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
György Kustár Moses, as a prototype of the mystic but at the same time as a unique prophet and teacher with all the knowledge human being could possibly attain, was believed to be in an unparalleled relationship with the ShekinahA of God. This extended concern of Moses’ relationship with the divine shows the profound interest of Kabbalists in the deeper spiritual meaning of the text. For them, the Sinai revelation is a mystery of the embodiment of the Torah from its primordial form, through the written form into the oral one. This process is associated for them with an inner movement within the divine realm of emanation from the upper levels to the lower ones. The mystery also includes a lengthy explanation of God’s descent and his voice taking visible form and to the very encounter between Moses and God’s Shekinah or Presence. We can witness this complexity for instance in the Zohar. In this late thirtieth century midrasbic commentary on the Torah? we read a lengthy discussion about the dating of the revelation. In Exodus 19:1, where the Bible says: ”In the third month (on the third new moon N.R.S. V), after the Israelites had gone out of the Land of Egypt, on that very day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai”, we read an extremely complex interpretation with numeric, astrological and light symbolism, all drawn together to explain the significance of the revelation from a concealed dimension. The passage reads as follows: “The third month is the one in which the celestial chief Uriel has sway. He has three hundred and sixty—five myriads of camps with him, corresponding to all the days of the year. All have three hundred and sixty-five keys of light issuing from the inner supernal sphere called “Hashmal”, which is hidden and veiled, in which the mysteries of the holy celestial letters of the Holy Name are suspended. This “hash- mal” receives the most supernal and recondite lights, and passes them on, so that all the camps receive those keys of the light which issues forth from that sphere. And that light is contained in two lights, which yet are one. The first light (Hesed) is white, too bright for the eye to behold. It is the light which is hidden away from the righteous in the world to come, as it is written: “Light is sown for the righteous”. The second light (Geburah) is one which gleams and sparks redly. The two are united and become one. Uriel, the head of the angels and all those hosts, partake of this light. As it is contained in two lights, it is called the twins. Therefore, in that month in which the Torah was given (Sivan), the constellation of the Twin rules, and from them issue lights of various grades below to illumine the world. Among all the other signs of the Zodiac there is not one possessing mouth or tongue, but this one has both, and the two are one. Therefore it is written in regard to the Torah: “And thou shalt mediate therein day and night”, “day” corresponding to the tongue and “night” 4 5 4 Shekinah represents the divine presence that is distinguished in Kabbalist circles from God Himself. As an emanation of the EinSof, the Shekinah stands in the lowest rung of the sefirotic ladder, and is associated with Malkuth. 5 About the dating issues and authorship, seee.g. Green, Arthur: A Guide to the Zohar, 162-168, likewise Wolsky, Natha n: A Journey in to the Zohar - An Introduction to the Book of Radiance, New York, Suny Press, 2010, 3. This dating is generally accepted. 30 Sárospataki Füzetek 20. évfolyam 2016-2
