Arie Morgenstern
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195305784
- eISBN:
- 9780199784820
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195305787.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Various End-reckonings, based on both the Talmud and the Zohar, led to the conclusion that the Messiah would appear in 5600 A.M. (the six-hundredth year of the sixth millennium), corresponding to ...
More
Various End-reckonings, based on both the Talmud and the Zohar, led to the conclusion that the Messiah would appear in 5600 A.M. (the six-hundredth year of the sixth millennium), corresponding to 1840 C.E. The firmly entrenched belief appears in documents from throughout the Jewish world: Persia and Kurdistan, Morocco, the Land of Israel, Eastern Europe (Hasidic and non-Hasidic alike), and Western Europe. The documents are relatively few, given the Jews’ reluctance to discuss such matters in writing, but it appears as well in accounts by Christian missionaries of their conversations with Jews in most of those areas.Less
Various End-reckonings, based on both the Talmud and the Zohar, led to the conclusion that the Messiah would appear in 5600 A.M. (the six-hundredth year of the sixth millennium), corresponding to 1840 C.E. The firmly entrenched belief appears in documents from throughout the Jewish world: Persia and Kurdistan, Morocco, the Land of Israel, Eastern Europe (Hasidic and non-Hasidic alike), and Western Europe. The documents are relatively few, given the Jews’ reluctance to discuss such matters in writing, but it appears as well in accounts by Christian missionaries of their conversations with Jews in most of those areas.
Pinchas Giller
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195328806
- eISBN:
- 9780199870196
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195328806.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The Beit El kabbalists root their practice in Sharʾabi's theoretical writings, which are uneven and call for much interpretation. Sharʾabi produced a number of mystical prayers and also formalized ...
More
The Beit El kabbalists root their practice in Sharʾabi's theoretical writings, which are uneven and call for much interpretation. Sharʾabi produced a number of mystical prayers and also formalized penitential rituals of self‐mortification. Much of the literary activity of the Beit El kabbalists is devoted to resolving the desiderata and discrepancies remaining in Sharʾabi's writings, The most widely known evidence of Sharʾabi's activity is “his” prayer book, the Siddur ha‐RaShaSh, which was compiled posthumously by many hands. As a result of these factors, there are many versions and editions of the prayer book. In order to reinforce Sharʾabi's authority and spiritual hegemony, the Beit El kabbalists continued the Lurianic limitations of the kabbalistic canon.Less
The Beit El kabbalists root their practice in Sharʾabi's theoretical writings, which are uneven and call for much interpretation. Sharʾabi produced a number of mystical prayers and also formalized penitential rituals of self‐mortification. Much of the literary activity of the Beit El kabbalists is devoted to resolving the desiderata and discrepancies remaining in Sharʾabi's writings, The most widely known evidence of Sharʾabi's activity is “his” prayer book, the Siddur ha‐RaShaSh, which was compiled posthumously by many hands. As a result of these factors, there are many versions and editions of the prayer book. In order to reinforce Sharʾabi's authority and spiritual hegemony, the Beit El kabbalists continued the Lurianic limitations of the kabbalistic canon.
Yaacob Dweck
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691145082
- eISBN:
- 9781400840007
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691145082.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter argues that Modena's criticism of the Zohar's origins had little to do with its theological contents. It emerged as a reaction to the elevated status of the work among his Jewish ...
More
This chapter argues that Modena's criticism of the Zohar's origins had little to do with its theological contents. It emerged as a reaction to the elevated status of the work among his Jewish contemporaries and immediate predecessors; Jews had begun to treat the Zohar as a source of legal authority rather than a collection of stories and biblical glosses. Modena's critique constituted a denunciation of these larger trends in contemporary Jewish life rather than a rejection of the Zohar as a work of exegesis. As such, Ari Nohem offers a case study of how an early modern intellectual worked to prove that a text was pseudepigraphic. It also presents a wealth of information on attitudes toward the Zohar among Jews in Italy, Poland, and elsewhere. Ultimately, Modena rejected the status ascribed to the Zohar in contemporary Jewish life, denied the work's ostensible antiquity, and reflected on the deleterious impact of its packaging as a printed book.Less
This chapter argues that Modena's criticism of the Zohar's origins had little to do with its theological contents. It emerged as a reaction to the elevated status of the work among his Jewish contemporaries and immediate predecessors; Jews had begun to treat the Zohar as a source of legal authority rather than a collection of stories and biblical glosses. Modena's critique constituted a denunciation of these larger trends in contemporary Jewish life rather than a rejection of the Zohar as a work of exegesis. As such, Ari Nohem offers a case study of how an early modern intellectual worked to prove that a text was pseudepigraphic. It also presents a wealth of information on attitudes toward the Zohar among Jews in Italy, Poland, and elsewhere. Ultimately, Modena rejected the status ascribed to the Zohar in contemporary Jewish life, denied the work's ostensible antiquity, and reflected on the deleterious impact of its packaging as a printed book.
Elliot R. Wolfson
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199206575
- eISBN:
- 9780191709678
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199206575.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, Judaism
This chapter begins with Fishbane's understanding of ‘inspired exegesis’, that is, the thread found in rabbinic literature itself that considers rabbinic exegesis not only reliant on Torah study but ...
More
This chapter begins with Fishbane's understanding of ‘inspired exegesis’, that is, the thread found in rabbinic literature itself that considers rabbinic exegesis not only reliant on Torah study but also deeply revelatory. It then turns to the mystical text of the Zohar and demonstrates that its authors take this idea a step further, viewing their interpretive work and experience not only as participating in revelation but also as exceeding the normal range of prophetic experience. The chapter demonstrates that these medieval mystics are really practising an intellectual mysticism, strongly reminiscent of Fishbane's concept of exegetical illumination.Less
This chapter begins with Fishbane's understanding of ‘inspired exegesis’, that is, the thread found in rabbinic literature itself that considers rabbinic exegesis not only reliant on Torah study but also deeply revelatory. It then turns to the mystical text of the Zohar and demonstrates that its authors take this idea a step further, viewing their interpretive work and experience not only as participating in revelation but also as exceeding the normal range of prophetic experience. The chapter demonstrates that these medieval mystics are really practising an intellectual mysticism, strongly reminiscent of Fishbane's concept of exegetical illumination.
MICHAEL FISHBANE
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780198267331
- eISBN:
- 9780191602078
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198267339.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter begins with an exploration of the diverse sources that carried rabbinic myths to the Middle Ages. Three patterns are noted: a defence of the straightforward sense of Scripture and the ...
More
This chapter begins with an exploration of the diverse sources that carried rabbinic myths to the Middle Ages. Three patterns are noted: a defence of the straightforward sense of Scripture and the Midrash, where they speak in bold imagery about God, a denunciation or denial of the apparent, straightforward sense of these and other passages, and an affirmation of the religious language and depictions in these corpora as sacred code of higher mysteries. The manifestation and mystery of the book of Zohar is discussed.Less
This chapter begins with an exploration of the diverse sources that carried rabbinic myths to the Middle Ages. Three patterns are noted: a defence of the straightforward sense of Scripture and the Midrash, where they speak in bold imagery about God, a denunciation or denial of the apparent, straightforward sense of these and other passages, and an affirmation of the religious language and depictions in these corpora as sacred code of higher mysteries. The manifestation and mystery of the book of Zohar is discussed.
MICHAEL FISHBANE
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780198267331
- eISBN:
- 9780191602078
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198267339.003.0014
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter presents a synthesis of the studies in the preceding Chapters (10-12), focusing on a number of mystical tracts, particularly the book of Zohar — an heir of these prior layers of ...
More
This chapter presents a synthesis of the studies in the preceding Chapters (10-12), focusing on a number of mystical tracts, particularly the book of Zohar — an heir of these prior layers of tradition and their transformation. The book of Zohar attempts to read and disclose the hidden myth in the words of the Torah and other passages of the sacred canon. Myth is considered an inward and spiritual reality of the divine being, is unsayable and unknowable on its own terms, and only becomes knowable and sayable in the terminology of Scripture.Less
This chapter presents a synthesis of the studies in the preceding Chapters (10-12), focusing on a number of mystical tracts, particularly the book of Zohar — an heir of these prior layers of tradition and their transformation. The book of Zohar attempts to read and disclose the hidden myth in the words of the Torah and other passages of the sacred canon. Myth is considered an inward and spiritual reality of the divine being, is unsayable and unknowable on its own terms, and only becomes knowable and sayable in the terminology of Scripture.
MICHAEL FISHBANE
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780198267331
- eISBN:
- 9780191602078
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198267339.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter presents a synthesis of all chapters discussed in this book. Three specific concepts are emphasized. The first is that this book is an exploration of the morphologies of myth and ...
More
This chapter presents a synthesis of all chapters discussed in this book. Three specific concepts are emphasized. The first is that this book is an exploration of the morphologies of myth and mythmaking found in three distinct bodies of literature: the Hebrew Bible; clusters or anthologies of Midrash; and the book of Zohar. Second is that the myths studied are cultural forms and the concrete expressions of a vital mythic imagination found in classical texts of the Jewish monotheistic tradition. Finally, that the three literary corpora investigated provide different accounts of perceptions of what is called the theosphere and its relation to the biosphere.Less
This chapter presents a synthesis of all chapters discussed in this book. Three specific concepts are emphasized. The first is that this book is an exploration of the morphologies of myth and mythmaking found in three distinct bodies of literature: the Hebrew Bible; clusters or anthologies of Midrash; and the book of Zohar. Second is that the myths studied are cultural forms and the concrete expressions of a vital mythic imagination found in classical texts of the Jewish monotheistic tradition. Finally, that the three literary corpora investigated provide different accounts of perceptions of what is called the theosphere and its relation to the biosphere.
Pinchas Giller
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195118490
- eISBN:
- 9780199848874
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195118490.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Comprising well over a thousand pages of densely-written Aramaic, the compilation of texts known as the Zohar represents the collective wisdom of various strands of Jewish mysticism, or kabbalah, up ...
More
Comprising well over a thousand pages of densely-written Aramaic, the compilation of texts known as the Zohar represents the collective wisdom of various strands of Jewish mysticism, or kabbalah, up to the thirteenth century. This massive work continues to provide the foundation of much Jewish mystical thought and practice to the present day. This book examines certain sections of the Zohar and the ways in which the central doctrines of classical kabbalah took shape around them.Less
Comprising well over a thousand pages of densely-written Aramaic, the compilation of texts known as the Zohar represents the collective wisdom of various strands of Jewish mysticism, or kabbalah, up to the thirteenth century. This massive work continues to provide the foundation of much Jewish mystical thought and practice to the present day. This book examines certain sections of the Zohar and the ways in which the central doctrines of classical kabbalah took shape around them.
Moshe Idel
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195097030
- eISBN:
- 9780199848805
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195097030.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
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 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.
Michael Fishbane
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195097030
- eISBN:
- 9780199848805
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195097030.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
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
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.
Pinchas Giller
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195118490
- eISBN:
- 9780199848874
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195118490.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The first chapter provides an overview of some general methodological questions regarding the Zohar's structure and archaeology. The author argues that schools of Zohar interpretation divide, ...
More
The first chapter provides an overview of some general methodological questions regarding the Zohar's structure and archaeology. The author argues that schools of Zohar interpretation divide, ideologically, between scholastic approaches and approaches based on mystical revelation and transmission. These two points of origin reflect two views of the kabbalistic experience.Less
The first chapter provides an overview of some general methodological questions regarding the Zohar's structure and archaeology. The author argues that schools of Zohar interpretation divide, ideologically, between scholastic approaches and approaches based on mystical revelation and transmission. These two points of origin reflect two views of the kabbalistic experience.
Pinchas Giller
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195118490
- eISBN:
- 9780199848874
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195118490.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The Idrot is one of the boldest presentations in the Zohar literature, expressing a mystical premise that God is a force that continually fills the world with divine energy which is universal in ...
More
The Idrot is one of the boldest presentations in the Zohar literature, expressing a mystical premise that God is a force that continually fills the world with divine energy which is universal in theosophical Kabbalah, just as it permeates most Western mysticism. This chapter presents the Idra texts known as the Idrot, or “convocations.” The texts include the Idra Rabbah and the Idra Zuta. A third Idra, the Idra de—Bei Mashkena, “the Idra of the Tabernacle,” is also referred to at the beginning of the Idra Rabbah.Less
The Idrot is one of the boldest presentations in the Zohar literature, expressing a mystical premise that God is a force that continually fills the world with divine energy which is universal in theosophical Kabbalah, just as it permeates most Western mysticism. This chapter presents the Idra texts known as the Idrot, or “convocations.” The texts include the Idra Rabbah and the Idra Zuta. A third Idra, the Idra de—Bei Mashkena, “the Idra of the Tabernacle,” is also referred to at the beginning of the Idra Rabbah.
Pinchas Giller
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195118490
- eISBN:
- 9780199848874
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195118490.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The author describes the most influential texts of the Zohar, the dramatic Idrot, in this chapter. These texts describe convocations in which various members of the Zohar's pietistic circle perish in ...
More
The author describes the most influential texts of the Zohar, the dramatic Idrot, in this chapter. These texts describe convocations in which various members of the Zohar's pietistic circle perish in mystical ecstasy while beholding the wonders of the Godhead. The chapter examines some central themes in the Idrot and their related literature.Less
The author describes the most influential texts of the Zohar, the dramatic Idrot, in this chapter. These texts describe convocations in which various members of the Zohar's pietistic circle perish in mystical ecstasy while beholding the wonders of the Godhead. The chapter examines some central themes in the Idrot and their related literature.
Ronald C. Kiener
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813036496
- eISBN:
- 9780813041810
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813036496.003.0009
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This chapter is an attempt to rewrite the history of Jewish mysticism by examining its geographical origins and focusing on its medieval and premodern manifestations. It is also an effort to wrest ...
More
This chapter is an attempt to rewrite the history of Jewish mysticism by examining its geographical origins and focusing on its medieval and premodern manifestations. It is also an effort to wrest the account of Jewish mysticism from its Eurocentric focus and place it instead in the context of Islamic culture. The chapter elaborates at length on the ways in which Islamic culture helped shape mysticism among the Jews beginning in ninth-century Baghdad and continuing with such currents as the Sufi-tinged Jewish pietist movement of thirteenth-century medieval Egypt, the ecstatic Kabbalah movement founded by Abraham Abulafia, and the origins of the so-called Spanish Kabbalah. The main thesis here is that based on recent research the centrality of Islamic culture cannot be ignored in developing a historical account of the evolution of Jewish mysticism.Less
This chapter is an attempt to rewrite the history of Jewish mysticism by examining its geographical origins and focusing on its medieval and premodern manifestations. It is also an effort to wrest the account of Jewish mysticism from its Eurocentric focus and place it instead in the context of Islamic culture. The chapter elaborates at length on the ways in which Islamic culture helped shape mysticism among the Jews beginning in ninth-century Baghdad and continuing with such currents as the Sufi-tinged Jewish pietist movement of thirteenth-century medieval Egypt, the ecstatic Kabbalah movement founded by Abraham Abulafia, and the origins of the so-called Spanish Kabbalah. The main thesis here is that based on recent research the centrality of Islamic culture cannot be ignored in developing a historical account of the evolution of Jewish mysticism.
Eitan P. Fishbane
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780199948635
- eISBN:
- 9780190885489
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199948635.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This book studies the Zohar as a work of literature. While the Zohar has long been recognized as a signal achievement of mystical theology, myth, and exegesis, this monograph presents a poetics of ...
More
This book studies the Zohar as a work of literature. While the Zohar has long been recognized as a signal achievement of mystical theology, myth, and exegesis, this monograph presents a poetics of zoharic narrative, a morphology of mystical storytelling. Topics examined include mysticism and literature; fiction and pseudepigraphy; diaspora and exile; dramatic monologue and the representation of emotion; voice, gesture, and the theatrics of the zoharic tale; the wandering quest for wisdom; anagnorisis and the poetics of recognition; encounters with the natural world as stimuli for mystical creativity; the dynamic relationship between narrative and exegesis; magical realism and the fantastic in the representation of experience and Being; narrative ethics and the exemplum of virtuous piety in the Zohar; the place of the zoharic frame-tale in the comparative context of medieval Iberian literature, both Jewish and non-Jewish.Less
This book studies the Zohar as a work of literature. While the Zohar has long been recognized as a signal achievement of mystical theology, myth, and exegesis, this monograph presents a poetics of zoharic narrative, a morphology of mystical storytelling. Topics examined include mysticism and literature; fiction and pseudepigraphy; diaspora and exile; dramatic monologue and the representation of emotion; voice, gesture, and the theatrics of the zoharic tale; the wandering quest for wisdom; anagnorisis and the poetics of recognition; encounters with the natural world as stimuli for mystical creativity; the dynamic relationship between narrative and exegesis; magical realism and the fantastic in the representation of experience and Being; narrative ethics and the exemplum of virtuous piety in the Zohar; the place of the zoharic frame-tale in the comparative context of medieval Iberian literature, both Jewish and non-Jewish.
Arthur Green
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823225712
- eISBN:
- 9780823237067
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823225712.003.0016
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
The Zohar is the great medieval Jewish compendium of mysticism, myth, and esoteric teaching. It may be considered the greatest work of Jewish literary imagination in the Middle Ages. ...
More
The Zohar is the great medieval Jewish compendium of mysticism, myth, and esoteric teaching. It may be considered the greatest work of Jewish literary imagination in the Middle Ages. Without doubt, it constitutes one of the most important bodies of religious texts of all times and places. It is also a lush garden of sacred eros, filled to overflowing with luxurious plantings of love between master and disciples, among the mystical companions themselves, between the souls of Israel and the shekhinah, God's lovely bride, but most of all between the male and female elements that together make up the Godhead. Revered and canonized by generations of faithful devotees, the secret universe described by the Zohar's authors serves as the basis of Kabbalistic faith.Less
The Zohar is the great medieval Jewish compendium of mysticism, myth, and esoteric teaching. It may be considered the greatest work of Jewish literary imagination in the Middle Ages. Without doubt, it constitutes one of the most important bodies of religious texts of all times and places. It is also a lush garden of sacred eros, filled to overflowing with luxurious plantings of love between master and disciples, among the mystical companions themselves, between the souls of Israel and the shekhinah, God's lovely bride, but most of all between the male and female elements that together make up the Godhead. Revered and canonized by generations of faithful devotees, the secret universe described by the Zohar's authors serves as the basis of Kabbalistic faith.
Ellen D. Haskell
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190600433
- eISBN:
- 9780190600457
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190600433.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The thirteenth-century Jewish mystical classic Sefer ha-Zohar (The Book of Splendor) took shape against a backdrop of rising anti-Judaism in Spain. Mystical Resistance reveals that in addition to the ...
More
The thirteenth-century Jewish mystical classic Sefer ha-Zohar (The Book of Splendor) took shape against a backdrop of rising anti-Judaism in Spain. Mystical Resistance reveals that in addition to the Zohar’s role as a theological masterpiece, its Kabbalistic teachings offer passionate and knowledgeable critiques of Christian majority culture. During the Zohar’s development, Christian friars implemented new missionizing strategies, forced Jewish attendance at religious disputations, and seized and censored Jewish books. In response, the Kabbalists who composed the Zohar crafted strategically subversive narratives aimed at diminishing Christian authority. Hidden between the lines of its fascinating stories, the Zohar makes daring assertions that challenge themes important to medieval Christianity, including Christ’s Passion and ascension, the mendicant friars’ new missionizing strategies, and Gothic art’s claims of Christian dominion. These assertions rely on an intimate and complex knowledge of Christianity gleaned from rabbinic sources, polemic literature, public Church art, and encounters between Christians and Jews. Much of the Kabbalists’ subversive discourse reflects language employed by writers under oppressive political regimes, treading a delicate line between public and private, power and powerlessness, subservience and defiance. Placing the Zohar in its thirteenth-century context opens this text as a rich and fruitful source of Jewish cultural testimony produced at the epicenter of sweeping changes in the relationship between medieval Western Europe’s Christian majority and its Jewish minority.Less
The thirteenth-century Jewish mystical classic Sefer ha-Zohar (The Book of Splendor) took shape against a backdrop of rising anti-Judaism in Spain. Mystical Resistance reveals that in addition to the Zohar’s role as a theological masterpiece, its Kabbalistic teachings offer passionate and knowledgeable critiques of Christian majority culture. During the Zohar’s development, Christian friars implemented new missionizing strategies, forced Jewish attendance at religious disputations, and seized and censored Jewish books. In response, the Kabbalists who composed the Zohar crafted strategically subversive narratives aimed at diminishing Christian authority. Hidden between the lines of its fascinating stories, the Zohar makes daring assertions that challenge themes important to medieval Christianity, including Christ’s Passion and ascension, the mendicant friars’ new missionizing strategies, and Gothic art’s claims of Christian dominion. These assertions rely on an intimate and complex knowledge of Christianity gleaned from rabbinic sources, polemic literature, public Church art, and encounters between Christians and Jews. Much of the Kabbalists’ subversive discourse reflects language employed by writers under oppressive political regimes, treading a delicate line between public and private, power and powerlessness, subservience and defiance. Placing the Zohar in its thirteenth-century context opens this text as a rich and fruitful source of Jewish cultural testimony produced at the epicenter of sweeping changes in the relationship between medieval Western Europe’s Christian majority and its Jewish minority.
Henry Sussman
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823227693
- eISBN:
- 9780823235278
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823227693.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This book is an extended inquiry into the dimension of exteriority constructed by philosophical systems and literary works. Literature has, since its inception, depended on a rogue's ...
More
This book is an extended inquiry into the dimension of exteriority constructed by philosophical systems and literary works. Literature has, since its inception, depended on a rogue's gallery of outsiders—the more outlandish the better, with human attributes optional—as the impetus to its events and the motive for its developments. Philosophers have also vacillated between safeguarding the purity and consistency of their systematic projects and embracing contamination by alien and intransigent elements. The unsettling encounter between interiority and exteriority is a philosophical and literary sideshow not nearly as frivolous as it might seem. Building upon Nietzsche's fatal confrontation The Wanderer and His Shadow and Jacques Derrida's initiation of the current era in critical theory with the formulation “The outside is the inside,” the author pursues the vicissitudes of the dimensional frontier in a wide range of artifacts and authors. Among these are James Joyce, Walter Benjamin, James Baldwin, and William Faulkner. A welcome is further extended to the peculiar sublime introduced in the Zohar and in the texts of Georg Büchner, Franz Kafka, Bruno Schulz, and Paul Celan.Less
This book is an extended inquiry into the dimension of exteriority constructed by philosophical systems and literary works. Literature has, since its inception, depended on a rogue's gallery of outsiders—the more outlandish the better, with human attributes optional—as the impetus to its events and the motive for its developments. Philosophers have also vacillated between safeguarding the purity and consistency of their systematic projects and embracing contamination by alien and intransigent elements. The unsettling encounter between interiority and exteriority is a philosophical and literary sideshow not nearly as frivolous as it might seem. Building upon Nietzsche's fatal confrontation The Wanderer and His Shadow and Jacques Derrida's initiation of the current era in critical theory with the formulation “The outside is the inside,” the author pursues the vicissitudes of the dimensional frontier in a wide range of artifacts and authors. Among these are James Joyce, Walter Benjamin, James Baldwin, and William Faulkner. A welcome is further extended to the peculiar sublime introduced in the Zohar and in the texts of Georg Büchner, Franz Kafka, Bruno Schulz, and Paul Celan.
Henry Sussman
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823227693
- eISBN:
- 9780823235278
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823227693.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This chapter examines the Judaic scenario of the afterlife in the works of Walter Benjamin, J. Hillis Miller, and in the Zohar. It states that in The Zohar, the rabbinical ...
More
This chapter examines the Judaic scenario of the afterlife in the works of Walter Benjamin, J. Hillis Miller, and in the Zohar. It states that in The Zohar, the rabbinical contributors to the difficult and technical argumentation of the Talmud have been transformed into literary characters who are seen discoursing with each other. This literary development can also be observed in Miller's exploration of a biblical text from the Book of Ruth. It suggests that the folktales of the Zohar coincide with Judaism's acknowledgment of literary characterization and Western eschatology but they are also imprinted with a specifically Judaic poetics.Less
This chapter examines the Judaic scenario of the afterlife in the works of Walter Benjamin, J. Hillis Miller, and in the Zohar. It states that in The Zohar, the rabbinical contributors to the difficult and technical argumentation of the Talmud have been transformed into literary characters who are seen discoursing with each other. This literary development can also be observed in Miller's exploration of a biblical text from the Book of Ruth. It suggests that the folktales of the Zohar coincide with Judaism's acknowledgment of literary characterization and Western eschatology but they are also imprinted with a specifically Judaic poetics.
Shaul Magid
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780804791304
- eISBN:
- 9780804793469
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804791304.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter is an overview of the notion of incarnational thinking in Hasidism. It traces this idea through a series of early Hasidic texts to suggest that Hasidic literature moves top the edges and ...
More
This chapter is an overview of the notion of incarnational thinking in Hasidism. It traces this idea through a series of early Hasidic texts to suggest that Hasidic literature moves top the edges and in some cases crosses over into blatant incarnational thinking regarding its depiction of the biblical figures and the Hasidic zaddik. The chapter begins by surveying modern Jewish philosophers who are influenced by Moses Maimonides in readers to Jewish conceptions of monotheism, It then proceeds to show through close readings of Hasidic texts that Maimonides notion of monotheism was not adopted by these Hasidic writers. Quite the opposite, they seemed either oblivious or openly resistant to the radical transcendent God of Maimonides that stands at the center of Maimonides thinking and, more significant for my concerns, the project of Modern Jewish philosophy.Less
This chapter is an overview of the notion of incarnational thinking in Hasidism. It traces this idea through a series of early Hasidic texts to suggest that Hasidic literature moves top the edges and in some cases crosses over into blatant incarnational thinking regarding its depiction of the biblical figures and the Hasidic zaddik. The chapter begins by surveying modern Jewish philosophers who are influenced by Moses Maimonides in readers to Jewish conceptions of monotheism, It then proceeds to show through close readings of Hasidic texts that Maimonides notion of monotheism was not adopted by these Hasidic writers. Quite the opposite, they seemed either oblivious or openly resistant to the radical transcendent God of Maimonides that stands at the center of Maimonides thinking and, more significant for my concerns, the project of Modern Jewish philosophy.
