Sexual Symbolism and Merkavah Speculation in Medieval Germany. A Study of the Sod ha-Egoz Texts

Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1997. First edition. Hardcover. vg to near fine. Octavo (9-1/4" x 6-1/2"). English section: (xiv) 146pp. [1]. Hebrew Section: 67pp. Indices of authors and sources. Dark blue buckram boards with gilt lettering on the front cover and spine, with publisher's device. Textureed endpapers. Publisher's device printed on the half-title page. The book is comprised of both an English section, which includes scholarly analysis of the texts and their historiography, and an additional section in Hebrew, reproducing the content of the original texts in facsimile in a muti-column format from relevant manuscripts. Dust jacket with some small stains and some minor rubbing to extremities. Dj in very good, binding and interior both in near fine condition overall.

A refreshing study investigating the esoteric Sod ha-Egoz texts attributed to the Medieval German Pieists, which are the earliest known Rabbinic commentary on the first chapter of the Biblical book of Ezekiel (Ezekiel's Chariot). This biblical chapter is itself considered the foundation of the earliest known school of Jewish mysticism known as as Merkavah mysticism. These original commentaries were inspired by the sexual metaphors of the "nut grove", found in the biblical book Song of Songs, and use them to expound upon the details of Ezekiel's vision of the Chariot of God.