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Hekhalot Literature and the Origins of Jewish Mysticism

PETER SCHÄFER

in Rabbinic Texts and the History of Late-Roman Palestine

This chapter examines the origins of Jewish mysticism and the Hekhalot liteature. The findings do not confirm the trend in modern scholarship which locates the origins of Jewish mysticism in the ... More

This chapter examines the origins of Jewish mysticism and the Hekhalot liteature. The findings do not confirm the trend in modern scholarship which locates the origins of Jewish mysticism in the Qumran literature and wishes to see an unbroken chain of distinctly mystical ideas leading from Qumran through rabbinic Judaism to the Hekhalot literature. The result also suggests that the category of mysticism has proved to be a dubious one mainly because of scholars' tendency to insert the notion of unio mystica into the ancient texts.Less

Jewish Mysticism and National Theology

Boaz Huss

in Mystifying Kabbalah: Academic Scholarship, National Theology, and New Age Spirituality

Chapter 2 examines the formation of the concept of Jewish mysticism, the identification of Kabbalah and Hasidism as Jewish forms of mysticism, and the construction of an academic research field ... More

Chapter 2 examines the formation of the concept of Jewish mysticism, the identification of Kabbalah and Hasidism as Jewish forms of mysticism, and the construction of an academic research field dedicated to what was defined as “Jewish mysticism.” It describes the application of the adjective mystical to Kabbalah by Christian scholars since the seventeenth century, the appearance of the term “Jewish mysticism” in the writings of German Romantic theologians in the early nineteenth century, and the adoption of the term by Jewish scholars in Europe and the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century. It further examines the “revelation” of Jewish mysticism by Martin Buber and the establishment of the research field dedicated to Jewish mysticism by Gershom Scholem and his pupils. The chapter discusses the ideological and theological contexts in which the category of mysticism was shaped in the nineteenth century and the processes that led to the establishment of Jewish mysticism—as a category and as an academic research field—in the framework of modern theological-national discourse and as part of the Zionist nation-building endeavor.Less

Introduction

Boaz Huss

in Mystifying Kabbalah: Academic Scholarship, National Theology, and New Age Spirituality

The introduction presents Martin Buber’s early 20th century attempt to expose the existence of “Jewish mysticism,” and the later establishment of the academic study of Jewish mysticism by Geshom ... More

The introduction presents Martin Buber’s early 20th century attempt to expose the existence of “Jewish mysticism,” and the later establishment of the academic study of Jewish mysticism by Geshom Scholem, and the revolution that occurred in the study of Jewish mysticsm in the 1980’s. The introduction outlines the genealogical study and critical examination of the concept and research field of Jewish mysticism that will be presented in the book, and explains that it seeks to expose the deep-rooted factors that have guided (and continue to guide) the identification of Kabbalah and Hasidism as mysticism, and how these influence the ways in which these movements are interpreted and studied. It discussed that two central claims that guide the discussion in this book. The first is that mysticism, in general, and Jewish mysticism, in particular, are not natural and universal phenomena that were discovered by researchers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Rather, these are discursive constructs which served to catalogue, compare, and explain a broad range of cultural products and social structures not necessarily related to one another. The second claim that guides the discussion of the study of Jewish mysticism involves the theological assumptions that underpin the category of mysticism.Less

The Work of the Chariot and the Work of Creation as mystical teachings in Philo of Alexandria: Translated from the Hebrew by James Jacobson‐Maisels

Yehuda Liebes

in Scriptural Exegesis: The Shapes of Culture and the Religious Imagination: Essays in Honour of Michael Fishbane

This chapter demonstrates that Philo of Alexandria considered the Work of the Chariot and the Work of Creation (i.e. Ezek 1 and 10, and Gen 1) to be domains of esoteric knowledge that must be ... More

This chapter demonstrates that Philo of Alexandria considered the Work of the Chariot and the Work of Creation (i.e. Ezek 1 and 10, and Gen 1) to be domains of esoteric knowledge that must be concealed. This claim, if proven, has significance for two central areas of research in Jewish studies. First, in respect of research in Jewish mysticism, it is argued that the rabbinic statements concerning the esoteric nature of the Work of Creation and the Work of the Chariot rest upon an ancient tradition that preceded Philo of Alexandria. Second, this claim will help to substantiate research in which connections have been discovered between Philo, the most prominent representative of Hellenistic Judaism in Egypt, and rabbinic literature, and will even establish the teachings of Philo as continuous with Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah.Less

The Mystification of Kabbalah: Abraham Abulafia in Contemporary Kabbalah

Boaz Huss

in Mystifying Kabbalah: Academic Scholarship, National Theology, and New Age Spirituality

This chapter examines how the application of the category of “mysticism” to Kabbalah and Hasidism shaped the image and practice of Kabbalah among the broader public. Subjugation of the Kabbalah to ... More

This chapter examines how the application of the category of “mysticism” to Kabbalah and Hasidism shaped the image and practice of Kabbalah among the broader public. Subjugation of the Kabbalah to the category of mysticism led to an emphasis on Kabbalistic phenomena that were similar to what was perceived as mysticism, for example, reports of visions, ascension to other worlds, and union with God. Researchers assumed ecstatic visions and experiences underlay Kabbalistic texts, even when the text did not mention them. The chapter focuses on analyzing how the hegemonic perception of Kabbalah as “Jewish mysticism” led to a growing interest in the writings of the thirteenth-century Kabbalist Avraham Abulafia and to his description as the Jewish “mystic” par excellence. Despite Abulafia’s rejection from the traditional Kabbalistic canon, he became a current Kabbalistic cultural hero.Less

The Zohar as Exegesis

Moshe Idel

in Mysticism and Sacred Scripture

The Zohar is the canonic work of Jewish mysticism. The work represents one of the most elaborate and influential attempts in any tradition, to interpret the Bible, and certainly the most important ... More

The Zohar is the canonic work of Jewish mysticism. The work represents one of the most elaborate and influential attempts in any tradition, to interpret the Bible, and certainly the most important effort among Jewish mystics. Like many other kabbalistic commentaries on the Bible, the Zohar surmises that what happens during the exegetical enterprise is the retrieval of the ancient truths that comprise the esoteric core of the Jewish tradition, as these are embodied in a paramount way in the Bible. That is, these “secrets” are not innovations contrived by a medieval group of Kabbalists. In fact, what seems to be unique about the status of the Zohar is that it is seen as having transformed a literature that is interpretive in a deep sense—in fact, a conglomerate of esoteric interpretations on various parts of the Bible—into a canonic literature. However, despite the very substantial resort of the various parts of the verses, its special status was not derived from its being printed together with the biblical text, or from the fact that, due to the more usual form that biblical commentaries take, the Zohar was studied as part of the weekly regimen of studying the Bible. Rather, biblical verses have been absorbed into the mystical text and recycled as part of a mythical parable and theosophical interpretations that only very rarely assume the form of a linear commentary. It is significant, for the understanding of the interpretive nature of Jewish traditional culture, that a commentary indeed became a canonic writing. This chapter attempts to discern the most important exegetical devices that were characteristics of the bulk of the Zohar and that informed the highly imaginative hermeneutics of this book.Less

The Modern Concept of Mysticism

Boaz Huss

in Mystifying Kabbalah: Academic Scholarship, National Theology, and New Age Spirituality

This chapter deals with the genealogy of the modern category of mysticism as it was shaped in the late nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. The chapter examines the theological ... More

This chapter deals with the genealogy of the modern category of mysticism as it was shaped in the late nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. The chapter examines the theological context of the modern definitions of mysticism. It shows that theological assumptions underlie a perennialist perception in which all mystical experiences are basically identical. These theological assumptions also have a bearing on the contextual approach to mysticism, according to which not only are the interpretations of mystical experiences shaped according to their cultural context but also the mystical experiences themselves. The chapter demonstrates that mysticism is a discursive construct and points out difficulties in applying it as an analytical category.Less

The Jewish Mystical Library and New Visions of Reality

Rachel Elior

in Jewish Mysticism: The Infinite Expression of Freedom

This chapter provides an overview of the corpus of mystical writings in the traditional Jewish world, developed over the course of thousands of years. With all its cultural and historical ... More

This chapter provides an overview of the corpus of mystical writings in the traditional Jewish world, developed over the course of thousands of years. With all its cultural and historical manifestations, mysticism embraces a rich world of thought, creativity, imagination, and inspiration, transcending existential experience. Mysticism deals mainly with another reality that exists beyond the perceptible world, a reality that is revealed to visionaries when the veils obscuring everyday consciousness are lifted. This hidden reality has different visual realizations in different historical periods. In Jewish mysticism, it relates to secret theological and cosmological systems that add hidden structure, inner sense, depth, flexibility, and secret meaning to revealed reality, a reality assumed not to be subject to any change. The chapter then looks at how the hidden reality was described in the vast library of the mystical tradition. This mystical library was not based on a fixed mode of relating to the sacred text, but rather on a flexible mode relating to its hidden meaning and creative potential, one revealed to the inner eye of the beholder and resonating in their soul.Less

Epilogue

Boaz Huss

in Mystifying Kabbalah: Academic Scholarship, National Theology, and New Age Spirituality

The epilogue to the book clarifies that this book took the opposite direction from the ongoing project of exposing the existence of Jewish mysticism and of subjugating Kabbalah and Hasidism to this ... More

The epilogue to the book clarifies that this book took the opposite direction from the ongoing project of exposing the existence of Jewish mysticism and of subjugating Kabbalah and Hasidism to this category. Instead of assuming the universality of mysticism, and presupposing that Kabbalah and Hasidism are Jewish forms of mysticism, the book exposed how these assumptions were formed and the way they shaped the research and practice of Kabbalah and Hasidism. The book explored the historical contexts and discursive processes that shaped the construction of Jewish mysticism uncovered the political and theological presuppositions underlying the academic study of Jewish mysticism and showed how the theological paradigms of the academic discipline have defined the borders of this field, directed the creation of scientific knowledge, and determined the symbolic value of the researched data. The epilogue suggests that relinquishing “mysticism” as the major category for the conceptualization and study of Kabbalah and Hasidism may disengage the research field from theological presuppositions. This can open up the study of social, political, and economic aspects of Kabbalah that scholars of Jewish mysticism have neglected, enable a research of new historical and cultural contexts that were not taken hitherto into consideration, and encourage the study of Kabbalistic movements that were rejected by scholars as insignificant or inauthentic.Less

The Stories of Gershom Scholem

Amir Engel

in Gershom Scholem: An Intellectual Biography

This chapter explains the novelty of the book’s approach over and against the existing literature in the field. It does so by posing the fundamental question regarding Scholem, namely, why is Scholem ... More

This chapter explains the novelty of the book’s approach over and against the existing literature in the field. It does so by posing the fundamental question regarding Scholem, namely, why is Scholem so well known, even as he was mostly a scholar of a decidedly narrow field of knowledge? And why is he still read today? This chapter suggests that in different ways, the scholarly literature on Scholem focused on the philosophical underpinnings of his work. Scholem, it is often argued, is important because his views on Jewish revival, Zionism, language or historiography. This chapter seeks to expose the fallacies and problems of this approach. And it discusses the justifications, the advantages and disadvantages, in reading Scholem, not philosophically, but rather as a story-teller. Scholem it is argued did not merely expose truth that lay hidden in the old manuscripts of Jewish esoteric tradition, but recreated this tradition for his audience and in response to many of the existential questions of his generation.Less

The Upsurge of Mysticism as a Jewish and Global Phenomenon

Jonathan Garb

in The Chosen Will Become Herds: Studies in Twentieth-Century Kabbalah

This chapter explores three processes in the development of Jewish mysticism from the start of the twenty-first century. These three processes are: the global process, changes taking place in Israel ... More

This chapter explores three processes in the development of Jewish mysticism from the start of the twenty-first century. These three processes are: the global process, changes taking place in Israel and the Jewish world in general, and changes within Jewish religious society in Israel and the world. Despite distinctions in the processes, globalization and increasing ties between Israeli society and the Jewish Diaspora have managed to somewhat erase the distinctions, at least to some extent.Less

:The Shamanic Process: Descent and Fiery Transformations

in Shamanic Trance in Modern Kabbalah

This chapter provides a definition of shamanism, and outlines the forms of movement from ordinary reality to altered reality, which are mythically described in terms of motion within imaginal ... More

This chapter provides a definition of shamanism, and outlines the forms of movement from ordinary reality to altered reality, which are mythically described in terms of motion within imaginal geography. It also describes the shamanic transformation itself, which is often mythically imagined in terms related to fire, adopts the returning phase, and explores the ramifications of the return into social reality. The chapter then reviews the existing uses of the term “shamanism” in the study of Jewish mysticism. Soul retrieval is one of the major goals of travel into secret space. The examples that show the instances of soul retrieval in modern Jewish mysticism are reported. The nomian rite, accompanied by mystical intent, is a necessary prelude for the nocturnal anomian practice. It is interesting that descent into the underworld and fiery transformation hold some sway over the contemporary popular imagination.Less

The Book of Zohar and Exegetical Spirituality

Michael Fishbane

in Mysticism and Sacred Scripture

The book of Zohar is the masterpiece of Jewish mysticism. Ostensibly a commentary on the Torah, it pulses with the desire for God on virtually every page. One may even say that the commentary is ... More

The book of Zohar is the masterpiece of Jewish mysticism. Ostensibly a commentary on the Torah, it pulses with the desire for God on virtually every page. One may even say that the commentary is carried by this desire and that its protean creativity is primarily motivated by a longing to experience the divine realities uncovered by mystical interpretation. Toward this end the full range of tradition is activated, which runs from late antiquity to the 13th century, when the book of Zohar appeared in Castile. Recovering theosophical truths in the teachings of the Torah, the mystics ascend exegetically to God. This process invites attention. This chapter argues the exegetical spirituality made manifest in the Zohar is a complex fusion of myth and ritual. First, and most important, the seekers' quest for divine truth is bound up with the myths of God imagined through the work of exegesis—an achievement that puts him in mind of the hidden mysteries, and in connection with them. In turn, these esoteric myths are enacted in liturgical recitation and mystical contemplation for the sake of God and man. The circularity of this spirituality is as paradoxical as it is profound: a search for certainty through the theological myths of the exegetical imagination.Less

Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem on Hasidism: A Critical Appraisal

Moshe Idel

in Hasidism Reappraised

This chapter studies the divergences between Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem on the nature of kabbalah and hasidism and the appropriate methods for exploring their literatures. Guided by his ... More

This chapter studies the divergences between Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem on the nature of kabbalah and hasidism and the appropriate methods for exploring their literatures. Guided by his phenomenological approach, Buber ultimately reached the view that hasidism expressed the quintessence of Judaism. Other types of Jewish spirituality, such as kabbalah and apocalypticism, were for him not essential components of the Jewish religion. In principle, Buber was looking for the perennial element in hasidism that could nourish his own religiosity. Scholem's historical and critical considerations, on the other hand, led him to a theological stance that defined most expressions of Jewish mysticism as authentic Jewish phenomena, in line with his pluralistic vision of Judaism. Buber's romantic posture is conspicuously different from Scholem's critical approach; indeed, Scholem himself pointed out that Buber had ignored some of the more distasteful aspects of hasidism, most strikingly its magical components.Less

Judah Loew and Modern Jewish Scholarship

Byron L. Sherwin

in Mystical Theology and Social Dissent: The Life and Works of Judah Loew of Prague

This chapter examines Judah Loew in modern Jewish scholarship. The personal and intellectual prejudices of many nineteenth-century German Jewish scholars toward Central and Eastern European Jewry ... More

This chapter examines Judah Loew in modern Jewish scholarship. The personal and intellectual prejudices of many nineteenth-century German Jewish scholars toward Central and Eastern European Jewry affected the shape modern Jewish scholarship was to take in subsequent years. It was only as a result of the monumental scholarly efforts of Gershom Scholem, beginning in the 1920s, that the field of Jewish mysticism began to attain a respectable place within Jewish scholarly circles. Ultimately, the sparse attention given Judah Loew in nineteenth-century Jewish scholarship yielded two reactions. Those who considered him an Eastern European by birth and a mystic by inclination abhorred him. Those who considered him German by birth and an enlightened, scientifically and philosophically minded Renaissance figure by inclination distorted his views and offered a portrait of what they had hoped he was rather than of what he actually was. An example of the first approach was Heinrich Graetz, while an example of the second was Solomon Judah Rapoport. Meanwhile, in Jewish and Bohemian legend, Rabbi Loew is venerated as a master of what Jewish mystics call kabbalah ma'asit or “practical mysticism.”Less

The Philosophy of Mathematics: Privation and Representation in Gershom Scholem’s Negative Aesthetics

Matthew Handelman

in The Mathematical Imagination: On the Origins and Promise of Critical Theory

Chapter 2 investigates the moment in 1917 when the philosophy of mathematics revealed to Gershom Scholem the symbolic potential of privation. Mathematics—in particular, the translation of logic into ... More

Chapter 2 investigates the moment in 1917 when the philosophy of mathematics revealed to Gershom Scholem the symbolic potential of privation. Mathematics—in particular, the translation of logic into the symbols and operations of mathematics known as mathematical logic—produced novel results by discarding the conventional representational and meaning-making functions of language. Drawing on these mathematical insights, Scholem’s theorization of the poetic genre of lament and his translations of the biblical book of Lamentations employed erasure on the level of literary form to symbolize experiences, such as the Jewish diaspora, that exceed the limits of linguistic and historical representation. For Scholem, both poetry and history can mobilize deprivation as a means of retaining in language a symbol of experiences and ideas that remain unsayable in language and inexpressible in history—accounting for the erasure of exile and finding historical continuity in moments of silence, rupture, and catastrophe.Less