"Kejserens datter i "The King and the Emperor": ett litterært, kønsreflekteret forsøg på at forstå rabbi Nahman fra Bratslavs fortelling

Författare

• Marianne Schleicher Århus universitet

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30752/nj.69550

Nyckelord:

Naḥman, of Bratslav, 1772-1811, Gender, Femininity of God, Mysticism -- Judaism, Kabbalah, Israel, Sex, Hasidism

Abstract

In this article, I approach the problem of understanding the emperor’s daughter in The King and the Emperor by Nahman of Bratslav by exploring the literary imagery and characters which are gendered. Nahman’s use of gender is no unique phenomenon in Jewish mysticism. The sefirotic system e.g. is characterized by its male and female sefirot. In Sefer ha-Zohar the male sefirah Tif’eret and the female sefirah Shekhinah are depicted as the central figures whose sexual union is crucial since the creation of God depends on this union. Thus, gender is known to play a major part in Jewish mysticism and a critique must be leveled against scholars who tend to explain Nahman’s use of gender by referring to his delirious and maniodepressive periods and his problematic relationship to women. Their biographical approach is countered by my analysis of The King and the Emperor from the vantage point of the following three assumptions: Nahman’s use of gender refers to the gendered sefirotic system. By applying the concept of the other and a focus on the valuation and the activity of the gendered characters it is possible to uncover the theological content of the tale. Finally, Nahman applies a literary imagery from the Tanakh and from the kabbalistic literature, thus, authorizing the message of the tale and at the same time forcing his listener/reader to engage in the imagery to be able to understand its formal meaning as well as its connotations. On the basis of this approach the emperor’s daughter is interpreted as the Shekhinah who uses every positive and negative means to further the union between Knesset Israel and herself as well as enabling her to withdraw to her receptive position in the sefirotic system from where she can bring fertility to God’s creation.