Jewish Mysticism
Comely countenance, glorious countenance,
countenance of beauty, countenance of flames.
These are the faces of YHWH, God of Israel, when He sits on the throne of His glory…
The one who looks at Him is immediately torn asunder,
and the one who gazes upon His beauty is immediately poured out as if from a pitcher.
Translated by Elliot Wolfson in Through a Speculum that Shines- Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism, Princeton- Princeton University Press, 1994, from Schafer, Peter, Synopse zur Hekhalot-Literatur, Tubingen- J. C. B. Mohr, 1981, § 159.