Early forms of Jewish mysticism

doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521772488.032

30 - Early forms of Jewish mysticism

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008

Rachel Elior

Edited by

Steven T. Katz

Show author details

Rachel Elior: Affiliation:
Department of Jewish Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Steven T. Katz: Affiliation:
Boston University

Book contents

Get access

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The mystical-poetical Hebrew works of the first five centuries of the Common Era, known collectively as heikhalot (heavenly sanctuaries) and merkavah (throne-chariot) literature remain on the whole a closed book to readers and students, although the first scholarly studies were published more than a century ago. It is not known precisely when this literature was composed, and the identity of the authors and editors of the heikhalot tradition is anonymous, pseudepigraphic, or disputed, although these works were written in the first person as if by eyewitnesses to the supernal worlds and attributed by the authors to the High Priest Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha (BT Ber. 7a) and Rabbi Akiva, who entered the pardes (that is, engaged in esoteric speculation pertaining to the heavenly sanctuaries; see BT Hag. 14b). Anonymous or pseudepigraphic as they are, these works, which carry such enigmatic names as HeikhalotZutarti, Heikhalot Rabbati, Seven Holy Sanctuaries, Maase Merkavah, Shiur Qomah, Masekhet Heikhalot, and Merkavah Rabba, display a distinct affinity with mystical traditions that envisioned humans and angels moving freely between the terrestrial and celestial realms. The bulk of this literature is preoccupied with supernal worlds whose hidden essence, measured in cosmic numbers and figures amounting to thousands of myriads of parasangs between the different parts of the merkavah, became known to humanity via angelic and human testimony, the latter conveyed by the “descenders to the merkavah” .

Keywords

kedushah prayer Heikhalot literature Jewish mysticism Sefer Yetzira Shiur Qomah

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of Judaism , pp. 749 - 791

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521772488.032 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abrams, D., “Ma‘seh Merkabah as a Literary Work: The Reception of the Heikhalot Traditions by German Pietistic and Kabalistic Reinterpretation,” in Jewish Studies Quarterly 5/4 (Tübingen, 1998).Google Scholar

Abrams, D., “The Boundaries of Divine Ontology: The Inclusion of Metatron in the Godhead,” in Harvard Theological Review 87/3 (1994).Google Scholar

Alexander, P. S., “3 Enoch and the Talmud,” in Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period (Supplements) 17/2 (Leiden, 1986).Google Scholar

Alexander, P. S., “Appendix: 3 Enoch,” in Schürer, E. (ed.), The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, rev. and ed. by Vermes, G., Millar, F., and Black, M., 3 vols. (Edinburgh, 1973–1987) III/1.Google Scholar

Alexander, P. S., “Comparing Merkavah Mysticism with Gnosticism,” Journal of Jewish Studies 35 (1984).Google Scholar

Alexander, P. S., “The Historical Setting of the Hebrew Book of Enoch,” Journal of Jewish Studies 28/2 (1977).Google Scholar

Alexander, P., “3 (Hebrew Apocalypse of) Enoch: A New Translation and Introduction,” in Charlesworth, J. H. (ed.), The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, I (Garden City, 1983).Google Scholar

Altmann, A., “Shirei Kedushah be-Sifrut ha-Heikhalot ha-Kedumah”, in Robertson, E. and Wallenstein, M. (eds.), Melilah II (Manchester, 1946)Google Scholar

Arbel, D., Beholders of Divine Secrets: Mysticism and Myth in the Heikhalot and Merkavah Literature (Albany, 2003).

Bloch, P., “Die Yordei Merkawa, die Mystiker der Gaonenzeit und ihr Einfluss auf die Liturgie”, Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums 37 (1893)Google Scholar

Bohak, G., “Remains of Greek Words and Magical Formulae in Heikhalot Literature,” in Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts 6 (Los Angeles, 2001).Google Scholar

Bowker, J., “Merkabah Visions and the Visions of Paul,” Journal of Jewish Studies 16 (1971).Google Scholar

Charlesworth, J. H., Old Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, 2 vols. (New York, 1983).

Chernus, I., “Individual and Community in the Redaction of the Heikhalot Literature,” in Hebrew Union College Annual 52 (1981).Google Scholar

Chernus, I., “The Pilgrimage to the Merkavah: An Interpretation of Early Jewish Mysticism,” in Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought 6/1–2 (Jerusalem, 1987).Google Scholar

Chernus, I., “Visions of God in Merkabah Mysticism,” in Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period (Supplements) 13/1–2 (1982).Google Scholar

Chernus, I., Mysticism in Rabbinic Judaism: Studies in the History of Midrash (Berlin, 1982).

Cheyne, T. K. and Black, J. S. (eds.), “Tefillah”, in Encyclopaedia Biblica, VIII (1982).Google Scholar

Cohen, M. S., Ma’aseh Merkavah (Work of the Chariot) (Los Angeles, 1970). A translation of Shi’ur Qomah. The same translation appears in Meltzer, D. (ed.), The Secret Garden (New York, 1976).

Cohen, M. S., The Shi’ur Qomah: Liturgy and Theurgy in Pre-Kabbalistic Jewish Mysticism (Lanham, 1983).

Cohen, M. S., The Shi’ur Qomah: Texts and Recensions (Tübingen, 1985).

Couliano, I. P., Out of This World: Otherworldly Journeys from Gilgamesh to Albert Einstein (Boston and London, 1991), ch. 9: “The Seven Palaces of God: Jewish Mysticism from Merkabah to Kabbalah.”

Dan, J., “The Ancient Jewish Mysticism,” in idem, Jewish Mysticism, I: Late Antiquity (Northvale and Jerusalem, 1998).Google Scholar

Dan, J., “The Concept of History in Heikhalot and Merkabah Literature,” in idem (ed.), Binah: Studies in Jewish History, Thought, and Culture, I: Studies in Jewish History (New York and Westport, 1989).Google Scholar

Dan, J., “The Concept of Knowledge in the Shi’ur Qomah,” in Stein, S. and Loewe, R. (eds.), Studies in Jewish Religious and Intellectual History (Alabama, 1979).Google Scholar

Dan, J., The Ancient Jewish Mysticism (Tel-Aviv, 1993).

Dan, J., The Revelation of the Secret World: The Beginning of Jewish Mysticism (Providence, 1992).

Dan, J., and Liebes, E., The Library of Gershom Scholem on Jewish Mysticism: Catalogue (Jerusalem, 1999), I items 1280–1745.

Davila, J. R., “Prolegomena to a Critical Edition of the Heikhalot Rabbati,” Journal of Jewish Studies 45/2 (1994).Google Scholar

Davila, J. R., Descenders to the Chariot: The People behind the Heikhalot Literature (Leiden, 2001).

Deutsch, N., Guardians of the Gate: Angelic Viceregency in Late Antiquity (Leiden, 1999).

Deutsch, N., The Gnostic Imagination: Gnosticism, Mandaeism, and Merkabah Mysticism (Leiden, 1995).

Elior, R., “From Earthly Temple to Heavenly Shrines: Prayer and Sacred Song in the Heikhalot Literature and Its Relation to Temple Tradition,” in Jewish Studies Quarterly 4/3 (1997).Google Scholar

Elior, R., “Mysticism, Magic, and Angelology: The Perception of Angels in Hekhalot Literature,” in Jewish Studies Quarterly 1/1 (1993–1994).Google Scholar

Elior, R., “Schäfer’s Synopse zur Hekhalot Literatur,” Jewish Quarterly Review 2–3 (1986–1987).Google Scholar

Elior, R., “The Concept of God in Merkabah Mysticism,” in Dan, J. (ed.), Binah: Studies in Jewish History, Thought, and Culture, II: Studies in Jewish Thought (New York and Westport, 1989).Google Scholar

Elior, R., Heikhalot Zutarti, in Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought, Appendix 1 (1982).

Elior, R., The Three Temples: On the Emergence of Jewish Mysticism (Oxford, 2004).

Epstein, J. N., Mevo’ot leSifrut haTannaim (= Introductions to Tannaitic Literature) (Jerusalem, 1957).

Eskola, T., Messiah and the Throne: Jewish Merkabah Mysticism and Early Christian Exaltation Discourse (Tübingen, 2001).

Farber-Ginat, A. “Iyyunim be-Sefer Shiur Komah,” Massuot: Studies in Kabbalah and Jewish Thought Dedicated to the Memory of Ephrayim Gottlieb (Jerusalem, 1994).Google Scholar

Farber-Ginat, A. “’Iyyunim be-Sefer Shi’ur Qomah,” in Oron, M. and Goldreich, A. (eds.), Massuot: mehkarim be-Sifrut ha-Kabbalah Ube-Mahashevet Isra’el Mukdashim le-Zikhro shel E. Gottlieh (Jerusalem, 1994).Google Scholar

Fraade, S. D., “Ascetical Aspects of Ancient Judaism,” in Green, A. (ed.), Jewish Spirituality From the Bible Through the Middle Ages (New York, 1986).Google Scholar

Friedlander, M., Der vorchristliche jüdische Gnosticismus (Göttingen, 1898).

García Martínez, F., The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated (Leiden, 1994)

Gottstein, G. A., “Is Ma‘aseh Bereshit Part of Ancient Jewish Mysticism?” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 4/2 (1995).Google Scholar

Green, A., Keter: The Crown of God in Early Jewish Mysticism (Princeton, 1997).

Greenberg, M., Al ha-Mikra ve-’al ha-Yahadut, Kovez Ketavim (Tel-Aviv, 1985)

Grozinger, K. E., “The Names of God and the Celestial Powers: Their Function and Meaning in the Heikhalot Literature,” in Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought 6/1–2 (Jerusalem, 1987).Google Scholar

Gruenwald, I., “Reflections on the Nature and Origins of Jewish Mysticism,” in Dan, J. and Schäfer, P. (eds.), Gershom Scholem’s Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism 50 Years After (Tübingen, 1993).Google Scholar

Gruenwald, I., Apocalyptic and Merkavah Mysticism (Leiden, 1980).

Gruenwald, I., From Apocalypticism to Gnosticism: Studies in Apocalypticism, Merkavah Mysticism, and Gnosticism (Frankfurt, 1988).

Halperin, D., “A New Edition of the Heikhalot Literature,” in Journal of the American Oriental Society 104/3 (1984).Google Scholar

Halperin, D., “Ascension or Invasion: Implications of the Heavenly Journey in Ancient Judaism,” in Religion 18 (1988).Google Scholar

Halperin, D., “Heavenly Ascension in Ancient Judaism: The Nature of the Experience,” in Kent, H. (ed.), SBL 1987 Seminar Papers 26 (Atlanta, 1987).Google Scholar

Halperin, D., The Faces of the Chariot: Early Jewish Responses to Ezekiel’s Vision (Tübingen, 1988).

Halperin, D., The Merkabah in Rabbinic Literature (New Haven, 1980).

Hayman, A. P., “Sefer Yesira and the Hekhalot literature”, Early Jewish Mysticism: Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought, VI/1–2 (1987)Google Scholar

Hebrew edition, ed. I. Gruenwald, Temirinn, I (1972). ch. 3

Herrmann, K., “Text und Fiction: Zur Textueberleifeung des Shiur Qoma” FrankfurterJudaistiche Beitrage 16 (1988).Google Scholar

Himmelfarb, M., “Apocalyptic Ascent and the Heavenly Temple,” in Kent, H. (ed.), SBL 1987 Seminar Papers 26 (Atlanta, 1987).Google Scholar

Himmelfarb, M., “Heavenly Ascent and the Relationship of the Apocalypses and the Heikhalot Literature,” Hebrew Union College Annual 59 (1988).Google Scholar

Himmelfarb, M., “The Practice of Ascent in the Ancient Mediterranean World,” in Collins, J. and Fishbane, M. (eds.), Death, Ecstasy, and Other Worldly Journeys (Albany, 1995).Google Scholar

Himmelfarb, M., Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (Oxford, 1993).

Jacobs, L., Jewish Mystical Testimonies (New York, 1976), ch. 3.

Janowitz, N., “God’s Body: Theological and Ritual Roles of Shi’ur Komah,” in Eilberg-Schwartz, H. (ed.), People of the Body: Jews and Judaism from an Embodied Perspective (Albany, 1992).Google Scholar

Janowitz, N., Icons of Power: Ritual Practices in Late Antiquity (University Park, PA, 2002).

Janowitz, N., The Poetics of Ascent. Theories of Language in a Rabbinic Ascent Text (Albany, 1989).

Japhet, S., Emunot ve-De’ot be-Sefer Divrei ha-Iamim u-Mekoman be-’Olam ha-Mahashavah ha-Mikrait(Jerusalem, 1977)

Kuyt, A., The “Descent” to the Chariot: Towards a Description of the Terminology, Place, Function and Nature of the YERIDAH in Heikhalot Literature (Tübingen, 1995).

Lesses, R. M., “The Adjuration of the Prince of the Presence: Performative Utterance in a Jewish Ritual,” in Meyer, M. and Mirecki, P. (eds.), Ancient Magic and Ritual Power (Leiden, 1995).Google Scholar

Lesses, R. M., Ritual Practices to Gain Power: Angels, Incantations, and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism (Harrisburg, 1998).

Libreich, A., Ha-Shabat be-Siddur ha-Tefillah, in Ribolow, M. (ed.), Sefer ha-Yovel shel ha-Doar bi-Melot lo Sheloshim Shanah (New York,1952)

Mach, M., “Das Ratsel der Hekhalot im Rahmen der judischen Geistesgeschichte”, in Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period (Supplements) 21/2 (1990).Google Scholar

Maier, J., Vom Kultus zur Gnosis (Salzburg, 1964).

Marmorstein, A., “A Fragment of the Visions of Ezekiel,” in Jewish Quarterly Review n.s. 8/3 (1917–1918).Google Scholar

Marmorstein, A., “New Passages from Heikhalot Literature,” trans. Gruefnwald, I., Tarbiz 38/4 (1968–1969) (Hebrew).Google Scholar

Marmorstein, A., “Sar ha-Panim” (Prince of the Countenance), in Swartz, M., Scholastic Magic.

Chapters 1, 2, and 16–26, in Kaplan, A., Meditation and Kabbalah (York Beach, 1982).

Morray-Jones, C. R. A., “Heikhalot Literature and Talmudic Tradition: Alexander’s Three Test Cases,” in Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period (Supplements) 22/1 (Leiden, 1991).Google Scholar

Morray-Jones, C. R. A., “Transformational Mysticism in the Apocalyptic-Merkabah Tradition,” Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period (Supplements) 43/1 (1992).Google Scholar

Morray-Jones, C. R. A., A Transparent Illusion: The Dangerous Vision of Water in Heikhalot Mysticism: A Source-Critical and Tradition-Historical Inquiry (Leiden, 2002).

Neher, A., “Le Voyage mystique des quatre”, Revue de l’histoire des religions 140 (1951)Google Scholar

Newsom, C. A., “Merkabah Exegesis in the Qumran Sabbath Shirot”, Journal of Jewish Studies 38/1 (1987)Google Scholar

Newsom, C., Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice: A Critical Edition (Atlanta, 1985)

Odeberg, H., 3 Enoch or The Hebrew Book of Enoch (Cambridge, 1928; repr. New York, 1973).

Otto, R., The Idea of the Holy (Oxford, 1958)

Reinharz, J. and Swetschinski, D. (eds.), Mystics, Philosophers, and Politicians (Durham, 1982)

Reinharz, J. et al. (eds.), Mystics, Philosophers and Politicians: Essays in Jewish Intellectual History in Honor of Alexander Altmann (Durham,1982)

Schäfer, P., “Merkavah Mysticism and Magic,” in Dan, J. and Schäfer, P. (eds.), Gershom Scholem’s Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism 50 Years After (Tübingen, 1993).Google Scholar

Schäfer, P., “New Testament and Hekhalot Literature: The Journey into Heaven in Paul and in Merkavah Mysticism,” in Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period (Supplements) 35/1 (spring 1984).Google Scholar

Schäfer, P., “Research on Heikhalot Literature: Where Do We Stand Now?” in Sed-Rajna, G. (ed.), Rashi 1040–1990: Congress Euro péan des Etudes juives (Paris, 1993).Google Scholar

Schäfer, P., “Tradition and Redaction in Heikhalot Literature,” in Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period (Supplements) 14/2 (1983).Google Scholar

Schäfer, P., Geniza-Fragmente zur Hekhalot-Literatur (Täbingen, 1984).

Schäfer, P., Hekhalot-Studien (Täbingen, 1988).

Schäfer, P., Synopse zur Hekhalot-Literatur (Tübingen, 1981).

Schäfer, P., The Hidden and Manifest God. Some Major Themes in Early Jewish Mysticism (Albany, 1992).

Schäfer, , Synopse, sec.; and Elior, R., Heikhalot Zutrati: A Critical Edition (Jerusalem, 1982).

Hebrew text in Schäfer, , Synopse, sections.

Schiffman, L., “The Recall of Rabbi Nehuniah ben ha-Qanah from Ecstasy in the Heikhalot Rabbati,” Association for Jewish Studies Reviews 1 (1976).Google Scholar

Schiffman, L., Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls: The History of Judaism, the Background of Christianity, the Lost Library of Qumran (Philadelphia, 1994).

Schiffman, L., and Swartz, M., Hebrew and Aramaic Incantation Texts: Selected Texts from Taylor-Schechter Box K1 (Sheffield, 1992).

Schluter, M., “The Eulogy Hakham ha-Razim va-Adon ha-Setarim in Hekhalot Literature,” in Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought 6/1–2 (Jerusalem, 1987).Google Scholar

Scholem, G., “Shiur Qomah,” in idem, Jewish Gnosticism and The Mystical Shape of the Godhead (New York, 1991).Google Scholar

Scholem, G., Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition (New York, 1960; 2nd corrected ed., 1965).

Scholem, G., Kabbalah (Jerusalem and New York, 1974; repr. New York, 1978) (merkabah mysticism), and (Metatron).

Scholem, G., Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (Jerusalem, 1941; 2nd ed., London, 1955), Lecture 2: “Merkabah Mysticism and Jewish Gnosticism.”

Schürer, E., Schürer, E. (ed.), The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, rev. and ed. by Vermes, G., Millar, F., and Black, M., 3 vols. (Edinburgh, 1973–1987).

Segal, A. F., “Paul and the Beginning of Jewish Mysticism,” in Collins, J. and Fishbane, M. (eds.), Death, Ecstasy, and Other Worldly Journeys (Albany, 1995).Google Scholar

Segal, A. F., Two Powers in Heaven: Early Rabbinic Reports about Christianity and Gnosticism (Leiden, 1977).

Smith, M., “Observations on Heikhalot Rabbati,” in Altmann, A. (ed.), Biblical and Other Studies (Cambridge, MA, 1963).Google Scholar

Spinks, D., “The Jewish Sources for the Sanctus”, in Heythrop Journal 21 (1980)Google Scholar

Stroumsa, G. G., “Form(s) of God: Some Notes on Metatron and Christ,” Harvard Theological Review 76/3 (1983).Google Scholar

Stroumsa, G. G., “Mystical Descents,” in Collins, J. and Fishbane, M. (eds.), Death, Ecstasy, and Other Worldly Journeys (Albany, 1995).Google Scholar

Swartz, M. D., “Book and Tradition in Heikhalot and Magical Literature,” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 3/2, ed. Wolfson, E. and Mendes-Flohr, P. (1993).Google Scholar

Swartz, M. D., “The Book of the Great Name,” in Fine, L. (ed.), Judaism in Practice from the Middle Ages through the Early Modern Period (Princeton, 2001).Google Scholar

Swartz, M. D., “The Dead Sea Scrolls and Later Jewish Magic and Mysticism,” in Dead Sea Discoveries 8/2 (Leiden, 2001).Google Scholar

Swartz, M. D., Mystical Prayer in Ancient Judaism: An Analysis of Ma’ase Merkabah (Tübingen, 1991).

Swartz, M. D., Scholastic Magic: Ritual and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism (Princeton, 1996).

Swartz, M., Mystical Prayer in Ancient Judaism: An Analysis of Ma’asch Merkavah (Tübingen, 1992).

Chapters 15.1—22.2, in Alexander, P. S., Textual Sources for the Study of Judaism (Totowa, 1984; repr. Chicago, 1990).

Chapters 15–29, in Blumenthal, D. R., Understanding Jewish Mysticism (New York, 1978) (referred to as Pirkei Heikhalot).

Wise, M., Abegg, M., and Cook, E., The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation (San Francisco, 1996)

Wolfson, E. R., “Visionary Ascent and Enthronement in the Heikhalot Literature,” ch. 3 of Through a Speculum that Shines: Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism (Princeton, 1994).Google Scholar

Wolfson, E. R., “Yeridah la-Merkavah: Typology of Ecstasy and Enthronement in Ancient Jewish Mysticism,” in Herrera, R. A. (ed.), Mystics of the Book: Themes, Topics, and Typologies (New York, 1993).Google Scholar

Zunz, L., Die Synagogale Poesie des Mittelalters (Frankfurt, 1920).

Book contents

30 - Early forms of Jewish mysticism

Summary

Keywords

Access options

References

Save book to Kindle

Save book to Dropbox

Save book to Google Drive