Chagigah 13a — the Talmud in English

This

[the light], dwells with Him

in the inner houses

[in the inner chambers], as it is said: “And the light dwells with Him.”

This

[the darkness] dwells around Him

in the outer houses

[in the outer chambers].

[These matters are among the secrets of the Torah, without an explicit explanation! See above, 5b, in the Maharsha.]

And Rav Aha bar Yaakov said: There is yet one firmament above the heads of the living creatures, as it is written

in the account of the Chariot in Ezekiel:

“And the likeness above the heads of the living creature was a firmament, like the appearance of the awesome ice.”

Up to here

[up to the matters of that firmament]

you have permission to speak

about them.

But

from here onward,

concerning the matters of the firmaments higher than this—

you have no permission to speak!

For it is written in the Book of Ben Sira: “Concerning what is hidden from you

[concerning what is set apart and separated from you, which the Holy One, blessed be He, did not wish to reveal to you]

do not expound.

And concerning what is concealed from you, do not investigate.”

Only

contemplate what you have been permitted.

But

you have no concern with hidden matters!

It is written in the Book of Daniel: “And you shall raise this proverb over the king of Babylon: ‘And you, Nebuchadnezzar, said in your heart: I shall ascend to the heavens; above the stars of God I shall raise my throne, and I shall sit upon the Mount of Assembly, in the farthest north.’”

It was taught: Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai said: What answer did the heavenly voice answer that wicked man

[Nebuchadnezzar]

when he said:

“I shall ascend upon the heights of the clouds; I shall resemble the Most High.”

A heavenly voice went forth and said to him: Wicked one, son of a wicked one, descendant of the wicked Nimrod

king of Babylon

who rebelled against

[variant reading]

the entire world against Him

[this is a refined expression, meaning: against himself and not against Me, Rashi]

through his kingdom,

who gave the people of the generation of the Dispersion the advice to build a tower to wage war against the heavenly host!

But behold,

how many

are the days of

a person’s years?

Seventy years!

As it is said: “The days of our years in them are seventy years, and if through strength, eighty years.”

And with such a small number of years, do you think you will ascend to heaven?!

And is it not so that from the earth to the

lower

firmament is a journey of five hundred years, and the thickness of the firmament

itself

is a journey of five hundred years, and likewise between each firmament and firmament.

And furthermore, there are

the holy living creatures above them.

And the feet of the living creatures correspond to all of them

[corresponding to the entire journey of five hundred years extending up to their feet].

And the ankles of the living creatures correspond to all of them. And the legs of the living creatures

correspond to all of them.

And the knees

[the thigh bone adjacent to the leg]

of the living creatures correspond to all of them. And the thighs

[the femur lodged in the loins]

of the living creatures correspond to all of them. And the bodies

of the living creatures correspond to all of them. And the necks of the living creatures correspond to all of them ...

and the heads of the living creatures correspond to all of them. And the horns of the living creatures correspond to

all of them.

And

further

above them is the Throne

of

Glory.

And the feet of the Throne of Glory correspond to all of them, and the Throne of Glory corresponds to all of them.

And above them

[variant reading]:

the King, the Living and Eternal God, high and exalted,

dwells above them.

And you

Nebuchadnezzar

said: “I shall ascend upon the heights of the clouds; I shall resemble the Most High”?!

“But to the underworld you shall be brought down, to the farthest parts of the pit”!

This is the adjacent verse. Its meaning is: in response to what you said, “I shall ascend upon the heights of the clouds,” it will not be so! Rather, you shall be brought down to the underworld and to the depths of the pit.

We learned in the Mishna:

And not

shall one study

the

Account of

the Chariot individually

[for an individual], unless he is wise and understands on his own:

Rabbi Hiyya taught: But one may transmit to him

to an individual

the chapter headings

[the headings of the sections in the Account of the Chariot].

Rabbi Zeira said: One transmits the chapter headings only to the head of the court, and to every

[or: to every]

one whose heart is troubled within him,

and he does not treat the matter lightly.

Some say: And he whose heart is troubled within him.

Even to the head of the court one transmits them only if his heart is troubled within him; but to one whose heart alone is troubled within him, one does not transmit them.

Rabbi Ami said: One transmits the secrets of the Torah

[such as the Account of the Chariot, the Book of Formation, and the Account of Creation; and this is a beraita, Rashi]

only to one who possesses five qualities

[written in Isaiah 3:3]:

1.

captain of fifty;

2.

and a man of distinguished presence;

3.

and counselor;

4.

and skillful craftsman;

5.

and expert in whispering,

[all of them are explained in the Gemara below, 14a].

Rabbi Ami said: One does not transmit words of Torah to a gentile.

As it is said: “He has not done so for any nation, and they have not known the ordinances.”

Rabbi Yohanan said to Rabbi Elazar: Come, I shall teach you

[come and I shall teach you]

the

baraita of

the Account of the Chariot.

He said to him

Rabbi Elazar to Rabbi Yohanan: I am still

not old enough

[I have not grown old], and my heart is not troubled within me.

When

Rabbi Elazar

grew old,

the soul

of Rabbi Yohanan departed.

Rabbi Asi said to him

to Rabbi Elazar:

Come and I shall teach you

[come and I shall teach you] I

the

baraita of

the Account of the Chariot.

He said to him

Rabbi Elazar to Rabbi Asi:

If I were worthy—

I would have learned it from Rabbi Yohanan, your teacher

[had I been worthy of learning the Account of the Chariot, I would already have learned it from Rabbi Yohanan, your teacher].

And the Maharsha wrote: From here one should learn not to engage extensively in the wisdom of Kabbalah, and all the more so not to expound matters of Kabbalah publicly, for the wisdom of Kabbalah deals with matters that are

above

the Account of the Chariot! And proof of this is that we do not find any hint of the wisdom of Kabbalah, neither in the Talmud nor in any of the other midrashim of the tannaim. It is evident from here that it is more proper to conceal it and not reveal it.

And the Maharsha adds that one should protest against those who expound this wisdom publicly, even in the secret of the Name!

Rav Yosef was learning

[was studying] the baraita of

the Account of the Chariot;

whereas

the elders of Pumbedita

[the elders of Pumbedita, namely Rav Yehuda and Rav Eina, Maharsha]

were studying

[were repeating]

the baraita of

a beraita of the

the Account of Creation.

They said to him

the elders of Pumbedita to Rav Yosef:

Let the master teach us

[let our master teach us]

the Account of the Chariot.

He said to them

Rav Yosef to the elders of Pumbedita:

Teach me the Account of Creation

[teach me yourselves the Account of Creation].

They taught him

[variant reading], indeed the elders of Pumbedita taught Rav Yosef the baraita of the Account of Creation.

After

they had taught him

[after they had taught him],

they said to him

again:

Let the master teach us the Account of the Chariot.

He said to them

Rav Yosef to the elders of Pumbedita:

We learned concerning them

[we learned a baraita concerning the Account of the Chariot]:

It is written:

“Honey and milk are under your tongue,”

to teach you:

matters sweeter than honey and milk

[the Account of the Chariot, which is sweeter than honey and milk]

shall be under your tongue

and not upon your tongue.

Rabbi Abbahu said: From here:

It is written:

“Lambs

[with a right-facing shin]

for your clothing”; do not read “lambs,”

but “things concealed,”

[variant reading], to teach you:

matters that are the concealment

[the secret]

of the world shall be under your clothing,

that is, they shall be concealed. At the beginning of the Book of Ezekiel, in chapter 1, the Account of the Chariot is written.

Verse 1. “And it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth of the month ... the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.”

Verse 3. “The word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel ... and the hand of the Lord was upon him there.”

Verse 4. “And I saw, and behold, a storm wind came from the north, a great cloud and a flaming fire, and a radiance around it. And from within it

the appearance of amber

within the fire.”

And the Account of the Chariot is detailed there in the following verses, at length.

Verse 26. “And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne.

And upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness resembling the appearance of a man upon it above.”

Verse 27. “And I saw

the appearance of amber,

like the appearance of fire enclosing it, from the appearance of his loins and upward.

And from the appearance of his loins and downward I saw the appearance of fire, and a radiance around it.”

Verse 28. “Like the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud on a day of rain, so was the appearance of the radiance around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.”

And afterward, at the beginning of chapter 2: “And He said to me: Son of man, stand upon your feet!” From there onward he no longer speaks about the Account of the Chariot.

They said to him

the elders of Pumbedita to Rav Yosef: Already

we have learned concerning them

[we learned the baraita of the Account of the Chariot concerning the verses of the Account of the Chariot in the Book of Ezekiel] from the beginning of the chapter to its end,

up to “And He said to me, Son of man,”

which is at the beginning of the second chapter.

He said to them

Rav Yosef to the elders of Pumbedita: If you have already learned up to here—that you also learned verses 27 and 28—you have learned much, for

these are

[these two verses]

the Account of the Chariot,

for they speak of the form of the Divine Presence and the appearance of the Holy One, blessed be He.

An objection was raised: How far does the Account of the Chariot extend?

Rabbi says:

Until the end of verse 26, that is,

until

the beginning of verse 27, which begins with the words

“And I saw the appearance of amber,” the latter,

[which is the final expression of “the appearance of amber” in this chapter, whereas above, in verse 4, the expression “the appearance of amber” appears for the first time], but not including it!

Rabbi Yitzhak says:

The beginning of verse 27 is also included in the Account of the Chariot—

up to the “amber,”

[and this word is included].

We have therefore learned that the principal Account of the Chariot extends to the end of verse 26, or at most also to the beginning of verse 27, and not through all of verse 27 and verse 28, as Rav Yosef said?!

And we answer:

“And I saw

the appearance of amber,”

we teach.

And so the tanna said in the beraita: How far does the Account of the Chariot extend that may be expounded, and concerning which the Sages were not strict? Until the end of verse 26, or even several words at the beginning of verse 27—

Whereas

from here,

from the beginning of verse 27,

onward,

until the end of the chapter,

we transmit

the explanation of those verses,

“chapter headings”

alone, because the Sages were strict concerning them.

Some say:

This is what the beraita says: For the entire Account of the Chariot, from its beginning

until “And I saw”

[until the end of verse 26],

we transmit chapter headings

alone; whereas

from here onward,

only

if he is wise and understands on his own

do we continue to transmit chapter headings to him, and

if not—

not

do we transmit anything to him.

And we raise an objection against Rabbi Yitzhak, who says that the beginning of verse 27 is also expounded “up to the amber”:

And is it so

that

we expound the “amber”?

But there was that child

[a minor]

who expounded the “amber,”

and a fire went forth

[a fire emerged]

from the “amber” and consumed him

[and burned him]?!

And we answer:

The child is different, for his time had not arrived,

[the child is different, for his time had not yet arrived]

and it is not proper conduct for him to expound it

[for it is not proper conduct that he should expound it].

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav

[variant reading]:

Indeed, that man should be remembered for good, and Hananiah ben Hezekiah was his name,

for

if not for him, the Book of Ezekiel would have been hidden,

since

its words

at the end, concerning the sacrifices,

contradict the words of the Torah.

And he reconciled them.

What did

Hananiah ben Hezekiah

do?

They brought up for him

three hundred jars

measures of

oil

for illumination,

and he sat in the upper chamber, and expounded

the Book of Ezekiel so that its words would not contradict the secrets of the Torah.

The Sages taught: There was an incident involving one child who was reading in his teacher’s house from the Book of Ezekiel, and he understood

the

“amber”

[he knew how to expound what amber is],

and fire went forth from the “amber” and burned him.

And the Sages sought, because of this incident,

because of this incident, the Sages

to hide the Book of Ezekiel.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel said to them

[variant reading]:

If

this child

is wise, then all

[variant reading]

children are wise.

That is, if this child is wise, all children are wise, and one must be concerned lest they study it.

But there is no need to be concerned regarding adults, as we said above: the child is different, for his time had not arrived [Maharsha].

And now the Gemara explains various verses in the Account of the Chariot in the Book of Ezekiel:

What is “amber”?

Rav Yehuda said: