"Kejserens datter i "The King and the Emperor": ett litterært, kønsreflekteret forsøg på at forstå rabbi Nahman fra Bratslavs fortelling

In this article, I approach the problem of understanding the emperor’s daughter in The King and the Emperor by Nahman of Bratslav by exploring the literary imagery and characters which are gendered. Nahman’s use of gender is no unique phenomenon in Jewish mysticism. The sefirotic system e.g. is characterized by its male and female sefirot. In Sefer ha-Zohar the male sefirah Tif’eret and the female sefirah Shekhinah are depicted as the central figures whose sexual union is crucial since the creation of God depends on this union. Thus, gender is known to play a major part in Jewish mysticism and a critique must be leveled against scholars who tend to explain Nahman’s use of gender by referring to his delirious and maniodepressive periods and his problematic relationship to women. Their biographical approach is countered by my analysis of The King and the Emperor from the vantage point of the following three assumptions: Nahman’s use of gender refers to the gendered sefirotic system. By applying the concept of the other and a focus on the valuation and the activity of the gendered characters it is possible to uncover the theological content of the tale. Finally, Nahman applies a literary imagery from the Tanakh and from the kabbalistic literature, thus, authorizing the message of the tale and at the same time forcing his listener/reader to engage in the imagery to be able to understand its formal meaning as well as its connotations. On the basis of this approach the emperor’s daughter is interpreted as the Shekhinah who uses every positive and negative means to further the union between Knesset Israel and herself as well as enabling her to withdraw to her receptive position in the sefirotic system from where she can bring fertility to God’s creation.

Mystical Midrash

This article conceives of mystical midrash as the act of interpreting the details of a Torah verse with the purpose of entering a meditative or ecstatic state of union with God, in which the mystic by drawing down God’s insights can explain how the Torah verse mediates the micro-macrocosmic relation between God’s will and the course of history. However, since mystical midrash is such a rare phenomenon in Judaism, I have chosen to highlight the various approaches to the Torah in Jewish mysticism as a background for understanding why only one of these approaches qualifies for the epithet ‘mystical midrash’

The Fate of Job in Jewish Tradition: On Job's counterpointist function

Job's piety in The Book of Job is so ideal that it becomes problematic on two levels. First, it renders God a tyrant. Second, no one can fully identify with Job. Surely, we may suffer just as much as Job does and even feel that God is unjust, but no man can ever claim to be as pious as Job. Limited to a few examples of the fate of Job in Jewish tradition and concerned with Scripture's role with respect to religious normativity, this article will be guided by the following question: How can The Book of Job maintain its role within Jewish tradition as a normative text? My reading suggests that The Book of Job in itself is not normative. Rather, it serves as a counterpoint up against which the reception and transformation of Jewish theology can unfold and as such The Book of Job exerts its function on Jewish religiosity

Formindskede bøger i jødisk religion: Om størrelsens betydning for mediering af religion og religiøsitet

English abstract: The size of religious books matters to how religion and religiosity has been mediated up through history, not only the history of religion, but also the history of the book. The purpose of this article is to offer a functional approach to how size, especially small size, comes to matter in religious medialization. To be able to treat miniaturized books as a religious phenomenon, the article offers a comparative, brief trajectory of developments in book formats and writing/typing techniques that detects a development towards smallness. From here, it proceeds to analyzing and reflecting on miniaturized religious books in Judaism. It goes into details with the functional aspects in the use of community rules, prayer books, Book of Psalms, haggadot shel pesach, Purim-scrolls, Hebrew Bibles and Torot. The article conjoins the author’s own distinction between the hermeneutical and artifactual use of scripture with theoretical­ reflections by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Jonathan Z. Smith, Danièle Dehouve, Steven J. Gores, and Ian Reader. This platform has explanatory potential with regard to explaining how the small size of religious books in Jewish religion has come to matter to the medialization of religion and religiosity. Dansk resume: Religiøse bøgers størrelse har betydning for, hvordan jødisk religion og jøders religiøsitet er blevet medieret op gennem historien – ikke kun religionshistorien, men også boghistorien. Artiklens formål er at tilbyde en funktionel forklaring af, hvilken betydning størrelsen, især liden størrelse, har for denne mediering. For at sikre at formindskede bøger behandles som et religiøst fænomen, tager artiklen afsæt i en komparativ, kort redegørelse for udvikling i bogformater og skrive-/printteknikker for at analysere og reflektere over formindskede, religiøse bøger i jødedommen. Særligt gennemgås funktionelle aspekter ved brugen af menighedsregler, bønnebøger, udgaver af Salmernes Bog, påske-aggadot, Purim-ruller, hebræiske bibler og Torahruller. Teoretisk sammenstilles forfatterens egen skelnen mellem hermeneutisk og artefaktisk helligtekstbrug med overvejelser hos Claude Lévi-Strauss, Jonathan Z. Smith, Danièle Dehouve, Steven J. Gores og Ian Reader. Den sammenstilling muliggør en forklaring af måden, hvorpå religiøse bøgers størrelse er af betydning for mediering af religion og religiøsitet

Midt i en aksetid. En kulturevolutionær refleksion over 'Rewritten Scripture' og rabbinsk aggedah

'Rewritten scripture' er et bedre begreb end 'rewritten Bible', da det også kan bruges for helligtekster på tværs af kulturer. I en teoretisk ramme bestemt af bl.a. Robert Bellahs kulturevolutionære model kan rabbinsk aggedah ses som eksempel på 'rewritten scripture

Shabbetai Tsvis nedstigning til Farao – et jødisk eksempel på forløsning gennem urenhed

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: As a Jewish example of redemption through impurity, this article analyses the ’strange acts’ of the Jewish mystic Shabbetai Tsvi. These acts included pronunciation of the tetragrammaton, liturgical subversions of synagogue service and Jewish praxis in general, odd approaches to sex, praying at grave sites, extreme asceticism, and conversion to Islam. Referring to theories by Robert Bellah, Philippe Descola, and Hans J. Lundager Jensen, I argue for the adequacy of ’inverted dualism’ as a concept that can explain these strange acts in conflict with Jewish law. The explanation is situated in the historical development of Israelite-Jewish religion from a monistic worldview, over a direct dualistic worldview, to an inverted, this-worldly dualism with great bearings on how Jews would perceive evil and the Torah. DANSK RESUMÉ: Som et jødisk eksempel på forløsning gennem urenhed analyseres den jødiske mystiker Shabbetai Tsvis ’fremmedartede handlinger’ så som udtalelse af tetragrammet, liturgiske omkalfatringer af synagogegudstjenesten og jødisk praksis generelt, mærkværdige tilgange til sex, grave som bedesteder, ekstrem askese og konversion til islam. Med reference til teorier af Robert Bellah, Philippe Descola og Hans J. Lundager Jensen argumenterer jeg for begrebet ’inverteret dualisme’ som egnet til at forklare disse fremmedartede handlinger i konflikt med jødisk lovstof. Forklaringen indlejres i den israelitisk-jødiske religions udvikling fra en monistisk verdensopfattelse over en direkte dualistisk verdensopfattelse til en inverteret dualisme i det dennesides, hvilket især har konsekvens for opfattelsen af ondskab og Torah

Religiøs reception og transformation af Salmernes Bog i jødisk tradition

Meget er vundet i forståelsen af bibelbrug og reception, hvis man skelner mellem en hermeneutisk og artefaktisk brug af helligtekster. Teksten selv har en indsigelsesmulighed i receptions- og transformationsprocessen, hvilket er et kriterium for den hermeneutiske brug, uanfægtet af det forhold, at både den artefaktiske og hermeneutiske brug af helligtekster synes at tjene til at skabe transitivite

Torah som kult- og kommentarobjekt

Artiklen korrigerer Assmanns evolutionære og basale skelnen mellem mundtlige og skriftlige kulturer ved at illustrere, hvordan jødedommen – en skriftreligion – i dens mest centrale religiøse handlinger udviser træk, som Assmann normalt ville forbinde med kultreligioner. Hvis man i stedet anerkender, at træk fra mundtlighedskulturer akkumulerer i skriftkulturer, gives man redskaberne til at skelne mellem to modi for helligtekstformidling. Den dominerende modus projicerer kulturel hukommelse ud på helligteksten for at lade den styrke sammenhængskraft i og individuel og kollektiv tilknytning til det omgivende samfund. Den anden modus, der primært benyttes af specialister og/eller medlemmer af eliten, tilbyder sig selv som et middel til at opnå en bevidst stilling- eller afstandstagen til helligtekstens diskurs inklusiv dens normative og formative værdier

Gaudeo quia dedisti – om glæde i israelitisk og tidlig jødisk religion

Dette kapitel analyserer forekomster af ‘glæde’ śimḥâ (שִׂמְחָה) og ‘at glæde sig’, jf. verbalroden śāmaḥ (שָׂמַח) i bibelske og tidligt jødiske tekster med det formål at reflektere over aspekter i glædens religionshistoriske udvikling. Baseret på elektroniske søgninger på glæde/roden שמח, inklusive afledninger, har jeg udvalgt forekomster, der vedrører religiøs glæde og grupperet dem ud fra konteksterne: Visdom, myte og ritualiserede handlinger. Kapitlet konkluderer at glæde især i kontekst af ritualiserede handlinger først supplerer den kultiske ofring, men siden i en bevægelse fra velsignelsesreligion til frelsesreligion overtager den kultiske ofrings funktion i forhold til at markere en ihukommelse af eller en tillid til gudens indgriben, hvorfor glæden løftes med ind i ordgudstjenesten. Analysen indebærer, at jeg føjer argumenter til Hans Jørgen Lundager Jensens idé om at erstatte udtrykket “do ut des” (jeg giver, for at du må give) med udtrykket “do quia dedisti” (jeg giver, fordi du har givet) i hvert fald i israelitisk-tidlig jødisk kontekst til beskrivelse af glædens funktion som det at udtrykke taknemmelighed over noget perfektivt, nemlig at guden har eller vil have givet.This chapter analyses occurrences of ‘joy’ śimḥâ (שִׂמְחָה) and ‘to rejoice’, cf. the verbal root śāmaḥ (שָׂמַח), in biblical and early Jewish texts to reflect on aspects in the religious-historical development of joy. Based on electronic searches on joy/the root שמח including cognates, I have selected occurrences, relating to religious joy, and grouped them according to the following contexts: wisdom, myth and ritualised actions. The chapter concludes that joy, especially in the context of ritualised actions, first supplements cultic sacrifices, but then, within the development in Israelite-Jewish religion from being oriented toward blessing to focusing on salvation, joy takes over the function of cultic sacrifices to mark a remembrance of or a trust in a god's intervention. Accordingly, joy is transferred to the word-based worship of Yahweh. With this analysis, I add arguments to Hans Jørgen Lundager Jensen's idea of ​​replacing the expression “do ut des” (I give, so that you may give) with the expression “do quia dedisti” (I give because you have given) at least in the Israelite-early Jewish context to describe the function of joy as a matter of expressing gratitude for something perfective, namely, that the god has or will have given

Fra bibelske til rabbinske opfattelser af askese: Jødedommens verdensbekræftende praksis

The purpose of this article is to supplement scholarly positions that define asceticism either as a matter of world renouncement and elitist self-exclusion from the world or as always oriented toward transcendent goals or practices of improvement because these positions run the risk of overlooking moderate kinds of asceticism. Israelite, early Jewish, and early Rabbinic Jewish religion are replete with examples of moderate asceticism where both men and women are encouraged to engage in abstinence and self-training in order – not to improve, but – to preserve a religious tradition. With Steven D. Fraade’s definition of asceticism as a departing point, the article examines abstinence and self-training in the Hebrew Bible, early Jewish and early Rabbinic literature. The author discerns three types of moderate asceticism: that of the priest, the layperson, and the hero/-ine. These three types complement each other in a shared effort to preserve divine blessings in this world and thereby the preservation of Israelite-Jewish tradition