Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism
Pillars, Lines, Ladders
Moshe Idel teaches at the Hebrew University,
and senior researcher at the Shalom Hartman Institute,
Jerusalem.
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 architectural images of the
ascent, like the resort to images of pillars, lines,
and ladders.
After surveying the variety of scholarly approaches
to religion, the author also offers what he proposes
as an eclectic approach, and a perspectivist one. The
latter recommends to examine religious phenomena from
a variety of perspectives. The author investigates the
specific issue of the pillar in Jewish mysticism by
comparing it to the archaic resort to pillars recurring
in rural societies.
Given the fact that the ascent of the soul and pillars
constituted the concerns of two main Romanian scholars
of religion, Ioan P. Culianu and Mircea Eliade, Idel
resorts to their views, and in the Concluding Remarks
analyzes the emergence of Eliade's vision of Judaism
on the basis of neglected sources.
Published in the series Pasts Incorporated, CEU Studies in the Humanities
Contents
Preface; Introduction; Chapter 1:
On Diverse Forms of Living Ascent on High in Jewish
Sources; Chapter 2: On Cosmic Pillars in Jewish
Sources; Chapter 3: The Eschatological Pillar
of the Souls in Zoharic Literature; Chapter 4:
Psychanodia and Metamorphoses of Pillars in Eighteenth-Century
Hasidism; Chapter 5: The Neoplatonic Path for
Dead Souls: Medieval Philosophy, Kabbalah and Renaissance;
Concluding Remarks; Name Index; Subject
Index
"His control of literature is impressive, and
his proposal is suggestive. Throughout, Idel shows mastery
of a very wide range of primarz and secondary sources.
Summing up: recommended." - Choice
2005
224 pages
ISBN 978-963-7326-02-8 cloth $45.00/ €35.95 /
£30.00
ISBN 978-963-7326-03-5 paperback $24.95 / €18.95
/ £16.99
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