Temple Portals by Oded Yisraeli

Author:Oded Yisraeli
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Published: 2016-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Moses’ hands and Amalek’s defeat

The Zohar’s attempt to avoid any magical dimensions in the story of the war against Amalek—the virtually “official” medieval kabbalistic interpretation of the text—is reflected in its understanding of the technique Moses used to win the battle, which deviates from the exegesis found in Sefer Habahir. As we observed above, whether citing it explicitly or not the thirteenth-century kabbalists generally adopted a thaumaturgical approach to the “Bahiran” homily that holds that Moses’ ten fingers united the ten sefirot, drawing their influence over Israel and thus giving them the victory. Thus, for example, we find the following account in Rabbeinu Bachya’s commentary on Exod 17:12

A kabbalistic approach: Moses’ raising of his hands was a matter of his concentrating on his ten fingers being pointed at what is called רום השמים, “ the heights of the Heavens” … He did something similar to what the priests do when they raise their hands in the priestly blessing. By concentrating on the number ten, they also concentrate on the ten emanations and the source of blessing that flows from that region to disembodied spirits. At such a time the power of any force opposing such prayers is checked and its influence halted (at least temporarily). At such moments the Israelite soldiers would be victorious. The words וגבר ישראל, “ Israel had the ‘upper’ hand,” was therefore something closely linked to Moses’ continued ability or willingness to raise his fingers and concentrate on the number ten. Whenever Moses’ concentration flagged, the accusing finger of the celestial representative of Amalek made itself felt and the Israelites retreated. (1998: 3:1015)

Bachya understands Moses’ raised hands as drawing power and bringing down the upper forces in order to strengthen Israel in the war against Amalek. We find a similar thought in other kabbalists belonging to the “zoharic circle” or influenced by it, as well as other kabbalistic groups.310 Like Rabbeinu Bachya, these suggest a link between Moses’ raised hands and the priestly blessing. Discussing this issue at length, Pedaya (2005: 116–120) has drawn attention to its diverse implications in kabbalistic works, beginning with Sefer Habahir itself.311

The zoharic homily offers a very different tradition, asserting that the war took place in the upper realms between “Israel above” and “severe Judgment”—i.e., the sefira of Gevura. The power of Judgment increasing because of Israel’s sins, the fragile balance within the sefiric realm is upset, threatening its unity. Moses’ raised hands are thus meant to restore sefiric harmony by reinforcing the attribute of Hesed over that of Din, his higher right hand seeking to make—Hesed—prevail over the left-hand side of the godhead (i.e., Gevura). This technique differs significantly from that depicted in Sefer Habahir. The Zohar also associates Moses’ action with the priestly raising of hands, adducing the biblical description of Aaron’s blessing in several places: “Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them; and he came down after sacrificing the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the offering of well-being” (Lev 9:22).312 As in the case

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