Sárospataki Füzetek 20. (2016)

2016 / 2. szám - ARTICLES / STUDIEN - György Kustár: Ont he Slopes of Sinai - Some Hermeneutical Questions in Light of the Kabbalistic and Historical Critical Exegesis

ARTICLES/STUDIEN

1. The Sinai Revelation In the Zohar

György Kustár

ON THE SLOPES OF SINAI -SOME HERMENEUTICAL QUESTIONS IN LIGHT OF THE KABBALISTIC AND HISTORICAL CRITICAL EXEGESIS

From the early rabbinic tradition onwards, the figure of Moses as the mediator and announcer of the divine revelation to Israel played a prominent role. The revelation of the Torah as a founding act in the story of Israel in line with the erection of the Tabernacle and the Temple1 gave rise to the extension of tradition in several directions. The Mishnah tractate ‘Avot became the prototype or model for the mystics to connect their lore to the originating experience at Mount Sinai. In a magical2 treatise called Merkavah Rabbah, the chain of handling the mystical names originates from Moses.3 The figure of Moses through the course of time became associated with a rich and mystical as well as magical Jewish tradition of all kinds that found their legitimization in referring to their doctrines as handled down from Mount Sinai.

This legitimization process emerges with an even more interesting hermeneutical playground that makes the Moses tradition, and especially the event of revelation, come into its fullest possible expression and richness.

1 Green, Arthur: A Guide to the Zohar, Stanford, California, Stanford University Press, 2004,122.

2 The definition of magical contrary to the mystical can be grasped in the talismanic uses of divine or angelic names to make the Shekina or certain divine creatures descend and serve the magician, while the mystic ponders the revelation in order to make his/her own ascent possible to the divine essence. Though certain distinction is possible to be made, the two realms are divided only by a fine line. Cf. Idel, Moshe: Absorbing Perfections - Kabbalah and Interpretation, Birmingham, New York, Vail-Ballou Press, 2002, 150. For the problem of definition see Swartz, Michael D.: Scholasic Magic, Ritual and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1996,18ff.

3 The most important texts are in 3 Enoch, Shi'ur Qomah, Merkava Rabbah and Ma'asseh Merkavah.

2016-2 Sárospataki Füzetek 20. évfolyam 29