Front Matter (PDF) - Stanford University Press

(2:10) of paradiseÐ``a river goes forth from Eden to water the garden,
Genesis
it divides into four streams''Ðand certain key verses of the CanticleÐ
whence
springamid the gardens, a well of livingwaters, ¯owingfrom Lebanon''
``a
and othersÐare quoted endlessly to invoke the sense that to dwell in
(4:15)
exegesis is to sit in the shade of God's garden. Even more: the mystical
mystical
comes to understand that all of these gardens are but re¯ections of the
exegete
inner divine garden, the world of the se®rot, whichSefer ha-Bahir had
true
described as lush with trees, springs, and ponds of water.
already
Zohar is devoted to the full range of religious obligations that the
The
places upon the community of Israel. The mysteries of the command-
Torah
and the rhythms of the sacred year very much occupy its pages, even if
ments
discount the somewhat later Ra'aya Meheimna (Faithful Shepherd) section,
we
is almost wholly devoted to the meaningof the commandments. Both
which
and the ancient Temple ritual, the classic Jewish forms of devotion, are
prayer
lofty kabbalistic interpretations, and the ®gure of the priest in particular
given
very central to the Zoharic imagination. Still, it is fair to say that the central
is
act for the Zohar is the very one in which its heroes are engaged as
religious
throughout its pages, and that is the act of study and interpretation
described
Torah. Again and again Rabbi Shim'on waxes eloquent in praise of those
of
study Torah, especially those who do so after midnight. They indeed take
who
place of the priests and Levites of old, ``who stand in the house of the Lord
the
night.'' Those who awaken nightly to study the secrets of Torah become the
by
attendants of the divine bride, usheringHer into the chamber where
earthly
will unite at dawn with Her heavenly spouse. This somewhat modest
She
of the mystic devotee's role in the hieros gamos or sacred marriage
depiction
that stands at the center of the kabbalistic imagination does not exclude a
rite
of emotional/mystical reality in which the kabbalist himself is also the
level
of that bride and a full participant in, rather than merely an attendant to,
lover
act of union.
the
in the Zohar is not conceived as a text, as an object, or as material,
Torah
as a livingdivine presence, engaged in a mutual relationship with the
but
who studies her. More than that, in the Zoharic consciousness Torah is
person
to a beloved who carries on with her lovers a mutual and dynamic
compared
The Zohar on the portion Mishpatim contains, within the literary
courtship.
known as Sava de-Mishpatim, a description of a maiden in a palace. Here
unit
way of the Torah's lover is compared to the way of a man with a maiden.
the
within Torah is like an endless courtingof the beloved: constant
Arousal
the gates of her palace, an increasingpassion to read her letters,
walkingabout
desire to see the beloved's face, to reveal her, and to be joined with her. The
the
in the nexus of this relationship is entirely active. She sends signals of
beloved
interest to her lover, she intensi®es his passionate desire for her by games
her
revealingand hiding. She discloses secrets that stir his curiosity. She desires
of
Introduction
lx
to be loved. The beloved is disclosed in an erotic progression before her lover