The Innovation of Isaac Luria to Cover One’s Eyes with One’s Right Hand During Qeri'at

Shema

Senior Thesis

Presented to

The Faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University

Undergraduate Program in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

Prof. Reuven Kimelman, Advisor

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts

by Eliezer Buechler

December 2015

Accepted with Highest Honors

Copyright by Eliezer Buechler

Committee Members

Name: Prof. Jonathan Decter Signature: _____________________

Name: Prof. Reuven Kimelman Signature: _____________________

Name: Prof. Yehudah Mirsky Signature: _____________________

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 3 Chapter One: Covering One’s Eyes During Qeri'at Shema in Rabbinic Literature 4

-­ Introduction 4 -­ Rabbi Yehuda Ha-­Nassi’s Shema 5 -­ Geonic Traditions 7 -­ North African Interpretations 9 -­ Rashi and the Tosafists 11 -­ Maimonides 13 -­ Ashkenaz 14 -­ Arba’ah Turim 15 -­ Iberian Jewry 17 -­ The Maharil 20 -­ The Shulkhan Arukh 21

Chapter Two: Isaac Luria and Qeri'at Shema 23 -­ Luria the Man 23 -­ The Custom 25 -­ Lurianic Kabbalah 26 -­ Qeri'at Shema as a Yiḥud 28 -­ Cover Your Eyes 31 -­ Luria’s Interpretation 33 -­ Cordovero’s Interpretation 36 -­ Has No Eyes 42 -­ Right Hand 45 -­ Tzitzit in Your Left Hand 51

Chapter Three: Spread of Luria’s Custom to the Present 56 -­ Introduction 56 -­ Vital’s Manuscripts 57

-­ Early Works on Lurianic Customs 60 -­ Dissemination in Ashkenaz 62 -­ Ḥasidism 70 -­ Sephardic Lands 72 -­ Twentieth Century Works 76 -­ 1980 to the Present 78 -­ Conclusions on the Custom’s Dissemination 82

Conclusions 84 Works Cited 85 Works Referenced 93

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Acknowledgements

This senior thesis is the product of nearly a year of intense research and countless hours

in the Brandeis University Library. However, in actuality, this paper began with my fascination

with Jewish rituals and why Jews do what we do. Additionally, I have been deeply intrigued by

kabbalistic texts, which is a genre of Jewish literature that was unfamiliar to me but a few years

ago. The coupling of these two interests motivated me to write my senior thesis on the

intersection of a Jewish custom with Kabbalah.

I would like to thank Professor Reuven Kimelman for his constant guidance while I wrote

this thesis. Professor Kimelman served as my advisor for this thesis, but in truth, has served as

both an academic and personal advisor for me as well. I would like to thank Professor Decter

and Professor Mirsky for reading this thesis and their assistance throughout my time at Brandeis.

I would like to thank my family, and my parents in particular, for always supporting me

in all of my pursuits. Secondly, I would like to thank my Saba, Dr. Bennett J. Parsteck, who has

taken a particular interest in my thesis and has proofread this work while recuperating over the

past few months.

Lastly, I would like to thank my dearest friend, Tamar, for her unwavering support during

my work on this thesis.

I hope this work will add a new dimension to the study of Jewish customs and Kabbalah

and will provide the reader with a novel view on a universal Jewish practice.

Eliezer Buechler

December 2015

Kislev 5776

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Chapter One

Covering One’s Eyes During Qeri'at Shema in Rabbinic Literature

Introduction

The custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand during Qeri'at Shema, i.e. the

recitation of the Shema, has become a common Jewish practice. How this custom arose is the

subject of this study. Just over four hundred years ago this custom would have been a rarity in

any synagogue. Over the last few centuries, this custom has penetrated disparate Jewish

communities worldwide to become a universal practice that Jews perform daily due to the

mystical personality and influence of Isaac Luria (1534-­1572). This thesis is an in-­depth

analysis on the custom to cover one’s eyes during Qeri'at Shema.

The theory compelling this thesis was best formulated by Moshe Ḥalamish, a scholar on

Lurianic Kabbalah and customs, who explained that any attempt to investigate Lurianic practices

and customs must address certain fundamental questions. The question pertinent to a thesis on

Lurianic customs is to what extent did Luria create a new practice or did he rather take a partisan

position, by practicing in a certain way, regarding an earlier rabbinic dispute. 1

This thesis begins by tracing the custom to cover one’s eyes, and similar practices, in the

Talmudic and Medieval rabbinic literature that served as the precursor to the Lurianic custom.

This thesis then analyzes the kabbalistic function of Qeri'at Shema as it relates to the custom to

cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand as practiced by Isaac Luria. The extent to which Luria

1 Moshe Ḥalamish, “Ma’amado shel HaAri k’Posek,” in Ha-­Ḳabalah: Ba-­Tefilah, Ba-­Halakhah uva-­Minhag (Ramat-­Gan: Bar-­Ilan Press, 2000) 187.

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fashioned a new custom based upon his Lurianic system of Kabbalah, or rooted his custom in

Cordoverian Kabbalah will be examined. This thesis will then conclude by tracing the

dissemination of this custom from Safed to Jewish communities around the world.

Rabbi Yehuda Ha-­Nassi’s Shema

The Shema is the central biblical text that is recited twice daily in Jewish prayer services.

The Qeri'at Shema contains two biblical texts from Deuteronomy chapters six and eleven, and

one from Numbers fifteen. These texts, recited in that order, serve as the main texts for both the

morning and evening prayers and are preceded and followed by rabbinic passages and blessings.

These texts were recited as part of a liturgical service in the Second Temple, and were codified 2

as religious obligations for Jews to recite by the early third century . The first passage of Qeri'at 3

Shema, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One ” was interpreted by the early rabbis 4

as the central passage of accepting God’s sovereignty and exclusivity as the only God. 5

In the Mishnah, as well as in the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds, discussions ensued

as to the proper posture and practices of a person while reciting the Shema. The most widely

known discussion is between the Academies of Hillel and Shamai, as to whether one must lie

down or stand while reciting this passage. Similarly, the Babylonian Talmud relates a story in 6

which Rabbi Yehuda Ha-­Nasi, the traditional compiler of the Mishnah , recited the Shema while 7

2 Mishnah Tamid 5:1. 3 Mishnah Brakhot 2:2. 4 Deut. 6:4. 5 See Reuven Kimelman, “The Shema Liturgy: From Covenant Ceremony to Coronation,” in Kenishta: Meḥḳarim ʻal Bet ha-­Keneset ṿe-­ʻolamo, ed. Joseph Tabory (Ramat-­Gan: Bar Ilan Press, 2001) 9-­105. 6 Mishnah Brakhot 1:6. 7 Stephen G. Wald, “Mishnah” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik, 2nd ed. 22 vols. (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007) 14:319-­331.

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performing a specific action. This story is significant in the tracing of the custom to cover one’s

eyes during Qeri'at Shema as it is the first textual evidence of using one’s hands during the

Shema:

ת"ר ''שמע ישראל ה' אלקינו ה' אחד'' זו ק"ש של ר' יהודה הנשיא. א"ל רב לר' חייא 'לא

חזינא ליה לרבי דמקבל עליה מלכות שמים.' אמר ליה 'בר פחתי בשעה שמעביר ידיו על

8 פניו מקבל עליו עול מלכות שמים.'

Our Rabbis taught ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One,’ is

the recitation of the Shema according to Rabbi Yehuda the Prince. Rav said to

Rabbi Chiya, ‘I did not see Rebbi (Rabbi Yehuda the Prince) accept upon himself

the yoke of heaven.’ [Rabbi Chiya] replied, ‘Son of great ones! At the moment

when [Rabbi Yehuda the Prince] passed his hands upon his face he accepted the

kingship of God.’

This story from the Babylonian Talmud describes the way in which Rabbi Yehuda the

Prince recited the Shema and through his hand movements conveyed his acceptance of the yoke

of heaven. Rabbi Yehuda’s actions are significant in the research of the Shema because his

actions are subsequently interpreted as the basis for various customs related to the Shema,

including covering one’s eyes. The analyzation of Rabbi Yehuda’s actions is rooted within the

rabbinic tradition that actions of religious leaders are to be viewed as precedents for subsequent

practice.

8 B.T. Brakhot, 13b. 6

The custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand emerged from the custom of Isaac

Luria, as will be discussed in chapter two. Earlier Medieval customs to cover one’s eyes, tilt

one’s head, or move one’s eyes were practiced while saying the Shema well before Luria’s time.

The Talmudic story with Rabbi Yehuda served as the source for some of these Medieval customs

related to the Shema. An examination of this story and its development as the foundation for

customs related to the Shema will provide the necessary background for a comprehensive

analysis of Luria’s custom and Luria’s innovation.

Geonic Traditions

Rav Hai Gaon, the mid-­tenth to mid-­eleventh century head of the Babylonian academy in

Pumbedita, explained this passage as follows:

בשעה שמעביר ידיו על גבי עיניו פי' רב האי מפני רבנן שלא יראו עיניו כשהוא מסביבן

ומתגנה.9

‘At the moment that [Rabbi Yehuda] placed his hands over his eyes’, Rav Hai

[explained that it was] due to the sages [that he did this], so that they would not

see his eyes when he moved them around and be disgraced.

Rav Hai Gaon’s explanation is found in the eleventh century compendium titled Ha-­Arukh,

written by Nathan ben Jeḥiel of Rome. This explanation adds two important pieces of

information to this story. First, Rav Hai Gaon viewed Yehuda the Prince’s actions within the

9 Nathan ben Jeḥiel, Sefer ʻArukh ha-­Shalem: ha-­lo Sefer he-­ʻArukh asher bo niḳbetsu ke-­ʻamir

gornah kol ha-­milot ha-­ḥamurot ba-­Talmud u-­Midrashim: ṿe-­nisderu ʻa. pi a[lef] b[et] le-­maʻan

yaruts ha-­ḳore bo, ed. Alexander Kohut (Jerusalem: Shiloh, 1969) 181.

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context of a statement that appeared a few lines before this story in the Talmud that described

how Rabbi Yirmiya recited the Shema. Rabbi Yirmiya was accustomed to prolong his recitation

of the the letter dalet in the Shema and did so in front of Rabbi Ḥiya bar Abba. Rabbi Ḥiya said

to him that one does not need to prolong the letter:

כיון דאמליכתיה למעלה ולמטה ולארבע רוחות השמים תו לא צריכת.

For if you [mentally] crown [God] above and below, and in the four directions of the

heavens, no more [prolonging] is necessary.

Rav Hai Gaon viewed Rabbi Yehuda as doing the same practice by moving his eyes in all four

directions as his way of accepting upon himself the kingship of God. Secondly, this source

utilized an alternate version of the Talmudic text that does not say ‘his face’ but rather ‘his eyes.’

The significance of this alternate text for the study of the custom is that if an alternate texts exists

utilizing ‘his eyes,’ as opposed to ‘his face,’ then a much stronger basis to cover one’s eyes

during the Shema exists within the Talmud.

Dr. Alexander Kohut’s mid-­nineteenth century critical edition of Ha-­’Arukh made note of

the variant Talmudic text quoted here, and Kohut wrote that the Munich edition of the Talmud

and in many other texts state ‘his eyes,’ not ‘his face.’ Additionally, Kohut cited Rav Hai 10 11

10 The following manuscripts of the Babylonian Talmud are manuscripts that contain ‘his eyes,’ not ‘his face.’ Oxford Opp. Add. fol. 23, Cambridge -­ T-­S NS 329.252, Cambridge -­ T-­S F2 (1) 90, Florence II-­I-­7, New York -­ JTS ENA 3035.3. The Saul Lieberman Institute, http://www.lieberman-­institute.com (Acc. Sept. 1, 2015). 11 Nathan ben Jeḥiel, Sefer ʻArukh ha-­Shalem 181, n. 1.

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Gaon’s statement as it was quoted in the Sefer Ha-­Eshqol of Abraham ben Isaac of Narbonne, a

twelfth century Provençal rabbi, as it states:

אבל רב האי גאון כתב וכו' דהא דמעביר ידיו על פניו מפרשי רבנן שלא יראו תלמידיו כשהוא מסביב

עיניו לכל הרוחות.12

However, Rav Hai Gaon wrote… that [Yehuda the Prince] placed his hands on his face,

as the sages explained, so that his students would not see when he moved his eyes to all

the directions.

This source does not utilize the ‘eyes’ version used by Rav Hai Gaon, but rather the Talmudic

text that states ‘face’ and additionally left out the last word of Ha-­Arukh’s version, ‘disgraced’

which implies that if Yehuda the Prince’s students saw his face, Yehuda the Prince would have

been shamed. This excerpt from Sefer Ha-­Eshqol used the ‘face’ Talmudic text, which leaves an

ambiguity as to which version of the text Rav Hai Gaon actually utilized. Rav Hai Gaon’s

interpretation of the story does allow for later customs to develop with regards to covering one’s

face or eyes, however, Rav Hai Gaon did not cite this story as a source for any custom in the

eleventh century.

North African Interpretations

Rabbenu Ḥananel, an eleventh century Tunisian talmudic commentator, explained the

practice of Yehuda the Prince in a different context than Rav Hai Gaon:

12 Abraham ben Isaac II, Sefer Ha-­Eshqol, as found in Sefer ʻArukh ha-­Shalem ed. Alexander

Kohut, 181, n. 2.

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רבי בעת שהיה מעביר ידיו על פניו ורחצם במים היה אומר שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד ומקבל

13 מלכות שמים עליו.

At the moment when Rebbi (Rabbi Yehuda the Prince) passed his hands upon his face

and washed [his face] with water he would say, ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is

One,’ and accept upon himself the yoke of heaven.

Rabbenu Ḥananel’s commentary on the story in this Talmudic passage likely situates Yehuda the

Prince’s actions within the framework of a common daily practice of preparing oneself for the

day through washing one’s face. The anecdotal addition of Rabbenu Ḥananel to the Talmudic

passage implies that Yehuda the Prince’s practice of washing his face daily was coupled with his

acceptance of God’s commandments and supremacy in this world. However, Rabbenu Ḥananel

did not elaborate on why washing his face was conjoined with the acceptance of God’s Kingship.

Furthermore, Rabbenu Ḥananel did not suggest that this practice goes beyond the story in the

Talmud and makes no mention of any similar practice in the eleventh century.

Isaac Alfasi, known by the acronym the RIF, was an eleventh century Moroccan

talmudist and halakhist who studied under Rabbenu Ḥananel in the Kairouan Yeshiva. The

RIF’s Sefer Ha-­Halakhot, a running commentary and halakhic work on the Babylonian Talmud,

does not mention non-­Halakhic, i.e. Aggadic, passages in the Talmud. It is hence no surprise

that the RIF did not mention Yehuda the Prince’s practice in his commentary. The RIF did,

however, include the Talmudic discussions about extending the letter dalet in the word eḥad at

the end of Shema and whether to stand or sit during the recitation of the Shema. Both of these

examples are viewed as halakhic in nature by the RIF and directly precede the Talmudic story

13 Rabbeinu Ḥananel’s commentary on B.T. Brakhot 13b. 10

about Rabbi Yehuda the Prince, whose practice is not discussed by the RIF. Once more, the

absence of any custom mentioned here suggests that no such custom existed in eleventh century

North Africa.

Rashi and the Tosafists

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzḥaki, the late-­11th century French Talmudic sage known as Rashi,

wrote a running Talmudic commentary on most of the Babylonian Talmud. On the passage with

Yehuda the Prince, Rashi wrote:

14 שהיה שונה לתלמידיו מקודם זמן ק''ש וכשהגיע הזמן לא ראיתיו מפסיק.

Yehuda the Prince was teaching his students prior to the time to recite the Shema, and

when the proper time arrived, he did not see him stop [to recite the Shema].

Rashi’s explanation of the story places Yehuda the Prince within the Beit Midrash, the study

hall. Rashi’s understanding of the the story viewed the ensuing discussion in the Talmud in

which Rabbi Ḥiya stated that he saw Yehuda the Prince pass his hands over his face, as taking

place in the study hall. This explanation fits well within the continuation of the Talmud in which

Rabbi Yehuda’s son, Rabbi Shimon, and student, Bar Kappara, debated whether Yehuda the

Prince recited the full Shema after completing, presumably, his lecture. 15

The discussion in the Talmud was between Bar Kappara who stated that Yehuda the

Prince did not complete the Shema later, and Rabbi Shimon, who believed that he did complete it

later. Bar Kappara explained that everyday Yehuda the Prince would teach about the Exodus

14 Rashi’s commentary on B.T. Brakhot 13b. 15 B.T. Brakhot 13b.

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from Egypt. Therefore, he would fulfill both his obligation for reciting the Shema and the

Exodus. Bar Kappara asked Rabbi Shimon why would Yehuda the Prince teach about the

Exodus during his lecture, if according to your opinion, he would recite the entire Shema later,

thus mentioning the Exodus twice? Rabbi Shimon responded by stating that Yehudah the Prince

taught about the Exodus from Egypt during his lecture in order to remember the Exodus at its

proper time, i.e. at the time when one should recite the Shema, but would still recite the entire

Shema later in the day. 16

This discussion, according to Rashi, places Yehuda the Prince’s action of passing his

hands over his face within the the Beit Midrash, and therefore is inconsistent with Rabbenu

Ḥananel’s understanding of the story as occurring within the context of washing one’s face.

Rashi’s understanding is similar to Rav Hai Gaon’s explanation of the passage, although Rashi

did not utilize Nathan ben Jeḥiel’s Ha-­Arukh, where teachings of Rav Hai Gaon appear, until

later in his life. Rashi only saw the second edition of Ha-­Arukh after he had written his

commentary on tractate Brakhot, but Rashi, perhaps, had access to other Geonic writings 17

through manuscripts. Rashi did not mention any custom based on this passage, as he does not

normally do so, but his explanation as opposed to Rabbenu Ḥananel’s, allows for the possibility

that the custom that later emerged was rooted in this passage.

The Maḥazor Ṿiṭri, a compendium of laws and customs related to the liturgical practices

of the School of Rashi and the Tosafists, made no mention of the custom to cover one’s face or

eyes. The work is attributed to Simḥah ben Samuel (d. 1105), a French Tosafist. However, the

16 Ibid. 17 See Nathan ben Jeḥiel, Sefer ʻArukh ha-­Shalem, xxiii.

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work was emended many times over the centuries. Maḥazor Ṿiṭri does include the practices 18

related to elongating certain letters of the word eḥad and to concentrate on the first verse of the 19

Shema. The lack of evidence for any custom to cover one’s face or eyes in the Maḥazor Ṿiṭri, 20

while other practices are included, suggests that no such custom existed in eleventh century

France.

Maimonides

Maimonides (1135/8-­1204), the twelfth century Spanish-­born rabbi and master organizer

of halakha, i.e. Jewish law, did not include this custom within his Mishneh Torah. The Mishneh

Torah, Maimonides’ compendium of the entirety of Jewish law, contains a chapter titled ‘Laws

of the Recitation of the Shema’, where he outlined the laws and proper practices for its recitation.

Maimonides wrote about the various bodily positions that are prohibited or permitted, and about

concentrating during parts of Shema, yet he did not mention the custom to cover one’s eyes. In 21

the RIF’s compendium of Jewish law he did not mention this custom either, which could explain

why Maimonides did not include it. It is possible, however, that the RIF and Maimonides did 22

not have the story of Rabbi Yehudah in their manuscripts of the Talmud, as it is not found in the

Paris manuscript , although this is mere speculation. In any case, the custom to cover one’s 23 24

18 Simḥah ben Samuel, Maḥazor Ṿiṭri, ed. Aryeh Goldshmidṭ, 3 vols. (Jerusalem: Mekhon Otsar ha-­Posḳim, 2003) Introduction, 1: 23-­28, 44-­53. 19 Ibid. 20. 20 Ibid. 17. 21 Mishneh Torah, “Laws of the Recitation of the Shema”, Chapter 2. 22 Maimonides frequently utilized the RIF’s work.

אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד זה קרית שמע של ר' יהודה. א''ל רב ל''ר23 חייא לא קא חזינא...

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel, ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One,’ this is the recitation of the Shema according to Rabbi Yehudah [the Prince]. Rav said to Rabbi Ḥiyya, ‘I did not see...’ Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Heb. 671. National Library of Israel Online Treasury of Talmudic Manuscripts.

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face or eyes during the recitation of the Shema was not documented in any works by the late

twelfth century.

Ashkenaz

Eliezer ben Joel HaLevi, whose acronym is Ra’avyah, was a rabbi in Germany in the

twelfth to early thirteenth century who authored Avi HaEzri, a halakhic and talmudic

commentary. On the Talmudic passage about Yehuda the Prince, the Ra’avyah both explained

the Talmudic passage and a contemporary custom related to the Shema. First, he explained a

practice that people were accustomed to contemplate the four directions of the heavens by

moving their head in the four directions in order to crown God as king during the first verse of

the Shema:

ולכך נהגו לנענע בענין זה בראשו, וצריך להרהר בלבו בכל ענין הזה להמליכהו בקרותו

25 הפסוק ולהרהר שהשם הוא היה הוה ויהיה…

Therefore, it is a custom to move one’s head on account of this, and one must

contemplate in his heart to crown God as king when he reads this verse [of the

Shema] and to contemplate that God was, is, and will be.

http://jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/talmud/bavly/showbav1.asp?mishnanum=2&pereknum=015&masecet=01&mnusriptnum=1976&p=1&masecetindex=1&perekindex=12&numamud=2&manuscriptindex=3&k= 24 This is not to assume that they did or did not utilize the Paris manuscript, rather that there is a possibility that they did not have access to this story through the manuscript accessible to them, as evidenced by the story not appearing in the Paris Manuscript. 25 Eliezer ben Joel HaLevi, Sefer Rabiyah, ed. A. Aptowitzer, 3 vol. (Jerusalem, 1964) vol. 1 Brakhot 46 (Acc. Bar Ilan Responsa, http://www.responsa.co.il/default.aspx, Sept. 2, 2015).

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The Ra’avyah, furthermore, described a custom which he based upon the story of Yehuda

the Prince:

(אלא) כדאמרי' דעתו, ויסיח והנה הנה יסתכל שלא כדי למטה מעט ששוחה ומה

26 בשעה שמעביר ידיו על עיניו מקבל עליו עול מלכות שמים.

And with regard to the [custom that people] slightly tilt [their head] down, it is in

order that one should not look around and lose concentration, as we stated [in the

Talmud], ‘At the moment when he (Yehuda the Prince) passed his hands over his

eyes he accepted upon himself the yoke of heaven.’

The custom described by the Ra’avyah does not reflect the practice of Yehuda the Prince, but

rather the principle behind it. Yehuda the Prince, according to the Ra’avyah, covered his eyes in

order to concentrate on God’s kingship, and similarly Jews tilt their heads downward to

concentrate as well. Although this is not the custom that is utilized by Luria, this custom does

mark the first time that Yehuda the Prince’s custom was used for a practice related to the Shema.

Subsequent rabbinic figures will similarly base their customs related to the Shema within the

story of Yehuda the Prince.

Arba’ah Turim

Rabbi Asher ben Jeḥiel (1250-­1327), known as the Rosh, was a rabbi of Ashkenazic

origin who moved to Spain circa 1304. He wrote a commentary on the Talmud in which he 27

referred to the story of Yehuda the Prince. The story with Rabbi Asher’s commentary did not

26 Ibid. 27 David Derovan, “Asher ben, Jeḥiel,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2:563-­4.

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mention Yehuda the Prince by name but does provide the story within the context of

contemplating God’s kingship by looking in all four directions as suggested by Rav Ḥai Gaon.

Rabbi Asher, however, rejected this understanding of the story explicitly, and suggested instead 28

that:

לפי שהיה יושב בתוך הצבור היה מעביר ידיו על עיניו כדי שיוכל לכוין. 29

Because he was sitting amongst the congregation, he passed his hands over his eyes in order to

concentrate.

Rabbi Asher’s understanding of the story fits within the statement of Rabbi Meir a few lines

earlier in the Talmud where he stated that the first line of Shema requires concentration. Rabbi 30

Asher, however, distinguished between concentrating on the first line of Shema and crowning

God through moving one’s eyes in all directions. He decidedly rejected the latter understanding

of the Shema, one that implies that the person reciting the Shema symbolically crowns God.

Rather, the Rosh favored the more pragmatic understanding of the Shema which merely requires

concentration in a room with many people. 31

בשעה שמעביר ידיו על עיניו מקבל עליו מלכות שמים ומה שהיה נותן ידיו על עיניו שלא יראה שהוא28 רומז בעיניו ואין ראיה משם לפי שהיה יושב בתוך הצבור היה מעביר ידיו על עיניו כדי שיוכל לכוין.

29 Asher ben Jeḥiel, Perush ha-­Rosh ‘al Masechet Brakhot, Tractate Brakhot, Chapter Two, in Talmud Bavli ha-­Shalem ṿeha-­mefoʾar (Jerusalem: ʻOz ṿe-­Hadar, 2000). 30 B.T. Brakhot 13b. 31 See further discussion in Asher ben Jeḥiel, Perush ha-­Rosh ‘al Masechet Brakhot, Chapter Two.

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Iberian Jewry

David ben Joseph Abudarham, the fourteenth century Spanish liturgical commentator and

author of Sefer Abudarham, completed in 1340 Seville, wrote extensively on the Shema.

Abudarham described the custom to crown God through moving one’s eyes in all directions as

well as a custom that some move their head in all directions during the first verse of the Shema

to crown God. Abudraham did not, however, make any mention of covering one’s face or eyes, 32

nor did he mention the story of Yehudah the Prince. The lack of textual evidence for this custom

in Sefer Abudraham, which was a compilation of laws and customs, suggests that no such

custom existed in mid-­fourteenth century Seville. However Jacob ben Asher in his Arba’ah

Turim, completed in 1340 Toledo , did mention this custom. 33

Jacob ben Asher (1269-­1343) who was born in Cologne, but lived most of his life in

Toledo, Spain was the son of Rabbi Asher. He is known as the Ba’al ha-­Turim for his halakhic

work Arba’ah Turim. He wrote:

ויש נוהגין שנותנין ידיהם על פניהם בקריאת פסוק הראשון וראייתם מפ''ב דברכות

(יג:) רבי כד הוה מנח ידיה אעיניה הוה קרי לה פ' כוונתו שלא יסתכל בדבר אחר

34 שמונעו מלכוין…

32 David ben Joseph Abudarham, Sefer Abudarham, ed. Wertheimer, “Laws of Qeri'at Shema” (Jerusalem, 1959) (Acc. Bar Ilan Responsa, http://www.responsa.co.il/default.aspx, Sept. 7, 2015). 33 Judah D. Galinsky, “And this Sage Merited More than Any Other, for all Studied his Books’: On the Distribution of Jacob b. Asher’s “Arba’ah Turim” from the Time of it’s Writing until the End of the Fifteenth Century,” in Sidra: A Journal for the Study or Rabbinic Literature, vol. 19 (2004): 26. 34 Jacob ben Asher, Arba’ah Turim, Oraḥ Ḥayyim, “Laws of the Recitation of the Shema,” 61:5 (Jerusalem: Chemed, 1981).

17

There are those who are accustomed to place their hands on their face while

reciting the first verse [of the Shema], and its proof text is from the second

chapter of Brakhot, ‘Rabbi [Yehuda the Prince] would place his hands on his eyes

when he read [the verse]’. The reason for this was in order that he not look at

anything else that would disturb his concentration.

This excerpt from the Arba’ah Turim is the first place where an actual custom to cover

one’s face is recorded. The custom quoted by the Ba’al ha-­Turim is based upon the story in the

Talmud where Yehuda the Prince covered his eyes with his hands for the purpose of

concentration. The Ba’al ha-­Turim utilized the word ‘to place,’ as opposed to ‘to pass’ one’s

hands over one’s face, which was the word used in the Talmud. This discrepancy may have

arisen because the custom that is recorded in the Ba’al ha-­Turim is of people placing their hands

on their face for the Shema, as opposed to merely passing their hands momentarily over their

face, as implied by ‘to pass’.

Although the Ba’al ha-­Turim wrote that the custom was to cover one’s face, not

specifically one’s eyes, it is apparent that he is using these words interchangeably as he wrote the

reason is to ‘not look at anything else.’ It is interesting to note that although the story provided

by the Arba’ah Turim is the same narrative as the other sources recorded, the Talmudic language

and text here is very different from the other Talmudic manuscripts recorded above. In all other

manuscripts the story is in Hebrew, while in the Arba’ah Turim, the narrative is in Aramaic.

This Aramaic version also does not appear in the any version of the Palestinian Talmud which

states:

18

35 כד תחמיניה יהיב ידיה על אפוהי הוא מקבל עליו עול מלכות שמים

When you see [Rabbi Yehuda the Prince] place his hands on his face, he accepts upon

himself the yoke of heaven.

It is therefore unclear what text the Ba’al ha-­Turim utilized for this section. In any event, the

Ba’al ha-­Turim was the first to attribute this story to a custom to cover one’s eyes during the

recitation of the Shema.

Although no custom to cover one’s eyes during the recitation of the Shema appeared in

any written text before the mid-­fourteenth century, it is most probable that the custom was

performed by individuals in specific communities, as mentioned in the Arba’ah Turim. The

Ra’avyah’s reference to the custom of tilting one’s head down to increase concentration certainly

utilized the Talmudic story to root this custom, yet it did not involve covering one’s face or eyes

as would later be the practice. The extent to which the Ba’al ha-­Turim’s documented custom

was accepted among the populace is unknown, although it was most probably not very extensive

due to the lack of any evidence of this particular custom in the Sefer Abudraham, and

additionally due to the Ba’al ha-­Turim’s comment that ‘there are those who are accustomed,’ as

opposed to stating that ‘we are accustomed,’ as stated in other places in his work.

It is highly probable that the custom was not of Spanish origins. This is most likely the

case because not only was the custom not mentioned in Sefer Abudraham, but it is also not found

35 Palestinian Talmud, ed. Venice 1523, Brakhot Chapter 2, 4b 1 (Acc. Bar Ilan Responsa Project http://www.responsa.co.il/default.aspx Sept. 1, 2015). See Peter Schäfer, Sinopsis la-­Talmud ha-­Yerushalmi. [German] vol.1 pt. 1-­2 (Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr Paul Siebeck, 1991) 44 (2,⅕) for other variants, yet none appear similar to the Arba’ah Turim.

19

in various other works written in Medieval Spain. Israel ben Joseph Al-­Nakawa, a Spanish rabbi

who died as a martyr in the Toledo massacre of 1391, authored Menorat ha-­Maor. Menorat 36 37

ha-­Maor, a work of ethical and ritual guidelines, made no mention of the custom. Similarly, 38

the custom is not found in Provençal compilations of customs. Rabbenu Yeruḥam (1290-­1350 d.

Toledo), Rabbi ha-­Yarḥi (c.1155-­1215 d. Toledo), and Zeraḥ (d.1385, Navarre) were all born in

Provence and composed works related to Jewish customs yet made no mention of the custom. 39

The custom may have originated in Ashkenaz because the Ba’al ha-­Turim, who was from

Ashkenaz, was the only rabbi to document the custom in the mid-­fourteenth century. 40

The Maharil

Rabbi Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin, the mid-­fourteenth to mid-­fifteenth century rabbi

of Ashkenaz known as the Maharil, is recorded to have performed the custom mentioned by the

Arba’ah Turim. The custom performed by the Maharil is documented in Sefer Maharil, a

compilation of the Maharil’s teachings and customs regarding the holidays and liturgy,

composed by the Maharil’s student Zalman of St. Goar:

כשאמר מהר''י סג''ל שמע ישראל דקריאת שמע הניח ידו על עיניו וכיסם עד סיום כוונת אחד.41

36 Moshe Naḥum Zobel, “Al-­Nakawa, Israel ben Joseph,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1:686.

37 Israel ben Joseph Al-­Nakawa, Menorat ha-­Maor (New York, 1929). 38 Zobel, “Al-­Nakawa, Israel ben Joseph,” 1:686. 39 Yeruḥam ben Meshullam, Toledot Adam we-­Ḥawwah (Venice, 1553) (Bar Ilan Responsa,

http://www.responsa.co.il/default.aspx, Acc. Sept. 7, 2015), Abraham ben Natan Ha-­Yarḥi, Sefer

ha-­Manhig, ed. Yiẓḥak Raphael, 2 vols. (Jerusalem: Mossad HaRav Kook, 1978), Menaḥem ben

Aaron ibn Zeraḥ Ẓedah la-­Derekh (Sevonto, 1567) (Bar Ilan Responsa,

http://www.responsa.co.il/default.aspx, Acc. Sept. 7, 2015).

40 The origins of the custom recorded by the Ba’al ha-­Turim can be explored in further studies of

this topic.

41 Yaacov Molin, Sefer Maharil: Minhagim, ed. Shlomo J. Spitzer (Jerusalem: Mifʻal Torat

Ḥakhme Ashkenaz, Mekhon Yerushalayim, 1989) 435.

20

When the Maharil said, Shema Yisrael of Qeri'at Shema, he placed his hand on his eyes

and covered them until he completed concentrating on the word eḥad.

The Maharil’s custom to cover his eyes during the recitation of the Shema may be the

earliest reference to a known figure to have performed this custom. The Arba’ah Turim, records

that such a custom was extant, yet the Ba’al ha-­Turim most probably was not accustomed to

cover his eyes, as explained above. The text states that the Maharil covered his eyes with his

hand, not both of his hands, perhaps making this the first place where one hand was used to

cover one’s eyes during Qeri'at Shema. This, however, is unlikely due to the other manuscripts

recorded in Shlomo J. Spitzer’s critical edition of Sefer Maharil which state ‘hands’ or merely 42

state that he covered his eyes, without reference to his hands. Perhaps, the text that states 43

‘hand’ either left out the letter yud, or was later amended in lieu of the Lurianic custom to use

one hand. The custom quoted by the Arba’ah Turim, and practiced by the Maharil, was probably

not widely practiced as it was recorded as a unique custom of the Maharil, one that was worthy

of recording due to its exceptional nature.

The Shulkhan Arukh

Two centuries after the Arba’ah Turim was completed, Rabbi Yosef Karo (1488-­1575)

wrote the legal compendium of Jewish law titled the Shulkhan Arukh, first published in Venice in

1565 . In Karo’s section on the recitation of the Shema he wrote, 44

42 Ibid. 43 Schechter Seminar Manuscript. The Frankfurt Manuscript is also the earliest one. See Molin, Sefer Maharil ed. Spitzer, 435. 44 Louis Isaac Rabinowitz, “Shulḥan Arukh,” 18:529-­530.

21

נוהגין ליתן ידיהם על פניהם בקריאת פסוק ראשון, כדי שלא יסתכל בדבר אחר שמונעו מלכוין. 45

We are accustomed to place our hands on our faces during the recitation of the first verse [of

Shema], in order that one not look at something else that would disturb one’s concentration.

Karo, who structured his Shulkhan Arukh on the model of Rabbi Asher’s Arba’ah Turim,

similarly documented the custom of covering one’s face with one’s hands during the recitation of

the first verse of Shema. The Shulkhan Arukh most certainly played an integral part in the spread

of the custom to cover one’s face with one’s hands during the Shema, as the Shulkhan Arukh

spread to Jewish communities in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe in the late sixteenth

century. It is important, however, to note that the custom at this point involved placing one’s

hands over one’s face to concentrate during the Shema, and not placing only one hand. The

latter custom will emerge and spread from Safed due to the practice of the young and unique

sixteenth century kabbalist, Isaac Luria.

45 Yosef Karo, Shulkhan Arukh, Oraḥ Ḥayyim 61:5. 22

Chapter Two

Isaac Luria and Qeri'at Shema

Luria the Man

Isaac Luria is perhaps the most widely known and famed kabbalist in the entirety of

Jewish history. Luria’s name has become synonymous with Safedian mystical Judaism, and an

entire genre of Kabbalah, Lurianic Kabbalah, was created on account of his teachings. Luria

lived in the generations following the watershed expulsion from Spain in 1492, and was raised in

an era where religious and messianic fervor was at the center of the collective Jewish psyche.

Lurianic Kabbalah not only dominated the kabbalistic elite following Luria’s death, but Luria’s

mystically infused practices and rituals spread rapidly across the Jewish world with many still

practiced today. 46

Isaac ben Solomon Luria Ashkenazi was born in Jerusalem in 1534 to a father, 47

Solomon, of Ashkenazic descent and a mother of Sephardic heritage. Following Solomon’s 48

death, Isaac Luria and his mother relocated to Cairo to live with his mother’s brother. In Egypt, 49

Luria wed his first cousin and was involved in commerce as a tradesmen of produce. Luria 50 51

was formally trained in the rabbinic tradition in the academy of Rabbi David ben Solomon ibn

abi Zimra (c. 1480-­1573), the chief rabbi of Cairo known as the RaDBaZ who wrote thousands

46 See Ḥalamish, “Ma’amado shel HaAri k’Posek.” 47 Lawrence Fine, Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos: Isaac Luria and His Kabbalistic

Fellowship (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003) 24.

48 Ibid. 28. 49 Ibid. 29. 50 Ibid. 38. 51 Ibid. 32-­34.

23

of responsa. Following the RaDBaZ’s departure for Jerusalem, his student Betsalel Ashkenazi 52

(c. 1520-­1591/4) known as the Shittah Mequbetzet for his classic work on the Talmud, led the

academy and was a senior colleague of Isaac Luria. Luria was firmly rooted within the rabbinic 53

leadership of Cairo and also assisted Rabbi Betsalel Ashkenazi and other figures on various

halakhic works while in Cairo. 54

Luria as a kabbalist and mystic in Cairo is seen through his six year period of solitude on

the island of Jazirat al-­Rawada in the Nile in the 1560’s. Luria returned for Shabbat each week,

yet spent most of his time studying Zoharic texts on the island. It was during this period in his

life, that Luria wrote a few kabbalistic commentaries, most of which were later incorporated into

Ḥayyim Vital’s writings. 55

In late 1569 or early 1570, Luria traveled from Cairo through Jerusalem to Safed to live

in the region where Shimon bar Yoḥai had reputedly engaged in mystical activities described in

the Zohar. In Safed, Luria studied under the greatest kabbalist alive, Moses Cordovero 56

(1522-­1570). Cordovero authored many books on kabbalah including Pardes Rimonim, which is

an encyclopedic work on kabbalah, Tomer Devorah, a book on morals inspired by kabbalah, and

Ohr Yaqar, a sixteen volume commentary on the entire Zohar. Luria joined an esteemed group

of scholars studying under Cordovero including Elijah de Vidas (1518-­1592), author of Reishit

Ḥokhmah, Eleazar Azikri (1533-­1600), author of Sefer Ḥaredim and the renowned poem Yedid

Nefesh, and Ḥayyim Vital (1542-­1620), the compiler of Luria’s work. Luria also knew Moshe 57

52 Ibid. 30. 53 Ibid. 31. 54 Ibid. 32. 55 Ibid. 35-­38. 56 Ibid. 80. 57 Ibid. 80-­81.

24

Alsheikh (1508-­1593), referred to as the Holy Alsheikh who authored the commentary on the

Torah, Torat Moshe and who later joined Luria’s discipleship. Furthermore, Luria lived in 58

Safed among the great rabbi Yosef Karo (1488-­1575), the author of the Beit Yosef and the

Shulkhan Arukh, and Shlomo Alkabetz (c.1500-­1580), the author of Lekha Dodi and the

brother-­in-­law and teacher to Cordovero.

Within a year of Luria’s arrival in Safed, however, his teacher Cordovero passed away at

the age of forty-­eight, leaving dozens of disciples without a teacher. Luria, for various reasons 59

including his moral character, breadth of kabbalistic knowledge, saintly being, and perhaps most

important, his ability to attain divine knowledge about people’s souls and the world, attracted

many of Cordovero’s students under his discipleship. It was within a period of just over two 60

years that Luria led his own mystical community of nearly forty students in Safed prior to his 61

untimely death at the age of thirty-­eight in August, 1572. 62

The Custom

The earliest manifestation of the custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand is

attributed to Luria found in Vital’s Sha’ar ha-­Kavvanot, which is a compilation of Lurianic

customs related to prayers and holidays. Sha’ar ha-­Kavvanot served as the central work for the

dissemination of Luria’s customs. Luria’s custom during Qeri'at Shema was founded upon a

previously practiced custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s hands, as described above, yet Luria

innovated this custom as well. Luria utilized only his right hand to cover his eyes during the

58 Ibid. 83 59 Ibid. 82. 60 Ibid. 83, 88-­94. 61 Joseph Avivi, Ḳabalat ha-­Ari, 3 vols. (Jerusalem: Mekhon Ben-­Tsevi le-­ḥeḳer ḳehilot Yiśraʼel

ba-­Mizraḥ, 2008) 1:32.

62 Fine, 1.

25

Shema, which is the universal practice today. Luria’s custom to cover his eyes, and especially to

do so with his right hand, reflects Luria’s theurgical understanding of the Shema. Luria, as will

be discussed below, recorded witnessing Cordovero covering his eyes with both hands during the

Shema. Luria explained Cordovero’s practice, yet Luria then innovated this custom by only

utilizing his right hand. The reason for Luria’s innovation and departure from Cordovero’s

practice will be examined in this chapter through analyzing both Luria and Cordovero’s

theurgical theory and practice.

Lurianic Kabbalah

Luria viewed Qeri'at Shema as an act of yiḥud, or unification. Unification for Luria was a

divine merging of cosmic forces to their original primordial state in order to perfect the world.

At the foundation of Lurianic Kabbalah is the principle of Shevira that connotes a cosmic

disruption that occurred during the creation of the universe. This disruption can be fixed through

human actions that work as a tiqqun, or a fixing, of the cosmic realm. One way in which a

tiqqun can take effect is through a yiḥud, i.e. unification of various forces. Yiḥudim, plural of

yiḥud, can occur in different ways for Luria, one of which is liturgical prayer.

During all three daily prayers services, various yiḥudim occur as a result of both

pronouncing the words of the liturgy properly and through concentrating on the divine forces that

are activated through that prayer. The performance of concentrating on the words and its

mystical implications are called kavvanot. Kavvanot are a crucial aspect of Lurianic Kabbalah

and are prominent in Vital’s writings on Lurianic prayer. Qeri'at Shema has its own particular

kavvanot that unite disparate divine forces when properly performed by a theurgist, or an

individual who affects the divine.

26

Dr. Menachem M. Kallus’ doctoral dissertation is a systematic work on the theurgy of

Lurianic prayer. In his work, Kallus depicted the various stages in the Lurianic theurgic theory 63

and practice that is comprised of hundreds of kavvanot. Kallus documented in exhaustive detail

Lurianic theurgy from Shevira through the zivvugim, i.e. pairing of cosmic forces, to the various

partzufim, i.e divine configurations consisting of one or more sefirot, i.e. divine emanations. 64

The entirety of Lurianic theurgical prayer practices and theory is out of the purview of this work,

yet elements of this system will be detailed to fully understand the origins of Luria’s custom.

In Lurianic Kabbalah, the highest form of zivvug, or coupling, is between the partzufim of

Aba and Ima, father and mother respectively. A zivvug is a form of unification that occurs

between masculine and feminine cosmic emanations in order to repair the cosmic realms that

were fractured at the moment of creation. The union of the Aba and Ima configurations occur 65

in two ways. The first is a constant exterior coupling that allows for the existence of the world.

This configuration is a cosmic link between the Partzuf Arikh Anpin, the highest configuration

comprised of Ḥokhmah, i.e. wisdom, and Binah, i.e. discernment, and the Partzuf Zeir Anpin,

which is the lowest configuration composed of the seven lower sefirot. Therefore, when the

Partzufim of Aba and Ima are conjoined, divine emanations can properly flow from the higher

sefirot into the lower ones. 66

The second coupling is an interior one that renews the Moḥin, or intellect, that energizes

each configuration to accomplish its cosmic task. This transpires when the Partzuf Zeir Anpin

63 Menachem Kallus, The Theurgy of Prayer in Lurianic Kabbalah: A Doctoral Dissertation

[Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 2002).

64 Ibid. 130. 65 Raphael Afilalo, Kabbalah Dictionary: Translation and Explanation of Terms and Concepts of

the Kabbalah (Montreal: Kabbalah Editions, 2005) 133.

66 Ibid. 41-­43.

27

unites with the Partzuf Nuqva, the feminine configuration. It is through this union that the

physical world was created and that divine emanations are infused into this world. This coupling

occurs on various levels, the highest is between the Partzuf Yisrael and Partzuf Rachel. Yisrael,

or Israel, is the masculine configuration representing the Partzuf Zeir Anpin who unites with the

feminine Partzuf Rachel, who represents the Partzuf Nuqva. In order for these couplings to

occur the feminine partzuf must stimulate the masculine configuration. 67

The stimulation occurs when Mayin Nuqvin, feminine waters, are raised up by the

feminine configurations and cause the Mayin Dukhrin, masculine waters, to descend upon the

feminine configurations. The stimulation of the feminine waters occurs through the human

performance of actions, such as mitzvot, i.e. commandments, and prayer. A further explanation 68

of this stimulation will be discussed below. The three prayer services recited daily each serve a

unique role in the stimulation and coupling of these male and female configurations.

Furthermore, within each service, the various prayers serve as a phase within the unification

process whose goal is ultimately the rectification of the Shevirah, i.e. cosmic disruption. 69

Qeri'at Shema as a Yiḥud

In Lurianic Kabbalah, the recitation of the Shema is a stage within the unification of the

Aba and Ima configurations. The unification associated with the Shema appeared in earlier

kabbalistic texts, and in order to pursue a comprehensive study of Luria’s theurgical theory, it is

important to reference the earlier texts that Luria interpreted.

67 Ibid. 235-­6. 68 Ibid. 237. 69 Kallus, 130.

28

One of the first kabbalists to systematically deal with kabbalistic cosmology was Meir

ben Ezekiel Ibn Gabbai (1480-­1540), a Spanish born kabbalist who wrote various descriptive

works on the Kabbalah. In his Tolaʻat Yaʻaḳov, completed in 1507, ibn Gabbai described his 70

kabbalistic understanding of the prayer service. Ibn Gabbai explained that the essence of the

Shema is the unification of God with Knesset Israel, the Jewish people:

וזה סוד שמע ישראל ישראל סבא מתיחד ומתקדש ומתברך ממקור הברכות, וכשישראל

מכוונין בענין הייחוד למטה ומיחדים על המאורות הנכללים בפסוק זה, הש''י מתיחד

בכנסת ישראל ואז כל השבעים ענפים מתיחדים בשורש, וגוף האילן מקבל שפע ואור

וברכה ממקור הכל ומשפיע על שאר הענפים הנמשכים ממנו: 71

This is the secret of Shema Yisrael. Yisrael Sava is united, consecrated, and

blessed from the Source of All Blessings, and when Israel concentrates on the

unification below and unites the lights that are found in this verse, God unites

with Knesset Yisrael in order that all seventy branches coalesce at the root.

Furthermore, the tree receives its abundance, illumination, and blessing from the

Source of All and overflows onto the rest of the branches that stem from it.

In Ibn Gabbai’s kabbalistic structure there exist three parallel vertical lines each

consisting of the various sefirot, i.e. emanations. The middle axis is referred to as ‘The Great

70 See Philipp Block and Kaufmann Kohler, “Gabbai, Meir b. Ezekiel ibn,” in The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the

Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, ed. Isidore Singer, 12 vols., (New York: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., 1906) 5:539. 71 Meir ben Ezekiel ibn Gabbai, Sefer Tolaʻat Yaʻaḳov;; Sefer Derekh Emunah. (Jerusalem: Shevile Orḥot Ha-­ḥayim, 1996) 41.

29

Name,’ and it has seventy branches that both emerge and spiral around it. These seventy 72

branches represent the seventy faces of the Torah and are reflected in seventy angels in the lower

realm. When God and Israel are united as one, then all of the branches connect to the Source of 73

All Blessings, that is the Divine. Ibn Gabbai viewed the recitation of the Shema as the process of

unification through which God unites with Knesset Yisrael. Both Luria and Cordovero, as will

be described, amplified the framework laid forth by ibn Gabbai.

Qeri'at Shema, although originally recited twice daily, is now recited four times daily,

twice in the night and twice in the morning. At night the Shema is recited in the evening prayers,

Arvit, and repeated prior to going to bed. In the morning, the Shema is recited in Psuqei

d’Zimra, an introductory section to the morning prayer service, and in the main section of

Shaḥarit, i.e. the morning service.

The role of Qeri'at Shema within this system is to allow both the exterior and interior

unifications to take place between the masculine and feminine configurations resulting in the

unification of Aba and Ima. The first verse of Qeri'at Shema contains six words, each of which 74

have specific kavvanot associated with them that invoke various sefirot and configurations.

These kavvnot serve to arouse the Mayin Nuqvin, the feminine waters, to stimulate the Mayin

Dukhrin, the masculine waters, in order to ultimately effect a union between the Aba and Ima.

Additionally, the six words that compose the ‘Barukh Shem’ line, which is recited silently after

the first verse of the Shema, have kavvanot associated with them as well. 75

'השם הגדול'7273 Gabbai, Sefer Tolaʻat Yaʻaḳov, 41. 74 Kallus, 251-­2. 75 See Kallus, 252-­268.

30

Cover Your Eyes

The custom to cover one’s eyes during Qeri'at Shema was first recorded in Ḥayyim

Vital’s Sha’ar ha-­Kavvanot. In the chapter titled ‘Inyan Kavvanat Qeri'at Shema’, under a

section labeled ‘Azharot’, ‘warnings’, is found the passage that first documented the Lurianic

custom:

גם קודם שתאמר שמע ישראל, תסגיר שני עיניך ביד ימינך, ותכוין בסבא דמשפטים,

עולימתא שפירתא דלית לה עיינין, ושם ביארנו שהכונה היא על רחל, שהיא העולה

עתה בבחינת מ''ן לגבי או''א, ועי''ש בסבא דמשפטים וביד השמאלית, תאחוז ד' ציציות

76 ויהיו מוניחים על לבך כמבואר לעיל.

Before saying Shema Yisrael cover your two eyes with your right hand and

concentrate on what it says in Sava d’Mishpatim ‘Olimta Shapirta d’let lah

eyanin, and there we explained that the kavvanah is with regard to Rachel, for she

has now risen to the aspect of Mayin Nukvin with regards to Aba v’Ima, and look

in Sava d’Mishpatim that your left hand should hold the four tzitzit and should be

placed on your heart, as explained above.

This teaching recorded by Vital depicts the custom as rooted in both Luria’s

interpretation of a Zoharic passage and based upon Luria’s theurgical theory and practice. Sava

d’Mishpatim, ‘Old Man of Mishpatim,’ is a unique section of the Zohar that contains a lengthy

narrative between a wise old man, and two rabbis, Rabbi Ḥiyya and Rabbi Yose. In this story,

76 Sha’ar ha-­Kavvanot in Ḥayyim Vital, Sidrat kitve Rabenu ha-­Ari, 18 vols., (Jerusalem: Yeshivat Ḳol Yehuda, 1984) 10:135.

31

the old man revealed mysterious wonders about gilgulim, i.e. transmigration of souls, based upon

verses in the Biblical narrative on levirate marriage in the section of the Torah titled Mishpatim.

Sava d’Mishpatim is the first passage in Jewish literature to deal extensively with the

transmigration of souls. A study of this Zoharic passage, both through the lens of Luria and its 77

earlier interpreters, will allow for a proper analysis on how Luria utilized this text for his custom.

The passage that Luria utilized from the Zohar is found in Sava d’Mishpatim in a passage

about the ‘Olimta Shapirta, ‘The Beautiful Maiden.’ This passage is one of the most famous and

well studied portions of the Zohar, and is found as part of the esoteric riddles that the old man

recited before the two rabbis:

מהו עולימתא שפירתא ולית לה עיינין וגופא טמירתא ואתגליא איהי נפקת בצפרא

ואתכסיא ביממא. אתקשטת בקשוטין דלא הוו. 78

Who is a beautiful maiden without eyes, her body concealed and revealed, she

emerges in the morning and is concealed by day, adorning herself with

adornments that are not? 79

77 Daniel Chanan Matt, Sefer ha-­Zohar, vol. 5 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009) Preface. 78 Zohar, 2:95a. 79 Matt, 5:2.

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The answer and interpretation of this riddle is far from simple and has been the topic of much

scholarly work. This thesis will limit itself to the relevant kabbalistic texts and modern 80

scholarship that address Luria’s custom.

Luria’s Interpretation

Luria did not author a commentary on the Zohar, yet many of his Zoharic interpretations

are found within Vital’s Pri Etz Ḥayyim. The Beautiful Maiden appears multiple times

throughout this work and an examination of them will elucidate how Luria both interpreted and

utilized this passage. The Beautiful Maiden appears in passages related to the Shema, tzitzit, and

the afternoon and evening prayers. The most descriptive passage is found in the chapter titled

‘Shaar Qeri'at Shema,’ while most other occurrences merely mention the Beautiful Maiden

without any explanation.

The section in ‘Shaar Qeri'at Shema’ is not only the most descriptive, but is also

attributed to a manuscript written by Luria himself. It is in this section that Luria explained both

the Beautiful Maiden and a custom that he observed his teacher, Moses Cordovero, perform.

The custom that Luria described is that Cordovero covered his eyes with his hands during the

recitation of the Shema. The custom to cover one’s eyes is similarly found in rabbinic texts such

as the Arba’ah Turim and the Shulkhan Aurkh, and in both of these works and Cordovero’s

custom, both hands are utilized to cover one’s eyes. This passage is significant as it provides the

basis for a comparative study of Luria and Cordovero’s theurgical practice and theory related to

80 See Tzahi Weiss, “Who is a Beautiful Maiden without Eyes? The Metamorphosis of a Zohar Midrashic Image from a Christian Allegory to a Kabbalistic Metaphor,” The Journal of Religion, vol. 93, No. 1, January 2013, 61, n. 2.

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Qeri'at Shema and can assist in delineating to what extent Luria innovated in developing his

custom.

In this passage, Luria described the Beautiful Maiden as Ha-­Kallah Ha-­Klulah, Complete

Bride, alluding to the sefirah of Malkhut, kingship, becoming adorned with the other sefirot.

Luria’s usage of a bridal metaphor in relation to Qeri'at Shema is similarly found in Tiqqunei

ha-­Zohar, where accepting God’s kingship is compared to a bride entering her bridal canopy. 81

Luria explained that the Bride, when in the lower realms, has eyes, but in the upper realms of

Atsilut is blind. Therefore Cordovero placed his hands on his eyes during the recitation of the

Shema, in an act of unification with the Bride:

כתב האר"י זלה"ה: עולימתא שפירתא דלית לה עיינין, היא הכלה הכלולה, דמסטרא

דיצחק אתי, דכתיב ביה 'ותכהן עיניו מראות', ועיינין הם למטה בהיכל הזכות, והם ע'

קתדראות, כדאיתא בזוהר פרשה ויחי ופרשה פנחס, ובהם מקום החשבון, כדכתיב

'עיניך ברכות בחשבון', כדאיתא התם. אבל למעלה באצילות שהיא שפירתא, לית לה

עיינין, לכן היה רבינו הקדוש מעביר ידיו על עיניו בשעת ק"ש ביחוד הכלה.82

Isaac Luria, may his memory be in the World to Come, wrote: The Beautiful

Maiden who has no eyes is the Complete Bride, who emerged from the side of 83

Isaac, as it is written, “And his eyes were too dim to see. ” And eyes are below 84

in the Portal of Zekhut, and there are seventy lecterns, as found in the Zohar, in

81 Tiqqunei ha-­Zohar, 10:26a. See Reuven Kimelman, The Mystical Meaning of Lekha Dodi and Kabbalat Shabbat (Los Angeles: Cherub Press, 2003) 6-­8.

82 Vital, 16:200. 83 Alternate reading, ‘who cannot be seen,’ as interpreted by Cordovero, yet Luria interpreted it as ‘who has no eyes.’ This will be discussed below.

84 Genesis 27:1, JPS Tanakh Hebrew-­English Tanakh (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society,

2000) 52.

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Vayeḥi, and in Pinḥas. And in them (the eyes) is the place of thought, as is

written, “Your eyes like pools in Heshbon , ” as found there. But, above in the 85 86

World of Emanation, which is called beautiful, she (the bride) has no eyes,

therefore our holy master [Moses Cordovero] placed his hands on his eyes during

the recitation of the Shema, intending to unite with the Bride.

Cordovero’s practice, as understood by Luria, is a contemplative act that occurs in the

World of Emanation. The World of Emanation is the highest of the four spiritual realms that

exists within the kabbalistic formulation of the cosmos. In this realm, nothing has physical form

or color, and sight is nonexistent. The World of Atsilut is the realm that is invoked during the

Amidah, i.e. the central prayer, while the Shema is situated in the World of Briyah, i.e. creation.

When the World of Emanation is invoked, Cordovero, according to Luria, closed his eyes

because there is no vision in that realm. The lack of vision in the World of Emanation is

symbolized by the blind Beautiful Maiden. The reason for covering one’s eyes during Qeri'at

Shema, even though the Shema is not within the World of Atsilut, is due to the contemplation

upon the blind Beautiful Maiden.

One of the objectives of the theurgist during the first line of Qeri'at Shema is to

contemplate upon the Beautiful Maiden. As explained above by Luria, the Beautiful Maiden is

also the Shekhinah, who is symbolized by Rachel. The act of contemplating on the Beautiful

Maiden is in order to facilitate the elevating of the Mayin Nukvin, Feminine Waters. This

85 Heshbon, Luria understood as ‘thought,’ was a city in ancient Moab. See Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, The Jewish Study Bible, (New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. 2004) 1574. 86 Song of Songs 7:5, JPS Tanakh, 1737.

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elevation brings the Feminine Waters from the World of Creation up to the Aba and Ima

configurations in the World of Emanation, to so set the stage for the unification of the masculine

configuration with its feminine counterpart during the Amidah. Due to the Feminine Waters

entering into the World of Emanation, a world without sight, one must close one’s eyes during

the first line of the Shema. The act of closing one’s eyes is because there is no vision in the

World of Emanation, and furthermore on account of a unification between the theurgist and the

blind Beautiful Maiden. The former explanation aligns well within Cordoverian Kabbalah, yet

the latter unification with the blind Maiden is Lurianic in origin. These claims will be examined

below.

The aforementioned passage written by Luria, positioned Luria’s theurgy within a

Cordoverian understanding of Qeri'at Shema, yet with an additional contemplative act. Luria

wrote that Cordovero’s custom was practiced due to the unification performed with the Bride

during the Shema. Prima facie, Luria’s explanation of his teacher’s practice situates Luria’s

theurgical practice as reflecting Cordovero’s, albeit utilizing only his right hand. An

examination of Cordovero’s commentary on both the siddur and the Zohar, however, will

provide a better analysis on the extent to which Luria innovated and/or diverged from

Cordoverian Kabbalah.

Cordovero’s Interpretation

Isaac Luria’s teacher in Safed, Moses Cordovero, completed his sixteen volume

commentary on the Zohar titled Ohr Yaqar sometime prior to his death in 1570. Although 87

87 For further discussion see Zohar Raviv, Decoding the Dogma Within the Enigma: The Life, Works, Mystical Piety and Systematic Thought of Rabbi Moses Cordoeiro (aka Cordovero;;

Safed, Israel, 1522-­1570) (Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller;; La Vergne, TN: Produced in the USA by Lightning Source Inc., 2008) 211-­213.

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Luria had delved into the mysteries of the Zohar prior to his arrival in Safed, Luria’s theories on

the transmigration of souls were formed in Safed. Bracha Sack, a scholar of Cordovero, 88

described the similarities between both of Luria and Cordovero’s conceptions of gilgulim. 89

Sava d’Mishpatim deals primarily with this topic, so it is most probable that Luria was familiar

with his teacher’s interpretations of this topic.

In Ohr Yaqar with regards to the Beautiful Maiden, Cordovero opened by alluding to a

possible connection between the Beautiful Maiden and a subsequent Zoharic passage that

connects the Beautiful Maiden with the Torah. This interpretation is abandoned by Cordovero, 90

however, for what he believed was the true interpretation of this text:

אפשר לפרש על התורה כדמסיק לקמן סי' ה' שהתורה מתעלמת ומתגלה וכו', אמנם

עיקר הפירו' אצלנו הוא הנשמה ממש בסוד הנשמה הזכה וברה שזכתה לעלות בגן עדן

91 של מעלה מקום הנשמות במנוחתם…

It is possible to explain [the Beautiful Maiden] as the Torah, as found below in

section five, ‘that the Torah is hidden and revealed…’ However, according to us,

the principle explanation is that the [Beautiful Maiden] is the actual soul, the

secret of the soul, that is lucid and pure and that gets to rise to the Garden of Eden

above, the place where the souls rest...

88 Bracha Sack, “Moshe Cordovero and Isaac Luria” in Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought,

vol. 10, January 1992, 313.

89 For similarities between Cordovero and Luria on transmigration of the soul see Sack, “Moshe

Cordovero and Isaac Luria.”

90 Moses Cordovero, Sefer ha-­Zohar‘im Peirush Ohr Yaḳar, 23 vols., Shiur Ḳomah (Jerusalem,

1962) 1:1.

91 Ibid.

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Similarly, two scholars of kabbalah, Oded Yisraeli and Tzachi Weiss, argued that although the

two stories are alike, there are significant differences between the two, and that according to 92

Weiss, Cordovero is the only kabbalist to assert a connection between the two passages, a

connection that he subsequently rejected. 93

Cordovero understood the Beautiful Maiden as a soul that is concealed from the masses,

has no physical form, and is clothed by ruaḥ, or spirit. Cordovero explained that this soul is

revealed only in the middle of the night when God delights in the righteous and brings the

heavenly souls with Him. Once morning breaks, God returns to the Garden of Eden with these

souls. Important for the study of this text in the light of Luria’s interpretations, the Beautiful 94

Maiden for Cordovero is not ‘without eyes,’ but rather is not seen by others except God. Luria,

however, associated the Beautiful Maiden as lacking the ability to see. Cordovero wrote, 95

ירצה שאין עיינין משיגים אותה לרוב דקותה שהיא למעלה מקום שנאמר בו עין לא ראתה אלקים

96 זולתך...

[God] intended that that no eyes would comprehend her particularities for she is above physical

space as it states, ‘No eye has seen [them], O God, but You. ’ 97

92 Oded Yisraeli, The Interpretation of Secrets and the Secret of Interpretation: Midrashic and Hermeneutic Strategies in Sabba de-­Mishpaṭim of the Zohar (Los Angeles: Cherub Press, 2005) 199, and Weiss, 64. 93 Weiss, 64 n. 15. 94 Cordovero, Sefer ha-­Zohar‘im Peirush Ohr Yaḳar, Shiur Ḳomah, vol. 1:1. 95 Vital, Sidrat kitve Rabenu ha-­Ari, 16:200. 96 Cordovero, Sefer ha-­Zohar‘im Peirush Ohr Yaḳar, Shiur Ḳomah, vol. 1:1-­2. 97 Isaiah 64:3, JPS Tanakh, 993.

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Cordovero utilized an enigmatic verse from Isaiah that describes wonders that God

performed, which only God can fully comprehend. Cordovero used this verse to describe how

God is the only One that can visualize and comprehend souls. This interpretation differs from

Luria’s subsequent usage of this text as a metaphor for the Complete Bride, not the soul.

In Cordovero’s interpretation of this text, however, Cordovero does refer to a Talmudic

story that can shed light on Cordovero and Luria’s custom. Cordovero explained that once the

soul is clothed by ruaḥ, it becomes revealed in the Heavenly Garden of Eden, yet in actuality

remains hidden. The revealed remaining hidden is a theme that runs throughout much of

Cordovero’s work, as Cordovero viewed revelation as an act of further concealment.

Additionally, through levushim, or cloaks that conceal the Divine, Cordovero believed that a

person can learn about God’s essence, yet never actually comprehend God’s innermost depths. 98

Cordovero wrote:

כי בערך מציאותה שבגע''ד העליון הוא נגלה ולפי האמת הוא נעלם כענין ההוא מרבנן

99 שהחשיך עיניו בהביטו בר' חייא כדאית' בפ' השוכר את הפועלים.

For its existence in the Heavenly Garden of Eden is revealed, but in truth it

remains hidden, like the rabbi who blinded his eyes when he looked at Rabbi

Ḥiyya, as found in the [Talmudic] chapter ‘One who hires a laborer.’

The story that Cordovero referenced entails a rabbi who was often visited by Elijah the

Prophet and was once shown the heavenly rabbinical assembly on condition that he not look at

98 See Raviv, 166-­170. 99 Cordovero, Sefer ha-­Zohar‘im Peirush Ohr Yaḳar, Shiur Ḳomah, 1:2.

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Rabbi Ḥiyya’s throne, due to his greatness. The rabbi agreed yet could not resist, and gazed

upon Rabbi Ḥiyya’s throne and was immediately blinded by fire. The following day the rabbi

prostrated himself atop Rabbi Ḥiyya’s burial place and was healed. Cordovero most probably 100

juxtaposed this story to the beautiful maiden for both of the stories include Rabbi Ḥiyya, and

refer to a person’s ability, or lack thereof, to view the heavenly realms.

In the Zoharic story, Rabbi Ḥiyya is one of the rabbis who encountered the old man, and

in the Talmudic story, Rabbi Ḥiyya is deceased and dwells in the heavenly assembly. Cordovero

undoubtedly read the Talmudic passage through the lens of the Zohar, viewing Rabbi Ḥiyya as a

man who had encountered deep mysteries. Rabbi Ḥiyya, therefore, was capable of scorching and

singeing others with Heavenly fire due to the secrets revealed to him. Furthermore, the Beautiful

Maiden for Cordovero underscores man’s inability to peer into the heavenly Garden of Eden to

apprehend the Divine. Similarly, in the Talmudic passage, the rabbi is blinded when he

attempted to look at the throne of a great scholar. The practice to cover one’s eyes according to

Cordovero may be a way to shield one’s eyes from becoming scorched from the Heavenly fire at

the revelatory moment of Shema. This intense moment will be detailed below through an

analysis of Cordovero’s interpretation of the Shema.

In Cordovero’s Siddur Tefilah LeMoshe, published in 1890 as a siddur with Cordovero’s

kabbalistic interpretations, Cordovero explicated his theurgical understanding of Qeri'at Shema.

For this thesis, only a limited analysis of Cordovero’s theurgical theory and practice is relevant.

It is important to begin by stating that no mention is made of the custom to cover one’s eyes

100 B.T. Bava Metzia 85b.

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during Qeri'at Shema in this work, and the only reference to Cordovero covering his eyes is 101

found in the Lurianic manuscript. Cordovero viewed the Shema as a unification of the right and

left sefirot in order to elevate the Shekhinah to her supernal-­self, one free of blemish. This 102

unification, similar to Luria, is a unification of the Aba and Ima configurations, and is attained

when the Jewish people cosmologically engage in a sexual unification with the Shekhina:

שבאומרו שמע יכוין למלכות שהיא פתח הכניסה ובה יתחנן לישראל שהוא הת''ת יבוא

103 אליה לשכון עמה...

When he says ‘Shema’ concentrate on Malkhut, which is the opening of the

entrance [to the bridal canopy], and through her, Israel is graced, for he is Tiferet,

to have relations and dwell with her...

This excerpt from Cordovero’s work describes the Jewish people as represented by the sefirah of

Tiferet, i.e. beauty, engaging in an intimate sexual act of unification with the Shekhina. This

cosmological unification during Qeri'at Shema is similarly described in Lurianic Kabbalah,

found in Vital’s Shaar ha-­Kavvanot. The purpose of the Shema for both Cordovero and Luria 104

is a unification of the feminine Shekhina with the masculine Jewish people, although some

differences to do exist. 105

101 In Judah Leib Poppers’s (d. 1662) Ohr ha-­Yashar, a commentary on the bottom of each page of Cordovero’s Siddur Tefilah LeMoshe (1890), is noted the custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand. Poppers wrote about the customs of Isaac Luria. 102 Moses Cordovero, Siddur Tefilah LeMoshe, 1890, Reprint (Jerusalem, 1964) 69. 103 Cordovero, Siddur Tefilah LeMoshe, 71. 104 Vital, Sidrat kitve Rabenu ha-­Ari, 10:137. 105 Kallus, 72.

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The Shekhina for both Cordovero and Luria is an integral part of prayer. Cordovero

viewed the Shekhina as rising up through the various heavenly portals in tandem with one’s

prayers. The Shekhina is elevated through the proper pronunciation of the Hebrew letters during

prayer coupled with souls, that act as a Sulam, i.e. a heavenly ladder, for prayers to rise. The 106

person who prays acts as the feminine Shekhina, and their prayers rise up to the Heavens, who is

symbolized by the masculine ha-­Qadosh-­barukh-­hu, the Holy One Blessed be He. For both

Cordovero and Luria the elevation not only occurs within the cosmic worlds, but also transpires

within each individual who properly prays. Although the recitation of the Shema for both 107

Cordovero and Luria is the act of a unification of the Jewish people with the Shekhina, the

kavvanah, or intention, during this portion is different for Luria.

Luria diverged from Cordovero in both Luria’s addition of the Beautiful Maiden

contemplation to the Shema, and in Luria’s interpretation of the Beautiful Maiden in Kabbalah.

Luria viewed the Beautiful Maiden as the Complete Bride, while Cordovero regarded her as a

soul. Although both kabbalists interpreted the Shema as a unification between the Jewish people

and the Shekhinah, the purpose for covering one’s eyes during its recitation are different, as

reflected in their different views on the Beautiful Maiden and her place in Qeri'at Shema.

Has No Eyes

The Lurianic manuscript mentioned above stated, “The Beautiful Maiden who has no

eyes, ” has multiple understandings. The translation that is provided here is not the only 108

reading of this text, as Cordovero himself explained in his Ohr Yaqar on the Zohar that the

106 Bracha Sack, Be-­shaʻare Ha-­Ḳabalah shel Rabi Mosheh Ḳordovero (Beʼer Shevaʻ: Ben-­Gurion University Press 1995) 199. 107 See Sack, Be-­shaʻare Ha-­Ḳabalah shel Rabi Mosheh Ḳordovero, 201-­2, and Kallus, 198-­200. .Ḥayyim Vital, Sidrat kitve Rabenu ha-­Ari, 16:200 .עולימתא שפירתא דלית לה עיינין 108

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Beautiful Maiden is not seen by others. Luria diverged from his teacher’s understanding of 109

this text by envisioning the Beautiful Maiden as blind, as opposed to not being perceived by

others as Cordovero wrote. This distinction is substantiated through Luria’s further explanation

of this text in the manuscript with key textual variants regarding the Beautiful Maiden:

והנה לא נזכר עיני הכלה, וזה יורה על מה שכתבנו. וטעם הדבר, כי נוקבא דזעיר אנפין

היא כולה דינין, ואלו הוית לה עיינין, הות מוקדא עלמא בשלהוביתא, וז"ס הסבי עיניך

מנגדי, שיהיו למטה ולא כנגד החתן.110

And here there is no mention of the eyes of the Bride, and this indicates what we

wrote. The reason is because the feminine of Ze’er Anpin is all judgement, and if

she [the bride] were to have eyes, she would burn the whole world in flames, and

this is the secret of “Turn your eyes away from me,” that they [your eyes] 111

should be facing downward and not towards the Groom.

Luria’s divergent translation of this seminal Zoharic text served as the basis for Luria’s

interpretation of Cordovero’s custom. Luria’s interpretation situates the Beautiful Maiden as

blind, and the individual reciting the Shema as enacting this blindness by covering one’s eyes.

Cordovero covered his eyes due to the significance of Shema as an act of both elevating the

Feminine Waters to the World of Emanation and potentially as an act of shielding his eyes from

Heavenly fire, yet did not do so because of the Beautiful Maiden. For Luria, the covering of

one’s eyes during the recitation of the Shema is because the theurgist, who represents the

109 Cordovero, Sefer ha-­Zohar‘im Peirush Ohr Yaḳar, Shiur Ḳomah, 1:1. 110 Vital, Sidrat kitve Rabenu ha-­Ari, 16:200. 111 Song of Songs 6:5, JPS Tanakh, 1737.

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masculine Isaac, is uniting with the feminine Rachel, i.e. the Beautiful Maiden. The

contemplation regarding the Beautiful Maiden, in addition to Cordovero’s reason for covering

his eyes, appears to be the source for Luria’s custom. Therefore, Luria’s explanation of

Cordovero’s custom is most probably Luria’s reinterpretation of his teacher’s custom in light of

his kabbalistic system.

Luria’s contemplation on the unification of Rachel, i.e. the Beautiful Maiden, with Isaac,

i.e. the theurgist, is an act of uniting the feminine and masculine divine forces. The

heterogeneous unification that occurs during the moment of Qeri'at Shema between Rachel and

Isaac has a long history within the rabbinic and kabbalistic literature. In rabbinic literature, the

primordial Adam was viewed as containing both a masculine and feminine identity known as

du-­partzufin, i.e. two faces. This androgynous being was then split into both man and woman

during the creation story. In the kabbalistic tradition, the Divine was viewed as containing both a

masculine and feminine side. In Safedian kabbalah of the sixteenth century, which includes 112

Luria, the feminine side of the Divine, i.e. the Shekhinah, morphed into a personalized

manifestation that interacted with the theurgist. The unification that occurs between the male 113

theurgist and the Shekhinah is an attempt to unite the two divine sides into a singular

androgynous being. The unification between the theurgist and the Shekhinah during Qeri'at

Shema is in order to to stimulate the Mayin Nuqvin below, which then cause the Mayin Dukhrin

112 See Moshe Idel, “Du-­Partzufin: Interpretations of Androgyneity in Jewish Mysticism” in

Kabbalah and Eros (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005) 53-­103. 113 Idel, Kabbalah and Eros, 66.

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to flow downwards. These heterogeneous divine waters coalesce into one, which ultimately

leads to the complete unification of the Godhead during the Amidah. 114

Right Hand

The custom established by Luria involved utilizing his right hand to cover his eyes, as

opposed to using both his hands. Prior to Luria’s custom, all documentation of the custom,

including Cordovero’s custom, utilized both hands to cover one’s eyes. Isaac Zimmer, a scholar

of Jewish customs, wrote on the development of customs related to the recitation of the Shema.

Zimmer correctly pinpointed the introduction of covering one’s eyes with one’s right hand with

the kabbalists of Safed, yet his interpretation is questionable. 115

Dr. Zimmer explained that a person during Shema wants to refrain from distractions,

which mainly arise from the eyes, as seen in the third paragraph of the Shema. Dr. Zimmer 116

added that it would seemingly be enough to close one’s eyes, yet a person wants to show the

utmost power to overcome their human desire to stray, and therefore covers their eyes with their

hand of strength, their right hand. This explanation, however, is the author’s, and is not rooted 117

in Lurianic texts. This section will attempt to find a source within Lurianic Kabbalah for this

practice.

114 See Elliot R. Wolfson, “Coronation of the Sabbath Bride: Kabbalistic Myth and the Ritual of

Androgynisation.” The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, vol. 6, 1997, 305-­6.

115 Eric Zimmer, “Tenuchot u’Tenuot ha-­Guf b’sha’at Qeri'at Shema,” in Asufot: Annual for Jewish Studies, 8, ed. Meir Benayahu (Jerusalem: Yad Ha-­Rav Nissim, 1994) 362.

והיה לכם לציצת וראיתם אתו וזכרתם את כל מצות ה' ועשיתם אתם ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם116 ואחרי עיניכם אשר אתם זנים אחריהם

That shall be your fringe;; look at it and recall all the commandments of the Lord and observe

them, so that you do not follow your heart and eyes in your lustful urge. (Numbers 15:39) JPS

Tanakh, 319.

117 Zimmer, 362.

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The custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand is mentioned in multiple places

throughout Vital’s writings. The multiple times in which Vital mentioned Luria’s custom as

utilizing his right hand is perhaps indicative of the fact that no one else was using only their right

hand. Luria’s utilization of his right hand is deeply connected to an intention of Qeri'at Shema,

which is the stimulation of the Mayin Nuqvin, i.e. the feminine waters. The feminine waters are

raised up which cause the Mayin Dukhrin, i.e. masculine waters, to descend upon the feminine

configurations. This entire intention is a focus on the original spirit of the first coupling, or

sexual act, that took place between the Male and Feminine configurations. This is called, ההוא

The spirit that the man gave to the woman during the first‘ ,רוחא דיהיב לה בעלה בביאה ראשונה

sexual act.’ This first act is considered by both the Talmudic and Zoharic understanding as a 118 119

sexual act incapable of impregnating a woman, but rather allows a woman to become a vessel

capable of conceiving a child. This meditation, as will be described below, is most probably 120

connected to the custom to utilize one’s right hand, as opposed to two, during the recitation of

the Shema.

The purpose of this meditation during Qeri'at Shema is explained by Kallus, and will

allow for a further examination of the custom to utilize one’s right hand. Kallus explained that

the objective of this meditation is to “place the contemplator in the experiential dimension of the

implicit rudimentary level of the primordiality necessary for the workings of Tyqqun to take

place as such, whereas the ‘second’ Zivvug or, the Zivvug being activated presently, calls upon

the awakening of the new Feminine Waters...” Therefore, the meditation of the theurgist 121

118 B.T. Yevamot, 33a-­34b. 119 Zohar, 2:99b and 2:100a-­b. 120 Kallus, 248-­9. 121 Kallus, 250.

46

during Qeri'at Shema is to place himself metaphysically within the first coupling to permit him

the ability to activate the second coupling, which is possible of impregnating the female and of

achieving a new level of tiqqun, fixing of the cosmic realm.

In Sefer Ha-­Kavvanot in Sha’ar Qeri'at Shema, Ḥayyim Vital explained the first coupling

and its purpose in relation to the second coupling utilizing Biblical characters who represent

sefirot in the Zohar. The Zohar explained in the section of Va-­Yetse, that Rachel’s two sons,

Joseph and Benjamin, each represent the tsaddiq, the righteous one. Joseph is considered the

uppermost tsaddiq because he resisted sexual temptation and is therefore the representation of

Yesod, i.e. the foundation, which is also represented by the phallus. Benjamin is viewed as the 122

lower tsaddiq, for all the days that Joseph was in captivity in Egypt he did not engage in sexual

activity. 123

Vital explained that Joseph represents the masculine waters while Benjamin represents

the feminine waters. Vital, in describing both Joseph and Benjamin, and a third Biblical

character Benaiah ben Jehoiada, stated that all three are considered a tsaddiq for they were all

rooted in the masculine waters which is “the spirit that the man gave to the woman during the

first sexual act. ” It is beyond the scope of this thesis to fully explain the cosmological system 124

that Vital depicts here, yet this work will focus on one aspect to properly explain the practice to

cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand.

122 Zohar, 153b. 123 Ibid. 124 Sefer Ha-­Kavvnot [HaYashan], Sha’ar Qeri'at Shema 69 (Jerusalem: Ahavat Shalom Press, 2004), (Acc. Otzar HaHochma, p.95-­6, Oct. 2015). http://www.otzar.org.resources.library.brandeis.edu/wotzar/book.aspx?150204.

47

The intention of Qeri'at Shema, as stated above, is first to focus on the original sexual act.

Vital explained this union with regards to the figure Benjamin. Benjamin’s name can be

explained as the combination of the two words בן ימין, meaning ‘son of the right’. Vital

understood this name within its kabbalistic interpretation and wrote:

פי' בן ימין, כי ב''ן הוא שם ב''ן הנז', והוא ימין כי הוא נותן לה מן הזכר בביאה ראשונה,

כי דכורא נקרא ימין סוד חסד, ונקבא נקרא שמאל עטרא דגבורה. וכל זה רמוז בפרשת

ויצא ענין רחל דיתבא בין תרין צדיקים. ואמנם כל אותם צדיקים שהם מעלין מעלין

125 מ''ן נקראים על שם בנימין…

The explanation of Ben Yamin, for Be’’N is the name Ba’’N as mentioned

[above], and he is the Right for he gives her from the male during the first

coupling, for man is called the Right in the secret of ḥesed, while the female is

called the Left, the crown of gevurah. And all of this is hinted at in the section

titled Va-­Yetse with regards to Rachel who sat between two righteous men. And

therefore, all of the righteous ones that raise the Feminine Waters are called by

the name Benjamin.

The name Benjamin received a theosophical significance in Lurianic Kabbalah connoting

the one who engages in the first coupling. The first two letters of Benjamin’s name are equal to

the kabbalistic B’’aN, refering to its gematria, or numerical value, which is fifty-­two. This is the

same value as the tetragrammaton name of God, YHVH, when each letter is spelled out with

125 Ibid.

48

certain Hebrew letters. For example, yud is spelled with the letters yud, vav, and dalet. Then

these three letters are added together:

י = יוד = 20

ה = הה = 10

ו = וו = 12

ה = הה = 10

52 =

When one repeats this process for each letter of YHVH, then it equals fifty-­two, or B’’aN. B’’aN

is the primordial feminine aspect, which must unite with the primordial masculine aspect, M’’ah,

to effect a complete tiqqun. Benjamin, therefore, is the person whose name connotes the 126

unification of the feminine B’’aN, the left, with the masculine M’ah, the right. This person,

importantly, is represented in the human form by any righteous individual capable of effectuating

this union.

As Vital wrote, this unification is described in the Zohar with regards to a passage that

describes Rachel as sitting between two righteous people. Rachel, who is the kavvanah of the

Beautiful Maiden during Shema, also appears here as the embodiment of the Sabbatical year,

shemittah. This is because Jacob worked for an additional seven years to marry Rachel, who

symbolizes both the lower world and the Shekhinah, known as the Sabbatical, which is a seven

year period. The two righteous people who Rachel is situated between are her sons who are 127

symbolized by Yesod, the foundation or phallus. The Zoharic passage continues:

126 Afilalo, 77-­8. 127 Matt, 2:356.

49

רחל אולידת תרין צדיקים והכי אתחזי הא שמטה דבין תרי צדיקי יתבא לעלמין דכתיב

צדיק לעילא וצדיק לתתא. צדיק לעילא מניה נגדן מיין עלאין. 'צדיקים ירשו ארץ' 128

צדיק לתתא מניה נבעה נוקבא מיא לגבי דכורא בתיאובתא שלים. 129

Rachel gave birth to two righteous ones, fittingly so, for Shemittah dwells

constantly between two righteous ones, as is written: The righteous will inherit

the land -­ Upper Tsaddiq and Lower Tsaddiq. From Upper Tsaddiq, She obtains

supernal water, from Lower Tsaddiq, female emits water toward male in

consummate desire. 130

The final line in this Zoharic passage refers to the ‘Righteous One above’, who is Joseph

symbolized by Yesod, the phallus, pouring his emission into the Shekhinah. The Shekhinah then

receives Her passion for Her partner Tiferet, who is represented by Jacob, through the righteous

one below. The righteous one below is Benjamin, who as stated above, is any righteous 131

individual performing the theurgical practices. The combination of liquids, the Mayin Nuqkvin

and the Mayin Dukhrin, is the purpose of the Shema in Lurianic Kabbalah. This allows for the

ultimate unification of the male and female divine sides during the Amidah.

The primordial unification between the B’’aN and the M’’ah is accomplished through a

righteous one who is capable of generating the proper kavvanot to unite the cosmological

structures. The unification that occurs during Qeri'at Shema is done on account of the theurgist

128 Book of Psalms, 37:29. 129 Zohar, 153b. 130 Translation from Matt, 2:356-­7. 131 Ibid. 357.

50

who is capable of providing for the Feminine Configuration the masculine waters. Vital refers to

him as Benjamin because he represents the Right, or masculine, side. It is therefore plausible

that the one who does this act effectuates it utilizing their right side, i.e. their right hand.

Tzitzit in Your Left Hand

Luria covered his eyes with his right hand and held his tzitizit in his left hand. The

custom to hold one’s tzitzit, the four fringes of a ritual shawl, i.e. tallit, is a practice that is

documented as early as the ninth century. This custom emerged on account of the third

paragraph of the Shema that mentions the word tzitzit multiple times. The history of this 132

custom’s acceptance and opposition has been documented by Zimmer and will only be 133

discussed here as it pertains to the custom of Isaac Luria to cover his eyes with his right hand and

hold his tzitzit with his left. The question that this section will address is what did the custom to

cover one’s eyes with both hands look like when people held their tzitzit in their left hand, and

subsequently what did it look like for Luria who used his right hand to cover his eyes.

The custom to hold one’s tzitzit during the Shema was opposed by the Geonim and many

rabbinic figures throughout the Medieval period because it was viewed as yuhara, i.e. excessive

religiosity, because it was a pious act that was not obligatory. In Medieval Spain, works

included a custom to look at one’s tzitzit when reciting the third paragraph of the Shema as a way

to maneuver around the claim of yuhara connected to holding the fringes. Meir of Rothenberg

(1220-­1293), known by the acronym Maharam, was a German rabbi and author of many

Talmudic commentaries and responsa. The Maharam is recorded to have held his tzitzit in his

left hand opposite his heart during Qeri'at Shema. Similarly, Mordechai ben Hillel

132 Numbers 15:37-­41. 133 Zimmer, 349-­58.

51

(c.1250-­1298), known as the Mordechai, was a German rabbi who wrote a commentary on the

Talmud and advocated to his sons that they should hold their tzitzit during the Shema. 134

In the Shulkhan Arukh, Karo documented both a practice to hold tzitzit during the entire

recitation of the Shema, and another one to look at them during the paragraph about the tzitzit

and to place them on one’s eyes when one says ‘you shall see them. ’ Karo wrote in regards to 135

the first practice:

מצוה לאחוז הציצית ביד שמאלית כנגד לבו בשעת קריאת שמע, רמז לדבר 'והיו

136 הדברים האלא וגו' על לבבך.'

It is a mitzvah to hold the fringes [of the tallit] with your left hand opposite

your heart during the recitation of the Shema, as it is hinted [in the verse], “And

these words...upon your heart. ” 137

Karo’s language of mitzvah, i.e. commandment, stresses his opinion that one should hold

their tzitzit during the Shema, which was the prevalent custom in the Land of Israel. The 138

question that arises from this text, however, is where did Karo place his left hand while holding

his tzitzit during the opening line of the Shema. Did he cover his eyes with both hands while

holding his tzitzit, or did he only use his right hand to cover his face? First, it is important to

distinguish between the language of mitzvah and nohagin, i.e. accustomed. The former is used in

regards to holding one’s fringes, while the latter is utilized in the section stating to cover one’s

134 Ibid. 351-­2. 135 Numbers 15:39. 136 Shulkhan Arukh, Oraḥ Ḥayyim, 24:2. 137 Deut. 6:6. 138 Zimmer, 352-­3.

52

face with both hands during the first line of the Shema. The forceful language of ‘mitzvah,’

regarding the custom that was viewed by many as an act of excessive religiosity, can perhaps be

viewed as a firm rejection of those who opposed this practice. Furthermore, it may point to the

possibility that this custom was practiced by Karo and others, while the custom to cover one’s

eyes was only practiced by a minority of people.

The source for the practice to hold one’s tzitzit opposite one’s heart is found in Midrash

Tehillim, also known as Shoḥer Tov. This early Medieval work first appeared in the eleventh

century and contains within it many homiletical stories including one that was utilized as the

source for this custom by Meir Ha-­Kohen of Rothenberg (c.1260-­1298) in his Hagahot

u’Teshuvot Maimoniyot, and then cited in Karo’s Beit Yosef. This homily provides a 139 140

conversation between King David and God in which David described the commandments that

are associated with various parts of the human body. It states in Midrash Tehillim:

בחזה שימת ציצית כנגד הלב כל זמן שאני קורא את שמע שנאמר 'והיו הדברים האלא

אשר אנכי מצוך היום על לבבך.'... יד שמאל אני קושר בה תפילין, ובה אני אוחז ציציותי

141 בזמן קריאת שמע.

On [my] chest are placed [my] fringes opposite [my] heart everytime that I recite

the Shema, as it states, “And these words that I command you today shall be upon

139 Meir Ha-­Kohen, Hagahot u’Teshuvot Maimoniyot, “Laws of Tzitzit” 3:2-­4 (Warsaw, 1880) (Acc. Bar-­Ilan Responsa http://www.responsa.co.il/default.aspx Oct. 27, 2015). 140 Yosef Karo, Beit Yosef, Oraḥ Ḥayyim 24:2-­4 (Machon Yerushalaim Edition, Israel 1993-­4) (Acc. Bar-­Ilan Responsa http://www.responsa.co.il/default.aspx Oct. 27, 2015). 141 Midrash Tehillim, ed. Buber (Vilna, 1891) 35:2 (Acc. Bar-­Ilan Responsa http://www.responsa.co.il/default.aspx Oct. 27, 2015).

53

your heart. ”... [On] my left hand (arm) I don my tefillin, and with [my left 142

hand] I hold my fringes during the recitation of the Shema.

This story was cited by Meir Ha-­Kohen of Rothenberg and Karo as the source for holding

one’s tzitzit opposite one’s heart during Qeri'at Shema. This homily does not contain any custom

to cover one’s eyes during Qeri'at Shema, as it was written before the custom developed.

As to what the custom looked like, the first possibility is that the practice to cover one’s

face was not required by Karo, as opposed to holding one’s fringes which was considered a

mitzvah, therefore many people may have not covered their face at all. However, those that did

practice both customs may have either brought their left hand up to their face with their fringes

when covering their face with both hands, or they kept their left hand at their heart and solely

used their right hand to cover their face. Lastly, an individual may have held their tzitzit for the

third paragraph of the Shema, yet not throughout the entire Shema.

Although this homily and the Shulkhan Arukh state to hold one’s tzitzit opposite one’s

heart during Qeri'at Shema, there is no textual evidence that only one’s right hand was used to

cover one’s face. The Shulkhan Arukh stated to cover one’s face with one’s hands, therefore it

appears likely that a person who practiced both customs brought their left hand with their tzitzit

to their face along with their right hand. Furthermore, Ḥayyim Vital wrote that Isaac Luria, who

also held his tzitzit opposite his heart, covered his eyes specifically with his right hand, connoting

that this was not the practice before Luria. This cannot be proven without textual documentation

142 Deut. 6:6. 54

stating definitively otherwise, yet it is highly probable that both hands were used, even when

holding one’s tzitzit in one’s left hand to cover one’s face.

55

Chapter Three

Spread of Luria’s Custom to the Present

Introduction

The study of the dissemination of a custom within Judaism requires certain fundamental

questions to be addressed. In the study of kabbalistic customs, Ḥalamish addressed the

fundamental question as to the process of how a certain custom was accepted into a community.

There are times when a custom was introduced by the laypersons of a community, and other

times when a leader, perhaps a rabbi or a kabbalist, introduced a custom. In either 143

circumstance, it is evident that the members of the community must practice the custom for it to

ever be considered a communal practice, while at times, rabbinic leadership can be opposed to

such innovations.

The custom to cover one’s eyes during Qeri'at Shema with one’s right hand will be

analyzed utilizing Ḥalamish’s model of inquiry. The extent to which Luria innovated this

custom has been addressed, and the question to be analyzed in this chapter is how did Luria’s

custom emerge as a universal Jewish practice. The analysis of this question will involve tracing

the spread of this custom through early kabbalistic works on Luria’s practices followed by major

commentaries on the Shulkhan Arukh. In the study of customs, there is always the possibility,

and the high probability, that any given custom was practiced and not documented, yet this field

of study can only address customs that were documented. Many manuscripts and works that

include customs, however, do assist in measuring whether a given custom was practiced in a

143 Moshe Ḥalamish, “Meqomah shel ha-­Kabbalah be-­Minhag,” in Ha-­Ḳabalah: Ba-­Tefilah,

Ba-­Halakhah uva-­Minhag, 287.

56

geographical region, or was only then introduced, due to the descriptive nature of many texts.

This chapter will trace the spread of the custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand, yet

will not do so in an encyclopedic fashion.

Vital’s Manuscripts

Isaac Luria’s custom of covering his eyes with his right hand during Qeri'at Shema began

to spread through the writings of Ḥayyim Vital. Vital, as described above, was Luria’s primary

student through which most of Luria’s teachings emerged following Luria’s death in Safed in

1572. Most of Luria’s kabbalistic system and interpretations of the Zohar are known through

Vital’s writings and a few other students of Luria’s including Yosef Tabul, Moshe Yonah, and

Yehuda Romano. Most of the writings of Isaac Luria remained in manuscript form for 144

one-­hundred and fifty years after the death of Luria, except for a condensed version of Vital’s

Sefer Ha-­Kavvanot published in Venice in 1620 by Yehuda Romano. 145

Ḥayyim ben Joseph Vital was born and raised in Safed and became a student of Isaac

Luria in the fall of 1570, a few months after Cordovero died. In the less than two year period

that Vital was a student of Luria, Vital emerged as the chief student of Isaac Luria and the main

documenter of his kabbalistic system. During Luria’s lifetime, Vital wrote Quntras ha-­Kitsur,

notes on the teachings of Isaac Luria that he later utilized and occasional quoted directly to write

his major work, Ets Ḥayyim. Following the death of Isaac Luria, Vital began the process of 146

144 Avivi, 1:37. 145 Ibid. 37. 146 Yaʻaḳov Mosheh Hillel, Ḳunṭres Kitvuni le-­dorot: bo yevoʾar seder hishtalshelut ketivat

ṿa-­ʻarikhat torat ha-­Ari zal u-­mesiratam la-­dorot. uve-­sofo Pitḥe sheʻarim, ṿe-­hu mafteaḥ

meforaṭ li-­sheʻare u-­firḳe ha-­sefer ha-­ḳadosh ʻEts Ḥayim la-­daʻat motsaʾam u-­meḳoram be-­sifre

ha-­R.Ḥ.Ṿ. zal, (Jerusalem: Makhon le-­hotsaʾat sefarim ṿe-­khitve-­yad "Ahavat-­shalom" 1991)

4-­6.

57

collecting and organizing the teachings of Luria not only through Vital’s own writings, but also

by reading and checking other documents from his colleagues. Vital’s Ets Ḥayyim was 147

systematically organized into eight volumes consisting of a compilation of writings from Luria,

Vital, and other students.

Vital fervently believed that it was forbidden to spread Lurianic Kabbalah and even had

twelve students, nine of whom were students of Luria, and three others who knew of Luria’s

kabbalah, sign a document swearing to never reveal Luria’s teachings. Vital instructed his son 148

Shmuel to never publish the Lurianic manuscripts, and that only those who came to their home

could gain access to the mystical writings. Additionally, Vital buried many documents in a 149

cemetery in Safed and in Hebron as well. Rabbi Yosef Tabul, a student of Isaac Luria, did not

go to such extreme lengths as to not publish Luria’s work, but rather placed a warning at the

front of his books informing readers to not read the work if they were not of among the

mystically initiated. Although Vital attempted to conceal Luria’s teachings, the writings of 150

Isaac Luria and Ḥayyim Vital began to spread in 1587, nearly fifteen years after the passing of

Isaac Luria.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Nun, a student of Vital’s, paid Ḥayyim Vital’s brother a large sum

of money to borrow the manuscripts for three days, in which period he hired one hundred scribes

to copy nearly six hundred pages. Although this story, which appears in a letter written by 151

Rabbi Shlumiel Midrenzizh to Rabbi Yissachar Ber Mekriminch in 1608, is likely to be

147 Ibid. 8-­9. 148 Avivi, 1:38. 149 Ibid. 38-­9. 150 Ibid. 39. 151 Ibid. 41-­42.

58

apocryphal, it is true that at this time Lurianic Kabbalah began to disseminate amongst the

kabbalists in the Land of Israel to rabbinic scholars such as Menaḥem Lonzano (c.1550-­1608)

and Isaiah Horowitz (c.1565-­1630), known by the name of his book as the Shelah ha-­Kadosh. 152

In Italy as early as 1600, manuscripts with the teachings of Isaac Luria began to spread

amongst the kabbalistic elite. In Ashkenaz as well, Lurianic Kabbalah was known and studied 153

by kabbalists in Frankfurt via Italian manuscripts, as well as by kabbalists in Poland from

manuscripts from the Land of Israel. Between 1612 and 1618, Rabbi Yehuda ha-­Kohen 154

published writings in Cracow and in Prague which included Lurianic kavvanot. By the 1670’s, 155

small pamphlets containing Lurianic customs, not doctrines, began to spread as a result of the

pervasiveness of Sabbateanism, a Jewish Messianic movement. It was not, however, Lurianic 156

customs or doctrines that led the masses to Sabbateanism. 157

The spread of Lurianic customs from the seventeenth century and onward did not

accompany a spread in Lurianic doctrines among the masses. Zeev Gries, a scholar of the

history of Jewish publications and kabbalah, explained that although there was an increase in the

publication of kabbalistic literature in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, these works

required prior knowledge unavailable to the uninitiated Jew, and were not written as introductory

152 Ibid. 42. 153 Ibid. 44. 154 Ibid. 488. 155 Ibid. 156 Zeev Gries, The Book in the Jewish World 1700-­1900 (Portland, Oregon: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2007) 5. 157 Ibid. See Zeev Gries, The Literature of Customs: Its History and Place in the Life of the Followers of the Besht (Heb.), (Jerusalem, 1990.) xv-­xvii, 42-­5, 56-­7, 81-­6, 91. See Moshe Idel, “One from a Town, Two from a Clan: The Diffusion of Lurianic Kabbala and Sabbateanism: A Re-­Examination,” Jewish History, Vol. 7, No.2, Fall 1993, 79-­104.

59

works to kabbalah. The works that will be discussed in this chapter are mainly books on 158

Lurianic customs and halakhic commentaries, not dense kabbalistic literature.

Early Works on Lurianic Customs

One of the earliest works to compile the customs of Isaac Luria was Jacob ben Ḥayyim

Ẓemaḥ’s Nagid u-­Metsaṿeh. Jacob ben Ḥayyim Ẓemaḥ (d. after 1665), a Portuguese Jew born to

a Converso family, moved to Safed in the early seventeenth century. In 1628, Ẓemaḥ traveled 159

to Damascus to study with the kabbalist Shmuel Vital, the son of Luria’s main student, Ḥayyim

Vital. It was in Damascus where Ẓemaḥ composed two versions of Nagid u-­Metsaṿeh in 160

1637-­8;; first in a condensed version, then in a much longer detailed work. Ẓemaḥ’s abridged 161

version of Nagid u-­Metsaṿeh was first published in Amsterdam in 1712, while the longer work

remained in manuscript. In Nagid u-­Metsaṿeh it states: 162

כשיאמר שמע יסגור עיניו בידו הימנית בסוד עולימתא שפירתא דלית לה עיינין כנז'

בסבא דמשפטי' וזה נאמר על רחל שהי' העולה עתה מ''ן ובידו השמאלית יאחז הד'

כנפות כנז''ל. 163

When one recites the Shema, one should cover their eyes with their right hand, in

the secret of ‘Olimta Shapirta d’let lah eyanin, as it states in Sava d’Mishpatim.

And this is in reference to Rachel for she has now risen to the aspect of Mayin

158 Gries, The Book in the Jewish World 1700-­1900, 72-­73. 159 Moshe Ḥalamish, “Ẓemaḥ, Jacob ben Ḥayyim,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 21:505. 160 Ibid. 161 Avivi, 2:594-­5. 162 Ḥalamish, “Ẓemaḥ, Jacob ben Ḥayyim,” 505. 163 Jacob ben Ḥayyim Ẓemaḥ, Nagid u-­Metsaṿeh (Amsterdam, 1712) 25b.

60

Nukvin, and with your left hand hold the four corners [of the tallit], as stated

above.

Ẓemaḥ’s instructions regarding covering one’s eyes during Qeri'at Shema are nearly

identical to the language used in Vital’s writings. This is not surprising, as Ẓemaḥ studied under

Vital’s son, who was the inheritor of Vital’s manuscripts. The work was subsequently further 164

condensed by students of Jacob Ẓemaḥ into the work titled Shulkhan Arukh ‘al Derekh ha-­Emet.

This version has a few differences in the order of daily rituals, yet overall is very similar to

Ẓemaḥ’s original work. Shulkhan Arukh ‘al Derekh ha-­Emet is significant as one of the first 165

publications of Luria’s customs in Europe, as it was published circa 1660 in Prague, before 166

Nagid u-­Metsaṿeh was published, under the title Shulkhan Arukh shel Rebbi Yitzhak Luria. 167

The compiler of Shulkhan Arukh shel Rebbi Yitzḥak Luria is unknown, yet the

manuscripts are written in an Ashkenazic script, implying that it was composed by an

Ashkenazic Jew. This work is very important in the spread of Lurianic customs in Europe as it 168

was utilized by various European rabbinic scholars in writing their halakhic works, as will be

described below. This text is very similar to the one found in both Vital’s writings and in Nagid

u-­Metsaṿeh. In Shulkhan Arukh ‘al Derekh ha-­Emet it states:

164 Avivi, 1:38-­9. 165 Avivi, 2:670-­1. 166 Avivi, 3:1553. 167 Avivi, 2:752. 168 Ibid.

61

כשיאמר שמע יסגור עיניו בידו הימנית בסוד עולימתא שפירתא דלית לה עיינא כנזכר

בסבא דמשפטים וזהו נאמר על רחל שהיא עולה עתה מ''ן ובידו השמאלית יאחז ד'

169 ציצית כנ''ל:

When one says Shema one should cover their eyes with their right hand in the

secret of the Beautiful Maiden who has no eyes, as found in Sava d’Misphatim.

And this is in regards to Rachel, for she has now risen to the Mayin Nuqvin. And

in one’s left hand, one should hold their four fringes [of the tallit], as written

above.

Dissemination in Ashkenaz

The custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand began to spread in Ashkenazic

lands in the seventeenth century due to various halakhic commentaries. Following the

publication of the Shulkhan Arukh in the mid-­sixteenth century, many rabbis in Ashkenaz began

to write commentaries on Karo’s work. The earliest one was Moses Isserles (1530-­1572), whose

gloss was inserted into the publications of Karo’s text by the late sixteenth century in order to

recognize European practices when they differed from the Sephardic rite. Isserles did not

comment on the section regarding the custom to cover one’s eyes with both hands, yet other

European rabbis did so in their works.

Before delving into the dissemination of the custom among European Jewry, it is

important to briefly recognize the kabbalistic transformation that began to occur in European

legal commentaries. In various Ashkenazic legal texts that were published in the seventeenth

169 Shulkhan Arukh shel Rebbi Yitzḥak Luria (Jerusalem: Yeshivat ha-­Meḳubalim "Shaʻar ha-­Shamayim," 1961) 49.

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century, kabbalistic interpretations and Lurianic customs began to appear. This can be attributed,

in large part, to the publication of Shulkhan Arukh shel Rebbi Yitzhak Luria in Prague circa 1660.

Rabbi Avraham Gombiner (c. 1637-­1683), wrote a commentary on the Oraḥ Ḥayyim section of

the Shulkhan Arukh titled the Magen Avraham completed in 1670-­1, and first published in 170

1692. This work became a monumental commentary on the Shulkhan Arukh, as it was 171

published alongside Karo’s text, and was studied by Ashkenazic Jews. This work made

extensive usage of the Zohar and the writings of Isaac Luria. In particular, Gombiner utilized 172

the decade-­old work Shulkhan Arukh shel Rebbi Yitzhak Luria in his commentary, thereby 173

introducing the work and Luria’s customs into conventional Ashkenazic legal writings. He does

not, however, document the custom to utilize one’s right hand.

Another prime example of the introduction of kabbalah into halakhic works is Rabbi

Mordecai Jaffe’s (1530-­1612) Levush Malkhut, a ten-­volume code of law published between

1594 and 1604 consisting of both Ashkenazic halakha and customs with kabbalistic

explanations. In the Levush Malkhut the custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand is 174

not recorded, and moreover Isaac Luria is never mentioned. This is in line with the fact that

Luria was not yet widely known in Ashkenaz, nor were there any publications of his customs. In

the Levush it states:

170 Avivi, 2:894. 171 Shmuel Ashkenazi, “Gombiner, Abraham Abele ben Ḥayyim Ha-­Levi,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 7:746-­7. 172 Chaim Tchernowitz, Toledot Ha-­Poskim: History of the Jewish Codes, The History of Hebrew Law in the period of its codification: the codifiers and the codes, their principles and methods, from the Geonim to the Shulhan Aruk and its commentators. 3 vols., (New York: The Jubilee Committee, 1946) 3:172.

173 The text is never cited by name. For a discussion on this topic see Joseph Avivi, Ḳabalat ha-­Ari, 2:753. 174 Ephraim Kupfer, “Jaffe, Mordecai ben Abraham,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 11:67-­68.

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וגם נוהגין ליתן ידיהם על פניהם בקריאת פסוק ראשון, כדי שלא יסתכל בדבר אחר

175 שמונעו מלכוין.

And we are also accustomed to place our hands on our face during the recitation

of the first verse of Shema, in order that one not look at something else that would

disturb one’s concentration.

This explanation, is very similar to the Shulkhan Arukh’s language and aids in illustrating

that the custom to utilize only one hand was not practiced in Ashkenaz at this time. It appears

that by the turn of the seventeenth century, the custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand

was not practiced in Europe.

One of the earliest figures to insert Luria’s custom into a commentary on the Shulkhan

Arukh was the Polish rabbi Menaḥem Mendel ben Meshullam Auerbach (1620-­1689) in his

Ateret Zeqenim, first published in Dyhernfurth in 1720. In this commentary, Auerbach wrote 176

with regards to the custom recorded in the Shulkhan Arukh:

177 לעיל כתבתי סימן ס' לסגור עיניהם דווקא ביד ימין

Above, I wrote in section 60 to cover one’s eyes specifically with one’s right

hand.

175 Mordecai ben Abraham Jaffe, Levush Malkhut, 5 vols. (Jerusalem, 2000) 1:107. 176 Yehoshua Horowitz, “Auerbach,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2:650. 177 Ateret Zeqenim 61:6 as found in the Shulkhan Arukh vol. 2, (Jerusalem: Hotsa’at Ketuvim, 1993) 19.

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This comment in Ateret Zeqenim instructs the reader to only utilize their right hand, and

not their left hand. The purpose for this mandate is not given here, but rather is explained in the

section preceding this passage. Unfortunately, the section mentioned here is not extant, as the

comments on the side of this version of the Shulkhan Arukh indicate in footnote 29 that the

comment is ‘not before us.’ It is most likely that he was referring to the Lurianic custom. 178

One of the earliest rabbinic figures to insert Luria’s custom to cover one’s eyes with

one’s right hand was Eliyahu Shapira (1660-­1712). Rabbi Shapira learned under the great

halakhist and commentator on the Shulkhan Arukh, Rabbi Gombiner. Rabbi Shapira authored

Eliyahu Zuta, which is a commentary on Rabbi Jaffe’s Levush Malkhut published with the

Levush Malkhut in Prague in 1689, and Eliyahu Rabbah, which was posthumously published

with the Shulkhan Arukh by his son in Sulzbach in 1757. The custom does not appear in Rabbi 179

Shapira’s Eliyahu Zuta, but does appear in Eliyahu Rabbah. The reason for its absence in

Eliyahu Zuta is unclear, yet Rabbi Shapira did have access to Lurianic customs, as he mentions

Lurianic practices in various other places in his work. 180

The text from Eliyahu Rabbah is not only important for the spread of Luria’s custom, but

it also contains within it Rabbi Shapira’s inquiry into a question that is similar to one prompting

this thesis. Rabbi Shapira was puzzled by the language utilized in both the Arba’ah Turim, or

Tur, of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher, and Rabbi Yosef Karo’s Shulkhan Arukh with regard to covering

one’s eyes during Qeri'at Shema. The language in both of these works explicitly reference

178 Hagahot v’HeArot 61:29 in the Shulkhan Arukh 2:19. 179 Itzhak Alfassi, “Shapira, Elijah ben Benjamin Wolf,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica 18:400.

180 A search on Bar Ilan Responsa yields results for Isaac Luria.

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covering one’s eyes with both hands, written in the Hebrew plural form, yet the Lurianic custom

in the Shulkhan Arukh ha-­Ari explicitly states to use one’s right hand:

ליתן ידיהם וכו'. וכ"כ בטור ובש"ע (סי' ס"א), ומשמע קצת שנותן שתי ידיו על עיניו.

אבל לשון הש"ע מהר"י לורי"א [ה' ק"ש ס"ב] זה לשונו,יסגור עיניו בידו הימנית, ובידו

השמאלית יאחז ד' ציציות, ע"כ. ואולי הש"ע והלבוש בק"ש של ערבית מיירי שאין

לוקחין הציצית ביד, ודחוק. גם אפשר דלשון ידיהם דעלמא קאמר ומיירי ביד אחת. וכן

משמע במהרי"ל הל' תפלה [אות א] זה לשונו, הניח ידיו על עיניו עד שיסיים כוונת אחד

181 ע"כ.

To place their hands etc. And so to is written in the Tur and in the Shulkhan

Arukh (Section 61). This seems to imply that one places two hands upon his eyes.

But the Shulkhan Arukh of our teacher Isaac Luria [Laws of Qeri'at Shema 62]

state, ‘Cover his eyes with his right hand, and with his left hand hold the four

fringes [of the tallit].’ Perhaps the Shulkhan Arukh and the Levush are referring

to the Qeri'at Shema in the evening, when one does not gather the fringes in one’s

hand, but this is a weak argument. Perhaps the word ‘hands’ simply refer to one

hand. And this is how it is used in the Maharil’s Laws of Prayers [section 1], ‘he

placed his hand(s) on his eyes and covered them until he completed concentrating

on the word eḥad.'

181 Eliyahu Shapira, Eliyahu Rabbah, ed. Zichron Aharon, Laws of Shema 61:7 (Jerusalem, 2004) (Acc. Bar Ilan Responsa Project http://www.responsa.co.il/default.aspx Oct. 13, 2015).

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Rabbi Shapira raised two possible explanations for the disparity between the works. His

first solution suggests that perhaps the texts stating to utilize both hands were written regarding

the evening prayers. This is because when one recites the Shema at night, one does not hold the

fringes with one’s left hand, thereby having both hands readily available to cover one’s eyes.

Shapiro rejects this suggestion due to its feebleness as an argument, for neither of these texts are

specifically referring to the evening Shema.

Rabbi Shapira’s second solution is a linguistic one that theorizes that the word ‘hands,’ in

the plural, really only means one hand. Shapira based this explanation in the Sefer Maharil

where it is recorded, as discussed in chapter one, that the Maharil covered his eyes with his

hands during Qeri'at Shema. He understood this text, which states ‘hands’ as referring to only

one hand. This explanation seems to be unsubstantiated by the language in Sefer Maharil.

Rabbi Shapira himself, does not seem fully comfortable with his second suggestion either, as he

introduced the solution with the word ‘perhaps.’

Nevertheless, Rabbi Shapira’s observation regarding the disparity between the written

texts is noteworthy as it indicates that the custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand was

seemingly not the explicit custom documented in the Arba’ah Turim, the Shulkhan Arukh, or the

Levush Malkhut. Rabbi Shapira’s attempt to reconcile these different texts is characteristic of the

innovation inherent within Luria’s custom. Furthermore, the line ‘This seems to imply that one

places two hands on their eyes,’ can be read in two possible ways. One way is to state that Rabbi

Shapira is merely commenting on the texts and setting the stage for solving its linguistic

disparity with the Lurianic text.

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However, a second approach to this line is that perhaps Rabbi Shapira is posing a

rhetorical question about whether it can even be possible that the Tur, the Shulkhan Arukh, and

the Levush Malkhut could even imply that one utilize two hands to cover one’s eyes. This

question is logical in a setting where the predominant, if not ubiquitous, custom in that region

was to utilize one’s right hand, and nearly no one was using two hands. Rabbi Shapira was born

nearly a century after the death of Isaac Luria, and Eliyahu Rabbah was first published in 1757,

at which point the custom may have obtained near universal status in European lands. As stated

above, it appears the custom was not practiced in Europe circa 1600, however it may have

become widely disseminated through the Shulkhan Arukh shel Rebbi Yitzhak Luria published in

1660, and Nagid u-­Metsaṿeh published in 1712.

Luria’s custom is found in Isaiah Horowitz’s work Shnei Luḥot ha-­Berit. Horowitz

(c.1565-­1630), was a Central-­European rabbi and kabbalist who spent the last years of his life

living in the Land of Israel. His main work Shenei Luḥot ha-­Berit, Two Tablets of the Covenant,

first published in Amsterdam in 1649, is a halakhic and kabbalistic work on the Bible intended to

guide its readers to live an ethical Jewish life. Important for the study of the spread of 182

Lurianic Kabbalah, Horowitz was one of the main disseminators of Lurianic Kabbalah and

customs in much of Poland and the Germanic Lands. Horowitz, at times, discounted well 183

established customs of Ashkenaz in favor of Lurianic customs that he had witnessed in Safed. 184

182 Ḥaim Hillel Ben-­Sasson, “Horowitz, Isaiah ben Abraham Ha-­Levi,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 9:534-­7. 183 Elliot R. Wolfson, “The Influence of Luria on the Shelah,” in Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought, vol. 10, 423. 184 Ibid. 444-­5.

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In Horowitz’s siddur Sha'ar ha-­Shamayim first published in Amsterdam in 1717 by

Horowitz’s great-­grandson, Abraham ben Isaiah Horowitz, is found Luria’s custom. Horowitz 185

had access to the manuscripts written by Luria and Vital, and frequently referenced Lurianic 186

customs in his siddur. In a letter written upon his arrival to Jerusalem in 1622, Horowitz

explained that he has access to many Lurianic manuscripts that had been disseminated by Luria’s

students. Horowitz’s siddur, as it was first published in 1717, only began to impact European 187

Jewry in the early eighteenth century. Horowitz himself most probably practiced the custom to

cover one's eyes with one’s right hand, as he wrote the work and it was merely edited and

published by his great-­grandson. However, for the tracing of the custom’s dissemination, its date

of publication is more pertinent. In Horowitz’s siddur it states:

נוהגין ליתן ידיהם על פניהם בקריאת פסוק ראשון כדי שלא יסתכל בדבר אחר שמונעו

188 מלכוין. ובכתבי האר''י כ' כשיאמר שמע יסגור עיניו בידו הימנית עכ''ל.

We are accustomed to place our hands on our face while reciting the first verse

[of Shema] so that one should not look at anything else that can disturb one’s

concentration. And in the writings of the Arizal it states that ‘one should cover

their eyes with their right hand during the recitation of the Shema.’

The Ba’er Hetev is an early eighteenth century commentary on the Shulkhan Arukh

composed by two authors, one of whom was the German rabbi Yehudah ben Shimon Ashkenazi

185 Gotthard Deutsch, “Horowitz, Isaiah,” in The Jewish Encyclopedia, 6:465-­6. 186 Ben-­Sasson, “Horowitz, Isaiah ben Abraham Ha-­Levi,” 9:534-­7. 187 Avivi, 1:43. 188 Isaiah Horowitz, Siddur Sha’ar ha-­Shamayim, (Amsterdam, 1717), 217.

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(1730-­1770). He composed the section on Oraḥ Ḥayyim, where the custom of utilizing two

hands appears in the Shulkhan Arukh. In his commentary, Ashkenazi wrote:

ידיהם. ר''ל, יד ימין.189

Hands: That is to say, the right hand.

Rabbi Ashkenazi’s commentary on the Shulkhan Arukh with regards to covering one’s

eyes is representative of the way in which commentators on the Shulkhan Arukh began to

reinterpret the text in light of Luria’s custom. The commentators on the Shulkhan Arukh and

other halakhic works, such as Eliyahu Rabbah, were confronted with texts that seemingly strayed

from their common practices. For this reason, Rabbi Ashkenazi wrote in his commentary that

Karo meant to say ‘right hand,’ as the language רוצה לומר literally translates to, ‘he intended to

say.’ It would appear from these commentators that they are not attempting to prescribe a certain

custom, but they were rather describing the custom as they saw it, and perhaps unintentionally,

reinterpreted Karo’s work in light of their reality through sourcing it in Isaac Luria’s custom.

Ḥasidism

In the mid-­eighteenth century, Ḥasidism, a Jewish movement known for its ecstatic

prayer practices, emerged in southeastern Poland-­Lithuania. This movement was greatly

influenced by the kabbalah, and incorporated the liturgy and practices of Isaac Luria into their

prayer books. Ya’akov Yosef of Polonne (1710-­1784), was one of the main disciples of the 190

189 Yehudah ben Shimon Ashkenazi, Ba’er Hetev Oraḥ Ḥayyim 71:6 as found in the Shulkhan Arukh 18. 190 Avraham Rubinstein,“Ḥasidism,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 8:393.

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foundational figure of Ḥasidism, Israel ben Eliezer, known as the Ba’al Shem Tov

(c.1700-­1760). Ya’akov Yosef’s son, Avraham Shimson, composed a siddur in Rașcov in 191

1759-­60, according to the tradition of the Ḥasidim. In his commentary before the Qeri'at Shema

of the morning service, he recorded the custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand due to

the kavvanah on Rachel. He wrote: 192

תסגור עיניך ביד ימין בסוד עולימתא שפירתא דלית לה עיינין והיא רחל המעלה עתה

193 מ''נ ובידו שמאלית יאחז הד'' ציצית.

Close your eyes with your right hand in the secret of ‘Olimta Shapirta d’let lah

eyanin, for she is Rachel and has now risen to the aspect of Mayin Nukvin. And in

your left hand you should hold the four tzitzit.

Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-­1813) was the founder of the Ḥasidic dynasty known as

Ḥabad. He authored various works including the Shulkhan Arukh HaRav (1814), a halakhic

work based upon the Shulkhan Arukh intended for the emerging Ḥasidic movement that was

posthumously published, Likkutei Amarim (1797) known as the Tanya which expounds upon his

Ḥasidic philosophy, and Siddur Torah Ohr (1836), a prayer book based upon Isaac Luria’s

liturgical rite. In the Shulkhan Arukh HaRav, Shneur Zalman utilized the same text as is found 194

191 In present day Moldova, on the border with Ukraine.

192 Avraham Shimshon ha-­Kohen, Sidur ha-­Arizal Heikhal HaBeShT (1759-­60), (Bene Beraḳ: Siddur Ha-­Rash Press, 1995) [There are no page numbers in this book].

193 Ibid. 194 Avrum Stroll, “Shneur Zalman of Lyady,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica 18:501-­5.

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in the Shulkhan Arukh with regards to the custom to cover one’s face. Therefore, Shneur 195

Zalman did not distinguish between utilizing one’s right hand or using both hands. Although he

did not explicitly write that one should use their right hand, it appears that by the time Shneur

Zalman wrote his work, everyone was utilizing their right hand. Furthermore, as seen through

various commentators on the Shulkhan Arukh, the word ‘hands’ in a post-­Lurianic world, was

interpreted as meaning the right hand. This is most probably the intention of Shneur Zalman

when he wrote ‘hands’. Lastly, Shneur Zalman’s prayer book titled Siddur Torah Ohr was titled

Tehillat Hashem in later publications. When this work was published for the masses, i.e. with

translations and explanations of practices, in the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries,

the custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand was included. 196

Sephardic Lands

The spread of Luria’s custom in Sephardic lands, specifically the communities in North

Africa and the Middle East, is more difficult to trace. Although the first Hebrew printing press

in Constantinople, which was also the first printing press in the Ottoman empire, opened as early

as 1504, European cities soon surpassed Constantinople as centers of printing by the eighteenth

century. It was only in the eighteenth century when, as explained above, most works on 197

Lurianic customs began to be printed. It is therefore difficult to ascertain the extent to which

Sephardic communities came in contact with these earlier Lurianic works.

195 Shneur Zalman, Shulkhan Arukh HaRav, Oraḥ Ḥayyim 61:5. (New York: 2003), (Acc. Bar Ilan Responsa, http://www.responsa.co.il/default.aspx, Nov. 15, 2015). 196 Siddur Tehillas Hashem, (Brooklyn: Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, 2012) 154, (Acc. Otzar HaHochma, Nov. 15, 2015). http://www.otzar.org.resources.library.brandeis.edu/wotzar/Book.aspx?181526& 197 Gries, The Book in the Jewish World 1700-­1900, 4,7.

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Many of the major Sephardic rabbinic figures of the eighteenth century were greatly

influenced by the teachings of Isaac Luria. Shalom Sharabi (1720-­1777), known as the Rashash,

was a Yemenite-­born rabbi who formed a kabbalistic community in Jerusalem and wrote his own

prayer book based upon Lurianic kavvanot. His kavvanot for Qeri'at Shema reflect many of 198

Luria’s teachings, yet he never explicitly wrote to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand. It is

highly doubtful that he did not cover his eyes with his right hand, as he was a strong adherent to

Lurianic Kabbalah, yet there is no textual evidence that he did so.

A disciple of the Rashash was Ḥayyim Yosef David Azulai (1724-­1806), known as the

Ḥida, who was a prolific sephardic writer of dozens of works, and was famous for traveling

around Europe and North Africa in order to raise money for the Jewish community in

Jerusalem. He wrote a commentary on the Shulkhan Arukh titled Birkei Yosef (1774), where 199

he mentioned Lurianic customs in various places, yet he did not mention Luria’s custom to cover

one’s eyes with one’s right hand. Although he did not mention the custom to cover one’s eyes, it

would be remarkable if he also did not do so. He was greatly influenced by the teachings of

Isaac Luria, and as a kabbalist he would have not only read the works on Lurianic Kabbalah and

customs, but also the commentaries on the Shulkhan Arukh which mention the custom.

Yosef Ḥayyim (1833-­1909) was a Baghdadi rabbi who is known as the Ben Ish Ḥai for

his halakhic work by the same title. The Ben Ish Ḥai was considered the primary halakhic work

for the Jewish community of Baghdad and it contained many Lurianic customs. The Ben Ish 200

198 Yehuda Ratzaby, “Sharabi, Shalom,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 18:410-­1. 199 Moshe Shraga Samet, “Azulai, Ḥayyim Joseph David,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2:774-­5.

200 Sylvia G. Ḥaim, “Ḥayim, Yusef,” in Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North

Africa, ed. Philip Mattar, 2nd ed. 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004) 2:1012.

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Ḥai was significant in the popularization of kabbalistic practices and contemplations. This 201

work documented the custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand, without citing Luria, and

added that one should continue to cover one’s eyes until after the verse of ‘Barukh Shem.’ The

latter custom does not seem to appear in any work prior to the Ben Ish Ḥai. Although the Ben 202

Ish Ḥai did not cite Luria here, he did write that it is rooted in a ‘great secret,’ which regularly

refers to a kabbalistic source. It states:

ויסגור עיניו ביד ימינו בפסוק ראשון עד שישלים בשכמל''ו ויש סוד

203 בדבר.

And he should close (cover) his eyes with his right hand during the first

verse [of the Shema] until he completes [the line] Barukh Shem Kevod

Malkhuto le’Olam Va’ed, and there is a great secret in this.

In the Ben Ish Ḥai’s work titled Od Yosef Ḥai, the custom to cover one’s eyes is

attributed to Isaac Luria. He also wrote that one who merely shuts their eyes without using their

right hand is mistaken, and one ought to use their right hand. Furthermore, the Ben Ish Ḥai

described a custom that was practiced among Jews to use their right hand to grab their tallit, i.e.

prayer shawl, to cover their entire face. Although this particular practice was not addressed by

Luria, it is nonetheless a custom that should be practiced by all, according to the Ben Ish Ḥai,

because a custom of the Jewish people is considered legally binding. He wrote:

201 See Jonatan Meir, “Toward the Popularization of Kabbalah: R. Yosef Hayyim of Baghdad and

the Kabbalists of Jerusalem,” in Modern Judaism (2013) 33 (2): 148-­172, and see n. 7. 202 This should be examined in further research on this topic. 203 Yosef Ḥayyim, Ben Ish Ḥai, Shanah Rishonah. Parashat Va’era n. 6, (Jerusalem, 1976) 31.

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והנה נודע כי מנהגן של ישראל, כשקורין שמע וסוגרין העינים ביד ימין, אם הוא

בשחרית שלובשין טלית מכסין הפנים בטלית ומניחין יד ימין על עיניהם למעלה מן

הטלית, ודבר זה לא נתבאר בדברי רבינו האר''י ז''ל בשער הכונות, אך ודאי מנהגן של

ישראל תורה הוא וצריך כל אדם לעשות כן… ומה שמכסין בטלית הוא לחבוב מצוה

204 ולעורר ולישב ולכונן הכונה יותר.

And it is known that the custom of Israel, when we recite the Shema and close

(cover) our eyes with our right hand, if one is in the morning prayers, when we

wear a tallit, then one covers their face with the tallit and places their right hand

on their eyes on the upper part of the tallit. And this is not explained in the words

of our teacher Isaac Luria, may his memory be for a blessing, in Sha’ar

ha-­Kavvanot, yet certainly a custom of Israel is Torah, and everyone should do

it…. And with regards to covering [the face] with the tallit, it is to cherish the

mitzvah [of tzitzit] and to awaken, to dwell upon, and to establish a greater

concentration.

In Od Yosef Ḥai, the Ben Ish Ḥai, attempted to find the reason for Luria’s practice of

placing his right hand on his eyes. He suggested that the right hand symbolizes Ḥessed, i.e.

lovingkindness, while the left hand symbolizes Gevurah, i.e. strength. Rachel, who the

kavvanah of Shema is focused upon, is found in the mystical realm represented by Ḥessed, and

204 Yosef Ḥayyim, Od Yosef Ḥai, Parashat Va’era, (Jerusalem, 1961) 99-­100, (Acc. HebrewBooks.org

http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?sits=1&req=41237&st=%u05d1%u05d9%u05d3+%

u05d9%u05de%u05d9%u05df , Nov. 16, 2015).

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therefore one closes their eyes using the right hand which represents Ḥessed. This explanation 205

may account for the custom to use one’s right hand and appears to complement the findings of

this thesis, as written above.

Shem Tob Gaguine (1884-­1953) was a Moroccan-­born rabbi who lived in both Jerusalem

and England. In his work, Keter Shem Tob (1934), a work on customs and liturgies of different

Jewish committees, he commented that in the Land of Israel the custom was to cover their eyes

with their right hand in a way that their fingers spelled the three letter name of God, ‘Shaddai’.

This is performed by placing one’s three middle fingers on one’s forehead to form the letter shin,

curling one’s thumb inwards to form the letter dalet, and by bending one’s pinky inwards to form

the letter yud. Although Zimmer commented that the origin of this particular custom is 206

unknown, it is evident from this description that the custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s 207

right hand in the Land of Israel was practiced by the early twentieth century. Today, the custom

to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand, albeit with variations, is universal amongst Sephardic

Jews. 208

Twentieth Century Works

The beginning of the twentieth century ushered in the publication of two influential

works on Jewish law. The first was by Rabbi Jeḥiel Michal Epstein (1829-­1908) titled the Arukh

HaShulkhan, published over a twenty year time period completed in 1907. Epstein studied under

205 Yosef Ḥayyim, Od Yosef Ḥai, Parashat Va’era, 100. 206 Shem Tob Gaguine, Keter Shem Tob, 7 vols., (Jerusalem, 1933) 1:48-­9. 207 See Zimmer 362, n. 109. 208 See Herbert C. Dobrinsky, A Treasury of Sephardic Laws and Customs: The Ritual Practices of Syrian, Moroccan, Judeo-­Spanish and Spanish and Portuguese Jews of North America, (New York: Yeshiva University Press, 1986). Although this work focused on Sephardic Jews of North

America, the customs that each group practices represent their traditional minhagim. 76

the illustrious Rabbi Ḥayyim of Volozhin at the Volozhin Yeshiva and was subsequently

appointed the communal rabbi of Novogrudok, Belorussia in 1874. The other work was by 209

Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan (1838-­1933) titled the Mishnah Berurah, published in 1906. Rabbi

Kagan was referred to as the Ḥaftez Ḥayyim, named after his work by the same name on the

laws of speech, and headed the Radin Yeshiva in Raduń, Poland. Rabbi Epstein wrote in his

Arukh HaShulkhan:

המנהג בכל תפוצות ישראל לאמר שמע ישראל בקול רם כדי לעורר הכונה ואומרים

בהתפעלות ונוהגים ליתן ידיהם על פניהם בקריאת פסוק שמע ישראל ויש לזה ראיה

בגמרא י''ג: שאומר על רבינו הקדוש וכן ע''ש וזהו כדי שלא יסתכל בדבר אחר שמונעו

מלכוין ומשימין יד ימין על הפנים.210

The custom in the entire Diaspora is to say Shema Yisrael in a loud voice in order

to awaken one’s concentration, and we say it with enthusiasm. We are

accustomed to place our hands on our faces during the recitation of the first verse

of Shema Yisrael, and there is a proof text for this in the Talmud [Brakhot 13b.]

where it states regarding our Holy Rabbi [Yehudah], and see there. And this is in

order that one should not look at anything else that may disturb one’s

concentration. And we place our right hand on our face.

209 Yehoshua Horowitz, “Epstein, Jeḥiel Michal ben Aaron Isaac Ha-­Levi,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica 6:473. 210 Jeḥiel Michal Epstein, Arukh HaShulkhan, 8 vol. (New York: Saphrograph Co.) Oraḥ Ḥayyim 1:61:3.

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The Ḥaftez Ḥayyim wrote in his Mishnah Berurah on the word ‘hands’ in the Shulkhan

Arukh. He commented exactly the same way as the Ba’er Hetev:

211 ידיהם: ר''ל יד ימין.

Hands: That is to say, the right hand.

Both of these works reflect the practice of covering one’s eyes with one’s right hand. These

works, especially the Mishna Berurah, became widely known amongst Orthodox Jews in Europe

and subsequently became widely read in the United States and Israel. It was not due to their

influence that this custom spread, as it was already a universal custom, yet its codification within

these works reflect the custom’s prevalence as a widespread practice.

1980 to the Present

One of the most widely used English-­Hebrew prayer books among English-­speaking

Orthodox Jews is Mesorah Publications’ The Complete Artscroll Siddur (1984). This siddur 212

effectively replaced many other prayer books such as the Birnbaum Siddur, De Sola Pool, and

Singer siddur. In the The Complete Artscroll Siddur it states prior to Qeri'at Shema, “Recite 213

the first verse aloud, with the right hand covering the eyes, and intensely concentrate upon

accepting God’s absolute sovereignty.” 214

211 Yisrael Meir Kagan, Mishnah Berurah, 6 vols., (Jerusalem: 1990) 1:61, n.17. 212 Jeremy Stolow, “ArtScroll,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2:534-­5. 213 Ibid. 214 Nosson Scherman, The Complete Artscroll Siddur: Weekday/ Sabbath/ Festival, (Brooklyn: ArtScroll Mesorah Series, 1984) 90-­1.

78

Similar to the Mishna Berurah and others, it does not seem that this instruction is

prescribing a practice, as earlier works did, but is rather reflecting the common practice among

Jews to cover their eyes with their right hand. Furthermore, this siddur directs the reader to

additional laws regarding the recitation of the Shema in the back of the book where it states,

“While reciting the first verse, it is customary to cover the eyes with the right hand to avoid

distractions and enhance concentration. (O.C. 61:5).” Similar to the Ba’er Hetev and the 215

Mishna Berurah, it appears that ArtScroll has similarly imported Luria’s custom into the words

of the Shulkhan Arukh, without ever mentioning Isaac Luria. As previously mentioned, the 216

Shulkhan Arukh states to cover one’s eyes with one’s hands, not merely one’s right hand. It

appears that as Luria’s custom became a universal Jewish practice, the original kabbalistic

intentions and meaning were abandoned.

Rabbi Yitzḥak Yosef (1952-­present), the son of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef (1920-­2013) was

appointed the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel in 2013. He is the author of Yalkut Yosef, a

multivolume work on Sephardic law that was greatly influenced by his father’s legal rulings. In

the section on the laws of Qeri'at Shema published in 1986, he wrote:

נוהגים ליתן יד ימין על העינים בקריאת פסוק שמע ישראל, כדי שלא יסתכל בדבר אחר

217 שימנע לכוין.

215 Ibid. 983, Law 49. 216 ‘O.C.’ refers to the section of the Shulkhan Arukh titled Oraḥ Ḥayyim. Additionally, in the section on ‘General Laws of Prayer’ in the back of The Complete Artscroll Siddur, both the Shulkhan Arukh and the Mishnah Berurah are referenced. Here, in Law 49, it would have been more accurate to have referenced the Mishnah Berurah, not the Shulkhan Arukh, as the source for this custom, as the Mishnah Berurah states ‘right hand.’ 217 Yitzḥak Yosef, Yalkut Yosef: Oraḥ Ḥayyim Siman 46-­88. 61:4 (Jerusalem: 2004) 536.

79

We are accustomed to place our right hand on our eyes during the recitation of the

first verse of the Shema Yisrael, in order that one not look at something else that

would disturb one’s concentration.

Rabbi Yosef wrote in the explanatory notes on the page that the origins of this custom are

rooted in the story of Rabbi Yehudah and that in Sha’ar Ha-­Kavvanot it states

specifically to use one’s right hand. Furthermore, Rabbi Yosef described the custom to

hold one’s right hand in a manner to spell out the name of God, ‘Shaddai,’ with one’s

fingers. According to Yitzḥak Yosef, who quotes Ovadiah Yosef’s work Meor Yisrael,

this custom is rooted in a verse in the Book of Psalms that references the name of God

‘Shaddai.’ The verse states, 218

219 בפרש שדי מלכים בה תשלג בצלמון.

When Shaddai scattered the kings, it seemed like a snowstorm in Zalmon. 220

The origin of this custom and its derivation from this verse is not known. The custom

recorded in Yalkut Yosef reflected the prevalent custom of Sephardic to Jews to cover

their eyes with their right hand, and furthermore, to do so in a manner to spell God’s

name.

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Rabbinical Assembly published

Or Hadash in 2003, a commentary by Reuven Hammer on the Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat

218 Ibid. 219 Book of Psalms, 68:15 220 JPS Tanakh, 1492.

80

and Festivals. In this commentary, as well as the 2008 commentary by Hammer on the Siddur

Sim Shalom for Weekdays, it states:

“It is customary to cover one’s eyes with the right or dominant hand when reciting

the first verse of the Sh’ma, with the intention of accepting the sovereignty of

God upon oneself… The recitation of the first line is the formal declaration of

allegiance to God. Covering one’s eyes while doing so is a sign of this act and a

method of concentrating and achieving proper intention. This was the custom of

Rabbi Yehudah Ha-­Nasi in the second century C.E., as recorded in Berakhot

13b.” 221

Hammer’s commentary on the siddur altered the custom to cover one’s eyes with

only one’s right hand to include covering one’s eyes with one’s left, if that is one’s

dominant hand. This shift is most probably reflective of the belief that covering one’s

eyes with one’s dominant hand is the purpose for covering one’s eyes with the right hand,

as described by Zimmer, and furthermore due to modern sensibility towards

accommodating to both right and left handed individuals. Rabbi Yitzḥak Yosef in his

Yalkut Yosef quoting the Ben Ish Ḥai, however, stated that a left handed person should

also use their right hand. Additionally, Hammer attributed the origin of the custom to 222

221 Reuven Hammer, Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals. (New York: The Rabbinical Assembly, 2003) 112, and see Hammer, Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom for Weekdays. (New York: The Rabbinical Assembly, 2008) 33.

222 Yosef, Yalkut Yosef, 61:4, 537. 81

cover one’s eyes to the story with Yehudah Ha-­Nasi, as many other commentators did as

well.

Conclusions on the Custom’s Dissemination

The spread of Luria’s custom to cover one’s eyes with one’s right hand spread in various

stages. First, the custom spread in the late sixteenth to seventeenth centuries due to books

written on Lurianic customs. The practices detailed in these works were later incorporated into

mainstream halakhic commentaries on the Shulkhan Arukh in the eighteenth century, and

subsequently recorded in many standard prayer books by the twentieth century. It is possible,

although not conclusive, that its dissemination in the Middle East and North Africa occurred

later than it did in Ashkenaz.

In addressing Ḥalamish’s question as to the catalyst for the spread of a custom, this

custom was most probably first introduced into Jewish communities on account of rabbis who

read the works on Lurianic customs. In a second stage in its dissemination, many rabbinic

figures, regardless of their knowledge of kabbalah, would have read about this custom in the

commentaries on the Shulkhan Arukh. Today, the custom is universally known, if not practiced,

by Jews who recite the Shema in synagogues around the world. The custom is universally

practiced in both Orthodox and Conservative synagogues, while in Reform and Reconstructionist

synagogues the custom varies from community to community. Nearly all Reform congregations

stand for the Shema, and some close their eyes while doing so. Other Reform synagogues both

stand and cover their eyes with their right hand during the Shema. Reconstructionist 223

223 See Dalia Marx “Prayer: Hear, O Israel (Sh’ma Yisrael),” http://www.reformjudaism.org/prayer-­hear-­o-­israel-­shma-­yisrael, (Acc. Nov. 15, 2015).

82

congregations have a wide range of practices reflecting both the Reform and non-­Reform

practices.

See also “Kabbalat Shabbat T’fila -­ Friday Night Services -­ 2013 Union for Reform Judaism Biennial.” (Min. 40:00-­41:15) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP6sa34CBV0, (Acc. Nov. 15, 2015).

83

Conclusions

This thesis attempted to trace the history and dissemination of the custom to cover one’s

eyes with one’s right hand during Qeri'at Shema. This thesis identified the custom as originating

with Isaac Luria and traced its subsequent dissemination across Jewish communities through

literature on Luria’s customs. These works influenced rabbinic figures to incorporate this

custom into their legal publications, thus engraving the custom into Jewish communal practice.

This custom reflects Luria’s unique approach to the Zoharic text on the Beautiful Maiden

as blind in contradistinction to Cordovero’s interpretation. Luria utilized his theosophical system

to direct his custom as a unification between the supernal Rachel, the feminine Shekhinah, with

Jacob, the masculine Tiferet. This unification enables the theurgist to embody both the

masculine and feminine aspects of the Divine in preparation for the complete unification during

the Amidah.

Future research on this topic can focus on the origin of the custom to cover one’s eyes

with both hands in the fourteenth century, as it first appeared in the Arba’ah Turim in Spain in

1340, yet it most probably originated from Ashkenaz. Additionally, further studies can examine

the origin of the custom to spell ‘Shaddai’ with one’s fingers during the recitation of the Shema.

84

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