Study of Merkabah Mysticism and Hekhalot with an appendix on Jewish Magic

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

(If you are looking for anything connected with the subject, this is a good place to start:
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The Study of Merkabah Mysticism and Hekhalot  with an appendix on Jewish Magic

http://www.digital-brilliance.com/kab/karr/mmhie.pdf



[The original version of this article appeared as an appendix to the fourth edition of A Guide to Kabbalistic Books in
English: 1977-1979, by Don Karr (Ithaca: 1982), pp. 37-40; it was reprinted in slightly expanded form in Collected Articles
on the Kabbalah, volume 1, by D. Karr (Ithaca: KoM #5, 1985), pages 17-20, which is presented below as APPENDIX 2.]

MERKABAH (= CHARIOT) MYSTICISM developed out of speculation on and expansion of the
visions of Ezekiel (chapters 1, 8, and 10) and, to a lesser extent, Isaiah (chapter 6) and Daniel
(chapter 2). This strain of mysticism meanders through the intertestamental pseudepigrapha*
and even touches corners of gnostic and Qumran texts.**
Merkabah material and references can be found in shreds, often more provocative than
telling, in the Talmud and other rabbinic writings.† However, the major concentrated
expression of merkabah mysticism is that cluster of writings which has come to be called the
hekhalot (= HEAVENLY HALLS) literature, which is the focus of this paper.

Arguments over the dating of this body of literature continue, but there is general agreement
to a range of 200-800 C.E. The bounds and structure of these writings are also matters of
dispute, for the notions of titles and fixed contents of a specific canon of hekhalot books
appear to be more academic conveniences than reflections of the true nature or state of the
literature.

Since the 'seventies, scholarly work on the hekhalot texts has increased dramatically, as the
publication dates on a clear majority of the books and articles discussed below attest. Before
this spate of academic activity, there were in English little more than Gershom Scholem's
works* and Hugo Odeberg's attempt at a critical edition of one of the hekhalot texts** to shed
light on this oblique collection of writings. Even as this lament is being recalled, no time
should be lost in acknowledging Scholem's inescapable influence on this and all other
aspects of the study of Jewish mysticism. Some of Scholem's conclusions regarding the
hekhalot have been challenged, and some of his observations on and characterizations of the
hekhalot texts have come to seem convenient, imposing order on that which is, in fact, near
chaos. Yet, Scholem's writings on this subject remain some of the clearest and best
supported. They are also among the most accessible, not only in their style but in their actual
availability. As for Odeberg, his lone work is more problematic. As significant as it was,
Odeberg's treatment of Sefer ha-Hekhalot (BOOK OF THE HEKHALOT, dubbed by Odeberg "3
Enoch") is now considered unreliable and misleading on many points. But, as contemporary
scholar David Halperin has pointed out†, Odeberg's work has "proved easier to criticize than
to emulate," for critical editions of hekhalot texts—with English translations or not—are few
indeed.

Today, however, we are in pretty fair shape to study merkabah mysticism and hekhalot texts,
though some of the leading scholars in this field publish in German†† and, of course,
Hebrew. Nevertheless, from the texts and studies now available in English, the persistent
reader can certainly gain firm impressions of (i) the contents of the hekhalot texts, (ii) the
issues captivating contemporary scholarship regarding the hekhalot texts, and (iii) the place of
the hekhalot texts in the history and development of Judaism, early Christianity, and their
mysticism.‡

In the following pages, books, sections of books, and articles on merkabah mysticism and
hekhalot literature—including translations—are described. I also discuss the various texts
associated, however loosely, with the hekhalot corpus, with indications of sources for
translations and studies of them.
_______________________________________


THE 1982 VERSION OF
Notes on the Study of Merkabah Mysticism and Hekhalot Literature
from A Guide to Kabbalistic Books in English: 1977-1979, by Don Karr (Ithaca: 1982),
pages 37-40

Additions from the slightly expanded version in Collected Articles on the Kabbalah,

VOLUME 1, by D. Karr (Ithaca: KoM #5, 1985), pages 17-20, are shown in brackets.

1.   Merkabah mysticism is the name of a mystical movement within Judaism's Talmudic and Gaonic Periods (ca. 100-1000 c. e.).  This school produced what is called the Hekhalot literature.

2.   This mysticism, ma'aseh merkabah (work of the chariot), is mentioned in the Mishna itself (in Hagigah 2:1):
The work of creation (ma'aseh bereshit) may not be expounded in the presence of two or more. The description of the chariot (merkabah) may not be expounded even in the presence of one, unless he is a sage who already understands out of his own insights.

(quoted from Lipman, Eugene. THE MISHNAH, ORAL TEACHING OF JUDAISM. [New York:] Schocken, 1974, p. 150)
3.   Implied in this quote is that merkabah mysticism, though guarded, was not outside of the rabbinic tradition. One gets the impression that it was even thought of as the supreme mystery.

4.   Just as the work of creation comprised mystical speculation on the first part of Genesis, work of the chariot comprised mystical speculation on, and amplification of, the first chapter of Ezekiel.

5.   The literature of this school describes the mystical journey through various heavens and palaces (hekhalot) leading to the ultimate vision of the throne and chariot, and, in some cases, "the figure in the form of a man" (Ezekiel 1:26).

6.   It is not the purpose of this short paper to go into detail about the development of the merkabah school or the contents of the Hekhalot texts. To a greater extent than I am capable, this work has already been done. My purpose is to inform the reader of where to look for information on the various facets of study pertaining to merkabah mysticism. I have limited myself to English sources.

7.   Historical and scholarly overviews: as it is with any study in the field of Jewish mysticism, the best place to start the investigation of merkabah mysticism is in the works of Gershom Scholem. Two of his works give excellent synopses of the subject:

MAJOR TRENDS IN JEWISH MYSTICISM (1941, Schocken repr.)
Lecture 2. Merkabah Mysticism and Jewish Gnosticism.
KABBALAH (1974, Meridian repr.) pp. 8-21, and article: Merkabah Mysticism, pp. 373-6.

For a closer look at some of the topics and scholarly concerns in merkabah mysticism, see Scholem's JEWISH GNOSTICISM, MERKABAH MYSTICISM, AND TALMUDIC TRADITION (1965, Jewish Theological Seminary). KABBALAH (as above), articles:
Chiromancy, pp. 317-9.
Meditation, pp. 369-72.
Metatron, pp. 377-81.

8.   There are a few articles and one book that analyze the connections of merkabah mysticism with the rabbinic (i.e.
Talmudic, etc.) tradition:

Bokser, Ben Zion. THE JEWISH MYSTICAL TRADITION 1981 Pilgrim Press) Chapter 2. The Talmud.
Talmudic "work of the chariot" segments are translated and introduced.
Halperin, David J. THE MERKABAH IN RABBINIC LITERATURE.
(1980, American Oriental Society)

This is a close scholarly analysis of the references to merkabah mysticism in the Mishna: Hagigah 2:1, the Tosefta:
Hagigah 2:1-7, the Palestinian Talmud 77 a-d, and the Babylonian Talmud 11b-16a.

Levy, Samson H. The Best Kept Secret of the Rabbinic Tradition, in JUDAISM 21 (4) 1972.

This takes a look at the strange case of Rabbi Simeon ben Zoma, who entered into PRDS (paradise) but came out of it "stricken."
Neusner, Jacob. The Development of the Merkavah Tradition, in THE STUDY OF JUDAISM in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period, vol 11 (2), 1971, Leiden.  Four versions of the story of Yohanan ben Zakkai and the merkabah-sermon of his disciple Eleazer ben Arakh are presented and compared to demonstrate that such a story accumulates more and more detail as it passes from earlier to later versions.

9.   In JEWISH GNOSTICISM... Scholem lists eight texts belonging to the Hekhalot literature. I shall list them here, adding one (Shiur Qoma), indicating research sources, if any exist:

a)   The Visions of Ezekiel, a mystical midrash on Ezekiel 1:1, see:
Jacobs, Louis. JEWISH MYSTICAL TESTIMONIES (1977, Schocken) Chapter Three: The Riders of the Chariot and Those Who Enter the Heavenly Halls. Introduction and text of Visions... Marmorstein, A. A Fragment of the Visions of Ezekiel, in JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW, New Series #8 (1917-18).  Translation and discussion.

b)   The Lesser Hekhalot, possibly the oldest. In English, there are only spot translations in Scholem's JEWISH GNOSTICISM... and MAJOR TRENDS...

c)   The Greater Hekhalot, the best covered of the texts for our purposes. Besides spot translations (see Scholem as listed in b) there are Blumenthal, David R. UNDERSTANDING JEWISH MYSTICISM: A Source Reader (1978, Ktav) [pp. 53-91] Blumenthal introduces and presents translations of The Greater Hekhalot, Chs. 15-29:5.

[Kaplan, Aryeh. MEDITATION AND KABBALAH. (1982, Weiser) pp. 41-54. Kaplan introduces the Greater Hekhalot and translates Chapters 1, 2, and 16-26.]
Schiffman, Lawrence. The Recall of Rabbi Nehuniah ha-Qanah from Ecstasy in the Hekhlaot Rabbati, in AJS REVIEW vol I, 1976.
In Hekhalot Rabbati, R. Nehuniah is pulled out of his ecstasy by his disciples by making him ever-so-slightly ritually impure. This tale is given scholarly treatment in Schiffman's article.

Smith, Morton. Observations on Hekhalot Rabbati, in BIBLICAL AND OTHER STUDIES, ed. A. Altmann (Harvard U.  Press, 1963). This [article] summarizes and analyzes the contents [of Hekhalot Rabbati], presenting a translated excerpt of The Great Magical Papyrus of Paris for the sake of comparison.
(M. Smith has translated The Greater Hekhalot in its entirety, but it has not been published. Indeed, it exists, as far as I know, in typescript, with corrections jotted in the margins and scribbled over the text by Gershom Scholem.)

d)   Merkabah Rabbah. I know of no English sources for this.

e)   A titleless Hekhalot. Scholem gives a transcription of this text in Hebrew in an appendix to JEWISH GNOSTICISM..., but I know of no other sources for information on this.

------------


The "Core Group" of Hekhalot Texts

§ numbers given in braces { ... } are section numbers from Synopse zur Hekhalot Litertur
(Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1981—see note †† on page 2)
A. Hekhalot Rabbati [THE GREATER PALACES] (HR) {§§ 81-306}
Translations:

1. HR chapters 1-30, translated in the early 1940s by Morton Smith from an
unpublished edition prepared by G. Scholem and C. Wirszubski which was never
published; my transcription of this is now online at

http://www.digital-brilliance.com/kab/k ... /index.htm

2. HR chapters 15-29, prepared by Lauren Grodner, in David R. Blumenthal's
Understanding Jewish Mysticism (New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1978), where it is
referred to as "Pirkei Heikalot."

3. HR chapters 1, 2, and 16-26, in Aryeh Kaplan's Meditation and Kabbalah (York Beach:
Samuel Weiser, 1982).

4. HR chapters 15:1-22:2 (with omissions), in Philip S. Alexander's Textual Sources for
the Study of Judaism (Totowa: Barnes and Noble, 1984; rpt., University of Chicago
Press, 1990).

5. HR chapters 13-17 {§§ 198-224}, in Joseph Dan, The Heart and Fountain: An
Anthology of Jewish Mystical Experiences (Oxford – New York: Oxford University Press,
2002): CHAPTER 1.

6. HR chapters 5 and 6 {§§ 107-121} (The Story of the Ten Martyrs up to the First
Apocalypse), "annotated translation" = APPENDIX C of Ra'anan Abusch's
dissertation, FROM MARTYR TO MYSTIC (listed above: 2005 • Boustan).

----------------



HEKHALOT RABBATI
היכלות רבתי

THE GREATER TREATISE CONCERNING THE PALACES OF HEAVEN

translated from the Hebrew and Aramaic by
Morton Smith
corrected by
Gershom Scholem
transcribed and edited with notes by
Don Karr
Translation

http://www.digital-brilliance.com/kab/k ... HekRab.pdf

------------

Notes on the Study of Merkabah Mysticism and Hekhalot Literature

 from A Guide to Kabbalistic Books in English: 1977-1979,

by Don Karr (Ithaca: 1982),
pages 37-40

Additions from the slightly expanded version in Collected Articles on the Kabbalah,
VOLUME 1, by D. Karr (Ithaca: KoM #5, 1985), pages 17-20, are shown in brackets.

1. Merkabah mysticism is the name of a mystical movement within
Judaism's Talmudic and Gaonic Periods (ca. 100-1000 c. e.).
This school produced what is called the Hekhalot literature.

2. This mysticism, ma'aseh merkabah (work of the chariot), is
mentioned in the Mishna itself (in Hagigah 2:1):
The work of creation (ma'aseh bereshit) may not be
expounded in the presence of two or more. The description
of the chariot (merkabah) may not be expounded even in the
presence of one, unless he is a sage who already understands
out of his own insights.

(quoted from Lipman, Eugene. THE MISHNAH, ORAL TEACHING
OF JUDAISM. [New York:] Schocken, 1974, p. 150)
3. Implied in this quote is that merkabah mysticism, though
guarded, was not outside of the rabbinic tradition. One gets
the impression that it was even thought of as the supreme
mystery.

4. Just as the work of creation comprised mystical speculation on
the first part of Genesis, work of the chariot comprised
mystical speculation on, and amplification of, the first
chapter of Ezekiel.

5. The literature of this school describes the mystical journey
through various heavens and palaces (hekhalot) leading to the
ultimate vision of the throne and chariot, and, in some cases,
"the figure in the form of a man" (Ezekiel 1:26).

6. It is not the purpose of this short paper to go into detail
about the development of the merkabah school or the contents
of the Hekhalot texts. To a greater extent than I am capable,
this work has already been done. My purpose is to inform the
reader of where to look for information on the various facets
of study pertaining to merkabah mysticism. I have limited
myself to English sources.