By April 10, 2008 Read More →

Eleazar of Worms, MS Paris, BN 850 fols. 58a-b

Jewish Mysticism
Whoever is occupied [with the study of] the chariot (ha-‘oseq ba-merkavah) or the glorious name (shem ha-nikhbad) [i.e., the Tetragrammaton], he and his students, to whom he wants to transmit this, should go and bathe in water, and cover their whole bodies in water, and their clothes should be soaked in water… they should immerse themselves and get dressed in white clothes and stand in water up to their thighs. And the rabbi should begin [to cite the blessing], with fear and trembling, with [proper] intention in mind, looking at the water… “Blessed are You, O Lord, our God, king of the universe, God of Israel, You are one and Your name is one, and You have commanded us to conceal Your great name, for Your name is awesome. Blessed are You, Lord, and blessed is the name of Your glory forever, the glorious and awesome name, Lord, our God. “The voice of the Lord is over the waters” (Ps. 29-3). “Blessed are You, Lord, the one who reveals His secret to those who fear Him, the One who knows all secrets.

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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