Front Matter (PDF) - Stanford University Press

One divorced Adam, or not.'' 37 As the rabbi demonstrates by exegetical
Holy
the mystical meaningis the shockingalternative lurkingwithin that
arti®ce,
phrase, ``or not'': Adam drove out, divorced Shekhinah, splittingHer from
bland
divine partner, Tif'eret, and from himself. Once, as Adam, humanity was
Her
to God. The original sin lies in losing intimacy with the divine, thereby
wedded
constrictingunbounded awareness. This loss follows inevitably from tasting
fruit of discursive knowledge; it is the price we pay for maturity and
the
The spiritual challenge is to search for that lost treasureÐwithout
culture.
self or the world.
renouncingthe
you read, see how the Ḥavrayya coax new meaningout of a biblical verse,
As
wordÐor even letter. Often, they rely on standard rabbinic techniques
phrase,
interpretation, such as verbal analogy: ``Here is written: [such-and-such a
of
expression], and there is written: [an identical (or nearly identical)
biblical
implyinga close link between the two expressions.
expression],''
hermeneutical leap may be long, far from the literal meaning, but
The
a verse is read ``hyperliterally,'' ignoring idiomatic usage in favor of
sometimes
lekha), Go forth, . . . to the land that Iwill show you (Genesis 12:1), Rabbi
(Lekh
insists on readingthe words more literally than they were intended:
El'azar
lekha, Go to yourself! 38 Search deep within to discover your true self.
Lekh
startlingillustration is the Zohar's readingof the openingwords of
Another
Torah, traditionally rendered: the n the beginning God created. Everyone
assumes the verse describes the creation of the world, but for the Zohar it
I
to a more primal beginning: the emanation of the se®rot from Ein Sof
alludes
How is this allusion discovered, or invented? By insistingon
(``In®nity'').
(Be-
bara Elohim), construed now as With beginning, It created ElohimÐthat
reshit
by means of Ḥokhmah (the se®rah of ``Wisdom,'' known as beginning), It
is,
Ein Sof) emanated Binah (the se®rah of ``Understanding,'' known by
(ineffable
divine name Elohim). 39 God, it turns out, is the object of the verse, not the
the
The ultimate divine reality, Ein Sof, transcends and explodes our comfortable
subject!
conception of ``God.'' The Zohar dares us to confront this reality, as it
as you undertake this adventure, expect to be surprisedÐstay alert. The
So,
teachings are profound and intense; one who hopes to enter and
Zohar's
in peace should be careful, persevering, simultaneously receptive and
emerge
The message is not served to you on a platter; you must engage the text
active.
Zohar 1:53b.
37.
Ibid., 78a.
38.
Translator's Introduction
L LN N
xviii
a radically spiritual sense. For example, when God commands Abraham,
readingthe Hebrew words in their precise order:
O KFNB
BZC
\K[BZC
transforms the familiar story of Creation into divine biography.
39. Ibid., 15a.