Giller The Enlightened Will Shine
Giller The Enlightened Will Shine
Giller The Enlightened Will Shine
by
Pinchas Giller
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
1993
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For My Parents
Contents
Preface
Chapter l.
Chapter 2.
in Context
The Hermeneutics of Theosophical
Kabbalah: The Symbolization of
Sacred Text
Chapter 3.
Chapter 4.
Chapter 5.
Chapter 6.
Chapter 7.
xv
1
7
21
33
59
81
107
123
129
165
175
Acknowledgments
ix
Transliterations
a,e
b
v
9
d
h
v
z
if
t
y,i
k
kh
alef
bet
vet
gimmel
dalet
he
vav
zayin
het
tet
yod
kaf
khaf
m
n
s
p
f
?
q,k
r
sh
s
t
xi
lamed
mem
nun
samekh
ayin
pe
fe
zadi
qof
resh
shin
sin
tav
Abbreviations
xiii
Preface
Meheimna.
xvi
Preface
Preface
xvii
1
Tiqqunei ha-Zohar and
Ra'aya Meheimna in Context
-Moshe Cordovero 1
2
The Hermeneutics of
Theosophical Kabbalah:
The Symbolization of Sacred Text
10
11
12
13
the streets (Proverbs 1 :2). So the Masters of the Mishnah maintained: He who desires wisdom should turn south42 for all three
are southern. HHH Binah, Gevurah, Hod, all of which are to
the north, so it says: He who desires wealth should turn north.43
Kinnui
Kinnui, or "euphemism," Originates as a rabbinic legal device,
14
15
contingent on every kinnui of these, and they are all the other
words of the Torah, till we find that the whole Torah is woven
of kinnuyim and kinnuyim of names, and the holy names are
all contingent on the name YHVH; they all unite with it, so
that one finds that the whole Torah is woven on the name
YHVH, so that it is called (Psalms 19:8) The Torah, wholly of
YHVH. One must understand the intention of the Holy Names
and grasp the specific kinnuyim for each of them, trying to
cleave to Him, to be in awe and fear of Him, then you will
understand the awe of God, and you will find the knowledge
of Him ... 50
16
The author's free interpretations of biblical texts were mandated and justified through the medium of the kinnuyim. The
kinnui, a product of philosophy and theosophical Kabbalah,
was elevated to the importance of the ancient tradition of God's
primordial names.
As in Sha'arei Orah, the formulation of the kinnui in Tiqqunei
ha-Zohar also seems indebted to medieval speculations regarding the attributes of God. In the Ra'aya Meheimna, there is this
explanation of the theological function of the kinnui:
One must know that He is called "Wise," with all kinds of
wisdom, "Understanding," with all kinds of understanding,
"Saintly," with all kinds of saintliness, "Heroic," with all kinds
of heroism, "Counsel," with all kinds of counsel, "Righteous,"
with all kinds of righteousness, and "King," with all kinds of
royalty, until infinity. In all these levels, in one He will be
called "Compassionate," and in one He will be called "Judge,"
and so forth on a number of levels until infinity. Certainly
there is a distinction between "Compassionate" and "Judge"!
Before the world was created, however, He was known by
those qualities that had yet to exist, for if there was no world,
how could He be the Compassionate Judge?! His qualities
were potential. Therefore, all names are His kinnuyim because
of His actions. He therefore created the soul in His image, to
be known through its functions, so that every limb of the
body is called a microcosm. The Master of the World does
17
18
19
20
profusion of kinnuyim linked together. The Tiqqun is a celebration of the principle of multiplicity. Beginning each Tiqqun with
"In the Beginning ... ," the author builds long homilies based
on the interlocking, associative semiotic nature of the kinnuyim.
The Tiqqunim seem to have been composed to convey the
mystic's inner state. In so doing, the mystic struggles to part the
curtain of symbols to peer, fleetingly, into the essence of the
Divine. The mystic follows the path of the associative flow of
the kinnuyim, as they circle and overlay the hidden essence of
reality. The symbols of any mystical or religious tradition evoke
the nature of its religious vision and are necessarily infused
with elements of mystery and awe. Kinnui is the device that
hides the essential reality of the divine from all but the
cognoscenti.
3
The Maskilim:
Mystical Vocation in the Tiqqunim
ystics have their experiences in isolation, if only the isolation of their own minds. The inwardness of the mystical experience often removes the mystic from the social structure. If mystics identify with religious structures prior to their
experiences, then they can reintegrate into their society, by
communicating and propagating the content of their experience. The mystic's isolation and alienation are provisional,
then, as the conclusions of his or her experience may lend
themselves to social application, perhaps by the mystic's disciples.
This chapter explores the ideas of mystical vocation in the
Tiqqunim and Ra'aya Meheimna and the author's understanding
of the mystic's relationship to religiOUS authority. The mystic's
social role was defined in contradistinction and sometimes in
opposition to the role of the rabbinic legal authority. Although
the author of the Zohar contented himself with the creation of
an attractive romance of a distant past, Tiqqunei ha-Zohar and
Ra'aya Meheimna chartered a movement with contemporary
application.
In Tiqqunei ha-Zohar and Ra'aya Meheimna's system of religious values, the agent of religious truth is the maskil or en21
22
23
24
the medium of the cantillation,15 as well as through the letters 16 and the vowels of the Torah text. I? Although the
cantillation, vocalization, and inflection are intoned by the
reader, they include a transpersonal dimension. The gnosis of
the exegetical moment makes the maskil one with the text and
its unfolding of meaning.
The maskil aspires to the consciousness of the greatest biblical heroes and talmudic sages. The Zohar itself presaged this
use of the term maskilim by juxtaposing them with the biblical
Patriarchs themselves: "Did the Patriarchs not know? Rather,
the maskilim, who are these? The wise, who themselves contemplate things that people cannot say with their mouths,18 these
are called maskilim."19
Tiqqunei ha-Zohar repeatedly equates the maskil's dreams
and visions with prophecy.20 The prophecy attainable through
symbolic reading is nothing but the direct apprehension of the
immanence of God: "When the Blessed Holy One draws forth
prophecy, all the sefirot are unified. "21 Prophecy exists, in potentia,
in the nature of the symbolic text. 22 The maskil's quest for gnosis
conforms to the classical rabbinical typologies of prophetic experience. The highest level is represented by the lucid speculum
of Moses' prophecy.23 The lowest level of perception is the clouded
glass, the instrument of the Sitra AlJra, the demonic force of
separation and distension: 24 "He who is adept [maski/] in a matter [davar]25 will attain success (Proverbs 16:20). Davar is the
clouded mirror. .. will attain success is the clear mirror. [It is
written] adept on a matter and not in a matter, for he must look
at that which is above, the shining firmament (zohar ha-raqi'a).
From that firmament he could glimpse the shining that shines
from the primordial point, that shines and flashes with other
lights."26
The mystic's intellect is the agency of the mystical ascent
and union, not his theurgic practices or meditative techniques.
The spiritual claims of this contemplative spirituality were later
defined by R. Moshe Cordovero in the following terms: "it is a
functional spirituality, which facilitates vision. Through it, one
perceives and has great vision. This angelic apperception is
superior to our perception, like the vision of the mind over that
of the eyeY ... This is the vision of contemplation, when one
25
sees the future and the past, and from the subtlety of his intellect he understands. "28
Gershom Scholem also portrayed the nuances of this
charged, symbolic perception of esoteric reality in this way:
All creation, from the world of the highest angel to the lower
realms of physical nature, refers symbolically to the law which
operates within it-the law which governs the world of the
sefirot. In everything something is reflected ... from the realms
which lie in the center of it. Everything is transparent, and in
this state of transparency everything takes on a symbolic
character. This means that everything, beyond its own meaning, has something more, something which is part of that
which shines into it or, as if in some devious way, that which
has left its mark behind in it, forever ... 29
26
27
In sefirotic terms, the Zohar mediates the relationship between the Tree of Life, that is, the upper sefirot and the Tree of
Knowledge, the realm of prosaic existence. 39 The maskilim are
the incarnate reflection of the heavenly pantheon. The Zohar
intercedes between the angels above and the mystical scholars
below:
The maskilim are the 600,000 Masters of the Mishnah above.
There are 600,00 Masters of the Mishnah below; these are the
600,000 angels and these 600,000 stars shine as it says:40
Moses' face was like the face of the Sun. They will shine in its
words, they will all shine in its writing in this book, Like the
shining of the firmament, in whose name it is called the book
Zohar (shining), in the image of the inner pillar that is Sefer
(book). Its brightness comes from the middle pillar that is
SFR. Its brightness comes from the Great Mother that is Zohar,
therefore the Rabbis said: Who is wise?41 He who understands
the inner meaning. This is the Zohar that shines in the heart of
the Faithful Shepherd, the brightness42 of the thirty-two instances of ELOHIM in the act of creation. 43
Tiqqunei ha-Zohar saw the Zohar itself, like the Torah, as
consisting of fragmented letters, each with a higher secret. 44
The Zohar itself was seen as having the numinosity of any
other sacred text in the biblical and rabbinic canon. This understanding helped to expedite the Zohar's own passage into
canonic status and its incorporation into the liturgy. When the
Tiqqunim and Ra'aya Meheimna were published with the printed
texts of the Zohar, they became part of the Zoharic canon and,
by association, the Jewish canon. The Zohar literature, as a
whole, came to self-consciously portray its own sacredness, creating a kind of historical closure to the classical period of theosophical Kabbalah.
28
ues of humility and self-abnegation, to the point of immolation. 45 This piety also draws on the rabbinic understanding of
the nature of Torah study. In the lohar and Tiqqunim, study is
seen as an ascent to the realm of Divine thought,46 The lohar
naturally used the classical typologies of Jewish piety, as it
claimed to depict the spiritual life of the tannaim. Tiqqunei haZohar and Ra'aya Meheima continued the use of these typologies
in the portrayal of the maskilY
The lohar understands the religiOUS saint, or {addik, as
God's intermediary. The {addik intercedes between God and
humankind. The {addik's leadership redeems the people, and
he or she feels the people's pain acutely. The {addik's intercession is not through the monistic manipulation of impersonal
forces. The {addik is, rather, a third party and buffer in the
dynamics of the personal relationship between God and the
people Israel. 48
An important literary motif in the lohar is that of the
elevation of the SOcietally marginal. Commonly, a member of
some humble stratum of society is revealed as a secret purveyor of hidden wisdom hiding the magnitude of his or her
spirituality. Enlightenment is apt to come from an infant, a
donkey driver, or an apparently addled old man. This literary
motif carries explicit criticism of the frequent obtuseness of
rabbinic authority. It is common for the lohar to portray the
figure of the pauper, who "has nothing of his own,"49 as symbolic of Malkhut, the sefirah of present existence, which is merely
a receptacle for the influxes of the other sefirot. 50 It is clear that,
based on the foundation laid by the lohar, the maskil requires
no societal approbation.
The potential of this nascent literary motif is realized in
the Ra'aya Meheimna and Tiqqunim, which speak of the spiritual value of poverty and self-abnegation for the sake of the
Torah. 51 Tiqqunei ha-Zohar and Ra'aya Meheimna see this value
as latent in a number of rabbinic dicta, such as There is no
poverty besides that of Torah 52 and You shall love the Lord with all
your soul, even if he takes your soul, 53 and Poverty is a kind of
death. 54 The travail of poverty is "like the seven fires of
Geihinnom,"55 but, nonetheless, the mystic "gives God what he
loves best."56
29
30
31
Shekhinah in all the sefirot come from Keter, the crown (Aramaic,
taga), but this aspect is transformed (I)Qlaf) in the process of
32
The maskil's life-style is painful. His extra measure of knowledge is a particular burden because he is unrecognized by the
community, whose attentions belong to the courtiers and demagogues whose philosophical allegiances are anathema to him.
The mystic's true dilemma is that he is socially ineffectual in a
world beset by interactions of mythic forces whose real nature
only he knows. So it is that loneliness, dependency, and exile
are the price the mystic pays for the gnosis of kabbalistic
wisdom.
4
The Myth of Chaos
To identify for a given writer the state from which Adam fell is
to reconstruct the writer's concept of the ideal human being
and the ideal human condition. This ideal will be found to be
all pervasive in that writer's thought system. Thus, the messianic period will be viewed as a restoration of Adam's condition
before the Fall, and for the period between the beginning and
the End-the here and now-a program will be conceived to
retrieve the lost ideal. At a minimum, such a scheme provides a
helpful perspective on a writer. At best, it may provide the key
to his thought. 1
34
35
36
Before the fall, Adam embodied the good and evil inclinations, the impulse to goodness and the impulse to sin. The Evil
Inclination is portrayed as an incarnate demonic spirit, and
the catastrophe of the fall is the result of this spirit's malevolence:
After the Evil Inclination transgressed the commandment of
the Blessed Holy One, death was decreed upon him. He said
"what will happen if I die? He will merely take another servant!" For the Evil Inclination is a servant, and his wife is a
maidservant, and his place would be inherited by another
servant. What did he do? He and his wife went to seduce
Adam and his wife, who were from the realm of goodness.
The wife of the Evil Inclination, Lilit, seduced Adam of the
Good Inclination, therefore it says: The women that you put at
my side, she gave me of the tree . .. (Genesis 3:12) And the Evil
Inclination seduced Eve, causing them death, so the Blessed
Holy One stripped the Good Inclination from Adam's body in
the Garden of Eden and the garments of him and his wife, as
it says: And they perceived that they were naked (Genesis 3:7)
and he expelled them from the Garden, as it says: He drove
Adam out (Genesis 3:24) and his mate with him. And he
brought them down to the seven lands that are valley, cloud,
ruin, land, soil, earth, world. 19 He cried out and ascended. 20
Nonetheless, he was naked, unclothed, he and his wife. 21
37
38
R. Eliezer seems to concede that the sin was of such magnitude that it had repercussions in Moses' spiritual possibilities.
Nonetheless, he insists that the sin ruptured only the secondary
sefirah I;bkhmah. Essentially he is arguing for the ultimate tran-
39
Adam sins against his own consciousness through his eating the fruit; he sullies the abstract transcendence of 'Ilat ha'Ilot with the divisions and mundane corporeality of the lower
sefirot. This act, in turn, flaws the potential for human perception of the Divine. The action is truly theurgic, as humankind
influences the Divine, and validates theurgic kabbalistic responses to the effects of the fall. This understanding remains
faithful to the essential meaning of the text in Genesis, in that
Adam and Eve attempt to "become as gods," to attain a Divine
level of consciousness.
In response to this transgression, God withdraws from the
first two sefirot, creating a "garment," or obstacle, between the
ineffable and its emanation into the corporeal realm. This
same sin was the archetypal gnostic "cutting of the shoots"
40
Meheimna.
41
tree) represent the ascent of corporeal energies into the ineffable nature of God. 34 The High Priest's worship on the Day of
Atonement, the holiest day of the year, is an ascent into the
realm of the Tree of Life: liThe Day of Atonement ... is ruled by
the Tree of Life, which has no accuser (satan) or affliction. From
its realm evil cannot abide with You (Psalms 5:5). So the servants
rest in the Tree of Life, through it they go free ... "35
The Tree of Knowledge alludes to the Oral Torah, the rituals and practices in present existence,36 the domain of nonkabbalists. 37 These rituals' function is to alter, correct, and compensate for the deficiencies of the present realm. This is
accomplished through performance and observance of the precepts of the law: All the mi?Vot hang on the tree, some from the
branches, some from the roots, some from the trunk. The Torah
is called the Tree of Life, whoever eats from it lives forever. There
is also a lower tree, whose branches and roots are all the elixir of
death, Samael. Whoever transgresses the Torah is nourished and
sustained by that tree. As it says: On the day you eat from it you
will surely die (Genesis 2:17). From it comes all oflife's pain."38
The Tree of Life represents a realm of unity, whereas the
Tree of Knowledge governs a realm of dichotomy and dualism. 39 lilt is half sweet, from the right side, and half bitter, from
the left side."40 The ambivalent nature of this tree is represented
by a number of halakhic concepts that have a demonic aspect:
the mixed multitude ('erev rav) of the Exodus account and the
public thoroughfare (reshut ha-rabbim) that symbolizes the alienation of exileY The Tree of Knowledge governs the realms of
secularism and mundanity:
II
42
43
The Flood
The world remains in the maelstrom of the flood. Flood traditions and motifs represent the dilemmas of contemporary society. The RaJaya Meheimna and Tiqqunim culled many images of
antediluvian chaos from the Bible and the Talmud: the talmudic
"sea of Torah,"53 the sea trial of the biblical Jonah, and the
mysteriously allegorical aggadot about Raba Bar Bar Hanah. 54
The flood's chaos is a plague of decrees of the harshest,
most immediate judgment, which are like the turbulent sea.55
The spiritual elect, besieged by the forces of corruption take
refuge in the ark. The recession of the flood indicates the beginning of a messianic age. The ark is the Zohar,56 which provides
its beleaguered community with shelter and salvific knowledge
in the midst of the present chaos. 57
The raven and the dove of the flood account have particular importance in Tiqqueni ha-Zohar and Ra'aya Meheimna. In
the original account, of course, the raven perishes in the sea,
whereas the dove returns to the ark to signal the eventual
passage of the elect to safety. Two movements of Judaism are
described, one of which failed in its mission, pulled down by
the corrupting needs of an ignorant populace. The failure of
the raven, the corrupted rabbinate, leaves the "dove" to reveal
the redemptive process.
The yonah, or dove, represents the Shekhinah, who, like the
dove, seeks a resting place, with Jerusalem as her nest. 58 The
word yonah signifies both the willful prophet Jonah and the
dove that is the agent of humanity's redemption.59 The dove is
44
45
the raven, along with his advocacy of ascetidsm and self-abnegation pointed, in Baer's view, to a direct link between the two
mystical communities. The methodological flaw in such a directed study was the narrow focus of the subject matter. Although
there are similarities between these teachings and those of the
author's Christian contemporaries, these teaching are not the main
preoccupation of the Tiqqunim and Ra'aya Meheimna. The Zohar
literature may borrow literary motifs from many sources, including Christian mystical texts, yet its attitude toward Christianity is
savagely negative. In his eagerness to identify links between the
author of Ra'aya Meheimna and his Christian contemporaries,
Baer gave scant attention to the fact that their shared notions
reflect the common values of piOUS ascetics in every culture.
Isaiah Tishby theorized that the raven represents a veiled
critique of Moses de Leon, who was said to have profitted
finandally from the philanthropists who financed the "transcription" of the Zohar. 65 The reverence that the author directs
toward the Zohar as a sacred text, however, would seem to
belie such a sentiment. If the Zohar was really produced by a
wider drcle of initiates, then perhaps author of the Tiqqunim
could revere the work as a whole while expressing disappointment in its prindple contributor. The allusions to Moses' fall
seem, most likely, to reflect the stormy interaction of mystical
and halakhic communities.
The drama of the Day of Atonement is also symbolized by
the events of the flood. In this metaphoric scheme, the flood
signifies the events of the coming year and repentance is the
soteric agency, saving the adherent from annihilation. 66 The
predominance of this literary motif caused Tiqqunei ha-Zohar to
be identified liturgically with the season of penitence from the
month of Elul through the Day of Atonement. Many editions
are divided in such a way as to guide the pious reader through
a redtation of the whole Tiqqunei ha-Zohar during that fortyday period. 67 Clearly, the flood was popularly perceived as an
important and characteristic motif in the Tiqqunim.
These interpretations present the flood as a recurring myth
of renewal. The symbols and metaphors of the story provide a
rationale for the sodal upheavals and arbitrary tragedies of
the author's time.
46
47
48
SInS ...
"92
49
50
ites. Nefilim, the fallen angels (ct. Genesis 6:4), have allowed
philosophy and heresies to corrupt their belief and thus fell
from their spiritual plane. Gibborim, the biblical "men of renown" are characterized by their social self-aggrandizement.
In Yi~l)ak Baer's opinion, these are the court Jews with their
intrigues. Refaim, in a play on the Hebrew rofef, "soften," are
those who "soften" their religious observance to assimilate. 104
The anaqim, "giants," are the wealthy, who are miserly with
their support of the mendicant scholars. 105 A subtext in the
presentation of these typologies is Kabbalah's ongoing polemic
against the corrosive influence of philosophical rationalism on
the observance of the commandments.
The bor or "ignoramus" is another agent of the demonic.
This is understood as a multivalenced term, meaning either
"pit" or, roughly, "boor." Tiqqunei ha-Zohar explores this
multivalence, quoting the talmudic dictum Ein bor yere IJet (the
bor cannot be in fear of sin)yl6 Bor signifies, as well, the pit into
which Joseph was thrown by his brothers.107 According to a
well-known midrash, lOS the pit was full of snakes and scorpions, which are interpreted as "famine, thirst, weeping, fasting,
and darkness. "109
One's social caste is intrinsic, deriving from the state of the
practitioner's soul:
There is a soul that is like a slave, as it says: When a man sells
his daughter as a slave (Exodus 21:7). There is a soul that is
like a common maidservant, even as there are people who
are slaves, and sometimes the soul reincarnates, as it says:
The dove could find no rest for the sole of her foot (Genesis 8:9),
and the evil inclination chases after it to enclose it in a body,
which is the maidservant of the evil inclination, which is a
Jewish demon!110
51
The Masters of the Mishnah taught that there are those who
are like ministering angels. These are the sages who know
what has been and what will be, and in their image on the
earth are the masters of philosophy, the astrologers of Israel
who know what has been and what will be from the signs of
the waning of the sun and the moon, every star and constellation and what the world shows them. And there are
those who rut like animals; the Masters of the Mishnah
taught that they are like reptiles, their daughters are like
vermin, of whom it says: Cursed be he who lies with any beast
(Deuteronomy 27:21). They hate the sages, the Masters of
the Mishnah, who are truly like the ministering angels. Thus
the Masters of the Mishnah taught one only seek guidance
from one who is like an angel of the Lord of Hosts. And
there are others, Masters of the Secrets of the Torah, Masters
of qualities who inherit their souls from the realm of the
holy monarchy that is made up of the ten sefirot. For whoever inherits this and is worthy of it is worthy of the undivided ten sefirot. 111
Hence the spiritual state of the various community members of the Jewish community ultimately rests on the condition
of their souls. Such a condition can be improved only through
exposure to the secrets of the Kabbalah through the efforts of
the maskil.
The enmity between the learned and the 'ammei ha-are-?
dates from the revelation at Sinai. 1l2 Nonetheless there is the
possibility of a positive model of religious naivete in the figure
of the "good" 'am ha-are-?113 It is not surprising that, having
maligned the scholars of the day so roundly, this mystic would
present a model of naive, popular piety.
The triumph of the demonic is Israel's exile and subjugation by the nations of the world. This situation is mediated by
the angels and demons, who administer the fate of Israel and
the gentiles. The Tiqqunim are more conciliatory towards Islam
than toward Christianity,114 whose very nature is demonic. References to Edom and Esau refer to the Christian world,l15 whereas
Islam is symbolized by Mi-?raim, Egypt. Traces of anti-Christian
polemic surface in dialogues between patricians and Jews based
on rabbinic models. 116
52
53
54
sefirah Gevurah on the left side of the sefirotic tree and the
positive qualities from the sefirah lfesed on the right side. 133 The
55
56
57
and the abstractions of Maimonidean theory were reformulated in a manner more theologically consistent with classical
prophetic understandings of God's relationship to humankind.
In the Tiqqunim, God retains a quality of extreme
hiddenness but is also present in the corporeal world. Hence,
even the most divided and fallen aspects of the Shekhinah's
realm of Malkhut are redeemed by God's immanent nature.
The Divine is available to illuminate the adept or the simple
pietist with the personalism of the biblical God, who may be
approached by anyone but particularly by His elect. Like Noah,
the Patriarchs, and Moses, the maskilim are enfranchised to
approach God and petition for the redemption of the people.
Thus, the cataclysmic events of Genesis continue to unfold in
the author's unified myth of present chaos.
5
Halakhah and Kabbalah
60
61
62
63
64
65
The author of the Tiqqunim reordered the classical hierarchies of rabbinic authority. In a series of Hebrew puns, the
talmudic scholars are portrayed as slaves in Egypt, embittering
their own lives with the stringencies and refinements of the
law: "The Masters of the Mishnah said: They embittered their
lives with hard work [avodah qashahJ (Exodus 1:14) with difficulties with mortar [lJomerJ with kal va-lJomerz4 5 with bricks [levenim]
with tempering [libbun] of the halakhah, with all the work in the
field, that is baraita,46 with all their work, that is Mishnah."47
66
Elsewhere, this anonymous kabbalist employs plainly medieval imagery to illustrate the relationship between the
halakhist and the mystic. The halakhists are portrayed as ba'alei
terisim, "shield bearers," foot soldiers for the knights of the
Kabbalah: "A voice calls out in the Academy: 'How many of
you are shield bearers of the Oral Torah, come to do battle with
the serpent?' "48
The actions of the shield bearers, however, are by definition futile: "The shield bearers come into the Academy; yet
with their leniencies and stringencies, They turn this way and
that and there is no one (Exodus 2:12)."49
The "shield" of the Oral Law is akin to the classical
kabbalistic symbol of the qelippah, or shell, which separates the
individual from the Divine. 50 Each is a barrier to deeper, more
profound knowledge.
For the legalist and the mystic, coexistence is possible only if
the legalist accepts a secondary role, creating the context for the
mystic's erotic quest. Tiqqunei ha-Zohar and Ra'aya Meheimna employ two models to describe the positive function of the halakhists,
the model of the foot soldier and the model of the stonecutter. In
one text in particular, they play these roles almost Simultaneously,
storming the fortress of the Matronita, or Shekhinah, and building
her a trysting place for union with the Godhead:
There are men who exert themselves in the Oral Torah for its
own sake; they are its artisans. There are those who cut stones,
mountains and mighty rocks. Afterwards they perfect them
with questions and of them it says: Build it of whole stones
(Deuteronomy 27:6). With them they make many buildings
for the King and Queen to dwell in. These decisions are garments for the Queen, they cut many facets into them, then
perfect them with many questions, in which the Matronita
may appear before the King. And at that time you will see it
as an everlasting covenant (Genesis 9:16). These are the garments of the high priest, the four white garments and the
four golden garments. 51
67
68
The motif of Moses' striking the rock reinforces the comparison of scholasticism to stonemasonry. The debased and
degenerate halakhah is "the burial place of Moses. "57 Elsewhere,
the rabbinic tradition is portrayed as a mining expedition that
ends in disaster for its participants:
Many Masters of the Mishnah have descended to the depths
of the halakhah and have found the date of the liberation. Yet
they have descended there and they have not escaped. Even
though their language is like a hammer splintering a rock,
their hammer is too exhausted to penetrate that rock, and
whoever has done so without permission has been bitten by
the serpent. And there are others who penetrated it until they
came to the bottom of the primordial abyss, from which they
have not escaped .... The Messiah, son of David, has fallen
there with the Messiah, son of Joseph!58
69
Pardes
The well-known Rabbinic statement about the four who entered the Pardes, or mystical orchard, was particularly important in kabbalistic hagiography. The account stresses the
pitfalls of the mystic quest and the idealization of Rabbi
Akiva, who "entered in peace and departed in peace," as the
paradigm of the integration of Law and mysticism. 60 This
seminal account is, oddly, largely unexplored in the main
sections of the Zohar. 61 It is cited repeatedly in the Tiqqunim 62
and Ra'aya Meheimna,63 where it is presented as an example
of the risks of mystical ascent. The author readily equates
the Pardes, as orchard, with the multi-tiered hermeneutical
PaRDeS. 64
In the Tiqqunim, the four adepts parallel the four heads of
the river that flowed through Eden, another mythical orchard. 65
In a pun, the river Pishon is pi shoneh halakhot, the "mouth
teaching halakhot," the Oral Torah:
It then divides and becomes four branches (Genesis 2:10). These
are the four that entered the Pardes, one went to Pishon, which
is pi shoneh halakhot. The second rose to the Gil)on, and there
it is buried, of which it says: Anything that crawls on his belly
(Leviticus 11:42).66 The third rose to the Ifideqel, sharp and
light,67 this is the light and sharp language of derasha. The
fourth entered Perot, which is the brain, which flourished and
multiplies. 68 Ben Zoma and Ben Azzai went up in the qelippin
The avnei shayish tahor, the stones of pure marble that are
the object of Rabbi Akiva's warning, are understood by the
author though a recurring theme of scholasticism as stonemasonry. These stones are the second tablets of the Torah, the
result of the disaster of the golden calf. The three victims of the
ascent erred in equating the prosaic stones of marble with the
life-giving waters of the mystic wisdom:
70
71
This ambivalence toward the Masters of the Mishnah extends to their source text, the Mishnah itself. As a result of its
inherent duality, Mishnah can be a positive or a negative entity, according to the worthiness of its interpreter. There is,
72
73
74
When it is dry, it is dry land, the children below cry out for
union, crying Hear 0 Israel, yet there is no voice and no
answer, as (Proverbs 1:28) Then they shall call me but I will not
answer. Therefore, one who excises the Kabbalah and Wisdom from the Oral and Written Torah, and discourages others from studying it, saying, "There is nothing but the simple
meaning of the Torah and Talmud," has diverted the flow of
the river from the Garden [of Eden]. Woe to him, better that
he should not have been created in the world and not learned
that Written and Oral Torah! He is like one who returns the
world to the primordial chaos, causing poverty and extending the exile!94
75
76
The Blessed Holy One said: It is not good that man should be
alone, I will make him a help-meet (Genesis 2:18), this is the
Mishnah, wife of that youth,104 the maid servant of the
Shekhinah. If Israel are worthy, she is a help to them in exile,
from the realm of permitted, pure and kasher. If not, she is
against them 105 from the realm of impure, unfit and forbidden. Permitted, pure, and kasher are from the realm of the
good inclination; unfit, impure, and forbidden are from the
realm of the evil inclination. And the woman, who has pure
blood and blood of impurity, from the realm of the
Mishnah ... 106
77
78
79
The relative functions of the halakhists and kabbalists are rendered in terms of the union or estrangement of the primoridal
lovers, the Godhead and the Shekhinah.
A survey of the relative role of this mysterious author's
observations regarding halakhah and Kabbalah in overall context seems to support Scholem's understanding, in which rabbinic Judaism retains its legitimacy, yet remains less valid than
kabbalistic doctrine. Tishby's arguments seem crushed under
the weight of the many relevant allusions in the text, whereas
Scholem apparently gleaned the most general tendendes among
the profusion of references. One might say that Scholem, like
Rabbi Meir, was able to "eat the pomegranate and discard the
husk." Scholem's growing preoccupation with the Sabbatean
heresy did lead to his repeatedly assodating the teachings of
the Ra'aya Meheimna and Tiqqunim with a nascent antinomian
sentiment toward rabbinic authority. This tendency is different
from the actual renundation of the commandments. The commandments, as they are presented in the Tannaitic writings
with which the Zohar and Tiqqunim are meant to be contemporaneous, are not to be questioned or altered.
In methodological terms, Scholem and Baer are overly influenced, in their understandings of the author's relationship to
halakhah, by the subsequent misuse of the doctrine of the two
Torahs by the Sabbateans. A problematic tendency of such historiography is to impute nascent motives into such a text based
on the actions of that text's historical interpreters. A phenomenological or literary methodology, as opposed to such a purely
historiographical view, holds more promise for the resolution of
such contradictory texts in the Tiqqunim and Ra'aya Meheimna.
Yet the author's own literary methodology was to construct the text according to the assodations prevalent in his
own stream of consdousness. These assodations, and the uses
of tropes of the Oral Torah in the Tiqqunim, indicate that the
language of the law has theurgic meaning. In practice, then,
the mundanity of the Oral Torah is still part of the maskil's
consdousness, because even the benighted dimension of Malkhut
is still a realm of great theurgic power.
6
The Theurgic Dimension of the
Commandments
82
83
84
The struggle between the holy and the demonic is reflected empirically in the conditions of ritual purity and impurity. The palpability of tum'ah, ritual impurity, is apparent in
Jewish mysticism as early as the merkavah tradition. 26 Medieval
philosophers had attempted to qualify the empirical nature of
this status.27 Maimonidean tradition considered tum'ah an intellectual construct for the development of human values. The
theosophical Kabbalah, however, considered it a source of empirical evil. According to this understanding, a demonic entity
inhabits wounded [tre~ animals. The angel of death rises from
between the dying beast's horns and this demonic association
is personified in the Tannaitic appellations "goring bull-defiled
85
flesh" (shor mu'ad basar tame'):28 "The sacrifices of Esau, the evil
inclination, of which it says: Let my father sit up and eat of his
son's game (Genesis 27:31)-these are the provisions [shever]
from the shevarim,29 which are red from the realm of the beast,
the ox, fresh meat and pure. And there is another meat, the
meat found tom in the field, on which the spirit of impurity
rests, the angel of death that rides on the horns of the goring
bull, impure meat."30
Ritual impurity is fetishized. The gentile meat in the marketplace is not merely forbidden but evil. Contact with it, and
indeed with all elements of gentile culture, pollutes and defiles
the adept, lowering his spiritual attainment. Nonetheless, meat
infested with this spirit is still distinct from the demonic aspect
of the sacrifice.
The demonic's rapaciousness is satisfied by aspects of certain sacrifices, the negative commandments, and the agricultural tithes. The scapegoat, the bitter waters of the unfaithful
wife, the decapitated calf (Deuteronomy 21:1), the straps and
the extra threads of hair in the tefillin are also detritus left for
demonic forces and "appeasement of the evil eye."31
Mixing of neutral quantities renders them demonic. This
is the esoteric meaning of the biblical prohibition of the mixing of seed crops (kilayim), wool and linen (sha'atnez),32 and
grafting fruit trees. 33 The prohibitions of incest and other illicit
liaisons are further examples of this illicit mixing. The case of
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is used to exemplify
this demonization of mixed neutral quantities. Here, it is compared to the prohibited mixture of wool and linen: "Every
mi-?vah is a fruit-bearing tree, so it says: le-mino, "of its kind."
But the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is not le-mino; it
is mixed with other species, so it says: Don't sow your field with
mixed seeds, nor wear mixtures of wool and linen (Leviticus 19: 19)."34
The world exists in a dichotomized condition of good and
evil. This is catastrophic, yet worse still is the confusion of these
two forces. The interbreeding of species reflects the mythic chaos
that encompasses existence. Order exists in the consciousness
of the maskil, whose religious practice is an instrument for
restoring order in the world.
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87
name in the liturgical Adonai results from the realm of judgment, the sefirah Gevurah, and its power to exact retribution:
liThe Ra'aya Meheimna began and said: Open my lips, my Lord,
and my mouth will tell your praises (Psalms 51:17). ADNY (Lord)
may be reversed to spell DINA (law). Therefore the Masters of
the Mishnah said, the law of the malkhut is lawY All laws are
judged with this name."42
The quaternity of the chariot symbolizes certain aspects of
rabbinic civil law. In each case, the law leads the litigants from
the demonic triunity of unrequited sin to the redemptive quaternity of completed judgment. Gevurah is particularly indicated by the Divine name ELOHIM:
A rabbinical court requires three. The rabbinical court is the
Shekhinah. Three, for the three Patriarchs. The central pillar is
the True Judge, who judges from the realm of ADNY. The
True Judge is there, and from the realm of the name ELOHIM
he judges, as is written (Psalms 75:8): For Elohim judges. What
judgments are there? One: the judgments of the ox; the second: the judgments of the pit; the third: the judgments of fire;
and the fourth: the judgments of man. 43
The agents of judgment for the transgression of commandments are demonic forces. The job of judging the wicked is
88
89
The goring bull: her husband entered the Palace, his master, with his four sources of damages, which are iniquity,
destruction, anger, and rage, which are all liable to destroy. With his body he tramples the vessels, the altar,
menorah, table, and its implements. He tramples and
breaks them, with his tooth he eats all the sacrifices of the
foods of the table that crushed and stamped the remains
(Daniel 7:19), crumbling everything and the remains: these
are the entrails and fats and grain offerings. He stamped:
with his horn he killed the Priests and Levites, destroying
everything, he brought low the kingdom and its ministers (Lamentations 2:2).51
The civil laws that are the basis of talmudic inquiry address the inner nature of the demonic. The four sources of
damages are earthly manifestations of demonic powers, portraying social chaos. The rabbinical court adjudicates these
catastrophes at the same time as it punishes the wicked, through
the harshness of Divine judgment. This spiritualization of the
Talmud's four manners of execution54 also corresponds to the
four letters YHVH.55
90
91
the straw, of which it says, 'straw and chaff are excused from
tithing.' For the scholars of Torah, the masters of the secrets,
throw the straw and chaff away and consume the Torah's
inner kernel. The twenty-two letters of the Torah come to the
sum I].itah [wheat] ... "61
The search for the essence of the law is compared to sifting
flour. The mixed multitude are the result of the incomplete
sifting of the "flour" that symbolizes the people Israel:
There are two husks (qelippin), green and white, for the husks
of the nut, one is tohu, the green line, while the second is
bohu, polished stones,62 a strong husk, like a polished stone.
These correspond to the two husks, the chaff and straw of the
wheat. The third, thin husk, corresponds to the bran that
clings to the wheat and must be ground in a mill to separate
it, like the grinding of a man's mouth. So one must savor the
words of the Torah, sifting the impurities, the bran, through
his lips until he determines the haZakhah, the fine flour. 63
92
The transition from the demonic to the holy is accomplished through the stripping away of the husk or qelippah
inherent in the three actions of circumcision, 'orele, peri'ah, and
'atifu de-dama, the cutting of the foreskin, uncovering the corona, and the drawing off of the ensuing flow of blood. 'Orele
and peri'ah are synonymous with various demonic pairs: Samael
and the serpent, or Rome and Constantinople. 69 Each aspect of
the act constitutes a bribe for the demonic: "The flow of blood
from the peri'ah will save you from the pressure of the grave,
because it gives food to the murderer, sixteen sword edges for
the sword of the Blessed Holy One for milah, peri'ah, me~i~a,
and the thirteen covenants. "70
These layers of qelippah are likened to the three shells of
the egoz, the classical expression of the hiddenness of the Divine. Circumcision is a transition from demonic triunity to
redemptive quatemity, which is symbolized by the sign of the
covenant: "The membrum virile has three coverings, like the
shells of the nut, tohu va-vohu [primordial chaos] ... the first
qelippah: vohu . .. the second qelippah, and hoshekh [darkness],
the third qelippah, as it says: 'One does not explain matters of
illicit sexuality in groups of three.' "71
After the circumcision, the foreskin is hidden in a pile of
earth, with this explanation:
Rabbi Eliezer said, "Father, what is the secret meaning of the
covenant, in that we bury the foreskin in a vessel of earth?"
He said to him, "My son, I once asked the same thing of
Elijah [the prophet] .... He told me that the foreskin is the
spouse of the primordial serpent that brought death to Adam
and to all creation, so we prepare it a vessel of earth, which
is its sustenance, as it says: The serpent's bread is dust (Isaiah
65:25). So it separates from human beings ... and this dust is
like the dust of the altar, of which it says: Make me an altar of
earth (Exodus 20:24)."72
93
Like the blood offered in sacrifice,74 the blood of circumcision unifies the adherent with the highest levels of the Divine,
saving the adherent from the Angel of Death. 75 Circumcision is
a metaphor for an eschatological understanding of the transformation of the nature of Divine law and religious experience.
The maskil must strip away the barriers to perception, clarifying the legalists' obfuscations by stripping away the corporeal
shells that obscure the Divine. The symbolism of circumcision
is not arbitrary. The membrum virile, the point at which being is
passed on, is marked with the sign of the revelation of God.
94
95
level of the soul interlocks with a higher level, until they reach
the source of the transcendent element in the human soul, the
Divine throne: "[Jacob's] ladder is the living soul, the throne of
the name YHVH, which is the awe and the love, the Torah and
the mi{Vah dwelling in it. From this throne are hewn all the
souls of Israel. Its image is the human face." 87
The practitioner's every limb relates to a specific sefirah. 88
The practice of the mi.~vot draws the Divine into the adept's
very limbs: 89 "Rabbi Eliezer said to him 'But haven't we learned
that there is no body above?' He said to him, 'My son, in the
world to come, there will be a transcendent mother, but this
world has the Shekhinah's body.' This body is the Torah, from
which hang all of the mi{Vot. "90
In the Divine macrocosm, the limbs of the Divine anthropos
are bedecked with mi{Vot as fruit hangs from a tree:
All the mi?vot are contingent on the King's image. Mi?vot that
are for a reward are contingent on that higher servant. 91 One
must understand that all the mi?vot are in the image of the
king. Some are contingent on the head, and some on the
eyes. Many angels and servants, the eyes of God, are assigned to them. There are mi?vot that are contingent on the
ears, with attendant angels who are called ears of God. There
are mi?vot that are called the face, with attendant angels
called face of God, of whom it says: Four faces for one (Ezekiel
1:6). There are mi?vot that are contingent on the nose, with
attendant angels, of whom it says: He makes his angels into
breaths (Psalms 104:4). There are mi?vot that are contingent
on the mouth, and angels assigned to the voices and words
of Torah, concerning which it says: For the bird of heaven will
lead the voice, and the winged one will tell the matter (Ecclesiastes
10:20). There are mi?vot that are contingent on the hands of
the king, with attendant angels that are called hands, as it
says: A man's hands were under their wings (Ezekiel 1:8). There
are mi?vot that hang like grapes in a cluster.... There are
mi?Vot that hang from the sign of the covenant, with attendant
angels who are called the Masters of Signs, of whom it says
They shall be for signs (Genesis 1:14). And Similarly it says of
Moses: This is a sign for you (Exodus 3:-12). This is the sign to
which all the host of heaven are assigned. There are mi?Vot
96
Sacrifice
The Zohar,98 Tiqqunim, and Ra'aya Meheimna portray sacrifice
as the most profound theurgic act in the synchrony of the
anthropomorphic images of God, the universe, and the adept.
Temple sacrifices are an overt exchange of spiritual energy.
The immolation of the animal's body processes and cycles
Divine and demonic energies. The author of the Tiqqunim
idealized the Temple cult and viewed it as an esoteric rite.
Such idealization of the cult's abattoir-like reality was, in
97
ner from the natural order, but sacrifice returns him, satiating
the four beasts and deflecting their destructive proclivities. 107
With these beasts mollified, the energies of the sacrifice can
ascend into the higher realms of the Divine. Once again, redemptive quaternity must be attained for the religious act to be
accepted:
There are four beasts on the throne: lion, ox, eagle, and
man. The human body has four elements, from them come
98
the four beasts that make up the soul. The soul is sustained
by four. When a person sins with one of the four elements, it
is as if he sinned with his soul. So it is written: When he sins in
a soul (Numbers 6:11). At that time, the water separates from
the fire, the wind from the dust. From the dust come seeds to
sustain man, from the water come the animals that sustain
the lion, from fire come the grazing animals to sustain the
ox, and from wind come birds that sustain the eagle. When a
person sins, these elements separate violently. The name of
God departs and is replaced by the evil inclination, Samael,
Satan. God does not dwell in separation, as it says: They
divided their hearts and they will be guilty (Hosea 10:2). Sacrifices must come from that aspect with which they sinned, to
unify108 the four elements that have been separated. When
they reunify, the Blessed Holy One descends upon them and
Satan flees, rather than be immolated in the sacrificial fire. 109
The Zohar and Tiqqunim clarified the Torah's bewildering differentiation of the sacrifices. The korban oIeh ve-yored,
or the "rising and descending sacrifice,"llo follows the descent of the higher Shekhinah to the lower. As these two
aspects of the Shekhinah unite, the practitioner is included in
their union. This movement equates the transformative aspect of the Divine feminine, Imma 'Ila'ah, the "highest
Mother," with the elementary, erotic, and unitive aspect.111
The sacrifices reassume their primitive identity as God's food;
their immolation, like the song of the Levites, evokes the
ascent to the Divine.ll2
Various sacrificial traditions have different theurgic functions. The burnt offering, 'oIah, represents the quality of mercy,
which catalyzes and dissipates the force of Judgment through
the sin offering.ll3 The menorah evokes the Shekhinah as an
instrument of unification. 1l4
Every sacrifice has an aspect that may be devoted to the
realm of the demonic. ll5 Some sacrifices, such as the guilt offering, are clearly a bribe to the demonic. 1l6 MinQah, the humble
grain offering, is specifically brought to "break the anger of
Samael."!17
The temidim, or ongoing regimen of sacrifices, represent
the constancy of God. Just as the sefirotic tree is one entity with
99
multiple functions, so the various temidim have different functions on various Sabbaths and Holy Days: "All the temidin are
attributes of the Blessed Holy One ... and even though all the
sefirot are as one, even so, every sefirah governs various Sabbaths, and seasons, and holidays. The attribute that rules over
a specific time contains all the other sefirot. They are called by
that attribute ... "118
Shel)itah, ritual slaughter, is the greatest agent of transformation. Sacrificial slaughter must take place at the north
side of the Temple, because the qualities of Divine Judgment
are associated with the north. 119 The laws attending the
slaughter are reinterpreted kabbalistically so that such repetitive formulas as the twelve examinations of the knife,l20
or the five disqualifications in the act of slaughter,l21 are
imbued with metaphysical significance. Ritual slaughter is
also a metaphor for human death.122 Fish and locusts, which
do not require slaughter, are reincarnated scholars. At their
deaths, these spiritual elect are simply gathered to the Divine, as fish are killed by merely being gathered into the
fisherman's net. They never feel the knife of Divine Judgment, the untimely cessation of their lives by virtue of their
accumulated sins.123
The Zohar contains many statements regarding the
proper kavvanah or intention attendant upon sacrifices. 124
The author of the Tiqqunim goes further, reinterpreting the
Maimonidean critique of the cult, which implies that the
physical sacrifice is to be transcended in a more enlightened
age. 125 Tiqqunei ha-Zohar and Ra'aya Meheimna portray this
transcendence in terms of a hierarchy of intentions based on
the development of the sacrificer's consciousness. The flawed
practice of the ignorant is merely a bribe for the demonic,
while the simple pietists can offer only their prayers and
good deeds. The maskilim offer their esoteric practice as a
sacrifice. 126 This typology makes an implicit critique of those
who "consume" the Torah at the level of simple (peshat)
exegesis. 127 The individual gives his or her essence to God,
and it is altogether clear that some essences are intrinSically
superior to others.
100
Sacrificial Organs
The limbs are sealed in the secret of sacrifice ...
-Zohar III 235b
Bodies not only reflect the glory their souls receive in God's
presence but are also the place where persons are rewarded and
punished in their specificity ...
-Caroline Bynum128
101
the demonic. 132 The toxicity of the bile, for instance, is compared
to lithe sword of the Angel of Death."l33 The liver is compared to
the leather strap of the tefillin, a classic symbol of the demonic.134
The fats and entrails are an atonement for the sins of the body,
that the practitioner's soul not be consumed by Geihinnom. 135
The consumption of the organs by the forces of the Divine or the
demonic is rendered in the mythic imagery of the lion of holiness and the dog of the demonic:
The heart is the altar, on which is the sacrificial blood, of
which it says: You will sacrifice on it (Exodus 20:24). If they are
worthy, the lion descends to eat the sacrifice, and if they are
not [worthy] a dog descends. Where? Onto the liver and the
bile, Geihinnom, the leech with two daughters, crying "Give!
Give!"136 like the dog's bark, the double-edged sword of the
Angel of Death ... of which it says: Its end is bitter!37 as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword (Proverbs 5:4). The liver is
Samael, the bile is its poison. When the bile rules the veins
and they are overcome with sin, it says of them: They came to
Marah and were unable to drink the waters, for they were bitter
(Exodus 15:23). At that time the veins of the heart are blocked,
like Noah, his wife, children, animals, beasts, and birds hidden in the ark. And the heart is blocked, for if the bile extends to the heart, one immediately dies. The bile cannot
overcome Israel, who are the heart, except through sin. If
they repent, taking on the pure soul of the highest Shekhinah,
the heart and its arteries are saved, as it says: And the waters
were sweetened (ibid.).138
These organs are symbolized by members of the patriarchal family, which themselves relate to various sefirot:
The liver is Esau, Edom, gathering all the blood, clear or
murky, not distinguishing or separating good and bad. The
heart is Israel, which distinguishes between good and evil,
between pure blood and impure blood, taking only the clearest
and cleanest, as one who separates food from waste.!39 After
the heart, Jacob, takes the purest blood above, then the liver,
Esau, is left with the refuse, which angers him. This is
Geihinnom, created on the second day, the death of the multi-
102
103
The act of gathering all the species involves the ingathering of all the forces of the cosmic anthropos. This is particularly the case when the adherent prays with the lulav:
104
105
The spherical etrog is held in the left hand, in line with the
heart, invoking the wholeness of the paradigmatic figures Jacob
and Solomon. 169 The etrog has the same aroma as the citron
tree from which it comes,170 indicating the immanence of the
Tree of Life in the realm of the Tree of Knowledge. The rabbinic
injunction, stipulating that the etrog must be the size of an
egg,l7l associates the etrog with the mythic archetype of the
World Egg.172
According to these kabbalistic interpretations, the symbols
of the Sukkot festival celebrate the descent of Divine effluence.
The sukkah itself represents the sanctified inner realm of the
holy. The lulav and etrog are instruments of the adherent's
union with the supernal dimensions of the anthropos. In
Tiqqunei ha-Zohar and Ra'aya Meheimna, the halakhah provides
nuances for the illumination of the theurgic act.
The Temple cult's importance only magnifies the desolation wrought in its loss, so that a gnawing eschatological pathos haunts these theurgic mysteries. In light of the eventual
absence of the sacrificial cult and its soteric effects, this practice
is important, placing social pressure on the maskilim, whose
practice is conducted at the highest level. Certain rituals have
the esoteric function of unifying the Divine anthropos and,
thence, of repairing the damage wrought by the chaotic nature
of existence. The Sabbath, especially, provides a respite from
this same struggle, and its palliative effects extend over the
entire week. The maskil's low state was alleviated by his understanding of the law's theurgic power to resolve the unredeemed
state of existence.
7
Agencies of Unification:
The Sabbath and Prayer
heosophical Kabbalah understood certain mi~ot as particularly concentrating and centering the effluence of
Divine energies. Other mi~ot protect the individual from malevolent or demonic forces. Reigious practice consists of balancing these two kinds of mi~ot to counter and take advantage of
the shifting effects of the Divine.
Medieval Jewish philosophers identified the consciousness
of God's unity, mi~at ha-yi1).ud, as a specific commandment of
the Torah. To have this consciousness might be an actual act of
"unification," or it might be merely a kawanah or intention to
be assumed in the course of one's practice. In the Tiqqunim,
unification with the Divine is a positive act that takes place
through the contemplative practice of certain mi~ot.
The Sabbath
The Zohar displays a subtle understanding of the metaphysical
rhythms of time. The cycles of the day, week, and year are portrayed as a garment for the unfolding of the Divine effluence.
The continuum of time is a step down from the unchanging
essence of the supernal Godhead. 1 The charged metaphysical
107
108
109
Sabbath's dynamic of change has an underlying metaphysical rationale. On that day, the Shekhinah transforms from
the elementary paradigm of the feminine to the transformative persona, the royal Matronita:
One must change from the servant to the Matronita, that
they not be equal. For the Matronita is the place of the Blessed
Holy One. She must become royal, as it says: She was there
with her maidservants (Esther 2:9) on the Sabbath. Moreover in
your dwellings: a person's dwelling is his place. Also, Change of
place, to prepare one's house for the Sabbath more than on
the weekday. Change of action, that if he was sad on the
weekday, let him rejoice on the SabbathY
Marital relationship is a metaphor for the doctrine of Divine union on the Sabbath. According to this well-known motif, sexual intercourse, on the Sabbath eve, evokes the union of
the Shekhinah and Tif'eret that takes place in the cosmic realm:
If a couple have had a dispute on the weekday, let them
have peace on the Sabbath, that one not draw near to the
elixir of death, the harlot, or to her husband, the pagan
deity, the profanation of the Sabbath. So the sages taught: If
110
Israel would all keep one Shabbat according to the Law, they
would be immediately redeemed. 12 So one must change, with a
lit candle, a made bed, and a set table. If he customarily lit a
candle with one wick, let him add a second for the Sabbath.
And if he customarily said the blessing for the bread over one
loaf, let him add a second, like the second loaf [of the altar].
If he customarily argued with his wife on the weekdays, on
the Sabbath let them have relations in peace. Therefore, the
sexual duties of the sages are weekly, from Sabbath eve to
Sabbath eve. 13
111
The idealized and beatific nature of the Sabbath emphasizes only the benighted quality of the scholar's existence. According to the classical rabbinic and Zoharic teaching, the
Sabbath is a context for the indwelling of the Divine. This
indwelling of the Divine was also present in the maskil's consciousness. The Sabbath comes to remedy the situation of the
maskil by expediting this transformation of mentality.
112
als, from the handwashing to the grace after the meals, unify
the upper and lower sefirot.
Every halakhic aspect of the meal is invested with theurgic
significance. Esoteric underpinnings for the various aspects of
the meal include the breaking of the bread, handwashing, the
"cup of blessing," Torah study at the meal, the inclusion of the
poor at the table, the avoidance of gluttony, the second
handwashing at the end of the meal, the benediction over a cup
of wine, and the minimum amount for the cup and the meal. 19
The Ra'aya Meheimna and Tiqqunim develop the rabbinic motif
of the Sabbath table as a paradigm of the Temple altar: 20
The cup has ten requirements,21 as the Rabbis of the Mishnah
taught, like the sum of yud from yesod, and they are crowning [in a beautiful cup], covering the table, immersion, rinsing, freshness, fullness, being taken with both hands, placed
in the right, being contemplated and raised from the ground
one handbreadth. These are a gift to all of the household.
Crowning is from the crown of the holy covenant; covering
like: He wears light as a cloak (Psalms 104:2), immersion and
rinsing, immersion from without, rinsing from within, the
secret meaning of: They will be purified and made holy (Leviticus
16:19).22
As the act of slaughter releases the animal for consumption, so the benedictions over the meal similarly release the
food for consumption. Therefore, food eaten without a benediction is like meat unfit for consumption. 23
The rabbinic dictum, ba'al ha-bayit bo.~e'a ve-oreal] mevarekh,
"The householder breaks the bread and the guest says the
blessing,"24 is interpreted in terms of the interaction of the
sefirot. The householder represents the intermediate sefirah
Malkhut, whereas the guest is the sefirah Yesod, which mediates
union with the Shekhinah.
Besides the sexual union of the adept with his spouse, the
interactions of society facilitate the Divine union on Friday
nighU5 Inviting guests to the meal is an act of unification.
Both actions reflect the sexual union of the Shekhinah with the
Godhead:
113
The sacraments of the altar and the Sabbath table are all
performed with wine, because wine has two facets, white and
114
red, representing the sefirot Ratzamim and Din. 31 This dual nature symbolizes the Sabbath mandates of remembrance and
observance. 32 The wine is charged with metaphysical energies
that themselves manipulate esoteric forces:
Wine will gladden a man's heart (Psalms 104:15). This is the
wine of Torah, as the coefficient (gematria) of "wine" (yayin) is
"secret" (sod ).33 Just as wine has to be sealed and hidden, lest
it be offered for idolatry, so the hidden secret Torah must be
sealed, only drunk by those who are in awe of her. Hence
there are many commandments regarding wine, for with it
one blesses the Blessed Holy One. Wine has two colors, white
and red, Din and RafJamim, for its two aspects, like the crocus,
white and red, white from the realm of the right, red from
the realm of the left ... 34
115
and leaves it elsewhere has uprooted the Tree of Life, the sign
of the covenant, and placed it in a foreign domain. Whoever
does this uproots a soul from one realm to another, that of
the bile and the spleen. This causes the uprooting of Israel
from the holy land to a foreign domain, reshut ha-rabbim,40
as one who took his holy covenant into a foreign domainY
116
fanes the other. The tefillin of the head are for Remember [the
Sabbath day] and the tefillin of the hand are for Observe [the
Sabbath day]. As the public thoroughfare is the desecration
of the Sabbath, so the sign of the covenant has the prostitute
as its desecration, the foreign thoroughfare. 45
117
ten handbreadths. One must lower the beam that is the letter
vav."53
Prayer as Unification
In the theosophical Kabbalah, prayer has a soteric function as
a vehicle of transformation. Prayer redeems the practitioner at
the level of Malkhut. 54 Petitional prayer is, therefore, a act of
mystical ascent and quest: "Like the stone flung by a sling, one
must direct one's prayer to a known place. One must fling one's
thought in prayer to that Crown that is encrusted with gems, of
which is says: When bowing, bow at Barukh and straighten at the
name, with the name toward which one needs to send it."55
The recitation of psalms, when coupled with the act of
repentance, takes the place of penitential sacrifice. 56 Even the
daily petitional prayers are part of this process. In fact, they are
its center, for the very nature of blessing is an invocation of the
upper sefirot: "BaRUKH (blessed) is KH'-Keter, R'-Reshit57
Iftkhmah B' the transcendent Mother and the Shekhinah U' 58
for the six sefirot, even ten are included in it and gathered in. "59
The Tiqqunim interpreted two rabbinic dicta in terms of
the theurgic act of unifying the upper and lower sefirot. The
talmudic dictum kore'a be-varukh, zoqefba-shem, or "bow at the
blessing, straighten at the Name, "60 refers to the proper bows to
be taken during the recitation of the daily prayer. The adherent bows at the word Barukh, literally, "Blessed," and straightens up at the recitation of the name of God. Tiqqunei ha-Zohar
118
119
120
Gavriel drink from it, with the staff of Dan and two tribes ... "74
This statement compares the multiplicity of the sefirot,
which make up the unity of God, with the multiplicity of the
tribes and the heavenly host, which also make up the unity of
Israel and the cosmos. Kabbalah also contains principles of
121
Conclusions
124
the practice of contemplative Torah study, utilizing the symbolic hermeneutic that had been crystalizing among the theosophical kabbalists. This pietism was not only contemplative;
the mystic was socially activist in his struggle to achieve the
Zohar's theurgic goals. 1
It is the position of this study that Tiqqunei ha-Zohar and
Ra'aya Meheimna also had an important role in the development of kabbalistic hermeneutics. The author's doctrinal additions to the Zohar's theosophical Kabbalah were critical in
shaping the perception of the Zohar by later kabbalists.
Subsequent interpretations of the Zohar were also influenced
by his doctrinal innovations, which include his understandings
of the immanence of God, the emanating structure of the successive worlds and the relation of Divinity to the kabbalistic
symbol, or kinnui. His tendency to "read" those doctrines, as
well as the conclusions of the Idrot, into preexistent Zoharic
texts prefigured the methodology of later exegeses in the
Cordovero and Lurianic schools of thought. Every subsequent
school, in interpreting the Zohar, was bound to accept the the
author's doctrinal innovations and to find them in the earlier
strata of the Zohar, just as the Tiqqunim and Ra'aya Meheimna
did.
The quality of urgency in Jewish history was dramatized
in these works' portrayal of the legendary catastrophes of the
Pentateuch as continuing to unfold in contemporary history.
In this drama of unfolding catastrophe and mythic chaos, the
maskil is portrayed as struggling to find meaning for the dilemmas of humanity. It is not the purpose of this study to trace the
resonance of this imagery in subsequent kabbalistic movements.
However, it may be assumed that the images of struggle, brokenness, and distension emphasized in Lurianic Kabbalah, with
such effect in Jewish history, have their seed in the Tiqqunim
and Ra'aya Meheimna.
The heightened social and soteric roles of the enlightened
mystic are portrayed as a fitting continuation of the heroic
legend of Shimon Bar Yolpi and his circle. Hence, there is a
historical connection between the romanticism of the Zohar,
the Tiqqunim, and Ra'aya Meheimna and the the spiritual move-
125
126
127
Notes
129
130
Notes
the circles that produced the lohar and their influence on Moshe de
Leon. This is a necessary development in kabbalah studies and should
provide for a less charged and doctrinal understanding of the lohar's
origins.
5. The presence of a characteristic single hand was acknowledged by R. Avraham Galante, in the great anthology of lohar
commentaries, Or ha-Jfamah I (c. 1550) 159a: "these are the words of
the book's author in the days of the Geonim, or other sages who
gathered the articles of R. Abba, R. Shimon Bar Yol).ai's scribe, and
divided them according to the readings of the year ... "
6. Tiqqun is one of the lohar's euphemisms for the sefirot, or
Divine hypostases, which are the central organizing principle of classical Kabbalah. The Tiqqunim, in particular, employ this term as an
organizing principle of the text's literary form. The term derives from
the Arabic UL/, to complete, render firm, construct well" (Lane, An
Arabic-English Lexicon 1:1, p. 309), "finir, se rendre raison de ... ," (R.
Dozy, Supplement aux Dictionaries Arabes, p. 149).
7. The idea of seventy faces or aspects to the Torah is a
classical rabbinic formulation. See Moshe Idel, "Infinities of Torah in
Kabbalah," in Midrash and Literature, ed. Geoffrey H. Hartman and
Sanford Budick, (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1986), p.
155n.
8. A large section from the Tiqqun 70 is included in the main
part of the lohar, I 22a-29a. R. Moshe Cordovero, in his commentary Or Yaqar (c. 1567) also indicates that the lengthy selection Ta
Jfazei (TlI:I 7b, l I 256a-262a) is also "from the Tiqqunim" (Or Yaqar
III; p. 277). The author of the Tiqqinum also wrote the preface to the
romantic composition Saba de-Mishpatim (l II 94a-b) according to
Tishby, MhZ I, p. 19n. See also Yehudah Liebes's Peraqim be-Millon
Sefer ha-Zohar [Some Chapters in a lohar Lexicon] (Ph.D. dissertation, Hebrew University, 1976; Jerusalem: Hebrew University Press,
1982) p. 322. The gloss of the lohar's treatise on physiognomy, Raza
de-Razin (II 70a-75a, lI:I 56c-60a) in Zohar Jfadash 31a-35b, seems
to be by the author of the Tiqqunim.
A composition included in Sefer ha-Malkhut (Paris #841), an
anthology of the writings of Joseph of Hamadan, was identified by
the late Ephraim Gottlieb as coming from the same hand as Tiqqunei
ha-Zohar and Ra'aya Meheimna ("Shenei I:Iibburim Nosafim le-Rav
Yosef ha-Ba mi-Shushan ha-Birah ve-lihui ha-I:Iibburim she-be-'Sefer
ha-Malkut' " [Two Additional Compositions by R. Joseph of Shushan
and the Identification of the Compositions in Sefer ha-Malkhut], in
Notes
131
Joseph Hacker). Gottlieb compiled a number of the author's unpublished Hebrew writings. Amos Goldreich of Tel Aviv University has
edited a number of these manuscripts, and we hope they will be
published imminently. At this time one has been made available, in
the essay "La'az Iberi be-Fragment Bilti-Yadu'a shel Ba'al Tiqqunei
ha-lohar" [Iberian Dialect in an Unknown Fragment from the Author
of Tiqqunei ha-lohar], in The Zoharand Its Generation, pp. 89-12l.
9. The extant manuscripts of Tiqqunei ha-Zohar may be divided into four "families." The first and largest resembles the printed
editions of the Tiqqunim and generally begin at Tl 17a, with the
"second introduction," the famous preamble by Elijah the Prophet,
"Patal') Eliyahu." Within this family are a number of smaller groupings. Some texts omit the first Tiqqun of the Mantua and Orta Koj
editions, thereby altering the numbering of all the subsequent
Tiqqunim (Cambridge ADD 519, ADD 1833; J.T.S. 1644). Other texts
truncate the third Tiqqun (British Museum REG 16A XIV 765 and OR
10701 GS 1398), and still other texts omit Tiqqun 13 (British Museum
ADD 27061 782). Some texts append material from Tiqqunei lohar
Hadash to the end (Sasson 591, Vatican 200). This Introduction from
the printed edition rarely appears (Mousaioff 218, Cambridge ADD
519), although material from it may be scattered throughout the
text (Vienna-Reiner 218). This would support the idea that, as in the
Mantua edition of the lohar, the introduction is an artificial construct included after the assembly of the main material (this is supported by the inclusion of material from the introduction in the
Tiqqunei Zohar Hadash of Cordovero's Or Yaqar). Such is also the case
with material from the lengthy Tiqqunim 21, 69, and 70, which are
shorter in many manuscripts in this family. The material in lohar I,
22a-22a, appears in certain manuscripts in this family, though not
always in the same place (Vatican 208, Paris 791).
A second family of manuscripts are those texts presently included in Tiqqunei Zohar Ifadash. These may be presented in a manner similar to its published form (Oxford M337-1917, Sasson 27) or
according to the format of Cordovero's Or Yaqar. This latter group is
particularly important because the texts are very exact yet lacking in
many embellishments and interpolations found in the Orts Koj text,
to which material has been added. The British Museum manuscript
of Or Yaqar (ADD 37060-781, ADD 27061-782, ADD 27063-783 and
particularly ADD 27041-784 and ADD 27042-785) contain lohar
texts not otherwise found in the printed edition.
132
Notes
Notes
133
his acronym as the ReMeZ) and the studies ofE. Gottlieb, "Ma'amarei
ha-'Piqqudim'she-be-Zohar" [The "Commandments" Passages in the
Zohar] in MeQqarim be-Sifhlt ha-Kabbalah, pp.224-229. Cordovero's
Or Yaqar separates the two treatises, and Cordovero acknowledged
their distinction in his Or Ne'erav (3:3, 4:2). The manuscript of Or
Yaqar contains observations about the identity of various Zoharic
texts. The Cordovero version of Ra'aya Meheimna has recently been
published as part of the Or Yaqar commentary.
It is regrettable that Reuven Margoliot chose to accept the unity
of the two compositions with faith in its Tannaitic origins, in his
Ra'aya Meheimna, Sefer Mi~ot [... A Book of the Commandments, in
the first volume of his edition of the Zohar], after the manner of R.
David Luria in his Kadmut Sefer ha-Zohar [The Antiquity of the Zohar]
(New York: Nezal]., 1951).
The follOwing seem to be the extant texts of the Ra'aya Meheimna:
I: 2520, 246b,226a-b
II: 41b-43a, 930, 1140-1210, 157b.
III: 3b, 16b, 200, 24b, 27a-29b, 330, 340, 420, 67b, 81b-83b,
89b-90a,98a-b, 108b-110b, lIla, 1210-1260, 152b-153b,
1750,2150-2170, 217b-220a, 2220-2390, 2420-2580, 271b,
2740, 274b-283a.
Breaking up the main text of the Ra'aya Meheimna did have a
negative effect on the coherency of the text, as R. Avraham Galante
(Or ha-lfamah II, p. 148b) noted: "The publishers broke up these
commandments and wrote each one in its own place, and their
destruction was greater than their building, for the understanding of
many issues is contingent on the commandment which precedes
them, and this disruption leaves things obscure and out of context."
14. TZ 1360.
15. RM III 223b.
16. RM II 114b.
17. Amos Goldreich ("La'az Iberi be-fragment Bilti-Yadu'a shel
Ba'al Tiqqunei ha-Zohar," pp. 91n, 96n) lists a number of datings of
the Tiqqunim, citing Scholem (Major Trends, p. 188; and Kabbalah, p.
59) as placing the text in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth
century. Tishby (MhZ II, p. 393n) and Scholem (Kabbalah, p. 232)
had also dated the works prior to 1312, that being the target year of
various eschatological predictions that they make.
18. TZ~, 103b, 115a;TZ, 111z, 1150.
19. RM III 820, 2570.
20. TZ 960, possibly TZ 132b.
134
Notes
Notes
135
p.6.
15. This is cited in J. Dan, Torat ha-Sod shelljasidei Ashkenaz,
pp. 122-126; see also Gershom Scholem, Kitvei Yad ba-Kabbalah (Jerusalem, 1930), pp. 213-217.
136
Notes
16. See TZ 13a, 19a, 26a, 40b, 100b, 104a, BOb; cf. Sefer haKanah (Cracow 1894) 88a-b, Sefer ha-Peliah (Kore~ 1883), 53d. See
also Sefer Pardes Rimmonim, Sha'ar Peratei ha-Shemot, 12-13. See also
Z I 204a, TZ 40b, 160a.
17. RM II 42b; TZ 64b.
18. RM III 257b-258a. This idea seems to draw heavily on the
Maimonidean negative theology, that God is known through His
actions rather than through his essence; cf. The Guide for the Perplexed
1:50-59.
19. RM III 257b.
20. TZ 61a; RM III 230a.
21. 'Avodah Zarah 8a, 42b; Sanhedrin 56b; see TZ 89a, 97b.
22. See RM III 228a, 250b; TZ 13b, 41b. The latter deals with
language, especially the five consonantal families and their respective energies. See also TZlj 104d, 115d, 120b; TZ 4a-b, 16a.
23. Berakhot 55a; see also Jubilees 36: 7.
24. See Elliot Wolfson, "Biblical Accentuation in a Kabbalistic
Key: Mystical Interpretation of the Ta' amim," Journal of Jewish Liturgy
and Music (1988-1990) 21: 1-15; 22:1-13; Yehudah Liebes, Peraqim
be-Millon Sefer ha-Zohar, pp. 174-175.
25. TZlj lOla; TZ 20b, 45a-51b; RM III 247b.
26. TZ 108a. See also 39b, 40b, 104b, 105a.
27. As in "karnei farah ("The bull's horns," a paired set of
notes.) are the two true prophets" (TZ 48a).
28. See particularly TZ 7b, 9b, 104b.
29. TZ 5a.
30. TZ 42b.
31. TZ 8a, 26b, 61b.
32. TZ 4a, 55a 61b, 109b; TZlj 100a, 113b, 106b. See Elliot
Wolfson, "Biblical Accentuation in a Kabbalistic Key;" Part 2, pp. 89; Yehudah Liebes, "Hashpa'ot No~riot 'al Sefer ha-Zohar" [Christian
Influences on the Zohar], Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought 2, no. 1,
(1982-1983): 54-56.
33. Berakhot 35b. See Saul Lieberman, Hellenism in Jewish Palestine (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary 1950), pp. 49-51. Lieberman
considered the ein . .. ella formula to be one of the earliest strata of
Rabbinic exegesis, which lost its literal function in later aggadic usages.
34. RM III 82a: ein aviv ella kudsha-berikh-hu.
35. RM III 242a, after Berakhot 26b.
36. RM III 243a-R. Shimon said: "this is you"; i.e., Hod; RM III
243a-" La-men~eal] is the masters-of-victory" (literally the sefirah
ne~al]).
Notes
137
138
Notes
60.
61.
62.
63.
TZl;! 1010.
I (TZ) 22b.
TZ 60b.
RM III 238b.
Notes
139
the inner wisdom, the secret of the root of the verses through the
senrot."
19. Z II 23a
20. TZ 31b; RM II 15Sb, III 222b, 232a. The Zohar's equation
of the mystical hermeneutic with prophecy has been noted by Elliot
Wolfson, in "The Hermeneutics of Visionary Experience," pp. 311345. See also RM III 11Oa.
21. TZ 40b.
22. TZ 75a, SOa.
23. Sukkot 45b.
24. III 110a; TZ 69b, 75a.
25. Hebrew: davar, meaning word or thing.
26. TZljI05c. See note 13.
27. Sefer Pardes Rimmonim, 105b.
2S. Ibid., 105b.
29. "The Name of God and Linguistic Theory of the Kaballah,"
p.165.
30. RM III 124a.
31. TZIj 99c, 103a.
32. TZ 2a.
33. TZIj 94a.
34. TZIj 99c, TZlj103a.
35. Berakhot, 3b.
36. TZ 2a.
37. RM III 124b.
3S. "Ha-Reqa' ha-Histori sheI ha-Ra'aya Meheimna" [The Historical Context of the Ra'aya Meheimna] Zion 5 (1940): 16.
39. RM III 124b, 153b. See Liebes, Peraqim be-Millon Sefer haZohar, p. lIS.
40. Babba Batra 75a; TZ 136b; see Reuven Margoliot, Ni?Di
Zohar, note 9.
41. Alternatively; understanding. See Tamid, 32a, "Who is wise?
He who sees the impending." Hagigah 14a, "Who is understanding
(navon)? He who understands the inner aspect." Cf. ZI:I 44d; TZ 9Sa.
42. Literally zahara.
43. TZI:I 103d.
44. TZI:I 104d.
45. RM III lIla-b.
46. I (TZ) 24a; RM II 119a, 229b; TZ 6a, 23b, 41b, SOa, 99b,
100a, 102b. One antecedent is from Bereshit Rabbah, 1:4: Israel was
conceived in thought (before Creation). See also Z II 10Sb.
140
Notes
Notes
141
142
Notes
8. Z I 36b, 370, 52b, 122b, 1260, 145b, 253b; II 2310; III 76b,
1430, 1610; TZIj: 58d, 63c.
9. I (TZ) 28b; TZ 930, 99b, 1000, 113b, 1170, 1290; TZIj: (TZ)
31c, 33d.
10. TZ 660.
11. TZ 940.
12. TZ 240.
13. Sanhedrin, 38b.
14. Z I 38b.
15. TZ 99b, 1000, 116b, 128b; TZIj: 114c.
16. Reuven Margaliot, Sha'arei ha-Zohar (Jerusalem: Mossad
ha-Rav Kook, 1978), p. 190.
17. Z I 35b.
18. TZIj: (TZ) 33c.
19. This makes use of the biblical terms Gai, Nashi, ?iyah,
Arka, Ere? Adamah, Tevel.
Notes
143
Symbolism, pp. 79, 109; Sabbatai ~evi, pp. 11, 809, 811, 818; Amos
Goldreich, "La'az Iberi be-Fragment Bilti-Yadu'a shel Ba'al Tiqqunei
ha-Zohar, " p. 96n.
144
Notes
Notes
145
388.
82. TZ 96a. This is Adam's first wife, after the Alpha-Beta deBen Sira. See Gershom Scholem Sabbatai ~evi, p. 228; Erich Neumann,
The Great Mother (Princeton, N.J.: Bollingen, 1955), pp. 147-174.
83. I (TZ) 27b, after Leviticus 18:16: "the nakedness of a woman
and her daughter."
84. See Scholem, Kabbalah, pp. 358-359, Moshe Idel, Kabbalah:
New Perspectives, pp. 166-167.
85. RM III 253a. See also 277a; Scholem, Kabbalah, pp. 320326.
86. RM III 277a.
87. TZ 9a; RM II 117b; III 247a. See also Z I 178b; Sukkah, 52a.
88. TZl] 107c; see Yoma, 69b.
89. TZ 98b; see Z II 106b.
90. RM III 179a; see also 277a; TZ 37a.
91. TZ 60a; RM III 124a; see Scholem, Kabbalah, pp. 385-388.
In a recently published fragment by the author of the Tiqqunim,
there is a brief excursus on the relationship of Satan and the ye?r
ha-ra' (Amos Goldreich, "La'az Iberi be-fragment Bilti-Yadu'a shel
Ba'al Tiqqunei ha-Zohar," p. 98), although Goldreich expresses some
doubt about the passage's authenticity (ibid., p. 115).
92. 41b; see Berakhot, 61b.
93. TZ 133a; RM III 247a.
94. TZl] 116a.
95. "Who is mighty? He who overcomes his impulse" (Avot 4:1).
96. TZ 119b, TZl] 118d, see Sukkah 52b.
97. I (TZ) 27b; TZ 27b, 53b, 95b, 112b, 140a. See also Scholem,
Sabbatai ~evi pp. 741-742, Goldreich, "La'az Iberi be-fragment biltiyadu'a shel Ba'al Tiqqunei ha-Zohar," pp. 107-109; Tishby, MhZ II,
pp.686-687.
98. RM III 282a.
99. RM III 232a.
100. RM III 125b.
146
Notes
101. TZ 27b.
102. I (TZ) 25a; RM III 282b; TZ 55 a, 86a; see Bereshit Rabbah,
26:7.
103. Yirtnk Baer identified allusions to social and historical
phenomena of the reigns of Alfonso X and Sancho IV in the Ra'aya
Meheimna and Tiqqunim (A History of the Jews in Christian Spain vol. 1,
p. 244). See also Scholem, Sabbatai ~evi, pp. 71, 746.
104. TZI:I 117a.
105. RM III 153a; TZ 44b.
106. Avot, 2:5. See also TZ 5b, 6a; TZI:I 107a; RM III 33b.
107. TZ 6a.
108. Shabbat, 22a.
109. RM III 279a.
110. RM III 277a.
Notes
147
148
Notes
153.
154.
155.
156.
157.
TZ 91b-92a, 98b.
TZ 17a; RM III 257b-258a.
RM III 258a; TZ 42a.
I (TZ) 22b.
Tishby, MhZ I, p. 11.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
TZI:I 106c.
TZ 6b, 64a; I (TZ) 23a-b; RM III 215b.
RM III 82b-83a.
Ibid.
TZ 46a-b, 58a, 145a.
742.
15. "Ha-Reqa' ha-histori shel ha-Ra'aya Meheimna," pp. 35,
39.
16. Tishby, MhZ II, pp. 375-397.
17. Ibid., p. 375.
18. Ibid., p. 395 (English translation by David Goldstein, The
Wisdom of the Zohar [Oxford: University Press, 1989], pp. 1109, 1112.
19. I (TZ) 27a-28a; RM III 27b, 124b, 153a-b; TZ 82a; TZI:I 97c.
20. See Frank Talmage, "Apples of Gold: The Inner Meaning
of Sacred Texts in Medieval Judaism": 319-321; Gershom Scholem,
On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, p. 61; Kabbalah, pp. 172-173.
21. Literally, "proofs."
22. Literally, "the mouth teaching laws."
23. TZI:I 102d, 105c-d; RM III 110a. In I (TZ) 26b, the levels
are described as peshatim, ra'ayot, derashot, and sitrei Torah.
Notes
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
149
RM III 29b.
RM III 223b.
TZ 145a.
An acronym for Torah she-be-al peh; literally, "Oral Torah."
Literally, "we learned."
Literally, "according to a system."
Literally," answer."
Literally, "extraneous Tannaitic material."
Popularly understood as an acronym for Tishby ye'tare~
qushyot u'va'ayot, implying that in the messianic age, "the Tishbite
(Le., Elijah) will resolve questions and problems."
33. Literally, "question."
34. Literally, "stricture."
35. Literally, "leniency."
36. TZJ:I 99a.
37. RM II 120b.
38. TZJ:I 98d.
39. TZJ:I 107a-b
40. See this study, pp. 27-30, 46-48.
41. TZJ:I 106d. Ifamor, "donkey," is understood as an acronym
for IJakham mufla ve-rav Rabbanan, "wondrously wise, a Rabbi of
Rabbis." See Scholem, Kabbalah, p. 191, also Tishby, MhZ II, p. 385.
42. This text is also interpreted in RM III 124a; TZ 22a, 52a,
140a. See also Avodah Zarah, 17a.
43. Avot,2:16.
44. TZJ:I 97c.
45. An argument from a minor premise to a major.
46. In RM III 153a: "with all the work in the field, that is 'Teyqu.' "
47. I (TZ) 27a. See also RM III 153a-b, 229b; TZJ:I 97c-d.
48- TZ 43a.
49. TZJ:I 99d; see also 46a.
50. TZ 46a, 82a.
51. TZ 46a
52. An apparent reference to the Shekhinah.
53. TZ 46a.
54. RM III 229b, 278b-279a. From Jeremiah 23:29: Are not my
words like fire and like a hammer breaking a rock? See Shabbat, 88b: Just
as the hammer gives off many sparks, so every word uttered by the Blessed
Holy One was divided into seventy languages.
55. RM III 279b. See also TZ 44a, TZJ:I 98b.
150
Notes
Notes
151
Meheimna used the term Masters of the Mishnah only for remarks that
it considered authentically talmudic.
79. RM III 278a, also 42a.
80. Correlated with the forty-nine letters of "Hear 0 Israel ... ,"
and "Blessed be His Glorious Name ... ," the central Jewish prayer.
See Eruvin, 13b.
81. Literally, mishneh la-melekh.
82. TZ 14a-b.
83. TZ 14b.
84. See Halperin, The Faces of the Chariot, pp. 420-426;
Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism and Talmudic Tradition, pp. 49-50.
85. TZ 14b
86. RM III 228a; TZl:f 107b.
87. I (TZ) 252b.
88. TZ 43a; TZl:f 98a.
89. TZ 14b, 46a, 147a.
90. TZI;I 112a; see RM III 29b; TZ 14a.
91. The idea of ten senrot within each senrah occurs in TZ 84a,
116b, 125b, 135a.
92. TZl:f 108a; TZ 5a-b, 14b, 48b, 199a.
93. TZ 75a, 80a, 147a.
94. TZ 82a; this remark forms the basis for Moshe Cordovero's
initial homily in his popular work Or Ne'erav, 1:1.
95- Literally, gan, whose numerical coefficicent is fifty-three.
96. TZ 38a.
97. RM III 257a. See also Goldreich, "La'az Iberi be-Fragment
Bilti-Yadu'a shel Ba'al Tiqqunei ha-Zohar," p. 103.
98. RM III 230a.
99. TZ lIb; RM III 42a.
100. RM III 124b.
101. TZ 19b; TZl:f 116b; I (TZ) 252b, after Avot, 5:16.
102. The Zoharic literature is intensely erotic, yet its eroticism is tinged with darkness. The prevalence of erotic metaphor
serves only to emphasize a terror of its illicitness. This charged
quality may betray a morbid sexual pathology in remarks such
as "a cohen has to take a virgin, because otherwise she's a used
cup, since the woman is the cup of blessing" (RM III 89b).
Yehudah Liebes speculates intriguingly on the pOSSibility of
sexual dysfunction on the part of the author of the Zohar ("Ha_
MashiaIJ. shel ha-Zohar," pp. 203-205).
152
Notes
In both the Zohar and the Tiqqunim, there are references to the
corrupting and demonic nature of intercourse with a menstruous
woman, a maidservant, a gentile woman, or a prostitute (respectively, Niddah, Shifl]ah, Goyah, Zonah; acronym Nashgaz). The vehemence of these references goes far beyond the degree of mere halakhic
or philosophical value structures. They reflect the influence of the
Toledano reforms of 1280-1281, in which the Castilian community,
under the leadership of Todros Abulafia, imposed social restrictions
designed to combat the excesses of Jewish slave owners with their
gentile maidservants. This attribution of the archetypal qualities of
the demonic to these four examples of forbidden intercourse indicates the kabbalistic support for these ethical reforms. (See Baer, A
History of the Jews in Christian Spain, vol. 1 pp. 243-305, and "HaReqa' ha-Histori shel ha-Ra'aya Meheimna," pp. 1-44; Goldreich, "La'az
Iberi be-Fragment Bilti-Yadu'a shel Ba'al Tiqqunei ha-Zohar," p. 108.)
The author of the Tiqqunim continues the Zohar's characteristic
ambivalence toward the feminine (TZ 133a). He respects the economic advantages of married life (TZ 30b, 126b), yet the wife is little
more than the body to the husband's "soul" (TZ 134a). An unhappy
marriage can lead to the total disruption of one's life (TZ 30b, 72a),
yet a man is flawed without a wife, abandoned by God (TZI:J 114d).
Communication with ones spouse wards off the demonic aspects of
feminine sexuality (RM III 276a, see Z II 28). In the manner of the
Bahir, marital ruptures, such as divorce or levirate marriage, are seen
as metaphors for the chaotic upheavals in the cosmos (TZ 61a-b,
72a; see also Liebes, "Ha-Masial) she I ha-Zohar," p. 203n.). The
three guarantees of the marriage contract reflect triunity (TZ 22a-b),
while the seven blessings of the wedding service reflect the seven
lower sefirot (TZ 84a, see Ketubot, 7b-8a).
The author echoes the great biblical literary equation of idolatry with promiscuity (RM III 90a, 11Oa) as well as the Talmud's
equation of idolatry with witchcraft. Illicit sexuality is idolatry, hence
intercourse during the menstrual cycle is like a sacrifice to idols.
These demonic qualities are a classical example of the negative
elementary character of the Mother archetype (TZ 69a; see Neumann,
The Great Mother, pp. 147-179).
103. I (TZ) 27a.
104. A reference to the demiurge Metatron.
105. Cf. Rashi to Genesis 2:18.
106. I (TZ) 27b.
107. RM III 216a, 276b; TZ 14b; TZI:J 98a.
108. TZ 14b.
Notes
109.
110.
111.
112.
113.
114.
153
I (TZ) 27a.
TZ 45b, 48a; TZI:I 99c.
TZI:I 99c. See TZ 5b, 45b; RM III 29b.
TZ 14b, 43b; RM III 254a; TZI:I 107b.
RM III 215a-b. See also TZ 53b.
TZ 48b.
116.
117.
118.
119.
120.
121.
122.
123.
124.
125.
TZI:I 111d.
TZ 75a, 14b; TZI:l111c-d; RM III 238b.
TZ 99a.
TZ 75a.
TZ 46a, after Avot, 5:7.
TZ 70a.
RM 275b-278a. See also Tishby, MhZ II, p. 385.
See also TZ 1b, RM III 64, 254a.
See also TZI:I 98a.
TZ 46b, see Tishby, MhZ II, p. 386.
154
Notes
14. RM II 115b-116a. In 115b, n. 14, Reuven Margoliot discusses the instances of this phenomenon across theosophical
Kabbalah.
15. RM II 117a.
16. RM III 27b, 110a.
17. RM II 117a.
18. TZ 131b, 147a-b.
19. RM III 275b.
20. "The demonic is empowered by human sin." Daniel C.
Matt, "The Mystic and the Mi?wot," in Green, ed., Jewish Spirituality,
vol. I, p. 388.
21. RM III 125b.
22. RM III 280a.
23. I (TZ) 27b.
24. Meaning that they have the same gematria (numerical
coefficient: 207) as.
25. RM III 28b. See also Sotah, 21a, TZ 52b, TZI:I 97a.
26. Cf. Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism and Talmudic Tradition, p. 11.
27. See Maimonides's Guide for the Perplexed, 3:47.
28. TZ 140a.
29. The broken notes blown with the shofar.
30. TZ 139b.
31. See Tishby, MhZ II, pp. 206-210; Z II 184b-185a; III 102a,
197a; RM III 237b.
32. TZ 62b.
33. TZ 23b; RM III lIla.
34. TZ 97b.
35. Z II 257b.
36. Qol demamah daqah, a three-part phrase.
37. I Kings 19:12. See TZI:I 107e.
38. RM III 279a. See also Talmage, "Apples of Gold;" pp. 330331, which presents several examples of associative groupings of
four fold entities.
39. Cf. Baba Batra 175b: "He who wishes to become wise, let
him preoccupy himself with civil law (dinei mammonot)."
40. RM III 118a, also Liebes, Peraqim be-Millon Sefer ha-Zohar,
p. 47; Tishby, MhZ I, pp. 346-348; Or Yaqar, vol. 15, pp. 164-167.
41. Literally, DINA de-malkhuta DINA; i.e., the law of the government is law. Here this is transformed to mean "the law of the
sefirah malkhut is law."
42. RM II 118a.
Notes
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
155
Ibid.
Ibid.
This is also found in Z I 29a.
RM II 118a.
See Baba Kamma, 83b.
Apparently through faith healing.
RM II 118b
Ibid.
Ibid.
156
Notes
Notes
157
89. TZJ:I 101b; TZ 25b, 60a. See also TZ 50b, 52b, 107b, 116a;
RM III 109b, 218b, 227b. See Liebes, Peraqim be-Millon Sefer ha-Zohar,
pp. 86, 173, 203, 251-254; also Daniel Matt liThe Mystic and the
Mi.~wot" p. 387.
90. TZ 131a.
91. Apparently, Metatron.
92. TZ 131a.
93. TZ 131a; RM III 82b.
94. RM III 16b; see KaUah Rabati, 3 ("All his sins are written on
his bones, all his merits, on his right hand"). See Reuven Margoliot,
Nifofei Zohar, on TZ 81a, note 7, and Z II 151a, note 5, as well as
Sha'arei ha-Zohar, p. 116a.
95. Cf. Hagigah, 12a.
96. TZ 139b.
97. RM III 257b; TZ 14b, 1oob; TZJ:I 117c. See also Shemot
Rabbah, 52:3; Va-Yiqra Rabbah, 18:1, 27:1; Qohelet Rabbah, 12:5;
Shabbat, 152a; Baba Batra, 83a; Tanl]uma Emor, 6.
98. See Matt, liThe Mystic and the Mi-?wot," pp. 383-384;
Tishby, MhZ II, pp. 183-215.
99. RM II 158a, see Tanl)uma Pequdei, 3: liThe Tabernacle is compared to the the whole world, and to the creation of Adam, who is a little
world. When the Blessed Holy One created His world, He created it as one
born of woman. As one begins from the navel and then stretches from side
to side, so the Blessed Holy One began to create His world from side to Side,
first the rock of the sanctuary, and from it the world was hewn ... "
100. TZ 13b.
101. RM III 109a-b, 246a-b. These four watches are portrayed
extensively in various Zoharic articles on the spiritual dynamics of
the evening; see Margoliot, Sha'arei ha-Zohar, p. 6.
102. Matt, liThe Mystic and the Mi.~wot," pp. 383-384; see
Tishby, MhZ II, pp. 183-215
103. RM II 118a; III 17a
104. RM III 254b; see Tishby, MhZ II, p. 202n.
105. Avot, 4:11.
106. RM II 17a.
107. The tradition of the l]ayyot (beasts) as executors of God's
wrath extends back to the Merkavah tradition; see David Halperin,
The Faces of the Chariot, pp. 121-125.
108. Aramaic le-qarva, as in the Hebrew qorban, sacrifice. On
sacrifice as an act of unification, see Tishby, MhZ II, pp. 194-201.
109. TZ 139b.
110. Literally, a sacrifice whose worth is dependent on the material income of the sacrificer.
158
Notes
Notes
137.
138.
139.
140.
159
160
Notes
163. Va-Yiqra Rabbah, 30:14.
164. Berakhot,30b.
165. Berakhot, 33a.
166. Yoma, 85b.
167. Berakhot, 12a.
168. TZ 37a; see also 33a, 123a, TZI;I19a, 115a, 116d.
169. TZ 56b; Sukkah, 32a.
170. See Sukkah, 39b; Rosh Ha-Shanah, 14b.
171. Sukkah,34b.
172. TZ 2b, 23a.
Notes
161
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
TZ 60a.
TZ 85a.
TZ lb.
A metaphor for sexual chastity.
TZ 69a. See the explanation of Tsvi Hirsch Shapira, Be'er
La-I]ai Ro'i, on the punishment of stoning, in which the stone sym-
162
Notes
bolizes the initiol yud of the Divine nome, representing the two highest sefirot.
45. TZ 570.
46. TZ 77b.
47. TZ 690, 92b.
48. TZ 600, 690, 850; RM III 1090.
49. TZ 97b.
50. TZ 83b, 97b.
51. TZ 80,690; Ginsburg, The Sabbath in the Classical Kabbalah,
p. 224; ond Sod ha-Shabbat: The Mystery of the Sabbath, p. 21
52. Eruvin, 20.
53. TZ 80.
54. RM III 1220.
55. I (TZ) 240.
56. RM III 121b, 2240; TZ 360.
57. Literally lithe beginning of ... "; in this ease, lithe beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 4:7).
58. Literally, vav.
59. TZlj 1150.
60. Berakhot, 120.
61. Berakhot, 30b; TZlj 1090.
62. TZ 136b.
63. TZ 80,140, 46b.
64. TZ 140.
65. Sukkah, 37b.
66. RM III 2290.
67. TZ 350.
68. TZ 80; RM III 2710; TZlj 1090.
69. TZlj 1150.
70. Baba Batra, 25b; see olso Shulkhan 'Arukh Ora~ ljoyyim,
94:2. In the Tiqqunim, see I (TZ) 26b, 253b; RM III 280; TZ 3b,
5b, 13b, 150, 25b, 350, 64b, 770, 1050, 1070, 121b, 126b; TZlj
(TZ) 32c, 33c; TZlj 98d, 1090. See olso Margoliot, Sha'arei haZohar, p. 181.
71. TZlj 1090.
72. See Morgoliot, Sha'arei ha-Zohar, p. 128; Scholem, Jewish
Gnosticism, p. 16n.
73. I (TZ) 253b.
74. I (TZ) 26b.
75. TZ 5b, 126b. See olso Z II 175b.
II
Notes
163
Conclusion Notes
1. TZ 6a, 133b-134a. See also Z I 199a.
2. A classic example would be the Zohar's interpretation of
blowing the shofar on the New Year (Z III 88b).
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Index
bod~
Abulafia, Abraham, 12
Abulafia, Todros, 46, 134n,
152n
17,84,95-97, 100,
103, 158n
bile 101, 102, 159n
heart, 100, 101
liver, 101-102
lungs, 100, 102
spine, 103-104
spleen, 102
aggadah, 18,
176
151n, 153n, 155n,
158n, 159n
Dan, Joseph, 129n, 134n,
135n, 141n, 144n, 146n,
150n
David ben Yehudah haljasid,9
Day of Atonement, 45
de Leon, Moshe, 3, 13, 45,
94, 126, 130n, 134n
demonic, 24, 35,41,46-53,
55,84-89,101-102,152n
didacticism, 11
dove, 9, 31, 43-44, 50
egaz, 9, 92
Ein Saf, 23, 55, 56
Eleazer of Worms, 10
Eliezer, Rabbi, 38-39, 9294, 95
Elijah, 1,5, 92, 131n, 134n
Elijah, the Gaan of Vilna,
144n
eroticism 31,116, 151n152n
Eve, 35, 37,40,42-43,108
evil, 144n, 145n, 152n
see also: demonic
Ezra of Gerona, 134n
Index
136n, 154n
halakhah, xvii, 59-79, 82,
90, 125-126
and the demonic, 8396
as slavery, 65
as stonemasonry, 65--68,
70
as a shield, 66
ha-Levi, Judah, 13
I]allah, 91
I]amar, 65, 76, 90, 149n
I]ayyat, 157n
177
Index
27-28,57,59,72,76,90,
93,99,105,111,123124, 126-127
Masters of the Mishnah 13,
27,51-52,60,65,68,7174, 88, 96, 103-104, 151n
Matt, Daniel c., ix, 147n,
154n, 155n, 157n, 158n
maHah, 54, 82
Messiah, 29, 30, 52, 68,
149n, 150n
Metatron, 30,54, 72-73
me?i?ah, 156n
midrash, 33-34
Midrash ha-Ne'elam, 22
178
Moshe de Burgos, 46, 134n
mother-archetype, 12
mystical experience 20, 21,
mystics 21, 30-32, 26, 29,
32, 43, 44-45, 125
Nal].manides, 5, 10, 134n,
135n, 137n, 145n, 148n
Names of God, 10, 14-17,
56, 89, 110-111
forty-two letter, 10
ineffable, 138n,
kinnuyim as, 137n
seventy-two letter, 10
temurot, 11
Neoplatonism, 34,46,55,
Index
179
Index
40,51,52,54,55,82-83,
94,111-112,117-121,
135n, 138n, 151n, 153n
Binah 13, 25, 26, 4647,61,138n
Gevurah, 13, 47, 48, 54,
83, 87, 120; as Din,
47,75, 114
lfesed, 13,54, 75, 120,
121
Hod, 13
lfokhmah, 13, 38, 61,
121
Keter, 31, 37, 117
Malkhut, 18, 22, 25, 28,
30-31, 35, 38,47,
53-54, 57, 74, 75, 79,
112, 117-119
Ne~al],
13
116, 118-119; as
Ral]amim, 114
Yesod, 22, 31, 54, 112,
119
serpent, 35, 37, 92, 108,
115,118
Shekhinah, 5, 12, 18, 19,25,
29, 30, 38, 43, 53-54, 57,
61, 65, 67, 73, 74-79, 82,
180
133n, 134n, 139n, 141n,
145n, 148n, 149n, 154n,
155n, 156n, 157n, 158n
tithes, 82, 90-91
tokho ke-varo, 42, 114
Torah,
as primordial text, 8
cantillation of, 10, 11,
12, 23-24
multiple understand
ings of, 8
of A~ilut, 59-63, 127
of Beriah, 59-63, 127
Oral, 41, 62, 66, 67, 69,
72-75, 76, 77-79
study of, xvi, 23, 28,
48,78,
vocalization of, 10, 11,
12, 113
Written, 48, 67, 74,
75, 78
Trees, 40-43
of Knowledge, 27, 60, 75,
85, 105, 116, 143n
Index
yenukah, 155n
ha-ra' (evil inclination), 36, 47, 143n
ye~er
~addik,