Chapter 1 (PDF) - Stanford University Press

Abba and Rabbi El'azar gazed at him. He had flavored his words for
Rabbi
as sweet as manna and honey.
them
said to him, ``If you tell us the name of yourfather, we will kiss the
They
of yourfeet.''
dust
said, ``Why? It is not my habit to boast of Torah. 253
He
was in the great ocean. He was a fish, 254
dwelling
from one end to the other. So grand and splendid, ancient of days, he
ocean
swallow all the otherfish in the ocean, then spew them out alive,
would
filled with all goodness of the world. So strong, he could swim the
thriving,
in one moment. He shot me out like an arrow from the hand of a
ocean
mighty warrior, 255
site, disappearing into the ocean.''
his
El'azarcontemplated his words. He said, ``You are the son of the Holy
Rabbi
256 You are the son of Rav Hamnuna Sava, 257 son of the radiance of
Lamp!
and you are goading donkeys behind us?''
Torah,
numer ical value is six, symbolizes
whose
who joins with the five sefirot around
Tif'eret,
(Ḥesed, Gevurah, Netsaḥ, Hod, and Yesod)
Him
to form the sixfold sefirotic torso. The
city of Lydda (cf. KP), and the donkeydriver
the
is apparently hinting that on the ma-
plane he resides there. On the messianiterial
implication of ``poor,'' see Zechariah 9:9,
above, note 250.
cited
It is not my habit to boast . . . See
253.
Ḥasidim, ed. Wistinetzki, par . 1945
Sefer
Margaliot, par. 522): ``A person whose
(ed.
called `Rabbi,' e.g., `Rabbi Ya'akov,'
fatheris
his son [i.e., he himself] is called
and
should not sign his name
`Reu'ven,'
son of Rabbi Ya'akov,' but rather
`Reu'ven
of Torah. Sefirotically, the fish is Yesod,
ocean
swimming the ocean of divinity.
like an arrow . . . See Psalms 127:4:
255.
arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are
Like
children of one's youth. Cf. BT Ḥagigah
the
``Shemu'el said, `Any emission of semen
15a:
does not shoot forth like an arrow does
that
fructify.'''
not
forRabbi Shim'on son of Yoḥai. See
Zohar
note 124.
above,
Rav Hamnuna Sava Rav Hamnuna
257.
Elder, a Babylonian teacher who lived in
the
third century, though the Zohar assumes
the
he died in the lifetime of Rabbi
that
before the story related here. The
Shim'on,
had hinted at the name
donkey-driver
Zohar 3:187a; Tosafot, Qiddushin 25a,
See
hamnuna karnuna; Bereshit Rabbah 97:3.
s.v.
fish carries messianic overtones in both
The
and Christianity; see Stroumsa,
Judaism
Early Christian Fish Symbol Reconsidered.''
``The
the Talmud Rav Hamnuna occasionally
In
teachings of Rabbi Shim'on (e.g.,
transmits
Ḥullin 21a; Temurah 15a), and several
BT
are attributed to him (BT Berakhot
prayers
17a, 58a). Cf. BT Gittin 39b. In the Zohar,
11b,
are reversed and Rabbi Shim'on cites
roles
Hamnuna (e.g., 1:8a±b). Throughout
Rav
Zohar, Hamnuna is greatly revered,
the
several original ritual acts are attributed
and
him. to
1:240a, 250a; 2:88a, 124a, 136b; 3:87b,
See
145b (IR), 188a; Scholem, Das Buch
103b,
Haqdamat Sefer ha-Zohar
[1:6a]
But my father's
circumnavigating the vast
secreting me in that site I described. Then he returned to
37
letters joined together spell N G E (Lod),
three
Hamnuna by saying that his fatherwas a
B (nuna), ``fish.''
RGR
simply `Reu'ven.'''
fish R RG B
254.
(Nuna), swimming in the
(Botsina
Holy Lamp C BRKXG [KEY B
256.
Bahir, 68; idem, Major Trends, 368, n. 134;
Qaddisha), the title usually reserved by the