TREE OF SOULS
BY HOWARD SCHWARTZ
Poetry
Vessels
Gathering the Sparks
Sleepwalking Beneath the Stars
Signs of the Lost Tribe
Fiction
A Blessing Over Ashes
Midrashim
The Captive Soul of the Messiah
Rooms of the Soul
Adam’s Soul
The Four Who Entered Paradise
Editor
Imperial Messages: One Hundred Modern Parables
Voices Within the Ark: The Modern Jewish Poets
Gates to the New City: A Treasury of Modern Jewish Tales
The Dream Assembly: Tales of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Elijah’s Violin & Other Jewish Fairy Tales
Miriam’s Tambourine: Jewish Tales from Around the World
Lilith’s Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural
Gabriel’s Palace: Jewish Mystical Tales
Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism
Essays
Reimagining the Bible: The Storytelling of the Rabbis
Children’s Books
The Diamond Tree
The Sabbath Lion
Next Year in Jerusalem
The Wonder Child
A Coat for the Moon
Ask the Bones
A Journey to Paradise
The Day the Rabbi Disappeared
Invisible Kingdoms
Before You Were Born
TREE OF SOULS
THE MYTHOLOGY OF JUDAISM
HOWARD SCHWARTZ
Illustrated by
Caren Loebel-Fried
Foreword by
Elliot K. Ginsburg
Oxford New York
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Copyright © 2004 by Howard Schwartz
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
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Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Foreword © 2004 by Elliot K. Ginsburg
All Rights Reserved
Illustrations © 2004 Caren Loebel-Fried
All Rights Reserved
The diagram of The Ten Sefirot on page 529 is by Tsila Schwartz
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schwartz, Howard, 1945–
Tree of souls : the mythology of Judaism / Howard Schwartz.
p. cm.
Retellings of nearly 700 Jewish myths.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-10: 0–19–508679–1
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-508679-9
1. Legends, Jewish.
2. Jewish mythology.
I. Title.
BM530.S472 2004
296.1—dc22 2003022934
Acknowledgments:
Some of these myths and commentaries have previously been published in Parabola, The Forward, the Learn Torah With series, Lilith Magazine, Natural Bridge, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Most of the quotations from the Bible are reprinted from the Tanakh: A New Translation of the Holy Scriptures According to the Traditional Hebrew Text © 1985, The Jewish Publication Society with the permission of the publisher, The Jewish Publication Society.
The following parables of Franz Kafka were newly translated by Henry Shapiro: “Before the Law,” “Leopards in the Temple,” “Paradise,” “The Building of the Temple,” and “The Coming of the Messiah.” Translations © 2004 Henry Shapiro. All Rights Reserved.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
For my son, Nati Zohar
Rabbi Yose taught: “God has a tree of flowering souls in Paradise. This tree is surrounded by the four winds of the world. From the branches of this tree sprout forth all souls, for they grow upon this tree, as is written: ‘I am a cypress tree in bloom; your fruit issues forth from Me.’ (Hos.14:9). And from the roots of this tree sprout the souls of all the righteous ones whose names are inscribed there. From this we learn that all souls are the fruit of the Holy One, blessed be He.”
Ha-Nefesh ha-Hakhamah
Moses ben Shem Tov de Leon
CONTENTS
Abbreviations
Transliteration Key
Preface
Foreword by Elliot K. Ginsburg
Introduction
I. The Mythical Strata of Judaism
II. The Categories of Jewish Mythology
III. Mythic Parallels
IV. Myth and Ritual in Judaism
V. The Light of the First Day
VI. The Continuing Evolution of Jewish Mythology
Book One Myths of God
God’s Throne of Glory
1. Isaiah’s Vision
2. Daniel’s Night Vision
3. God’s Throne of Glory
4. The Descent of God’s Throne
5. The Crown of God
6. God’s Crown of Prayers
Sefirotic Myths
7. The Thirty-two Paths of Wisdom
8. The Ten Sefirot
9. The Twenty-two Letters
10. The Infinite Being
11. The Seven Forms of God
12. The Ten Crowns of God
God’s Existence
13. The First Being
14. The Cause of All Causes
15. God’s Omnipresence
16. God Alone
17. God’s Existence
18. God’s Gaze
19. God’s Day
God’s Mystery
20. The Hidden God
21. The Contraction of God
22. Adam Kadmon
23. God’s Disguises
24. Where God Dwells
25. The Holy Spirit
God’s Attributes
26. The Breath of God
27. The Mind of God
28. The Eyes of God
29. The Face of God
30. The Size of God
31. The Three Keys
32. The Arms of God
33. God’s Hands
34. The Body of God
35. God’s Back
The Names of God
36. The God of the Fathers
37. The Tetragrammaton
38. The Lord of Hosts
39. God’s Robe of Glory
The Warrior God
40. The Warrior God
41. God’s Sword
God’s Voice and Word
42. A Still, Small Voice
43. God’s Voice
44. God’s Image
45. The Elders of Israel Behold God
God Studies the Torah
46. God Studies the Torah
47. God Puts on Tallit and Tefillin
48. God’s Tabernacle
49. God’s Prayer
50. God Expounds the Torah
The Suffering God
51. The Suffering God
52. God’s Tears
53. God Weeps over the Destruction of the Temple
54. God’s Lament at the Western Wall
55. God’s Oath
56. God Considers Ending All Existence
God Walks in the W
orld
57. God Walks in the Garden
58. God’s Lantern
59. God Descends to Mount Sinai
60. The Tent of Meeting
61. The Cottage of Candles
Early Incarnations of the Shekhinah
62. The Creation of Wisdom
63. Mother Zion
Myths of the Bride of God
64. The Creation of the Shekhinah
65. God’s Names for the Shekhinah
66. The Two Shekhinahs
67. The Earthly Dwelling of the Shekhinah
68. The Roaming of the Shekhinah
69. The Garments of the Shekhinah
70. The Sacred Bedchamber
71. The Casting Down of the Shekhinah
72. The Wandering of the Shekhinah
73. The Lament of the Shekhinah
74. The Wailing of the Shekhinah
75. The Exile of the Shekhinah
76. Mourning over the Shekhinah
77. The Suffering of the Shekhinah
78. Lilith Becomes God’s Bride
79. Israel and the Shekhinah in Exile
80. God’s Exile with Israel
81. The Face of the Shekhinah
82. The Shekhinah Within
Visions of the Bride of God
83. The Shekhinah at the Wall
84. A Vision at the Wailing Wall
God Defers to the Earthly Court
85. God Makes Matches
86. The Rabbis Overrule God
87. God Defers to the Earthly Court
Book Two Myths of Creation
Before the World Was Created
88. The First to Exist
89. Before the World Was Created
90. Prior Worlds
91. The Primordial Elements
93. The Beginning of Time
94. Seven Things Created before the Creation of the World
The Creation of the World
95. The Seven Days of Creation
96. Ten Things Created on the Eve of the First Sabbath
97. Five Heavenly Things Sleeping in the Universe
98. God the Creator
99. The Rainbow
100. The Time of Creation
101. Everything Was Created at Once
102. How God Begot Being
103. What Does the Earth Stand On?
104. Creation Ex Nihilo
105. The Order of Creation
The Primordial Light
106. God’s Garment of Light
107. The Light of the First Day
108. The First Cloak
109. The Tzohar
110. How Light and Darkness Were Created
111. Creation by Light
112. The Light of Prophecy
The Work of Creation
113. God’s Shout
114. The Work of Creation
115. How the Heavens Were Created
116. The Earth’s Foundations
117. Creation by God’s Name
118. Creation by God’s Beauty
119. The Palace of Heaven
120. Creation According to Philo
The Cosmic Seed
121. The Cosmic Seed
122. A Universe of Water
123. The Three Craftsmen
124. The Pillars of the World
125. The Foundation Stone
126. Creation by Thought
127. A Single Utterance
128. The Divided World
Myths of Origin
129. The Origin of Chaos
130. The First Sunset
131. The Origin of Fire
132. What Causes Earthquakes?
133. The Roots of Everything
Myths of the Sacred Waters
134. The Great Sea
135. The Fiery Waves
136. The Upper Waters and the Lower Waters
137. The Spirit of the Firmament
Rebellions against God
138. The Rebellion of the Waters
139. The Rebellion of Rahab
140. The Prince of Darkness
141. The Fall of Lucifer
142. Satan Cast from Heaven
143. Satan’s Bargain with God
Myths of the Sun and Moon
144. The Quarrel of the Sun and the Moon
145. The Sun Stood Still
146. A Garment for the Moon
Creation by Angels
147. The Creation of Angels
148. Creation by Angels
149. Anafiel, the Creator of the Beginning
150. The Creator of the World
151. The First Created Being
152. The Angel Who Created the World
The Wheel of Creation
153. The Wheel of Creation
154. The Cosmic Tree
155. The Shattering of the Vessels and the Gathering of the Sparks
156. Creation by Broken Vessels
The Creation of Man
157. The Heavenly Man
158. Adam the Angel
159. Adam the Golem
160. Adam the Giant
161. Adam the Last and First
162. Adam’s Body of Light
163. The Enthronement of Adam
164. Adam’s Body Formed by an Angel
165. God Consults the Angels about the Creation of Adam
166. The Creation of Man
167. Creation from a Mold
168. Wisdom Created Man
169. Adam’s Choice
170. Adam’s Breath
171. The First Twelve Hours of Adam’s Life
172. Adam Brings Down Fire from Heaven
173. Adam the Hermaphrodite
174. Samael and Lilith
175. God and the Spirits of the Unborn
Adam and Eve
176. Adam and the Spirits
177. The First Eve
178. What Happened to the First Eve?
179. The Creation of Woman
180. The First Wedding
Mythological Creatures
181. Adne Sadeh
182. The Sea Monster Leviathan
184. The Ziz
185. The Re’em
186. The Phoenix
187. The Lion of the Forest Ilai
188. The Ram Sacrificed at Mount Moriah
The Unfinished Creation
189. God the Potter
190. The Unfinished Creation
Book Three Myths of Heaven
The Translation of Enoch
191. Enoch Walked with God
192. Enoch’s Vision of God
193. The Metamorphosis and Enthronement of Enoch
The Treasury of Souls
194. The River of Fire
195. The Living Creatures
196. The Council of Souls
197. Adam’s Soul
198. The Creation of Souls
199. Tree of Souls
200. The Treasury of Souls
201. The Path of the Soul in the Garden of Eden
202. The Field of Souls
203. The Transmigration of Souls
204. How to Grasp a Soul
Heavenly Journeys
205. Adam Is Taken into Paradise
206. Isaac’s Ascent
207. The Ascent of Elijah
208. The Four Who Entered Paradise
209. A Vision of Metatron
210. Rabbi Ishmael’s Ascent
211. The Entrance of the Sixth Heavenly Palace
212. Before the Law
213. A Journey to the Stars
214. A Jewish Icarus
The Divine Chariot
215. Ezekiel’s Vision
216. Mysteries of the Chariot
The Seven Heavens
217. The Seven Heavens
218. The Eighth Heaven
219. The Pargod
220. The Map of Time and Space
221. The Place of
the Stars
222. The Rainbow of the Shekhinah
223. The Music of the Spheres
224. The Treasury of Merits
225. The Wings of Heaven
The Palaces of Heaven
226. The Palaces of Heaven
227. Women in Paradise
The Landmarks of Heaven
228. The Tent of the Sun
229. The Tent of Heaven
230. The Crystal Palace
231. The Celestial Academy
232. Where Heaven and Earth Meet
The Ministering Angels
233. The Primordial Metatron
234. The Angel Metatron
235. The Angel Sandalphon
236. Michael, the Patron Angel
237. Elijah the Angel
238. The Keeper of the Book of Records
239. The Angel Gallizur
240. The Angel of Conception
241. The Angel of the Covenant
242. How Rabbi Ishmael Was Conceived
243. The Angel of Friendship
244. Guardian Angels
245. The Might of the Angels
246. The Angel of Losses
247. The Angel Tzadkiel
248. The Angel of Rain
249. God Changes the Roles of the Angels
The Angel of Death
250. The Creation of the Angel of Death
251. Rabbi Joshua ben Levi and the Angel of Death
252. Rabbi Loew and the Angel of Death
The Gates of Heaven
253. The Heavenly Court
254. The Windows of Heaven
255. The Ba’al Shem Tov Ascends on High
Book Four Myths of Hell
The Unfinished Corner of Creation
256. The Unfinished Corner of Creation
257. The Darkness that Existed before Creation
258. The Banishment of Dumah
259. God’s Prison
260. Adam and the Demons
Lilith Rises from the Deep
261. Adam and Lilith
262. Lilith Rises from the Deep
263. A Spell to Banish Lilith
264. The Woman in the Forest
265. The Cellar
266. Lilith, the Queen of Zemargad
267. The Two Liliths
268. Lilith’s Children
269. The Night Demoness