By April 10, 2008 Read More →

Eleazar of Worms, MS Paris, BN 772, fol. 110a.

Jewish Mysticism
When Israel blesses the name of His glory, the glory is increased, as it is written, “Your faithful ones shall bless you, they shall talk of the majesty of Your kingship, and speak of Your might” (Ps. 145-10-11). “The glorious majesty [of Your splendor]” (ibid., 5). And this is [the meaning of] “Blessed is His glorious name” (ibid. 72-19), for the name is glorified in a bright cloud. Know that [the expression] “to place His name there” is written in the Torah fifty-two times and there are fifty-two times in the Torah that the [word] cloud [is mentioned. That is to say, there is a cloud for each name … It is written, “Your glorious name” (1 Chron. 29-13), for [the name] is clothed and glorified in splendor. [The expression] Your glorious name [le-shem tif’artekha] is numerically equivalent to “the four letters” [’arba‘ah ’otiyyot] which is the Tetragrammaton [YWHH]. When Israel mentioned the name in the Temple, then “His glory filled the whole world, amen and amen” (Ps. 72-19).

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in Through a Speculum that Shines- Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism, Princeton- Princeton University Press, 1994.

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