- Title Pages
- Epigraph
- Foreword
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The World-Absorbing Text
- 2 The God-Absorbing Text
- 3 Text and Interpretation Infinities in Kabbalah
- 4 The Book that Contains and Maintains All
- 5 Magical and Magical-Mystical Arcanizations of Canonical Books
- 6 Torah Study and Mystical Experiences in Jewish Mysticism
- 7 Secrecy, Binah, and Derishah
- 8 Semantics, Constellation, and Interpretation
- 9 Radical Forms of Jewish Hermeneutics
- 10 The Symbolic Mode in Theosophical-Theurgical Kabbalah
- 11 Allegories, Divine Names, and Experiences in Ecstatic Kabbalah
- 12 Tzerufei 'Otiyyot
- 13 Tradition, Transmission, and Techniques
- 14 Concluding Remarks
- Appendix 1 Pardes: The Fourfold Method of Interpretation
- Appendix 2 Abraham Abulafia's Torah of Blood and Ink
- Appendix 3 R. Isaac of Acre's Exegetical Quandary
- Appendix 4 The Exile of the Torah and the Imprisonment of Secrets
- Appendix 5 On Oral Torah and Multiple Interpretations in Hasidism
- Appendix 6 “Book of God”/“Book of Law” in Late-Fifteenth-Century Florence
- Bibliography
- Index
Semantics, Constellation, and Interpretation
Semantics, Constellation, and Interpretation
- Chapter:
- (p.221) 8 Semantics, Constellation, and Interpretation
- Source:
- Absorbing Perfections
- Author(s):
Moshe Idel
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
This chapter looks at the two forms of Jewish exegesis. It starts with a look at the semantic and parasemantic aspects of the interpreted text and moves on to a discussion of the middot, which is the existence of two measures. The discussion then turns to medieval hermeneutics, which is believed to have departed from the midrashic, semantically-oriented hermeneutics. The latter half of the chapter centers on the types of symbolism characteristic of theosophical-theurgical Kabbalah, an early yet static form of symbolism, decadologies, constellations of the midrashic authors, and the ten divine names.
Keywords: Jewish exegesis, semantic, parasemantic, middot, medieval hermeneutics, theosophical-theurgical Kabbalah, symbolism, decadologies, constellations, divine names
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- Title Pages
- Epigraph
- Foreword
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The World-Absorbing Text
- 2 The God-Absorbing Text
- 3 Text and Interpretation Infinities in Kabbalah
- 4 The Book that Contains and Maintains All
- 5 Magical and Magical-Mystical Arcanizations of Canonical Books
- 6 Torah Study and Mystical Experiences in Jewish Mysticism
- 7 Secrecy, Binah, and Derishah
- 8 Semantics, Constellation, and Interpretation
- 9 Radical Forms of Jewish Hermeneutics
- 10 The Symbolic Mode in Theosophical-Theurgical Kabbalah
- 11 Allegories, Divine Names, and Experiences in Ecstatic Kabbalah
- 12 Tzerufei 'Otiyyot
- 13 Tradition, Transmission, and Techniques
- 14 Concluding Remarks
- Appendix 1 Pardes: The Fourfold Method of Interpretation
- Appendix 2 Abraham Abulafia's Torah of Blood and Ink
- Appendix 3 R. Isaac of Acre's Exegetical Quandary
- Appendix 4 The Exile of the Torah and the Imprisonment of Secrets
- Appendix 5 On Oral Torah and Multiple Interpretations in Hasidism
- Appendix 6 “Book of God”/“Book of Law” in Late-Fifteenth-Century Florence
- Bibliography
- Index
