Angels in the Architecture: Temple Art and the Poetics of Praise in theSongs of the Sabbath Sacrifice

The Study of Heikhalot Literature: Between Mystical Experience and Textual Artifact

“…Another independent class of texts are the Shi>ur Qomah compositions Shi>ur Qomah should not be considered an independent composition, as once thought (Cohen 1983(Cohen , 1985, but is better understood as a generic term for a relatively varied group of texts describing the body of God (Halperin 1988b: 364;Herrmann 1988 (Boustan 2003(Boustan , 2005. I have elsewhere argued that, while these units clearly belong to the wider literary context of Heikhalot literature, they differ in fundamental ways from it (2005: 43-45 and 113-21).…”

“…1914), and the post-talmudic martyrological anthology The Story of the Ten Martyrs (Reeg [ed.] 1985) cannot be considered Heikhalot texts, since none of these employs the ritualliturgical framework that is so central to the religious ideology and practice of Heikhalot literature (Himmelfarb 1988;Boustan 2003Boustan : 326-34, 2005). Similarly, one can distinguish on a variety of formal, generic or thematic grounds between Heikhalot literature proper and other associated but still distinct works (see especially Schäfer et al [trans.]…”

“…A number of manuscripts of Heikhalot Rabbati -These units include: the 'David apocalypse' ( § §122-126); the 'Aggadah only are these units found in only some recensions of Heikhalot Rabbati, but they often circulated together as an independent macroform of apoca-0 5226 (printed in Habermann 1975: 86-88) and New integrated with accounts of R. Ishmael's miraculous conception and the special visionary powers that result from it (Boustan 2003(Boustan , 2005. I have elsewhere argued that, while these units clearly belong to the wider literary context of Heikhalot literature, they differ in fundamental ways from it (2005: 43-45 and 113-21).…”