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Title: Faces of the Chariot: Development of Rabbinic Exegesis of Ezekiel's Vision of the Divine Chariot by David J. Halperin ISBN: 3-16-145115-5 Publisher: Coronet Books Pub. Date: June, 1988 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $113.64

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating, brilliant, insightful, creative, fun!
Comment: Dr. Halperin's work on early rabbinic exegesis of Ezekiel's vision of the chariot explores the context of the rabbinic period and raises the inevitable question: when is exegesis really isogesis? (or however it's spelled...) Nothing seems arcane anymore in his hands; the wierdest mystical vision becomes an easily understandable expression of social upheaval, theological controversy, or the politics of creating the new rabbinic power structure which would define Judaism for the next 2000 years. The book considers the world of the rabbis of the first century C.E., who combined a "day job" of creative legislation derived from Torah (which would one day be called the Talmud) with mystical speculation based upon a variety of Biblical texts, the most compelling among these being the account of the Chariot and all the legendary mystical experience that grew up around it. Mysticism was, and is, considered dangerous for the average Jew; one must be forty, have a beard, and be married, according to one version of the warning, before one might delve into the mysteries. Mystical speculation is necessarily almost always an absolutely individual experience, and therefore antinomian; you can never tell what you might find "behind the curtain" surrounding the mysterious and glorious heavenly Throne. "Descending" to the chariot meant possibly having to brave hostile angels, cope with seeing blasphemous visions, and survive perhaps even the stress of standing in the palpable presence of the Holy One. Heady stuff, and intoxicating in the context of the Roman destruction of sovereign existence, the priestly class, Temple, sacrifice, and Jerusalem as the central city of the Jewish polity. The emerging rabbinic leadership was confronted with the need to restructure Jewish society for the long night of exile which was then looming. Halperin's analysis combines the best insights of psychology, sociopolitical theory, and history into a fascinating, thoroughly scholarly account which can be read almost like a detective novel. When I found it I took it home, kept it beside my bed, read a portion of it each night, and never felt so fulfilled and awestruck in my life - and never had such interesting dreams, either! -- Rabbi Ariel Stone-Halpern