Merkavah Mysticism Research Articles

“Mystical Spirituality” in Second Temple Period Judaism? Light from the Decorated Stone in the Magdala Synagogue

While “Merkavah mysticism” as a religious movement is a phenomenon of Late Ancient and Medieval Judaism, scholars have debated whether the origins of this movement are traceable to traditions of the divine Merkavah (chariot-throne) preserved in some early Jewish apocalyptic literature from the Second Temple period. Furthermore, scholars have emphasized that these early Merkavah traditions reflect individualistic religious experiences that emerged historically in contexts of small esoteric groups of initiates who claimed a privileged experience and knowledge of the divine. In this article, I wish to do two things: (1) to establish methodologically the point that, from an analytical perspective, we can, indeed, speak of a kind of Jewish “mystical spirituality” present in the Second Temple period akin to later Jewish mystical traditions; and (2) to argue that, in light of some iconographic features on the decorated stone from the first-century synagogue at Magdala, early Jewish “mystical spirituality” was not a phenomenon restricted to the individual but could also involve an assembled community’s experience of divine presence.

Merkavah Mysticism and Visions of Power in Early Eighteenth-Century Russia: The New Year Panegyrics of Stefan Javorskij, 1703–1706

This article analyses four New Year panegyrics delivered by Stefan Javorskij between 1703 and 1706. More specifically, a study is undertaken of the ways in which Javorskij incorporated elements of Merkavah Mysticism, based on the vision of an ascending chariot in the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, into his works. Ezekiel's vision of a chariot has played an extremely influential role in Jewish and Christian mystical traditions, and in this article an attempt is made to interpret its place in early eighteenth-century Russian cultural history. The panegyric played a vital role in Petrine scenarios of power, and thus a study of how Javorskij mixed Merkavah symbolism, alongside astrological, apocalyptic and Cabbalistic themes, broadens our understanding of this pivotal period in Russian history.

Ronald Williamson and the background of Hebrews

In 1976 Ronald Williamson published a brief article in the Expository Times suggesting that an early form of Merkavah mysticism best explains some of the distinctive features of Hebrews. The purpose of the present article is to revisit this suggestion in the light of subsequent research, and to set forth a revised and more robust version.

‘Who touched my clothes?’: The Healing of the Woman with the Haemorrhage (Mark 5: 24–34; Luke 8: 42–48 and Matthew 9: 19–22) in Early Medieval Visual Culture

within the biblical miraculous healings, the story of the Haemorrhoissa (the haemorrhaging woman) has a special place (Mark 5: 24–34; Luke 8: 42–48 and Matthew 9: 19–22). The healing takes place th...

RA'ANAN S. BOUSTAN, From Martyr to Mystic: Rabbinic Martyrology and the Making of Merkavah Mysticism

RA'ANAN S. BOUSTAN, From Martyr to Mystic: Rabbinic Martyrology and the Making of Merkavah Mysticism

From Martyr to Mystic: Rabbinic Martyrology and the Making of Merkavah Mysticism

From Martyr to Mystic: Rabbinic Martyrology and the Making of Merkavah Mysticism

Ra’anan S. Boustan, From Martyr to Mystic, Rabbinic Martyrology and the Making of Merkavah Mysticism

Ra’anan S. Boustan, From Martyr to Mystic, Rabbinic Martyrology and the Making of Merkavah Mysticism

The Liturgy of the Messiah: The Apocalypse of David in Hekhalot Literature

The connection between literature and Merkavah mysticism occupies a prominent place in the study of Hekhalot literature. The text most frequently adduced in scholarly research is the Hebrew book of Enoch, which has been characterized as a grand summary of the Jewish and mystical traditions.1 Since Gershom Scholem's account of early Jewish mysticism, the notion that traditions live on in Hekhalot literature has been generally accepted. Scholem emphasized that the Merkavah mystic's heavenly journey, the goal of which lies in beholding God on his throne, is tied to a vision of the Messianic end.2 For Scholem, the connection between throne mysticism and the messianic idea finds expression in just those short apocalyptic chapters3 which were included in the various tracts, and which for Scholem belonged to the core of Hekhalot literature.4 These short text units can be clearly differentiated from their immediate context on the basis of formal characteristics. Their

Jesus, the Merkavah, and Martyrdom in Early Christian Tradition

Proquest Information and Learning: Foreign text ommited.) Scholars have identified Dan 7:14 as merkavah vision, vision of God's throne, and as source text for an early Jewish form of mysticism called merkavah mysticism.1 9 As I watched, thrones were set in place, and an of took his throne, his clothing white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and its wheels were burning fire. 10 A stream of fire issued and flowed out from his presence. A thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand stood attending him. The court sat in judgment and the books were opened. 11 I watched then because of the noise of the arrogant words that the horn was speaking. And as I watched, the beast was put to death, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for season and 13 As I watched in the night visions, I saw like son of coming on the clouds of heaven. And he came to the of and was presented before him. 14 To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is that shall never pass away, and his kingship is that shall never be destroyed. (Dan 7:9-14)2 While early Christian literature does not refer to Dan 7:9-14 as often as it does to Ps 110:1, the most quoted passage from the Jewish Bible in the NT, there are several uses that demonstrate its importance for the mystical interests of early Christians.3 This vision of Dan 7 has several elements that reappear in the Acts of the Apostles, Revelation, and the early-third-century text The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas. These texts all share an interest in captive visionaries, enthroned figures, empowered beings who are standing, and threatening circumstances. As group, they demonstrate how merkavah vision became associated with martyrdom. I. Daniel 7 The vision in Dan 7:9-14 is the second half of lengthy vision that begins in 7:2. The visionary, Daniel, is described in this second-century B.C.E. text as an exilic Jew (Dan 1:3-7) who lived as captive under the administration of the Babylonians and the Persians (Dan 5:30-31) and found his life under threat (Dan 6:1-28). The vision in Dan 7:2-8 begins with sequence of four beasts, the fourth of which is terrifying and destructive. After Daniel's description of the fourth beast, the vision of Dan 7:9-14 follows. Here figure identified as an Ancient of Days with white hair takes his dazzling throne in court scene involving thousands of attendants. Judgment follows; the destruction of the fourth beast is announced; and the three other beasts find their lives prolonged for a season and time. As the vision continues Daniel sees an unnamed figure called one like son of man, who, after coming with the clouds of heaven, is presented before the Ancient of Days and is given everlasting dominion over all peoples. Scholarly debate has focused on the unnamed figure called the one like son of man referred to in Dan 7:13-14. Interpreters are divided over whether this figure is symbolic or an individual, usually heavenly being.4 The history of interpretation behind this passage shows how both options have been popular.5 Early Christian interpreters identified Jesus as the one like son of man, and several identified Jesus as the one like son of man who is standing. Christians were not alone in arguing for specific identity for this anonymous figure. Other Jewish groups had their candidates: Enoch, Metatron, Seth, Abel, and Michael.6 2 Ezra 13 is of the very few texts to refer to the one like son of man of Dan 7:13-14 without identifying the figure. II. Acts 7 The vision attributed to Stephen in Acts 7:54-60 includes several characteristics that illustrate its probable use of Dan 7. …

Merkavahmystikken mellem tradition og innovation

The aim of this article is to show how early Jewish mystics made a new interpretation of the tradition, i.e. the theology of their time and by doing so, they went far off their orthodox tradition. For many years the questions of when and from where did the Merkavah mysticism develop have been a subject of discussion among researchers in Rabbinic Judaism. In the main section of the article I focus on two of the so-called makroforms, i.e. longer rather homogenous passages of texts, which are Hekhalot Zutarti and Ma’aseh Merkavah. In those texts we find a lot of magical statements and if we compare this to the traditional view of God at that time (about 200–600 C.E.), we can hardly deny that at least some of the mystics moved behind the limit of orthodoxy, or should we say, the theology of tradition. But that does not necessarily force us to give up the view that at least some of the mystics could have belonged to rabbinic circles – this is still an open question.

Om "mystik", Hekhalot-litteraturen, og dens syn på forholdet mellem Gud og Metatron

The question of the right labelling of the traditions in the pseudephigraphical Hekhalot literature has often been asked among researchers in Judaism. In this article I have tried to show that ‘mysticism’ is an adequate term of these traditions. My main concern is, however, to point to an interesting problem concerning two central figures in the Merkavah mysticism, i.e. God and Metatron, the “head” of angels. Saul Lieberman has shown that the name Metatron is probably derivated from two Greek words, which brings us to the supposition that there exists an extraordinary close relation between the two characters. This supposition is confirmed, when we look at some sections of the manuscripts. Metatron is often called “Little JHVH” or “Little Lord”, and in the macroform Merkavah Rabba the climax is reached by the sentence “JHVH the God of Israel, and this is Metatron”.

Mystical Prayer in Ancient Judaism: An Analysis of Ma'aseh Markavah (review)

Hebrew Studies 35 (1994) 227 Reviews (The Ashkenazic Jews, p. 116). What would Spolsky and Cooper say about Yiddish Hebraisms that denote non-Jewish versions of a general concept , like !eygec (Christian boy), which comes from the Hebrew seqec (abomination)? At one point Spolsky and Cooper offer a choice of two unfelicitous formulations : "Judaeo-Greek...was...replaced by Judaeo-Romance and later Yiddish" (p. 30) and "Judaeo-Romance...developed from [Judaeo-Greek)" (p. 32). The first implies that Greek-speaking Jews switched directly to Yiddish (when, where?), while the second calls for the genetic reclassification of "Judeo-Romance"! The topic of Hebrew "revitalization" has no place in this volume, since it took place largely outside of Jerusalem in the newly founded agricultural settlements. Moreover, Modem Hebrew is not a revitalized form of Old Semitic Hebrew, since unspoken languages cannot be resurrected in the total absence of native speakers; in reality Modem Hebrew is a form of Yiddish which was relexified to Biblical Hebrew (see my "Yiddish-the Fifteenth Slavic language," The Ashkenazic Jews, and The Schizoid Nature ofModern Hebrew, A Slavic Language in Search ofa Semitic Past [Wiesbaden, 1990]). Some interesting remarks are offered only in passing, for example, that North African Jews "adapted" (how, when?) their native language to local Jerusalem Arabic (p. 35). The authors say a discussion of Jewish multilingualism in Jerusalem at the time of Christ is a prerequisite to understanding the contemporary scene (p. 18). Possibly, but why? The specialist will find nothing new in this book, while the uninitiated reader will be left in a daze. Its only value is to show how not to do sociolinguistics . Paul Wexler Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978 ISRAEL MYSTICAL PRAYER IN ANCIENT JUDAISM: AN ANALYSIS OF MA'ASEH MARKAVAH. By Michael D. Swartz. Texte und Studien zum Antiken Judentum 28. pp. x + 268. TUbingen: Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1992. Cloth. Michael Swartz' Mystical Prayer in Ancient Judaism translates and analyzes Ma'aseh Merkavah, one of the loosely-defined corpus of hekhalot Hebrew Studies 35 (1994) 228 Reviews (palace) or merkavah (chariot) texts once championed by Scholem and now the focus of a flurry of scholarship. This dense and often mystifying text includes both ascent hymns and rituals for summoning angels presented in reported dialogue between Rabbi Ishmael, Rabbi Akiba, and Rabbi Nehuniah ben HaQannah. Swartz explains that the study's purpose is "to illuminate the historical question of the development of Merkavah mysticism as a system of apprehension of and communication with the Divine in Judaism of Late Antiquity...and] also an assessment of the role of prayer in this process of development" (pp. 4-5). The method he uses is a version of form criticism, breaking the dialogic frames and the embedded prayers into individual lines and then looking for evidence of the methods of composition. This is very difficult material to work with, and Swartz has produced a careful and thoughtful study. He argues that the text has four main sections, the first and last consisting of ascent material while the middle two contain angel-summoning rituals. He is able to correlate these divisions with variations in the manuscript tradition (for example, Section 3 is lacking in some versions). His analysis reveals the "seams" in this composite text and shows the strategy of the editor who tried to give some semblance of order to the liturgical material by means of the narrative frame. Some of the most convincing points he makes are based on his observations about composition. For example, he can point to the lack of agreement between some narrative frames and the prayers they introduce, arguing that these disjunctions are evidence that the prayers and frames were not composed simultaneously. Thus, the frames in Section 1 do not appear to have been written specifically for the prayers they introduce, while in Section 2 Swartz finds closer coordination between the frames and the prayers. He explains, ''The passages which frame these names...explicitly mention that a name is to be recited, and that the practitioner is to receive protection or benefit from this recitation," and the material framed fits with this description. Here he strengthens Scholem's struggle to see this abstruse text as...

A Commentary on Derech Ereẓ Zuta: Chapters Five to Eight (review)

Hebrew Studies 33 (1992) 163 Reviews A COMMENTARY ON DERECH ERE~ ZUTA: CHAPTERS FIVE TO EIGHT. By Daniel Sperber. Pp. 190. Ramat-Gan, Israel: Barl1an University, 1990. Cloth. Derekh 'Eres Zuta is one of the so-called "external tractates" of the Talmud. This text, having circulated in various forms throughout the Middle Ages, was included in most printed editions of the Talmud and was edited and analyzed critically by Michael Higger in 1929 and 1935. Daniel Sperber has previously published Hebrew commentaries to Derekh 'Eres Zuta (1979 and 1982) and a deluxe edition of chap. 11 (Pereq ha-Shalom), entitled Great is Peace (1974). A Commentary on Derech Ere? Zuta: Chapters Five to Eight is the second of three projected volumes comprising Derekh 'Eres Zuta and the first to appear. Volumes 1 and 3 will include a detailed introduction, indices, and bibliographies; these will increase the usefulness of this set considerably. This three-volume commentary on Derekh 'Eres Zuta will then become part of a projected series of "Rabbinic Wisdom Literature." The present volume consists of a translation of and commentary to what is known as Derekh 'Eres Zecira (chaps. 5-8 of the Vilna edition), together with a vocalized version of Higger's Hebrew text. Selected variants are listed with the Hebrew text, including those of the Vilna edition. Helpfully, Sperber prints these variants alongside of the main text rather than at the bottom. Although he follows Higger's text, the order of chapters and statements is that of the Vilna edition. The translation is clear and as literal as possible, in contrast to Higger's more idiomatic rendition. As those familiar with Sperber's reputation as a leader in the lexicography of Rabbinic language would expect, the translation and rich philological notes are themselves worthy of attention, regardless of one's interest in Derekh 'Eres Zuta per se. The commentary covers a remarkably wide range of sources and parallels. Along with the direct parallels in Rabbinic and post-talmudic literature, medieval ethical literature and responsa are mined for material on the customs, mores, and halakhic considerations behind Derekh 'Eres Zura's teachings. These literatures extend well past the time of Dereklz 'Eres Zura's composition, and the reader will have to decide how these sources can contribute to a more strictly historical account of the background of the text. Sperber is particularly good at explaining the halakhic basis for Derekh 'Eres Zuta's dicta. For example, the exhortation against idleness (6:5) is certainly a common- Hebrew Studies 33 (1992) 164 Reviews place in wisdom literature, but, as Sperber points out (pp. 96-97), it also has a basis in halakhic exegesis of the clause "six days shall you labor." Derekh 'Ere$ Zuta raises several literary, historical, and even phenomenological issues, for both specialists and non-specialists. Indeed, the volume "is directed not only at students of Rabbinic Literature, but also classicists, and to a lesser extent medievalists" (pp. 8-9). Several ways can be suggested in which the text might be of interest to these audiences. For students of Judaism in Late Antiquity, this commentary focuses attention on what might be called "Rabbinic Apocrypha," or the extracanonical Rabbinic literature. (These terms suppose a rather broad application of the term "canon.") These tractates contain material having its origin in Tannaitic and Amoraic times, but were probably compiled in the late Amoraic or Geonic periods. It is to be hoped that interest in the extracanonical tractates may also draw the attention of a wider scholarly public to such collections as are found in C. Horowitz's Tose/ta Atiqta (1889) and the so-called minor midrashim. Such works often reflect subtle differences in emphasis or ideology from "canonical" Talmuds and midrashim. A striking example is Braita de-Massekhet Niddah (discussed on p. 130, n. 54), which differs in its restrictiveness from talmudic teaching on menstrual purity, and some of whose attitudes may have been adopted by the authors of Hekhalot literature (see S. Lieberman's remarks in I. Gruenwald, Apocalyptic and Merkavah Mysticism [1980], pp. 241244 ; and Y. Dinari in TeCudah 3 [1983]: 17-37). The historical and social implications of these differences deserve exploration. Although Derekh 'Eres Zwa...

Merkavah Mysticism and Rabbinic Judaism

Merkavah Mysticism and Rabbinic Judaism

New Testament and Hekhalot Literature: The Journey into Heaven in Paul and in Merkavah Mysticism

New Testament and Hekhalot Literature: The Journey into Heaven in Paul and in Merkavah Mysticism

Comparing Merkavah Mysticism and Gnosticism: An Essay in Method

L'A. rappelle l'ouvrage marquant de G. Scholem: Jewish Gnosticism, Merkavah Mysticism and Talmudic Tradition (1960). Malgre toutes les critiques qui ont ete avancees, il estime que des paralleles significatifs existent entre les deux courants. Il se propose ici d'evaluer les modeles qui puissent expliquer les similarites entre gnosticisme et mystique du Char, tout en soulignant la complexite du probleme. Quatre modeles. Modele A: influence directe. Modele B: influence indirecte. Modele C: ascendance commune. Modele D: developpement parallele. L'A. est en faveur d'une combinaison des modeles B, C et D. Annexe: tableau synoptique des modeles.

Apocalyptic and Merkavah Mysticism

Apocalyptic and Merkavah Mysticism