Seekers of the Face: Secrets of the Idra Rabba (The Great Assembly) of the Zohar

475 Pages·2021·12.918 MB·English

by  Melila Hellner-Eshed

Seekers of the Face
Stanford Studies in Jewish Mysticism
Clémence Boulouque & Ariel Evan Mayse, Editors
S E E K E R S
O F T H E
F A C E
Secrets of the Idra Rabba
(The Great Assembly) of the Zohar

Melila Hellner- Eshed
Translated by Raphael Dascalu
Stanford University
Stanford, California
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
English translation ©2021 Melila Hellner- Eshed. All rights reserved.
Seekers of the Face was originally published in Hebrew in 2017 under the title
Mevak.she ha-panim: mi-sodot ha-Idra raba shebe-Sefer ha-Zohar ©2017, Rishon
LeZion: Yedioth Ahronoth Books and Chemed Books.
Introduction ©2021 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford
Junior University. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission
of Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free, archival-q uality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Hellner- Eshed, Melila, author. | Dascalu, Raphael, translator.
Title: Seekers of the face : secrets of the Idra rabba (the Great Assembly) of the
Zohar / Melila Hellner- Eshed ; translated by Raphael Dascalu.
Other titles: Mevak.she ha- panim. English
Description: Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2021. | Originally
published in Hebrew in 2017 under the title Mevak.she ha- panim. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020051463 (print) | LCCN 2020051464 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781503628427 (cloth) | ISBN 9781503628588 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Idra rabba. | Zohar. | Cabala.
Classification: LCC BM525.A6 I374513 2021 (print) | LCC BM525.A6 (ebook) |
DDC 296.1/62—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020051463
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020051464
Cover design: Kevin Barrett Kane
Text design: Kevin Barrett Kane
Typeset at Stanford University Press in 11/15 Granjon LT Std
In loving memory of the healing countenance
of my beloved Dror.
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Erekh Appin—Healing Countenance. For there is no
healing in the world except when gazing face-to-face.
Idra Zuta, Zohar 3:292b
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Contents
Introduction 1
My Path to the Idra and to Writing This Book 3
On the Idra in Our Contemporary World 5
On Oneness 6
Reclaiming the Feminine Divine 7
Tools and Supplies for the Journey 8
Acknowledgments 10
The Structure of This Book 12
Some Notes on Translation 13
Part 1
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Idra Rabba 17
Idra Literature in the Zohar 17
The Divine Faces (Partsufim) 21
Summary of the Idra Rabba’s Structure 22
Interpreters of the Idra 25
Critical Idra Scholarship 27
Chapter 2: The Language of Divine Faces 30
On the Qualities of Face Terminology 33
The Face as a Fundamental Human Experience 33
The Face as a Living Presence 34
The Face as a Conduit and Filter of Light 35
The Face as a Tiqqun 36