Tree of Souls
Page 46
Sources:
Devět Brán; Megillat Setarim; IFA 10200.
Studies:
“Resurrection as Giving Back the Dead: A Traditional Image of Resurrection in the Pseudepigrapha and the Apocalypse of John” by Richard Bauckham.
“Faithful Transmission versus Innovation: Luria and His Disciples” by Ronit Meroz.
Between Worlds: Dybbuks, Exorcists, and Early Modern Judaism by J. H. Chajes.
Magic, Mysticism and Hasidism: The Supernatural in Jewish Thought by Gedalyah Nigal.
204. HOW TO GRASP A SOUL
Just as something physical can be grasped by holding on to it, so one can grasp a soul by calling its name.
Calling upon souls is an essential part of kabbalah, especially practical kabbalah. Souls are invoked to answer questions or to assist in some earthly or heavenly task. Here the secret of calling upon a soul and compelling it to respond is revealed—the power is in knowing the spirit’s name. Once called upon by name, the spirits cannot resist coming forth to answer the call.
Sources:
Toledot Ya’akov Yosef, Shemot 42d; Sefer Ba’al Shem Tov, Bereshit 131; Keter Shem Tov 104.
205. ADAM IS TAKEN INTO PARADISE
When Adam was old, he called his son Seth to him and said: “Hear these words, my son. All that I am going to tell you is true. One day, not long after your mother and I had been expelled from Paradise, as we finished our prayers, I had a vision: I saw a chariot like the wind and its wheels were fiery. Before I knew it, I was caught up into Paradise. There I saw the Lord seated on a mighty throne, and the flames cast from His face could not be endured. Many thousands of angels were there, on each side of the chariot.
“I was seized with terror, and I bowed down before God, and God said, ‘Because you transgressed My commandment, the time has come for you to die.’ When I heard these words, I fell prone and said, ‘Master of the Universe! Do not cast me out of your presence, I whom You shaped out of dust. Do not banish what You Yourself nourished.’
“God said, ‘Fear not, because of your love of knowledge, your seed will always be with Me.’ And when I heard these words, I prostrated myself before God and said, ‘You are the eternal and supreme God. You are the true Light shining above all lights. May it be Your will to bestow abundance on the race of men.’
“Then, as soon as I finished speaking, the angel Michael seized my hand and brought me out of Paradise. He touched the waters surrounding Paradise with his rod, and they froze in place. And Michael and I crossed over the frozen waters, and led me back to this world. That is when the vision came to an end. Nor did I die on that day.”
This myth about Adam is a good example of a Merkavah myth. Adam not only has a vision of the Divine Chariot, as does Ezekiel, but he is taken up into heaven in it, as later happened to Enoch and Elijah, and he has a heavenly vision. Note that the vision takes place not long after Adam’s expulsion from Eden. God tells him of his impending doom, but then spares him, and reveals that he will be the first of a long line.
This account of Adam’s vision makes Adam the first one to take such a heavenly journey. But while Enoch’s journey into Paradise is well known, this myth about Adam, found in Vita Adae et Evae, is somewhat obscure. In fact, mythic accounts of such heavenly journeys can be found for Adam, Enoch, the patriarchs, and Moses, as well as several of the rabbinic sages.
Like most mystical experiences, Adam describes it as a vision that involved a heavenly journey and an encounter with God. It is not clear whether it was a journey of the soul or a bodily ascent. In the former, a person remains on earth while his soul ascends on high; in the latter, the mystic literally ascends to heaven. Most of these accounts are best understood as soul journeys, but this may be an exception, based on the description of how he was taken into the chariot by the angel Michael and taken into Paradise. See “The Ascent of Elijah,” p. 172.
Sources:
Vita Adae et Evae 25-29; Apocalypse of Moses 25:2-26:2.
Studies:
The Faces of the Chariot by David J. Halperin.
206. ISAAC’S ASCENT
When the knife touched Isaac’s throat, his soul flew from him. While his body lay on the stone altar, his soul ascended on high, rising up through the palaces of heaven. And the angels on high brought Isaac’s soul to the celestial academy of Shem and Eber. There he remained for three years, studying the Torah, for in this way Isaac was rewarded for all he had suffered when he was about to be slain.
So too were all the Treasuries of Heaven opened to Isaac: the celestial Temple, which has existed there since the time of Creation, the Chambers of the Chariot, and all of the palaces of heaven; all the Treasuries of Ice and Snow, as well as the Treasury of Prayers, and the Treasury of Souls. There Isaac saw how he had descended from the seed of Adam. So too was he permitted to see the future generations that would arise from the seed of Abraham. Even the End of Days was revealed, for no mystery of heaven was deemed too secret for the pure soul of Isaac. There, too, Isaac found his own face on the curtain of God known as the Pargod.
During all this time Abraham remained frozen in place, the knife in his upraised hand. But to him it seemed but a single breath. Then the angel spoke: “Lay not your hand upon the lad,” and at that instant Isaac’s soul returned to his body. And when Isaac found that his soul had been restored to him, he exclaimed: “Blessed is He who quickens the dead!” And when Abraham unbound him, Isaac arose, seeing the world as if for the first time, as if he had been reborn.
Although it is clearly stated in Genesis 22:12 that the angel of the Lord commanded Abraham not to raise his hand against Isaac, this late midrash, which may well echo Christian influence, asserts that Abraham did in fact slay Isaac, and that Isaac’s soul ascended to Paradise, where he studied in the academy of Shem and Eber. The basis of this midrash is the conclusion of the Akedah episode of the binding of Isaac, where it is Abraham alone who returns to his servants, and no mention is made of Isaac (Gen. 22:19). The themes of dying and resurrection here echo the Christian belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus. The similarity of the three days after the death of Jesus when the resurrection takes place, and the three years in this midrash about Isaac underscores the parallel. This legend about the ascent of Isaac is linked to the Resurrection of the Dead by adding that when Isaac arose, “He knew that in this way the dead would come back to life in the future, whereupon he began to recite, ‘Blessed are You, O Lord, who quickens the dead’” (Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 31). For further discussion of the legends of the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac, see The Last Trial by Shalom Spiegel.
The academy of Shem and Eber is often referred to in the Midrash. Abraham is said to have told Sarah that he was taking Isaac to study there at the time he set off for Mount Moriah (Sefer ha-Yashar 43a-44b). While this academy may once have been on earth, in most rabbinic legends it is identified as the academy on high. Therefore Isaac’s ascent to Paradise to study in this academy verifies Abraham’s statement to Sarah, affirming his honesty. The origin of this legend is the identification of the tents of Shem in Genesis 9:27 with a Beit Midrash or House of Study, which evolved in midrashic literature into an academy led by Shem and his great-grandson Eber. Later legends identify the academy as a heavenly one, where the greatest sages study. There also is a strong identification of prophecy with Shem, who was said to have had the gift of prophecy. Note that in the midrash this “academy” existed long before the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, underscoring the rabbinic belief of the pre-existence of the Torah.
This myth finds it fullest form in “The Akedah,” a medieval piyyut by Ephraim ben Jacob of Bonn.
Sources:
Targum Pseudo-Yonathan on Genesis 22:19; Genesis Rabbah 56; 3 Enoch 45:3; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 31; Hadar Zekenim 10b in Beit ha-Midrash 5:157; Perush Ramban al Sefer Yetzirah p. 125.
Studies:
The Last Trial: On the Legends and Lore of the Command to Abraham to Offer Isaac as a Sacrifice: The Akedah by Shalom Spi
egel, pp. 143-152.
“Seeing with the Sages” by Marc Bregman.
207. THE ASCENT OF ELIJAH
When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha had set out from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel.” “As the Lord lives and as you live,” said Elisha, “I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. Disciples of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?” He replied, “I know it, too; be silent.”
Then Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, for the Lord has sent me on to Jericho.” “As the Lord lives and as you live,” said Elisha, “I will not leave you.” So they went on to Jericho. The disciples of the prophets who were at Jericho came over to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?” He replied, “I know it, too; be silent.”
Elijah said to him, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me on to the Jordan.” “As the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you,” he said, and the two of them went on. Fifty men of the disciples of the prophets followed and stood by at a distance from them as the two stopped at the Jordan. Thereupon Elijah took his mantle and, rolling it up, he struck the water; it divided to the right and left, so that the two of them crossed over on dry land. As they were crossing, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” Elisha answered, “Let a double portion of your spirit pass on to me.” “You have asked a difficult thing,” he said. “If you see me as I am being taken from you, this will be granted to you; if not, it will not.” As they kept on walking and talking, a fiery chariot with fiery horses suddenly appeared and separated one from the other; and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “Oh, father, father! Israel’s chariots and horsemen!” When he could no longer see him, he grasped his garments and rent them in two.
The ascent of Elijah is the primary model for all subsequent accounts of heavenly journeys. This even includes the tradition about Enoch having been taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot, based on the interpretations of Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, for God took him (Gen. 5:24). The talmudic tale of the four who entered Pardes (B. Hagigah 14b) is also indebted to the ascent imagery of this biblical account. See “The Four Who Entered Paradise,” following.
As important as is the ascent of Elijah, equally important is the loyalty of Elisha, demonstrated here, and the transfer of Elijah’s mantle to his disciple.
Sources:
2 Kings 2:1-12.
208. THE FOUR WHO ENTERED PARADISE
Four sages entered Paradise—Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Aher, and Rabbi Akiba. Ben Azzai looked and died. Ben Zoma looked and lost his mind. Aher cut himself off from his fathers and became an apostate. Only Rabbi Akiba entered and departed in peace.
It is said that when Ben Azzai passed through the palaces of heaven and saw with his own eyes the glory of the celestial palace, his body could not endure it, and his soul could not tear itself away, for he felt that he had returned to his true home at last. And that is how he took leave of this world.
About Aher it is said that when he ascended on high, he reached the realm of the angel Metatron, whom he saw seated on a throne. In great confusion he cried out “There are—God forbid—two powers in heaven!” and from that moment he lost his faith. Then God commanded Metatron to be lashed sixty times with a fiery whip for not showing Aher that he was wrong.
In those days Ben Zoma was seen walking down a road by a rabbi and his students. They greeted him, but Ben Zoma did not respond. Finally the rabbi asked, “Where have you been, Ben Zoma?” And Ben Zoma replied: “I was contemplating the Mysteries of Creation. I learned that between the upper waters and the lower waters there are but three finger-breadths.” Hearing this, the rabbi said to his students: “Ben Zoma is gone.” Nor did Ben Zoma live long after that.
When Rabbi Akiba ascended to heaven, he made signs at the entrance of heaven so that he could find his way back. When he arrived at the Pargod, the celestial curtain, the angels of destruction came out to injure him. Then a heavenly voice issued from beneath the throne of glory, which said, “Leave this elder alone. He is worthy of gazing at My glory.” And there, in the highest heaven, before the Throne of Glory, God’s holy and secret Name was revealed to him.
Four sages entered Paradise. But only Rabbi Akiba ascended on high, passed through the palaces of heaven, and descended in peace.
This brief, ambiguous legend about the four sages who entered Pardes is one of the central mystical tales in the Jewish tradition. It became the focus of opposing traditions—those who saw it as the model for mystical contemplation and heavenly ascent, as found in the Hekhalot texts, and those who saw in its conclusion, in which three of the four greatest talmudic sages are somehow harmed, a warning that such contemplation and/or ascent was gravely dangerous and that the study of mystical texts should be limited to those who were well-grounded. But the tale of the four who entered Paradise (for this is how it was commonly understood) impressed others in an entirely different way. For this legend also became an entry into the mysteries of Pardes by an esoteric Jewish sect, who sought, by engaging in mystical contemplation, to discover the means to enter Pardes, which represented the heavenly Paradise. This is a form of contemplation of Ma’aseh Merkavah, or of the Mysteries of the Chariot, and such mystical ascent is paradoxically identified as a descent. The writings produced by this sect are called Hekhalot texts, since they describe travels through the palaces (Hekhalot) of heaven. They were written either to record their mystical experiences or to prepare a guidebook for ascent. To a large extent, the very ambiguity of the legend of the four sages is the reason for its primacy. Many have wondered what Ben Azzai saw that caused him to lose his life, what Ben Zoma saw that caused him to lose his mind, and what Elisha ben Abuyah (Aher) saw that caused him to “cut the shoots,” i.e., become an apostate. There are clues in the Talmud concerning the fates of Ben Zoma and Aher, while the clues about Ben Azzai are found in Leviticus Rabbah and Song of Songs Rabbah, as noted. Ben Azzai’s mysterious death has been linked to the mystical tradition of those who give up their souls without reservation during a mystical experience. This is equivalent to dying by the Kiss of the Shekhinah, as Moses did. Gershom Scholem speculates that the Hekhalot sect actively engaged in techniques to induce mystical experiences, including the use of yogalike positions, and the singing of rhythmical hymns in unison for long periods of time. Standard Jewish practices of purification were also used, including the mikveh (ritual bath), fasting, and extensive prayer. Emphasis was also placed on the power of the word—on prayers, on amulets containing invocations, and, above all, the secret pronunciation of the Divine Name.
One of the unanswered questions about the heavenly ascent of the four sages is whether it was a bodily ascent or a soul ascent. Ben Zoma, for example, indicates that he knows exactly how much space exists between the upper waters and the lower waters. Did he gain this knowledge firsthand, by ascending to that place? An indication of the answer is found in Midrash Tehillim 19:4, where Rabbi Samuel bar Abba is quoted as having said, “I know the lanes of heaven as well as the lanes of Nehardea” (a city in Babylonia, the seat of a rabbinic academy). This midrash asks if Samuel meant that he had actually gone up into the firmament. The answer is no—rather, laboring at Torah’s wisdom he learned from it what is in the firmament. Likewise, Rabbi Hoshaiah is quoted as saying, “Even as there is an empty space between the lower waters and the firmament, so there is an empty space between the upper waters and the firmament.” The midrash again asks if Rabbi Hoshaiah meant that he had actually gone up into the upper heavens? The answer is no—by laboring at Torah’s wisdom, he learned from it all that is in the upper heavens.
An interesting oral variant of the myth of the four who entered Paradise is IFA 13901. The four rabbis in this Moroccan story find the opp
ortunity to go to heaven on Sukkot, when the sky opens for an instant, and an angel invites them to study kabbalah in Paradise. The fact that the four were invited to make this journey means their greatness had been recognized in Heaven, and that is why they were able to make such a blessed journey.
Sources:
B. Hagigah 14b-15a; Tosefta Hagigah 23; Genesis Rabbah 2:4; Leviticus Rabbah 16:4;Song of Songs Rabbah 1:10; Y. Hagigah 77a-b; Hekhalot Zutartei, #338-339, 246-248, from Ms. Munich 22, #344-348 from Ms. New York; Genizah fragment (TS K 21/95); Magen Avot 58b; IFA 13901.
Studies:
Rabbinic Literature and Greco-Roman Philosophy by Henry A. Fischel, pp. 1-34.
The Faces of the Chariot by David J. Halperin, pp. 7, 31-37, 194-210, 362.
Jewish Mystical Testimonies by Louis Jacobs, pp. 21-25.
“Paradise Revisited (2 Cor. 12:1-12): The Jewish Mystical Background of Paul’s Apostolate. Part 1: The Jewish Sources” by C. R. A. Morray-Jones.
Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition by Gershom Scholem, pp. 14-19.
Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses by Martha Himmelfarb.
The Four Who Entered Paradise by Howard Schwartz. See Introduction, pp. xiii-xxxiii, and Commentary, pp. 125-203, by Marc Bregman.
Two Powers in Heaven: Early Rabbinic Reports about Christianity and Gnosticism by Alan F. Segal.
The Kiss of God: Spiritual and Mystical Death in Judaism by Michael Fishbane.
209. A VISION OF METATRON
There were four who entered Paradise. Elisha ben Abuyah was one of them. He ascended on high to gaze at the Merkavah, the Divine Chariot. When he reached the door of the seventh palace, he came into the presence of the angel Metatron, who was seated upon a high and lofty throne, wearing a crown. All the princes of the kingdom stood beside him, to his right and to his left, and from his throne Metatron ruled over all the other heavenly beings. Seeing this, Elisha began to quake, and his soul was confused and filled with fright. For Metatron was seated upon that throne like a king, with all the ministering angels standing by him as he presided over the Celestial Court and all the angels. In that instant Elisha opened his mouth and cried, “God forbid, there must be two powers in heaven!” Thereupon a heavenly voice went forth to say, “Return, you backsliding children, all except Aher!”