164 Moshe Idel
unconcerned with these verbal meanings. Th is latter approach attends to
an aspect of the text that precedes and underlies the text’s semantic mean-
ings. What counts is not the specifi c meaning or meanings of the canonical
text but its status as an icon, as a carrier of divine presence. It should be
stressed, nonetheless, that the two approaches (the semantic approach to
the overt Torah and the iconic approach to the esoteric Torah) are not mu-
tually exclusive: the same person can study and use the Torah from both
points of view.
Th is oscillation between the literal/semantic structures and the anthro-
pomorphic/iconic ones occurs also in the work of a mysterious kabbalist
known as R. Joseph of Hamadan. In his Commentary on the Rationales of
the Commandments, Joseph draws detailed parallels between Torah on the
one hand and anthropomorphic visions of the sefi rot and God on the other:
Why is it called Torah? It has paragraphs that must start on a new line
[these are known as “open paragraphs”] and paragraphs that must start
aft er a blank space on the same line as the preceding paragraph [these are
known as “closed paragraphs”], referring to the image of a building and
the form of man, who is like the supernal, holy, and pure form. And just
as there are joints in man connected to each other, in the Torah there are
closed paragraphs, as in the case of the structure of the paragraph begin-
ning with the words, “When Pharaoh let out” [Exodus 13:17]. Th e secret of
the song “Th en Moses Sang” [Exodus 15:1] is the secret of the joints of the
Holy One, blessed be He. And the song “Give ear, heavens” [Deuteronomy
32:1] is the secret of the ear of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the secret
of “Th en Israel Sang” [Numbers 21:17] is the secret of the divine circumci-
sion. . . . Th e positive commandments correspond to the secret of the male,
and the negative commandments correspond to the secret of the female
and to the secret of the [lowest sefi rah,] Shekhinah [Presence or Dwelling]
and to the secret of Malkhut [Royalty — another name for Shekhinah]. Th is
is the reason why the Torah is called Torah, because it refers to the likeness
of the Holy One, blessed be He. 19R. Joseph of Hamadan presents an interesting interpretation of the word
Torah. Th e Hebrew noun To r a h is generally understood to suggest “in-
struction,” but here the medieval kabbalist interprets it (quite legitimately,
from a linguistic or etymological point of view) to mean “reference.” In the
more typical usage, Torah/instruction descends from the supernal realm
to humanity below, but for this kabbalist, the word implies movement in