STrongly ERoticized VIrginity & OTher KEy SYmbols?

~*~

THE
strongly eroticized
character
of the experience of
seeing g*d,
established by the interpretation
of circumcision
is made virtually explicit
in another
{later} midrashic
text
Numbers Rabbah 12:10:

O, Daughters of Zion, go forth, and gaze upon King Solomon,
wearing the crown that his mother made for him on his wedding day,
on his day of bliss
[Song of Songs 3:11]:
It speaks about the time
when the Presence rested in the Tabernacle,
"GO FORTH and gaze,"
as it is said,
"And all the people saw and shouted and fell on their faces"
[LEV 9:24].

"The daughters of Zion,"
those who were distinguished by circumcision,
for if they were uncircumcised they would not have been able to look upon the Presence ...

And thus it says,
"MOSHE said:
This is the thing which the Lord has commanded that you do,
in order that the Glory of the Lord may appear to you"
[LEV 9:6].

What was "this thing"?
He told them about circumcision, for it says,
"This is the thing which causaed Yoshua to perform circumcision"
[YOSH 5:4] ...


Therefore, Moshe said to them,
"G*D" commanded Avraham/Ibrahim, your father,
to perform circumcision when HE wished to appear to him.
SO in your case,
whoever is uncircumcised,
let him go out & circumcise himself,
"that the Glory of the Lord may appear to you"
[LEV 9:6].

THUS Solomon said,
"O Daughters of Zion, go forth and gaze upon King Solomon,"
the King who desires those who are perfect,
as it is written,
"Walk before ME and be blameless [GEN 17:1],
for the foreskin is a blemish
upon the body.


~*~


THIS
is indeed a remarkable text,
not least for the blurring of gender
which it encodes in its
interpretative
moves.

consistently
with the entire midrashic enterprise of interpreting
the song of songs
the verse in question
is historicized
as well

it is taken
to refer to the event
described in leviticus 9
in which the entire people of israel
had a marvelous vision of g*d
this event is interpreted
as a wedding between g*d & israel
as are other moments of revelatory vision of g*d
such as the hierophany
at mount sinai

the verse
of song of songs
that refers to king solomon's wedding is taken
then
as an interpretation of the wedding day between g*d & israel
described in leviticus

but complications begin?!


by a typical midrashic PUN
king solomon (SCHELOMO) is turned into "G*D"
the King who requires
perfection (SCHELEMUT)

if the male partner is "G*D"
then the female partner must be israel
however
this also results in a gender paradox
for many of the israelites who participated in that Divine vision
were men

those very Daughters of Zion
are accordingly understood as males
the word "ZION" (Hebrew "TSIYYON"knipoog
is taken as a noun derives from the root TS/Y/N
to be marked
and accordingly the Daughters of Tsiyyon are read
as the circumcised men
of israel



~*~



i would like to suggest
that more than midrashic arbitrariness is at work here
for the mystical experience au fond
when experienced erotically
often involves (in the West?)
gender paradox

the mystical experience
is interpreted as a penetration by the divine word or spirit
into the body and soul of the adept

this is accordingly an image of sex
in which the mystic is figured
as the female partner

this
paradoxal gender assignment
(when the mystic is biologically male)
is a problem for erotic mystic
imagery

~verliefd~
knipoognahnahknipoog
vrolijkcool!vrolijk
~verliefd~
engel

17 jun 2005 - bewerkt op 04 mrt 2008 - meld ongepast verhaal
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