A River Flows from Eden: The Language of Mystical Experience in the Zohar

by Melila Hellner-Eshed

In the Zohar , the jewel in the crown of Jewish mystical literature, the verse "A river flows from Eden to water the garden" (Genesis 2:10) symbolizes the river of divine plenty that unceasingly flows from the depths of divinity into the garden of reality. Hellner-Eshed's book investigates the flow of this river in the world of the Zoharic heroes, Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai and his disciples, as they embark upon their wondrous spiritual adventures. By focusing on the Zohar 's language of mystical experience and its unique features, the author is able to provide remarkable scholarly insight into the mystical dimensions of the Zohar , namely the human quest for an enhanced experience of the living presence of the divine and the Zohar 's great call to awaken human consciousness.

Genres: Judaism, Religion

488 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best high-level introduction to, and explanation of, the Zohar that I have ever read. (I read a little Talmudic Aramaic, and have struggled through some Zoharic Aramaic.) It goes deep. It is clear. It is revelatory. It is academic and yet it works on a level beyond the merely abstract. Nothing I can say here will do it justice. If the Zohar is your interest, this is the book to read.

I also highly recommend looking for Melila Hellner-Eshed's YouTube video, in which she introduces the Zohar in an hour long talk. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy8sK... )

The following passage is one I typed out, at random, because I was talking about the Zohar's use of the kiss metaphor. It gives you a somewhat random sample of Hellner-Eshed's writing.

Excerpt:
[M]ystical experience in the Zohar is akin more to flowing honey than to a wild river bursting its banks. It is characterized more by a thread of grace than a torrent of light and fire. Generally it contains the humorous eroticism, play, and yearning characteristics of courtship and seduction – and not simply the rupturing power of eruptive ecstasy.

Despite the power of the experience the zoharic mystic does not abandon the “human domain” nor is his personal identity annihilated. To be sure, his consciousness expands and sometimes even his gender identity can be fluid, yet the mystic remains who he is even when in a state of cleaving, radiance, saturation and delight.

Zoharic mysticism, therefore, involves the subtle contact of human consciousness with the Holy, more than union with it. This is a mysticism of kisses, “the cleaving of spirit to spirit,” more than a mysticism of sexual union, “the cleaving of body to body”; and sometimes as we have seen the Zohar prefers the spiritual connection to the physical. Mystical speech, the mystical word, represents the human kiss on the sweet mouth of God, on which all reality depends.

Two lovers do indeed have a powerful desire to connect, yet this connection does not negate each one’s separate existence. The kiss is the merging, commingling and unification of the mouths – as we saw in the Zohar’s interpretation of the word *pihu* (his mouth) in “O that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth” (Song of Songs 1:2; transl Matt) --- yet there can be no kiss without two entities” (p. 326)

[Lisa Feld · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Zohar is notoriously difficult to approach, not just because it’s written in pseudo-Aramaic but because its imagery and style don’t fit neatly with either rabbinic literature or our own modern literary conventions. A River Flows from Eden synthesizes how those images or themes play out throughout the Zohar so that their context can make their meaning clear. One great example: the petichta, where different Companions monologue on a topic, one after another, is rerendered as an improvisational jazz jam session, where different musicians riff on the central theme, receive a moment of appreciation from the group, and then make way for the next band member to shine. Another: Hellner-Eshed points out a wonderful inversion of our standard trope of enlightenment—whereas we expect a mystical experience to be solitary and ineffable, in the Zohar, the Companions often fail to understand or appreciate their solitary experiences on the road until they unpack the experience with a teacher or fellow Companion. For the Zohar, enlightenment can only happen in community, even if it’s just a community of two or three.

I did find this book a bit challenging to read, which may be the translation; I’ve had the opportunity to study with Hellner-Eshed in English and in Hebrew and her teaching is always brilliant, concise, and elegant. But there are so many insights here that it’s worth pushing through any difficulty.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book deserves multiple layers of 10 stars.

[Akiva Weisinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very readable and seems to me to be on the right track