By April 10, 2008 Read More →

Eleazar of Worms, Sefer ha-Roqeah, p. 208.

Jewish Mysticism
When the Torah scroll is returned to its place [in the Ark], and when one bows down to it, the verse “Exalt the Lord our God [and bow down to His footstool]” (Ps. 99-5) is said. In the blessings of the Torah as well we bow down to the glory of the Torah. When we return [the Torah] “Let them praise [the name of the Lord, for His name alone is sublime; His splendor covers heaven and earth]” (ibid. 148-13) is said, to indicate that one does not bow down because of the divinity that is in the Torah (’elohut she-ba-torah), but rather he bows down to the Holy One, blessed be He, for His Presence rests upon it [the Torah], and not because it too is a god, for “His name alone is sublime.

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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