Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Ezekiel's vision
What are your impressions of Ezekiel's vision? How do you relate to it? How do you think it was received at the time. It is much different than the majority of prophetic writing and it becomes the root for a certain type of Jewish Mysticism. Look into the text and try to understand the description. This will help when we look at mystical explanations of the text.
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http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=16099
here is the copy of the text if you have trouble finding it.
Also, Ezekiel's vision is read on the holiday of Shavuot. This is the holiday that celebrates the traditional reception of the Torah. Why do you think this chapter would be selected?
The vision starts at the bottom and works its way up. As if he is ascending and seeing what’s next only on one level, going from the earthly world we know to the world we do not. From what I make of it at no point does he say that something is specifically this or specifically that, It is always referred to as a simile ("Like the appearance"). Ezekiel is in the presence of something beyond comprehension and as such applies these similes in order to reason what he is seeing. When G-d is about to be glimpsed, Ezekiel immediately turns his head, he describes for us the surroundings of the throne but not the actual divinity.
At the time of vision as we discussed in class, this sort of thing was commonplace, I am sure that some people looked at it as skeptics and some people took it to be the word of G-d given through a man while he entered his throne in a state of meditation. As for Shavuot It could give more personal feeling to the reception of the torah if the world in which it was being divulged from was known. I am sure there is much better commentary than this, I particularly liked some quotes in Kaplan that described the relationship of meditation to the visions of mystics.
so after today, I still don't know what to say about Ezekiel's vision... but it's definitely got some crazy imagery. However, I do think that a lot of it is symbolic. We have understood from so many sources that the human mind cannot comprehend the divine - and so it seems to me that these angels, etc. are just symbolic representations of other things, including gd's power.
Before today's discussion I wasn't sure what to say about Ezekiel's vision, but after today I think I have a better understanding about the vision. The vision has a lot of detailed descriptions, but like we learned today, they may stand for something else. The vision uses the word "like" a lot, which means that most of the descriptions are similes. I also thought it was interesting that the vision may not be considered a mystic vision because it wasn't sought after or prepared for, instead it was given as a gift. But in general I think the vision is more of a symbolic representation of G-d.
My impression of Ezekiel's vision is that it is esoteric and begs for commentary. For me, it is an exemplary reason for Rabbinic commentary. It illustrates that an oral tradition is needed to explain parts of the Tanakh. I see this vision as a grand experience of the Divine. As such, it is hard to describe in words, and even when described, it falls short of the actual experience, as all human language does. I can't really guess how it was recieved. Finally, I think this chapter would be selected because it illustrates the connection of Israel and God, and because all prophecy is based on Torah.
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