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Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

an annotated outline for an adult education course: considering different experiences of mysticism in Jewish history, by Rabbi Ariel Stone

First Shiur: Introduction - What is Jewish mysticism? An exploration of the mystical journey through primary texts and a classic commentary, as well as a few related tangents (such is the nature of Jewish study):

1. 2:176a-b, “The Essence of ” (Pritzker edition, trans. Daniel Matt)

Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

In this story taken from the introductory section of the Zohar, four levels of experiencing wheat are likened to the four levels of interpreting Torah. This suggests that truly experiencing Torah requires us to delve deeply below the surface of a given text.

Key concept: the four levels of Torah study: peshat (the “plain meaning”), drash (investigation of deeper meanings than that which is immediately apparent), remez (hint), and sod (secret), four terms which are often referred to by their first letters: , “the orchard”.

The symbolism of bread: no doubt it is not coincidental that the writer of the Zohar chose bread, the most primary of foods, as a metaphor for Torah. The teaches that Torah nourishes the mind just as bread sustains the body. One can survive without rich pastries, but not without basic sustenance.

Related concepts for discussion with this text: “Im ayn kemakh, ayn Torah” – where there is no flour, i.e. sustenance, there can be no study of Torah. In his writings on education, Maimonides taught that one’s basic needs are of primary importance, and must be secured before one will be able to learn.

In the Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 35b, a discussion takes up the question of which should take precedence, plowing one’s field or studying Torah:

Rabbi Hanina bar Pappa contrasted [two verses]: “it is written, and I will take in my grain in its time, (Hosea 2.11) but it is [also] written: and you will gather in your grain” (Deut. 11.14). This is not a contradiction; here [in the first verse it refers to] a time when Israel does the will of the Omnipresent, and here [in the second verse it refers to] a time when Israel does not do the will of the Omnipresent. It is taught in a Baraita: And you will gather in your grain. Why did Scripture say this? Since it is stated this book of the Torah shall not depart from your mouth (Joshua 1.8), you might think that this is meant literally. The Torah [therefore] states and you will gather in your grain, i.e. lead a life of Torah study and derekh eretz” [“the way of the world”]. These are the words of R. Yishma’el. R. Shimon bar Yokhai says: “can this be so? If a man plows at the time of plowing, sows at the time of sowing, harvests at the time of harvesting, threshes at the time of threshing, and winnows at the time of the blowing wind, what will become of the study of Torah? Rather, [the verses should be reconciled as follows]: At a time when Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

Israel does the will of the Omnipresent, their work is done by others, as it is stated: and strangers will arise and shepherd your flocks (Isaiah 61.5). But at a time when Israel does not do the will of the Omnipresent, their work is done by them, as it is stated, and you will gather in your grain. Not only that, but the work of others is done by them, as it is said, you will serve your enemies (Deut. 28.48).” Abaye said, “Many did as R. Yishma’el taught and were successful. Others did as R. Shimon bar Yokhai taught and were not successful.”

1. Babylonian Talmud, Hagigah 11b: “One should not inquire…”1

MISHNAH - THE [SUBJECT OF] FORBIDDEN RELATIONS MAY NOT BE EXPOUNDED IN THE PRESENCE OF THREE, NOR THE WORK OF CREATION IN THE PRESENCE OF TWO, NOR [THE WORK OF] THE CHARIOT IN THE PRESENCE OF ONE, UNLESS HE IS A SAGE AND UNDERSTANDS OF HIS OWN KNOWLEDGE. WHOEVER SPECULATES UPON FOUR THINGS, A PITY FOR HIM! HE IS AS THOUGH HE HAD NOT COME INTO THE WORLD, [TO WIT], WHAT IS ABOVE, WHAT IS BENEATH, WHAT BEFORE, WHAT AFTER. AND WHOEVER TAKES NO THOUGHT FOR THE HONOR OF HIS MAKER, IT WERE A MERCY IF HE HAD NOT COME INTO THE WORLD.

1 Soncino Judaic Classics digital version Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

GEMARA. You say at first: NOR [THE WORK OF] THE CHARIOT IN THE PRESENCE OF ONE; and then you say: UNLESS HE IS A SAGE AND UNDERSTANDS OF HIS OWN KNOWLEDGE! — This is the meaning: the forbidden relations may not be expounded to three, nor the work of creation to two, nor [the work of] the chariot to one, unless he is a Sage and understands of his own knowledge. …. NOR THE WORK OF CREATION IN THE PRESENCE OF TWO. Whence [do we infer] this? — For the Rabbis taught: “You [singular] shall ask now of the days past”: one may inquire, but two may not inquire. One might have thought that one may inquire concerning the pre-creation period, therefore Scripture teaches: Since the day that God created man upon the earth. One might have thought that one may [also] not inquire concerning the six days of creation, therefore Scripture teaches: “The days past which were before you”. One might have thought one may [also] inquire concerning what is above and what is below, what before and what after, therefore the text teaches: “And from one end of heaven unto the other.” [Concerning the things that are] from one end of heaven unto the other you may inquire, but you may not inquire what is above, what is below, what before, what after.

Points for discussion:

1. The is clearly warning that certain knowledge is dangerous. One of the best ways to keep dangerous knowledge safe is to tag it “top secret”, and to grant access only to those with the highest “security clearance”. Such clearance, in rabbinic terms, came only with wisdom, which itself is a higher intellectual level than mere knowledge. What are the three types of dangerous categories of knowledge, and the four areas of speculation which are better left unconsidered – and why? How do the rabbis in the Gemara discussion determine the rationale for the ruling? Prooftexts are an important source of legitimacy in rabbinic deliberation.

2. hameyvin yavin, “the one who understands will understand” is a code phrase found through rabbinic commentary on the Tanakh. It indicates that further explicit discussion of the topic under consideration is dangerous and will lead to areas that are, at least, readily misunderstood, and at worst, undermining of the general teachings of Judaism. Although scholars still disagree on the antiquity of Jewish mystical teachings, there is textual evidence which traces a thread of mystical speculation from the Talmudic era. It is possible that the knowledge was kept a closely-guarded secret, passed down among initiates in small circles, for centuries, until the dissemination of the Zohar. Why the material included in the Zohar was published is not known – neither, for a matter of fact, is the identity of its author.

3. There is a generally-held belief that one should not indulge in mystical study until on has reached the age of forty, is married and settled down, and has grown a beard. These are signs of maturity and, in the premodern Jewish community, of a certain expected depth of learning; it is also true that they are marks of maturity only displayed by males. Jewish mystical speculation was not an area open to women as far as we know from the extant texts. That does not mean that the female was not an important concept in mysticism.

4. What is the meaning of the Mishnah’s reference to “the honor of his Maker”? There is a danger that those who do not understand the deeper meanings and inferences of the mystical investigation of these texts may decide that they are meaningless, and thus Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone they will develop a disrespect for the teachings, for the religious community which holds them sacred, and for the God sought through them.

5. Consider: Not everyone is ready to learn everything. The capacity of the student is as important to consider as the content of the text. Martin Buber teaches that the relationship between reader and sacred text is a dialogue, and we must be aware of what each side is bringing to the encounter.

Secondary text: 2. J. Heschel, “the Mystical Element in Judaism”, in L. Finkelstein, The Jews.

A bit of , a bit of theology, a bit of psychology, and more; mysticism invites us to look beyond the apparent for a deeper understanding of the world and of ourselves – and of God.

For Further Reading, see the attached explanatory essay: Understanding Jewish Mysticism through Jewish Mystical Texts

A short list of other recommended background reading for the interested student:

1. Art Green, The Zohar (a companion to the Pritzker edition of the Zohar, trans. and ed. Daniel Matt) 2. Byron Sherwin, 3. Herbert Weiner, 9½ Mystics 4. Daniel Matt, God and the Big Bang 5. Art Green, Ehyeh: A Kabbalah for Tomorrow

Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

Second Shiur

A. In the Tanakh The mystic can be described as one who constantly seeks “to experience directly the reality of God”.2 In this the mystic may be understood as one who merely takes the evidence of Jewish sacred texts literally. Despite the face that God informs Moshe (Ex. 33.20-23) that “you cannot see my face and live”, there are texts that nevertheless attest to a very different reality. Revelations and visions are of two types: one is of a relatively easy access, neither very frightening nor very demanding of the human being. The other is terrifying and seems to assume a greater state of human extremis. Both exist in the evidence of the Tanakh.

1. Tanakh texts3

Exodus 24.9-11

2 Daniel Matt (1986) “The Mystic and the Mitzvot”, in Jewish Spirituality, ed. Arthur Green (NY: Crossroad), 367. 3 Texts taken from The Torah: A Modern Commentary ed. Plaut. Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

In the above text the ability to see God is given to the entire leadership of the twelve tribes, and occurs after a covenant ritual is performed which includes twelve sacrifices and the reading of the “book of the covenant”, after which the people declare their obedience with the phrase na’aseh v’nishmah – “we will do and we will hear” (or “obey”). This entire tableau is typical of ancient covenant ceremonies, which included a meal with the sovereign as a sign of favor. Consider the parallel with our own modern business transactions, which may end with a dinner which “seals the deal”.

1. note the description of God in verse 10. In later instances of texts which describe visualizations of God, we will see similar terminology. The texts, especially the Torah, were taken seriously as the source of all truth about the world and about God, and thus the mystics logically built upon the evidence of the texts.

2. in verse 11 the text retains a sense of wonder that the who saw God were not struck dead by the very sight. This hints at the other attitude of the ancients toward God, the one that is more familiar to us, that one could not see God and live – indeed, the Torah also records that exact belief in a statement from God to Moshe, in Exodus 33.20. Yet this other, stranger story is also recorded, in which seventy elders of Israel all had lunch with God to “seal the deal”.

3. Compare this covenant story to that recounted at Mt. Sinai. How do they differ, and how are they similar? Both are moments of revelation, i.e. very close personal experiences of the people and God. In both, God is experienced; in both, the Israelites stand before God as a group to enter into the covenant; in both, elements of joy and terror are mixed. Two kinds of mystical experience emerge from the stories related in the Tanakh. They are named by scholars: (1) normal mysticism and (2) merkavah (“chariot”) mysticism.

Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

Numbers 12: 1-9

1. The text clearly states that Moses has special access to God, which includes actually being able to see God. Further, note that God has a “household” here, in which Moshe is free to come and go as he pleases. This status of the trusted servant parallels the situation of the young Joseph in the household of Potiphar, and later with Joseph’s status in the house of Pharaoh. Merkavah mystic adepts of the Talmudic era will seek to gain entrance to God’s household, or Heikhalot (“palaces”).

2. What sort of personal characteristics should one cultivate in order to become mystically adept? This passage seems to indicate that the quality of humility is an important characteristic in gaining access to God. However, it is interesting to note that one must not be very special and very good to see God: negative behavior, such as that which causes God to address Miriam and Aaron in this passage, also brings about an experience of personal and quite literal revelation.

Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

Devarim 31.14-16

This text describes the passing of the mantle of leadership from Moshe to Joshua. Note the element of prophecy here connected with the tradition of the outside the camp in Exodus 33.7:

Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it without the camp, afar off from the camp; and he called it The tent of meeting. And it came to pass, that every one that sought the LORD went out unto the tent of meeting, which was without the camp. Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

In this account there are several important differences between the Ohel Mo’ed, the “Tent of Meeting (God)” and the Mishkan, the of which we read during its construction at the end of the book of Exodus. In this Ohel Mo’ed there are no priests who act as intermediaries between the people and God’s presence, there are no Levites dedicated to its maintenance, and the tent itself is outside the camp rather than at its center. Anyone can go at any time to inquire of God. This language is reminiscent of the experience of Rebekah who, when her pregnancy is difficult, goes to “inquire of God” and duly receives a response. It is a different kind of tete-a-tete with God, true, because no visualization of God is recounted.

Exodus 23.17

“Three times a year each of your men shall be seen [yera’eh] before [el p’nei] God.” Rabbinic commentary on this verse is revealing. Since the text of the Torah lacks vowels, and given the opening that in the parallel verse in Deuteronomy 16.16 the Hebrew reads not el p’nei, “to the face” but et p’nei, “the face”, the ancient midrashic compilation Sifrei asserts that the meaning is simply yir’eh, “he will see”, meaning that each male will, literally, see the face of God.

Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

Genesis 22.14

1. The tendency of Biblical translation is to support the theology of its time, so in our text the modern translation of verse 14’s final phrase is simply “on the mount of the LORD (a common English way of referring to the four letter name of God) there is vision”. But the Hebrew also supports the reading: “In the mountain where Adonai is seen.”

2. The familiar and disturbing story in which God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son includes the same verb indicating sight as in the Exodus passage immediately above. Whether the Hebrew verb at that time contained within its spectrum of meaning the metaphorical sense of seeing, as in the English “I see”, meaning “I understand” is demonstrable in texts such as Deut. 29.3 “but Adonai has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day”.

3. Rudolf Otto points out that the state of being exposed to a sense of mysterious and terrifying holiness, is an amoral state, neither moral nor immoral. Human categories of good and evil do not apply.4 Thus, literally seeing God may not necessarily lead to a state of goodness or blessing.

4 This insight was shared by Dr. Israel Knohl in a course he taught at the Shalom Hartman Institute in in the fall of 2002. Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

Isaiah 6.1-5

An account of a vision of fire and smoke, reminiscent of the Sinai revelation, which might inspire terror in the listener, viz. Isaiah’s “woe is me”. The continuation of this text contains an equally terrifying prophecy for the people of Israel, who are by and large doomed. Only a small “saving remnant” will remain.

It is interesting to note that the rabbis of the Talmudic era looked to this text in part in the composition of the prayer we call the Kedushah.

Not unlike the vision of Isaiah, the following vision of the Prophet Ezekiel also takes place at a time of national extremis. Trying to reconcile the two visions, the rabbis explained that the only difference between them was in the eyes of those who beheld the vision. They use a version of the “city mouse, country mouse” metaphor: Isaiah, who was used to being in the presence of God, was much less impressed by the vision than was Ezekiel – but the vision itself was the same.

Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

Ezekiel 1:1-28:

Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity, the word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest….Above the firmament…was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above. And I saw as the colour of electrum, as the appearance of fire round about enclosing it, from the appearance of his loins and upward; and from the appearance of his loins and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about him. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.

The incredible details of Ezekiel’s vision give the basis for the rabbinic mystical practice called “descending to the Chariot”, based upon the description of this chapter – although the word “chariot” does not actually appear in it. Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

Third Shiur

B. Rabbinic mysticism: Normal and otherwise

As we have seen, there are two aspects of approaching God which the rabbis inherit from the evidence of the Tanakh: the nearly unrestricted access, of anyone seeking God, to at least experience a voice if not a vision, and the dangerous, and rather more restricted, mystical experience of the few who were initiated into a secret world. The scholar Max Kadushin coined the term “normal mysticism” to describe a rabbinic religious culture which assumed that God was accessible through the fulfillment of the mitzvot which regulate normal, everyday life, rather than through esoteric doctrines and exotic practices. Another aspect of rabbinic mysticism, called Merkavah (“chariot”) mysticism, was the opposite of that: those who “descend to the Chariot”, or “enter the orchard” must be halakhically knowledgeable and mystically adept. As we recall, the Talmud warns in Hagigah 11b that the knowledge that leads to such an experience, as well as that which is gained by it, is not to be widely shared.

Secondary text: Max Kadushin, “The Experience of God”, and an excerpt from “The Revelation of (God)”, The Rabbinic Mind, 201-227

The experience of God is ineffable, yet there is the possibility of a personal relationship between the human being and the Creator of All. God is experienced through “value- concepts” – “in concepts like Middat Ha-Din, Middat Rahamim, Nes, prayer, repentance, Torah, Miztvot, Yir’at Shamayim, Kiddush HaShem and a number of others.”

“The concepts of Middat Rahamim (God’s love), Nes, and Berakah are all involved when a morsel of bread has been eaten…..the ordinary, familiar, everyday things and occurrences, we have observed, constitute occasions for the experience of God.”5

1. Talmud Bavli, Kiddushin 31b

When Rav Yosef would hear the footsteps of his mother, he would say, “I shall arise before God’s approaching presence.”

Here the presence of a beloved and respected human being is equated with God’s presence in a powerful and provocative expression of the teaching that human beings are created in God’s image and therefore reflect it. Similarly, one’s acts, albeit prosaic, affect God:

5 Kadushin, The Rabbinic Mind, 202-203. Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

2. Talmud Bavli, Kiddushin 31a

Rabbi Isaac said: He who sins in secret is as if he drove away the feet of the Shekhinah.

3. Babylonian Talmud, Hagigah 11b: “the Divine Presence is with us”

Our Rabbis taught: Once R. Johanan b. Zakkai was riding on an ass when going on a journey, and R. Eleazar b. ‘Arak was driving the ass from behind. [R. Eleazar] said to him: Master, teach me a chapter of the ‘Work of the Chariot’. He answered: Have I not taught you thus: ‘Nor [the work of] the chariot in the presence of one, unless he is a Sage and understands of his own knowledge’? [R. Eleazar] then said to him: Master, permit me to say before thee something. He answered, Say on! Forthwith R. Johanan b. Zakkai dismounted from the ass, and wrapped himself up, and sat upon a stone beneath an olive tree. Said [R. Eleazar] to him: Master, why did you dismount from the ass? He answered: Is it proper that while you are expounding the ‘Work of the Chariot’, Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone and the Divine Presence is with us, and the ministering accompany us, I should ride on the ass! Forthwith, R. Eleazar b. ‘Arak began his exposition of the ‘work of the Chariot’, and fire came down from heaven and encompassed all the trees in the field; [thereupon] they all began to utter [divine] song. What was the song they uttered? — “Praise the Lord from the earth, ye sea-monsters, and all deeps . . . fruitful trees and all cedars . . . Hallelujah”. An [then] answered from the fire and said: This is the very ‘Work of the Chariot’. [Thereupon] R. Johanan b. Zakkai rose and kissed him on his head and said: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, Who hath given a son to Abraham our father, who knows to speculate upon, and to investigate, and to expound the ‘Work of the Chariot’ — There are some who preach well but do not act well, others act well but do not preach well, but thou dost preach well and act well. Happy are you, O Abraham our father, that R. Eleazar b. ‘Arak has come forth from your loins. ______(1) Lit., ‘words of.the Torah’. (2) V. p. 59, n. 4. (3) Plural, i.e. R. Eleazar and his fellow-students. (5) I.e., put round him his tallith. The latter was a four-cornered garment (similar to the Roman pallium’) adorned with fringes (in accordance with Num. XV, 38f), which was worn in Talmudic times by scholars, distinguished persons, and those who led in prayers. Its use at prayers is still preserved, and has given rise to its popular designation of ‘prayer-shawl’. By wrapping himself in his tallith, R. Johanan b. Zakkai showed his sense of the holiness of the occasion. V. further J.E., vol. Xl, pp’ 67f and Elbogen, Der Jud, Gottesdienst pp. 499f. (6) Cf. p. 77, n. 9. (7) Var. lec.: covered; intertwined; hedged in,. (8) Ps. CXLVIII, 7, 9, 14. This reference to trees is the clue which points to these verses as the trees’ psalm. The Jerusalem Talmud reads instead I Chron. XVI, 33.

5. Babylonian Talmud, Hagigah 14b continued: “Four entered the pardes”

Four entered the pardes, and they are: ben Azzai and ben Zoma, Akher and Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva said to them, “when you come to the pure marble stones, do not say ‘water, water’, because it is said one who speaks lies will not be established in my sight.” ben Azzai looked and died; of him the text says dear in the eyes of God is the death of his pious ones. ben Zoma looked and was injured; of him the text says have you found honey? Eat what is enough for you, lest you become sated and vomit. Akher cut the shoots. Rabbi Akiva went out in peace.

This famous passage, describing the dangers of the mystical quest, functions to warn off those who would risk the descent to the Merkavah without the proper preparation. Even great rabbis such as these four were vulnerable; only one came back in peace.

Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

Note here the use of prooftexting: the Tanakh remains the source of reference for understanding all kinds of experience.

Secondary text: Marc Bregman (1995) “Introduction: Talmudic Versions of the Story of the Four Sages”, in Howard Schwartz, The Four Who Entered Paradise (NJ: Jason Aronson), xiii-xix.

Bregman traces some of the development of the the story of the four who entered the pardes. This passage in the Babylonian Talmud (of which a variant is recorded in the Jerusalem Talmud) is a key which offers a glimpse into the development of an entire mystical world, that of the yordei Merkabah. Tosefta to M. Megillah 3(4):28 preserves the following: “They said to him, many expounded the Merkabah and never saw it.”6 According to this text, at one point, speaking about Ezekiel’s Merkabah vision was, perhaps, not an unusual synagogue activity. The scholar David Halperin suggests that the emerging rabbinic leadership saw danger in interpreting the Merkabah vision, and attempted to restrict its exposure. Perhaps in Eretz Israel, certainly in Babylonia “in the Amoraic period…expounding the merkabah stopped being a matter of Bible study alone. It took on overtones of ecstatic experience, of journeys to realms filled with strange and dangerous sights.”7

An excerpt from the Eyleh Ezkerah:

All of them trembled, shivered and shuddered. Upon Rabbi Yishmael the Gadol they fixed their eyes, for him to utter the Divine Name and ascend to his Master, to learn if the decree had emanated from his God. Rabbi Yishmael purified himself and uttered the Name reverently. He ascended to the heights and inquired of [Gabriel] the angel dressed in linen. Said he to him, “Accept it upon yourself, O righteous and beloved ones, for I have heard from behind the partition that you have been destined for this.”

6 David Halperin (1988) The Faces of the Chariot (J.C.B. Mohr, Tübingen), 12. 7 Halperin, 37. Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

Rabbi Yishma’el descended from heaven and related the word of God to his comrades – whereupon the evil tyrant commanded that they be killed by force and brutality.8

The ability to access the throne of heaven, and true knowledge from God, or at least God’s nearest heavenly servants, gave Rabbi Yishma’el the chance to ascertain that indeed, the Roman decision to execute the rabbinic leadership of Israel was a decree fixed by God. Privileged access is not necessarily a guarantee of protection. This passage, according to Scholem, reflects “a Jewish variation on one of the chief preoccupations of the second and third century gnostics and hermetics: the ascent of the soul from the earth, through the spheres of the hostile planet-angels and rulers of the cosmos, and its return to its divine home in the ‘fullness’ of God’s light a return which, to the gnostic’s mind, signified Redemption.”9 Accounts of ascents such as that told in the midrash Eyleh Ezkerah are found in texts called the Heikhalot, “palaces”, referring to the heavenly halls through which the mystic passes in his quest for the divine throne.

Attempts to come close to God and to gain certain knowledge of God are exercises in the impossible human attempt to learn more than is humanly possible. Our next text, the Shiur Qomah (“the measure of the height”) is attributed to Abraham, but more likely comes from the early Talmudic period. it is of unknown authorship, but its subject matter is clear enough: the dimensions of the body of God.

Shiur Qomah:

The first two lines read: “And this is the size of the (divine) body as stated in the Book of Dimensions: “v’rav koakh” [Psalms 147.5] (has a numerological value of) 2,360,000,000

8 Translation in “Mussaf for Yom Kippur”, Artscroll Yom Kippur Machzor, 589. 9 , Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, 49. Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone cubits – this is the height of the Creator, may His name be blessed. His parasang equals three mils, and each mil equal ten thousand cubits, while each cubit equals three spans, and each span is the size of the entire universe.10

That the mystic in his rapture even succeeded in penetrating beyond the sphere of the angels is suggested in a passage which speaks of “God who is beyond the sight of His creatures and hidden to the angels who serve Him, but who has revealed himself to Rabbi Akiba in the vision of the Merkabah.”11

It is not so surprising to find that a mystic theology which assumes that a person can reach the divine throne also spawns texts which describe what the mystic has seen. It is even less surprising, perhaps, that the descriptions are beyond comprehension, and they leave us wondering if this is really an attempt to share information about God, or the opposite: perhaps what the Shi’ur Qomah is really conveying is the belief that God cannot, actually, be described in a physical sense.

Consider the ways in which we believe God can be detected in the world, the adjectives that normative rabbinic Judaism of our day uses to express God’s presence in our lives.

It is useful to compare our own sense of how God can be described with the Psalms and other Biblical descriptions. See, for example, the Song of the Sea, which refers to God as a mighty warrior. The difference between myth and midrash may be a matter of metaphor. Mysticism explores the space between them.

The scholar Gershom Scholem suggests that such speculation on God’s physical size “originated among heretical mystics who had all but broken with rabbinical Judaism”.12 points out that there are two ways to explore the adjective gadol, “great”, with which the Tanakh describes God: either in physical terms, as the Heikhalot literature does, or, in contrast,

the Talmudic-midrashic texts elaborated upon the conception of God as power. The former envisions an enormous, static Divinity, the knowledge and repetition of who precise dimensions constitute a salvific gnosis….The latter literature is primarily interested in a dynamic concept that stresses the changes occurring in the divine Dynamis….the Talmudic-midrashic tradition is primarily interested in an active attitude of man, who is portrayed as the clue to the amount of divine energy.13

10 Martin Samuel Cohen (1985) The Shi’ur Qomah: Texts and Recensions (Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr), 27. 11 Heikhalot Zutarti Ms. Oxford 1531f. 45b, cited by Scholem, Major Trends, 63. 12 Scholem, 65. 13 Moshe Idel, Kabbalah, 157-158. Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

Fourth Shiur

C. Medieval mysticism: theosophic-theurgic, magical, and ecstatic - the Zohar: the and tzorekh gavoha

The Zohar’s ordering of the sefirot are presented as follows:14

14 From Daniel Matt, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Vol. I. Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

Primary text: the Zohar

The Zohar is written in Babylonian Aramaic. It is attributed to the Talmudic scholar Shimon bar Yokhai but is considered by scholars to be the work of a circle of medieval mystics, chief among them the Castilian Moshe de Leone. The Zohar appears near the end of the thirteenth century C.E. and is referred to at that time as an ancient work. It refers to itself This is the Zohar's בראשית as “old-new wisdom”. Parashat Be-Reshit Here the blinding perush on the creation .…In the beginning (Genesis 1.1). of the world בראשית spark is the first He engraved – enlighten, illumine זהר / ,the Kingזהיר impulse of At thebe warned,head of cautious potency – of – authority – הורמנוטא emanation engravings in luster on high. A spark of impenetrable flashing from Ein darkness (botzina d’qardinuta) flashed within the “potency” Sof through We never hear about and proceeding to concealed of the concealed, from the head of Infinity – a cluster of vapor forming in formlessness, thrust in a the origin of Keter or delineate the , but out of this various sefirot. ring, not white, not black, not red, not green, no color at ocean of nothingness The goal of all. As a cord surveyed, it yielded radiant colors. Deep comes a primordial mediation is to within the spark gushed a flow, splaying colors below, point which is attain this spark Hokhmah. and participate in concealed within the concealed of the mystery of Ein Sof. It split and did not split its aura, was not known at the primal flow of The creation begins being. (1) all, until under the impact of splitting, a single, with tracings within concealed, supernal point shone. Beyond that point, It ayn sof, "engravings in – בקע ולא בקע ."in the beginning, upper light ראשית split and did not nothing is known, so it is called split, or "it broke first command of all. Botzina d'qardinuta: "a zohar, Radiance! …. With this beginning, the זהר through and did not break lamp of unknown concealed one created the palace. This impenetrability" – :Elohim), God. The secret is) אלהים through" - birth palace is called imagery, as if botzina recalls nitzotz, ,bereshit bara Elohim, With "spark", and kardinuta בראשית ברא אלהים struggling to break through a beginning, ___ created God (Genesis 1.1). (5) "[wheat from] membrane, or a Kurdistan", (hard and impenetrable) or chrysalis – Concealed of the concealed – the luster on high, the first and darkness". There is" נקודה .the most hidden sefirah, Keter – חדה Not white… - these colors are associated with lower sefirot which also kadrut primordial point hayare'akh, "the of the breaking are not yet created. Cord – the spark that is a vapor is also a cord. The cord, or eclipse of the moon". through of the This is the sort of botzina is a point measuring line, maps out the paths and stages of emanation, the spectrum of divine colors, each with its own wavelength. spark that is too bright which is to see, so, hokhmah. Split and did not split – the flow somehow broke through, but the nature of the breakthrough is impossible to describe, so the act is paradoxically, it is a .stated and immediately denied. spark of darkness בתר ההיא נקודה Single, concealed – the flow of emanation manifests as a point of Compare: darkness al – לא אתיידע כלל pney tahom, a star "before that light. This is the second sefirah, Hokhmah, which is called point nothing is Beginning because it is the first ray of divine light to appear outside which is/becomes a known". "This is of keter, the first aspect of God that can be known. The black hole… why it is called identification of reyshit, beginning, with Wisdom appears widely in The spark keeps rayshit, " – ancient Jewish literature. emerging from because before Zohar – the word designates the hidden power of emanation. concealment…like a pulsating. The sefirot it nothing can be Palace – the third sefirah, (“understanding”). She is the known. For the divine womb, where the seed of Hokhmah, the divine father, is are emissions from Zohar the word sown. Binah gives birth to the seven lower sefirot, which engender this repeating spark. (is the first the rest of creation. (2) (4 ראשית utterance of God. (3) (1) Daniel Matt, 108, n4. (2) Matt’s commentary, 108-110, n5-n17. (3) (4) notes from Matt lecture, Spertus Institute, July 2004. (5) Daniel Matt’s translation: Daniel Matt (2004) The Zohar, Pritzker Edition (Stanford University Press), 107-111.

Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

We have before us a text from the current translation of the Zohar. It is the first three words of the Book of Genesis, which are typically translated “In the beginning God created”. As we know, the verse continues with the direct object we expect to find after the verb bara’, “created”, that is to say, “the heavens and the earth”. But we won’t get as far as heaven and earth; there are worlds of meaning to explore already in the first three Hebrew words. Keep in mind that the interest of those who created the Zohar, and those who saw it as sacred truth, was to understand the inner reality of God – nothing less. Keeping that mysterious idea in mind, then, let us consider these three words. As we have seen, Jewish mystical speculation does not proceed from nothing. It is grounded in that which came before it: specifically, Torah and all that proceeds from the four-fold interpretation of that sacred text – peshat (the “simple” or surface level), derash (the “seeking” or investigating level), remez (the level of the half-hidden “hint” we can sometimes surmise), and sod (the hidden “secret” level of the text which we might glimpse in the sense that there is something that is yet beyond us). The mystic quest builds upon previous insights and understandings based upon all these levels of inquiry into Torah and the areas of Jewish life that are extrapolated from it.

The Zohar made use of a very wide selection of Jewish texts that preceded it, ranging from the Torah itself to legal, mystical, and philosophical works that were written just shortly before its appearance. It reflected on all of these and used them freely as inspiration for its own unique sort of innovative and sometimes even playful religious creativity. It is also much concerned with the Jews and their history: that recorded in Scripture, the present exile, and the dream of messianic redemption. These, too, form part of the background needed to understand the Zohar….Jewish mysticism in the Middle Ages is a rereading of earlier Jewish tradition.…it has to be understood in the context of the great project of medieval Jewry as a whole, the interpretation of a received, authoritative, and essentially complete body of normative Jewish teaching.15

Midrash, Halakhah, prayer, and earlier forms of mysticism all inform the Zohar. Thus, we should keep in mind the earlier ,בראשית ,when we look at the first word of our text interpretations and commentaries that exist regarding this word. The rabbis have taught regarding the letter bet with which the Torah begins: it is a letter which is closed above, below and before. We learn from this that what is before, above, or below the story of the world’s creation is closed to us. Remembering this, it is no surprise to see that the Zohar seeks to describe the mystery of how God created the world, it does not go back before this – it does not seek to inquire into how God comes to be.16 The story begins with the existence of Ein Sof already assumed. This is not to say that it is described, however: Ein Sof is “the concealed of the concealed”, about which nothing is known. There is a point beyond which we literally cannot see with human eyes, even with the most powerful microscopes; similarly, there is a reality beyond our ability to comprehend, not only “out there” but up close. Rabbinic tradition describes God’s presence as utterly transcendent and beyond us, but also utterly immanent – and in that way, perhaps, also beyond us. There is also that which is up

15 Arthur Green (2004) “Introduction” to Daniel Matt’s Zohar (Stanford University Press), xxxiii-xxxiv. 16 This is also expressed by Psalm 131: lo halakhti b’g’dolot uv’nifla’ot mimeni – “with things that are beyond me I will not be concerned.” Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone close to us, or even part of us, that we cannot grasp. Human vision and human understanding are both limited.

Secondary texts:

1. Louis Jacobs (1967) “The Ten Sefiroth”, Seeker of Unity (NY: Basic Books), 27-43.17

The doctrine of the Sefirot is a mystical attempt to answer two theological challenges: (1) the existence of evil, and (2) the existence of anything other than God: “the world is finite and full of imperfections. It contains diverse objects, and is a prey to contradictions and conflicts. And yet it was created by the One in whom there is neither error nor diversity nor confusion, neither imperfection nor limit. How, then, can the limited and the finite have emerged from the Infinite?”18 The sefirotic system sets forth a theory of how the world, and its diversity, emerges from the Nothing of Eyn Sof, the undifferentiated All which is that which is before the beginning, as in the Yigdal: rishon v’eyn reyshit l’reyshito, “the first, and there is no first before this first”. The structure of the Sefirot itself echoes the internal structure of the human being, and of the cosmos, as well as of God.

2. Gershom Scholem (1961) “The Zohar II: The Theosophic Doctrine of the Zohar”, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (NY: Schocken), 205-221 (sections 1-4).

The Zohar, and the mysticism which produced it, is primarily concerned with meditating upon and comprehending the inner reality of God. Scholem sees thirteenth century Kabbalah as “an attempt to preserve the substance of naïve popular faith, now challenged by the rational theology of the philosophers.”19 Maimonides was the most prominent among a group of rationalist theologians who, influenced by Aristotelian logic and the sophisticated Muslim philosophy of their medieval Spanish society, developed a theology of a God in which nothing at all could be said positively; rather, one could only describe what God is not. Further, they taught the idea of a God beyond human contact in any way, and beyond human feeling, and need, as well. Medieval Kabbalah, according to Scholem, took a form which developed partly as a response to these teachings: its theology describes a God intimately and utterly linked in essence and in effect with humanity and the world. We affect this God by our actions, even as God’s creativity affects us. Since the human reflects the image of God

17 One note: Jacobs calls the existence of a feminine element in God, and the sexual imagery employed by the Kabbalists, “bizarre”, and a reflection of the influence of non-Jewish pagan elements. However, scholarship does exist which sees such mystical speculation as an inevitable part of a full understanding of how human reality reflects that of the divine: “the mystery of sex, as it appears to the Kabbalist, has a terribly deep significance. This mystery of human existence is for him nothing but a symbol of the love between the divine “I” and the divine “You”, the Holy one, blessed be He and His Shekhinah.” (Scholem, Major Trends, 227. 18 Louis Jacobs, “The Ten Sephiroth”, 27. 19 Scholem, “The Zohar II: The Theosophic Doctrine”, Major Trends, 206. Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone according to Jewish teaching, it is interesting to consider the perspective that these medieval mystics had of themselves, and the human conditions of limitation and imperfection, as viewed through the prism of sefirotic speculation.

3. Daniel C. Matt (1988) “The Mystic and the Mitzwot”, Jewish Spirituality, ed. Arthur Green (NY: Crossroads), 377-400.

Tzorekh gavoha, “the need on high”, is the reason and the goal behind the mystic’s contemplation of the sefirotic structure and his attempts to maintain and support it in the theosophic-theurgic model of Jewish mysticism. Ideally, the mystic answers the divine need altruistically, with no thought for his own desire or what he might gain from doing what he can to help the King, so to speak. Matt cites an early Kabbalist, Meir ben Solomon Abi Sahula: “There is one pillar extending from the earth to the sky. Zaddiq [righteous one] is its name, named after the righteous. If there are righteous humans in the world, it is strengthened; if not, it is weakened….if there is even only one righteous human, he supports the world.”20 This doctrine is echoed in the tradition of the “lamed- vavniks”, the thirty-six righteous people by whose merit the world is maintained in existence.

Fifth Shiur

Tzfat and : the sparks, magic and ecstasy, liturgical expressions

In the late Middle Ages, a renaissance of Jewish life took place in Tzefat, Israel. In a very short time period, several of the greatest mystics who ever taught and wrote did so together in this small mountain village in the Galilee. Out of this period of great creativity comes the doctrine of the breaking of the divine vessels, the imprisoned sparks of holiness hidden in the world, and the idea of tikkun olam which describes both the freeing of the sparks and the repairing of the vessels thereby. Also from this time and place we have the tikkun leyl Shavuot, the custom of staying up all night and studying on the night before Shavuot to prepare for the giving of the Torah, and our familiar Kabbalat service, with all of the special songs and prayers by which we welcome the coming of the Shabbat bride.

Secondary texts:

1. Louis Jacobs (1986) “The Uplifting of Sparks in Later Jewish Mysticism”, Jewish Spirituality, ed. Arthur Green, 99-126.

The Kabbalah taught by of Tzfat, one of the greatest of the medieval mystics, developed the explanation of the inner life of God, and that of the problem of evil, much further, with significant implications for human responsibility. Broken divine

20 Matt, “The Mystic and the Mizwot”, 377. Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone sefirotic vessels are reconfigured into divine parzufim, and they are combined and recombined into worlds of variations, in Lurianic theosophy.

Theodicy: Evil comes into the world as an over-expression of the severity of God’s attribute of judgment – the light from God simply being too powerful for the vessel for which it was intended. The resonance for the human condition is striking: consider the recurrent theme of the distance between human aspirations to goodness and the repeated failures for which we atone. The story is told of the Kotzker one night entering a room where his students slept, and looking long at their faces. “That God should dwell in so frail a vessel!” he said.

Human responsibility and potential: Frail or not, the human is expected to “send on high the reclaimed holy sparks” through unifying the sefirot. “Each individual has to engage in the dual task of restoring his or her own holy spark, an inheritance from the first father of the human race, and one has to reclaim the holy sparks in creation, both of which are achieved by keeping the precepts of the Torah.”21

2. Lawrence Fine (1986) “the Contemplative Practice of Yihudim in Lurianic Kabbalah”, Jewish Spirituality, ed. Arthur Green, 64-98

Doctrines which address the bringing about of the unification of the sefirot do inevitably begin to inquire into the benefit to the individual who has done so; the highest form of benefit to the individual was thought to be the achieving of prophetic inspiration. Thus the individual learns all the hidden secrets of the Torah, and even brings closer the messianic age. “Every dimension of religious life is now directed toward clearly defined mystical goals: it is the contemplative act, the attainment of divine inspiration, the restoration of the cosmos, which demand one’s every waking moment.”22

…magical Kabbalah envisaged man as endowed with superior powers that could dominate nature, angles, demons, and even God….a conception of the halakhah as a powerful organon by which to attract the supernal powers on man and the Temple was gradually elaborated by Jewish authors….according to this conception, if natural magic is connected with natural sciences, such as agriculture and astronomy, supermagic depends on the knowledge of the supernatural sciences – Kabbalah. The perfect way to combine this higher gnosis with practice is by the Kabbalistic performance of the precise prescriptions of the halakhah. Man, therefore, does not disrupt the processes of natural causation but transcends it by his consciousness and by the skillful employment of a higher order of causation that depends on the Sefirot. Halakhic man, conscious of the deeper meaning of his deeds, is a Kabbalistic archmagician.23

21 Jacobs, “The Uplifting of Sparks”, 107-108. 22 Fine, “The Contemplative Practice of Yihudim”, 89. 23 Idel, Kabbalah: New Perspectives, 268-269. Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

Primary text: 3. Lekha Dodi, from the erev Shabbat service

The Tzfat mystics were the first to see kabbalistic concepts expressed in the liturgy. To take one example of many, we consider several phrases from Lekha Dodi, “Come, my Beloved”, written by one of the mystical havurah.

Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

There are several examples of mystical encoded in this popular song:

1. the unification of the upper and the lower worlds, and the inner unification of God:

יה letters = gematria for לכה דודי לקראת כלה =15 וה letters = gematria for פני שבת נקבלה =11

יה To sing this musical phrase with the appropriate kavvanah unites the .i.e. unites with Shekhinah ,וה with the

2. an answer to an old question about the two versions of the Aseret haDibrot, the “ten words” as they appear in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5:

Shamor v’zakhor b’dibbur ekhad, “observe and remember in one utterance” – these two terms, which appear in the two instances of the commandment to honor Shabbat, appear in the song in reverse order of appearance. See Zohar Book 2.92a: zakhor is zakhar, shemor is shekhinah. Shekhinah is identified with erev Shabbat, so zakhor is Shabbat day. So "shamor" comes first in the song. "Eyl hameyukhad" – the unified God, unified through the yikhud of zakhor and shamor.

3. the deeper meaning of prayer movement and the identification of the sefirot with characters from the Tanakh:

yamin usmol tifrotzi, “right and left you shall burst forth”. One turns to the right and to the left from the center, from Shabbat; this phrase can be interpreted in a number of ways. It can be understood as referring to the days of the week: one turns to the right toward the days that come before Shabbat (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday), and to the left toward the days that come after Shabbat (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday). In the sefirotic realm, if one turns to the right one is turning toward Hesed, if toward the left, . Hesed represents Avraham Avinu, and Gevurah is Isaac. Another interpretation: one turns toward Abraham, whose son Ishmael represents Islam, and toward Isaac, whose son Esau represents Christianity, thus one is looking right and left to see all the nations of the world. The last word of the phrase, tifrotzi, “you shall burst forth” (or, “make a breach for yourself”), can be linked to the later references to “ben Partzi”, the son of Peretz, who is King David (the Messiah), will redeem them all ( 4.18: “these are the generations of Peretz” – who is the ancestor of the Messiah). Peretz was given his name because of the manner of his birth, making a breach for himself by bursting out past his twin as their mother Tamar labored to bring them forth.24

24 From class notes, July 2004, Spertus DJS Mysticism Seminar, Byron Sherwin. Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

All of this rather begs the question, “what’s in it for me?” If such powerful forces exist and can be tapped for our good, how can the individual be blamed for seeking a way to bring these good powers to bear on a loved one’s health, or a community’s well-being? The less altruistic variation on mystical theurgic teachings is called magical-affective mysticism; it includes all the variations of mystical speculation which attempt to access the shefa, the Divine flow of abundance from Ehyeh, and bring it down to where it might do us some day-to-day good.

4. Jiri Langer (1937) “Introduction” Nine Gates to the Hasidic Mysteries, trans. (1961) Stephen Jolly (NJ: Jason Aronson, 1993).

The magical-affective model of mysticism in later times develops the concept of the wonder-working Tzaddiq, who excels at yihudim and , uses his closeness to God, and his ability to draw down the divine emanation, for the benefit of his followers.

…on this day I am going to the saint with my . A kvitel is a small piece of paper on which one of the saint’s clerks writes the name of the suppliant and the name of his mother – not his father! – the suppliant’s place of origin, and, in a few concise words, the substance of what he is coming to ask of God….some come to ask the saint to intercede with God for success in their business, others for recovery from an illness, others for advice for or against a marriage. The needs of the chasidim are many and varied, and only he, the saint, can satisfy them through his intercession with the Most High….He reads some petitions with obvious displeasure, especially those asking for cures. He scolds the suppliant and tells him to go to a doctor. But he wishes him a speedy recovery. Some bring a matbeya, that is, a coin that the saint will endow with secret power and that can then be used as a kameo, or amulet….the devout who live [elsewhere] send their petitions and contributions to the saint’s office by post, or if the matter is urgent, by telegram. The suppliant obtains relief as soon as the clerk unsticks the telegram…25

Sixth Shiur mysticism and musar:

Musar is the Hebrew word for ethics. Since the world depends upon the free flow of energy among and between the different sefirot which are aspects of God, the world, and each individual, the nature of the interaction between these aspects is of paramount importance. The imperative of ethical behavior among human beings proceeds logically: if you would hope that life would show you kindness, you must show it yourself to others. Even more, the theurgic school of mysticism holds that the nature of the energy you receive from the world and from others in it is directly dependent upon the kind of energy you have yourself offered to others, and to the world.

25 Jiri Langer, Nine Gates to the Hasidic Mysteries, 10-11. Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

1. Moshe Cordovero, Tomer Devorah:

How should a person train himself in the attribute of binah (understanding)? This is achieved by returning in complete repentance, for there is nothing as important as repentance, in that it rectifies every flaw. And just as binah sweetens all severities and neutralizes their bitterness, one should repent and rectify all flaws. A person who calls repentance to mind all the days of his life causes binah to illuminate all his days, the results being that all his days are spent in repentance. That is, he merges himself with binah, which is repentance, so that all the days of his life are crowned with the secret of the higher level of repentance. Note that all existence is rooted in repentance, according to the secret of the Jubilee. In addition, the root of the external forces – expounded in the mystical teachings as the secret of the River Dinur – is also rooted therein and flows therefrom. (However, the River Dinur

Several aspects of mystical teaching can be traced here: (1) human beings harbor within themselves the same attributes as that which exists within God, waiting to be developed. (2) When a human attribute is developed, one achieves a form of devekut - merging – with the divine attribute. (3) The attempt to realize one’s potential brings one closer to human perfection, and makes life much more pleasant.

…itself is included in Holiness, according to the mystical teachings regarding the severities.) This is called ‘the outflow of Divine Anger.’ But by means of the mystical teaching regarding the verse “G-d smelled the pleasing scent of the sacrifices…” (Bereishit 8.21) that ‘outflow’ returns to its source, the severities become sweetened, the anger ceases, and “G-d refrain[s] from the evil…” (Shemot 32.14) Likewise, by means of the mystery of repentance, man also achieves this effect.

Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone

By repenting, one can actually turn back the flow of Divine Anger that was aroused by the sin that has now been atoned for. This echoes the Biblical theology which has Aaron bringing a sacrifice of atonement in order to stop a plague that had come upon the Israelites through a sin they had committed. The term “flow” refers to the envisioning of the sefirotic system, and refers to the emanations which flow forth. In this case, a flow from Binah, the Divine Mother, apparently overcomes the emanation of judgment, din, from Gevurah, which is one of her daughter sefirot, directly below her on the left side of the schema. Cordovero concludes:

Therefore, one should not say that repentance benefits only the aspects of holiness in man. For his evil aspects are rectified as well, just as the severities are sweetened by this attribute…. When one returns in complete repentance, these selfsame evil deeds from the ‘Left Side’, which were prosecutors against him, enter the higher worlds and become rooted in holiness there, transforming themselves into good rather than becoming nullified…. when a person purifies his evil inclination and transforms it into good, it becomes rooted in holiness. This is the elevated level of repentance that a person who wishes to conduct himself in this manner should contemplate every day, and he should also repent in some way, so that all his days will be spent in repentance.26

Musar, ethical behavior, that is to say, repenting, so that one’s “evil aspects are rectified” – manipulates the higher realms in another way: one’s evil deeds themselves are transformed by the power of holiness and are turned into good deeds.

2. Hasidic ethical stories

One day Sussya passed a birdseller’s, where he saw an enormous cage with any number of singing birds in it. What did Sussya do? He said to himself: David, King of Israel, says in his Psalms: “God taketh pity on all creatures.” Saying these words he went and opened the cage. In a trice the little prisoners had flown out of the window into the freedom of God’s world. That, then, was what Sussya did. What about the birdseller? Well, he seized hold of a stick and started belaboring Sussya as he deserved. Do you suppose Sussya cried at all? Not a bit of it! He broke his sides with laughing!27

Hasidic teachings bring an intensely personal focus to Jewish mysticism. One can trace the logic by which the idea of sparks hidden in the world proceeds to the idea that God’s mercies are over all the creatures, even little birds in a cage on a street in Anipol, but mere intellectual understanding of the way in which the doctrine of the sefirot leads to kindness extended to small helpless song birds need not blunt our appreciation for a

26 Moshe Cordovero, Tomer Devorah, trans. Moshe Miller (1993) as The Palm Tree of Devorah (Jerusalem: Targum Press), 78-82. 27 Jiri Langer (1937/1991) Nine Gates to the Chasidic Mysteries (NJ: Jason Aronson), 121. Jewish Mysticism A course for Melton graduates Rabbi Ariel Stone tradition in which compassion is increasingly emphasized – despite the living conditions and general situation of the Eastern European Jews who taught it! The value of a human life is deliberately placed above that of unchallenged theological dogma. God is important, but so is the terribly frail and uncertain vessel which reflects God.

Rabbi Hanokh told this story: For a whole year I felt a longing to go to my master Rabbi Bunam and talk with him. But every time I entered the house, I felt I wasn’t man enough. Once though, when I was walking across a field a weeping, I knew that I must run to the rabbi without delay. He asked: “Why are you weeping?” I answered: “I am after all alive in this world, a being created with all the senses and all the limbs, but I do not know what it is I was created for and what I am good for in this world.” “Little fool,” he replied, “that’s the same question I have carried around with me all my life. You will come and eat the evening meal with me today.”28

In the writings which preserve the thought of Nakhman of Bratslav, a Hasidic teacher who lived many generations later, we still see the sense that seeking God is not a project that one should expect to undertake apart from the real world in which one lives.

How wonderful it would be if one could only be worthy of hearing the song of the grass. Each blade of grass sings out to God without any ulterior motive and without expecting any reward. It is most wonderful to hear its song and worship God in its midst. The best place to meditate is in a field where things grow. There one can truly express his thoughts before God.29

Conclusion: Facing the future

Art Green’s teaching of the Shem Havaya as taught by Yosef Gikatilla.

“Adonai l’mata, yud-hey-vav-hey ba’emtza, Ehyeh l’malah”: Ehyeh is the name of God which invokes the future. The Zohar’s comment on Ezekiel’s vision – hayo hayah al nehar Kvar” - is that hayo hayah means “what God, but the alef fell off. That is what אהיה was”, i.e. God was. God was the happens in Exile: Ezekiel found himself by the River Kvar (“already”), where there is no future, only what was, what already has happened. Our challenge is to restore the alef.30

28 Martin Buber (1948) Tales of the Hasidim: Later Masters (NY: Schocken), 251. 29 excerpted in Teachings of the Jewish Mystics (1998) ed. Perle Besserman (Boston and London: Shambhala), 1. 30 Art Green, “Images of God In Kabbbalah”, lecture at the Shalom Hartman Institute, July 2002.