Introduction
Among the various narrative figures in Zoharic literature, there are two that are exceptional in their mythical-symbolic nature: the Yanuka—the Zoharic wunderkind—and the Saba—the wise old man.Footnote 1 These figures are strongly linked to a unique Zoharic Shema mystery.Footnote 2 This linkage can serve as a hermeneutical key to achieve a better understanding of both the mystical Zoharic homilies on the Shema recitation and the narrative framework in which they appear.Footnote 3
Do the Yanuka and Saba stories serve only as poetic ornaments to the mystical teachings on the Shema mysteries, or is the narrative and literary framework essential to the understanding of these Zoharic mysteries? And why are these two figures chosen for this set of Shema mysteries?
As many scholars have shown before, various poetic aspects of the Zoharic narrative illuminate the theosophic and mystical contents of the homilies, and vice versa.Footnote 4
The Yanuka Story in Zohar Ḥadash Midrash Ruth
The central Yanuka story dealing with the Shema mysteries is the story of Rabbi BunFootnote 5 and the Yanuka that appears in Zohar Ḥadash Midrash Ruth.Footnote 6 The complete story, describing the journeys of Rabbi Bun, is dispersed in three literary locations, but has been reconstructed here from the various sources in which it appears.Footnote 7 The story begins in ZḤ Ruth (77b–78a),Footnote 8 continues in ZḤ ’Aḥarei Mot (48a), and ends in a further section of ZḤ Ruth (80c–81a).
Yanuka Story—Part One: Zohar Ḥadash Ruth (77b–78a)
Part of the story describes the meeting between Rabbi Bun and the Yanuka, and, later on, with a few other sages:
Rabbi Bun set out one day on the path and encountered a Yanuka. He said to him, “Rabbi, should I accompany you on your way and serve before you on this journey?”
He replied, “Come.” He went behind him.
While travelling, he happened upon Rabbi Ḥiyya son of Abba and Rabbi Yehudah son of Rabbi Yose. They said to him, “You're by yourself, with no one goading behind you.” He answered, “There is a child following me.”
Rabbi Ḥiyya said, “You've invited harm to yourself, as you have no one with whom to engage in words of Torah!”
They sat down in a field under a tree.Footnote 9
From the description of the meeting between Rabbi Bun and the other sages, it seems that the Yanuka is visible only to Rabbi Bun.Footnote 10 The framing of the Yanuka as an invisible child possibly alludes to his hybrid-mythic nature, between man and angel.Footnote 11
In the continuation of the story, Rabbi Yehudah cites Rabbi Nehorai, who taught an important mystery regarding the Shema recitation:
Rabbi Yehudah opened, saying: “It shall be healing to your body [and strength to your bones]. [Proverbs3:8]
The Torah is medicinal for a person—body and bones—in this world and in the world that is coming, as Rabbi Neḥemiah taught in the name of Rabbi Nehorai:Footnote 12 What is a daily tonic for people in this world? Recital of the Shema according to its requirements.
Rabbi Nehorai said further: The recital of Shema contains 248 words corresponding to 248 limbs in a person's body. One who recites Shema as required—each and every one of his limbs takes a word for itself, and is healed by it. This is the meaning of “healing to your body, and strength to your bones”! [Proverbs3:8]Footnote 13
The main mystical mystery of the Shema recitation, as cited in the name of Rabbi Nehorai, is that the total sum of the words in the Shema prayer is 248—which is parallel to the number of limbs in the human body.Footnote 14 Rabbi Nehorai explained that the reading of the Shema can therefore serve as a supernatural cure for the body. In his words: “Each and every one of his limbs takes a word for itself, and is healed by it.”
Immediately after this homily, the figure of the Yanuka appears again:
Meanwhile, the Yanuka arrived, wearied from the journey, and he sat before them. He heard these teachings and rose to his feet, saying, “But in the Shema, there are only 245 words!” Rabbi Ḥiyya replied: “Sit down, my son, sit.” He sat down.
He [Rabbi Ḥiyya] continued, “My son, have you heard something about this?” He said to him, “This is what I have learned from my father. In the Shema there are 245 words, three words short of the number of limbs in a person's body. How is this resolved? The rabbis established that the prayer leader should repeat three words. What are they? ‘I am YHVH, your God’ [YHVH, your God, true].”Footnote 15
The Yanuka, exhausted from the walk, suddenly reveals himself and appears before the rabbis. His exhaustion serves as a poetic indicator of the Shema mystery, the fact that reciting the Shema has the ability to cure human limbs. With the strength given him by his mystical knowledge, the Yanuka revives from his fatigue. He stands on his feet and argues with Rabbi Yehudah. He explains, in the name of his father, that there are three words that need to be added to the reading of the Shema in order to complete the count to 248 words. These three words are: “I am, YHVH, your God”(or “YHVH, your God, true”), which are added by the prayer-leader at the end of the Shema recitation in public.
Ashkenazi Traditions on the 248 Words of Shema
The idea that the Shema prayer has 248 words, in parallel to the 248 limbs of the human body, appears in Midrash Tanḥuma;Footnote 16 as demonstrated by Ta-Shma, it was widely known in Ashkenaz.Footnote 17 The main custom originated from this idea was the addition of the phrase “God, faithful king”(’El melekh ne'eman) before the Shema reading—as these three words complete the count of 248 words in private prayer. Ta-Shma also argued that the custom of adding “YHVH, your God, true” is a Zoharic innovation, which was eventually more widely accepted than the addition of “God, faithful king.” The ending of the first part of the story (ZḤ Ruth 77d–78a) demonstrates the Zoharic polemic against the Ashkenazi tradition of adding “God, faithful king” before the Shema reading of a private prayer.Footnote 18
The Zohar mentions the “early pious ones” establishing the idea of contemplating the 248 words of Shema as paralleling the 248 limbs:
In the meantime, Rabbi Yehudah son of Rabbi Pinḥas came and sat among them. He said to them, “What topic are you discussing?” They said to him, “The words of the Shema, and here is what this Yanuka said….” He replied, “Certainly so!” And thus said Rabbi Yoḥanan son of Nuri in the name of Rabbi Yose son of Durmaskit, citing Rabbi Akiva: “Early pious ones established the recital of Shema to correspond to the Ten Commandments, as well as to the number of limbs in a person's body.”Footnote 19
It is plausible to assume that the phrase “early pious ones” in this paragraph refers to the Ashkenazi pietistic circles, since it was they who established the mystical liturgical ritual of contemplating the 248 limbs during the Shema recitation.
The possibility of completing the count of 248 limbs in private prayer appears also as part of that same tradition established by the “early pious ones”:
But, whoever recites the Shema without the congregation does not perfect his limbs, because he is lacking the three words that the prayer leader repeats. What is his remedy? He should contemplate the fifteen vavs of ’Emet ve-yaẓiv [true and firm].Footnote 20
Instead of the familiar tradition of adding “God, faithful king” (’El melekh ne'eman) before reciting the Shema in a private prayer, the Zohar describes a tradition that appears in the prayer commentary ascribed to Eleazar of Worms, which offers a unique way of completing the 248 words of Shema in private prayer: contemplating the fifteen vavs that precede the words of praise that immediately follow the Shema at the beginning of the morning blessing.Footnote 21
The Yanuka, in the name of his father, rejects the possibility of completing the count of 248 words in private prayer:
Nonetheless, of a person following this practice, [my] father imputed: “A crooked thing cannot be made straight [nor can the lack be counted]…” [Ecclesiastes 1:15]. Those three words of Shema that the prayer leader repeats—he cannot count them toward the sum of 248, as is the case for the congregation.
He [Rabbi Yehudah] said to the Yanuka: Expound your verse!Footnote 22
This stance of the Yanuka's seems to polemicize against the Ashkenazi tradition of adding “God, faithful king” (or of contemplating the fifteen vavs of the ’Emet ve-yaẓiv prayer) in private prayer. Rather, it favors the Zoharic tradition of adding, “I am, YHVH, your God” (or “YHVH, your God, true”) in order to complete the count of 248 words of the Shema, in the context of public prayer only.Footnote 23
Traces of this polemic can also be found in the writings of Rabbi Moses de León, in his book Maskiot kesef,Footnote 24 where he argues that the addition of “God, faithful king” in order to complete the count of 248 words in the Shema is a mistaken tradition. However, he does mention the possibility of contemplating the fifteen vavs of the ’Emet ve-yaẓiv prayer as a solution for private prayer.Footnote 25
Yanuka Story—Part Two: Zohar Ḥadash ’Aḥarei Mot (48a)
The continuation of our Yanuka story appears in ZḤ ’Aḥarei Mot 48a. After being asked by Rabbi Yehudah, at the end of the previous paragraph, to cite a verse that supports his argument, the Yanuka responds:
The Yanuka opened, saying: “My people! What have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Witness me!” [Micah 6:3]Footnote 26
The opening verse of the Yanuka's homily serves as one of the poetic indicators that this section, appearing in ZḤ ’Aḥarei Mot, is in fact the continuation of the earlier Yanuka story. The Yanuka is described in the first part of the story as being “wearied from the journey,” and here he opens with a verse that describes the weariness of the people of Israel.
The Yanuka then continues developing his mystical teaching on the 248 words of the Shema recitation, which he explains consist of different combinations of God's name (mainly names of forty-two and seventy-two letters).Footnote 27 He ends this homily by repeating the idea that the number of words in the Shema is parallel to the number of limbs in the human body:
Whoever recites the Shema fittingly—each and every word overflows onto each and every one of his limbs. And if a person does not recite the Shema in the morning and evening, each and every one of his limbs will be permeated with evil spirit and diverse forms of execrable diseases that are found in the world.Footnote 28
In this description there is another connection to the central Zoharic Yanuka story (Zohar III, Balak, 186a–192a). In the beginning of the Balak Yanuka story the Yanuka tells the sages who come to visit him that he can smell from their clothes that they did not recite the Shema that day. It is plausible that the bad odor of their clothes reflects the “evil spirit” mentioned here, which fills the limbs of one who does not recite the Shema.Footnote 29
At the end of this passage is a homily by Saba de-Yanuka, Footnote 30 the Yanuka's father:
The Old Man [Saba] —the child's father [Saba de-Yanuka]—opened, saying: “There was a small city, and few people within it… And there was found within it a poor wise child [man]…”[Ecclesiastes 9:14–15]. Come and see: There was a small city—this is Noah's ark. And few people within it—these are his wife, his sons… There came a great king against it—this is the evil inclination…Footnote 31
Yanuka Story—Part Three: Zohar Ḥadash Ruth (80c–81a)
The homily that has the Yanuka's father expounding a few verses from Ecclesiastes constitutes further evidence for the connection between the first part of the story, in ZḤ Ruth (77d–78a) and this subsequent part of the story. According to the printed editions (and a few manuscripts), this verse is the same with which the Yanuka begins his homily at the end of the first part of the story (ZḤ Ruth 78a). This homily is also a connecting homily to the third and final part of the story, as it appears in Midrash Ruth 80d, describing a series of homilies on the verses in Ecclesiastes taught by the Yanuka:
Rabbi ReḥumaiFootnote 32 [Ḥisdai] opened: “There was once a small city with only a few people in it, and there came a great king against it.”[Ecclesiastes 9:14]. A small city—this is what Rabbi Yose said in the name of Rabbi Yiẓḥak: this signifies the body. Few people within it—these are the limbs. There came a great king against it—this is the evil inclination…
Rabbi Bun said: That Yanuka who had been sitting with us—what did he say about this verse? Well, this is how he opened: A small city—the assembly of Israel….Footnote 33
The fact that the homily was delivered by Rabbi ReḥumaiFootnote 34 serves as another proof of the connection between the part of the story that appears in ZḤ’Aḥarei Mot 48a and the continuation of the story as it appears here, in ZḤ Ruth 80c–d. The figure of Rabbi Reḥumai (whose name can be translated as “The Rabbi of Love”) can be understood as a prefiguration of Rav Hamnuna Saba, the Yanuka's father.Footnote 35 If this is correct, there might have been a version of the story in which the homily delivered by the Saba de-Yanuka, as presented in ZḤ’Aḥarei Mot 48a, was attributed to Rabbi Reḥumai.Footnote 36
After Rabbi Reḥumai finishes his homily on the verses from Ecclesiastes, the story goes on to describe the Yanuka's homilies on these same verses. There is also a strong thematic linkage between the mystical teachings of the Yanuka (in the name of his father) on the 248 limbs, and the homily of Rabbi Reḥumai: “A small city—this is the human body; only a few people in it—these are the human limbs.”
After the series of homilies by the Yanuka on the Ecclesiastes verses, the story ends with a description of the sages kissing the YanukaFootnote 37 and blessing him: “The companions came and kissed him. They called out for him: “All your children will be taught by YHVH, and great will be the peace of your children.” [Isaiah 54:13]Footnote 38
The Mystery of Lilies: The Shema Mysteries in Pikudin
This text, from the Zoharic Pikudin stratum, which appears in Zohar III 263a–b,Footnote 39 consists of the same Shema mysteries that are identified with the Yanuka's father, as mentioned in the ZḤ Ruth Yanuka story. It is one of the important sources for unraveling the Shema mysteries of the Yanuka's father.
In the printed editions (in Zohar III 263a) the story is found in proximity to a Zoharic text that lays out a homily delivered by Yeiva,Footnote 40 who appears in the Zohar only as “Yeiva Saba.” As Yehuda Liebes has argued, and as I discussed at length elsewhere, the figure of Yeiva Sabba—particularly as it is described in Saba de-mishpatim—is identified with Hamnuna Saba, the Yanuka's father.Footnote 41 By placing the Pikudin text near this text of Yeiva (Saba), the later editors of the Zohar aimed to connect the Pikudin Shema mysteries to the figure of Hamnuna Saba.Footnote 42
In the beginning of the homily the Saba discusses the various mystical meanings of each word in the opening verse of the Shema:
[“Hear, O Israel: YHVH, our God, YHVH is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4)]
Rabbi Yeiva [YeisaFootnote 43 ][Saba] says that “Hear, O Israel” [Shema Yisra'el] is Israel the Old Man [Yisra'el Saba].Footnote 44
Yeiva (Saba) identifies the opening words of the Shema: “Hear, O Israel”—with Israel the Old Man—the mythical embodiment of Israel that is represented by the figure of the Old Man.Footnote 45 In other words: Israel the Old Man (Yisra'el Saba) is identified here with Tiferet or Ze‘ir ’Anpin, illuminated by ‘Atika Kadisha, the highest level of the Zoharic Godhead,Footnote 46 who appears in some Zoharic stories (especially in the Tikkunei Zohar and the Ra‘aya mehemna stratum) as the Saba figure.Footnote 47
The Unity of Human Limbs Unites the “Divine Limbs”
The Pikudin Shema mysteries, which appear near the short homily by Yeiva (Saba), begin as follows:
Thus the Blessed Holy One is one and only above and below.
Whoever declares the unity of the name of the Blessed Holy One should direct his heart and will to the unification [yeḥuda] we have mentioned, and connect all his limbs by means of the meditation we mentioned, so that all his limbs will all become one.Footnote 48
The text speaks of the unification of the human limbs with God's limbs through mediation on the Shema recitation. The unity of God's image depends on the unity of man's limbs.Footnote 49 This teaching is also explained in mythical terms in the next few lines of the homily:
At that time, there is an angel, a master of 248 worlds—all called “limbs.” His name is Heleniu. He stands awaiting that unification. He is the “collector of lilies,” as it is written, “to gather lilies,” which are the body's limbs.
The Supernal Name gathers the Supernal Body's limbs according to the meditation, which is unified by means of the mystery of forty-two names. It picks all those supernal lilies. This angel collects all the lower [lilies], which together constitute the seventy-two names.Footnote 50
They are all picked by that meditation and all become one body— according to the same mystery.Footnote 51
The idea that the unity of God's image depends on the unity of man's limbs during the recitation of the Shema is found explicitly in a kabbalistic work named Shoshan sodot (Lily of Mysteries),Footnote 52 which preserved many early kabbalistic ideas, especially from the Ashkenazi pietistic circles. In the words of the “Lily of Mysteries”:
Since the intention of Moses was that the sum of the words of the Shema would correspond to the 248 limbs of the human body, why did he cause a lack [of three words in the Shema]? And if that was not his intention, why do we have to add [three words] to complete the sum of 248 words?…. One adds: “God, faithful king” [’El melekh ne'eman’] and the other adds: “I am YHVH, your God”[’Ani YHVH ’Eloheikhem]… and the impurity rises until the Ḥesed is in all the limbs of the upper Adam [ha-’adam ha-’elyon]Footnote 53—excluding the three celestial limbs, which are the three upper sefirot [Keter, Ḥokhmah and Binah]. These three words are missing so that we will not allude to them [during the Shema meditation]. In order not to omit them completely, we allude to them indirectly: “I am YHVH, your God”. So that the upper Adam will not be lacking these three limbs we add these three words: “I am YHVH, your God.”
All this is recited in public prayer, as it is only in the public prayer that prayer is heard, with no impurity separating them [from divinity]. But in private prayer one does not [add these three words: “I YHVH, your God”]. One who recites the [Shema] in private, should direct his intention to the fifteen vavs of 'Emet ve-yaẓiv, whose numerical value equals “I am YHVH, your God” [’Ani YHVH ’Eloheikhem] in gematria…Footnote 54
As Elliot Wolfson has shown, this idea appears also in Sefer ha-navon— an anonymous book of the pietistic circles of twelfth-thirteenth-century Ashkenaz.Footnote 55 This book is a commentary on the Shema prayer, in which the words of the prayer are connected with the organs of God (shi‘ur komah).Footnote 56 Furthermore, Wolfson has demonstrated that the Zoharic Shema mystery, as influencing the image of the upper anthropos, also appears in the writing of Rabbi Moses de León, in Shoshan ‘edut:
Indeed, the meditation of the Shema recitation that our sages, may their memory be blessed, had established, is a very high mystery which rises up to the sum of the formation of Adam [tikkun ha-’adam].Footnote 57 On this matter they interpreted the verse “[and upon the likeness of the throne was] the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.” [Ezekiel 1:26]Footnote 58
De León uses almost the exact same wording as the Zohar in describing a few of his Shema mysteries (both in Shekel ha-kodesh and in Shoshan‘edut) and he attributes them to Midrash Yerushalmi or to kadmonim (ancient sages), referring to the Zohar.Footnote 59
“My Beloved has Gone Down Into His Garden to Gather Lilies”
The Pikudin text is rich in its mythic imagery: with the correct meditation during the Shema reading, each human limb becomes a lily that is “picked” by Heleniu,Footnote 60 the “angel of lilies”—identified with the angel Metatron,Footnote 61 who collects the lilies and unites them with the “upper lilies.” Then all the lilies of the upper and lower worlds—representing the limbs of God and of men—unite and become one.Footnote 62
The lily, or the rose, is one of the important allegoric symbols in Zoharic literature. It is usually linked to the Shekhinah or, more accurately, to the human's unification with the Shekhinah,Footnote 63 and is probably connected to mystical Christian traditions which relate to the rose as a mystical symbol.Footnote 64
In the Zohar III (Pikudin), 233a–b the lily/rose symbolizes the act of unification itself, which is the central act of the Shema prayer:
The lily… is witness to the heavenly unity. And this is so because in a lily there are thirteen petals, all of them stemming from one root, and there are five strong petals on the outside, that cover the rose and protect it. And it is all in the mystery of wisdom…
The lily is a witness to the unity of five words: “Hear, Oh Israel, YHVH, our God, YHVH” [Shema'a Yisra'el YHVH ’Eloheinu YHVH] [Deuteronomy 6:4]. These are the five strong leaves; they are the roots and the unity which are attached to them. [While] “one” [’eḥad] is the prime cause and the root to which all of them are attached, these thirteen petals are the mystery of thirteen,Footnote 65 and this [the word “one”] is the king's signet ring.Footnote 66
A similar idea appears in the opening passages of the Zohar, where the rose becomes a symbol of the unification with the Shekhinah while blessing and holding the cup of benediction. The cup, filled with wine, is identified with the petals of the rose—signifying the Shekhinah, and the stem and five leaves are identified with the phallic arm and five fingers holding the cup—signifying the covenant (brit yesod). The holy name of God is “seeded” in the cup, through the fingers, symbolizing the unification of the Shekhinah.Footnote 67 Evident here is the linkage between the symbol of the lily (or rose) and the human limbs (the hand and fingers), all connected to the act of divine unification.
“The lily conceals these thirteen, the numerical value of ‘one’ [’eḥad].”Footnote 68 This statement, mentioned by Rabbi Shim‘on in Tikkunei Zohar, is deeply rooted in the Pikudin text, emphasizing the importance of the “one,” and the lily as the symbol of the limbs of the body:
At that time all the body's limbs are gathered and connected into one, so they will all be according to the same meaning above and below, according to the mystery of “there shall be one YHVH, and his name one” [yiheyeh YHVH ’eḥad u-shemo ’eḥad, Zechariah 14:9].
For that reason in the word “one” [’eḥad] the pronunciation of two letters [ḥet and dalet] is lengthened, to gather lilies so as to be united by means of the same mystery by the complete meditation [yeḥuda shalim].Footnote 69
The mystery of the “one” is underscored through the essence of the Shema recitation as the declaration of God's unity and the unification of his name in the upper and lower worlds. The concept here combines both the theoretical idea of God's unity and the visualization of the unity between man and the divine. As part of this visualization, the word “one” (’eḥad) is symbolized by the lily, which contains the thirteen petals corresponding to the numerical value of one. Thus, both the human body below and the upper body above are represented by the symbol of the lily, the concept of “one,” and the numerical value of thirteen. By unifying them, the “one” of below and the “one” of above become twenty-six, the numerical value of the Tetragrammaton, the holy name of God, YHVH. This means that the wholeness of the name of God depends on the unity between man and the divine, the lower and upper lily; “so they will all be according to the same meaning above and below.”
Thus it appears that during the meditative visualization process of the recital of the Shema, the person who recites it goes through a symbolic-mythical transformation, and is symbolically incarnated in a lily. He then rises above and unites with the symbolic-mythical “upper lily.” By uniting both lilies, each equivalent to thirteen, the numerical value of “one” (’eḥad), they become identified with the unified name of God: YHVH, which is equivalent to twenty-six.
In light of this, states the source, one can better understand the mystical meaning of the custom of lengthening the word “one” in the Shema recitation: “For that reason in the word “one” [’eḥad] the pronunciation of two letters [ḥet and dalet] is lengthened, to gather lilies so as to be united by means of the same mystery by the complete meditation.” This practice, which already appears in the Talmud,Footnote 70 acts as a poetic indicator of the unifying meditation. The utterance of the word “one” during the Shema recitation is performed as an act of speech;Footnote 71 this custom of lengthening the two letters ḥet and dalet—which together are pronounced “ḥad”), meaning “one” in Aramaic—hints at the unification toward which this speech act strives.
By mentioning this custom, the author alludes to the famous talmudic story about the death of Rabbi Akiva:
When R. Akiva was taken out for execution, it was the hour of the recital of the Shema. And while they combed his flesh with iron combs, he was accepting upon himself the kingship of heaven.
His disciples said to him: “Our teacher, even to this point?” He said to them: “All my days I have been troubled by this verse, ‘with all thy soul’, [which I interpret] ‘even if He takes thy soul.’ I said: When shall I have the opportunity of fulfilling this? Now that I have the opportunity shall I not fulfill it?”
He prolonged the word “one” [’eḥad] until he expired while saying it.
A divine voice [Bat Kol] went forth and proclaimed: “Happy art thou, Akiva, that thy soul has departed with the word ‘one’!”Footnote 72
This story suggests that the highest form of performing the Shema recitation is the self-sacrifice of one's own body, and becoming a martyr.Footnote 73 Similarly, the word “one” in the Zoharic homily signifies the moment of unification between man and the divine, which itself influences the unity within the divine between the Shekhinah and God.Footnote 74 This is the moment in which the soul departs the human body and unites with God, becoming a “lily” that is “picked” and raised above.
In this context it should be mentioned that, in Zoharic literature, the act of “picking the lily” usually serves as an allegoric description of the untimely death of the righteous and of infants who have never had a chance to sin.Footnote 75 This allegoric description appears in Midrash Rabbah on the Song of Songs, and it is probably this source which influenced the Zohar in shaping this allegoric description.Footnote 76
This idea can also be found in an interesting Zoharic source describing the act of “picking the lilies”:
“My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies” [Song of Songs 6:2]… at that time the Blessed Holy One had gone down. Where did he go? To the “beds of spices”…. “to gather lilies.” What are these lilies? They are the righteous that embrace the Torah, they are the ones whose lips whisper words of Torah. Therefore it is written: “lilies” [ששנים], do not read shoshanim but rather sheshonim [they who memorize (the words of Torah)], that even in the grave they whisper words of Torah…
Come and see: when Jeroboam was a child he was righteous and did not commit any sin. The Blessed Holy One said to the angel of death: “Go and bring me Jeroboam ben Nebat.” At that time the ministering angels said to him: “‘YHVH, our Lord, how glorious is Thy name in all the earth’[Psalms 8:2]! Your name is glorious, and he [Jeroboam the child] is righteous, leave him, as for his good deeds we are blessed.” The Blessed Holy One said to them: “If your wish is that I leave him, I will do so.” Later, he [Jeroboam] began to sin, and made two golden calves, and he caused the people of Israel to sin.
The Blessed Holy One told them [the ministering angels]: “All the blessings you received from him, turned over into filth. Would it not have been better for you that you had agreed to bring him to me when he was still righteous [as a small child], and Metatron would have taught him Torah?”Footnote 77 At that time, they [the ministering angels] all opened and said: “Righteous are you, YHVH, and upright are your judgments.”[Psalms 119:137]
And therefore the Blessed Holy One went down into his garden, to gather lilies.Footnote 78
A similar version of this tale appears in Midrash ha-ne‘elam on Genesis, and there the “picking of the lily” is explicitly described as a macabre allegory for dying infants who are “picked” by God when their “smell” is still fresh:
Rabbi Yehudah said: It is like a king who had a garden. One day he came to walk in his garden, and he saw small lilies growing in it, and their fragrance was like no other fragrance in the world. The king said: “If this [their smell] is so now, when they are still small; when they grow, it will surely be much stronger.”
After a few days he came into the garden, thinking he would find those lilies, which were fresh and had such good smell… as he noticed that they were dry and had no odor, he got angry and said: “If I had picked them when they were still fresh and good, with a fine smell, I would have enjoyed them; but now, how can I enjoy them, as they are already dried out?”
In the following year, the king entered in the garden and saw small lilies with a fine smell. He said: “I will pick them now, and I will enjoy them before they dry out as they did before.”
In the same way, the Blessed Holy One sees “small people” [infants], who have a fine smell, and he knows that they will eventually sin…. Now, when they are still good, he takes them from this world, in order to give them a good portion in the world to come. Therefore it is written: “I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he grazes among the lilies.” [Song of Songs 6:3]Footnote 79
The infant's soul is thus “picked” by God's angel,Footnote 80 as God has the desire to smell the infant's soul, the “lily,” while it is still fresh. From the verse of Song of Songs quoted in the end it appears that God, the “beloved,” has an erotic desire to unite with the infant's soul.Footnote 81 A parallel description can be found in the most central Saba story, Saba de-mishpatim:
All those tormented souls, who are they? Here is a mystery. These are souls of little infants, suckling from their mothers’ potent breasts. And the Blessed Holy One sees that if they endure in the world their odor will stink and they will turn sour like vinegar. He plucks them small, while they still yield fragrance.Footnote 82
The infants, or “tormented souls,” are also identified with the figure of the Yanuka, the son of the Saba.Footnote 83 The central argument here is that the Yanuka, as he appears in the central Yanuka story in the Balak pericope, dies as a small child because of God's desire to “smell” him:
The Blessed Holy One yearns to smell the scent of this “apple.” Blessed is his portion!… It is not for me to accuse the Blessed Holy One, but were it not for the fact that he longs to smell his sweet scent, no one would prevail over him.Footnote 84
Here, in the end of this Yanuka story, the Yanuka is identified with the symbol of the “apple,” which is “picked” by God, who “longs to smell its sweet scent.”Footnote 85 Interestingly, we can find an explicit hint connecting the symbols of the “apple” and the “lily” to an elevation to God in the Pikudin text as well:
There are 613 commandments in these lilies, which represent the limbs of the two sides… they have in them the high level of the precious gold that is elevated from them. And in any place in which they are found, that high level is found in them, in order to be raised. And this is the mystery of: “As the apple tree among the trees of the wood [so is my beloved among the sons]…. As the lily among thorns [so is my love among the maidens].” [Song of Songs 2:2–3]
Blessed is he who sacrifices these offerings. Surely this offering is favorable to him both in this world and in the World to Come.Footnote 86
It is clear from this quote that both the “apple” and the “lily” serve as symbols of erotic desire. The Yanuka is both the “apple” and the “lily” that God longs to unite with. These symbols, signifying the human body and limbs, function as an “offering” that has been presented to God. Therefore the Yanuka, who dies as a small child, is also identified with the “Sacrificed Son.”Footnote 87
The “Complete Offering”: The Mystery of Sacrifice
Accordingly, the Pikudin text connects the mystical teachings of the Shema to the mystery of sacrifice:
That meditation rises and unites everything in the two sides into one unity…Once all body parts are united, according to the same mystery of the same meditation, the whole is considered a “complete offering.”Footnote 88
This part adds an important component to the Pikudin mystical teaching on the Shema reading: the mystery of the “complete offering.” The text implies that as part of the meditation process—of the unification of the upper and lower limbs—the human limbs serve as a “sacrifice” offered to God.
The phrase “complete offering” (korbana shalim) refers to the highest kind of offering—that is, the offering of man's own son.Footnote 89 The most important Zoharic source on this phrase appears in the Rav metivta section, which is linked in many ways to the Yanuka and Saba stories throughout the Zohar:
“The offering of the youth” [korbana de-rabya]: when a man bringsFootnote 90 his child to school or to circumcision, that is the “complete offering” [korbana shalim] to be accepted.Footnote 91
The act of bringing the child to his circumcision, or later to school, is described as an act of “offering” the child.Footnote 92 In our context it is important to focus on the act of circumcision,Footnote 93 since it refers directly to a bodily organ that has been cut off from the body, and is therefore the closest act to actual “human sacrifice.” This perception of circumcision can be found explicitly in the later stratum of Zoharic literature, in Ra‘aya mehemna:
Any man has to offer his son to the Blessed Holy One with joy, with the will of his heart, to elevate him under the wings of the Shekhinah. And the Blessed Holy One accepts this offering as a “complete offering,” which is happily accepted by him.
And this offering is similar to animal offering: this is offered on the eighth day, and this is offered on the eighth day, as it is written: “When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be accepted as a sacrifice by fire to YHVH” [Leviticus 22:27]. After one week passes, as the Sabbath had passed, then “it shall be accepted.” This is given as an offering, and this is given as an offering. Why? As he encountered and embraced that Sabbath, the mystery of circumcision, and therefore all is in the upper mystery.Footnote 94
It is clear that the phrase: “a complete offering” (korbana shalim) refers to the highest form of offering: the offering of the son. This is demonstrated in the parallel between the act of circumcision to the act of offering an animal, both done from the eighth day after birth onward.Footnote 95 As one might expect, this same term is used in the context of the most famous act of child offering in Judaism, the biblical story of the “offering of Isaac” (the ‘akedah). In the Zoharic interpretation of this story we find the following statement: “Isaac, who was bound to the altar, was a “complete offering” [korbana shalim] before the Blessed Holy One.”Footnote 96
To conclude, there is no doubt that the use of the term “complete offering” in the Pikudin text conceals a strong reference to the idea of “offering” man's organs as an offering to God. In our context this offering can also be seen as a way to “complete” God's image by the offering of one's limbs, which unite with the upper limbs—the limbs of God:
The lilies are a mystery. When these limbs are connected together so as to be one, by means of one meditation according to the mystery of the sacrifice…
There are 613 commandments in these lilies, which are the limbs of the two sides, according to the mystery of “there shall be one YHVH, and his name one”….
Blessed is he who sacrifices these offerings. Surely this offering is favorable to him both in this world and the World to Come. Footnote 97
From here it is clear that the mystery of the sacrifice referred to in this homily is the apotheosis of man's limbs. These limbs unify with the limbs of the divine and together they create God's “body.” This heavenly “body” is also identified with the mythic figure of Adam, and consists of 613 body parts, the same number as the sum of the Torah commandments.Footnote 98
The Shema Mystery of Rav Hamnuna Saba
A few sources explicitly mention the connection between Rav Hamnuna Saba and his unique mystical meditation on the Shema. For example, the Zoharic homily found in Zohar II Va-yakhel (216a–b):
Mystery of unity [raza de-yeḥuda]—for one who is worthy of the world that is coming must unify the name of the Blessed Holy One, uniting limbs of the upper and lower rungs, bringing them all where they should be—binding the knot. This is the mystery written: “Hear, O Israel, YHVH our God, YHVH is one.” [Deuteronomy 6:4] The mystery of Shema: Hear [shem‘a, שמע]—a name [shem, שם], amounting to ‘ayin [ע], seventy names, one totality.
Israel—Israel the Old Man, for there is a small one [zutta], as is written: “When Israel was a youth, I loved him,” [Hosea 11:1] whereas this is Israel the Old Man [Yisra'el Saba]. One mystery in one totality: “Hear, O Israel” [shem‘a Yisra'el]—here, the wife merges with her husband.
After they merge with one another into one whole, the limbs must be unified — joining two dwellings as one, with all the limbs, in heartfelt devotion, ascending in cleaving to the ’Ein Sof, uniting all there and becoming one will…
This is the unification of Rav Hamnuna Saba, taught him by his father, from the latter's teacher, reaching back to the mouth of Elijah.Footnote 99 It is fine, a perfect unification. Although we have established this by various mysteries, and all those mysteries amount to one, still this mystery I found in his book, and it is fine, a perfect unification [yeḥuda be-tikkuna]. We have already educed the meaning of the unification of another mystery, which is a fine and fitting unification—so it is! But this unification is a perfect unification [yeḥuda be-tikkuna]; this is the unification of Rav Hamnuna Saba!Footnote 100
It is clear from this passage that the teaching of the “mystery of unity,” representing the unique meditation of the Shema that unites the upper and lower limbs, is identified with Hamnuna Saba.Footnote 101 The Shema mysteries in both the Pikudin stratum and this source open with the identification of Israel (of the opening verse of the Shema, “Hear, O Israel”) as “Israel the Old Man.” And in both homilies the focus of the Shema meditation is the unity of the upper and lower limbs: “joining two dwellings as one, with all limbs, in heartfelt devotion.”
Moreover, the passage emphasizes that the “mystery of unity” of Hamnuna Saba is a “perfect unification” [yeḥuda be-tikkuna]. This Shema unification is “higher” than the common Shema unification, which probably refers to the Shema unification homilies mentioned in the Zohar on Terumah. Footnote 102 These homilies (in Zohar on Terumah) are characterized by a much simpler Zoharic style, focusing primarily on the unification of God and the Shekhinah. The Shema unification of Hamnuna Saba, on the other hand, focuses on the unification of the “upper and lower limbs” and on the mysteries of the “offering” of one's body and limbs.
Another interesting source appears in the Hebrew writings of the Tikkunei Zohar and Ra‘aya mehemna, published by Ephraim Gottlieb:
I saw written in the name of Rabbi Shim‘on Bar Yoḥai that he asked Elijah: “Why are there different opinions on the way the Blessed Holy One is unified [during the recitation of the Shema], as there are different opinions interpreted by our sages on the Shema unification of Rav Hamnuna Saba?….” Elijah said to him: “Of course this [Shema unification of Rav Hamnuna Saba] is similar to the manna that had come down from above, whom every one tasted according to his will and ability [to taste]; the same is with this unification: any one perceives it according to his will and ability [to perceive]….”Footnote 103
The most important element in this passage here is the use of the phrase “the Shema unification of Rav Hamnuna Saba.” This phrase is repeated several times during the discussion between Rabbi Shim‘on and Elijah, proving that it was well known in the later stratum of Zoharic literature that there was a unique Shema unification identified with Hamnuna Saba. It was even so well-known that apparently there had already been a few different opinions on the exact meaning of this special unification.
Moreover, Elijah appears here as the one who has the knowledge of the unique Shema unification of Rav Hamnuna Saba, as his figure is very close to the figure of the Zoharic Hamnuna Saba. As we have seen above in the Zohar on Terumah, Elijah appears as the one who originally transmitted the Shema mystery known as “the unification of Rav Hamnuna Saba.” Further on, in Rabbi Shim‘on Bar Yoḥai and Elijah's discussion there is an explicit allusion to this Shema mystery: "There are 248 [limbs] parallel to the 248 words in the Shema recitation pericopes that were transmitted with love…."Footnote 104 This notion of the 248 Shema words paralleling the 248 limbs is one of the central themes in the Shema unification mystery of Rav Hamnuna Saba.
A trace of the “Shema mystery of Rav Hamnuna Saba” also appears in the Shekel ha-kodesh of Rabbi Moses de León. Here, de León explicitly mentions the idea of 248 words of Shema paralleling the 248 limbs of the human body:
You will find that the mystery of the Shema recitation is the formation of the [upper] Adam, which is the mystery of the 248 limbs in the human body. Therefore you will find in all the Shema recitation pericopes the mystery of 248 words; in order to construct the complete structure of the Adam, in any matter and aspect of his repair [tikkunav].
And in the Midrash Yerushalmi it is mentioned: There are 245 words [in the Shema recitation], and the prayer leader who leads the prayer repeats three words. Which are these? “YHVH, your God, true” [’YHVH ’Eloheikhem ’emet], in order to complete the amount of limbs. And the prayer leader completes the [number of] limbs for all [of the congregation] with these three words that he repeats.Footnote 105
De León mentions here, in the name of the “Midrash Yerushalmi” (referring to the Zohar),Footnote 106 the exact same Shema mystery delivered by the Yanuka in the name of his father (the Saba), as it appears in ZḤ Ruth.Footnote 107
Furthermore, the figure of Hamnuna Saba is mentioned in the Shekel ha-kodesh only once, when referring to the Shema mystery found in the book of Hamnuna Saba:
The mystery of unity [sod ha-yiḥud] is the mystery of the unity of existence, and the emanating of the trueness of the Blessed Name; he is “One”…. Indeed, the mystery of Ḥokhmah, Binah and Da‘at includes all the sefirot [emanations], the wholeness of the complete union in the mystery of its trueness…. And it is said in the book of Rav Hamnuna Saba: [Hear O Israel,] “YHVH our God, YHVH [is one]”— the mystery of these three levels is the mystery of Ḥokhmah, Binah and Da‘at…. Therefore, there are ten sefirot… and indeed, these ten [sefirot] are the six edges unified in their union in the mystery of the formation [tikkun] of Adam.Footnote 108
“The book of Rav Hamnuna Saba” refers to the “mystery of unity,” the unique Shema mystery of Rav Hamnuna Saba mentioned in Zohar II (Va-yakhel) 216a–b.Footnote 109 Moreover, the phrase “formation (tikkun) of Adam” is used as it is several times in the Zohar (appearing as tikkuna de-’Adam).Footnote 110 As the closing paragraphs of the Shekel ha-kodesh, they might further underscore the importance of the Shema “mystery of unity” identified with Rav Hamnuna Saba.
Conclusions
There is no doubt that the Zoharic author(s) created a strong connection between the Saba and Yanuka stories and their mystical homilies on the Shema mysteries. The narrative framework of these stories illuminates the mystical contents of the Shema homilies. It is not to say the Zoharic homilies could not be understood at all in the absence of the narrative framework; but rather that a fuller and richer understanding of these homilies is lost without their narrative framework.Footnote 111
One of the central dimensions that would be weakened in the absence of the narrative framework is a deeper mystical experience. As demonstrated by Hellner-Eshed, it appears that by placing the Zoharic mysteries in a narrative framework the Zohar wishes to invoke a mystical experience in its reader.Footnote 112 A deeper mystical experience is achieved when the reader identifies himself with the narrative figures that embody the mystical mysteries taught by them. Thus, the reason that the Zohar creates such a strong linkage between the Shema mysteries and the Saba and Yanuka figures is to construct its reader's religious practice of the Shema reading by creating an identification with these narrative figures. This identification should not be understood in the narrow literal sense, but rather in the broader sense: the various impacts that these narrative figures have on their readers.Footnote 113
The strongest impact on the reader is created by the shaping of the mystery of “self sacrifice,” as portrayed by the Yanuka and Saba figures. The reader becomes deeply connected to the ethos of offering one's body and limbs, and even to the most difficult of all offerings: the offering of one's own son. This element might also provide a better understanding of the ambivalent attitude of the Zohar towards the notion of human sacrifice: the idea that human sacrifice is completely forbidden, but at the same time that it also contains enormous religious potential, especially in the mystical yearning to unite with God.Footnote 114 The main tension created here is the tension between the actual offering of human limbs and the allegoric understanding of this idea. The Zohar seems to insist on preserving the tension between the metaphoric and concrete; only by combining them can a unique Zoharic mystical experience be achieved.
This combination of the allegoric and concrete is the essence of the mythical Saba and Yanuka figures. As narrative figures they exist in the concrete realm of the fictional story. But in the process of interpretation their allegoric, symbolic, and mythic aspects are revealed. Concerning these symbolic and mythic aspects of the Yanuka and Saba figures, the words of Moses de León on the “Shema mystery of unity” are extremely relevant:
Now, know and observe, and direct your heart to this matter…. In the two first words [YHVH, Our God )] we include two emanations [middot] together: the mystery of thought [maḥshavah], as she is the first entrance,Footnote 115 and the mystery of the mighty old man [ha-zaken ha-gadol]Footnote 116… to be together, and in this mystery of “We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one,” [Genesis 44:20] two unique emanations [middot] which are the mystery of complete unity… only with this [the mystery of the Youth na‘ar] can you enter the high gate. Indeed, “For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad [na‘ar] be not with me?” [Genesis 44:34] to enter through this gate to the upper gates…Footnote 117 and this is: “Hear O Israel” Israel is Israel the Old Man [Yisra'el Saba].Footnote 118
This passage appears in the third part of de León's book dedicated to the Shema mysteries and opens with the idea of the parallel of 248 words and limbs. It is not possible to go into all the details of the passage, but it is clear that the Shema mystery of unity is deeply connected to the symbols of the “Old Man” and the “Youth” (na‘ar), the father (YHVH) and the son (’Eloheinu).Footnote 119
This is also a clear reference to the figure of Enoch-Metatron, who unites these two symbols, since he is identified both with “the Old Man” (Yisra'el Saba—Tiferet or Ze‘ir ’Anpin illuminated by ‘Atika Kadisha)—and “the Youth” (Yisra'el Zutta na‘ar—Shekhinah).Footnote 120 Both the Saba and Yanuka are identified also with the figure of Enoch-Metatron.Footnote 121
The main idea here is that in order to be elevated above (during the Shema recitation) and unite with the father, the “mighty Old Man” (’Arikh ’Anpin or Ḥokhmah)—one needs to connect first with the son (na‘ar or Shekhinah). Only through the son can one enter the gates above and go up to the father, as stated in the verse: “For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad [na‘ar] be not with me?”(Genesis 44:34).
This passage in Maskiyyot kesef strengthens the argument that there is a strong and deep connection between the Yanuka and Saba figures and the content of their homilies on the Shema mysteries, since their own narrative figures also represent the mythical-symbolic figures of the “Old Man,” as Yisra'el Saba, and the “Youth” as Yisra'el Zutta. Therefore, it is not a coincidence that the Yanuka and Saba figures are identified with these unique Zoharic Shema mysteries, as these figures act both as narrative characters and, at the same time, as mythic and symbolic figures. The Saba and Yanuka act as incarnated narrative figures of God and his son;Footnote 122 their own “bodies” serving as poetic representation of the “collector of lilies,” the “collector of limbs,” uniting the lower and upper limbs into one mythopoetic body.
