Jewish Mysticism Essay #1

Reality is an illusion; the world around us is created merely by our reaction to its existence. Without the world, we would have no perception of its being, and without perception, we would have no understanding of the world. Thus, reality exists outside of our human minds, and it is how we construct, through our senses, our surroundings and the roles we play within them that determine our beliefs, behaviors, and teachings. Through this lens, it is beneficial to view a society as a map, and its peoples’ practices, standards, and conduct as their means of direction, allowing them to transport to their designated place in society and perform tasks expected of them. However, a map only represents an abstraction of reality, portraying only the necessary points, lines, and information required to fulfill its purpose, and the directions used to travel this map are products of this abstraction. Similarly, people’s perception of the society they inhabit are abstract, and entirely dependent on the eyes of the perceivers; so, the norms regarding beliefs and behavior are also products of an abstraction, and can be adjusted in response to varying contexts. This assertion has arguably held true for all of time, and can help explain the indisputable relationship between religion, culture, and society that has materialized throughout history. In particular, the development and discourse of medieval Kabbalah is attributable to the cultural context of the medieval times, specifically in Southern France and Spain, and the Jewish people’s response to their perceived role and place on this particular map. These times were dominated by Christian and Muslim rule, and rabbinic Judaism was consequently deemed inferior due to the heavy influence of claims made by these religions. While a map cannot be rewritten if its purpose is to accurately reflect the represented territory, the directions taken can be altered to arrive at the desired destination. For Jews, Kabbalah was a new set of directions that did not change the culture or environment in which they were living in, but altered the way in which they imagined themselves and the effects of their actions within this domain, in order to arrive at a place of seeming superiority and power. Taking a contexualist approach, experiences, both physical and spiritual, are largely impacted by one’s surrounding defined social forces and societal norms within a community as a result of one’s culture. Cultural transmission is responsible for adopted conventions of behavior, and religion is a means of interpreting one’s role in the universe through certain practices and prayer; thus, various religions rise out of different cultures and there is an undeniable link between one’s cultural context and the success or failure of religious discourse. Rabbinic Judaism transformed into a scriptural religion after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E., and heavily focused on the traditions of Jewish law offered by the written and oral Torah (composed of the Mishnah and Gemara), so it is appropriate to analyze the evolution and surprising acceptance of Kabbalah amongst many Jews. According to Jonathon Z. Smith, “…what we study when we study religion is the variety of attempts to map, construct and inhabit such positions of power through the use of myths, rituals, and experiences of transformation.”1 Such is the case when Kabbalah is studied; it is not the actual traditions and knowledge shared among Kabbalists that are specifically significant, although important, but rather it is the study of the religious discourse of Kabbalah and its embracement that is especially notable. It is helpful to view every self not as a separate or independent existence, but rather regard the Jewish people as a collective whole during the time of the Middle Ages. Based on what we know today about Kabbalah, an assumption can be made that there was a collective recognition made by Jews of the need for new directions and liberation from their stagnant, suppressed place in society, and this came in the form of Jewish mysticism. In essence, “the uncovering of kabbalistic secrets is justified as a necessity brought on by circumstance.”2 The emphasis placed on viewing Jews as a whole during the emergence of medieval Kabbalah highlights the presumption that Kabbalah gained enough cultural capital at this time to be deemed authentic and valuable in society, and reflects a certain social power gained in response to their pleas for authority. The rise of Kabbalah started in the twelfth century, and gained traction throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in medieval France and Spain – a time and place considered vulnerable and weak for Jews and their religion. As a result of this, Jews questioned the very basis of rabbinic Judaism; that is, their covenant with God, in which they believed the practice of Jewish law would be reciprocated with protection from God. However, despite being deemed lesser than Christians and Muslims, Jews were often utilized as transmitters of knowledge, and particularly “played an important role in the advancement of what has come to be called the Alfonsine Renaissance, of the mid-thirteenth century in Castile [Spain].”3 Under King Alfonso X’s rule, Jews provided translations, as well as historical and scientific works.4 These roles played by Jews opened the opportunity to create a fantasy of superiority. Perhaps the most paramount view of Jews at this time was the idea that they held esoteric, secret knowledge, which later gave rise to the creation of medieval Kabbalah. The inferiority inflicted on the Jewish people triggered:
…a desire to navigate this incongruity by constructing a worldview that enables Jews to imagine themselves as masters of secrets, with the capacity to bring harmony to the Godhead and sustenance to the world while at the same time embracing the tensions of mystery and paradox as central feature of reality, both cosmic and divine.5

Kabbalah as an esoteric, received tradition is the foremost aspect responsible for its successful discourse. The basis of Kabbalah is the claim to secret knowledge of God’s inner life, and the idea that the Divine truth is in fact not a mystery, but revealed exclusively to the Jews through Moses at Mount Sinai. They believed themselves to be the true knowers of God as descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because the covenant was revealed to Moses for the Israelites, not Christians, thus providing legitimacy to their claim of theosophy, or the idea of knowledge of the Divine truth. The Rabbis of the Middle Ages were said to hold the knowledge of the “Merkavah,” or Chariot, as described in the narrative of the Four Who Entered the Pardes. In this narrative, the realm of the Divine world is depicted as complex and sometimes dangerous for those who cannot handle it. Most importantly, God is described as visible, though he can mostly be seen when he is concealed.6 This use of aphoasis, or paradoxes, and the idea of a chain of transmission from the Rabbis to the people cultivated the foundation of Kabbalah. Specifically, the assertion that the Divine truth can never be derived by human reason, only divulged from Kabbalist to Kabbalist, strategically disseminated the claimed esoteric knowledge to the Jewish masses. Kabbalists look to the Sefer Yetzirah, or Book of Formation, for an understanding of the secrets of God’s creation of the universe, and a description of God’s inner life. The Sefer Yetsirah says the world was created by means of “thirty-two pathways of wisdom,” comprised of the ten sefirot and twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.7 In Kabbalah, the ten sefirot are believed to be a mechanism for the transmission of actions and prayer between the Divine world and the physical, earthly world. Accordingly, Kabbalists firmly believe in theurgic power, or power created by means of behavior and the practice of Jewish law in the world. By practicing Jewish law, the ten sefirot embrace one another and is where convergence happens between opposites, or the infinite world meets the finite world. The Sefer Yetzirah attributes the existence of the physical world to the moment of creation, depicted as a rupture of the divine fabric, in which the finite creates a limitation in the infinite of the Divine. Thus, it is the responsibility of the Jews to conduct themselves under the body of Jewish law from the written and oral Torah, also known as Halakha, in order to allow Divine light to flow down the ten sefirot, as well as amend flaws in the Divine realm. According to Gershom Scholem, “the Kabbalists lived in the world of the Law, the Halakha, and were passionately devoted to it, but in their hands the demythicized Law became the vehicle of a new mythical consciousness.”8 In regard to thinking of Kabbalah as a new set of directions for the map of the Middle Ages, the sefirot can be viewed as the roads or highways that act as a means of transportation, allowing the Kabbalists to get from where they were currently to their desired destination – united with Ein Sof, the endless infinite essence of God. It is important to note that the actions of Jews were not changing from what was required of them in rabbinic Judaism, and their place and treatment in the medieval society remained the same. According to Joseph of Hamadan:
With regard to the souls of Israel, which is the nation close to the Holy One, blessed be He, of whom it is said, “Israel, the people, close to him” (Ps. 148:14), he mourns over them and purifies them and causes them to cleave to their Creator, and he descends to an impure land to receive their souls so that the damaging spirits will not hold sway over them… but with regard to gentiles, who are the foreign peoples of the world, he does not render impure and he does not mourn over them, rather, he destroys them.”9

Through this notion, it can be seen that Kabbalists justified their mistreatment and inferiority in the physical world by claiming that they were being purified for eventual union with the Divine, and Christians do not need such purification because they will never know the Divine truth. So, while Jewish behavior remained the same, Kabbalists’ perceptions of themselves, and the consequences of their practices, were radically different. To them, the universe was like a puzzle, and only Kabbalists held all of the pieces to solve it. The Sefer Yetzirah also suggests that the secrets of creation involving letters and words are revealed so that human beings, specifically Jewish males, were able to echo them, with language lessening the gap between God and the Jewish people. It is asserted that “if one can combine the letters properly, one can reenact the creative process used by God himself in the formation of the world.”10 Furthermore, Mishna #3 divulges that, “the ‘Covenant of the Only one’ or ‘covenant of the Unique one’ appears to be composed of the other two elements. One element is the ‘word of the tongue,’ i.e., speech, and the other is the ‘covenant of the nakedness,’ i.e., the circumcised male organ.”11 Thus, there is great emphasis placed on the Jewish male body, because Kabbalists believe their covenant with God is mapped onto themselves, and the union of the body and soul is where the Divine and physical converge. Based on these teachings, Kabbalists perceive Jewish male souls as incarnations of God in the physical world, classifying Kabbalah as both an androcentric and ethnocentric tradition. Kabbalah is also considered a somatic tradition, which pertains to law that has to do with the body, because of the prominence placed on the physical actions of Jewish males. Examples of this include the recitation of “Holy, Holy, Holy,” which is believed to have an affect on the Divine realm,12 and the following of the positive commandments and neglect of the negative commandments. In addition, they believed sexual activity and reproduction were holy acts, in an effort to further stimulate the procreation of Jewish males, regarded as holy sons.13 In essence, it is as though Kabbalists are looking into a mirror, and whatever their physical bodies do, their reflection, which corresponds to the spiritual realm, performs the same. This supports the belief that the performance of Jewish law reaches into “Ayyin,” or nothingness, and brings forth the fabrics of the Earth. However, a distinction must be clarified that the Jewish people are viewed as God’s substitutes, not subordinates; Jewish law is God’s obligation, but Jews perform it for him. Similar to how a map is designed to help carry out a designated task, Kabbalah gave purpose to the map they were following by providing a means to carry out God’s work.
The emergence and acceptance of Kabbalah could have arguably only occurred or been deemed necessary because of the co-existence of Christianity during this time in the Middle Ages. Various differences in beliefs and behaviors exist between Christianity and Judaism, and with the rise of Christian dominance over Jews, it is fair to assume that Kabbalah transpired in response to the incessant controversy. Both religions viewed themselves as the true Israelites, creating a struggle for power and superiority. According to Joseph Gikatilla, “Jacob [is configured] according to the pure form of Adam before sinned. Therefore, the people of Israel are called ‘first fruits’ of the Lord, may he be blessed, and they are called the first born, for they are the initiation of creation.”14 Kabbalah appears to offer responses to the most prominent assertions made by Christians, providing Jews with a perceived platform of authority during a time of weakness. For example, Christianity stresses the importance of faith and beliefs, while Kabbalists believe the practice, or behaviors, associated with Jewish law is paramount, having a direct causal effect on the Divine world. Christians believe in the death and resurrection of their Messiah as Jesus Christ, while Kabbalists claim they die and resurrect through prayer each day. Also, Christians do not view the body as sacred entity, but rather as something that needs to be overcome through faith, while Kabbalists assert that their bodies give means to becoming “cosmic heroes.” Based on these contrasts, it seems as though Kabbalah provided the Jewish people with the opportunity to alter their self-identities that were previously shaped by their negative cultural context in the Middle Ages.
The “Kabbalistic Revolution” surfaced only when there was a collective consensus made by the Jewish people that they were in need of an outlet for liberation, and the preservation of Kabbalistic texts and its successful religious discourse throughout time suggest that Kabbalah acted as that outlet. It seems as though Jews kept finding themselves getting lost in the outskirts on the map of the Middle Ages, and Kabbalah was a source of new direction that guided them toward the middle, where they believed to be superior and one with God. It is unclear whether or not Kabbalah would have been developed or preserved if their culture or place in society had been different. However, most evidence leads to the belief that their surrounding culture at the time acted as a major stimulus in placing the Jewish people on the societal map, and necessitating the need for new direction, in the form of Kabbalah, to transport from where they were, to where they wanted to be.

Notes
1. Smith, Map is Not Territory, 291
2. Lachter, Kabbalistic Revolution, 28
3. Lachter, Kabbalistic Revolution, 16
4. Lachter, Kabbalistic Revolution, 17
5. Lachter, Kabbalistic Revolution, 9
6. The Life of the Torah: Four Who Entered the Pardes, 737
7. Kaplan, Sefer Yetzirah, 15
8. Scholem, On the Kabbalah, 95
9. Joseph of Hamadan, “Sefer Ta’amey Ha-Mitzvoth,” Meier ed., 203
10. Kaplan, Sefer Yetzirah, 23
11. Kaplan, Sefer Yetzirah,16
12. Mayse, From the Depths of the Well, 8
13. Lachter, Kabbalistic Revolution, 93
14. Joseph Gikatilla, Sha’arei Orah, ben Shlomo ed, 1:257

Bibliography
Primary Texts
Joseph Gikatilla. Sha’arei Orah. Edited by Joseph Ben Shlomo. 2 vols. Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1981.

Joseph of Hamadan. A Critical Edition of the “Sefer Ta’amey Ha-Mitzwoth (Book of Reasonss of the Commandments). Edited by Menahem Meier. Ph.D. diss., Brandeis University, 1974.

Life of the Torah “Four Who Entered the Pardes.” Jerusalem Talmud Hagigah 2:1.

Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation). Edited by Aryeh Kaplan. Newburyport: Weiser Books, 1990.

Secondary Literature
Lachter, Hartley. Kabbalistic Revolution : Reimagining Judaism in Medieval Spain. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2014.

Mayse, Ariel Evan. From the Depths of the Well: An Anthology of Jewish Mysticism. Mahwah: Paulist Press, 2014.

Scholem, Gershom. Alchemy and Kabbalah. Translated by Klaus Ottoman. New Orleans: Spring Publications, 2006.

Smith, Jonathon Z. Map is Not Territory: Studies in the History of Religions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.