The Poetics of Ascent: Theories of Language in a Rabbinic Ascent Text

by Naomi Janowitz

"The work incorporates an intelligent use of linguistic and anthropological categories to analyze a series of mystical texts. In this it is bold, innovative, and an original venture. Janowitz is in control of the difficult source material and gives its structure and content new depth and analytical possibilities by virtue of the categories she uses for analysis." -- Michael Fishbane, Brandeis University

This book represents the first English translation of Maaseh Merkabah , which is part of a body of early Jewish mystical texts known as palace (hekhalot) or chariot (merkabah) texts. Through a complex dialogue, a rabbi-teacher reveals to his student the techniques of ascent, methods for traveling up through the heavens by means of recitation of hymns. The teacher gives vivid descriptions of the heavenly realm, filled with flaming chariots and a chorus of angels engaged in praising the deity.

The emphasis in the text is on language, on the correct recitation of the words to achieve the ritual. The particular focus is on the divine Name, which can be employed in unusual ways. The author relates the structures of the text to the linguistic idealogies. The complex structures of the text begin to unfold in light of the theories about the ritual function of language.

The hymns include praise of the deity and voces magicae , words that have no semantic meaning, but draw attention to sounds of letters in God's name. Since God's name is used to create the world, the sounds of the name are creative, but the Name cannot be spoken. The hymns create a multiplicity of Name-equivalents, words that have the functional status of the divine Name and which can be employed in ritual. Voces magicae are not so much nonsense as they areextensions of the linguistic theory. The final chapter surveys recent theories of ritual language and then uses the conclusions from the study to refine the general issue of the relationship between the semantic meaning of words and their ritual efficacy.

The dialogic structure of the text permits the reader to become the next student in a chain going back to the deity by means of Moses.

"This work utilizes a fresh semiotic approach to the mystical literature, which is a novelty in the study of Hekhalot literature." -- Moshe Idel, Hebrew University

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Miglė · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the rarer examples of contemporary writing where poetics is used not to fill the pages of a mediocre Master's thesis, but to actually bring out something interesting and illuminating. The author analyzes one of the earlier Kabbalistic texts from a secular point of view, underlining the function and possible developments of some of the linguistic techniques.

For instance, indirect speech in mystical texts is used to lessen the taboo (to recount someone saying one of the God's names is not as bad as to say it yourself), but where the taboo of God's name(s) came from? It isn't so prominent in the Torah, only in later exegetical texts and folk beliefs. Maybe it was the influence if Egypt, or maybe it was just a natural development of thought - if God created the world using his own name, humans can do something similar, but, since the words used by God didn't yet have the referent, we can imitate the feeling by repeating the words till they seem to lose referent, and so on.

All in all, a very interesting book, that gives much food for thought (as well as the translation of the original text!)

[Janaka · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this study, Janowitz produces an exceptional examination of a single text in the Hekhalot tradition, looking at both the theological strategies as well as the poetic devices. While it reads at times like a PhD dissertation, and I would love to see something that allows itself room for more speculation and play, the ways in which Janowitz deconstructs the text while revisiting canonical reads (like Scholem) still makes for a great (and dense) read.