The Talmudic Zohar: Rabbinic Interdisciplinarity in Midrash ha-Ne’lam ​ by Joseph Dov Rosen A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Joint Doctor of Philosophy with Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley in Jewish Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in Charge: Professor Daniel Boyarin, Chair Professor Deena Aranoff Professor Niklaus Largier Summer 2017 © Joseph Dov Rosen All Rights Reserved, 2017 Abstract The Talmudic Zohar: Rabbinic Interdisciplinarity in Midrash ha-Ne’lam ​ By Joseph Dov Rosen Joint Doctor of Philosophy in Jewish Studies with the Graduate Theological Union University of California, Berkeley Professor Daniel Boyarin, Chair This study uncovers the heretofore ignored prominence of talmudic features in Midrash ​ ​ ha-Ne’lam on Genesis, the earliest stratum of the zoharic corpus. It demonstrates that Midrash ​ ​ ha-Ne’lam, more often thought of as a mystical midrash, incorporates both rhetorical ​ components from the Babylonian Talmud and practices of cognitive creativity from the medieval discipline of talmudic study into its esoteric midrash. By mapping these intersections of Midrash, Talmud, and Esotericism, this dissertation introduces a new framework for studying rabbinic interdisciplinarity—the ways that different rabbinic disciplines impact and transform each other. The first half of this dissertation examines medieval and modern attempts to connect or disconnect the disciplines of talmudic study and Jewish esotericism. Spanning from Maimonides’ reliance on Islamic models of Aristotelian dialectic to conjoin Pardes (Jewish ​ ​ esotericism) and talmudic logic, to Gershom Scholem’s juvenile fascination with the Babylonian Talmud, to contemporary endeavours to remedy the disciplinary schisms generated by Scholem’s founding models of Kabbalah (as a form of Judaism that is in tension with “rabbinic Judaism”), these two chapters tell a series of overlapping histories of Jewish inter/disciplinary projects. The section’s juxtaposition of medieval and contemporary models of talmudic-esoteric interdisciplinarity provides a framework for overcoming the models of disciplinarity that the field of Zohar Studies inherited from Scholem’s pioneering scholarship and clears theoretical space for rethinking the disciplinary commitments of Midrash ha-Ne’lam. ​ ​ The second half of the dissertation demonstrates that Midrash ha-Ne’lam uses talmudic ​ ​ reasoning and rhetoric for three purposes: (1) to formulate a model of divine cosmogenesis that is akin to talmudic creativity; (2) to advocate for applying talmudic reasoning to secrets as a way to expand esoteric knowledge; (3) and to represent a scholastic community in which rabbis search for secrets together and debate each other’s esoteric lore. 1 Dedicated to my Zeidy of blessed memory - Rabbi Marvin Luban מים עמוקים עצה בלב איש ואיש תבונות ידלנה i Acknowledgments This work could not have reached fruition without the support, encouragement, friendship, and guidance rendered by several people and departments, to whom I wish to express immense gratitude. Daniel Boyarin has been an exemplar of a scholar who cares equally about the past and the present, and has constantly reminded me that “if there is no flour there is no Torah.” Deena Aranoff has made herself available for endless hours of conversation and has constantly challenged me to be as clear and gracious in my writing as possible. And Niklaus Largier has opened my work to new horizons of mystical thought and critical imagination. Without the financial and administrative support of Jewish Studies Joint Doctoral program and its staff—Sandy Richmond, Shorena Kurtsikidze, Erica Roberts, Etta Heber—this doctorate would surely have taken double the time and fourfold the toll. That the final chapter of my dissertation addresses “scholastic sociality” and the centrality of friendship to a spiritual life has only underscored my indebtedness to my own community of scholar-friends. My local peers at UC Berkeley—Jerilyn Sambrooke, Jennifer Valentina Mackenzie, Raphael Magarik, Eli Rosenblatt, Eyal Bassan—have incredulously made my time on campus a time wherein sociality does not come at the cost of scholarship. And the many friends and mentors who have offered support, insight, edits, and a listening ear—Avishai Bar- Asher, Jonatan Benarroch, Hillel Broder, Eitan Fishbane, Amit Gvaryahu, Joel Hecker, Gilah Kletenik, Jana Jett Loeb, Ronit Meroz, Moulie Vidas, Nathan Wolski—have transformed the solitariness of dissertation writing into a time of convocation. Finally, over the past two years, my partner, Amy Rae Ruben, has reminded me daily that, “you got this.” Her trust and love are an undercurrent present throughout these pages. ii Table of Contents Introduction Toward a Bibliographical History of Midrash ha-Ne'lam………………………………...1 A Heap of Nuts: On Rabbinic Interdisciplinarity………………………………………..11 Summary of Chapters…………………………………………………………………....14 Part I Chapter 1 Jewish Esotericism and Talmudic Studies in Modern Jewish Scholarship………………....16 “Don’t Become Frum”: Scholem’s Talmud Studies (1913-1921).....................................17 Models of Interdisciplinarity in the Contemporary Study of Jewish Esotericism……....33 Chapter 2 Maimonides’ Pardes: A Medieval Model of Jewish Interdisciplinarity…………………….39 The Pardes in the Talmud………………………………………………………………..39 Jadal in Early Islamic Fiqh (Jurisprudence) and Kalam (Theology).................................42 Dialectics and Dissensus in Maimonides’ Legal Theory………………………………...45 Entering the Pardes: Dialectics and Dissensus in Maimonidean Esotericism…………...48 Conclusion: Talmud/Jadal/Padres………………………………………………………..55 Part II Chapter 3 The Logic of Binah: A Genealogy of Generative Cognition in Pre-Modern Jewish Literature………………………………………………………………………………………..59 “Davar mi-Davar”: Analogical Inferences in Tannaitic Midrash……………………....60 Talmud as Inferential Reasoning in Amoraic and Early Medieval Literature…………...69 “Sod mitokh Sod”: A History of Inferential Esotericism………………………………...74 Celestial Inferences: Binah as a Method of Cosmogony in Midrash ha-Ne'lam………...82 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….98 Chapter 4 The Temporalities of Sevara: Talmudic Models of Innovation in Midrash ha-Nelam…….101 The Talmudic Elements of Midrash ha-Ne'lam………………………………………...101 Sevara and Esoteric Creativity………………………………………………………….103 Contesting Esoteric Sevara……………………………………………………………..109 Sevara as a Literary Form……………………………………………………………....115 Midrash ha-Ne'lam and the Zoharic Renaissance………………………………………118 iii Chapter 5 Scholastic Sociality: The Talmudic Rhetoric of Midrash ha-Nelam……………………….123 Jewish Collectivities and Zoharic Literature…………………………………………...123 Social Esotericism: A History of the Hevraya………………………………………….125 The Amoraic Anachronism: Amoraic Rabbis and Rhetoric in Midrash ha-Ne'lam……131 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………142 iv Introduction I. Toward a Bibliographical History of Midrash ha-Ne'lam Printed in the sixteenth-century, partly in Sefer ha-Zohar (Cremona and Mantua, 1558-1560) and partly in Zohar Hadash (Salonika, 1597), Midrash ha-Ne'lam on Genesis is an eclectic and often esoteric midrash on the first thirty-two chapters of Genesis. The relationship between Midrash ha-Ne'lam and the Zohar is an historical enigma. The early-modern editions of the Zohar present Midrash ha-Ne'lam as a vertical column with its own title, configured alongside a parallel column that is simply titled, Zohar (or Zohar Hadash). Although they share narratological1 and rhetorical features,2 modern scholars have identified stylistic and theological differences between Midrash ha-Ne'lam on Genesis and other strata of zoharic literature.3 Stylistically, Midrash ha- Ne'lam contains a heteroglossic mixture of Aramaic and Hebrew (almost all other sections of zoharic literature are written solely in Aramaic), an assemblage of short midrashim (in contrast to the longer homilies of “Zohar”), and references to a wide, dispersed network of rabbinic sages (many other sections of zoharic literature revolve around “the hevraya,” an intimate cohort of ten rabbis). Theologically, Midrash ha-Ne'lam on Genesis is devoid of the kabbalistic theosophy and erotic mythology that defines other zoharic strata. Instead, its pericopes feature philosophical allegoresis and pre-kabbalistic traditions on a (comparably) small set of themes: cosmogony, the nature of the soul, the afterlife, eschatology, and the angelic realm. This dissertation introduces an additional quality that distinguishes Midrash ha-Ne'lam4 from other sections of zoharic literature, namely, the talmudic orientation of Midrash ha-Ne'lam. I contend that both the Babylonian Talmud and the medieval discipline of talmud study inform multiple features of Midrash ha-Ne'lam: its disputational rhetoric, its advocacy of creativity, its representation of rabbinic sociality, its model of divine cosmogenesis, and (in at least one instance) its compositional style. Because these talmudic features cut across stylistic, cultural, and theological registers, they encourage a historiography of Midrash ha-Ne'lam that incorporates both the formal and ideational developments of medieval Judaism. Given its unusual textual form (as a text within a text, so to speak), a bibliographical history of Midrash ha-Ne'lam is required before a formal-intellectual history of “the talmudic 1 See David Greenstein, Roads to Utopia: The Walking Stories of the Zohar (Stanford: Stanford University