Metamorphoses of the Hidden Light Motif in Jewish Texts
The motif of the Hidden Light (האור הגנוז), which has a home in rabbinic interpretation of the biblical creation-account, underwent some very significant metamorphoses over time. In the Zohar, the older theme of a great light which had been withdrawn and hidden became assimilated to a more universal...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2019
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| In: |
Hebrew studies
Year: 2019, Volume: 60, Pages: 323-332 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Creation account
/ Light
/ Sufism
/ adam (Word)
/ Soul
/ Hassidism
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| IxTheo Classification: | HB Old Testament HD Early Judaism |
| Further subjects: | B
Or HaGanuz
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The motif of the Hidden Light (האור הגנוז), which has a home in rabbinic interpretation of the biblical creation-account, underwent some very significant metamorphoses over time. In the Zohar, the older theme of a great light which had been withdrawn and hidden became assimilated to a more universal concept of a primordial light upon which existence itself depends. Such a conception, voiced significantly in Sufi philosophy, flatly negated any possibility of a withdrawal of the Light. Over time, the motif later became assimilated to another motif, the garments-of-Adam, one found already in the Zohar but having much older roots. It was thought that with the sin of the first couple, their soul-like being was removed and in its place they received materially-oriented physical bodies. Their lost state-of-being came to be associated with the Hidden Light, the re-appearance of which would occur only in some future messianic transformation. Hasidism, in turn, tended to identify the Hidden Light as a deeper understanding of the Torah and the sense of a spiritual depth underlying all existence, a possibility in the present. In effect, Hasidism viewed itself as a reclamation of the Hidden Light. |
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| ISSN: | 2158-1681 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/hbr.2019.0023 |