From: RFaussette@aol.com
Date: Mon Nov 03 2003 - 22:26:37 EST
In a message dated 11/3/03 7:39:34 PM Eastern Standard Time,
wallyshoes@mindspring.com writes:
Not am I a literalist, or a believer that much of genesis is an allegory (or
something like that)
I don't "believe" that much of genesis is an allegory. Jewish scholars
specifically write that there are two extremely significant truths in genesis that
are so profound they have been "veiled." One is called the science of nature
and the other is called the heavenly chariot. Both are recorded in the Mishna.
"At the time when the Mishna was edited, there existed a secret doctine
concerning the Creation and Divine Nature. There was agreement on its manner of
study and division, and its name excited a kind of religious awe even among
those who could not have known it. But how long had this doctrine existed? And
if we cannot determine that precisely, is there any way of telling when the
deep shadows formed that shrouded its origin? This is the question which we
will now attempt to answer.
In the opinion of the most reliable historians, the editing of the Mishna
came to an end no later than the year 3949 after Creation, 189 years after the
birth of Christ. Bearing in mind that Judah the Holy merely collected the
precepts and traditions, transmitted to him by his predecessors, the Tannaim, it
must be concluded that the quotations forbidding imprudent disclosure of the
Creation and of the Merkaba are, consequently older than the book that contains
them. True, we do not know the author of these words. But this in itself is
further proof of its antiquity: for, had they expressed the opinion of only one
man, they would not have been invested with legislative power, and as is
usual under such circumstances, the responsible person would have been named.
Besides, the doctrine itself necessarily preceded the law that forbids its
disclosure. It must have been known and must have acquired a certain authority
before the danger of its dissemination among the doctors and masters of Israel,
as well as the people, was recognized. So, without undue boldness, we may
date it, at the latest from the end of the 1st century of the Christian era. This
is precisely the time when Akiba and Simeon ben Yohai lived, to whom the
kabbalists atttribute the composition of their most important and most celebrated
works. The same generation also included R. Jose of Zippora, whom the Idra
Rabba - an ancient and remarkable fragment of the Zohar - lists among the
intimate friends and most fervent disciples of Simeon ben Yohai. It is evidently to
him that the Talmudic treatise from which we have drawn most of our
citations attributes a knowledge of the holy merkaba.
Among the authorities testifying to the antiquity, at least of the
kabbalisitic ideas, if not of the books, is the Chaldaic translation of The Five Books
of Moses by Onkelos. This famous translation was looked upon with such great
respect that it was regarded as a divine revelation. It is assumed by the
Babylonian Talmud that Moses received it on Mount Sinai when he received the
written and oral law , that it came down to the time of Tannaim by tradition, and
that Onkelos had only the glory of transcribing it."
Francke, The Kabbalah, the Religious Philosophy of the Hebrews
The story of genesis (the creation) is not to be explained to two men, the
story of the merkaba (heavenly chariot) not even to one, unless he be wise and
can deduce wisdom of his own accord.
from the mishna (haggiga sec.2)
The evidence is available.
rich faussette
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