Seekers of the face : secrets of the Idra rabba (the Great Assembly) of the Zohar / Melila Hellner-Eshed ; translated by Raphael Dascalu.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hellner-Eshed, Melila, author.

Contributor:

Dascalu, Raphael, translator.

Series:

Stanford studies in Jewish mysticism.

Stanford scholarship online.

Stanford studies in Jewish mysticism

Stanford scholarship online

Standardized Title:

Mevaḳshe ha-panim. English

Language:

English

Hebrew

Subjects (All):

Idra rabba.

Zohar.

Cabala.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (475 pages)

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2021.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

A magisterial, modern reading of the deepest mysteries in the Kabbalistic tradition. 'Seekers of the Face' opens the profound treasure house at the heart of Judaism's most important mystical work: the Idra Rabba (Great Gathering) of the Zohar. This is the story of the Great Assembly of mystics called to order by the master teacher and hero of the Zohar, Rabbi Shim'on bar Yochai, to align the divine faces and to heal Jewish religion. The Idra Rabba demands a radical expansion of the religious worldview, as it reveals God's faces and bodies in daring, anthropomorphic language. Melila Hellner-Eshed makes this challenging, esoteric masterpiece meaningful for everyday readers.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Introduction

My Path to the Idra and to Writing This Book

On the Idra in Our Contemporary World

On Oneness

Reclaiming the Feminine Divine

Tools and Supplies for the Journey

Acknowledgments

The Structure of This Book

Some Notes on Translation

PART 1

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Idra Rabba

Idra Literature in the Zohar

The Divine Faces (Partsufim)

Summary of the Idra Rabba's Structure

Interpreters of the Idra

Critical Idra Scholarship

Chapter 2: The Language of Divine Faces

On the Qualities of Face Terminology

The Face as a Fundamental Human Experience

The Face as a Living Presence

The Face as a Conduit and Filter of Light

The Face as a Tiqqun

The Face of God in Jewish Tradition

Jewish Philosophy and the Idra Literature: Between Abstraction and Anthropomorphism

Arikh Anpin: The Long-Faced, Patient One

Ze'eir Anpin: The Small-Faced, Short-Tempered One

The Divine Body: Male and Female

The Chain of Divine Faces

Chapter 3: The Gaze

'Attiqa's Gaze

The Face's Healing

Descriptions of the Gaze

The Human Gaze

Chapter 4: Reflections on Ze'eir Anpin

Ze'eir Anpin, the God of Judgment

Ze'eir Anpin and Gnosticism: Between Splitting and Healing

A Prayer for Ze'eir Anpin's Life

Chapter 5: Literature, Mysticism, Praxis

Divine Secrets and the Literary Plot

Oral and Written Torah

Simultaneity and Collapsing Polarities

Idraic Midrash

Space, Time, Consciousness, Experience

The Figure of the Master and the Purpose of the Circle of Companions

Religious Praxis in the Idra

Chapter 6: Overarching Themes in the Idra Rabba

A Mythic Account of the Emergence of the Many-Faced Divine

The Unfolding of Existence

Ways of Attenuating the Power of Judgment.

Reading through the Lens of Consciousness: Oneness and the Dual, Male and Female

Chapter 7: What Is the Idra Rabba Trying to Communicate?

The Idra Rabba's Manifesto: A Call to Heal and Renew the Face of Jewish Religion

The Undifferentiated Divine-The Source of All Things.

What Else Is the Idra Trying to Say?

PART 2

Chapter 8: Entering the Idra Rabba

Sitting on a Single-Based Pillar

Time to Act for YHVH

Summoning the Companions

"Woe If I Reveal! Woe If I Do Not Reveal!"

Those Who Enter and Emerge

The Field and the Threshing Floor

The Adjuration and the Curse

Time to Act for YHVH-Deepening the Interpretation

Fear and Love

Containing the Secret

Heaven and Earth

Conclusion

Chapter 9: The Kings of Edom: The First Appearance

The Kings of Edom: From Scripture to the Zohar

Pre-Creation Processes

The Kings of Edom in the Works of Cordovero and Luria

The Kings in Sifra di-Tsni'uta

First Appearance in the Idra: Engraving and Concealing

Chapter 10: Arikh Anpin: Origins

The Ancient of Days

Skull and Brain

Chapter 11: Arikh Anpin: Features of the Face

Regulation and Flow: The Hair and the Path

The River of Ratson (Will)

Providence in the Undifferentiated Dimension: Eyes

Patience: The Nose

Arikh Anpin: An Overview

Chapter 12: Arraying Arikh Anpin's Beard

The Beard in the Zohar and in the Idra Literature

Tiqqunim of the Beard: The Opening Passage

The Power of Mercy: The First Tiqqun

Bearing Iniquity: The Second Tiqqun

Flowing Bounty: The Eighth Tiqqun

Eternal Forgiveness: The Twelfth Tiqqun

The Greater Perspective: The Thirteenth Tiqqun

A Summary of the Tiqqunim of the Beard

The Ceremonial Closing of the Tiqqunim of 'Attiqa

Chapter 13: The Kings of Edom: The Second Appearance

Chapter 14: Ze'eir Anpin Comes into Being.

A Hymn to God in Human Likeness

The Emergence of Ze'eir Anpin

The Formation of Ze'eir Anpin's Skull

Brain

Chapter 15: Ze'eir Anpin's Head and Its Features

Hairs as Channels of Transmission

The Pathway: Marking Binary Existence

The Forehead: A Searchlight of Providential Justice

Between the Forehead and the Human Figure, Adam

The Eyes: Divine Providence in the Dual Dimension

The Nose: The Flaring of Divine Wrath

'Attiqa's Responsibility for Divine Anger

The Ears: Attentiveness, Discernment, Mechanisms of Delay

Chapter 16: The Tiqqunim of Ze'eir Anpin: The Language of Flowing Bounty

Introduction to the Tiqqunim of the Beard: The Teacher Awakens Consciousness

Between 'Attiqa's Beard and Ze'eir Anpin's Beard

Beginning the Tiqqunim of the Beard

The First Tiqqun

Judgment in Duality, Blushing Red: A Path, Lips, and Rounded Cheeks in the Third and Fifth Tiqqunim

The Warrior's Mercy, Tif'eret (Beauty): The Ninth Tiqqun

Chapter 17: The Ancient of Ancients and Ze'eir Anpin: All Is One

Complex Unity

A Figure within a Figure: The Structure of Reality

Chapter 18: Forming the Male and Female Body

Sexuality and the Body in the Divine

The Idra's Myth of the Male and Female, and Its Sources

Configuring the Male and Female Body

Chapter 19: The Kings of Edom: The Third Appearance

Chapter 20: Separation and Coupling

Chapter 21: Sweetening Judgment

The Birth of Cain and Abel, and Their Archetypical Fate

All is Sweetened: Establishing the World with Seth

The Aromatized Female

Sweetening the Powers of Judgment Continues: The Conclusion of the Idra Rabba

Chapter 22: Emerging from the Idra Rabba

Ending 1: Concealment and Clarity

Ending 2: Fear of Revelation and the Deaths of the Companions

Ending 3: Validating the Assembly.

Ending 4: Legitimizing a Smaller Circle of Companions

A Comic Interlude

Ending 5: Amplifying the Figure of Rabbi Shim'on

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2021.

Translated from the Hebrew.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781503628588

1503628582

OCLC:

1259588224