Beholders of Divine Secrets Mysticism and Myth in the Hekhalot and Merkavah Literature

Beholders of Divine Secrets: Mysticism and Myth in the Hekhalot and Merkavah Literature by Vita Daphna Arbel Review by: Ra'anan S. Boustan Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 125, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 2005), pp. 123-126 Published by: American Oriental Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20064302 . Accessed: 15/06/2014 18:42 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the American Oriental Society.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.44 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:42:16 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Reviews

123

of Books

the Third Reich under with and titles of course of publications offerings Hanisch shows that the National Socialist the years of the Weimar Republic, during of most German Orientalists had little discernable effect on the scholarship (see es Weltanschauung von were Der like Wolfram his few active Nazis Soden (see Aufstieg pp. 166-73). Relatively pecially he attributes Problem the military als geschichtliches des Assyrerreiches 1973], 26, where [Leipzig, Yet

through

those

comparison

appearing

in the Middle and later to the presence of the Assyrians Assyrian period ZA 87 cf. the obituary und damit nordrassigen Einschlag"; by D. O. Edzard, was or Walther a to in before he called bureaucrat the Kultusministerium Hinz, G?ttingen

a "gewissen

prowess

of

arischen

[1997]:

mented

here

chastising

their professorships On

the other

amnesia (see,

scholarship Hanish

had

presents

course

(p.

148 n. 525).

The Heidelberg Mass., Myth [Cambridge, if rather dry, style. This book is essential of Assyriology and its allied disciplines.

with the development is the appendix Very useful containing capsule no claim of completeness The author makes (p. absence of H. Th. Bossert, C. G. von Brandenstein, of

scholar

S. P. Remy, for example, all this in a readable,

concerned

And

a Jewish

to aid

tried

Ernst Weidner

was

not

an

2002],

esp.

of Divine Arbel.

Secrets:

of more than four hundred Orientalists. biographies note the but the cuneiformist will nonetheless P. Haupt,

H. Hilprecht,

R. Koldewey,

and G. Meier.

(so p. 210)!

"?gyptologe"

Albany:

and Myth Mysticism State University

ch. 6).

177),

Gary

Daphna

lost

for anyone

reading

in the Hekhalot of

New

York

and Merkavah Press,

2003.

Beckman

of Michigan

University

Beholders

Both

no critical the post-war of the field with the history engagement period brought a few to later writers these years in silence pass over (p. 174). Only preferring on activities the of This former up embarrassing part by ?migr?s brought colleagues. in Near Eastern itmust be said, was paralleled in other branches of German studies,

written

collective

who

in 1945 but were rehabilitated in 1950.

hand,

the Nazizeit,

during obituaries

a colleague

163-64)

in 1937, docu

Literature. Pp.

xii

+ 250.

By Vita $71.50

(cloth); $23.95 (paper). Beholders

of Divine

is a brave

and adventurous book. Most studies of Hekhalot lit previous this texts collection of Jewish ritual, and ascent attempted enigmatic liturgical, or literary contexts. from Late Antiquity in its immediate The Hebrew Bible and historical, cultural, New Testament; and Christian works and non-canonical); the (both canonical early Jewish apocalyptic vast corpus of rabbinic sources and patristic exegetical, legal, and narrative writings; early Christian as "Gnostic"); those materials late antique classed Jewish and Christian (especially liturgy; Neoplatonic erature

theurgy parative location Hekhalot have

and mysticism; Greco-Roman literatures and practices: all of these have served as com magical material for assessing the religious world-view of Hekhalot and the socio-cultural literature of its authors. Vita Daphna Arbel course of locating has instead taken up the more uncertain in texts "mythological themes and patterns" from ancient Mesopotamia and analyzing how they

acquired

context. historical ancient

Secrets

to situate

have

Beyond

"new mystical its potential

phenomenon, Near Eastern

meanings" contribution

in their new and religious literary as a discrete early Jewish mysticism of tracing the enduring promise impact of of post-biblical Judaism?and with it the

(pp. 56, 65, and passim) to our understanding of

this study also holds out the alluring on the formation and literature religion

traditions of the western world. religious are naturally obstacles that face such a project The Judaism of Late Antiquity, quite daunting. of which Hekhalot literature forms an important, if puzzling, from the ancient Near part, is separated uses by vast expanses texts Arbel Eastern of time and by significant and techno cultural, linguistic, barriers. Arbel it is not productive to confine that to precise mech however, argues, logical analysis anisms of literary transmission and reception. in establishing, "Difficulties with full certainty, linear great

The

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.44 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:42:16 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

124

Journal of the American

transmission also

of the Mesopotamian an examination which

hinder

Arbel

what

proposes

she

contents goes

Oriental as modes

as well

beyond

a "ph?nom?nologieal" as a mode of analysis has terms

of religion nomenology and W Conser, shifts and ruptures (S. Twiss It is, therefore, unfortunate that Arbel 1-74).

contact

of

similarities

listing

125.1 (2005)

Society

and

between

to her materials.

approach

traditions

literary

differences" Of

(p. 56).

Instead,

course,

the phe

a century-long

that is marked history by profound Press, [Brown Univ. 1992], of the Sacred the analytical rules of her method explicit

eds., Experience nowhere makes

diverse and academic tradition. As far as I can philosophical to seeks discover Arbel's of scholarly phenomenology by means practice, or formal across or common structures thematic, culturally conceptual, literary) comparison (largely domains. distinct historically sources to the concrete work of reading the various relevant from the But before she gets down or situates

herself

determine

from

within

her

texts at great them with Hekhalot defends 3-5), Arbel (chapters on which In her study depends, and myth. categories namely, mysticism one and sets out a composite recorded in the of the "mystical" traditions portrait is a thematically that Hekhalot literature and formally hetero corpus. Arbel acknowledges an enormously and of that has undergone of sources collection process complex protracted

ancient

Near

length

the central

chapters Hekhalot geneous

this enormously

actual

East

and

comparing

analytical two, she

from the radical she backs and ideological formation however, away (pp. 8-9). Ultimately, not merely the possibility of recovering which has questioned of this textual approach, implications as literature Hekhalot from these texts (p. 13), but even of studying "authentic mystical experience" a single, her of "Hekhalot and Merkavah In this discussion unified mys way, religious phenomenon. literary

ticism"

the divergent

harmonizes

and

in many

cases

strands

contradictory

up Hekhalot

that make

literature. ascent in is represented of heavenly A terms. of small number and sensual, corporeal a spiritual form of ascent the visionary in which

will A single, but vitally suffice. example important texts in highly of Hekhalot the vast majority tangible, seem to imply that the journey involves texts, however,

The

process

to the latter perspective nowhere his physical body on earth. Yet, even those texts that belong a view as a subjective, in Jewish first articulated that is arguably treat heavenly ascent mental process, sources Hai Gaon. In her textual analyses rabbinic in the eleventh century by the Babylonian authority a concrete the logic of ascent notes of that in chapter four, Arbel space governs conception repeatedly leaves

in many realms

compositions (e.g., pp. 67, 77-84, and late ancient ancient Near Eastern cases

most

compelling that mysticism

for conceptual the book

frames

both

(esp. pp. 67-68, chapters ascent narratives actual journey.

and

Hekhalot in both

For

her, Hekhalot

103,

in favor

(pp.

and

Yet,

12-50 (esp. pp. Arbel downplays

137-38),

a spiritualizing a form reflects

truisms

relationship reveal spiritual

and

139-42) the dominant

interpretation that is grounded

the

substantive

in the perspective of the "mystical" in a fundamen

citations reassuring despite experience. is a culturally and historically that mysticism only is historically itself of mysticism also that the category constructed, what should by now be and Merkavah reproduces largely mysticism"

of western

the Hebrew

of the otherworldly one of her systems provides of Hekhalot characterization

and

psychological of "mysticism"

scholarship

Bible

and other

her

Thus,

about

mysticism

ancient for comparing three sets forth the grounds Chapter must confront framework too, Arbel's Here, analytic mysticism. are the boundaries of the ancient Near East? And, myth? What between

concreteness

The

cosmological in her synthetic

and contemplative-meditative has taught us not who 13-14),

but contingent phenomenon, account of "Hekhalot Arbel's the highly suspect cultural phenomenon.

of

literature

interior,

tally private, of S. T. Katz

105-6,

continuity. as a whole

92).

Jewish

ancient

Near

Near

as a transhistorical

myth with What problems. most importantly,

Eastern

significant

and

perhaps Eastern texts?

In Arbel's

trans

early Jewish is meant by what

words,

is the "myths

of a specific beliefs and the traditional collective dreams, group truths, ethical concepts, include which modes of expression are often distinguished prose by particular They and the use of figurative dramatic action, (p. 53). Such a language" imagery, pictorial use of the full gamut of avail casts the net rather wide. And, definition indeed, Arbel makes naturally to to dedicatory from epic and biblical able Mesopotamian hymn (e.g., genres, Gilgamesh) (e.g., or YHWH) to dream vision fact, any text at all that Ninurta, Marduk, cylinders)?in (e.g., the Gudea or community. narrative style,

relates

to gods

or heroes

is fair game.

Yet,

while

Arbel

stresses

that narrative

is a constituent

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.44 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:42:16 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

feature

Reviews

125

of Books

texts yield no echoes of specific mythic the profoundly non-narrative Hekhalot The cycles. are or themes finds almost isolated she patterns. parallels exclusively for a purely This disjuncture would had no interest pose no difficulty comparativist study, which or cultural to "phe in making lines of historical claims about concrete her appeals continuity. Despite does not couch or structural Arbel her study in strictly nomenological" methodologies, comparative of myth,

terms.

Thus, than,

paranda as James

R. Davila

between

has

shown

seem

cannot

Arbel

hand,

she does not explain why for example, traditions from Siberia say, Shamanic

and

Mesopotamian

in his

to resist

2002

reviewing

late antique

or Jewish, Christian, (whether we cannot rule out the simply Jewish mysticism, though one the absence lines of concrete

"pagan"). possibility

texts might offer better com material for comparison, compelling to the Chariot On the other [Brill]). study Descenders most on possible of the available studies continuities ancient

Near

Eastern

offer

(which

and ritual practices methods, institutions, legal exegetical Arbel may be right that these suggestive studies that indicate of continuity between ancient Near Eastern myth and early

have wished for an explicit discussion of the implications that might of literary or linguistic affiliation has for the question of continuity. These methodological do not entirely vitiate certain As of Arbel's flaws, while serious, findings. mentioned four and five demonstrate that in a wide and above, range of texts, both ancient chapters a divinity late ancient, the idiom for describing the interaction was con between and a human visionary and sensual. Thus, Hekhalot sistently tangible to the deity and the angels of figurai language that is so often associated with Near language

literature

(pp. 122-35). Eastern cult

a strong impact on Judaism no is doubt correct that descriptions Likewise, into a more-than-human have thematic figure specific

have

to exert

continued

Arbel

tion

in numerous

than mysterious. Arbel Collins,

ancient

Near

In the wake

long of

Seen sites, after

from

the vibrant

ekphrastic the Jerusalem may including Temple, the Destruction in 70 c.E.

the transformation

affinities

in its application

tradition

this view,

of

the Hekhalot

to the pattern of the lines however,

elevation

visionary and deifica

sources. Eastern are less In this case, of continuity of path-breaking studies by scholars such as James Vanderkam and John to the direct relationship between the biblical looms who figure of Enoch, of early Jewish and the Sumero-Akkadian apocalyptic, figure Enme

rightly points large in the development no wonder, duranki It is perhaps (pp. 95-102). in Hekhalot ticism" is the elevation literature so

in a venerable

stands

that the parade example himself in 3 Enoch.

then,

of Enoch

is far from

of Hekhalot two raises literature, typical is the between this text?with First, relationship on earlier Jewish sources?and dependence apocalyptic this pattern does of transformation, which apparently what

important questions its strong affinities the rest of

of

"transformative

mys this passage, which to address. that Arbel fails

the Hekhalot

But

to and perhaps even direct In other words, corpus?

to characterize continued the apocalyptic genre the Byzantine tell us anything as it is described about Hekhalot else period, mystical praxis where? if in this case?as in so many of the others that Arbel reviews?the biblical tradition Second, role in the formation of Hekhalot how is the impact of other ancient Near literature, plays such a central sources on early Jewish mysticism Eastern to be disentangled from that of the Hebrew Bible? Indeed, to demonstrate in order with ancient Near Eastern traditions other than the Bible, specific continuity even

into

have had to demonstrate would the absence of a given pattern or theme in the Bible. presumably the most not meet she that do this essential criterion. convincing parallels brings analytical A final chapter in the study explores the social location of the authors the Hekhalot behind texts

Arbel Even

This (pp. 139-56). otherwise dedicated

task is somewhat out of place in a study that is not demanding, socio-historical of the material. on studies of analysis Building Second Temple Jewish prophetic, and apocalyptic identifies the people behind wisdom, literature, Arbel as sages, the texts variously as "intellectuals." These scribes, and, more priests, generally, findings but worthwhile, to a methodical

confirm the important research conducted largely have subjected to Hekhalot literature thoroughgoing Arbel

by Michael

sociological the rather general

does

Swartz, analysis

who

is the

{Scholastic

sole

to

researcher

[Princeton, Magic fits within the spe

how she provides not, however, explain profile late antique Jewish notes Arbel the central heroes of Hekhalot that, society. although literature are famous Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi rabbinic certain of (especially Ishmael) aspects figures, this literature?especially its attitude towards in tension with revelation?stand rabbinic Judaism. But 1996]).

cific

contours

how

then

direct

of

are we

dependence

to understand on

rabbinic

on rabbinic the emphasis education in these texts, not literature? if early Jewish mystical literature does And,

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.44 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:42:16 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

to mention reflect

its

certain

126

Journal of the American

it point to the existence of actual priestly-mystical in late antique circles Jewish the "mainstream" of rabbinic are further complicated Judaism? Such questions of cultic that were traditions transmitted within rabbinic literature itself. In complexes

to be very cautious about my view, we ought or interests of a specific class. priestly on early Jewish mysticism?whether Research or otherwise?should

traditions

se reflect

per

from

system. Moreover, religious be used with and specificity, when great precision they must especially a diverse and unstable of evidence. then will it become clear how body Only

to such

the mistake

of

reducing of

expression

set of textual the heterogeneous a sui generis mystical disposition.

artifacts

that make

Amun-Re

des P. Boulaq 17 (P Kairo CG 14 Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz

Hymnus

58038).

vol.

Texte,

2004.

Pp.

S. Boustan of Minnesota

Michela

By Maria Verlag,

they are scholars

up the Hekhalot

Racanan

?gyptische

ideas

literary, sociological, anthropological, the assumption that Hekhalot literature represents for the categories to remain and "myth" "mysticism"

University

Der

the

historical,

not begin

coherent

to a unitary

corpus

that cultic

presuming

valuable

analytically applied can avoid

125.1 (2005)

outside

society, perhaps by the numerous

comparative, an internally

Society

does

concerns,

priestly

Oriental

Luiselli. xxii

+

Kleine 109,

plates.

38.00 (paper). The long better-known plete

hymn

to Amun

one of the in papyrus Cairo CG 58038 preserved represents certainly from ancient a com there has not been however, Egypt. Surprisingly, and since E. ? Amon-Ra des Gr?baut, commentary papyrus L'hymne transcription even de Boulaq translations have been The pub (Paris, 1874), though frequent. texts

religious

hieroglyphic du Mus?e

?gyptiens lication

a short overview reviewed here sets out to close this gap. It gives of the various manuscripts a transliteration on con and translation of the different sections with a short commentary (pp. xiii-xxii), a synoptic tents and philological and a (pp. 1-38), (pp. 39-99), questions hieroglyphic transcription as as a well record. glossary (pp. 100-109), complete photographic In principle, this should be a most welcome and the topic has been well chosen. Un publication, a number of problems detract from the value of the book. From a purely technical seriously are blurred the and sometimes indistinct. Moreover, standpoint, photographs they have been needlessly to about two-thirds reduced of the original them at a right angle to the rest size of the papyrus. Printing of the publication would have allowed in natural size even within the layout of this book. reproduction fortunately,

more

Even

the hieroglyphic synopsis the translation, affect significantly source for orthographic questions.

as a reliable some Hall's the

is marred

seriously,

do not

them

entire

examples: plates line. Part

IV, verse

on

by innumerable no one the whole,

small should

blunders.

Most

of

use

this publication I will the problems, give

to give an idea of In order are missing in part I, verse 18 (G has remnants of rmt). Part II, verse 24: in G. Verse 29: in G, there are difficult lb before wU signs at the end of

words

traces

show

but

of

6: n.t

r( omitted

after

hrw.

11 : in the transcrip For instance, part I, verse infrequent. Misreadings is misleading the version below the m has been omitted. tion of B, the arm-sign Additionally, given his mother is really a separate since the formula in sms.w mw.t.frg(.t) (which being Reget" "by Shemsu, note forming in 1. 7) is in stroke below the name Shemsu part of the title and set off by a dividing and

serted

as if it formed

taken over also

smaller

from Lopez'

omissions

part of edition

are not

text of the hymn. the transcription of E For the same verse, traces might The reviewer believes that the scanty be questioned. Verse 18: in A, the r of rmt, the k of km? and the w of (w.t hkl p[wn.t].

the actual should

fit the expected nb mS.w in the transcription. 2: instead of Part II, verse

are omitted

"eternity"). verse-point,

Verse

8:

instead

and afterwards

of

the divine the

determinative,

strange itw.t-sign a pal?ographie variant of

the guinea-fowl (first part of nhh the H before verse-point, really has first the a the shm-sign sistrum. Verse 12: like stylized read

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.44 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:42:16 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions