Volume 16]. Tuebingen: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1988.

(hereafter FACES)
FACES is a thorough study which challenges many conclusions and

assumptions of previous scholars, tracing merkabah material from the Bible, through the apocalypses and rabbinic literature, concluding with the hekhalot texts. Translations of the text Reiyot Yezkiel (Visions of Ezekiel) and other important segments of hekhalot material are included. FACES is valuable in a way that few books of this ilk are in that Halperin invites the reader to engage in his entire scholarly process, which he lays out in great detail in his 450-page text, two-tiered notes (footnotes and endnotes), seven informative appendices (Appendix I: Orientation to Rabbinic Sources is especially helpful), and full reference list (which is divided into sixteen sections according to topic).

Halperin, David J. The Merkabah in Rabbinic Literature [AMERICAN ORIENTAL SERIES, #62]. New Haven: The American Oriental Society, 1980.
This study investigates the references to the merkabah tradition in the Mishna and the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds. (See note 5.)

Janowitz, Naomi. Icons of Power: Ritual Practices in Late Antiquity [MAGIC IN HISTORY]. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2002.
8 Chapter 5, Using Names, Letters, and Praise: The Language of Ascent, focuses on Hekhalot Rabbati; Chapter 6, Combining Words and Deeds: Angelic Imprecations in The Book of Secrets, discusses Sefer ha-Razim. The hekhalot practitioners are considered within the broader setting of the prevailing assumptionsJewish, Christian, and paganof the culture in Late Antiquity concerning religion and ritual.

Janowitz, Naomi. The Poetics of Ascent. Theories of Language in a Rabbinic Ascent Text [SUNY SERIES IN JUDAICA: HERMENEUTICS, MYSTICISM, AND CULTURE]. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989.
Poetics offers a translation of Maaseh Merkabah with a speculative analysis regarding the functions of this text's ritual language.

Kanagaraj, Jey J. Mysticism in the Gospel of John: An Inquiry into Its Background [JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, Sup 158]. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998.
The first half of the book (Parts 1 and 2) provides an excellent survey of merkabah material and the literature (apocalyptic, non-apocalypticincluding Qumran material, and Christian) clustered around it from Hellenistic times through the first century. Part 2 examines merkabah mysticism in some detail to set up an analysis of its connections with Johannine mysticism.

Kanarfogel, Ephraim. Peering through the Lattices: Mystical, Magical, and Pietistic Dimensions in the Tosafist Period. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2000.
Kanarfogel tracks the influence and use of hekhalot and other mystical and magical material to 12th- and 13th-century Germany and France. His argument is that esoteric teachings and practices spread beyond the Hasidei Ashkenaz to the tosafists, rabbinic descendents of Rashi, conventionally considered to have

been inclined exclusively toward study of the Talmud.

Kuyt, Annalies. The Descent to the Chariot. Towards a Description of the Terminology, Place, Function and Nature of the YERIDAH in Hekhalot Literature [TEXTE UND STUDIEN ZUM ANTIKEN JUDENTUM, Volume 45]. Tuebingen: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1995. (hereafter DESCENT)
DESCENT is a discussion of the heavenly journey, yeridah, literally

descent, to the merkabah in various passages of the hekhalot literature. Kuyt outlines the contents of Hekhalot Rabbati, Hekhalot Zutreti, Maaseh Merkabah, Merkabah Rabbah, 3 Enoch, and one of the Genizah fragments. Translated excerpts from all these are included.

Lesses, Rebecca Macy. Ritual Practices to Gain Power. Angels, Incantations, and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism [HARVARD
9
THEOLOGICAL STUDIES 44].

Harrisburg: Trinity Press International,

1998. (hereafter POWER)

Lesses concentrates on the adjuration sections of the hekhalot material. Along with an analysis of these ritual performances, Lesses presents a survey of current scholarship (covering many of the authors mentioned in the present paper). Further, she attempts to set the adjurations of the hekhalot into the milieu of the Greco-Egyptian ritual literature of late antiquity.

Morray-Jones, C.R.A. A Transparent Illusion. The Dangerous Vision of Water in Hekhalot Mysticism: A Source-Critical and TraditionHistorical Inquiry [Supplements to the JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF JUDAISM, volume 59]. Leiden/Boston/Koeln: Brill, 2002.
In the first section of A Transparent Illusion, Morray-Jones builds upon (and occasionally corrects) comments regarding the water test passages in his own earlier two-part article, Paradise Revisited (2 Cor 12:1-12): The Jewish Mystical background of Pauls Apostolate, Part 1: The Jewish Sources and Part 2: Pauls Heavenly Ascent and Its Significance (both in Harvard Theological Review 86, 1993). Thereafter, Morray-Jones offers an in-depth analysis of the water vision episode within the context of the hekhalot literature: Hekhalot Rabbati and, especially, Hekhalot Zutarti. An extensive appendix discusses Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, a story which appears to derive from the same traditional background and to be related in some manner to the water vision episode itself (page 230).

Schaefer, Peter. The Hidden and Manifest God. Some Major Themes in Early Jewish Mysticism [SUNY SERIES IN JUDAICA: HERMENEUTICS, MYSTICISM, AND RELIGIONS. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992. (hereafter HMG)
HMG is a detailed look at a selection of hekhalot texts. Instead of summarizing

each text in turn, Schaefer organizes his analysis thematically, considering each texts notion of God, angels, and man. He clarifies the roles of two distinct motifs: (i) ascent through the hekhalot to the throne of glory, and (ii) the adjurationeither to God or to one of his angels.

Swartz, Michael D. Mystical Prayer in Ancient Judaism. An Analysis of MAASEH MERKABAH [TEXTE UND STUDIEN ZUM ANTIKEN JUDENTUM, Volume 28]. Tuebingen: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1991.
Mystical Prayergives a full treatment and translation of Maaseh

Merkabah (Work of the Chariot).

Swartz, Michael D. Scholastic Magic. Ritual and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.
Scholastic Magic analyzes and translates the Sar Torah (Prince of the Torah) texts with an eye toward the cultural environment which produced them. 10

Translations and References

The Hekhalot Corpus The number of hekhalot texts in translation has grown slowly over the years. Alas, here we enter directly into the question of what is and what is not a member of the hekhalot family; the canons offered by various scholars differ. For instance, Schaefers Synopse includes some items which some commentators find dubious, namely, The Sword of Moses and Seder Rabba di Bereshit. One well-known text, The Visions of Ezekiel, while almost always included on lists of hekhalot texts, is clearly of a character different from the so-called core group. Discussions regarding which texts belong to the hekhalot canon have progressed along several lines: 1. Texts which have long been counted among the hekhalot are now thought not to belong, for example, The Visions of Ezekiel. 2. Magical works, such as The Sword of Moses and Sefer ha-Razim, are being drawn closer to the hekhalot. 3. Some works are being wholly reconsidered in that they might not be works at all but rather of one genre or another, as, for instance, the Shiur Qomah and Sar Torah texts. As mentioned already, even the titles of these books are late inventions which have become conventions, used even by the scholars who refute their validity. Using the lists of hekhalot given by a number of contemporary scholars, below is a reference outline of sources on various hekhalot titles, erring in favor of inclusion.
11

The Core Group of Hekhalot Texts A. Hekhalot Rabbati (HR) [The Greater Hekhalot] Translations: There are three extended translations of HR in English: 1. HR chapters 15-29, prepared by Lauren Grodner, in David R. Blumenthals Understanding Jewish Mysticism (New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1978), where it is referred to as Pirkei Heikalot. 2. HR chapters 1, 2, and 16-26, in Aryeh Kaplans Meditation and Kabbalah (York Beach: Samuel Weiser, 1982). 3. HR chapters 15:1-22:2 (with omissions), in Philip S. Alexanders Textual Sources for the Study of Judaism (Totowa: Barnes and Noble, 1984; rpt., University of Chicago Press, 1990).

References to HR throughout the following: Gruenwald. AMM. Schaefer. HMG. Kuyt. DESCENT. Lesses. POWER. See also Dan, Joseph. The Revelation of the Secret World: The Beginning of Jewish Mysticism. Providence: Brown University Press, 1992; = JM1: Chapter 3. Davila, James R. Prolegomena to a Critical Edition of the Hekhalot Rabbati, in Journal of Jewish Studies, vol. 45, no. 2 (The Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. 1994). Halperin, David. A Sexual Image in Hekhalot Rabbati and Its Implications, in Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought, vol. 6, nos. 1-2, edited by Joseph Dan (Jerusalem: The Hebrew University, 1987). Janowitz, Naomi. Using Names, Letters, and Praise: The Language of Ascent (= Chapter 5), in Icons of Power: Ritual Practices in Late Antiquity [MAGIC IN HISTORY] University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2002. Schiffman, Lawrence. The Recall of Rabbi Nehuniah haQanah from Ecstasy in the Hekhalot Rabbati, in AJS Review, vol. 1 (Association for Jewish Studies, 1976).
12

Smith, Morton. Observations on Hekhalot Rabbati, in Biblical and Other Studies, edited by Alexander Altmann (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1963). Often appended to HR in manuscripts is The Book of the Great Name. For an introduction and translation, see Michael D. Swartz, The Book of the Great Name, in Judaism in Practice from the Middle Ages through the Early Modern Period [PRINCETON READINGS IN RELIGIONS], edited by Lawrence Fine (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2001). B. Hekhalot Zutreti, or Zutarti (HZ) [The Lesser Palaces] Translations: Two editions of HZ in the original Hebrew and Aramaic have appeared (i) Schaefers Synopse, and (ii) a problematic critical edition by Rachel Elior (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1982). For a review of these two editions of HZ, see David Halperins A New Edition of the Hekhalot Literature, in Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 104, no. 3 (1984). There is no complete version of HZ in English; many important passages are given in Halperins FACES. References: FACES, AMM, HMG, DESCENT, POWER, Scholems Jewish Gnosticism, and Morray-Jones Transparent Illusion.

C. Sefer Hekhalot = Hebrew Book of Enoch, also called 3 Enoch (3E) [Book of Palaces] Translations: 1. Odeberg, Hugo. 3 Enoch or The Hebrew Book of Enoch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1928; rpt. New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1973. 2. Alexander, P. 3 (Hebrew Apocalypse of) Enoch: A New Translation and Introduction, in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by James Charlesworth (see note 3). References: AMM, HMG, POWER, and the following articles by P.S. Alexander: Appendix: 3 Enoch, in Emil Schurer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, A New English Version, revised and edited by G. Vermes, F. Millar, and M. Goodman. Edinburgh: T&T Clark Ltd., 1986: vol. 3, part 1.
13

The Historical Setting of the Hebrew Book of Enoch, in Journal of Jewish Studies, vol. 28, no. 2 (The Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, 1977). 3 Enoch and the Talmud, in Journal for the Study of Judaism, vol. 17, no. 2 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1986). D. Merkabah Rabba (MR) [The Great Chariot] There are a few paragraphs of MR translated in Appendix One of Janowitz Poetics of Ascent (noted above) and Cohens Shiur Qomah (see below: F. Shiur Qomah). With MR, we come to the first of many texts on which there is very little. We must turn to HMG, Kuyts outline in DESCENT, and Lesses references in POWER. Gruenwalds chapter on MR in AMM begins with a description of material which probably does not belong to it, namely, a portion of the Sar ha-Panim (ShP, Prince of the Presence, or Countenance). Peter Schaefer treats ShP as an inde-pendent text in Die Beschworung des Sar ha-Panim: Kritische Edition und Ubersetzung (The Adjuration of the Prince of the Countenance: Critical Edition and Translation), originally in Frank-furter Judaische Beitrage, vol. 6 (1978); reprinted in Schaefers Hekhalot-Studien. Of course, Schaefers translation is in German, but all is not lost. The same text has been put into English twice. by Moses Gaster in The Sword of Moses (London: D. Nutt, 1896; rpt. New York: Samuel Weiser, 1970): Appendix I, section III, pp. 47-51; also in Studies and Texts (see below): vol. 1, pp. 288-337; vol. 3, pp. 69-103. Schaefer does not think Gasters rendering is terribly accurate, commenting, The translation, while fluid and easy to read, is rather fanciful. by Michael Swartz in Scholastic Magic (described above) on pp.