APOCALYPTIC AND MERKAVAH MYSTICISM

Excerpts from Apocalyptic and Merkavah Mysticism
Ithamar Groenwald
Brill 1980

With notes in bold my interpretation

Introduction

Merkavah Mysticism developed from the visions like those described in Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1,8 and 10, though when merkavah mysticism appeared on the literary scene, it did so in a more complex manner than its historical forefathers. The earliest post biblical traces of MM are found in Apocalyptic Literature and in some of the texts discovered at Qumran.

The literature that gives a full-scale presentation of MM is called the Hekhalot (Divine Palaces) literature, mainly composed in Eretz-Israel at the time of the Talmud and the beginning of the Ge'onic period (200 - 700CE).

Other traces of such mysticism are found in the rabbinic writings.

As a creative literary stream the Merkavah tradition ended some time in the Ge'onic period, but references to that tradition are also made in the writings of Jewish medieval mysticism, the Kabbalah.

The German Hasidim (12 -13CE) engaged in MM and contributed in an important way to the preservation of the Hekhalot literature in manuscripts.

MM derives from the Hebrew term Ma'aseh Merkavah (works of the Divine chariot).

It appears that the mystical speculations about the merkavah were first developed in the circle of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai and his pupils (2nd half 1st CCE) though it has been said that traces of MM are already present in Qumran literature.

In rabbinic writings, the Ma'aseh Merkavah go hand in hand with the Ma'aseh Bereshit (The Works of the Creation of the World), that is, Jewish Cosmology, and together they form the 2 branches of esoteric teachings of ancient Judaism.