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

of Hesed (love/mercy) and Gevurah (Justice/Power), the two emanations of the divine essence that were in perfect harmony at that time. Through an astute exegetical twist, the seemingly neutral date of arrival becomes a profound representation of the events in the divine realm, providing additional reason to ponder on the problem of divine justice and love.11 After describing the discussion of God in front of his divine assembly concerning whether he should reveal himself in Power or in Love, we read not for from the above quoted passage that the revelation took place in the morning. The text then argues in a fairly obscure way that the clear morning is the perfect time for the appearance of Grace. This scrupulous process of dating may seem arbitrary and useless. But it serves not a historical, but a mystical aim: to describe the supernal powers that are in action through the preparation and realization of the revelation: the sides of Grace/Love and Justice/Power. Their central importance in the discussion is further exemplified in our text through commentary on Jacob and Esau. This digression indirectly connects the issue of justice and love to the Genesis narrative, but on a different track explains the revelation as an act of love to the beloved, by emphasizing the election of Jacob by divine grace.12 13 Through the development of the argumentation we gain further insights into the divine realm. The eve of revelation is a concentration of divine powers in a total fusion that is manifested in multiple syntheses, in the unity of the supernal lights, the unity and harmony of the divine “sides”, and the unity of the different manifestations of the Torah in its primordial form. This fusion was to be completed in the mystical and erotic union of the People of God and the Shekinab.li

But to see how complex the reference and the hermeneutical play with the figure of Jacob is, we should compare the cited passage to another one from the Zohar, in which Rabbi Simeon talks about the blessing of Isaac.14 In this passage Isaac’s speech concerning the heritage of Jacob is cited. He is promised to share the heavenly dew (Gen 28:28), and in the commentary of this passage it is interpreted as coming down from the highest sphere, whence all the lights and the upper and lower words emanate and resurrect all the children of Jacob. According to the rules of the interpretation that

11 This metaphysical issue was one of the central ones in Jewish thinking throughout time. According to Kabbalist speculations, when the two principles of "justice (midat ha-din) and mercy (midatha-rahamim) are in imbalance, catastrophe, both cosmic and historic is sure to follow." Cohen, Arthur A. - Mendes-Flohl, Paul: Contemporary Jewish Thought, New York: Free Press; London: Collier Macmillan, 1988, 375.

12 In fol. 80b, another explanation points to the same direction: although the Torah comes from the right side of the tree (that is the side of Gevurah, that of Power or Justice), for the time of revelation it turned to the left (i.e. the side of love or mercy).

13 According to the Zohar, by the idolatry of Israel, this perfect unity receded into concealment, and the unified realms became separate again. The perfect Torah that contained the proper order of the letters in order to reveal all the truths and break the power of S'amael disappeared and the black letters concealed the white ones in order to hide the secrets. See Waite, A. E.: The Holy Kabbalah, New York, Cosimo, 2007, 307.ff.

14 The Zohar, fol. 83a (250).

32 Sárospataki Füzetek 20. évfolyam 2016-2