r o a d s t o u t o p i a r o a d s t o u t o p i a The Walking Stories of the Zohar David Greenstein stanford university press stanford, california Stanford University Press Stanford, California ©2014 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press. Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Greenstein, David, 1951- author. Roads to utopia : the walking stories of the Zohar / David Greenstein. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-8047-8833-5 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Zohar. 2. Cabala. 3. Mysticism--Judaism. 4. Walking in literature. 5. Jewish literature--Themes, motives. I. Title. bm525.a59g735 2014 296.1'62--dc23 2013039097 isbn 978-0-8047-8968-4 (electronic) Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 11/16 Bembo For Zelda In Memoriam Susan Goodstein Lerner, 1940–2013 Contents Acknowledgments ix Zoharic Texts Discussed in This Study xi Two Introductions Studying the Zohar: A Unique Book and a Unique Motif 1 Spatiality and the Zohar: Places, Spaces, and Movement in and through Them 7 1. The Dregs of Tar 13 2. Walking with God 27 3. The Spatial Orientation of the Zohar 56 4. The Body Wishes to Walk 106 5. The Broad Dissemination of Torah: “The Torah is not the heritage of only one place” 155 6. Zoharic Geographics 187 Conclusion: The Quotidian Utopia of the Zohar 215 Appendix 1: The Walking Motif in the Zohar—A Listing of Texts 223 Notes 231 Select Bibliography 289 Index 301 For appendices 2, 3, and 4, see www.sup.org/roadstoutopia Acknowledgments I am fortunate to have studied with one of the great scholars of our time, Professor Elliot R. Wolfson. He and the other wonderful members of the faculty at New York University made my time there one of great excitement and exhilaration. I am grateful for their generous teaching and support. I thank all my students at rabbinical seminaries and adult education pro- grams where I have taught for helping me learn, feel, and see more. Since 2005, I have been privileged to hold a weekly study session in the Zohar with devoted congregants from New Hyde Park and Forest Hills, New York, and now Montclair, New Jersey. Each member of those groups has been a dear companion in our quest to experience the riches that the Zohar offers. Using Daniel Matt’s magisterial Pritzker edition, we began at the beginning and now, eight years later, we are on page 1:69a. I pray that I will merit many more years of such delicious and wondrous study. I owe a great debt of thanks to Danny Matt for his steadfast faith in this project. Without his support I doubt that I would have been able to per- severe. To Norris Pope, Stacy Wagner, Mariana Raykov, and the entire staff at Stanford University Press, my deepest gratitude. I thank the anonymous readers of this work for their helpful suggestions and Peter Dreyer for his superb work, which goes beyond good copyediting. To Dr. Laurence Lerner, and Susan Goodstein Lerner, of blessed memory, my heartfelt thanks for your friendship and for arranging for the support from the Elmar Fund, Inc., that made this publication possible. Finally, I acknowledge the gift of my family’s love. Our son, Yonah, is the best. To Zelda I owe everything. Blessed be the Compassionate One, Who has aided us all along the way. ix