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| The 1921 collection of R. Shlomo Moussaiff's Merkavah texts not meant for public consumption. |
HEICHALOT AND MERKAVAH MYSTICISM:
INTRODUCTION:
This purpose of this article is to present a brief overview
of the dominant mystical literature that existed prior to the publication of
the Zohar in around 1280 - with specific focus on how certain early
books were regarded as being ‘dangerous’ if not approached correctly.
I have drawn extensively from the research of Professor
Gideon Bohak,[1] a
specialist in Jewish magic in Antiquity and the Middle ages, as well as in the
textual fragments from the Cairo Geniza.
Many are somewhat familiar with the Kabbalah of the Zohar
(and its system of Sefirot or spheres and Kelipot or unclean husks) but not much is known of the
earlier mystical literature which falls into the category of Heichalot (-where one ‘ascends’
to the Heavenly Palaces) and Merkavah (-where one ‘descends’
into the Chariot).
Today, the modern student of mysticism or Chassidut is
often presented with a model of Kabbalah that is almost clinical and made to
resemble a version of religious ‘quantum physics’ – but the origins of this
literature present as a very different style entirely.
NOTE: Some Readers may find certain references from
quoted texts to be sexist and possibly offensive. No offence is meant.
ORIGINS OF HEICHALOT AND MERKAVAH MYSTICISM:
There is much scholarly debate as to whether this form of Heichalot
and Merkavah mysticism originated in Palestine or Babylonia, let alone
as to when it started - but there is concrete evidence it was in existence from
around the 5th or 6th-century CE.[2]
For the next few centuries the Heichalot and Merkavah
mysticism most likely circulated as an oral tradition - but certainly around
the 9th or 10th-century it became available in manuscript
form.
Bohak points out that reports from various Jewish
communities at that time show that:
“...the manuscripts in which
this literature was transmitted were not seen as standard manuscripts of Hebrew
literature, but as special manuscripts, which may only be approached in a state
of purity. Failing to observe this rule could lead to great danger...”
The 12th and 13th-century Chassidei
Ashkenaz were also interested in this Heichalot and Merkavah literature.
[See These
Are Not Superstitions.]
THE SCROLL OF ACHIMA’ATZ:
An early text which gives some insight into the style and
content of Heilchalot and Merkavah literature is the Scroll of
Achima’atz, written by Achima’atz ben Paltiel (1017-1060).
The Scroll of Achima’atz, also known as Megillat
Yuchasin, was written in rhymed Hebrew prose with extensive vocabulary and
takes the form of a chronicle. This thousand-year-old work was discovered by accident in a Spanish
library and published in 1895.
According to Achima’atz, his family descended from the
captives taken by Titus to Rome after the destruction of the Second Temple in
70 CE.
Achima’atz was a chronicler from southern Italy and his
writing, often drawing from earlier accounts going back to the 9th-century,
gives one a window into the beliefs and practices of that the time when this
particular mystical literature was popular.
Bohak writes that the strange and incredulous events
portrayed in the Scroll of Achima’atz:
“...often stretch the modern
reader’s credulity far beyond the breaking point.”
Achima’atz describes an ancestor of his, R. Amittai and his
three sons who are:
“...learned persons and poets, educators
and teachers to decent pupils...who understand secrets...[and are] adept
in the mysteries...well versed in Sefer ha-Yashar [a book on angelology and
magic], [and] gazers onto the secret of the Merkavah.”[3]
The Scroll of Achima’atz also informs us that
the family had a spiritual heirloom which was preserved for at least four
generations, and that was the Sefer haMerkavah.
But a strange fate awaited that book. The fourth-generation custodian
of the Sefer haMerkavah was Baruch who was no longer pious or observant.
The following event is related in the Scroll and Baruch, due to his negligence,
is held to be responsible:
“[I]t happened one day on the
eve of the Sabbath... when the day grew dark, and the daylight darkened, and
the one who had to light the candle was not there, to light it before the Book of the Chariot
[Sefer haMerkavah].”
Apparently, a candle was kindled in the presence of this holy
book every Shabbat. On one occasion, it seems that the regular person tasked
with kindling the candle was not present, perhaps due to Baruch’s negligence
and lack of observance.
“And a certain woman stood there,
and she was menstruant, this cursed woman ‒ may she be erased from the book of
life, and may she be wiped out from the world to come ‒ and she lit the candle
before the Torah [which is what Sefer haMerkavah is referred to[4]]
and the wrath of God was upon the family, and many died in that plague, only a
few survived out of the many they were.
And there was there an
understanding Jew, who realized and understood the event that had happened. He
took the book and placed it in a vessel of lead, to sink it in the depths of
the sea; and the sea retreated [in fear], for about a mile it receded; and
the Jew [walked that mile out to sea and] cast the vessel into the sea,
and the sea returned to its place; at once the terrible ordainment was voided
and the plague came to an end.
And the memory of Baruch
ceased to exist, his candle faded and was extinguished, for he left behind him
none to engage in the One who reanimates, as he had no son, only one daughter.”[5]
The placing of an object, possessed by something perceived
to be unclean or evil, also occurs in another section of the Scroll of
Achima’atz. One of Achima’atz’s ancestors, R. Shefatiah was said to have
exorcised a demon from the king’s daughter. He placed the demon in a vessel and
sealed it with lead and also cast it into the ocean.[6]
THE RESPONSUM OF RAV HAI GAON:
Bohak writes:
“The Scroll of Ahimaaz is
not the most sober of historical chronicles, and its story about a Hekhalot
manuscript that ended up in the Mediterranean Sea may be taken with more than a
grain of sea-salt.
In fact, it would have been easy to dismiss this story
as utterly farfetched, were it not for the fact that the main
assumptions that lie behind it are reflected in a much more sober text, written
at about the same time in a very different Jewish community.”
Bohak is referring to a Teshuva or Responsum from Rav
Hai Gaon (939-1038) who was the head of the Academy in Pumbedita (Fallujah) in
answer to questions from the rabbis Kairouan (Tunisia), about the use of the
Divine Name for practical (magical) benefit.
The original questions and the Responsum have been lost but
evidently, the Kairouan rabbis weren’t satisfied with Rav Hai Gaon’s original
answer so they wrote to him again. This second letter is extant. The questions
and the answers give us a parallel and corroborating insight into the
spirituality at that time.
The Kairouan rabbis claimed to have many books containing
literature dealing with Divine and other powerful names.
They wrote:
“And we have several books
among us, in which are written some of the Names, and some names of angels, and form(s) of seals, and they (i.e.,these
books) say, Whoever wants to perform so and so, or to succeed in so and so,
should write so and so like this (i.e., as shown in the book), on (material) so
and so and should do thus, and the deed will come true for him.
And the elders and the pious
people, when they would see these books they would fear them and would not
approach them, and say that a certain man performed a deed so and so
like that which is written in the books, and the deed did come true,
but his own eyes were blinded, and some did not live through the year, and some
did not live through the week, since they were not in a state of purity when
they recited that Name.”[7]
The letter is pages long and goes on to quote relevant
sections of the Babylonian Talmud which deal with similar matters. For some
reason, the Heichalot and Merkavah texts are not specifically mentioned
by the rabbis of Kairouan.
Rav Hai Gaon’s correspondingly lengthy response informs his
questioners that he is well aware of the circulation of these popular magical books
advocating such practices but in his view, it is all nonsense.
However, on his
own accord, he proceeds to distinguish between those popular magic books and a
second category of what he regards as genuine mystical literature – the books
of the Heichalot and Merkavah:
a) In the first category of what he considers to be magical
(theurgical) and nonsensical works, he includes Sefer haYashar (on
angelology), the Sword of Moshe and Razza Rabba (The Great
Secret), including other:
“...fragments and individual
passages, which are endless and without number...
many have spent much effort
and wasted many years and found no truth in the matter.”
b) In the second category, however, it is clear that Rav Hai
Gaon has great regard for what he considers to be genuine mystical
(theosophical) Heichalot and Merkavah literature. He even refers
to these mystical writings as Mishnayot (Mishnaic literature)[8]:
“[T]here are books and Names
and seals and Hekhalot Rabbata and Hekhalot Zeirata,
and Sar Torah and other mishnayot, that whoever sees them becomes
frightened, and so were our forefathers, and so are we, that we only approach
them in purity and fear and trembling.
And we also heard persistent claims
that some who have dealt with them perished quickly, and all this because of
the sanctity of the Name and the sanctity of the Shekhinot and
of the angels who are around them, and the sanctity of the Merkabah, and that
whoever deals with this deed, the angels swarm all around him...”
Thus Rav Hai Gaon disregards the folk magic but has high
regard, if not awe, for Heichalot and Merkavah mysticism.
Rav Hai Gaon’s interesting reference to Heichalot
literature as Mishnayot is paralleled in the Heichalot texts
themselves which often refer to its own teachings as Mishnayot. And
since Rav Hai Gaon says ‘whoever sees them’ it is clear that by that
stage they were written texts and not oral transmissions.
Bohak points out that essentially Rav Hai Gaon maintains the
same position as that portrayed in the Scroll of Achima’atz:
“[W]hat we saw should suffice
to convince us that his attitude towards the Hekhalot / Merkabah literature was
not that different from that of Ahima’atz and his ancestors.”
THE WARNINGS IN THE HEICHALOT TEXTS THEMSELVES:
Having established that both Achima’atz and Rav Hai Gaon believed
that Heichalot and Merkavah texts are dangerous and can only be
approached in purity, Bohak shows how these warnings are also prevalent in the
actual texts themselves:
According to a Heichalot text fragment found in the
Cairo Geniza, dated around the 11th-century, which would be
contemporaneous to both Achima’atz and Rav Hai Gaon, the following practice is
prescribed:
“How does he use it (i.e., one of God’s
powerful Names)? He goes and sits in a house by himself, and keeps fasting the
whole day, and does not eat the bread of (i.e., made by) a woman, and looks
neither at a man nor at a woman, and when he walks in the market he hides
his eyes from all creatures, and does not look even at a day-old baby. And he
immerses himself (in water) from evening to evening[9],
and recites this thing after the evening Shema prayer, each and every
day...”
And the text proceeds with a warning that a certain mystical
incantation must be recited precisely 111 times otherwise:
“...his blood is upon his head.”
TORAH SCROLLS:
The textual fragments found in the Cairo Geniza reveal some
fascinating clues as to the structure and status of the original Heichalot
manuscripts. On inspection, some fragments reveal how they were written in
columns of uniform width.
Bohak explains:
“This is an extremely unusual
find, since by the ninth and tenth centuries, which is when these manuscripts
probably were copied, only Torah-scrolls were written in this archaic format.
Using such a format for
Hekhalot literature clearly implied the great sanctity of these texts in the eyes
of their copyists and users.”
MISHNAYOT:
Another unusual characteristic of some of these fragments is
how they are neatly divided into chapters and paragraphs. This corroborates Rav
Hai Gaon’s reference to Heichalot literature as Mishnayot.
Apparently they were also considered to have similar status to Mishnaic
texts.
DOWNGRADING TO A ROTULUS AND A NOTEBOOK:
A much later fragment from the Cairo Geniza was discovered,
which reveals something of great interest. It is a fragment of Heichalot
writing, but this time not resembling a horizontal Torah text.
Rather, it is in
the form of a vertical scroll known as a Rotulus and written on paper,
not parchment. A Rotulus was cheaper to make and easier to transport
because it was rolled from top to bottom.
A Heichalot text appearing in a Rotulus format
would indicate a downgrading of its status at that time.
This Rotulus fragment is dated from the 13th-century
and was significantly produced in Cairo.
A PUSH-BACK AGAINST RAMBAM?
Bohak does not suggest this but perhaps this was a result of
more rational influences from Rambam (d. 1204) who lived in Cairo at around
that time. Rambam had no time for magic and mysticism and did not believe in
forces of good and evil (in keeping with the idea that G-d prohibited the
eating of the fruit of the tree of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ – so that humans would not
create categories of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ –
yet the first thing they did was create such realms).
Furthermore - and perhaps in keeping with this hypothesis -
is the listing of a Heichalot codex in a 12th-century (inventory)
booklist (the latter being common finds in the Cairo Geniza).
In this particular listing, now for the first time, a Heichalot
work is simply referred to as a diftar which means a common book!
This again indicates a possible downgrade in Rambam’s Cairo in
the status of Heichalot literature from what we saw started out as a Torah,
then a Mishna and now just a common diftar.
THE MERKAVAH SHLEIMAH OF 1921:
In 1921, a Bukharan (today the area around Uzbekistan) Jew
and collector of manuscripts, by the name of Shlomo Moussaieff, published a series
of Heichalot texts from his own collection under the title Merkavah
Shleima.
In his introduction, he writes at length about the dangers
of this literature if not approached respectfully. But he adds another very
interesting stipulation - not to sell the book to people who would use the work
to show Jews in a bad light.
He writes:
“[O]ne should sell this book
only to Torah disciples and God-fearing persons, and one should guard it and
study it in purity, and not approach the holy at all times[10].”
Ironically, the book is now available online here.
[1]
Gideon Bohak, Dangerous Books; The Hekhalot Texts as Physical Objects.
[2]
This is based on the emergence, in Babylonia, of Aramaic incantation bowls
which represent the ethos of this literature at that time.
[3] Klar, Megillat Ahimaaz, p. 12.
[4] It
is interesting that to this day, some Chassidim do not hesitate to place their
signature mystical works on top of a Chumash. And kindling a light before the
Torah is also observed today by the ner tamid or eternal light
which burns in synagogues in front of the Ark which houses the Torah scrolls.
[5] Klar, Megillat Ahimaaz, p. 30.
[6]
This may have been based on an idea in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 64a and Yoma 69b)
where the evil inclination, in the time of Zecharia, was described as a fiery
lion cub which was caught and also sealed in a lead vessel to prevent its voice
being heard when it roared.
[7]
S. Emanuel, Newly Discovered Geonic Responsa (Jerusalem and Cleveland:
Ofeq Institute, Friedberg Library, 1995), p. 125.
[8] Rav Hai Gaon writes: “[T]here are
two mishnayot which the Tannaim (the rabbis of the Mishnaic period (0-200CE)
recite about this, and they are called Hekhalot Rabbati and Hekhalot
Zutarti, and this thing is widely known.”
[9]
Literally ‘between the suns’ which is the time between sunset and nightfall.
[10] A
play on Lev. 16:2.
