Front Matter (PDF) - Stanford University Press
Front Matter (PDF) - Stanford University Press
Front Matter (PDF) - Stanford University Press
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seem to be rather arbitrarily placed in one Torah portion or another. 3<br />
to the three volumes is Zohar Ḥadash (New Zohar), a collection of<br />
addition<br />
that were omitted from the earliest printed Zohar editions but were<br />
materials<br />
culled from manuscript sources. Here we ®nd addenda to the Torah portions<br />
later<br />
but also partial commentaries on Ruth, Lamentations, and the Songof<br />
Another work usually considered part of the Zohar literature is Tiqqunei<br />
Songs.<br />
a kabbalistic commentary on the openingverse of Genesis that expli-<br />
Zohar,<br />
it in seventy ways. This workÐalongwith the Ra'aya Meheimna or<br />
cates<br />
Shepherd'' passages published within the Zohar itself, mostly taking<br />
``Faithful<br />
form of a commentary on the commandmentsÐis seen by modern scholars<br />
the<br />
to be the work of a slightly later kabbalist, one who wrote perhaps in the<br />
of the fourteenth century and saw himself as continuingthe<br />
openingdecades<br />
tradition.<br />
Zohar<br />
stated, the main body of the Zohar takes the form of midrash: a collection<br />
As<br />
of homiletical explications of the biblical text. The Zohar enters fully into<br />
midrashic genre, even though that form of writing was considered antiquated<br />
the<br />
in the time and place where the Zohar was composed. Its authors were<br />
learned in aggadah and used it ingeniously, often convincingly portrayingthemselves<br />
especially<br />
as ancient midrashic masters. But the anachronism of their<br />
was intentional. The Zohar is an attempt to re-create a form of discourse<br />
style<br />
would have seemed appropriate to a work originating with its chief speak-<br />
that<br />
Rabbi Shim'on son of Yoḥai and those of his circle, who lived in the land<br />
ers,<br />
Israel eleven hundred years earlier. In fact, this medieval midrash is based<br />
of<br />
a thorough knowledge of the entire earlier Jewish tradition, including<br />
on<br />
philosophical, and esoteric works. Its purpose, as will quickly become<br />
rabbinic,<br />
to the reader, goes far beyond that of the ancient midrashic model. The<br />
clear<br />
seeks nothingless than to place the kabbalistic tradition, as it had<br />
Zohar<br />
over the precedingcenturies, into the mouths of these much-revered<br />
developed<br />
of antiquity and to use them as its mouthpiece for showing the reader<br />
sages<br />
the entire Torah is alive with kabbalistic secrets and veiled references to<br />
that<br />
``mystery of faith'' as the kabbalists taught it. In this sense, the Zohar may<br />
the<br />
seen as an attempt to create a new midrash or, as one scholar has put it, a<br />
be<br />
of the midrashic art in the Middle Ages.<br />
renaissance<br />
old midrashic homilies were often preceded by a series of ``Openings,''<br />
The<br />
proems in which the homilist would demonstrate his skill, pick-<br />
introductory<br />
way through a series of biblical associations eventually leadingup to<br />
inghis<br />
subject at hand. The Zohar too uses such ``Openings,'' but with a very dif-<br />
the<br />
purpose in mind. Here the preacher wants to ``open'' the scriptural verse<br />
ferent<br />
remove its outer shell, and ®nd its secret meaning. In this way, the verse<br />
itself,<br />
For a discussion of how these special sections of the Zohar have been handled in<br />
3.<br />
translation, see the Translator's Introduction.<br />
this<br />
Introduction<br />
An<br />
lvii<br />
itself may serve as an openingor a gateway into the ``upper'' world for the one