Front Matter (PDF) - Stanford University Press

is this exile that the kabbalists are actingout in their wanderings through
It
Galilee of their imagination. In this sense, it may indeed be said that the
the
in its entirety is a symbolic work, not just a collection of symbolic interpretations
Zohar
of Scripture, The narratives themselves may be seen as the most
symbolic and ``kabbalistic'' part of the Zohar's oeuvre, not just a
profoundly
into which the homilies are woven.
framework
discussion to this point leads us now to confront the question of the
Our
and religious/mystical experience. A ®rst reading of the Zohar might give
Zohar
the impression of a work that is more mythical than mystical in content;
one
more involved with a narrative of cosmic origins and structures than it is
i.e.,
inner experience, the soul, or higher states of consciousness. But this view
with
partially misleading. To read the Zohar well is to fathom the experiential
is
of the entire text, includingnarrative, exegesis, cosmology, and all
dimension
rest. The kabbalist speakingin the se®rotic idiom is layingbare the inner-
the
structure of reality as he both understands and experiences it. That same
most
is re¯ected in the cosmos, in Torah, and in the human (or more
structure
``Jewish'') soul. The language of se®rotic symbolism provides a new
precisely:
through which to see Torah. But the power of that reading, especially as
lens
in the circle of the Zohar, offers more than a hermeneutic. To open
practiced
inner eyes to the new reality created by that pattern of thinkingis to live
one's
the realm of the se®rot themselves. The transformations of language and
within
experience go hand in hand with one another; the breakthrough in con-
inner
to a higher realm of contemplative existence is conveyed through
sciousness
vehicle of self-expression in se®rotic terms. Therefore to speak of the
the
of the se®rotic universe, or to interpret the Torah text in terms of
origins
symbols, is also to enter into those places within the soul. For the
se®rotic
within the Zohar, as for the ideal kabbalist in any time, to speak of
speakers
se®rot is not only to draw on a body of esoteric knowledge, but is also to
the
the inner universe where se®rotic language is the guide to measured
enter
experience.
authors of the Zohar do not generally feel the need to tell their readers
The
this is the case. In a work written for initiates, the link between the
that
and experiential dimensions was taken for granted. It is primarily
intellectual
frequent expressions of enthusiasm and ecstasy with which the text is
the
that serve to indicate how deeply and personally the se®rotic teachings
dotted
felt. The repeated refrain ``Had I come into the world only to hear this, it
were
be suf®cient!'' and the kisses showered upon speakers by their grateful
would
make it clear to any but the most obtuse of readers that in the
companions
of the Zohar we are witnessingthe shared inner life of a vital mystical
pages
and not merely a series of exercises in biblical homiletics.
circle
Introduction
VIII
lxv