See my post below for discussion of what we are doing talking about things we just got done saying we're not going to talk about.
What impresses me here is the precise geography of heaven. Again, I am forced to wonder: do the rabbis actually thing they are providing an accurate description of the heavenly neighborhood, or are they just playing a bit with aggadic cosmology? I know later mystical traditions will make much of this sort of rabbinic speculation, but it doesn't seem all that serious. It seems, well, aggadic. Further, it seems like aggadah with no real application (unlike the aggadah which use to prove that, say, driving on Shabbat is a moral necessity.)
What's going on here?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I'm not sure what's going on here either, but I'm enjoying the ride. It is an incredible description by Resh Lakish of the 7 heavens (perhaps the original inspiration for the TV show?). This description of the heavens is in response to the previous state by Rabbi Yossi in a B'raita -- "Woe to those people who see but do not realize what they are seeing, who stand but do not realize what they are standing on." After a short description of the world - which we all know well b/c we live in it (ignoring all Tu B'Shvat derashot here), we get the heavens description. It seems that Resh Lakish is trying to convey the intricacy of God's creation in an effort to make people more aware of their cosmological surroundings. Maybe it has to do with awareness of God - which is at the core of this description. It is cultivated by vivid imagery, rooted in pasukim.
Post a Comment