Hekhalot Literature in Translation

The Hekhalot literature is a motley collection of textually fluid and often textually corrupt documents in Hebrew and Aramaic which deal with mystical themes pertaining especially to God's throne-chariot (the Merkavah). They were composed between late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, with roots in earlier traditions and a long and complex subsequent history of transmission. This volume presents English translations of eclectic critical texts, with a full apparatus of variants, of most of the major Hekhalot documents: 'Hekhalot Rabbati'; 'Sar Torah'; 'Hekhalot Zutarti'; 'Ma'aseh Merkavah'; 'Merkavah Rabba'; briefer macroforms: 'The Chapter of R. Nehuniah ben HaQanah', 'The Great Seal-Fearsome Crown', 'Sar Panim', 'The Ascent of Elijah ben Avuyah', and 'The Youth'; and the Hekhalot fragments from the Cairo Geniza.