Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism :

Ascensions on high took many forms in Jewish mysticism and they permeated most of its history from its inception until Hasidism. The book surveys the various categories, with an emphasis on the archetectural images of the ascent, like the resort images of pillars, lines, and ladders.

Preface

ix

Introduction

1

(1)

Studying Religion

1

(3)

Eight Approaches to Religion

4

(7)

Perspectivism: An Additional Approach

11

(2)

Kabbalah as Symbolic Theology according to Modern Scholarship

13

(10)

Notes

19

(4)

On Diverse Forms of Living Ascent on High in Jewish Sources

23

(50)

Introduction

23

(5)

Heikhalot Literature: Precedents and Offshoots

28

(9)

Nousanodia: The Neoaristotelian Spiritualization of the Ascent

37

(4)

Neoplatonic Cases of Psychanodia

41

(6)

The Ascent through the Ten Sefirot

47

(4)

``As If'' and Imaginary Ascents

51

(3)

Ascension and Angelization

54

(2)

Astral Psychanodia in Jewish Sources

56

(1)

Concluding Remarks

57

(16)

Notes

58

(15)

On Cosmic Pillars in Jewish Sources

73

(28)

The Pillar in the Work of Mircea Eliade and Ioan P. Culianu

73

(1)

The Cosmic Pillar in Rabbinic Texts

74

(5)

The Pillar in the Book of Bahir

79

(4)

The Pillar in Early Kabbalah

83

(3)

The Pillar and Enoch-Metatron in Ashkenazi Esotericism

86

(2)

The Zohar and the Luminous Pillar

88

(4)

The Human Righteous as a Pillar in the Zohar

92

(9)

Notes

93

(8)

The Eschatological Pillar of the Souls in Zoharic Literature

101

(42)

The Pillar and the Two Paradises

101

(2)

The Eschatological Inter-Paradisiacal Pillar

103

(2)

The Pillar in the Pseudo-Midrash Seder Gan 'Eden and Its Zoharic Parallels

105

(2)

Worship of the Pillar

107

(3)

The Pillar as a Vehicle

110

(2)

The Pillar as Conductor to the Divine Realm

112

(1)

The Pillar and the Judgment

113

(1)

Contemplating a Supernal Secret

113

(2)

Later Repercussions of the Zoharic Stances

115

(5)

Pillar, Performance and the Righteous

120

(1)

The Timing of Posthumous Psychanodia

121

(2)

The Manichean Pillar of Light and Glory

123

(4)

Symbolic Interpretations of Zoharic Paradisiacal Architecture

127

(3)

Concluding Remarks

130

(13)

Notes

133

(10)

Psychanodia and Metamorphoses of Pillars in Eighteenth-Century Hasidism

143

(24)

The Besht and the Epistle of the Ascent of the Soul

143

(3)

The Besht as an Iatromant

146

(2)

On Shamanism in the Carpathian Mountains

148

(2)

The Besht and the Eschatological Pillar

150

(5)

The Tzaddiq as the Present Pillar in Hasidism

155

(2)

Hasidic Semantics

157

(1)

Some Methodological Issues Related to the Besht's Epistle

158

(9)

Notes

160

(7)

The Neoplatonic Path for Dead Souls: Medieval Philosophy, Kabbalah and Renaissance

167

(38)

The Universal Soul and Median Line in Arabic Texts

167

(4)

The Median Line in Kabbalah

171

(10)

Al-Batalyawsi, Yohanan Alemanno and Pico della Mirandola

181

(6)

The Ladder, Natura and Aurea Catena

187

(5)

Some Conclusions

192

(13)

Notes

194

(11)

Concluding Remarks

205

(34)

Pillars, Paradises and Gestalt-Coherence

205

(4)

Pillars and Some Semantic Observations

209

(5)

Between Literature and Experience

214

(2)

On the Pillar and Mircea Eliade's Views on Judaism

216

(12)

Organism, Organization and the Spectrum between Them

228

(3)

Time, Ritual, Technique

231

(8)

Notes

233

(6)

Name Index

239

(4)

Subject Index

243

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Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism : Pillars, Lines, Ladders

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

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Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism : Pillars, Lines, Ladders

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

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