality),
the language
of
Organized Thought
(Intellect),
and also
the language of
that
which transcends
human existence
(the Spiritual).
These languages
are called
"universes
of discourse",
and each
has
its own vocabulary.
The words
of each
universe
of discourse
appear
to define
each other,
and
they do not
appear to be
definable
in terms
of
the other universes
of discourse.
Thus, we would not
normally
try to define
the Beautiful
as Right
(i.e.,
by recourse
to words
from
the universe
of
Moral Discourse).
Nor would we
try to define
the Intellectual
by describing it
as Beautiful
(i.e.,
by recourse to
the universe
of Aesthetics).
A great deal
of Philosophy,
in
its poorest sense,
is devoted to
an attempt
to define
one universe
of discourse
by
reducing it
to another.
It seems, rather,
that
the best method
of
"definition"
for any term
is
to determine
the group of words
into which
it best fits
(its universe
of discourse)
and
then to see
how it relates
to other terms
within that realm.
Within
the universe
of Religious
(or Spiritual)
discourse,
we, too,
have words.
Ask yourself
what the word
"awe"
means to you --
being careful
not to reduce it
to
a psychological state
or
a social situation.
Or
ask yourself
what the word
"Spiritual"
means,
without
reducing it
to some
stereotypic definition.
Do the same
with "wonder",
"mystery",
"faith",
"transcendent",
"blessed",
"joy",
etc.,
always
being careful
not to be
guilty
of reductionism --
i.e.,
of reducing
these words
to the universes
of Psychology,
Philosophy,
Anthropology,
or
some other realm.
These are the words
of the universe
of Religious
(Spiritual)
discourse.
The universe
of Spiritual discourse
is also
composed of images.
What do
the following images
convey:
"He leadeth me
beside still water,"
"the great
Nothingness,"
"Throne,"
"Light,"
"Universal Mind,"
"the Beloved,"
"Thou,"
"I,"
"Father,"
etc.?
These are images,
and they too
comprise
the universe
of Spiritual discourse.
All universes
of discourse
function
by analogy
to our own
experience.
We know
"Right"
because
we have experiences
of
Right and Wrong.
We know
"Beautiful"
because
we have experiences
of
Beautiful and Ugly.
And we know
"Transcendent"
because
we have experiences,
of greater
and lesser intensity,
of the Transcendent
(and the Demonic).
Without experience,
these terms
are meaningless.
With experience,
they awaken
an echo
in another
human being
such that
he can respond
to the word
or image.
The other person
can analogize
from
his own experience
toward that
which we are saying.
All such words,
then,
are indicative,
allusive
to
an experiential reality
that is
beyond them.
The word
"Mysticism"
alludes
to one such realm.
It alludes to
the realm
of Religious
(Spiritual)
experience.
It calls up
the words
and images
of
the Transcendent,
the Spiritual.
And it is
for this reason
that Mysticism
exercises its power.
Its power
derives from
the experience --
already had,
or anticipated --
in the psyche
of the individual.
As such,
the word
"Mysticism"
is
the wrong word.
We really need
the word
"Spirituality,"
or "Religiosity".
This realm
of discourse
then
is very broad,
and it is
sui generis
[unique].
It is
a realm
of experience
and
of language
unto itself.
How shall we
approach it?
We must approach
the realm
of the Spiritual
with
a differentiation
between
the "Forms
of Spirituality"
and
the "Dynamics
of Spirituality".
The "Forms
of Spirituality"
are those
overt patterns
of behavior
which are
easily identified
with
the
institutionalized
forms
of religion
in a society.
These patterns
of behavior
are no more
than that:
patterns,
acts
which
the external observer
can
observe and record.
The "Dynamics
of Spirituality,"
however,
are
the types
of mental attitude
and
directing
of inner energies
by which
the individual
establishes
what he senses to be
an awareness of,
or
a contact with,
Transcendent Reality.
The "Dynamics
of Spirituality" are,
in other words,
the sum
of attitudes
and
consciousness-directing
techniques
by which
the "Forms
of Spirituality"
are transformed
from
overt,
mechanical,
social acts
into acts
with
a Transcendent
dimension.
These dynamics
are part of
the consciousness
of the person
performing
such an act,
and
they are
more difficult,
but
not impossible,
for
the external observer
to identify.
W. C. Smith
has caught
this distinction
nicely
in his differentiation
between
the "accumulated
tradition"
and
the "living
religious faith"
within
any given Tradition.
The "Forms
of Spirituality"
in Rabbinic Tradition
are many:
Prayer,
Study,
Mitsva
[good deeds],
Ethics,
and so on.
These "forms"
can be
acted out perfunctorily
or
they can be
infused
with one, or more,
of the "Dynamics
of Spirituality",
and
it is this infusion
of
Mental Attitude
and
Directed Inner Energy
which makes
the act of piety
full of meaning
for
the Rabbinic Jew.
It is the "Way"
by which
various external acts
are transformed
into
Religious Experience.
Having in mind
some notion
of how we would
go about
identifying and defining
the "Spiritual",
we can now propose
the first problem
which this book
is designed to solve.
The first problem
is
the identification
of
the terms and images
of the Spiritual
(the Transcendent)
in these texts.
The reader
will want to ask
what
words and images
allude
to
the realm of experience
that we call
"Spiritual,"
"Transcendent,"
"Religious"?
Are there differences
between
the types
of Spirituality
represented
in each
of these texts?
What is
the underlying
Dynamic of Spirituality
in each case?
How
are they
different?
The second problem
is
the question
when does
the word
"Mysticism"
apply
to this tradition?
At what conceptual point,
if there be any at all,
can one speak
of Jewish Mysticism
as "Mystical"?
Is there a difference
between
Spiritual experience
and
Mystical experience?
Are there analogies
for such
a criterion
from other traditions?
These are
very difficult questions,
and
not every reader
will be able
to answer them.
There are
other questions
that must
also be asked,
and this book
is designed
to provide answers
to
these questions too.
What makes
Jewish Mysticism
"Jewish"?
What elements
seem to be distinctive
to that tradition?
Or, to word
the problematic
more elegantly:
What is
the relationship
between
Rabbinic Judaism
and Mysticism?
How did
Mysticism
affect
Rabbinic Judaism,
and
how did
Rabbinic Judaism
affect
Mysticism?
How does
each element
circumscribe
and set limits
upon the other?
These, then,
are the problems
of this book:
(1) to identify
the terms and images
in the texts
which
form the universe
of
Spiritual Discourse
in
the Jewish
Mystical Tradition
and
to distinguish
the types
of
Spirituality taught;
(2) to speculate upon
the point at which
one can
legitimately use
the word Mystical
in relation to
these texts;
and
(3) to determine
what is Jewish
about these texts,
to determine
the way they were
influenced by,
and in turn
influenced,
Rabbinic Judaism.
The reader
should
bear
these problems
in mind
throughout;
in
the Afterword,
I will attempt
some answers.
+
[From the
GENERAL
INTRODUCTION,
page 3]:
The world
of
Merkabah Mysticism
is
one of the most
dazzling
of
the mystical worlds.
It is a realm
of fantastic
heavenly beings,
of
bizarre
magical names,
and
of occult interactions
between
Spirit and Matter.
In it,
closed gates
to
celestial palaces
are opened
by long,
incomprehensible
incantations,
and
the dangers
which rise up
against man
as he enters
the realm
of the supernatural
are met
with seals of Truth.
It is also
a world
of visions --
visions
which are
terrifying
and
illuminating
all at once.
The selections
given here
are samples
of two types
of this literature:
one deals with
the secrets
of Creation,
and
the other
with
the Inner Vision
of the Mystic.
Throughout,
there are
a series of questions
that the reader
ought to
bear in mind:
First,
for whom
was this literature
intended?
And,
how was it
used?
Second,
what are
its main
characteristics?
And
what is
its context?
Third,
what
motivated it?
What feelings
and
Human Insights
generated
this strange world?
How and why
did it become
Holy literature?
And fourth,
what became of
this literature?
What is its place
in later
Jewish Mysticism?
The
General Conclusion
to this unit
will attempt
some answers.
+
[From
Chapter One,
the section
called
JEWISH MYSTICISM,
by G. Vajda,
pages 6 - 8]:
The centuries
that followed
the return
from
the Babylonian Exile
in the 6th century B.C.E.
(Before
the Common Era,
or B.C.)
witnessed
the growth
and intensification
of reflection
on the intermediary
Beings
between
Man and God,
of meditation
on
the divine appearances
whose special place
of occurrence
had formerly been
the most sacred part
of the Jerusalem Temple,
of speculation
on the coming into being
and organization
of the universe
and
on the creation
of Man.
None
of these themes
was absent
from the Bible,
which was held
to be divinely revealed,
but each had become
the object of
a constant
ideological readjustment
that also involved
the infiltration
of concepts
from outside
and
reaction against them.
The speculative
taste
of Jewish thinkers
between
the 2nd century B.C.E.
and the 1st century C.E.
took them
in many
different directions:
angelology
(doctrine about angels)
and
its counterpart
demonology
(doctrine
about devils);
mythical geography
and
uranography
[mapping the stars],
description
of the heavens;
speculation on
the Divine
Manifestations --
which had
as background
the Jerusalem
Temple worship
and
the visions
of the moving "Throne"
(the "Chariot," Merkava)
in the prophecy
of Ezekiel;
on
the double origin of Man,
a being
formed of the earth
but also
the "image of God";
on
the end of Time;
on Resurrection
(a concept
that appeared
only
toward the end
of
the Biblical period);
and
on rewards
and punishments
in the Afterlife.
The literary
crystallization
of all this ferment
was accomplished
in writings,
such as
the "Book of Enoch",
of which
Pharisaic (rabbinical)
Judaism --
which became
the normative
Jewish tradition
after
the Roman conquest
of Jerusalem
and
the destruction
of the Second Temple
(70 C.E.) --
retained
almost nothing
and even
the vestiges of which
it tended
to obliterate
in its own writings;
the "Talmud"
and
the" Midrash"
(rabbinical legal
and
interpretative
literature)
touched
these themes
only
with great reserve,
often unwillingly
and
more often
in a spirit
of negative polemic.
As early as
the 1st century C.E.,
and probably even
before
the national calamity
of 70,
there were
certainly
Sages or Teachers
recognized by
the religious community
for whom
meditation
on the Scriptures --
especially
the Creation narrative,
the public revelation
of the Torah
on Mount Sinai,
the Merkava vision
of Ezekiel,
the Song of Solomon --
and
reflection on
the end of Time,
Resurrection,
and
the Afterlife
were not only
a matter of exegesis
and
of attaching new ideas
to texts
recognized to be
of Divine origin
but also
a matter
of inner Experience.
It was, however,
probably
in other circles
that speculation
on
the invisible world
was engaged in
and
where the search
for the means
of penetrating it
was carried out.
It is undeniable
that there exists
a certain continuity
between
the apocalyptic visions
(i.e., of
the cataclysmic advent
of God's Kingdom)
and
documents
of certain sects
(Dead Sea Scrolls)
and
the writings,
preserved in Hebrew,
of the
"explorers
of
the supernatural world"
(Yorde Merkava).
The latter comprise
ecstatic hymns,
descriptions
of the "dwellings"
(hekhalot)
located between
the visible world
and
the ever-inaccessible
Divinity,
whose transcendence
is
paradoxically expressed
by
anthropomorphic
descriptions
consisting of
inordinate hyperboles
(Shi'ur qoma,
"Divine Dimensions").
In addition,
a few documents
have been
preserved
that attest to
the existence of
methods and practices
having to do with
the initiation
of
carefully
chosen persons
who were made
to undergo
tests and ordeals
in accordance with
psychosomatic criteria
borrowed from
Physiognomy
(the art of
determining character
from physical,
especially facial,
traits).
Some theurgic
[divine "magic"]
efficacy
was attributed to
these practices,
and
there was
some contamination
from
Egyptian,
Hellenistic,
or
Mesopotamian
magic.
(A curious document
in this respect,
rich in Pagan material,
is the
"Sefer ha-razim,"
the "Treatise
on Mysteries,"
which was
discovered
in 1963.)
In this
extrarational domain,
there are
many similarities
between concepts
reflected
in unquestionably
Jewish texts
and
the documents
of contemporary
non-Jewish esoterism,
to the point
that it
becomes difficult,
sometimes impossible,
to distinguish
the giver
from
the receiver.
Two facts
are certain
however.
On the one hand
Gnosticism
never ceases
to exploit
in its own way
Biblical themes
(such as
the tale of Creation
and
speculation
on
angels and demons)
that have
passed
through Judaism,
whatever
their
original source
may have been;
on
the other hand,
though
Jewish esoterism
may borrow
this or that motif
from ancient gnosis
or syncretism
(the fusion
of various faiths)
and
may even raise
to
a very high rank
in the hierarchy
of being
a supernatural entity
such as
the angel Metatron,
also known as
"little Adonai"
(i.e., little
Lord or God),
it still remains
inflexibly monotheistic
and
rejects
the Gnostic concept
of a bad
or
simply inferior
demiurge
who is responsible
for the creation
and
governing
of the visible world.
Finally,
it is noteworthy
that during
the centuries
that separate
the Talmudic period
(2nd to 5th
centuries A.D.)
from
the full resurgence
of Jewish esoterism
in the middle
of the 12th century,
the texts
that have been
preserved
progressively lose
their density
and
affective authenticity
and
become reduced
to the level
of
literary exercises
that are
more
grandiloquent
than
substantial.
Sefer
yetzira.
In the ancient
esoteric literature
of Judaism,
a special place
must be given
to
the Sefer yetzira
("Book of Creation"),
which deals with
Cosmogony
and
Cosmology
(the origin
and order
of the universe).
Creation,
it affirms
with
a clearly
anti-Gnostic
insistence,
is
the work of
the
God of Israel
and
took place
on two
different levels:
the ideal,
immaterial level
and
the concrete level.
This was done
according to
a complex process
that brings in
the ten numbers
(sefirot, singular sefira)
of decimal notation
and
the 22 letters
of
the Hebrew alphabet.
The ten numbers
are not to be taken
merely as
arithmetical symbols:
they are
Cosmological factors,
the first of which
is the spirit of God --
with
all the ambiguities
that this term
"ruah"
has in Hebrew --
while
the nine others
seem to be
the archetypes
of
the three elements
(air, water, fire)
and
the spatial dimensions
(up, down,
and
the four cardinal points).
After having been
manipulated
either
in their
graphic representation
or
in combination,
the letters
of the alphabet,
which
are considered to be
adequate transcriptions
of the sounds
of the language,
are
in turn
instruments
of Creation.
The basic idea
of all this speculation
is that
speech
(that is,
language
composed
of words,
which are
in turn
composed
of letters/sounds)
is not only
a means
of communication
but also
an
operational agent
destined
to produce Being --
it has
an
ontological value.
This value,
however,
does not extend
to
every form
of language;
it belongs
to
the Hebrew language
alone.
The universe
that is produced
by means of
the sefirot
and
the letters
is constituted
according to
the law
of correspondences
between
the astral world,
the seasons
that mark
the rhythm of Time,
and
Man
in his
psychosomatic
structure.
The
"Book of Creation"
certainly
does not
proceed entirely
from
Biblical data
and
rabbinical reflection
upon them;
certain
Greek influences
are discernible,
even in
the vocabulary.
What is important,
however,
is its influence
on
later Jewish thought,
down to
the present time:
Philosophers
and
Esoterists
have vied
with one another
in commentating it,
pulling it
in their own direction,
and
adjusting it
to their
respective ideologies.
Even more important
is the fact
that
Kabbala
borrowed
a great part
of its terminology
from it
(sefira,
among others),
naturally making
semantic adaptations
as required.
The speculation
traced above
developed
during
the first six centuries
of the Common Era,
both
in Palestine
and
in Babylonia
(later called Iraq);
Babylonian Judaism
had its own
social and ideological
characteristics,
which
put it in opposition
to
Palestinian Judaism
in various aspects,
including esoterism
as well as
other manifestations
of the life
of the Spirit.
The joint
doctrinal influence
of
the two centers
was to spread
during the period
from
the mid-8th
to 11th century
among the Jews
established
in North Africa
and Europe;
Mystical doctrines
also
filtered in,
but
very little
is known
about
the circumstances
and
means
of their penetration.
+++
excerpts
from
"UnderstandingJewish Mysticism:
A Source Reader;
The Merkabah Tradition
and
The Zoharic Tradition",
by
David R. Blumenthal,KTAV Publishing
House, Inc.,
New York, 1978the Preface,
page xii]:
"This is not a book
which can be read.
It must be studied,
for such is the nature
of the material.
Mysticism
is itself
an elusive
and complex
phenomenon,
and
Jewish mysticism,
because of
its deep roots
in Jewish tradition,
is
a very difficult
area
to examine.
The reader
must be
drawn into
studying,
puzzling over,
and
then
reflecting upon
these texts.
Otherwise,
he will not
understand them
or
the people
who wrote them.
If the reader
is drawn into
deeper study
and consideration
of these issues,
the purposes
of this book
will have been
accomplished.
One may well ask:
Why have I gone to
so much trouble
to make available,
at the beginning
of the last quarter
of
the twentieth century,
a group of texts
which are so remote
from modern man,
texts whose
piety and experience
are probably very far
from that
of the reader.
The answer lies
in the fact
that religious traditions
in general,
and
Judaism among them,
have
many levels
of existence.
There is
a certain
sociological momentum
to
a religious tradition
because
people and institutions
have
a tendency
to endure.
There is
also
a certain
intellectual momentum
to
a religious tradition
because
ideas
and
the intellectual molding
of reality
are
ongoing processes.
But ultimately
the momentum
of a religious tradition
derives from
the irreducibly religious
experiences
that it generates.
Some of these
experiences
are
more rarified
than others.
Some are
popular,
and some are
for the elite.
Yet in them all,
there is the contact
with the numinous,
the awareness
of otherness,
that is
core
and
central
to religious experience.
As I have written
(in "The Academic Study
of Judaism,
Second Series",
by Jacob Neusner, p. 88):
'Man is
a being
who stands
not only
at the nexus
of nature,
the intellect,
and
moral judgment
but
he is a being
who stands
at the nexus
of
the mundane
and
the transcendent.
Man stands
not only
in the sunlight
of this world
but
in the shadow
of God.
Man is not only
the most powerful
of the animals,
he is also
a little lower
than the angels.
Humankind
is
the crown
of Creation --
the point where
nature and society
meet with
the Force
that motivates them;
where mind,
feeling,
and
judgment
meet with
the Presence
which is
their well-spring.'
Or , as A. J. Heschel
has so beautifully put it
in 'Who Is Man?' (p. 66):
'Existence is interspersed
with suggestions
of transcendence,
and
openness to transcendence
is a constitutive element
of being human.'
In presenting these texts --
and they represent
the experience of
the elite, not the masses --
I hope that the reader
will be able
to grasp, even fleetingly,
some of
the grandeur, power,
and indeed
some of the holiness
that these texts contain."
+
[From the
"Foreword",
pages xv - xviii]:
The study
of Mysticism
has
a certain attraction
for students
in the last quarter
of
the twentieth century.
We live
in an era
in which
we have
very little control
over
our destinies,
and
the prospect
of some
inner domain
which is
truly our own
is
very engaging.
We live
in a world
in which
the quantity
of Knowledge
is so great
that no one
can master it,
and
the prospect of
a domain
of personal
Consciousness
which is
truly ours,
which is not
subject
to the onslaught
of complex
modern living,
is very tantalizing.
Perhaps this
has always been
the attraction
of Mysticism.
Perhaps
the Holy man
or woman,
the person
who has mastered
the pressures
of everyday life
by discipline
of
the inner life,
has always
held
fascination
for
the rest of us,
who see
ourselves
as suffering
through
existence.
Yet
it is
not so.
Perhaps
it was
never so.
Spirituality
as
a quality of living
is won
by hard work,
by knowledge,
by practice.
Talent
helps,
but it is not
sufficient.
One must be
haunted
by
the Spiritual,
fleeing it
at times
and
greeting it joyously
at others.
One must be
pursued
by the Spiritual,
seeking
refuge from it
as did Jonah,
and
courageously
confronting it
as did Jeremiah.
What is
the "Spiritual'
which so many
have sensed?
What is
the Reality
from which
so many have
flown,
only to be
pursued?
To define
the "spiritual"
we must begin
with language,
for it is in words
that
we communicate.
We must begin
by noting
that
Mankind
communicates
in
many languages.
I do not mean
in many
national tongues;
I mean
in many languages --
in the language
of Art,
in the language of
the Body,
in Music,
in Words.
Yet even
in the realm
of Words,
Mankind
communicates
in many languages --
the language
of Beauty
(Aesthetics),
the language
of Right and Wrong
(Morality),
the language
of
Organized Thought
(Intellect),
and also
the language of
that
which transcends
human existence
(the Spiritual).
These languages
are called
"universes
of discourse",
and each
has
its own vocabulary.
The words
of each
universe
of discourse
appear
to define
each other,
and
they do not
appear to be
definable
in terms
of
the other universes
of discourse.
Thus, we would not
normally
try to define
the Beautiful
as Right
(i.e.,
by recourse
to words
from
the universe
of
Moral Discourse).
Nor would we
try to define
the Intellectual
by describing it
as Beautiful
(i.e.,
by recourse to
the universe
of Aesthetics).
A great deal
of Philosophy,
in
its poorest sense,
is devoted to
an attempt
to define
one universe
of discourse
by
reducing it
to another.
It seems, rather,
that
the best method
of
"definition"
for any term
is
to determine
the group of words
into which
it best fits
(its universe
of discourse)
and
then to see
how it relates
to other terms
within that realm.
Within
the universe
of Religious
(or Spiritual)
discourse,
we, too,
have words.
Ask yourself
what the word
"awe"
means to you --
being careful
not to reduce it
to
a psychological state
or
a social situation.
Or
ask yourself
what the word
"Spiritual"
means,
without
reducing it
to some
stereotypic definition.
Do the same
with "wonder",
"mystery",
"faith",
"transcendent",
"blessed",
"joy",
etc.,
always
being careful
not to be
guilty
of reductionism --
i.e.,
of reducing
these words
to the universes
of Psychology,
Philosophy,
Anthropology,
or
some other realm.
These are the words
of the universe
of Religious
(Spiritual)
discourse.
The universe
of Spiritual discourse
is also
composed of images.
What do
the following images
convey:
"He leadeth me
beside still water,"
"the great
Nothingness,"
"Throne,"
"Light,"
"Universal Mind,"
"the Beloved,"
"Thou,"
"I,"
"Father,"
etc.?
These are images,
and they too
comprise
the universe
of Spiritual discourse.
All universes
of discourse
function
by analogy
to our own
experience.
We know
"Right"
because
we have experiences
of
Right and Wrong.
We know
"Beautiful"
because
we have experiences
of
Beautiful and Ugly.
And we know
"Transcendent"
because
we have experiences,
of greater
and lesser intensity,
of the Transcendent
(and the Demonic).
Without experience,
these terms
are meaningless.
With experience,
they awaken
an echo
in another
human being
such that
he can respond
to the word
or image.
The other person
can analogize
from
his own experience
toward that
which we are saying.
All such words,
then,
are indicative,
allusive
to
an experiential reality
that is
beyond them.
The word
"Mysticism"
alludes
to one such realm.
It alludes to
the realm
of Religious
(Spiritual)
experience.
It calls up
the words
and images
of
the Transcendent,
the Spiritual.
And it is
for this reason
that Mysticism
exercises its power.
Its power
derives from
the experience --
already had,
or anticipated --
in the psyche
of the individual.
As such,
the word
"Mysticism"
is
the wrong word.
We really need
the word
"Spirituality,"
or "Religiosity".
This realm
of discourse
then
is very broad,
and it is
sui generis
[unique].
It is
a realm
of experience
and
of language
unto itself.
How shall we
approach it?
We must approach
the realm
of the Spiritual
with
a differentiation
between
the "Forms
of Spirituality"
and
the "Dynamics
of Spirituality".
The "Forms
of Spirituality"
are those
overt patterns
of behavior
which are
easily identified
with
the
institutionalized
forms
of religion
in a society.
These patterns
of behavior
are no more
than that:
patterns,
acts
which
the external observer
can
observe and record.
The "Dynamics
of Spirituality,"
however,
are
the types
of mental attitude
and
directing
of inner energies
by which
the individual
establishes
what he senses to be
an awareness of,
or
a contact with,
Transcendent Reality.
The "Dynamics
of Spirituality" are,
in other words,
the sum
of attitudes
and
consciousness-directing
techniques
by which
the "Forms
of Spirituality"
are transformed
from
overt,
mechanical,
social acts
into acts
with
a Transcendent
dimension.
These dynamics
are part of
the consciousness
of the person
performing
such an act,
and
they are
more difficult,
but
not impossible,
for
the external observer
to identify.
W. C. Smith
has caught
this distinction
nicely
in his differentiation
between
the "accumulated
tradition"
and
the "living
religious faith"
within
any given Tradition.
The "Forms
of Spirituality"
in Rabbinic Tradition
are many:
Prayer,
Study,
Mitsva
[good deeds],
Ethics,
and so on.
These "forms"
can be
acted out perfunctorily
or
they can be
infused
with one, or more,
of the "Dynamics
of Spirituality",
and
it is this infusion
of
Mental Attitude
and
Directed Inner Energy
which makes
the act of piety
full of meaning
for
the Rabbinic Jew.
It is the "Way"
by which
various external acts
are transformed
into
Religious Experience.
Having in mind
some notion
of how we would
go about
identifying and defining
the "Spiritual",
we can now propose
the first problem
which this book
is designed to solve.
The first problem
is
the identification
of
the terms and images
of the Spiritual
(the Transcendent)
in these texts.
The reader
will want to ask
what
words and images
allude
to
the realm of experience
that we call
"Spiritual,"
"Transcendent,"
"Religious"?
Are there differences
between
the types
of Spirituality
represented
in each
of these texts?
What is
the underlying
Dynamic of Spirituality
in each case?
How
are they
different?
The second problem
is
the question
when does
the word
"Mysticism"
apply
to this tradition?
At what conceptual point,
if there be any at all,
can one speak
of Jewish Mysticism
as "Mystical"?
Is there a difference
between
Spiritual experience
and
Mystical experience?
Are there analogies
for such
a criterion
from other traditions?
These are
very difficult questions,
and
not every reader
will be able
to answer them.
There are
other questions
that must
also be asked,
and this book
is designed
to provide answers
to
these questions too.
What makes
Jewish Mysticism
"Jewish"?
What elements
seem to be distinctive
to that tradition?
Or, to word
the problematic
more elegantly:
What is
the relationship
between
Rabbinic Judaism
and Mysticism?
How did
Mysticism
affect
Rabbinic Judaism,
and
how did
Rabbinic Judaism
affect
Mysticism?
How does
each element
circumscribe
and set limits
upon the other?
These, then,
are the problems
of this book:
(1) to identify
the terms and images
in the texts
which
form the universe
of
Spiritual Discourse
in
the Jewish
Mystical Tradition
and
to distinguish
the types
of
Spirituality taught;
(2) to speculate upon
the point at which
one can
legitimately use
the word Mystical
in relation to
these texts;
and
(3) to determine
what is Jewish
about these texts,
to determine
the way they were
influenced by,
and in turn
influenced,
Rabbinic Judaism.
The reader
should
bear
these problems
in mind
throughout;
in
the Afterword,
I will attempt
some answers.
+
[From the
GENERAL
INTRODUCTION,
page 3]:
The world
of
Merkabah Mysticism
is
one of the most
dazzling
of
the mystical worlds.
It is a realm
of fantastic
heavenly beings,
of
bizarre
magical names,
and
of occult interactions
between
Spirit and Matter.
In it,
closed gates
to
celestial palaces
are opened
by long,
incomprehensible
incantations,
and
the dangers
which rise up
against man
as he enters
the realm
of the supernatural
are met
with seals of Truth.
It is also
a world
of visions --
visions
which are
terrifying
and
illuminating
all at once.
The selections
given here
are samples
of two types
of this literature:
one deals with
the secrets
of Creation,
and
the other
with
the Inner Vision
of the Mystic.
Throughout,
there are
a series of questions
that the reader
ought to
bear in mind:
First,
for whom
was this literature
intended?
And,
how was it
used?
Second,
what are
its main
characteristics?
And
what is
its context?
Third,
what
motivated it?
What feelings
and
Human Insights
generated
this strange world?
How and why
did it become
Holy literature?
And fourth,
what became of
this literature?
What is its place
in later
Jewish Mysticism?
The
General Conclusion
to this unit
will attempt
some answers.
+
[From
Chapter One,
the section
called
JEWISH MYSTICISM,
by G. Vajda,
pages 6 - 8]:
The centuries
that followed
the return
from
the Babylonian Exile
in the 6th century B.C.E.
(Before
the Common Era,
or B.C.)
witnessed
the growth
and intensification
of reflection
on the intermediary
Beings
between
Man and God,
of meditation
on
the divine appearances
whose special place
of occurrence
had formerly been
the most sacred part
of the Jerusalem Temple,
of speculation
on the coming into being
and organization
of the universe
and
on the creation
of Man.
None
of these themes
was absent
from the Bible,
which was held
to be divinely revealed,
but each had become
the object of
a constant
ideological readjustment
that also involved
the infiltration
of concepts
from outside
and
reaction against them.
The speculative
taste
of Jewish thinkers
between
the 2nd century B.C.E.
and the 1st century C.E.
took them
in many
different directions:
angelology
(doctrine about angels)
and
its counterpart
demonology
(doctrine
about devils);
mythical geography
and
uranography
[mapping the stars],
description
of the heavens;
speculation on
the Divine
Manifestations --
which had
as background
the Jerusalem
Temple worship
and
the visions
of the moving "Throne"
(the "Chariot," Merkava)
in the prophecy
of Ezekiel;
on
the double origin of Man,
a being
formed of the earth
but also
the "image of God";
on
the end of Time;
on Resurrection
(a concept
that appeared
only
toward the end
of
the Biblical period);
and
on rewards
and punishments
in the Afterlife.
The literary
crystallization
of all this ferment
was accomplished
in writings,
such as
the "Book of Enoch",
of which
Pharisaic (rabbinical)
Judaism --
which became
the normative
Jewish tradition
after
the Roman conquest
of Jerusalem
and
the destruction
of the Second Temple
(70 C.E.) --
retained
almost nothing
and even
the vestiges of which
it tended
to obliterate
in its own writings;
the "Talmud"
and
the" Midrash"
(rabbinical legal
and
interpretative
literature)
touched
these themes
only
with great reserve,
often unwillingly
and
more often
in a spirit
of negative polemic.
As early as
the 1st century C.E.,
and probably even
before
the national calamity
of 70,
there were
certainly
Sages or Teachers
recognized by
the religious community
for whom
meditation
on the Scriptures --
especially
the Creation narrative,
the public revelation
of the Torah
on Mount Sinai,
the Merkava vision
of Ezekiel,
the Song of Solomon --
and
reflection on
the end of Time,
Resurrection,
and
the Afterlife
were not only
a matter of exegesis
and
of attaching new ideas
to texts
recognized to be
of Divine origin
but also
a matter
of inner Experience.
It was, however,
probably
in other circles
that speculation
on
the invisible world
was engaged in
and
where the search
for the means
of penetrating it
was carried out.
It is undeniable
that there exists
a certain continuity
between
the apocalyptic visions
(i.e., of
the cataclysmic advent
of God's Kingdom)
and
documents
of certain sects
(Dead Sea Scrolls)
and
the writings,
preserved in Hebrew,
of the
"explorers
of
the supernatural world"
(Yorde Merkava).
The latter comprise
ecstatic hymns,
descriptions
of the "dwellings"
(hekhalot)
located between
the visible world
and
the ever-inaccessible
Divinity,
whose transcendence
is
paradoxically expressed
by
anthropomorphic
descriptions
consisting of
inordinate hyperboles
(Shi'ur qoma,
"Divine Dimensions").
In addition,
a few documents
have been
preserved
that attest to
the existence of
methods and practices
having to do with
the initiation
of
carefully
chosen persons
who were made
to undergo
tests and ordeals
in accordance with
psychosomatic criteria
borrowed from
Physiognomy
(the art of
determining character
from physical,
especially facial,
traits).
Some theurgic
[divine "magic"]
efficacy
was attributed to
these practices,
and
there was
some contamination
from
Egyptian,
Hellenistic,
or
Mesopotamian
magic.
(A curious document
in this respect,
rich in Pagan material,
is the
"Sefer ha-razim,"
the "Treatise
on Mysteries,"
which was
discovered
in 1963.)
In this
extrarational domain,
there are
many similarities
between concepts
reflected
in unquestionably
Jewish texts
and
the documents
of contemporary
non-Jewish esoterism,
to the point
that it
becomes difficult,
sometimes impossible,
to distinguish
the giver
from
the receiver.
Two facts
are certain
however.
On the one hand
Gnosticism
never ceases
to exploit
in its own way
Biblical themes
(such as
the tale of Creation
and
speculation
on
angels and demons)
that have
passed
through Judaism,
whatever
their
original source
may have been;
on
the other hand,
though
Jewish esoterism
may borrow
this or that motif
from ancient gnosis
or syncretism
(the fusion
of various faiths)
and
may even raise
to
a very high rank
in the hierarchy
of being
a supernatural entity
such as
the angel Metatron,
also known as
"little Adonai"
(i.e., little
Lord or God),
it still remains
inflexibly monotheistic
and
rejects
the Gnostic concept
of a bad
or
simply inferior
demiurge
who is responsible
for the creation
and
governing
of the visible world.
Finally,
it is noteworthy
that during
the centuries
that separate
the Talmudic period
(2nd to 5th
centuries A.D.)
from
the full resurgence
of Jewish esoterism
in the middle
of the 12th century,
the texts
that have been
preserved
progressively lose
their density
and
affective authenticity
and
become reduced
to the level
of
literary exercises
that are
more
grandiloquent
than
substantial.
Sefer
yetzira.
In the ancient
esoteric literature
of Judaism,
a special place
must be given
to
the Sefer yetzira
("Book of Creation"),
which deals with
Cosmogony
and
Cosmology
(the origin
and order
of the universe).
Creation,
it affirms
with
a clearly
anti-Gnostic
insistence,
is
the work of
the
God of Israel
and
took place
on two
different levels:
the ideal,
immaterial level
and
the concrete level.
This was done
according to
a complex process
that brings in
the ten numbers
(sefirot, singular sefira)
of decimal notation
and
the 22 letters
of
the Hebrew alphabet.
The ten numbers
are not to be taken
merely as
arithmetical symbols:
they are
Cosmological factors,
the first of which
is the spirit of God --
with
all the ambiguities
that this term
"ruah"
has in Hebrew --
while
the nine others
seem to be
the archetypes
of
the three elements
(air, water, fire)
and
the spatial dimensions
(up, down,
and
the four cardinal points).
After having been
manipulated
either
in their
graphic representation
or
in combination,
the letters
of the alphabet,
which
are considered to be
adequate transcriptions
of the sounds
of the language,
are
in turn
instruments
of Creation.
The basic idea
of all this speculation
is that
speech
(that is,
language
composed
of words,
which are
in turn
composed
of letters/sounds)
is not only
a means
of communication
but also
an
operational agent
destined
to produce Being --
it has
an
ontological value.
This value,
however,
does not extend
to
every form
of language;
it belongs
to
the Hebrew language
alone.
The universe
that is produced
by means of
the sefirot
and
the letters
is constituted
according to
the law
of correspondences
between
the astral world,
the seasons
that mark
the rhythm of Time,
and
Man
in his
psychosomatic
structure.
The
"Book of Creation"
certainly
does not
proceed entirely
from
Biblical data
and
rabbinical reflection
upon them;
certain
Greek influences
are discernible,
even in
the vocabulary.
What is important,
however,
is its influence
on
later Jewish thought,
down to
the present time:
Philosophers
and
Esoterists
have vied
with one another
in commentating it,
pulling it
in their own direction,
and
adjusting it
to their
respective ideologies.
Even more important
is the fact
that
Kabbala
borrowed
a great part
of its terminology
from it
(sefira,
among others),
naturally making
semantic adaptations
as required.
The speculation
traced above
developed
during
the first six centuries
of the Common Era,
both
in Palestine
and
in Babylonia
(later called Iraq);
Babylonian Judaism
had its own
social and ideological
characteristics,
which
put it in opposition
to
Palestinian Judaism
in various aspects,
including esoterism
as well as
other manifestations
of the life
of the Spirit.
The joint
doctrinal influence
of
the two centers
was to spread
during the period
from
the mid-8th
to 11th century
among the Jews
established
in North Africa
and Europe;
Mystical doctrines
also
filtered in,
but
very little
is known
about
the circumstances
and
means
of their penetration.
+++
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