Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism : Pillars, Lines, Ladders

by Idel, Moshe

• ISBN13: 9789637326035
• ISBN10: 9637326030
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-08-09
• Publisher: Central European Univ Pr

Summary

Ascensions on high took many forms in Jewish mysticism and they permeated most of its history from its inception until Hasidism. The book surveys the various categories, with an emphasis on the archetectural images of the ascent, like the resort images of pillars, lines, and ladders.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction	1	(1)
Studying Religion	1	(3)
Eight Approaches to Religion	4	(7)
Perspectivism: An Additional Approach	11	(2)
Kabbalah as Symbolic Theology according to Modern Scholarship	13	(10)
Notes	19	(4)
On Diverse Forms of Living Ascent on High in Jewish Sources	23	(50)
Introduction	23	(5)
Heikhalot Literature: Precedents and Offshoots	28	(9)
Nousanodia: The Neoaristotelian Spiritualization of the Ascent	37	(4)
Neoplatonic Cases of Psychanodia	41	(6)
The Ascent through the Ten Sefirot	47	(4)
``As If'' and Imaginary Ascents	51	(3)
Ascension and Angelization	54	(2)
Astral Psychanodia in Jewish Sources	56	(1)
Concluding Remarks	57	(16)
Notes	58	(15)
On Cosmic Pillars in Jewish Sources	73	(28)
The Pillar in the Work of Mircea Eliade and Ioan P. Culianu	73	(1)
The Cosmic Pillar in Rabbinic Texts	74	(5)
The Pillar in the Book of Bahir	79	(4)
The Pillar in Early Kabbalah	83	(3)
The Pillar and Enoch-Metatron in Ashkenazi Esotericism	86	(2)
The Zohar and the Luminous Pillar	88	(4)
The Human Righteous as a Pillar in the Zohar	92	(9)
Notes	93	(8)
The Eschatological Pillar of the Souls in Zoharic Literature	101	(42)
The Pillar and the Two Paradises	101	(2)
The Eschatological Inter-Paradisiacal Pillar	103	(2)
The Pillar in the Pseudo-Midrash Seder Gan 'Eden and Its Zoharic Parallels	105	(2)
Worship of the Pillar	107	(3)
The Pillar as a Vehicle	110	(2)
The Pillar as Conductor to the Divine Realm	112	(1)
The Pillar and the Judgment	113	(1)
Contemplating a Supernal Secret	113	(2)
Later Repercussions of the Zoharic Stances	115	(5)
Pillar, Performance and the Righteous	120	(1)
The Timing of Posthumous Psychanodia	121	(2)
The Manichean Pillar of Light and Glory	123	(4)
Symbolic Interpretations of Zoharic Paradisiacal Architecture	127	(3)
Concluding Remarks	130	(13)
Notes	133	(10)
Psychanodia and Metamorphoses of Pillars in Eighteenth-Century Hasidism	143	(24)
The Besht and the Epistle of the Ascent of the Soul	143	(3)
The Besht as an Iatromant	146	(2)
On Shamanism in the Carpathian Mountains	148	(2)
The Besht and the Eschatological Pillar	150	(5)
The Tzaddiq as the Present Pillar in Hasidism	155	(2)
Hasidic Semantics	157	(1)
Some Methodological Issues Related to the Besht's Epistle	158	(9)
Notes	160	(7)
The Neoplatonic Path for Dead Souls: Medieval Philosophy, Kabbalah and Renaissance	167	(38)
The Universal Soul and Median Line in Arabic Texts	167	(4)
The Median Line in Kabbalah	171	(10)
Al-Batalyawsi, Yohanan Alemanno and Pico della Mirandola	181	(6)
The Ladder, Natura and Aurea Catena	187	(5)
Some Conclusions	192	(13)
Notes	194	(11)
Concluding Remarks	205	(34)
Pillars, Paradises and Gestalt-Coherence	205	(4)
Pillars and Some Semantic Observations	209	(5)
Between Literature and Experience	214	(2)
On the Pillar and Mircea Eliade's Views on Judaism	216	(12)
Organism, Organization and the Spectrum between Them	228	(3)
Time, Ritual, Technique	231	(8)
Notes	233	(6)
Name Index	239	(4)
Subject Index	243