Two verses serve as the primary prooftexts of this myth. As to why Israel turned down the patriarchs, the verse cited is For Abraham knows us not … You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer (Isa. 63:16). Isaiah 43:14 provides evidence that God accompanied the people to Babylon: On your account I was sent to Babylon (Isa. 43:14).
This myth is unusual in that Israel’s rejection of the patriarchs is very uncharacteristic. Reading this midrash through a kabbalistic lens, we might find it unusual that it speaks of God, who in kabbalah is masculine, as accompanying the people, rather than the Shekhinah, who is usually mentioned in midrashim of this sort, and who the kabbalists saw as feminine.
Sources:
Pesikta Rabbati 30:1-2.
81. THE FACE OF THE SHEKHINAH
In the days of Moses even the ordinary Israelite had the privilege of being spoken to by the Shekhinah face to face. In later times, not even Ezekiel was accorded this privilege.
It is said that whoever leaves a synagogue and enters the House of Study to engage in the study of the Torah will have the merit of seeing the face of the Shekhinah. So too when scholars discuss the Torah, they often behold the face of the Shekhinah and are surrounded with fire.
Such was the case when Rabbi Hiyya came to visit Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai. As he passed the window, he saw a fiery curtain inside the house, with the Shekhinah on one side of the curtain and Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai on the other. They were studying Torah that way, and Rabbi Shimon’s countenance was aflame with the intoxication of the Torah.
Rabbi Hiyya was so electrified by this sight that he could not even knock on the door. All at once the door opened, and Rabbi Hiyya looked inside. As he did, he glimpsed the face of the Shekhinah. And he lowered his eyes and stood frozen in place.
When Shimon bar Yohai saw that Rabbi Hiyya had been struck dumb, he said to his son, Rabbi Eleazar: “Go to Rabbi Hiyya and pass your hand over his mouth.” Eleazar did this, and at last Rabbi Hiyya recovered his senses.
Some say that to see the righteous and saintly sages of one’s generation is to see the very face of the Shekhinah. Why are these called the face of the Shekhinah? Because the Shekhinah is hidden in them, and they reveal Her.
This much is certain: Before they died and gained entrance to the celestial palace, all the saints who had descended from Adam came face to face with the Shekhinah. Of them it is said, “A cord of the Divine will has been grasped here on earth.”
The meaning of the phrase “the face of the Shekhinah” can also be understood as the presence or immanence of the Divine. In the Kabbalistic era, the figure of the Shekhinah shifted from being identified as God’s presence in this world to the role of God’s Bride. However, some scholars, such as Ephraim Urbach in The Sages and Max Kiddushin in The Rabbinic Mind, have argued that the term Shekhinah should be regarded as one more name of God, like Adonai (the Lord), ha-Shem (the Name), or ha-Makom (the Place), etc. Of course, the Name of Names is YHVH, the Tetragrammaton.
Beginning with the Bible, a living person was forbidden to see God face to face, as stated in the verse, No man shall see my face and live (Exod. 33:20) Moses is the sole exception. Yet, somehow, it is far more common to see the face of the Shekhinah. This suggests that the term Shekhinah was not a simple synonym for God, but a term with special meanings, referring to the perception of the presence of God.
The use of the term face does bring with it suggestions of personification, an important fact in light of the later evolution of the term “Shekhinah” to refer to the Bride of God. For these descriptions of those who somehow experience the face of the Shekhinah have the quality of personal encounters. We note that the Divine appearance was far more common in the earliest biblical times than later, since even Ezekiel was denied the right of seeing the face of God. Yet it could also be argued that his detailed account of his vision in the first chapter of the Book of Ezekiel, known as a vision of the Merkavah, God’s Divine Chariot, is actually another kind of vision of the face of the Shekhinah, since both involve visions of God.
But the best explanation is that the term Shekhinah had one meaning in the rabbinic era and another in the kabbalistic and Hasidic ones. Yet even in the rabbinic period the precise meaning of “Shekhinah” is far from certain, and varies considerably among its many sources. See The Immanence of God by J. Abelson for a thorough overview of these sources.
The tale of Rabbi Hiyya’s striking glimpse of the face of the Shekhinah is found in the Zohar, one of a cycle of tales about Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai and his disciples. In all of these tales, Bar Yohai is portrayed as a consummate mystical master, guiding his disciples to experience the divine mysteries. Mystical union is the most essential aspect of any mystical tradition. Yet it is rarely portrayed as openly as it is here, where Rabbi Hiyya sees the face of the Shekhinah inside Shimon bar Yohai’s house. He perceives that Shimon bar Yohai is studying the Torah with a divine being, with a curtain of fire separating them. Note that what Rabbi Hiyya sees is not presented as a vision, but it affects him as a visionary experience. Indeed, he is so caught up in the moment of mystical union that Rabbi Shimon sends his son Eleazar to cover Rabbi Hiyya’s mouth, which brings him back to this world. One of the fascinating mysteries of this tale is why Bar Yohai chooses to have Rabbi Hiyya’s mouth covered, and not his eyes, which had witnessed the vision. One possible answer is that he does not want to cut off the vision, but rather to prevent Rabbi Hiyya’s soul from leaving his body during the instant of mystical union. Another possibility is that since Rabbi Hiyya has been struck dumb, the gesture of the hand restores his speech. The curtain of fire that separates Bar Yohai from the Shekhinah suggests both the Pargod, the heavenly curtain that separates God from the rest of Paradise, and the curtain in the Holy of Holies in the Temple beyond which only the High Priest was permitted to go. The fact that a curtain remains separating Rabbi Hiyya and the heavenly being suggests that even in the grip of powerful mystical experiences, there was not a complete loss of self-identity for Jewish mystics, as is so often associated with mystical union in other religions. There is also the suggestion that just as God remains apart from the angels, so humans must remain separated from divine beings.
Sources:
B. Berakhot 64a; Deuteronomy Rabbah 7:8; Zohar 1:94b; Zohar 2:14a-15a, Midrash ha-Ne’elam; 2:155b.
Studies:
The Immanence of God by J. Abelson.
82. THE SHEKHINAH WITHIN
The Shekhinah dwells inside of each and every Jew, as it is said, I shall dwell in them (Exod. 25:8). Therefore everyone of Israel must raise up the Shekhinah from Her exile, must raise Her up from the dust, and liberate Her from the Sitra Ahra, the Other Side, among whom She has been caught.
Here the concept of the Shekhinah is identified as an interior presence, much like the extra soul (neshamah yeterah) that every Jew is said to receive on the Sabbath. Indeed, the arrival of the Sabbath Queen, which is one of the names of the Shekhinah, and the arrival of the extra soul on the Sabbath is simultaneous. So too is their departure simultaneous at the end of Havdalah, the Sabbath closing ceremony. See “The Second Soul,” p. 310.
The internal nature of the Shekhinah seems to be particularly associated with Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav and his scribe, Rabbi Nathan of Nemirov. Rabbi Nachman’s story “The Lost Princess” is an allegory about the search for the exiled Shekhinah, about which Rabbi Nathan commented: “Everyone of Israel must raise up the Shekhinah from her exile,” making it a personal as well as a collective task.
The notion of the internal Shekhinah seems to parallel Carl Jung’s later concept of the anima, the feminine aspect of a man, who likewise dwells within.
Sources:
Sippurei Ma’asiyot, Introduction; Likutei Moharan 94; Sh’nei Luhot ha-B’rit, Masekhta Ta’anit; Tanya 52.
83. THE SHEKHINAH AT THE WALL
The Shekhinah is said to hover over the Wailing Wall, and She doesn’t move from there. The northern corner of the Wall is where the Shekhinah reveals herself. Whoever
desires to see the face of the Shekhinah must devote his life to the study of Torah. Very few have been found worthy to see the Shekhinah hovering over the Wall.
The presence of the Shekhinah is strongly linked to the Western Wall, the retaining wall that is all that is said to remain of the Temple in Jerusalem. There are many accounts in rabbinic texts and Jewish folklore about visions or encounters with the Shekhinah at the Wall. But only those who have truly studied the Torah are considered worthy of seeing the Shekhinah. See “A Vision at the Wailing Wall,” following.
Sources:
Midrash Tehillim 106; Kav ha-Yashar, chap. 93; Otzar ha-Ma’asiyot, collected by Reuven Na’ane from Shalom Levi.
84. A VISION AT THE WAILING WALL
In those days Rabbi Abraham Berukhim was known for performing the Midnight Vigil. He rose every night at midnight and walked through the streets of Safed, crying out, “Arise, for the Shekhinah is in exile, and our holy house is devoured by fire, and Israel faces great danger.” He longed, more than anything else, to bring the Shekhinah out of exile.
Now Rabbi Abraham was a follower of Rabbi Isaac Luria, known as the Ari. The Ari had great mystical powers. By looking at a man’s forehead he could read the history of his soul. He could overhear the angels and he knew the language of the birds. He could point out a stone in a wall and reveal whose soul was trapped in it. So too was he able to divine the future, and he always knew from the first day of Rosh ha-Shanah who among his disciples was destined to live or die. This knowledge he rarely disclosed, but once, when he learned there was a way to avert the decree, he made an exception. Summoning Rabbi Abraham Berukhim, he said: “Know, Rabbi Abraham, that a heavenly voice has gone forth to announce that this will be your last year among us—unless you do what is necessary to change the decree.”
“What must I do?” asked Rabbi Abraham.
“Know, then,” said the Ari, “that your only hope is to go to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and pray there with all your heart before God. And if you are deemed worthy you will have a vision of the Shekhinah. That will mean that the decree has been averted and your name will be inscribed in the Book of Life after all.”
Rabbi Abraham thanked the Ari with all his heart and left to prepare for the journey. First he shut himself in his house for three days and nights, wearing sackcloth and ashes, and fasted the whole time. Then, although he could have gone by donkey or by wagon, he chose to walk to Jerusalem. And with every step he took, he prayed to God to reveal such a vision of the Shekhinah to him. By the time Rabbi Abraham reached Jerusalem, he felt as if he were floating, as if his soul had ascended from his body. And when he reached the Wailing Wall, Rabbi Abraham had a vision there. Out of the wall came an old woman, dressed in black, deep in mourning. And when he looked into her eyes, he became possessed of a grief as deep as the ocean, far greater than he had ever known. It was the grief of a mother who has lost a child; the grief of Hannah, after losing her seven sons; the grief of the Shekhinah over the suffering of Her children, the children of Israel, scattered to every corner of the earth.
At that moment Rabbi Abraham fell to the ground in a faint, and he had another vision. In this vision, he saw the Shekhinah once more, but this time he saw Her dressed in Her robe woven out of light, more magnificent than the setting sun, and Her joyful countenance was revealed. Waves of light arose from her face, an aura that seemed to reach out and surround him, as if he were cradled in the arms of the Sabbath Queen. “Do not grieve so, My son Abraham,” She said. “Know that My exile will come to an end, and My inheritance will not go to waste. Your children shall return to their country and there is hope for your future” (Jer. 31:17). Just then Rabbi Abraham’s soul returned to him from its journey on high. He awoke refreshed, as if he had shed years of grief, and he was filled with hope.
When Rabbi Abraham returned to Safed he was a new man, and when the Ari saw him, he said at once: “I can see from the aura shining from your face that you have been found worthy to see the Shekhinah, and you can rest assured that you will live for another twenty-two years.” And he did.
This mythic story, “A Vision at the Wailing Wall,” derives from the city of Safed in the sixteenth century. This story comes from the last of three letters written from Safed by Shlomel Dresnitz of Moravia in 1607 to his friend in Cracow. It is one of a cycle of tales about the great Jewish mystic Rabbi Isaac Luria. These stories about the Ari were collected in several volumes, including Shivhei ha-Ari, Sefer Toledot ha-Ari, and Iggerot Eretz Yisrael.
This famous tale has a number of biblical and rabbinic precedents. The final words that the Shekhinah speaks to Rabbi Abraham come directly from Jeremiah 31:17. They are the words God speaks to console Rachel, weeping for her children (Jer. 31:14-16). There is also a strong echo of Jeremiah’s vision of Mother Zion in Jeremiah 15:9, which is developed in Pesikta Rabbati 26:7. Mother Zion is likely an early incarnation of the Shekhinah. See “Mother Zion,” p. 46. The assumption that the Shekhinah could still be found at the Western Wall, despite the destruction of the Temple, is found in rabbinic sources such as Midrash Tehillim on Psalms 11:3 and Exodus Rabbah 2:2, and in Rabbi Moshe Alshekh on Lamentations 1:1-2.
While this story demonstrates the prophetic wisdom of the Ari, the real focus of the story is on one of his disciples, Rabbi Abraham ben Eliezer ha-Levi Berukhim. Rabbi Abraham was born in Morocco in 1519 and came to Safed some 50 years later, where he was first a follower of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero (1522-1570) and later became a disciple of the Ari. Rabbi Abraham was an important figure among the mystics of Safed, and Hayim Vital, the primary disciple of the Ari, described him in his autobiography, Sefer ha-Hezyonot, as someone who could move others to repentance (p. 130). Vital, who firmly believed in gilgul, the transmigration of souls, also appears to have viewed Rabbi Abraham as the reincarnation of Elijah the Prophet.
In most versions of this story, there is no mention of Rabbi Abraham performing the Midnight Vigil of crying out in the streets because of the exile of the Shekhinah. But some variants of this famous tale, such as that in Kav ha-Yashar, add this important detail at the beginning of the story, giving new meaning to the Ari’s directive for Rabbi Abraham Berukhim to seek out the Shekhinah at the Kotel. Devotion to the Midnight Ritual indicates that Rabbi Abraham was seeking the Shekhinah before the Ari sent him on his quest. In this view, the Ari, well aware of Rabbi Abraham’s longing for the Shekhinah, simply directed him to seek out the Shekhinah in the right place—at the Kotel, the last retaining wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
This tale lends itself to multiple interpretations. From the traditional perspective, the Ari has remarkable powers that enable him to peer into the heavenly ledgers to determine the fates of his followers. These fates have been written in either the Book of Life or the Book of Death. (See “The Book of Life and the Book of Death,” p. 289.) While this ability to read in the heavenly ledgers is rare, it is not unheard of. In B. Berakhot 18b, there is reference to a pious man who remained in the cemetery on Rosh ha-Shanah and there learned the decrees to be issued in heaven during the coming year.
Or, the Ari may simply have recognized Rabbi Abraham’s profound need to encounter the Shekhinah after years of performing the Midnight Vigil and therefore sent him to find her.
Or, from a modern psychological perspective, the Ari has perceived that Rabbi Abraham faces a midlife transition. If he continues on his present path, he is shortly going to meet his death. That is to say, Rabbi Abraham’s life has reached a dangerous transition, and in order to survive it, he must undertake an extraordinary task. Therefore the Ari sends him on a quest to find the Shekhinah in the logical place where she could be found—the Wailing Wall, the remnant of her former home in the Temple in Jerusalem. In giving Rabbi Abraham this quest, the Ari functions virtually as a therapist, sending Rabbi Abraham on a journey to wholeness, to plead for mercy from the Shekhinah, who is identified in the kabbalah as the Bride of God. Once he reaches the Wall, Rabbi Abraham has dual visions of the Shekhinah, en
countering her both as a grieving old woman and as a radiant bride, and afterward he is a new man, who through this visionary experience rediscovers his lost anima and reintegrates his feminine side.
Rabbi Abraham’s visions of the Shekhinah can be recognized as both mythic and archetypal, very close to the purest vision of Jung’s concept of the anima, the symbolic feminine aspect of every man. That is why he is able to live for another 22 years, one year for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, representing a whole new cycle of his life.
This variant also makes changes in Rabbi Abraham’s vision of the Shekhinah. Here, when he raised his eyes, he saw the shape of a woman on top of the Wall, instead of emerging from the Wall. Upon seeing Her, Rabbi Abraham fell upon on his face, cried and wept, “Mother! Mother! Mother Zion! Woe to me that I see You thus.” (It is presumed that She is wearing mourning garments.) Further, when Rabbi Abraham faints, the feminine figure puts Her hand on his face and wipes away his tears. This identification of the Shekhinah with Mother Zion directly links this story with that of Mother Zion in Pesikta Rabbati 26:7. See “Mother Zion,” p. 46.
Central to understanding this tale is the concept of the Shekhinah. See the Introduction, pp. xlvii-xlix, for a discussion of the evolution of this term. The two appearances of Shekhinah that Rabbi Abraham envisions at the Wall, that of the old woman in mourning
and of the bride in white, are the two primary aspects associated with Her: She appears as a bride or queen or lost princess in some texts and tales and as an old woman mourning over the destruction of the Temple in others. In “A Vision at the Wailing Wall,” She appears in both forms. Thus he sees both aspects of the Shekhinah, Her aspect of mourning and Her joyful aspect, making his vision of the Shekhinah complete.
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