rabbis in the east (70 to 1000 ce) 281
preserved eschatological texts like Sefer Zerubbabel, a Hebrew apoca-
lypse originally composed in the seventh century ce somewhere in the
Byzantine empire, in which visions are attributed to Zerubbabel, who
had been governor of Judah in the Persian period. According to the
revelation, one messiah, ‘son of Joseph’, is to be killed, but a second
messiah, ‘son of David’, will prevail over his enemies, inaugurating the
erection of a new Temple. Such eschatological fervour fits well the
expectations of seventh- century Jews as they witnessed first the con-
quest of Palestine by Persians and then the Islamic invasions (see
Chapter 10). A number of apocalyptic texts composed in this period
survive, some ascribed to biblical figures like Zerubbabel and Elijah and
others to tannaitic rabbis such as Shimon bar Yohai. It is unlikely that
these apocalypses derived originally from rabbinic authors, but it is sig-
nificant that they continued to be copied within rabbinic circles in
different recensions in later generations.^22
Difficult to relate to mainstream rabbinic culture are the mystical
streams which surface occasionally in rabbinic texts. The Mishnah for-
bids in obscure terms the teaching of particular subjects and specific
passages of the Bible, notably the beginning of Genesis and first chapter
of Ezekiel, with its vision of the divine chariot or throne: ‘The forbidden
degrees may not be expounded before three persons, nor the Story of
Creation before two, nor [the chapter of] the Chariot before one alone,
unless he is a sage that understands of his own knowledge.’ It is clear
that these passages were seen as potentially dangerous in various ways.
The ‘forbidden degrees’ are the rules prohibiting sexual relations
between close relatives, and the inhibition on study of such a topic pre-
sumably relates to the possibility that too close an analysis of forbidden
sex might be titillating. A similar reason probably explains the appar-
ently strange selection in the medieval period of this passage for public
recitation, but not exposition, on the afternoon service in the synagogue
on the Day of Atonement, one of the most solemn and serious times in
the liturgical year. The story of creation and the vision of Ezekiel were
believed to contain hidden mysteries which should be studied only by
those capable of comprehending them responsibly.
By the twelfth century ce speculation on these passages was to spawn
a full- scale mystical tradition, but whether we are to believe that such
interpretations, and (even more) mystical practices, were already to be
found among rabbis in late antiquity depends on our own understand-
ing of a small number of obscure tales in amoraic compilations about
tannaitic sages: