"LIKETHE MINISTERING ANGELS": RITUALAND PURITYIN EARLYJEWISHMYSTICISM AND MAGIC

by
D. SWARTZ MICHAEL Studentsof religion'are aware that the same ritualact can have many meaningsdependingon the culturalcontext. As WalterKaelberobserves, "Viewed cross-culturally, a given ascetic form may have different,even thesamedetailmayhaveentirely Accordingly, oppositeobjectives."' opposite in different ascetic Thus for the biblical Daniel and his meanings regimens. ascetic heirs, beans were an ideal food, probablybecausethey are dry and and others, they were but for Pythagoreans not susceptible to impurity;2 in certain Mediterranean to be avoided-perhaps because populations, they These factorsalertus to the principle presentedan actual medicaldanger.3 a ritualsystem in its culturalcontextis vital. They also that understanding to us read rituals and actions as we read texts--coding their encourage creators'statementsabout what they value in a religioussystem and what they aspireto be. The Hekhalotliterature, the texts of the visionaryphenomena in Judaism of LateAntiquityandthe earlyMiddleAges knownas Merkavah mysticism, describesritualsof abstention, diet, and isolationsimilarto asceticpractices
1. W. Kaelber,"Asceticism," can also Encyclopedia of Religion 1:443.This observation to asceticacts withina given culture. pertain 2. See DavidSatran, "Daniel: in JohnJ. CollinsandGeorge Seer,Philosopher, Holy Man," W. E. Nickelsburg, eds. Ideal Figuresin AncientJudaism Press,1980), (Chico,Calif.:Scholars p. 34, andthe sourcescited there. 3. See RobertParker, Miasma(Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press,1983),pp. 364-365, citing RobertS. Brumbaugh andJessicaSchwartz, andBeans:A MedicalExplanation," "Pythagoras Classical World 73 (1980): 421-422. See also Satran, "Daniel," pp. 38-39.

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commonin the Greco-Roman Mediterranean world.4By locatingculturally specific dimensionsof ritual texts and concepts of purityin the Hekhalot literature we can discover somethingabouttheirpurpose, the dynamicsand that underlie these and the social and historical texts, mythic conceptions circumstances of theirauthors.
Introduction

When studyingJewishpracticesof abstinence, we mustconsiderfactors that are particular to the Judaismof the authorsof the rabbinic canon:the influenceof Halakhahand the laws and phenomenology of ritualpurity.' For many communitiesin ancientJudaism,Halakhah delineated the criteria of those not and structure ritualsystems, including ordainedby normative law. Halakhahis also an important indicatorof specific historicalfactors, such as the social position of the authorsof a given text in relationto the of centralshapersof RabbinicJudaism,theireducational level, and matters the of ritual is relevant because Consideration of role purity provenance. puritylaws mandateavoidanceof food, impurepersons,and objects and
for my forthcoming 4. This studyis basedon research undertaken book,Scholastic Magic:
Ritual and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism. The impetus for studying rituals in the

in lightof the studyof asceticism camein partas a resultof myparticipation Hekhalot literature in the Society of Biblical Literature researchgroup on ascetic behavior,whose comments An earlierversionof this in the course of discussionon these issues is much appreciated. paperwas firstpresentedbeforethatgroupin November,1991. See also MichaelD. Swartz, in of the Princeof the Torah," "Hkidll6t Rabbdtt ??297-306: A Ritual for the Cultivation
Vincent L. Wimbush, ed., Asceticism in Greco-Roman Antiquiry:A Sourcebook (Minneapolis:

AugsburgFortress,1990), pp. 227-234. Muchof the researchfor this studywas carriedout whose support in Jerusalem underthe auspices of the Yad Hanadiv/Rothschild Foundation, Tirzah is much appreciated. My thanksalso to ProfessorsGary Anderson,David Halperin, reviewers of this articlefor theirinsights. LawrenceSchiffman, andthe anonymous Meacham, "Ascetical of asceticismin ancientJudaism is StevenD. Fraade, 5. The best consideration
Aspects of Ancient Judaism," in Arthur Green, ed., Jewish Spiritualityfrom the Bible Through

theMiddle Crossroad, 1987),pp. 253-288. See his bibliography, pp. 287-288. Ages (New York: be-Torat areE. E. Urbach, forourpurposes Hazal," "'Asqesisve-Yissurin Particularly important
in Me-'Olanmamn shel Hakhamimn: (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1988), pp. 437-458 Qoves Mehqarinm (cf. idem, The Sages: Their Concepts and Beliefs [Jerusalem:Magnes, 1975], pp. 443-448); S.

Journalof JewishStudies9 (1958): of Fastingin Talmudic Literature," Lowy,"TheMotivation Journalof Biblical "AsceticStrainsin EarlyJudaism," 19-38; and James A. Montgomery,
Literature 51 (1932): 183-213.

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places under certain circumstances.For historians,these laws have also servedas indicatorsof historical,social, andconceptual determinants in the studyof ancientJudaism.6 of the socialramifications In recentyears,therehas beenmuchdiscussion of ascetic practices.For example, ascetics can be seen as practicingwhat VincentWimbush has called "renunciation socialengineering."7 The towards lattermotivationapplies in ascetic communities thatseek to mold a way of life and alternativepolity. These goals do not characterize the phenomena describedhere. For example, the authorsof the Hekhalotliterature do not seek to attaina permanent of to state spiritual but prepare for an perfection, But in bothcases we can be awareof the ways in extraordinary occurrence.8 whichritualscan expresssocial roles andvalues. Thus studying ritual allows us to track the social dimensionsof the Hekhalotliterature. GershomScholem, who broughtthe importance of this to the attentionof scholars,arguedthatMerkavah literature mysticismwas the productof the early rabbis.9Since then, there has been considerable debateaboutthe social positionof its authors.DavidJ. Halperin and others have challengedthe notion that the Hekhalotliterature was a phenomenon thatoriginated in the centralcirclesof Rabbinic these Judaism.'o Comparing
6. See Jacob Neusner, The Idea of Purity, in Ancient Judaism (Leiden: Brill, 1973), and his Historyi of the Mishnaic Law of Purities, 23 vols. (Leiden: Brill, 1974-77); for purity at Qumran, see Lawrence H. Schiffman, The Escharological Comtmunitry of the Dead Sea Scrolls

ScholarsPress, 1989),pp. 35-40, 61-64, 68-69. The seminalworkon the theoretical (Atlanta: of biblicalpurity is MaryDouglas,Purit), andDanger(London: & Kegan implications Routledge TheSavage Paul, 1966);recently,the subjecthas been takenup by Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, in Judaism(Bloomington: Indiana thehistorical Press,1990).Although University implications of thestatusof rabbinic Judaism areof considerable historical puritylaws in earlypost-talmudic since Y. N. Epstein,Perush interest,the subjecthas not been given systematicconsideration ha-Ge'oninile-SederTohorot(Jerusalem: studiescited in Dvir, 1982);see also the individual note 89 below.
7. Vincent L. Wimbush, Renunciation Towards Social Engineering (An Apologia for the Study ofAsceticism in Greco-Ronman Antiquity), Occasional Papers of the Institute for Antiquity

andChristianity 8 (Claremont, Calif.:Institute for Antiquity andChristianity, n.d.). 8. Thusthe phenomenon would not satisfythe criteria set by Fraade ("Ascetical Aspects," of asceticism: efforttoward thegoal "(1)theexerciseof disciplined p. 257) for a validdefinition
of spiritual perfection ... which requires (2) abstention ... from the satisfaction of otherwise

permitted earthlydesires."
9. Gershom Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, 2nd ed., (New York: Schocken, 1954), pp. 40-79; idem, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkavah Mysticism, and TalmudicTradition, 2nd

ed. (New York:JewishTheologicalSeminary of America,1965).

10. See David J. Halperin, The Merkavah in Rabbinic Literature (New Haven: American

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D. SWARTZ MICHAEL

ritualtexts with halakhahand rabbinicconceptsof puritycan assist us in to the behavioral and social normsof their locatingthe authors'relationship society." cultural Focusingon ritualpurityalertsus to another, probleminvolved in the studyof behavioral such as asceticism. As the systems body is a focus in of manyasceticpractices,so too, it is central the definition andobservance of ritualpurity.'2 In asceticismwe also can observea tensionbetweeninner or intentionandexternalritualaction.Amongmodern scholars,it experience for ascetic has been commonuntilrecentlyto focus on the innermotivations Yet we customarily behavior." identifyasceticismin termsof suchbehavior. In the first two chaptersof NaturalSymbols,entitled,"Awayfrom Ritual"
"... to Inner Experience," Mary Douglas exposes the origins of the tendency

not to take the outermanifestations of ritualbehavior sufficiently seriously.14 of Merkavah A similartension also exists in the studyof the literature mysticism.Most scholarshave sought to analyzethe texts in termsof the experienceof the individualswho wrote them." This view has dominated the way ritual has been treatedin the study of these texts. The ritualsof been have conventionally fasting, ablution,and seclusion in the literature consideredas specificallydesignedfor achievingthe stateof ecstasyusually associated with the ascent to the divine thronedepictedin the Hekhalot
to Ezekiel's Oriental EarlyJewishResponses Society,1983)andidem,TheFaces of theChariot: Vision(Tilbingen: Mohr, 1988). Cf. Peter Schlfer, Hiddenand ManifestGod: Some Major of New YorkPress,1992.) in EarlyJewishMysticism Themes (Albany:StateUniversity of socialaffiliations andtensions,see especiallyMaryDouglas, 11. Onritualas an indicator NaturalSymbols: in Cosmology Pantheon, 1982). (New York: Explorations and SexualRenun12. See especially PeterBrown,TheBodyand Society:Men, Women, Jacobsen ciation in Early Christianity (New York:Columbia UniversityPress, 1988);Jorunn Purification Journal "ToolsandTasks: Elchasaite andManichaean Rituals," of Religion Buckley, 66 (1986), 399-411; GedaliahuStroumsa, "Carosalutis cardo:Shapingthe Personin Early CarnalIsrael Christian Historyof Religions30 (1990), 25-50.; andDanielBoyarin, Thought," at the time of this (Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1993), which was unavailable writing. 13. For a critiqueof this tendencyto see ascetic behaviorin termsof its motives, see "AsceticalAspects,"pp. 254-255. Fraade, 14. Douglas,NaturalSymbols, pp. 1-36. and Merkavah Ithamar 15. See in particular Gruenwald, Mysticism (Leiden: Apocalyptic Brill, 1980); Ira Chernus,Mysticismin RabbinicJudaism(New York:De Gruyter,1982); in Green,JewishSpirituality, of the Merkavah," pp. JosephDan, "TheReligiousExperience 289-307.

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Scholemstates,"thismysticalascentis alwayspreceded literature. by ascetic areto be explained Gruenwald, For Ithamar dietaryprohibitions practices."'6 and consciousness of chiefly in termsof theireffect on the physicalstrength the mystic." There is no denying thatfasting,diet, and seclusionare likely to have an effect on the individual's consciousness. as it is difficult However, to determinemotivationsfor ascetic behaviorwithoutthe subject'spersonal so too it is difficultto assess the degreeto whichinnerexperience testimony, is reflectedin this anonymous,highly conventionalliterature.'8 Moreover, If we deferthe questionof few of these ritualshave been analyzedin detail.19 the innerexperiencethatmay lie behindthese practices, we can in fact learn a greatdeal fromthem.
The Hekhalot Literature

took shapein the periodof the classicalTalmuds The Hekhalotliterature andmidrashim and afterward, fromthe thirdto the eighthcentury C.E. Many of the majortexts of the Hekhalotliterature are pseudepigraphic accounts of the ascent of a rabbi, usually Rabbi Ishmaelor Rabbi Akiba, through the chambersof heaven, the Hekhalot,to the chariot-throne of God, the Also prominent in the corpus,however,are texts whichconcern Merkavah. the cultivationof angels such as the Princeof the Torah(Sar-Torah), who will bringthe individualskill in learningandotherbenefits. The studyof the corpusunderdiscussionentailsa complexset of literarycritical questions.20 Because of the composite natureof the literature, we
16. Gershom Scholem, Major Trends, p. 49. See also the references in note below. 17. See for example Ithamar Gruenwald, "Manichaeism and Judaism in Light of the Cologne Mani Codex," in From Apocalyptism to Gnosticism (Frankfurt:Peter Lang, 1988; first published in Zeitschriftfiiir Papyrologie und Epigraphik 50 [1983]: 29-45), p. 269 n. 37; on p. 268 n. 33 he describes the effect of the menstruant on the mystic as "distracting." 18. On this point, see Peter Schafer, "The Aim and Purpose of Early Jewish Mysticism," in Hekhalot-Studien (Tuibingen:Mohr, 1988), pp. 277-295; for the situation with regard to prayer, see Michael D. Swartz, Mystical P-rayerin Ancient Judaism: An Analysis of Ma'aseh Merkavah Mohr, 1992). (TUibingen: 19. Rituals in Hekhalot literature are surveyed in Gruenwald, Apocalyptic, pp. 99-110, and idem, "Manichaeism and Judaism." Cf. also Moshe Idel, Kabbalah: New Perspectives (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988), where several details in the literature are considered in light of later Jewish mystical practices. 20. Most of the texts of the Hekhalot literature are published in Peter Schtifer, Synopse zur

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have to pay particular attentionto source-critical andform-critical criteria.2 We will also be aidedby cosmologicaltexts, rabbinic andmagical halakhah, handbooks found in the CairoGenizahandothercollections.22 Althoughthe in of the literature has Hekhalot been Jewish prevalence magic recognized,23 literature not been has for magical employedsystematically understanding the phenomenologyand dynamicsof ritualsin the Hekhalottexts.24It will be seen thataffinitiesbetweenthe two corpora go beyondspecificdetailsof to substantial matters of theirworld-views and magicalnamesandtechniques notionsof ritualefficacy.
Ritual and Vision

literature as preparaRecentlythe view thatritualis used in the Hekhalot tion for the trancethatwill producethe vision of the ascenthas been called
Hekhalot-Literatur (Ttibingen: Mohr, 1981) and his Geniza-Fragmente zur Hekhalot-Literat ur

Study of Judaism 14 (1983): 172-181; Swartz, Mystical Prayer, pp. 30-37. 22. For such a handbook, see Mordecai Margaliot, Sefer Ha-Razinm: Hu Sefer Keshafinm

Mohr, 1984). Unless otherwisenoted, all referencesto passagesfrom Hekhalot (Ttibingen: in this article will be cited accordingto paragraph literature numberin the Synopse,or by number (GI, G2, and so on) in Geniza-Fragmente. fragment 21. See PeterSchaifer, "Tradition and Redactionin Hekhalot Journal Literature," for the

ha-Talmud AmericanAcademyfor JewishResearch,1966). The best (Jerusalem: nmi-Tequfat JewishMagic and Superstition generalaccountof Jewish magic is still JoshuaTrachtenberg, on (New York:Behrman,1939, repr.New York:Atheneum,1982). For surveysof research of magicaltexts, see P. S. Alexander, "Incantations and Books Jewishmagic and publications
of Magic," in Emil SchUlrer,The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ,

rev. and ed. Geza Vermes,Fergus Millar,and MartinGoodman(Edinburgh: Clark, 1986), in LateAntiquity andthe EarlyMiddle 3.1:342-379; PeterSchafer,"JewishMagic Literature H. Schiffman andMichael Ages,"Journalof JewishStudies41 (1990): 75-91; andLawrence
D. Swartz, Hebrew and Aramaic Incantation Textsfrom the Cairo Genizah: Selected Textsfrom

Box K1 (Sheffield: SheffieldAcademicPress, 1992),pp. 15-22. Taylor-Schechter "AimandPurpose"; Scholem,JewishGnosticism, 23. See Schafer, pp.75-100; andMorton on HekhalotRabbati," in Alexander Altmann, ed., Biblicaland Other Smith, "Observations Harvard Studies(Cambridge: UniversityPress, 1963),pp. 142-160. to Hekhalot andthematic literature arediscussed andits literary affinities 24. Seferha-Razim While Naomi in Gruenwald, Apocalyptic, pp. 224-234; cf. also Schafer,"Aimand Purpose."
Janowitz, Poetics of Ascent: Theories of Language in a Rabbinic Ascent Text (Albany: SUNY

Press, 1989), discusses theories of magic and magical languagein her study of Ma'aseh she does not deal with Jewish magicalliterature However,therehas Merkavah, specifically. for the Hekhalot literature. to magicaltexts andtheirimplications attention been increasing

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into question.25The first clear evidence for the notion that ritual preparation is necessary for the vision of the heavens is found in a responsum by the eleventhth-century Babylonian rabbinic leader Hai Gaon. This discussion has been very influential in setting the tone for how this literaturehas been studied.26 In the responsum, Hai describes the Hekhalot literature as he understands it: Perhapsyou know that many of the sages believed that whoeveris worthy, whicharementioned andspecified, when [possessing]several[moral]attributes he wantsto see the Merkavah andglimpsethe Hekhalot of the angelson high, number thereare ways of doing so. He is to sit in fastinga certain of days,and manysongs andpraises,which lay his head betweenhis knees, and whisper27 are specified,to the ground.And so you can glimpseinsideit andits chambers as one who sees with his eyes the seven Hekhalot andsees as if he is entering fromone Hekhalto another, andsees whatis in it.28 David Halperin has shown that Hai Gaon's account of the phenomenon can be traced to an extant written source, a passage in what has come to be known as Hekhalot Zutarti.29Furthermore, according to Halperin, Hai has misunderstood that passage. The text reads: RabbiAkibasaid:Whoeverwishesto repeat thismishnah andto pronounce the name in its full elaboration,3" mustsit fastingfor fortydays andrest his head
"ANew Edition 25. See DavidJ. Halperin, of Hekhalot Journalof theAmerican Literature," OrientalSociety 104 (1984): 550. See also Schafer,"Aimand Purpose," p. 284; and Martha
Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (New York: Oxford

UniversityPress, 1993), pp. 106-110. 26. See, for example,Scholem,MajorTrends, p. 49. 27. Lohesh.Oftenused of incantations. 28. B. M. Lewin, ed, Osar ha-Ge'oninm HebrewUniversity,1931), vol. 4 (Jerusalem:

p. 14. (H.agigah), 29. Halperin,"New Edition,"p. 550. It is unclearwhetherHai is workingfrom purely

oral reportsquotingthis passage, literarysources (as Halperinassumes),from second-hand or a combinationof these. His statementthere that "this matteris well-known" (niefursam ve-yedua')would argueagainstthe view that he must have had the actualtext of Hekhalot beforehim.However,neitherdoes it meanthathis informants werefirst-hand witnesses Zutarti to the phenomenon. 30. Le-fareshet ha-shembe-ferusho.The termprKrefersto the full pronunciation of the Divine name,eitherthe Tetragrammaton or one of the moreesotericversions.See W. Bacher, JewishEncyclopedia 9:262-264. "Shemha-Meforash,"

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betweenhis knees untilhis fast gets hold of him.Thenhe mustwhisperto the groundand not to heaven, so thatthe earthwill hearand not heaven.If he is he mustbe prepared,31 for threedays, as it is written: "Be prepared; married, do not go neara woman"[Exod. 19:15].... He shoulddo this regularly every monthandevery yearfor thirtydaysbeforethe New Yearfromthe firstof Elul to the Day of Atonement so thatno satanor evil plaguewill attack himall year. Here the fast is undertakenin preparationfor the recitationof the powerful divine name. The reason the practitioneris to rest his head between his knees is so that he can avoid fainting and "so that the earth will hear," and not so that he will obtain a vision.32 As Halperin observes, "It is hard to imagine how any of this could fit in with the heavenly ascensions. But, as a forty-day ritualdesigned to insure a favorable decision on the day of judgment, it makes some sense."33It is useful to look at this passage in context to see how such a misunderstanding may have come about. Hekhalot Zutarti is a set of discrete traditions regarding the Merkavah and the angels surroundingthe throne, the potent names by which heaven and earth were created, and other matters.34 ?424 is one of a series of testimonies appended to the ascent traditions that take up the bulk of Hekhalot Zutarti at a later stage in its redaction. In the previous testimony (?423), Rabbi Akiba hears a voice (bat qol) from below the divine Throne saying that the mystic who has been painstaking in the ascent and descent to the Merkavah will "receive God's blessing three times a day, every day in the supernal court and in the earthly court in which they repeat (shonlin)it." The blessings thus result from the recitation of the text. Similarly, ?424 lists the benefits of reciting "this mishnah," that is, the ascent texts that precede it, which presumably contain the powerful divine name. This passage resembles statements found in the Shi'ur Qomah and In contrast to the other texts regarding the power of a book or tradition.35
31. That is, refrain from marital relations; see Halperin, "New Edition," p. 550. 32. Cf. ?489 in which the practitioner is to cast his eyes down so as to avoid gazing at the divine presence. 33. Halperin, "New Edition," p. 550. 34. On the redaction of Hekhalot Zutarti, see Peter Schafer, "Aufbau und redactionelle Identitdt der Hekhalot Zutarti," in Hekhalot-Studien, pp. 50-62; on Hekhalot Zutarti, see also Rachel Elior's edition of the text: Hekhalot Zutarti, Mehqere Yerushalayim be-Mahishevet Yisra'el, supplement 1 (1982) and Gruenwald, Apocalyptic, 142-149. 35. See, for example, ?377 (-940) in Shi'ur Qonmah;?500 (= 712), an independent testimony; and ?547 (from Ma'aseh Merkavah). Note too that ?424-426 is followed in all of

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body of the texts themselves,which deal with the journeyto heavenor the of God, these testimoniespromiseverypalpable nature rewards.36 Becauseof in the redactional structure of Hekhalot its placement ?424 thencame Zutarti, the ascent to be regardedas describingthe ascetic ritualthat accompanied of the tannaimto the Merkavah. This is probably how Hai Gaonunderstood it. Indeed, this interpretation made sense to the redactorwho placed this in there the first Zutarti testimony place.To him, the ascenttextsin Hekhalot wereno less deservingof such a testimonythanthosetextsin the corpusthat texts. have morepracticalgoals, such as the Sar-Torah Nor is the mentionof a fastingrituala surprising featureof this passage. Similartestimonies,especially in the introductions to magicalbooks, make a point of specifying the exceptionalconditionsunderwhich the book or tradition mustbe used.Amongtheseconditions areritual anda regimen purity An introduction of preparation. to a magicalbook from the CairoGenizah the wonderful (TS K1.21) providesan example."The textenumerates things the magicalnamesand spells in the book will accomplish:

In!)5

nrinw)l~

Iin~

the principal in the SynopseexceptforMS Munich22 by ?489-495, whichis also manuscripts an elaborate ritualfor recitinga book.On this literary to theoriginsandpower pattern attesting of the text, see MichaelD. Swartz,"BookandTradition in Hekhalot andMagicalLiteratures,"
Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy (in press).

36. So too, a set of hymns that introduce HekhalotRabbati(?83-92) praisethe glories theabilityto tell simply (gedullah)availableto anyonewho knowsthe text'ssecrets,including he has,andthehorrid ancestors that by lookingat a personhow manyillegitimate punishments will befall his enemies.On these hymns,see GerdWewers, "DerOberlegenheit des Mystikers: Judaism17 (1986): 3-22. 37. This introduction is parallelto the introduction to Seferha-Malbush in Sefer (printed Raziel[Amsterdam, 2:8-10; cf. 5:34-35. See Margalioth, 1701],fol. 2b), andto Seferha-Razimn
Sefer ha-Razimn, pp. 33-34. Zur Aussage der Gedulla-Hymnen in Hekhalot Rabbati 1,2-2,3," Journal for the Study of

144

D. SWARTZ MICHAEL And if he recites it [the magical name] over a snake or venomous serpent or scorpion, reptile or creeping thing, he can play with them as [with] a bird, and if [he recites it] over the sun and the moon, he can have mastery over them as a righteous man has mastery of the fear of God,38and likewise over any spirit and plague and demon and satan and shadow, male or female, if he recites it, they will listen to his voice. And if he recites it over battle and war, [the enemy] will be broken before him. (lines 3-8)

This is a typicalpassagein whichthe powersof the magicalnamescontained

in the book are advertised. The text continues, instructions as to how the book is to be used: however, with detailed

01.)/KID n n n;n, Xv,. -, 1nYY

t):=

And anyone who would apply this book, let him purify himself for 21 days, [that is,] three weeks of days, and not eat during them any onion or garlic, nor meat or any smaller [animal], nor anything that produces in the Every single day he should run over the trough and bathe in purity onceblood.39 morning40 and once at twilight. And he should not apply [the book] arrogantly,but in humility

is saidto is uncertain. Cf. ?225, in whichRabbi of this phrase 38. The translation Nehuniah Another "havemasteryof the light of Torah" (moshelba-'or shel Torah). possiblemeaningis "asa righteous thatthe personwill be ableto ruleby meansof the sun andmoon(moshel barn) man rules by means of the fear of God."That is, by employingsolar and lunardivination the magicianwill be able to achieve the same powerthat a saint possessesby virtueof his righteousness. this refersto eatinganimalsin 39. Heb., mosi dam. Cf. Prov.30:33. It is unclearwhether birdswhich thatshed blood, such as the carnivorous which blood circulatesor to carnivores in anycase according to Lev. 11:13-19;cf. Levine,Leviticus, wouldbe prohibited p. 68. out. 40. The wordbUhr is written abovethelineandtheletters byn havebeencrossed

IN EARLY MYSTICISM ANDMAGIC ANDPURITY JEWISH RITUAL

145

It will makeanyonewho appliesit wise andclever. and sincerityand in purity. (lines 10-18)41

the juxtaposition of the themesof As in the testimonyin HekhalotZurarti,

the practical uses for the book and the regimen for reciting it in purity and sincerity serves to impress on the reader the book's sacred and powerful qualities. The inclusion of ritual prescriptions in Hekhalot and magical texts thus has a rhetorical as well as practical function.42 The Sar-Torah texts In the extant Hekhalot literature,then, fasting is not explicitly prescribed

for the purposeof the vision of the Merkavah. Rather,regimensof fasts,

abstentions, and ablutions occur primarily in those texts that concern the

of an angel to come to recitationof a divine name and the conjuration

the practitioner. Most of these texts fall within the genre known as the In these texts the protagonist (usually Rabbi Ishmael) Sar-Torah literature.43 is instructed how to get the Angel or Prince of the Torah (Sar ha-Torah) to come to him and endow him with exceptional skill in memory and learning.44
41. Cf. Ma'aseh Merkavah?544, on how the prayersfor seeing the Merkavah are to be
recited: "[there must be] purity and holiness in his heart, and he recites a prayer."

42. On this point see also Swartz,"BookandTradition." 43. The most thoroughtreatment of the Sar-Torah texts is in Halperin, TheFaces of the Chariot(Tiibingen: Mohr,1988), pp. 376-386, 427-446; see also Swartz,"HIkf0ldtRabbWti" at the centerof the Hekhalot tradition andassigns ??297-306."Halperin places the Sar-Torah it a key place in explainingthe originsof the visionary elementsin the literature, a view thatis not takenin this study. 44. One could call this genre a kind of mnemonicmagic. Because memorization was learningin this society, acquiringskill in memorymeantprogressin the learningof Torah. There is an irony in this, in that many of the rituals involve the memorization of long, combinationsof magical names and prayers.While mnemonictechniquesin impenetrable rhetoricaland esoteric traditionshave a well-documented history in classical Romanand medievalEuropean society (on which see F. Yates,TheArt of Memoty[Chicago: University in MedievalCulture[Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1990]), it wouldbe useful to locatesimilarinstancesof the application of magicto acquisition of memory in Greco-Roman in Rabbinic Universityof ChicagoPress, 1986) 1:9and28-31. Theplaceof memory (Chicago: Judaism andits relationship to magicarediscussedin Swartz,Scholastic Magic.
antiquity. For examples, see Hans Dieter Betz, ed., The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation of Chicago Press, 1966] and Mary J. Carruthers, The Book of Memory: A Study)of Menmoty

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textsconcern thecultivation of theso-called Related of thePresence Prince variousbenefitsand powerson him. Others bestowing simplyconsistof instructions for the recitation of a magical bookor namethatendowsits withwondrous possessor gifts. Thisis a peculiar literature. Mostof the textsareset genreof magical intoa highly formalized narrative framework. Intheseexamples, instructions on howto perform theritual areusually to the narrator given by his teacher, andfollowed a to its success. These areobviously by storyattesting passages in such a as to the ritual and recommend it to the composed way highlight are thus in reader. some sense ritual but are not texts, They purely prescriptive.
texts is a complexknownas the Chapter One of the principalSar-Torah a story of Rabbi Nehuniah'sinstrucof Rabbi Nehuniahben ha-Qannah, Otherpassages tions to Rabbi Ishmaelon how to acquireskill in Torah.45 are found elsewhere in Hekhalot Rabbati and Merkavah Rabbah,46and in text in fragmentsfrom the Cairo Genizah.47A uniqueAramaicSar-Torah of Ma'aseh Merkavahdiffers considerably one manuscript from the other traditions.48 The mostprominant textis anelaborate Sar-Torah Sar ha-Panim first in Rabbah which was incantation Merkavah publishedcriticallyand of Hekhalotliterature, like many analyzedby Peter Schaifer.49 Manuscripts such medievalcompilationsof esotericlore, also includebrief incantations
and?677-679 (inMerkavah 45. A briefversionis foundin ?278-280 (in Hekhalot Rabbati) A parallelunitis found in ?307-314 of Hekhalot Rabbati. Rabbah).A longerversionappears sec. II (?565-568). See Swartz,MysticalPrayel;pp. 77-90. in Ma'asehMerkavah, Rabbati?297-306 andMerkavah Rabbah 46. Hekhalot ?680-684. in Ithamar Hadashim Mi-Sifrut 47. G8, firstpublished ha-Hekhalot," Gruenwald, "Qeta'im andG22, also published 38 (1969), 300-319. Fol. 2b (Schafer)andfol. 1/ (Gruenwald) Tarbis thatadjure in Gruenwald, theSar-Torah or Therearealso textsin theCairoGenizah "Qeta'im." for such adjurations. whicharefoundon Someof thesearebrieffragments provideinstructions in magicalhandbooks. Thesetexts leaves, like amulettexts, andmanyof theseappear separate of theSar-Torah andto theactiveuseof suchrituals. tradition attestto thepersistence Theyalso of the Sar-Torah framework texts foundin the Hekhalot lack the narrative corpus,suggesting fromMerkavah andwas later thatthisphenomenon mysticism mayhaveevolved independently andmagicalmanuscripts in Hekhalot intoits literature. Therearealso incantations incorporated will be successfulin study.Theseare the heart," so thatthe individual forpetihatlev, "opening tradition. See Trachtenberg, Jewish Sar-Torah often unrelated to the narrative or angelological Magic,pp. 190-192. 48. ?571-578, on whichsee below;see also Swartz, MysticalPraye';p. 62. in des Sar ha-Panim.Editionun Obersetzung," 49. See Peter Schiifer,"Beschw6rung Hekhalot-Studien, pp. 118-153.

who acts as a kind of emissaryto the humanpetitioner, (Sar-ha-Panimn),

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and shortritualsfor variouspurposes, to the chief angel Metatron addressed includingdreamdivinationandrevivalof the dead.5" of angels to earthratherthan These texts thus concern the adjuration the individual'sascent to heaven. Peter Schifer makes a useful distinction in fact,assigns literature." betweenthese two goals in the Hekhalot Halperin, literature over the ascent historicaland thematicpriorityto the Sar-Torah texts and adjuration texts." It will be seen that the ritualsin the Sar-Torah reflecta phenomenologycommonto magicaltexts, in which the encounter But ritualconditions. with divine beings can occuronly underextraordinary found in ascent texts, midrashim, it will also be seen that some narratives outsideof the rabbinic canondepictingthe individual's ascent andnarratives to heaven reflecta similarpoint of view. These affinitiesare the resultof a withdivinebeingscanoccuron earth commonstockof beliefs.Theencounter or in heaven,accordingto this conception.However,ritualtexts themselves of proceduresfor put this conception to active use in their construction with the angels.Theirparallels midrashic or mysticalnarratives do attracting in the textsoriginated not necessarilyindicatethatthe ascentand adjuration same periodand social circles, or thatone deriveddirectlyfromthe other.53
Principal Features of the Rituals

Several types of ritual activities are prevalentin the principaltexts. In describingthem, it is importantto establisha culturaland conceptual We thereforemust cast frameworkthat makes these texts comprehensible. our net ratherbroadly,into a wide rangeof halakhic, and ancient midrashic, Mediterranean sources. One element common to all of these rituals is the recitationof a set of powerfuldivine names. It is clear from theirstructure that the name is
50. ?512 claimsthatanyonewho recitesthe Divinenamepresented in the textwill be able to revive the dead. ?502-507 is a dreamritualfor adjuring the Princeof the Dream(sar shel of the "manof dreams" (ish halom)cited in n. 62 below. halom);cf. the talmudicconjuration A collectionof magicalrecipesappended to the Hekhalot texts in MS Oxf. 1531 includesan incantation foropeninga gate (?826-827). findinga slave (?828). andotherpractical purposes. "AimandPurpose," 51. See Schtifer, andidem,Hiddenand Manifest God.
52. Halperin, Faces of the Chariot; see especially pp. 376-387.

53. Thequestionof the relationship of ascentto adjuration textsin Hekhalot literature must be decidedprimarily criteria andlies outsidethe scopeof this study.The issue by form-critical is discussedfurther in Swartz,ScholasticMagic.

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the principalingredientthatgives the ritualstheirefficacy.Emphasis on the characteristic of Jewish namesof God andthe angelsis also an indispensable magic in general.54The active ingredientin the Sar-Torah ritualtaughtby to RabbiIshmaelis a set of namescalledthe"Great RabbiNehuniah Crown." in consist isolated the Hekhalot of little more than Many paragraphs corpus for recitationof a name. One of the most strikingsuch rituals instructions appearsin a difficult Aramaictext (?489-495) which identifiesitself as a book containingan all-purpose "Great Name."55 marvelous In talmudictraditionthe divine name is to be recitedand taughtunder B. Qid. 71 describesthe benefitsthataccrueto specialritualcircumstances. name in purity.56 So too anyonewho knows and preservesthe twelve-letter our rituals,which emphasizethe recitationof divine names,are concerned with recitingthose namesin ritualpurity. Fastingand Diet of theseritualsis the requirement One of the most persistent components refersto partial to fast. In mostcases the term"fast" fastingor specialdietary fasts for a certainperiodof time. In manytexts whichprescribe restrictions for long periods the readeris then told that he must eat breadbakedwith his own hands.In some cases a full fast takesplaceduringthe daytimeonly, or for a few days. Commondurations of such fasts are fortydays and three on MountSinai fortyis no doubtbasedon Moses' sojourn days.The number for three to prepare (Exod. 24:18). Likewise, the Israeliteswere instructed thusreplicates days to receive the Decalogue(Exod. 19:15).The practitioner of the secretsof Torah.57 for revelationin his reception the preconditions
54. See JoshuaTrachtenberg, Jewish Magic, pp. 78-103; Michael D. Swartz,"Scribal Texts Incantation Its Rhetoric: Formal Patterns in MedievalHebrewand Aramaic and Magic andSwartz, Review83 (1990): 179;Schiffman Harvard fromthe CairoGenizah," Theological
Incantation Texts, pp. 40-43. 55. A portion of this text has been translated by Gruenwald, "Manichaeism and Judaism," pp. 267-270. The text is notable because it combines many of the principal ritual and rhetorical motifs of the Sar-Torah and allied texts into a coherent whole, although its purpose is not for

the cultivation of thatparticular angel. to the forty-two-letter 56. Hai Gaon extendedthis tradition name;see Lewin, Osar haHagigah, p. 23. On these sources, see Lawrence H. Schiffman, "A Forty-two Letter Ge'onimn, Divine Name in the Aramaic Magical Bowls," Bulletin of the Institute for Jewish Studies 1 (1973): 92-102. 57. Cf. also the Aramaic Sar-Torah ritual in Ma'aseh Merkavah (?571-578), in which a

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As noted above, fasting is a particularly salient example of the multiva-

lence of ritualbehavior.Fastsoccur for a wide varietyof motivesin ancient

Judaism and its environment." There are fasts of contrition, both statutory

and occasional, the most prominentof these being Yom Kippur.Fasting and refrainingfrom several pleasures--includingwine, meat, and sexual Judaismfor fastingfor manticpurposes,equivalent to the practice of mantic in the Greco-Roman world described fasting by RudolphArbesmann.60A in the Palestinian Talmud tells of rabbiswho fastedin a graveyard to see story
Rabbi Hiyya the Great in a dream.61 The Babylonian Talmud (b. Sanh. 65b) discusses those who fast so that an "unclean spirit" may rest on them. Some sources concern individuals who fast to bring down a "man of dreams" (ish that is, an angel appointed over dreams who answers the dreamer's halomn), questions.62 Sar-Torah rituals often specify certain kinds of food that are forbidden. A relations-are ritual signs of mourning.59There is also evidence in ancient

few such texts advise the practitioner not to eat meator fish;the magicaltext
quoted above refers to "anything that produces blood." Abstention from meat

sourcefor asceticismin the earlyrabbinic playsa partin an important period, the story of the "mourners of Zion" of the first centurywho supposedly abstained from meat and wine as a sign of mourning and becauseof its use in the fallen Temple.63This story,in which Yohanan ben Zakkaipersuades the sect to modify theirmourning is practices, usuallyseen as an exampleof
rabbinic discouragement of asceticism.64However, it can also be seen as an

fast from the new moon of Sivan to Shavuot is prescribed, thus reinforcing the link with Moses' revelation. The relationship of the Sar-Torah literature to midrashim about Moses' ascent has been analyzed extensively in Halperin, Faces of the Chariot. 58. See the articles on asceticism in ancient Judaism cited in n. 5 above. 59. On the meaning of these patterns, see Gary A. Anderson, A Tine to Mourn, a Time to Dance (University Park, Pa.: Penn State Press, 1991). 60. Rudolph Arbesmann, "Fasting and Prophecy in Pagan and ChristianAntiquity,"Traditio 7 (1949): 9-32; cf. Lowy, "Motivation of Fasting," pp. 30-38. 61. Y. Kil. 9:4 (32b) and y. Ketub. 12:3 (35a); see Lowy, "Motivation of Fasting," pp. 36-38 (his citation of the latter source on p. 37, n. 170, should be corrected). A series of stories describing fasting for visions appears in Qoh. Rab. 9:8. 62. See, for example, t. Ma'as. Sheni 5:9; cf. y. Ma'as. Sheni 4:7 (55b); in b. Sanh. 30a the term is ba'al halonm. 63. T. Sota 15:10-15. 64. See Fraade, "Ascetical Aspects," pp. 271-272; Urbach, "Asqesis," pp. 445-446.

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indicatorof the rangeof foods and actions consideredto be luxuriousand thusinappropriate.65 An interestinguse of the motif of the ritual fast is found in Version B of the Chapterof Rabbi Nehuniah.In this story,RabbiIshmael,who is thirteenyears old, is in greatafflictionbecauseof his inabilityto retainhis learning.He tries to remedythe situationon his own: "WhenI saw thatmy with me, I stoodandrefrained was not remaining (tafastiasmi)from learning and sexual activity,and no word of eating, drinking,washing, anointing, from or mouth" Rabbi Ishmael's (?308). my practiceis song melody passed andpetitionary of old mourning ritualsandpenitential ritualsfor reminiscent andtimesof drought.66 Thisclusterof activitiesconstitutes YomKippur signs RabbiIshmael's of joy that are restrictedin times of crisis or mourning.67 fast is thus a sign of his contritionand grief. RabbiNehuniahthen rescues him by taking him from his father'shouse to the Templeand having him the task, by the GreatSeal, a magicalname.This nameaccomplishes adjure an effective It is therefore recommended to the reader. and is subsequently for RabbiIshmael'sfast. substitute a few paragraphs However,in a similarstorythatappears young below,68 Rabbi Ishmael has been fasting for forty days for the same purpose.He managesto bring down Yofiel,the Angel of the Presence,who proceedsto him questionhis motives. After being assuredthatRabbiIshmaelconjured for the sake of heaven,69 the angel instructshim in the correctprocedure: must sit fasting for forty days, "Whoeverwants it to be revealedto him7" performtwenty-fourimmersionsevery day, and not eat anythingdefiling. He must not look at a woman,and must sit in a totallydarkhouse"(?314). Whereasthe behaviordescribedhere is similarto RabbiIshmael'sabove,
65. Cf. Anderson, A Time to Mourn, pp. 112-114, which stresses the relevance of this pattern for communal mourning rituals. 66. Cf. the list in m. Yoma 8:1. 67. Anderson, A Time To Mourtn,pp. 112-114. Weeping can constitute both a literary motif for the expression of grief and a ritual act in itself; see Idel, Kabbalah: New Perspectives, pp. 75-88; cf. Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven, p. 107. 68. ?313-314. A parallel to this story also appears in Ma'aseh Merkavah; see Swartz, Mystical Prayet; pp. 86-89. 69. Rabbi Ishmael says, "I did not bring you down for my glory, but to do the will of your creator" (reading kevodi for the manuscript's kevodekha, "your glory," which may be a pious circumlocution). Cf. Jonathan ben Uzziel's reply in b. Meg. 3a to the heavenly voice that rebukes him for revealing divine secrets in his Targum. 70. This clause is in Aramaic.

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to RabbiIshmael's of mourning the emphasishas shifted from the patterns physicalpurity. One intriguingdetail which appearsin several of these texts is the texts in Merkavah of certainkindsof vegetables.The Sar-Torah prohibition Rabbahand HekhalotRabbatitell the mystic to avoid vegetablesof every kind. The incantationfor the GreatName instructs,"andhe shall not eat onion, garlic, or garden vegetables";"so too the magical manualquoted is unclear. Onepossibilitymay above.The exact reasonfor theseprohibitions to ritualimpurity. UnlikeDaniel'sbeans,"wet" residein theirsusceptibility notes the customof Arbesmann foods can contractimpuritymore easily.72 to refrained the Montanists, who, according Tertullian, among "xerophagy" If advised frommeat,wine, succulentfruit,and anything juicy.73 the authors avoidanceof luxurieslike meat and wine, they may also have remembered of Sinai the onions and garlic which temptedthe Israelitesin the wilderness Anotherreasonmaybe thatthesefoods maycauseindigestion (Num. 11:5).74 andbodilyodors.7 aboutwhatto eat. Here are instructions Alongsideof these prohibitions in is the too a patternof avoidanceis reflected.Persistent the instructions More thatthe practitioner should"eatbreadof his own hands."76 injunction This detailis part specifically,he shouldnot eat breadbakedby a woman.77 and can of a largeremphasison avoiding any traceof menstrual impurity, The Sar-Torah be placed with other such precautions. ritualin sectionII of Ma'aseh Merkavahcontainsan instruction to "eatone's breadwith salt."'78 The same phraseappearsin an appendixto m. Avot(Avot6:4) to exemplify the sage's simplelife.79
71. ?489. 72. The Mishnah tractateMakhshirim, based on Lev. 11:34 and 38, is built on this on foods which areunderpresumption of impurity, see chap.6 of thattractate. assumption; 73. Arbesmann, and Prophecy," De ieiunio1. "Fasting p. 2, n. 9, citingTertullian, 74. Cf. Tertullian, De ieiunio5. 75. Cf. alsoGruenwald, andJudaism," "Manichaeism citessources pp.269-270. Gruenwald thatmaintain thatvegetablescompromise one's healthandnotesthatManiandthe Elchasaites refrained fromcertainkinds of vegetables.Garlicwas also seen as an aphrodisiac throughout the Mediterranean, and it may have been avoidedin these ritualsbecauseit wouldencourage seminal emiscion. See Fred Rosner,trans.and ed., Julius Preuss' "Biblicaland Talmudic " (New York:HebrewPublishing Medicine 82a. Co., 1983),pp. 461-462, citingb. B. Qamn. 76. See ?299, ?684, and ?489. 77. ?489 andG19, line 12. 78. ?560. 79. Chapter 6 of Avotis a post-mishnaic knownas PereqQinyanTorah, and composition

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The Aramaic Sar-Torah text in Ma'aseh Merkavah (?571-578) involves

an unusualritual of eating and drinking.The practitioner is instructed to make a certainkind of "cookedbread"80 and go down to the river.He then a ritualinvolvingwritingmagicalnameson leavesanda silvercup, performs dissolving them in wine, and drinkingthe wine. This standsin contrastto the prohibition rituals.However,severalmagical of wine in otherSar-Torah to be recitedover wine.8A texts includeincantations One detail providesa clue to some of these specificdietaryprohibitions. In the course of a ritualfor the Sar-Torah to be practiced supposedlyby a of RabbiNehuniahben the Chapter disciple of the sages (talmidhakhamn), ha-Qannah prohibitswhat it calls "anything filthy"(kol davarmezoham).82 One might ask, as Halperinhas done, what kind of advancedrabbinical One possible answerto this studentwould eat uncleanor defiling foods.83 or does notreferto foods that the is term question mezolham zohamaprobably thatare forbiddento all Jews accordingto Leviticus11 andrelatedrabbinic As but foods that are dirtyor have a foul odor.84 laws (i.e., not "kosher"), we shall see, these ritualsoften seek to avoid odors.Anotherpossibilityis thatit refersto impurefoods, or at least foods thatdo not matchthe peculiar but criteriafor purityfound in these texts. Foods which are not forbidden with ritual impuritymay be eaten by lay Israelites,and are'contaminated
See M. B. Lerner, tractates. appearsat the end of that tractateas well as in extracanonical the "TheTractate Fortress, Avot,"in ShmuelSafrai,ed., TheLiterature of Sages (Philadelphia: 1987), 1:273-275. This or "boiledbread." as "potbread," 80. Aram.dwd' rypt', which might be translated see Jastrow, The worddwd' probably meanssome kindof cauldron; translation is uncertain. Dictionary,p. 283 and Sokoloff, A Dictionaryof Jewish PalestinianAramaic(RamatGan: as "coal-baked Bar-Ilan UniversityPress, 1990),p. 140. Sokoloff,ibid.,p. 523, translates rypth bread;" cf. Epstein,Perushha-Ge'onim,p. 136. See also b. Hor. 13b, which lists amongthe listed See howeverthe variants bread." thatrestorememorypt "coal-baked substances S. Jaffee, The Talmud in DiqduqeSoferimn ad loc.; see Martin ph.myn, An American of Babylonia: Scholars vol. 26, Tractate Press,1987),p. 207. Translation, Horayot(Atlanta:
81. There are rituals for the recitation of an incantation over the wine of havdalah; such a

Scholem,"Havdalah ritual,forpetihatlev, is foundin MS TS K1.117fol. 2a. See also Gershom 50 ha-Yehudit Akiba:Maqorle-Masoret Tarbis de-Rabbi ha-Ge'onim," bi-Tequfat ha-Magiah fromseeing his (1980-81): pp. 243-281. In MS TS KI.101, a man who has been prevented wife is to recitemagicalnamesover a cup of wine anddrink. kol minezohamna,' 82. ?314. Cf. ?560, whichprohibits "anykindof defilement." Faces of the Chariot,pp. 379-380. 83. Halperin, 84. Cf. b. Shab. 108a,wherethe termzohamarefersto foul odors.

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especiallyoutsideof the landof Israel.Even if, in the fictionalsettingof this story,the Temple Mount, RabbiNehuniahand RabbiIshmaelwould have that had to eat theirfood in purity,it could not have been takenfor granted he lived in the the readerwould need to do so--especially if, as is plausible, diaspora.85 SexualPurityand Social Avoidance Concernwith sexual purityis an essentialelementof these rituals.This of sexual activity concernis manifest in two relatedways: the prohibition and a deep concernwith menstrual Heretoo, and seminalemission,86 purity. the injunctionat Sinai not to go near a woman (Exod. 19:15) providesa Althoughm. precedentfor the individual'sencounterwith the Sar-Torah. Ber. 3:4 prohibitsa man who has had a seminalemissionfromrecitingthe blessing over the Shenia', the parallel in Tosefta explicitly permitsother However,as ShayeCohenobserves, categoriesof impurepersonsto study.87 on the the restrictions although ejaculantin the synagogueare older and more authenticwithin the rabbinicsystem,88 they were largely ignoredin in favor of on Jewish communities unauthorized many popularrestrictions menstruants.89
85. Cf., however,b. Nid. 20b and 52b, wherezhmis clearlydistinguished frommenstrual For evidenceof the Sar-Torah see ?305. impurity. practicein the diaspora, 86. The readeris sometimes instructedthat if an emission occurs, he must bathe and has invalidated the entire repeatthe entireregimenfromthe firstday,as the resulting pollution See ?684 and ?489. preparation.
87. T. Ber. 2:12-13. See Saul Lieberman, Tosefta ki-Feshutah, Zera'in, vol. 1, p. 20.

88. Cf. however the BabylonianTalmud'sdiscussionof this passage in b. Ber. 22a, in whichthe leniencyof the rabbisregarding fromseminalimpurity in terms is framed purification of its consequencesfor Torahstudyand sexualactivity.Herethe rabbis'basicconcernfor the of how this leniencywould purityof the man studyingTorahis offset by theirconsideration affect his performance of the misvahof procreation, accordingto one opinion,or whetherit wouldlead to promiscuity, to another. This discussion,in effect, thusminimizesthe according of purityitself. importance 89. Shaye J. D. Cohen, "Purityand Piety: The Separationof Menstruants from the customsrelatingto menstruants, see YedidyaDinari,"Minhage Tum'atha-Niddah-Meqoram 49 (1979-80): 302-324; idem,"Hillul ve-Hishtalshelutam," Tarbis ha-Qodesh 'al-yedeNiddah A. Friedman, ha-Niddah 'Ezra,"Te'udah3 (1983): 17-37; Mordechai ve-Taqqanat "Harhaqat
Sancta," in Susan Grossman and Rivka Haut, eds., Daughters of the King: Women and the Synagogue (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1992), pp. 103-115. On popular

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The concernwith menstrual purity,niddah,forms the basis for some of the most historicallysignificantdetails in this literature. The requirement mentionedabove that the practitioner eat "breadof his own hands"serves two allied purposes.It allows him to maintainhis isolation, which is an of the ritual.90 It also ensuresthathe will not come into important component contactwith menstrual In to eat impurity. fact, in paralleltexts the injunction in the versionswith the lehemyadav, "breadof his own hands,"alternates of lehiem of a woman." The intricacies of rabbinic ishah, "bread prohibition laws and customsof niddahalso play a partin the primary andnon-rabbinic ritualtext in the ascent traditions,the depositionof RabbiNehuniahfrom heaven,which is examinedbelow. The isolationof the individualis reinforced in a generalway. According to the Sar-Torah text in HekhalotRabbati(?299), the practitioner mustsleep alone for twelve days in a room or attic. In one versionof the Chapter of Rabbi Nehuniah(?314), he is to sit in a darkhouse. Some texts prohibit lookingat women or otherpeople. In one case RabbiIshmaelis to keep his A Genizahfragment eyes down and does not even look at coloredmaterial.91 stipulates:
He goes and sits in a houseby himself,andhe shouldbe in fastingall day and does not eat breadof a womananddoes not look eitherat a manor a woman. And when he walks in the marketplace he avertshis eyes fromall creatures anddoes not look even at a one-day-old child.92

The Aramaicincantation for the GreatName instructs: He mustnotsee thefaceof a maleor female twin,norsee thefaceof a male

ve-ha-Minut u-Veno R. Avraham'AI-Pi Kitve GenizatQahir,"in Arthur Esel ha-Rambam Studies (New York: Yeshiva UniversityPress, 1990), 1:1-21 Hyman, ed., Mainmonidean
(Hebrew sec.); and Daniel Sperber, Minhage Yisra'el: Meqorot ve-Toledot (Jerusalem: Mosad

below. ha-RavKook, 1989), pp. 222-234. See further 90. See below. 91. ?560. Cf. b. 'Abod.Zar. 20b, which warns against looking at a woman'scolored garments. 92. G19 lines 11-14.

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orfemale nor see the face of a maleor femalewitha discharge,94 leper,93 woman. nor see the face of a menstruant (?489) This passagelists, for the most part,classes of personswho are unclean to biblicallaw. Lepers,thosewho havean abnormal flux(zov),and according The taboo on twins, menstruants are all impureaccordingto Lev. 13-15.91 thusfarhasturned detail.Research however,is a mysterious upno suchtaboo in classicalJudaism. 98a statesthattwinsaresimplytheresult Indeed,b. Yeb. of the splittingof a dropof semen,andtherefore, an explainable presumably, was intendedto and naturalphenomenon.It is possible that this statement refutea folk-beliefto the oppositeeffect--one whichis reflectedin ourtext. observation thataccording Anotherpossibilityis raisedby I. Gruenwald's to Song of Songs Rabbahand parallels,twins are susceptibleto each other's diseases.96Thus, the twin you meet in the market may havecome downwith fromhis or her brother or sistermiles away.97 some contamination one More significantfor our purposesis thataccordingto the halakhah does not contractimpuritymerely by looking at a person who is impure in these ways. These prohibitions,then, not only go beyond the halakhic norm,but reflectconceptsat odds with the rabbinic puritysystem.However, the authorsare not oblivious to that system;nor are these practicesmerely an eccentric hyperextensionof normativepurityritualsthoughtup by an individual. Thereis evidence thatotherJews in LateAntiquity andthe early Middle Ages also consideredpollution to be somethingthat could occur
93. Sgyr' and sgyrt'. The term sgyr derives from the meaning of the root sgr as "quarantined," as in the procedure for lepers according to Lev. 13:46. Cf. t. Neg. 6:1. 94. This latter category is lacking in one recension of this text, representedby MSS Moscow Ginzburg 90 and 175, MS Cambridge Add. 405.4 and MS Florence Plut. 44.131. 95. The word sara 'at is translated here as "leprosy," although it probably does not refer to Hanson's disease. On these terms and regulations, see Baruch A. Levine, The JPS Torah Leviticus (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society. 1989), pp. 75-99. Conimmentai.: 96. Gruenwald, "Manichaeism and Judaism," p. 267 n. 31. 97. Ibid. Gruenwald, takes the prohibition to mean that the individual is prohibited from looking at his own twin. However, this reading is not supported by the text, which affixes no possessive pronouns to the words rywi' and tvwimt'.Another clue to this prohibition may be found in b. Pes. 110-113, which discusses the practice of avoiding pairs when eating, drinking, and attending to one's bodily needs; doing these in pairs is said to make one vulnerable to demons. However, there is no suggestion there that the taboo would be extended to the avoidance of human pairs.

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even throughthe most casualcontactwith the contaminated person-in this A curioustext knownas Braitade-Massekhet case the menstruant. Niddah, which purportsto relate extra-talmudic statementsof the sages regarding claims that niddah can be transmitted menstruation, throughthe earthon which the menstruant walks and even throughher speech or breath.98 A medievallegend illustratesthe notion that looking at an impurecreature is or harm a This text is a to contaminate miraculous birth person. enough narrative about RabbiIshmael,the hero of the Hekhalotliterature.99 In this Ishmael's mother and father are distressed because she has not tale, saintly survived. The a child that decide that she must borne immersein a couple ritualbathbefore they conceive. Then:"sheimmersed, and she encountered to the bathhouse a pig. She returned and immersed. Whenshe emerged,she saw a leper before her. She went back and immersed.""' After forty such Gabrielto tell her thatshe instances,the Holy One, blessed be He, instructs has more than provenher piety (in fact, that she has gone too far) and that with little Ishmael.According to halakhah, contactwith she will be rewarded as we have a live pig does not produceimpurity; nor, seen, does the mere sight of anythingdefiling.But therearenumerous examplesof the belief that kind of animalor person--especiallya menstruating looking at a particular B. Pes. 11la states that if a woman affect one physically.'0' woman--can
98. Braita de-Massekhet Niddah in Chaim M. Horovitz, Tosefta 'Atiqta, pt. 5 (Frankfurt

in 1890,"Jeiwsish a. Main, 1890). Cf. S. Schechter"JewishLiterature Quarterly Reviei; o.s. 3

Wilhelm (1891): 338-342; N. Brtill, Jahrbuchfiir Jiidische Geschichte ind Literatur(Frankfurt: Erras, 1876), pp. 124-226; Saul Lieberman, Sheqi'in (Jerusalem: Wahrman, 1970), p. 22 and idem, in Sefer Merivot, ed. B. Lewin (Jerusalem, 1934; reprint ed. Jerusalem: Maqor, 1973), pp. 115-118. See also the sources listed in note 89 above. 99. Ma'aseh Yafehshel R. Yishma'el Kohen Gadol, in Horowitz, Tosefta 'Atiqta 5:57-61, from Liqqute ha-Pardes attributed to Rashi (Amsterdam, 1715), fol. 4a; see also Horowitz, Tosefta 'Atiqta, 5:44-45 and his list of versions of the story, ibid. 4:14. Cf. Micha J. bin Gorion, Mimekor Yisrael, ed. Emanuel bin Gorion and trans. I. M. Lask (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1976), 2:547 and the sources listed in 3:1506, n. 5. Another version of this story appears in the late medieval Ma'aseh-buch. See Moses Gaster, Ma'aseh Book: Book of Jewish Tales and Legends Translatedfrom the Judeo-German (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication

Society,1934), pp. 237-239.

100. Horovitz, Tosefta 'Atiqta 5:57.

afterbloodletting a pig (davarah!er) 101. See b. Shab. 129b.whichwarnsthatencountering of skinafflictions can lead to leprosy(Rashi,ad. loc., cites b. Qid.49b thatof the ten measures
that descended to the world, nine were taken by pigs). The legend in Gaster.Ma'aseh [nega'inm] Book, is associated with the statement in b. Ber. 20a that R. Yohanan would stand outside the women's bathhouse so that the women would have children as handsome as he; the reasoning

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at the beginningof her periodpasses before two men, she will kill one of texts knew We need not presumethat the authorsof the Sar-Torah them.102 with some of this literature. these texts, althoughthey may be contemporary both genresreflectpopularnotionsthateach uses to its purpose. Rather, Ablutionsand Cleansing Ablutions accompanythe regimen at some point in the rituals.These the readerto rituals.?299 instructs are explicitly designatedas purificatory immersion a stringent "washhis garmentsand cloaks andperform rendering Note here the requirement him free from any doubtof nocturnal pollution." at Sinai in Exod. 19:10 to wash one's clothes, which was also commanded must wear white and 14. In the GreatName ritual(?489) the practitioner in in ritual he is not to the Sar-Torah Ma'aseh Merkavah (?560) garments; look at coloredfabric.In a few texts the ablutionis to takeplaceat a river."10 As Gruenwald and Moshe Idel have pointedout, the riverwas knownas a of place numinousencounterfor Ezekiel and Jacob,and as the settingfor manymagicalprocedures.1'
Withthe Angels

What is at stake in these elaborateprocedures? Why must the human

behind this version of the story is thus that if Rabbi Ishmael's mother had seen a pig, she would be thinking of it when she conceives. See Moses Gaster, The Exempla of the Rabbis (1924; reprint ed. New York: Ktav, 1968), pp. 145-146, 102, and 222. Cf. Num. R., chap. 9. In contrast, the purpose of the versions quoted by Horowitz is to demonstrate the merits of ritual immersion, which removes those harmful effects. As Cohen observes ("Purity and Piety," p. 108), Braita de-Massekhet Niddah stresses the physical dangers of menstruation, contrary to the prevailing rabbinic conception. 102. The comment in Tosaforad loc. moderates this statement by explaining that if she had practiced witchcraft on him (kishul), the power of her impurity will make it effective. According to b. Shab. 110b, a woman can repel a snake by telling it she is in menstruation;cf. Rashi, ad loc. On these and other examples of the idea of the destructive power of the menstruant, see Dinari, "Tum'at ha-Niddah," p. 311. 103. See ?489, ?495, and ?663. 104. See Gruenwald, Apocalyptic, p. 135; Moshe Idel, "Le-Gilgulehah shel Tekhniqah Qedumah shel Hazon Nevu'i Bi-yeme ha-Benayim," Sinai 86 (1979-80): 1-7; Jacob Z. Lauterbach, "Tashlik: A Study in Jewish Ceremonies." Hebrew Union College Annual 11 (1936): 207-340; cf. Halperin, Faces of the Chariot, p. 212.

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being undergo such an extraordinary level of purification in order to meet with the angels? We may locate a clue to this question in another set of texts relevant to our understanding of the role of purity in these rituals: rabbinic legends regarding rivalry between humans and angels, particularlythose that It is open to question concern Moses' ascent to heaven to receive the Torah.o10 whether the Moses stories constituted the sole, or even the principal source for the Sar-Torah genre and the Hekhalot tradition in general.106 But many details of the Moses stories are relevant to a discussion of purity and askesis in those literatures. The locus classicus for the ascent of Moses is in the Babylonian Talmud, b. Shab. 88b-89a. Important versions of this myth are also found in early In the talmudic version, the medieval midrashim, such as Pesiqta Rabbati.107 angels protest to God about Moses's presence among them to receive the Torah,asking, "What is one born of woman doing here among us?" In Pesiqta Rabbati chapter 20, an angel accuses Moses directly: "You have come from a place of filth to a pure place; You born of woman, what are you doing in a place of fire?"'"0 The angels' disparagement of Moses as one "born of woman" reminds him of his origins in impurity according to Leviticus 12.'09In the Chapter of Rabbi Nehuniah, the angel Yofiel, rebuking Rabbi Ishmael, addresses him
105. See Ira Chernus, Mysticism in Rabbinic (New York: de Gruyter, 1982); Judaisnm Joseph P. Schultz, "Angelic Opposition to the Ascension of Moses and the Revelation of the Law," Jewish Quarterly' Review 61 (1970-71): 282-307; Moshe Idel, "Tefisat ha-Torah beSifrut ha-Hekhalot ve-Gilguleha ba-Qabbalah," Melhqere Yerushalavyim be-Mahshevet Yisra'el 1 (1981-82): 23-84; Peter Schafer, Rivalitidtzwischen Engeltnund Menschen: Untersuchungen zur rabbinischen Engelvorstellung (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1975); and Halperin, Faces of the Chariot. 106. Cf. Halperin, Faces of the Chariot. 107. In particular, Pesiqta Rabbati, ed. Meir Ish Shalom (Vienna, 1880; reprinted., Israel, n.d.), 96b-98a (chap. 20); Midrash Tehillim, ed. S. Buber (Vilna, 1891; reprint ed., Jerusalem, Wahrman, 1966), pp. 73-76 (chap. 8); Pirqe de-Rabbi 'Eliezer (Warsaw, 1852; reprint ed. Jerusalem, n.d.), p. I10b (chap. 46). See the sources listed in L. Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1946), 6:46-47; Schultz, "Angelic Opposition," pp. 286-287; and Halperin, Faces of the Chariot, pp. 289-322. A frequentlycited source is Ma 'ayan Hokhmah, in A. Jellinek, Bet Ha-Midrash (Leipzig, 1878; reprint ed., Jerusalem: Wahrman, 1967), 1:58-61, which is in fact the introduction to the magical book ShimmutsheTorah; see Gershom Scholem, On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism (New York: Schocken, 1969), p. 38 and Swartz, "Book and Tradition." 108. Pesiqta Rabbati 96b. 109. This epithet is also used by angels in 3 Enoch ?3, ?9, ?79 and in ?149. discussed

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In Seder as "humanbeing, son of a stinkingdrop, worm and vermin."110 withthe humanworshipper, who "eats 'EliahuZuta,the angelsarecontrasted offensive property of human and excretes like an animal.""'A particularly In Metatron disturbs the one smell. is their heavenlyhosts, passage, beings of woman"is rising who demandto know why the smell of this being "born up to them."' This unit is a brief traditionappendedto HekhalotRabbati and to the Chapterof Rabbi Nehuniahat at ?147-149 in one manuscript It is probablya late traditionand may reflect the ?315-317 in another.113 of 3 Enoch,thatMetatron was idea, which forms the basis for the narrative ritualsmay therefore once the earthlingEnoch. Ablutionsin the Sar-Torah butof of ritualimpurity, have the purposenot only of riddingthe practitioner that cause and other foods bad too of so the odors; may prohibitions garlic breathand indigestion.14 But in these cases, the angels are not simplyexpressingcontemptat the concerned of the humanintruder; theyareapparently physicalobnoxiousness is that he will pollute the angelic domain.Thus extraordinary purification in In the the their abode heaven. same individual to way, necessary approach who seeks to bringthe angel to earthmustnot repulsehim withhis impurity. a processof extraordinary These midrashim depictMoses as undergoing In b. Yoma in the revelation Sinai. for at 4a, Rabbi purification preparation
below. On this term, taken from Job 14:1 and 15:14, see Ginzberg, Legends, 6:57 and Schultz, "Angelic Opposition," p. 287. 110. ?313; cf. also ?79 and ?565. This term is based on m. Avot 3:1, where humans are admonished to remember that we come from a stinking drop and go to a place of worm and vermin. For an interpretation of the saying in Avot, see Saul Lieberman, "How Much Greek in Jewish Palestine?" in Alexander Altmann, ed., Biblical and Other Studies (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963), pp. 136-139. 111. Seder Eliahu Zuta, chap. 12, in Seder Eliahu Rabbah ive-SederEliahu Zuta, ed. Meir Ish Shalom (Vienna, 1904; reprint ed., Jerusalem: Wahrman, 1969), p. 193. For the phrase cf. b. Yonma 75b, where God also declares that in giving Israel manna, which did not need to be eliminated, he wished to make them like the ministering angels. 112. See also ?181, discussed below. 113. The unit appears in MS. MY 8128 at ?147-149 and in MS Vatican 228 at 315-317. Both of these manuscripts tend to include later materialnot found in other Hekhalot manuscripts. On MS NY 8128 see SchAfer,Synopse, p. x, and Swartz, Mystical Prayei; pp. 43-44. 114. Conversely, it is a characteristic of the righteous that they emit no bad odor. Cf. the story of Rabbi Eleazer in b. B. Mes. 83a-85a, on which see Daniel Boyarin, "Literary Fat Rabbis: On the Origins of the Grotesque Body," Journal of the History of Sexuality 1 (1991): 551-584.

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Nataninterprets Exodus24:16 to meanthatthe cloudcoveredMosesat Sinai in order to purge food and drink from his bowels "to make him like the It is a matterof debate,in b. Yoma 75b, for example, ministering angels.""'1 whetheror not angels eat.116 Visitors likewise do not eat, but, like Moses and Aaronaccordingto b. Ber. 17a, are "nourished by the splendorof the In some sources the angels (and humansin theirpresence) Shekhinah.""'17 eat a particular kind of heavenlyfood."8This idea may bearon the special of bread foundin some of ourrituals. preparations The notion that in orderto be among the divine beings it is necessary to assume a state of ritualparitywith them is an ancientidea which finds literature. to Gary expressionin this midrashand in the Hekhalot According A. Anderson,Gilgamesh'sfriendEnkiduwouldbe able to walk aboutin the netherworld unnoticedif he refrained from the joyous activities-like those in rabbinicliterature on mourning and atonement-which distinproscribed the This would be behind to the necromantic guish living."'19 appear fastingof the rabbismentionedabove. Likewise,in orderto be indistinguishable from the angels, Moses must be empty of food. In Ma'aseh Merkavah, the ruse workstoo well. The Sar-Torah mustprotecthimselfby standing practitioner in a circle so that"thedemonswill not come andlikenhim to the angelsand kill him"(?562).120 of Moses wins the argument withthe angelsby citingthe veryphysicality the That which was for their in the first humanity grounds place. objections physicalityis what permitshumanbeings to observethe Torah.In b. Shab. 88b he pointsout:"Itis written,'honoryourfatherandmother'[Exod.20:12 can be and Deut. 5:16]; do you have mothersand fathers?" This argument seen as a clever refutation of the epithetyelud ishah, "bornof woman."In
115. This view is opposed by Mattiah ben Heresh. See also Avot de-Rabbi Natan, ed. Schechter, version A, chap. 1. 116. The discussion centers on the exegesis of Deut. 9:9 vs. Ps. 78:25. According to Leviticus Rabbah 34:8, Targum Ps.-Jonathan to Gen. 18:8, and one opinion in b. B. Mes. 86b, the three angels who visited Abraham were only pretending to eat and drink. For the sources on this subject, see David Goodman, "Do Angels Eat?" Journal of Jewish Studies 37 (1986): 160-175. 117. See Chernus, Mysticism in Rabbinic Judaism, pp. 74-87. 118. Based on Exod. 24:11 and Ps. 78:25, and often related to the manna in the wilderness. See Goodman, "Do Angels Eat?" pp. 160-162. 119. Anderson, A Time to Mourn, pp. 75-76. 120. On the protective device of standing in a circle, which is used by Honi ha-Ma'agel in m. Ta'an. 3:8, see Gruenwald, Apocalyptic, p. 185.

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the Midrash to Psalms, God cites the laws of impurity which the pure angels cannot observe.'121 The angels, however, are not always depicted as creatures of pure spirit, impervious to the quasi-physical properties of matter that necessitate these procedures in the first place. Rather, they can merely afford to be more fastidious. A particularly striking passage in a cosmological text, Seder Rabbah de-Bereshit, illustrates the idea that the angels themselves are not exempt from the ritual dynamics that allow the human practitioner to be in their presence.'12 This passage describes the protocol of the heavenly liturgy, and particularly its dependence on the earthly liturgy of Israel."' The heavenly chorus must wait for Israel on earth to recite the Qedushah (Isa. 6:3) before they can recite theirs. How do they know when Israel has done so on earth? There is an angel named Shemu'el who stands every day at dawn and announces the prayers that rise from the synagogues and houses of study. When he does so, the angels immerse themselves in rivers of fire. At this point the text asks a perfectly reasonable question: (?181) And do the angels have flux [zov] and pollution,menstrual impurity that they requireimmersion? Rather, [niddah],and [impurityof] childbirth, over the laborof the [those who immerseare] the angels who are appointed world and descend every day to bring peace to the world-when the time comes for song, they go up to the firmament andbecauseof the smellof human who are born of of woman, beings possessors impurity, possessorsof flux and filth, they bathe themselvesin fire and cleanse and purifyand lustrate. . . themselvesin fire until they make themselvesholy, and they becomelike the ['arevotraqia']. ministering angels of the upperfirmament The susceptibity to pollution on the part of the angels is not merely an esoteric notion, confined to the phenomenological fringes of Jewish religious history. It is an echo of a significant aspect of biblical cultic theology: the volatility of the divine presence in biblical religion. As described by Baruch
121. MidrashTehillim (ed. Buber),chap.8, pp. 74-75. See also Schultz,"AngelicOpposition,"pp. 286-287, 300-301. 122. Synopse?790-791, MS Oxf. 1531and?810-811 in thesamemanuscript (= ?180-181 in MS NY 8128). 123. Onthecorrespondence betweentheheavenly andearthly see Swartz, Mystical liturgies, and Gruenwald, andthe Prayer;Schafer,"Aimand Purpose"; "AngelicSongs, the Qedushah Problem of the Originof the Hekhalot in Apocalyptism, Literature," pp. 145-173.

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A. Levine, the PotentPresenceof God required extremelydelicatesanitary conditionsto appearon earth;if theseconditionswerenotmet,the Deity had no choice but to react."24 It is this volatilitywhich triggersthe divine wrath intruders like NadabandAbihuin Lev. 10:1-2. As Moses' againstmisguided consolation of Aaron demonstrates (Lev. 10:3),thatwrathis less subsequent an emotionalresponseto sin thana manifestation of God'sholiness.'25 It is in this context that we can understand a commonmotif in both the and ascent literatures: the wrathof the angels. We can see this conjuration motifin the Sar-Torah's rebukeof RabbiIshmael, butit manifests itself in the ritualitself. Repeatedly, the practitioner the angelsnot to harmhim.126 adjures The motif of the dangerof the encounter with the divine beingsdetermines muchof the ritualdynamicsmanifestin thesetexts.The angelspersonifythe impersonalwrathof the PotentPresencein reactionto invasionof its pure realm.

The Deposition of Rabbi Nehuniah

areplacedin The ascentto the heavensandesotericsystemof ritualpurity fromheaven in the of Rabbi striking conjunction story Nehuniah's deposition in HekhalotRabbati(?225-228). This passage,whichhas prompted considerablediscussion in recentyears, is the principalsourcefor understanding the relationship of cultic purityto the idea of ascentto the Merkavah.'27 is The setting of the story is the Templein Jerusalem. RabbiNehuniah seated,recitingthe detailsof his ascentin the midstof his disciples.In order to ask theirrabbiabouta cryptictermhe is using,his colleaguesmustbring him downfromheaven.However,they mustdo so withoutcausinghim harm
124. BaruchA. Levine,In the Presenceof the Lord(Leiden:Brill, 1974).
125. See Levine, Leviticus, pp. 59-60.

126. See, for example,?558 (on which see Swartz,Mystical Prayen;pp. 132-133), ?569, and ?624. 127. Scholem, Gnosticism,pp. 9-13; LawrenceH. Schiffman,"The Recall of Rabbi AJSReview1 (1976):269-281; fromEcstasyin theHekhalot Rabbati," Nehuniaben ha-Qanah of the Heikhaloth," "TheKnowledgeof Halakhaby the Author(or Authors) Saul Lieberman, von der "Die ErzAhlung in Gruenwald, Apocalyptic,pp. 241-244; and Margarete Schltiter, in ihremredaktionellen des R. Nehunya ben Haqanaaus der Merkava-Schau RUckholung
Rahmen," Frankfurter Judaistische Beitriige 10 (1982): 65-109.

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in which a piece of fine or sin. They thus employ an elaborateprocedure cloth is touchedby a woman who has completedher cycle, has immersed This womanwould once, andhas thenimmersed correctly.'"2 unsuccessfully, be impureonly accordingto one of the sages. The cloth is placedon a bough knees.This of myrtlesoakedin balsamoil and placedon RabbiNehluniah's has the effect of deposinghim frombeforethe heavenlythrone. of Hekhalot character For Scholem,this storywas proofof "thehalakhic fromrabbinic andthusof its derivation circles.'29It is the passage mysticism" affinities to rabbinic halakhah. in Hekhalot whichbearsthe strongest literature text thanthe prescriptive texts in our However,it is more purelya narrative Theprocedure-indeed selectionthatconcerna ritualundertaken by a rabbi.13" entireascent-is presented the narrative RabbiNelhuniah's as a one-time by in an emergency."' occurrence undertaken The basic objectiveof the procedure is to render RabbiNeIhuniah impure so that he will be cast down from heaven.Each of the steps takenhave as their purposethe infusion of the cloth with a marginal degreeof impurity. The womanis at a stage in her cycle, aftershe has immersed a firsttime, in but not certain.RabbiNehluniah which her purityis probable wouldthenbe madeimpureonly in the opinionof a minority of sages."32 But,as Lieberman in heaven the view with to The pointsout, minority regard purityprevails."33 solution was for it allowed them to colleagues' particularly ingenious, bring him down withoutviolatinghis earthlypurityon the TempleMount.Thus
128. In b. Nid. 67a, the termlo 'altah lah tevilahrefersto an immersion invalidated by an interposing substance. See Schiffman, "Rabbi of Nehunia," p. 274; Lieberman, "Knowledge Halakha," p. 243. 129. JewishGnosticism, p. 9. 130. Unlike many of the ritualtexts underdiscussion,this one does not containa recommendation for the praxisin which the tradent or an angel testifiesto its effectivenessfor of status.Sucha recommendation occurs,forexample,in ?305, in which everybodyregardless the narrative stressesthatthe Sar-Torah is for the lowliestshepherd effective andis as praxis potentoutsideof the landof Israelas withinits boundaries. 131. The ascent is also undertaken becauseof an emergency: Rome'sevil decreeagainst Israel.Furthermore, SchlUter's textualanalysis("Erzihlung," pp.84-95) showsthattheaccount of RabbiNehuniah's Rabbati. depositionis a lateradditionto this sectionof Hekhalot 132. Lieberman, of Halakha," wouldinclude "Knowledge p. 242, suggeststhattheminority RabbiEliezer,who was knownto takea stricter positionon purity. 133. Ibid. The myrtlebranchdippedin balsamwould serve to disguise the odor of the cloth according to Lieberman, or, in Schiffman's view,act as a magicwandthatwouldlikewise affectthe depositionandreinforcethe action.

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this procedureunderscores the cultic dynamicsof the ascentas interpreted, conceivedby the authorsof HekhalotRabbati:thereare higherstandards of ritualpurityin heaven,but the functionof purityis the sameas in the biblical for approaching the PotentPresenceof God. cult. Purityis a prerequisite the obvious halakhic therearefactors dimension, Notwithstanding story's it the that that the authors of the Hekhalot militating against argument proves were the same rabbisresponsiblefor the classical Talmudsand literature midrashim.One is that the halakhahis one componentbut not the sole componentof the ritual. As Schiffmanand Schltiterpoint out, there is a significantmagical dimensionto the praxis.'31Moreover,the halakhahon which they do rely is nonstandard. As Schliiterobserves,the positionof its is extrahalakhic.135 authors In fact, accordingto current on the subject,the Pharisaic and scholarship the cultic and localizednatureof the rabbinicpuritysystems deemphasized In theearlyrabbinic biblicalconceptof purity."36 system,puritywas no longer the DivinePresencein the of those who neededto approach the sole property reinforces the cultic Temple,but a duty of all Israel.This story,by contrast, notion.The Presenceis not, however,localizedon Zion, but in the heavenly
Temple.'37

Conclusions Ritualand InnerExperience have largelybeen interpreted Ritualsin the Hekhalotliterature according thattheirprincipalmeaningcan be foundin the intention to the assumption
134. Schiffman,"Recall," "ErzAhlung," p. 107. pp. 275-281; SchliUter, that this episode,whichseems It is also 108-109. 135. Schltter,"Erzihlung," possible pp. reflectsa laterstagein of Hekhalot into the ascentnarrative Rabbati, to havebeen interpolated If this is halakhah was greater. the tradition's developmentin which the influenceof rabbinic does not arguefor the rabbinic the case, its halakhicnature mysticism. originof Merkavah 136. See especially Neusner,Purities;idem, The Idea of Purity,and BaruchM. Bokser, Review78 (1985):279-299. SacredSpace,"HarvardTheological "Approaching literature 137. To be sure,manypassagesin rabbinic can be foundthatdo reflectthisolder "Betha-Miqdash Natan,,chap.34 andA. Aptowitzer, concept.See forexample,Avotde-Rabbi Tarbis2 (1931): 137-153 and 257-287. Cf. also Swartz, shel Ma'alah 'al Pi ha-Aggadah,"
Mystical Prayel; pp. 28-29.

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to producea mystical state. It is certainlynot difficultto imaginethat the individualwho follows these procedures mightachievea vision of the angel he wishes to conjure,or of the heavenly array.But if we make this idea these practices,we miss much of their the primaryvehicle for interpreting that ritualsin the Hekhalotliterature This has shown analysis significance. be read withinthecontextof the traditional and can ritual reflectdistinct goals andmythicworldsof theirtime. with foranencounter sees it, he mustprepare As theSar-Torah practitioner and are divinebeingswho aresensitiveto terrestrial easily pollution provoked. to the Divine Presence Takingas his initial model his ancestors'approach at Sinai and Zion, he then seeks to rid himself of all physicaltracesof his drawn fromhalakhah, ritualpurification, humanness usingtechniques through The and Greco-Roman folk Jewish beliefs, magic. perhaps foregoinganalysis suggests that it is this conception, no less than the consciousnessof the thatinfluencesthe detailsof these ritualprocedures. individual, Social Implications the storyof RabbiNehuniah's Lieberman and Schltiterinterpreted deposition with the aid of Braita de-Massekhet Niddah,mentionedabove. This documenthas had an unusualhistory.Its deviationfrom rabbinic halakhah well its strictness with to menstrual regard goes beyond extraordinary purity; its teachingsfly in the face of clear rabbinicdicta."38 Braita de-Massekhet the impurity of women Niddahreflectsfolk beliefs and practicesregarding which persistedfrom the talmudicperiod well into the Middle Ages. Two from the house and the refusalto customs, the removalof the menstruant permither to enterthe synagogue,were entrenched amongthe laity in many of these practicesby the communities,despite the repeateddenunciations In Braita de-Massekhet rabbinicleadership."39 Niddah, these customs are basedon the ideas cited above thatthe menstruant's itself is speechor breath
138. See Dinari,"MinhageTum'atha-Niddah," pp. 304-305. Indeed,the book seems at times to be a pallid imitation,if not an outrightparody,of mishnaicliterature. The text cites ben ha-Qannah" ben ha-Qannah) andopenswiththewords,"Shammai (forNehuniah "Haninah
says . . ." which also begin m. Nid. This led Schechter ("Jewish Literature,"p. 339) to propose

thatthe sourcesof the text can be found amongKaraites or Samaritans. This view has been refutedby Dinari,"Minhage cf. Lieberman, Tum'atha-Niddah"; Sheqi'in,p. 22. 139. Thesecustomscan thustaketheirplace withfolk practices suchas kapparot, tashlikh, and other extrahalakhic rituals. On these folk rituals, see the studies collected in Jacob

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D. SWARTZ MICHAEL

pollutingandthatthe earthshe walkson is impure.Suchnotionsalso inform we findin the Hekhalot the ritualprohibitions literature. These texts reflect practices found in Jewish popularreligion of the talmudic of the extrahalakhic dimension period.'14However,the implications to Rabbinic are complex.They of these ritualsfor theirrelationship Judaism to the conclusionthat the Sar-Torah do not lead unambiguously literature in the lower classes of Jewishsociety.'4' Its ambivalent positionin originated relationto halakhahand its use of the idea of Torahfor the specificends of the magic point to an origin in groupsoutsidethe centralcirclesof rabbinic with midrashic learningwho at the same time were literateand acquainted law.42 lore, liturgicalpoetry,andelementsof rabbinic rabbinic valuesin peculiar Forthisliterature ways.Itsauthors appropriates invoke the authority of the early rabbisto promotetheirmagicalrecipes.'14 to successin the very These recipes,in fact, offer nothingless thanshortcuts estate-the studyof Torah. endeavormost valuedby the rabbinic

Z. Lauterbach, Studies in Jewish Law, Custom and Folklore (n.p.: Ktav, 1970); and idem,

"Tashlik." 140. As Charles A. Long points out ("PopularReligion,"Encyclopediaof Religion 11:440-452), the term popularreligion can have several meanings,not all of them useful for describingthe religiousphenomenadescribedhere. One of these possibledefinitions(p. of the relevanceof the termfor this study:"Popular 446) approximates religionas an amalgam esotericbeliefs and practicesdifferingfromthe commonor civil religion,but usuallylocated the degreeof in the lower strataof society."This definitionis useful to us notwithstanding Faces of the Chariot,seeks to locate the educationour authorsseem to have had. Halperin, a literature constituted in the lowerclasses ('amn authors ha-ares)andarguesthatthe Hekhalot andothers, the opinionof Halperin This studythusconfirms Judaism. protestagainstRabbinic and thatthe Sar-Torah who arguethatthese texts did not originatein the rabbinic academies, Judaism. shouldbe contrasted withthatof Rabbinic of Torah notionof the acquisition tradition's Cf., however,below.
141. Cf. Halperin, Faces of the Chariot.

142. On the complexityof Jewish society in talmudicPalestine,see Lee I. Levine, The

Rabbinic Class of Roman Palestine in Late Antiquit, (Jerusalem: Yad Izhak ben Zvi; New

with York:JewishTheologicalSeminary,1989);see pp. 117-127 on the rabbis'relationships The 'An Ha-aretz(Leiden:Brill, 1977). other social groups;cf. also AharonOppenheimer,
On Babylonian Jewish society, see Jacob Neusner, A History of the Jews in Babylonia, 5 vols. Zalman ha-Talmud (Jerusalem: (Leiden:Brill, 1965-70); I. Gafni, Ye/hudeBavel bi-Tequfat

Shazar Center,1990). "Book see Swartz, 143. On this issue andits relevanceforthe socialpositionof theauthors, andTradition."

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Magiciansand Monks To attainthis success, the magicianmust sequester himselffromsociety andespeciallytheoppositesex. If he eatsatall,he musteata severelyrestricted He immerses andsometimes diet whichhe himselfprepares. wears frequently clothes. To the naked he looks like a monk. the monastic Indeed, eye, special ideals of "living like angels"and the "waragainstthe demons" can also be seen as magicalideals.'44 So too, in both cases, if the problemthey wish to address-the humannessof the adept-is physical,the remedyis likewise physical.The humancreatureis a son of a stinkingdrop,bornin impurity, who eats and excretes-in other words,a physicallyobnoxiousbeing who has no right to keep companywith the angels. Withoutthe elaborateritual and routinessuch as those we use to identifyascetics,the angels procedures wouldneverdescend.In mappingthe complexnetwork of diets,prohibitions, we come up againstthe physicality exclusions,sexual taboos,and ablutions, of asceticism. FromDeuteronomy 30:12 we learnthatthe Torahis not in heaven.For thoseancientJews who dreamed of conjuring them,livingwiththe angelswas not a permanent stateof life butan extraordinary eventwhose importance lay in the heaven-sentcapacityto acquireknowledgeof a Torahbroughtdown to earth. of Virginia University Va. Charlottesville,

144. See especially Peter Brown, The World Brace (London:Harcourt of Late Antiquity Jovanovich,1971), pp. 100-103; Body and Society pp. 323-338; RobinLane Fox, Pagans and Christians (New York:Knopf, 1987), pp. 375-418. The idealof virginity, however,plays no partin the Jewish patternsof abstinencedescribedhere. For the situationwith regardto RabbinicJudaism,see Fraade,"AsceticalAspects";Daniel Boyarin,"Internal Oppositionin Talmudic Literature: The Case of the Married 36 (1991):87-113. Monk," Representations