sex/drugs and holy rocking rolling stones in myDi!


~*~

"FROM MY FLESH I WILL SEE 'G*D'"


~*~


from
rabbinic texts
- albeit quite a bit later than paul -
we actually learn of the view
hypothesized as a genuine jewish
theologoumenon


SOME of the rabbis
read circumcision as a necessary preparation for 'seeing "G*D",'
the summum bonum of late~antique
religious life


THIS IS
of course
an entirely different
hermeneutic structure from platonic allegorizing
because although a spiritual meaning is assigned to the corporeal ACT
the corporeal act is NOT the signifier of that meaning
but its constitution


THAT IS
circumcision here is not the sign of something happening
in the spirit of the jew
but it is the very event itself -
and it is
of course
in his
BODY


MOREOVER
as I have argued already elsewhere
for the rabbinic formation
this 'seeing of "G*D"'
was NOT understood as the spiritual vision of a platonic eye of the mind
but as the physical sseing of fleshly eyes
at a REAL MOMENT
in history


THUS
even when it spiritualizes
the rabbinic tradition does so entirely
through the body


SPIRIT here
is an aspect of body, almost, I would say,
the same spirit that experiences the pleasure of sex through the body
and NOT something APART from
beyond or above
the body


EW has gathered
the rabbinic {and later} material
connecting circumcision with
'vision of "G*D":'

IT IS
WRITTEN,

"This,
after my skin will have been peeled off,
but from my flesh,
I will see "G*D"
[JOB 19:26].
Avraham said,
after I circumcised myself
many converts came to cleave to this sign.

"But from my flesh,
I will see "G*D,"
for had I not done this
[circumsised myself],
on what account
would the Holy Blessed ONE,
have appeared
to me?

"And the LORD
appeared to him"

[Genesis Rabbah 48:1, 479].


AS
EW correctly observes
there are TWO hermeneutic moves being made simultaneously
in THIS midrash:

the first involves
interpretation of the sequence in the Genesis text
of Genesis 17:1-14,
which begins,
"And The Lord appeared to Avraham
in Elone Mamre
{near Chevron}."


the midrash
following its usual canons of interpretation
attributes strong causal nexus
to these events following
one another

HAD
Avraham
not circumcised himself,
THEN "G*D" would NOT have
appeared
to him

THIS
interpretation
is splendidly confirmed by
the JOB verse

the rabbis
considered the book of job
together with the other Holy Writings
to be an exegetical text that has the function of interpreting
(or guiding interpretation of)
the Torah


in this case
the verse of job
which refers to the peeling off skin of circumcision
and the continuation of the verse
which speaks of seeing "G*D" from one's flesh
is taken as a reference to the theophany
at Elone Mamre

the reading
of sequence of the Torah's text
is confirmed by the explicit causality which the job text
inscribes

circumcision of the flesh
- peeling of the skin -
provides the vision
of "G*D"

AS
EW remarks
THIS MIDRASH
constitutes an interpretation
of circumcision
that DIRECTLY COUNTERS
the pauline one:

"The emphasis
on Avraham's circumcision ...
can only be seen
as a tacit rejection
of the Christian position
that circumcision of the flesh
had been REPLACED
by circumcision
of the spirit
{ENACTED IN
BAPTISM}."


The
physical
ACT
of circumcision
in the flesh,
which prepares the {male} Jew
for sexual intercourse,
is also that
which prepares him for
Divine intercourse!
IT IS HARD,
therefore,
to escape the association of sexual
and mystical experience
in this
text.


~verliefd~
engel
16 jun 2005 - bewerkt op 04 mrt 2008 - meld ongepast verhaal
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