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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C. Ma'asseh Merkabah—An Unpublished Merkabah Text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