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Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition BASED O N T H E ISRAEL G O L D S T E I N L E C T U R E S , DELIVERED A T T H E JEWISH T H E O L O G I C A L SEMINARY O F AMERICA, N E W Y O R K by GERSHOM G. SCHOLEM Professor of Jewish Mysticism, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem NEW YORK T H E J E W I S H T H E O L O G I C A L S E M I N A R Y OF A M E R I C A 5725 — 1965 © 1960, by T H E JEWISH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF AMERICA Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 60-10743. Second, Improved Edition, 1965 T A B L E OF CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE vii REVISED PREFACE I. General Remarks I I . The Halakhic Character of Hekhaloth Mysticism viii 1 9 I I I . The Four Who Entered Paradise and Paul's Ascension to Paradise. . . . 14 IV. The Merkabah Hymns and the Song of the Kine in a Talmudic Passage.. 20 V. Some Old Elements in the Greater Hekhaloth VI. The Age of Shiur Komah Speculation and a Passage in Origen V I I . Some Remarks on Metatron and Akatriel 31 36 43 V I I I . Some Aggadic Sayings Explained by Merkabah Hymns. The Garment of God 56 I X . The Relationship Between Gnostic and Jewish Sources. Jewish Sources on the Ogdoas. Yaldabaoth and Ariel. Elijah and Lilith 65 X . The Theurgic Elements of the Lesser Hekhaloth and the Magical Papyri 75 APPENDICES A. A New Interpretation of an Aramaic Inscription 84 B. On the Magical Formulae A K R A M A C H A M A R E I and S E S E N G E N BARPHARANGES 94 C. Ma'asseh Merkabah—An Unpublished Merkabah Text 101 D. Mishnath Shir ha-Shirim—by Professor Saul Lieberman 118 ADDENDA 127 PREFACE This little book consists of the slightly enlarged text of the Israel Goldstein lectures delivered under the auspices of The Jewish The ological Seminary of America in New Y o r k during the spring term of 1957. They are supplemented by four appendices, the last of which was kindly contributed in Hebrew b y m y friend, Professor Saul Lieberman. I owe a debt of gratitude to Professor Lieberman, who took up the point I made in Section V I of this book concerning the age of Shiur Komah and established, by an additional thorough analysis of talmudic and midrashic statements on Canticles, the Tannaitic origin of this esoteric teaching. M y thanks are also due to Professor Louis Finkelstein, Chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary, for his willingness to undertake the publication of this highly technical little book, which, I hope, w i l l shed new light on aspects of early rabbinic Judaism sorely neglected by earlier Jewish scholars and by students of Gnosticism. I Finally, wish to express m y gratitude to M r s . Stanley Friedman, who contributed greatly to making m y English readable. GERSHOM SCHOLEM Jerusalem The Hebrew University April, 1959 PREFACE TO T H E SECOND A N D REVISED EDITION I t is gratifying that some five years after the original publication of this volume demand has necessitated a new edition. Obvious misprints and other errors have been corrected i n the text. More substantial additions and changes are indicated by an asterisk (*) and then included in the addenda at the end of the book. I n Appendix C several corrections have been made after additional examination of the manuscripts. GERSHOM SCHOLEM Jerusalem The Hebrew University October, 1964 an I GENERAL REMARKS I n speaking of Jewish mysticism in the early talmudic period, especially in the second and t