Spirit Possession in Jhuda-ism, Appendices

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Appendix C – pp. 403-406 H.ayyi^m Vital, commentary on Babba Kamma cap. 1, m. 2, fol. 9a (transl. by Menachem Kallus)

pp. 404-405

p. 404

"Now, the body has two souls : one is his, and one belongs to the tzaddik [s.addiq] who was

p. 405

impraegnated in him. And we know that if the soul would not hover over the bones they ... would not rise in resurrection ... .... Which one of the two souls is obligated to watch over the dead body [of the impraegnated]? It is the one to whom the damage was caused [the one impraegnated]. ... But as for the [resurrection of the] body of the original owner, it is the responsibility of the damaged one to deal with the dead body. ... With regard to all these [soul relations], it is said that the [original] owner [of the body] is responsible for the corpse".

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Appendix D – pp. 407-413 H.ayyi^m Vital, report on his experience while performing the yih.ud of the "13 Reparations of the Beard" (transl. by Menachem Kallus)

4-5, 9. – pp. 408-410

4.

p. 408

"a great and exceeding fright and trembling seized me in all my limbs, and my hands were trembling in an exaggerated way and were moving rapidly with forcefulness and exceedingly fast. ...

5.

 

And the sound exploded in my mouth and tongue ... . ...

 

p. 409

All this was with great wondrous speed, many times in the waking state. And I was fallen on my face, spread out on the grave".

9.

p. 410

"Yeiva Sabba said to me : ... "... you will attain what no one else in your generation has attained ... . And in the future you will be spoken to the angel Elijah of goodly remembrance, face-to-face while awake. ... This is the secret of the Feminine Waters; and raise it up in the secret of Nadav and Avihu, who constitute the secret of the nefesh".

p. 410 Sefer ha-H.ezyo^no^t, p. 57 His teacher

"revealed himself to me in dreams on most nights in order to console me ... . And this occurred until twenty years after he passed away".

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Appendix E – pp. 415-416 H.ayyi^m Vital, Sefer ha-H.ezyo^no^t, lib. 5, cap. 12 (transl. by Morris N. Faierstein)

p. 415

"When I reached his grave, a wind lifted me up and I saw myself in the air, running twenty stor[e]ies above the ground until I reached a land at nightfall and was left there."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Appendix F – pp. 417-419 H.ayyi^m Vital, Sefer ha-H.ezyo^no^t (transl. by Harris Lenowitz)

p. 417 Translations in the main text concern "only part 1 of the Book of Visions. The work contains four parts :"

pt.

description

1st

"what happened to him;"

2nd

"his own drams;"

3rd

"the dreams of others concerning him;"

4th

"what his master had to say about him, particularly in the matter of the history of his soul."

1.19, 27 -- p. 418

1.19

I "opened my eyes and looked at the eastern wall across from me. I saw two pillars of fire there, one of red fire and the other of green fire ... . I prostrated myself toward them and looked at them until midnight. Then they moved from where they were to the north wall until morning, and I never took my eyes off them the whole night."

1.27

"a group of women was walking in front of me. And one woman looked behind mer to see my face and saw a pillar of white light on my right side, twice as bright as the light of the sun and filling the whole of that street, and its height was twice the measure of my height and it was altogether a glare and flashed like lightning ... . ... And the name of that woman is Simhah".

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Appendix G – pp. 421-435 H.ayyi^m Vital, Sefer ha-H.ezyo^no^t (transl. by Harris Lenowitz)

1.22-24 [reckoned by paragraph #s 21, 24, 35-37] -- pp. 425, 430-431

1.22

21.

p. 425

"they have weighted down the messiah with thick iron ropes and he is delayed another twelve years. And during this time, ... Damascus ... will be overturned like Sodom, and Jerusalem will burn as well; only Safed will be saved. Then Gog and Magog will come, and then the messiah will come with the eight princes of men." [p. 435, n. 5 : Mikah 5:4; Legends of the Jews, vol. 7, p. 130]

1.23

24.

 

"an angel, one of the servants of Tzidkiel [S.dqi^>el], the prince of that day, ... appeared in a glass mirror, as is the custom. I asked him if the art of my teacher, ... what he had said to me in the natters of my soul and my attainment, was true. He said, "All his words are true.""

1.24

34.

p. 430

"And the angel appeared and four souls of sages to be witnesses to the matter ... . And the girl was looking at the mirror and seeing them and was speaking with them.

 

35.

 

... and the spirit clothed himself in the girl, and she fainted away as do epileptics. After the spirit had clothed himself, he began to speak and said, "...

 

36.

p. 431

And the people of Egypt have slaves who serve them, and, when the men leave their homes, the slaves lie down with their wives." {this the 1st tale in the 1001 Nights} ...

 

37.

 

And he [the spirit] said to him, "... Moreover, your wives are brazen in their dress ... and their breasts are revealed ... . ...""

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Appendix H – pp. 437-439 H.ayyi^m Vital, S^a<ar Ruwah. ha Qodes^ (‘Gate of the Holy Spirit’) (transl. by Matt Goldish)

Homily 1 -- pp. 437, 439

p. 437

"those sounds and breaths that come from his mouth create a chariot for the souls of righteous men, on which they come down below to teach ... that person. ...

Similarly, if he reads ... with no errors or mistakes, the angel created will be without mistakes and totally trustworthy in all it says. ...

p. 439

This is the concept of angels that reveal themselves to people and inform them about future events and secret matters, to which the literature refers as magidim."

p. 438 worlds whence maggidi^m are created / come

from <olam ha-__ (World of __)

maggidi^m are derived from __

<as`iyah ("Activity")

"unwitting performance"

Ys.irah ("Creation")

"study"

Bri>ah ("Formation")

"intentions and thoughts"

{these definitions for two (2nd & 3rd) of the worlds are interchanged (cf. p. 162).}

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Matt Goldish (ed.) : Spirit Possession in Judaism. Wayne State U Pr, Detroit, 2003.