Divine and Demonic in the Poetic Mythology of the Zohar

327 Pages·2018·1.903 MB·English

by  Nathaniel Berman

Divine and Demonic in the Poetic Mythology of the Zohar
IJS STUDIES IN JUDAICA
Conference Proceedings of the
Institute of Jewish Studies,
University College London
Series Editors
Mark Geller
François Guesnet
Ada Rapoport-Albert
VOLUME 18
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ijs
Divine and Demonic in the Poetic
Mythology of the Zohar
The “Other Side” of Kabbalah
By
Nathaniel Berman
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Berman, Nathaniel, author.
Title: Divine and demonic in the poetic mythology of the Zohar : the “other
 side” of Kabbalah / By Nathaniel Berman.
Description: Boston : Leiden ; Brill, [2018] | Series: IJS studies in Judaica :
 conference proceedings of the Institute of Jewish Studies, University
 College London ; volume 18 | This monograph is not a conference volume per
 publisher. | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018032975 (print) | LCCN 2018034668 (ebook) |
 ISBN 9789004386198 (E-book) | ISBN 9789004386181 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Zohar. | Cabala. | Jewish mythology. | Demonology.
Classification: LCC BM525.A59 (ebook) | LCC BM525.A59 B48 2018 (print) |
 DDC 296.1/62—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018032975
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issn 1570-1581
isbn 978-90-04-38618-1 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-38619-8 (e-book)
Copyright 2018 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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To the three incarnations of the Shekhinah in my life: my mother,
Daisy Berman, my wife, Julie Peters, and my daughter, Kaia Berman
Peters. Without them, nothing would be possible.
ארוט אוהה לע אתניכש אקלסו
ןילק תלת עמתשתו
And the Shekhinah ascends upon that mountain
and makes three voices resound …
Zohar Ḥadash, 56a
∵

Contents
Prefatory Note: Bibliography, Footnotes, Principal Texts, Translations,
and Transliterations ix
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction: Poetic Mythology for a Broken World 1
I Otherness and Brokenness 2
II A (Very Short) Kabbalistic Primer 8
III Overview of the Book 12
IV A Final Introductory Note 15
1 Demonic Writing: the Rhetoric and Ontology of Ambivalence 16
I Demonic Fascination, Zoharic Writing and Zohar Scholarship 16
II Textual Proliferation and Stylistic Audacity 27
III The Rhetoric and Ontology of Ambivalence 35
A The Ontology of Splitting and the Rhetoric of Parallelism 37
B The Ontology of Abjection and Crystallization; The Rhetoric of
Irony and Prosopopeia 44
1 Splitting and Intimacy 44
2 Catharsis and Abjection 46
3 Tropes of Transition 55
2 A Divided Cosmos 58
I Introduction: Ontological Splitting, Rhetorical Parallelism and Tropic
Doubling 58
II Modeling the Other Side: Geography, Essence, Structure 59
III Reading the Other Side: Paradoxical Textuality 64
IV The Rhetorical Construction of Splitting I: the Seductions of
Schemes 75
A An Introduction to Anaphora: “There Is … and … There Is” 75
B Constructing and Destabilizing through Anaphora: Splitting the
Waters, the Letters, the Directions 80
C The Indeterminacy of Anaphora: the Uncertain “Ends” of Daniel
and Jacob, the Protean “Thousand” of Solomon 85
D Polysemic Schemes: Constructing the Proximate Heavens and the
Distant Curtains 97
viii Contents
V The Rhetorical Construction of Splitting II: the Ambivalence of
Tropes 101
A Dragons 102
B Job 114
C Nogah (“Brightness”) 118
D Conclusion 133
3 The Formation of Self and Other through Abjection and
Crystallization 136
I Introduction 136
II The Origin of the Demonic: Theological Concern and Mythic
Narrative 141
III “Dualism,” “Duality,” and the Proto-Divine 144
IV From Catharsis to Abjection 151
V Ambivalences of Origins 154
A “Thought” 155
B “Earth” 161
C “Fierce Wrath” 169
D “The River” 175
VI Divine and Demonic: a Family Affair 183
A Procreational Purification: the “Clean Body” Passage 183
B Brothers and Sisters: “Improper Twins” 189
VII Ambivalences of Intimacy 193
A Dangerous Liaisons 193
B Seduction of the Divine Phallus and the Generation of the
Demonic Spirits (Shedim) 198
C Routinization of Abjection 204
VIII Ambivalences of Sustenance: “Suckling” 210
IX Epilogue: a Theurgical Parallel 222
4 Impersonating the Self, Collapsing into the Abyss: the Convergence of
Horror and Redemption 225
I Impersonation: Aggressive Enclothing and Ethopoeia 228
II The Abyss 250
Conclusion: the Divine/Dunghill, or, the Self Is the Other 271
Bibliography 287
Index 300
Prefatory Note: Bibliography, Footnotes, Principal
Texts, Translations, and Transliterations
This note contains some preliminary information that might be helpful before
beginning reading the book, but is only supplementary to the detailed descrip-
tions in the bibliography. Please see the bibliography for any information not
contained here.
I Bibliography and Footnotes
The bibliography contains the complete publication information for all sourc-
es. For brevity’s sake, the footnotes contain only abbreviated citations, easily
amplified through reference to the bibliography. Authored works are cited in
the footnotes by the author’s last name, abbreviated title, and the relevant
page numbers. Other works are cited by an abbreviated title and page number.
II Principal Texts
Sefer Ha-Zohar [Book of Radiance]: Until very recently, there was no standard
critical edition of Sefer Ha-Zohar, first published between 1558 and 1603, but
largely written in the late 13th century. I have taken as my basic text, and as
the basis for page citations, the most widely-used edition, published by Mosad
Ha-Rav Kook, edited by Re’uven Margoliot (see bibliography for details). I have
also made reference to the 16th century Cremona and Mantua editions (see bib-
liography), and later glosses. Most importantly, however, I have systematically
adopted, except where otherwise noted, the emendations of the new critical
edition of the entire Sefer Ha-Zohar, established by the translators of The Zohar:
Pritzker Edition (2004–2017): Daniel Matt, Nathan Wolski, and Joel Hecker (see
bibliography for details). I note also that, in the Introduction, I discuss the
challenges posed by recent scholars to the notion that Sefer Ha-Zohar can be
considered to be a unitary work, or even a “book” in the traditional sense.
Bible: I have used the standard Masoretic text for the original Hebrew and
taken the King James Version (KJV) as the basis for my English translations
(see bibliography for details). Due to the importance of the specific names of
God in the Zoharic literature, I generally substitute transliterations of those
names for the KJV’s translations. Where I depart from the KJV, due to the way