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" Prayer as a Prism: "
Koenigsberg, Chaya Sima
Dauber, Johnathan
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1105949
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| Doc. No
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TLpq2352670130
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| Main Entry
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Dauber, Johnathan
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Koenigsberg, Chaya Sima
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| Title & Author
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Prayer as a Prism:\ Koenigsberg, Chaya SimaDauber, Johnathan
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| College
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Yeshiva University
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| Date
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2019
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| student score
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2019
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Page No
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277
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| Abstract
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This study examines the earliest mystical commentary to the Hebrew liturgy, composed by R. Eleazar of Worms (1160-c.1230) of the Kalonymide School of German Pietism. The voluminous Commentary to the Liturgy is full of enigmatic features including the reconfiguring of words, transposing of letters, and the tallying of words in each prayer, with no programmatic explanation given. While scholars have suggested varying motivations behind the unusual numerical features of R. Eleazar's Commentary to the Liturgy related to prayer, this dissertation offers a new understanding of R. Eleazar's confounding calculations and textual manipulations that extends beyond the confines of prayer. Rather than viewing these calculations as unique to mystical prayer, we argue they functioned as part of an organized hermeneutical system, known as the 50 "Gates of Understanding," whose consistent application can be traced throughout R. Eleazar's entire oeuvre, including his scriptural commentaries, and are even prominently featured in his legal work, Sefer Rokeah. Based on R. Eleazar's writings in his Sodei Razei Smukhim, we propose that these hermeneutical tools were employed to demonstrate the textual and numerical interconnectivity between Scripture (the Written Torah) and the traditions recorded in the Talmud and Midrash Aggadah (the Oral Torah). We further suggest that the motivation behind linking these two bodies of tradition was to return the Torah to a state of primordial unity as described in R. Eleazar's Sodei Razaya. Through careful analysis of R. Eleazar's Commentary to the Liturgy, we argue that in the specific context of prayer, R. Eleazar applied the "Gates of Understanding" to reveal traditions of Oral Torah embedded in the scriptural portions of the liturgy, as well as the hidden significance of the numerical value of rabbinically composed prayers. Finally, we argue that conscious awareness of the allusions related to the numerical value of the prayers at the time of prayer has ramifications for the prayer's success in R. Eleazar's mystical worldview.
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Judaic studies
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Medieval history
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Philosophy
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Religion
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