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Melila Hellner-Eshed is a Lecturer in the Department of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a Senior Fellow at the Shalom Hartmann Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.

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A RIVER FLOWS FROM EDEN

STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Contents

Acknowledgments...............................................................................................................xiiiIntroduction..................................................................................................................1The Structure of This Book....................................................................................................2Methodological and Personal Reflections.......................................................................................5The Basic Structures of the Composition and Its Performative Aspects..........................................................10The Internal Coherence of the Zohar's Language................................................................................17Definitions of Mysticism......................................................................................................19Overview of Zohar Research....................................................................................................23PART I THE ZOHAR'S HEROES: RABBI SHIM'ON BAR YOHAI AND THE COMPANIONS.........................................................291. The Figure of Rabbi Shim'on bar Yohai......................................................................................31Rabbi Shim'on, Moses, and Rabbi Akiva.........................................................................................37Rabbi Shim'on in His Own Eyes.................................................................................................42In the Master's Presence......................................................................................................51The Death of the Master.......................................................................................................532. The Companions of Rabbi Shim'on in Their Own Eyes..........................................................................62"Those who entered and emerged"...............................................................................................63"The wise of heart"...........................................................................................................67"Initiates of Matronita's palace": The Bridesmaids............................................................................69"The enlightened ones"........................................................................................................75Awakeners and Arousers........................................................................................................80"Those who turn darkness into light ..."......................................................................................813. "Happy is this generation": The Three Generations with Which the Zoharic Circle Identifies.................................85The Wilderness Generation.....................................................................................................86The Generation of King Solomon................................................................................................93The Generation of Rabbi Shim'on bar Yohai.....................................................................................99PART II "WHILE YOU WALK ON THE WAY, WHEN YOU LIE DOWN, AND WHEN YOU RISE": ON THE COMPANIONS' WAY OF LIFE.....................1054. Mysticism of the Group.....................................................................................................1075. "While you walk on the way": The Locus of Mystical Experience..............................................................1116. "In the wee hours of the night": The Nocturnal Delight.....................................................................121Introduction to the Nocturnal Delight.........................................................................................121Arenas of the Nocturnal Delight...............................................................................................125Participants in the Delight...................................................................................................128Rituals of Preparation........................................................................................................129The Order of the Night in the Upper and Lower Worlds..........................................................................131The Experience of Delight.....................................................................................................1367. Wondrous Characters and Journeys in the Upper Worlds.......................................................................146The Appearance of Wondrous Characters.........................................................................................146Collective Journeys in the Upper Worlds.......................................................................................150PART III THE ZOHARIC QUEST: METHODS OF GENERATING MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE.........................................................1558. Concealed and Revealed: The Dimension of Mystery...........................................................................157Who Needs Mysteries Anyway?...................................................................................................165The Never-ending Story........................................................................................................171"But now (Aval hashta)": The Portal into Mystery..............................................................................173The Ideal State of Disclosure: Between the Concealed and the Revealed.........................................................176Total Concealment of Mystery..................................................................................................181Disclosure without Concealment: A World without Mystery.......................................................................1839. Zoharic Midrash............................................................................................................189Hermeneutical Dynamics........................................................................................................190A Jazz Interlude..............................................................................................................20210. "If you wake and rouse love": Language of Awakening and Arousal...........................................................204Human Beings, Torah, and the Study of Torah...................................................................................206Voices of Awakening and Arousal...............................................................................................209Awakening and Erotic Arousal..................................................................................................217"Arousal below and arousal above".............................................................................................222Pekihu de-'Eina: Eyes Wide Open...............................................................................................22511. "A river flows from Eden": Verses of Awakening and Arousal................................................................229"A river flows from Eden to water the garden": A Code Verse...................................................................229"A river flows from Eden" in Prior Exegesis...................................................................................231Components of the Code: Nouns and Verbs.......................................................................................233The Verbs Yatsa (Flow, Issue) and Shakah (Water)..............................................................................235Citations of the Code Verse...................................................................................................237"A river flows from Eden" and Mystical Experience.............................................................................239The River of Human Creativity.................................................................................................249The River: Conclusion.........................................................................................................250PART IV MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE IN THE ZOHAR......................................................................................25312. Descriptions of the Mystical Experience...................................................................................255Light.........................................................................................................................256Basking in the Divine Light...................................................................................................258Zohar (Radiance)..............................................................................................................261The Light of Dawn.............................................................................................................265The Speculum That Shines......................................................................................................268The White Light...............................................................................................................271Water.........................................................................................................................274Delight and Pleasure..........................................................................................................279Devekut (Cleaving)............................................................................................................290Kiss, Embrace, and Intercourse................................................................................................296Altered Sense of Time.........................................................................................................300Fragrance.....................................................................................................................302Fire..........................................................................................................................304Radiant Face..................................................................................................................30513. General Characteristics of Zoharic Mystical Experience....................................................................309The Mystical Wave.............................................................................................................309Ecstasy.......................................................................................................................312A Multifaceted Experience.....................................................................................................318A Pleasurable Experience......................................................................................................319Softening of the Boundaries between the Divine and the Human..................................................................320A Contained Experience........................................................................................................321Elements of Contained Mystical Experience.....................................................................................32614. The Zohar's Three Main States of Mystical Consciousness...................................................................340The Malkhut Experience: Rose Consciousness....................................................................................341The Tiferet Experience: Tree of Life Consciousness............................................................................343The Atika Experience: White Light Consciousness...............................................................................34815. The Ability to Express Mystical Experience................................................................................35216. On Books and Writing......................................................................................................365Concluding Remarks............................................................................................................379Notes.........................................................................................................................383Bibliography..................................................................................................................341Index of Names and Book Titles................................................................................................443Index of Subjects and Terms...................................................................................................447Index of Works Quoted.........................................................................................................459

Chapter One

Whoever separates from Torah is like one who separates from life, and one who separates from Rabbi Shim'on is as if he separates from all....

Woe to the generation when Rabbi Shim'on departs! For when we stand in the presence of Rabbi Shim'on, the wellsprings of our heart open in all directions and all is revealed. And when we withdraw from him, we do not know anything and all the springs are closed.

Rabbi Hizkiyah said, "Corresponding to what is written: He held back some of the spirit that was upon him and put it upon the seventy men, the elders (Numbers 11:25)-like a lamp from which many lamps are lit, while retaining its vitality. Similarily, Rabbi Shim'on son of Yohai, master of Lamps, illumines all, yet light does not depart from him and he retains vitality. This is the meaning of what is written: He drew (va-ya'atsel) upon the spirit that was on him and put it upon the seventy elders (ibid.), like a lamp from which are kindled many lamps, yet it remains intact. So Rabbi Shim'on bar Yohai, the master of lights, illumines all, yet the light does not depart from him and remains intact."

Zohar 2:86b; Matt 2004-2007, vol. 4, p. 487, adapted

Rabbi Shim'on bar Yohai is the central hero of the Zohar. Often referred to by the acronym "Rashbi" (= Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai), he appears as a colossal figure, at once human and divine, who touches and influences the upper and lower worlds. He is the great radiance, the great light of the world and the Torah, the complete man, the perfect mystic, a powerful shaman, master of Torah, and the great teacher. Rashbi teaches his students the essence of the hidden, mystical world as well as the appropriate boundaries between the disclosure of the mysteries of ultimate reality and their concealment. He teaches his students; and through them, he teaches us readers about the possibility of revealing and innovating mysteries in order to take part with him in the tikkun (rectification) of reality, and in the drawing-down of blessings throughout the divine and human worlds.

The mystical dimension of the Zohar is created and revealed amid the stories of Rabbi Shim'on bar Yohai and his disciples. In order to trace the Zohar's experiential world, therefore, we must first familiarize ourselves with the world of its heroes and with the way in which they understand themselves and their destiny in the world.

In the Zohar we encounter a myth, or a mythical epic, about Rabbi Shim'on bar Yohai, the hero of the composition; his disciples (the Companions); wondrous figures from his generation; as well as descriptions and numerous characterizations about the generation in which they all live. This mythical epic bestows upon the composition unique qualities and also implicitly and subtly reflects its authors' understanding of themselves and their generation, as well as their motivations for writing.

The narratives that appear in the main corpus of the Zohar are not linear, certainly not according to the order in which they appear in the printed editions. Yet if we examine them in their entirety, we find that this narrative weaving displays a high level of internal coherence, from which emerges the stable and continuing presence of the Companions. The members of this circle are known to us by name; some are more important than others, like Rabbi El'azar (Rashbi's son), Rabbi Abba (the master student), and Rabbi Hiyya (the youngest member of the circle and possibly the heir of Rabbi Shim'on). The life of the circle unfolds with a deep and abiding awareness of the presence of the teacher, who represents the ultimate key for the total illumination of the events that the Companions experience, as well as the biblical verses that they expound. He is, in short, the personality through which the Companions understand the true nature of reality.

We shall begin, therefore, with an exploration of the figure of Rabbi Shim'on bar Yohai. There is no limit to the praises showered upon Rashbi in the Zohar. In the many homilies discussing his praises, he is presented not only as the crown of creation and humanity but also, in pathos-laden descriptions, as possessing divine qualities:

The blessed Holy One engraved the image of Rabbi Shim'on above and his voice ascends ever upward, and is crowned with the holy crown, until the blessed Holy One is crowned with him in all the worlds and is glorified through him. About him is written: And he said to me, "You are my servant-Israel, in whom I glory" (Isaiah 49:3).... From the day that the blessed Holy One created the world, Rabbi Shim'on bar Yohai was present before the blessed Holy One and was with Him; and the blessed Holy One calls him by His name. Happy is his portion above and below! About him is written: Your father and your mother will rejoice (Proverbs 23:25)-your father, this is the blessed Holy One; and your mother, this is the Assembly of Israel. (Zohar 3:61a-b)

Rashbi appears here as a figure who has existed since the very beginning of time, and as one who shares a deep intimacy with God. Rashbi's status as the son of the blessed Holy One and the Assembly of Israel (also known as Shekhinah) establishes a myth whereby the divine powers ruling over reality are understood as the father-god, the mother-goddess, and the beloved son-the chosen man, Rabbi Shim'on bar Yohai.

Rabbi Shim'on is the earthly representative of the divine sefirah Yesod (Foundation). Yesod occupies the ninth position in the kabbalistic system of the ten sefirot emanating from Ein Sof (Infinity). The full appellation for this sefirah is tsaddik yesod olam, "the righteous is the foundation of the world" (Proverbs 10:25), the cosmic righteous one who is the pillar upon which the world stands, and the conduit that connects the divine and human worlds. Yesod draws into itself the flow of the divine world in all its different modes, and it guides this flow into the sefirah Malkhut (Kingdom).

The sefirah Yesod represents the qualities of transmission, fertilization, and masculine sexuality and eroticism. It is the dynamic, erotic quality in divinity of appropriately timed gathering, storing, and discharging, as well as disclosure and concealment, and is thus symbolized by the male sexual organ.

The power of Rashbi's teaching, as well as the power of other great teachers after him, is understood as an expression of the quality of Yesod in the world. The Idra Zuta, the section of the Zohar that describes the occasion of Rashbi's departure from the world, tells of his ecstatic and erotic transformation from a human being into the attribute of Yesod. Indeed, even in his life, and not only on the occasion of his death, we find Rashbi identifying with this divine level. For example, in the story narrating the mystical experience of Rashbi and the Companions that appears in the Zohar's commentary on the Torah portion Aharei Mot, we find described the ecstatic moments in which the qualities of the sefirah Yesod are made manifest through his person. In zoharic language, Rashbi is "crowned with the crown" of this sefirah:

While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance (Song of Songs 1:12; transl. NJPS). This is Yesod, which brings forth blessings for the intercourse of the holy king with Matronita [Shekhinah] [through this level]. Then blessings are given in all the worlds, and the upper and lower worlds are blessed; and now, behold, the holy luminary [Rashbi] crowns himself with the crown of this level. (Zohar 3:62a)

Just as Rabbi Shim'on represents the most masculine of divine qualities, he at times represents the sefirah Malkhut, the most feminine of all the sefirot. Before discussing our hero further, let us pause to consider the characteristics of this particular sefirah:

Malkhut is the tenth and last sefirah in the emanatory system. She represents time and movement; the dynamics of birth, growth, and death; differentiation and duality; and the characteristic of containment.

This sefirah is represented by a rich array of symbols and associations connected with the feminine-motherly, erotic, sexual-both divine and demonic.

She is the sefirah that receives into herself the river of the divine flow, via the sefirah Yesod.

She is the queen of all reality below the world of emanation, the matrix of the physical world in which we exist. She is also responsible for the just distribution of the divine flow within her domain.

Malkhut is also Shekhinah, the feminine, motherly divinity that dwells among human beings in this world through their loving interrelationships-especially when they share words of Torah. The human beings who experience the serenity of her presence are those who direct their deeds to support and aid her.

In the zoharic world, the sefirah Malkhut merits the most extensive and intensive attention of all the sefirot. She is the object of the kabbalists' speculation, as well as the object of their emotional, religious, and mystical longing.

In the Zohar, Rashbi is described as "the mouth of Shekhinah" or "the mouth of God," with some meriting the opportunity to kiss him. He is also the divine face, "the face of the Master, God," which refers to the face of Shekhinah, as we learn from another passage: "Rabbi Pinh. As went out and kissed him [Rabbi Shim'on] and said, 'I have merited to kiss Shekhinah. Happy is my portion!'" (Zohar 3:59b).

In another story, in which the expression "the mouth of God" is explained as meaning the mouth that "rules over all," Rabbi Pinhas ben Yair, depicted in the Zohar as Rashbi's respected father-in-law, comes and kisses him and says: "I have kissed the mouth of God, perfumed with the fragrances of His garden" (Zohar 3:201b).

These passages highlight Rashbi's great versatility, at once capable of appearing as an expression of the masculine quality of divinity, as well as an expression of the divine's feminine aspects. An additional example, drawn from the words of Rabbi Abba, illustrates somewhat humorously the divine qualities of Rabbi Shim'on bar Yohai: "One day Rabbi Shim'on was going from Cappadocia to Lydda, accompanied by Rabbi Abba and Rabbi Yehudah. Rabbi Abba was weary, running after Rabbi Shim'on, who was riding. Rabbi Abba said: They will follow YHVH, roaring like a lion (Hosea 11:10)" (Zohar 1:223a; Matt 2004-2007, vol. 3, p. 340).

An additional divine aspect associated with Rashbi is connected with his being the bearer and distributor of light. In the biblical book of Daniel, God is described as the locus of light: "He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him" (Daniel 2:22; transl. NJPS). In the Zohar, this divine light is attributed to Rashbi himself.

Perhaps the most common epithet for Rashbi in the Zohar is botsina kaddisha (the holy luminary), which is found along with botsina di-nhora (the light that illuminates), botsina de-alma (the light of the world), and also their combination, botsina kaddisha de-havei nahir alma (the holy light that illuminated the world). Two examples of such terminology will suffice. "Rabbi Abba raised his voice and said: 'Rabbi Shim'on is like the light of a lamp that burns above and burns below; and with the light he kindles below, the whole world is illumined. Woe to the world when the light below will ascend into the light above! Who will illuminate the light of Torah to the world?'" And similarly: "Rabbi Yitzhak said: '[Rabbi Shim'on,] the master of light-the man who cleaves to the devouring fire every day. Behold, the light dwells with him!'" In short, Rabbi Shim'on is the great luminary. He is the lamp that illuminates-from the light of the upper worlds-the reality of human beings, and who reveals the Torah's light to the world.

In quoting the above-cited verse from Daniel, the Zohar applies additional divine attributes to Rashbi: the ability to discover deep and hidden things, knowledge of mysteries, and knowledge of darkness and evil. Rashbi is sometimes presented as the presence of the Tree of Life-the grasping of which, like the grasping of the Torah, assures access to true life. Thus, in the words of the Zohar, "whoever withdraws from Rabbi Shim'on is like one who withdraws from all."

The Companions describe Rashbi with a panoply of additional images: He is the one who prepares sweet dishes, the lion, the hero, the rainbow (the sign of the covenant between God and His people), the master of Torah, the one who illuminates the light of Torah, a free king, the one who prepares the coming of the Messiah, "in the image" of Moses and of the High Priest, among others. In some places, he is described as a potent shaman, with power over death and the forces of judgment.

Another interesting feature of Rashbi's portrayal in the Zohar is the amalgamation of characteristics used to describe him. Thus, in his person, we find that different images used in rabbinic literature to describe the talmidei hakhamim (the disciples of the wise) are blended together. He is the master of wisdom "like old wine settled on his lees," while simultaneously being an "overflowing spring" and "the river that issues from Eden."

Rabbi Shim'on, Moses, and Rabbi Akiva

Alongside the divine aspects of Rabbi Shim'on, which as we have seen are sometimes presented in a stark and daring manner, Rashbi is also described as the earthly leader of the world. His image as leader is characterized by his courage and daring in the realms of revelation and innovation. From this vantage point, Rashbi parallels the two greatest leadership figures in the Jewish tradition-Moses and Rabbi Akiva.

Rabbi Shim'on and Moses The parallels drawn by the Zohar between Rashbi and Moses are based on numerous characteristics. First and foremost, both of them are considered as those who "give" Torah. Just as Moses gave the people of Israel the written Torah at Mt. Sinai (and just as the tannaim began the enterprise of assembling a new Torah, namely, the oral Torah), so the Zohar daringly presents Rashbi as one who gives Torah. He is described as a "free king" who bestows upon the world the secret, esoteric Torah hidden within the Torah's garments; and indeed, in the consciousness of later generations, he was valorized as the author of this wonderful work, and as the bestower of the new Torah that fills its pages.

According to rabbinic literature, Moses and Rashbi are the only human beings who ever merited experiencing the divine through the ispaklarya ha-me'irah (the speculum that shines). This concept, it seems, designates a kind of clear spiritual vision through a mirror or illuminating glass, undimmed by the materiality of earthly reality. In the Zohar, the "speculum that shines" also symbolizes the sefirah Tiferet (Beauty). Rashbi and Moses are understood as those who attained a particularly high level of divinity, characteristic of the great mystics alone. Beneath them stand those who attain the divine grade designated as ispaklarya she-einah me'irah (the speculum that does not shine), which in the Zohar symbolizes the sefirah Malkhut.

The Zohar presents both Moses and Rashbi as God's elect, as standing in an intimate relationship with Him, and as those who bring the people to a new level of consciousness as members of the Covenant and as students of Torah. Biblical verses describing Moses are interpreted by the Zohar as referring to Rashbi, for example: "About him [that is, Rashbi] Scripture says: With him I speak mouth to mouth, in a vision and not in riddles" (Numbers 12:8)." The Zohar, however, is more far-reaching; it argues for the superiority of Rashbi over Moses. He is superior to Moses in courage, in revelatory daring, and, most importantly (as we shall see below), in his acute self-awareness as opposed to the biblical leader's naivet or lack of reflexivity. Thus we read that a voice was heard saying: "Happy are you, Rabbi Shim'on, for your Master desires your glory more than the rest of mankind! About Moses is written: And Moses entreated (va-yh al) (Exodus 32:11), meaning that trembling (halhala) seized him. And you, Rabbi Shim'on, decree-and the blessed Holy One fulfills; He decrees-and you annul."

(Continues...)

Excerpted from A RIVER FLOWS FROM EDENby Melila Hellner-Eshed Copyright © 2005 by Am-Oved-Alma. Excerpted by permission.
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