The Enlightened Will Shine: Symbolization and Theurgy in the Later Strata of the Zohar

Preface

Preface This study-of a pair of voluminous works of medieval Jewish mysticism-consists of an analysis of the use of symbolism and theurgy in the texts Tiqqunei ha-Zohar (or the Tiqqunim) and Ra'aya Meheimna. Although these texts have been viewed by scholars as secondary to the rest of the lohar, they have been particularly beloved by kabbalists themselves. This study demonstrates the significance of their doctrinal contributions to theosophical Kabbalah. I was initially attracted to these works because of a discrepancy between their traditional currency and the scholarly attitude toward them. There was a tendency, among critical scholars, to dismiss them as derivative or otherwise secondary to the "main" sections of the lohar. At the same time, they were apparently well beloved by many generations of kabbalists, with more editions of Tiqqunei ha-Zohar being produced than of the lohar itself. I set out, initially, to investigate the attraction of these texts for the traditional community. The first chapter of this study distinguishes between the main sections of the lohar and the material considered Tiqqunei ha-Zohar and Ra'aya Meheimna. The second chapter addresses the author's use of kabbalistic symbolism. The anonymous author of these works presents a xv xvi Preface unified world-view that is unique and highly influential in the subsequent development of Jewish mystidsm. The hermeneutical methodology of Tiqqunei ha-Zohar is based on this author's conception of the kinnui, or symbolic euphemism, as the basis of his assodative method. The kinnui is the device through which traditional Jewish motifs are transformed into metaphysical symbols. This process of symbolization underlies the relationship of the mystic and religious authority. The author's tendency to "read" his doctrinal additions into preexistent loharic texts was important in the development of kabbalistic hermeneutics. This practice prefigured the methodology of much later exegesis of the lohar. The third chapter of this study examines the notion of a vocation of Jewish mystics, the maskilim. In the Tiqqunim, the maskil, or enlightened mystic, is the agent and interpreter of religious truth. The order of the maskilim recognizes the lohar as its mystical charter. Mystical illumination and enlightenment came from the practice of contemplative Torah study, utilizing the symbolic hermeneutic of the theosophical Kabbalah. Tiqqunei ha-Zohar and Ra'aya Meheimna portray the world as caught in an unfolding drama of catastrophe and mythic chaos. The author uses certain midrashic and loharic traditions in a judidous and characteristic manner that distinguishes them from the rest of the lohar. The fourth chapter of this study will present the author's myth of prehistory, which is based largely on the sagas of the fall of Adam and the flood. The flood accounts are metaphors for the present experience of humankind, which is distinguished by qualities of brokenness and disorder. The heightened sodal and soteric roles of the enlightened mystic, as well as the author's use of images ofstruggle, brokenness, and distension, have great effect on the development of subsequent kabbalistic movements and doctrines. Contemporary scholars have compared the role of the mystic to that of the legalist, to the detriment of the latter. This has led to some miSinterpretation of the author's relationship to the legal tradition, which the fifth chapter of this study attempts to resolve. In fact, the author makes judidous use of the tropes of Jewish law, so that the mystic's vocation at times Preface xvii overlaps with that of the legalist. In the light of this extensive use of legal material, this study demonstrates that the author harbored no antinomian attitude toward the law. This study further demonstrates that, far from being ambivalent, Tiqqunei ha-Zohar and Ra'aya Meheimna portray a unified view of this mystic's inner world. The sixth and seventh chapters analyze the theurgic character of the Tiqqunim and Ra'aya Meheimna. These works responded to the dilemmas posed by the myth of chaos with a theurgic religious practice that made wide use of his erudition in halakhah, Jewish law. The author's reinterpretations of halakhic dicta and rhetoric reflected the conditions of the fall and the flood. His use of rabbinical law and lore contradicts the scholarly opinion that there is an antinomian strain in his thought. An investigation of the rabbinic dimension of the Tiqqunim is particularly important, as the work's ascent to liturgical and canonical status is due to the perceived authenticity of the author's interpretation of classical Judaism. The specific contribution of this work...