Over a period of several centuries, the classical Kabbalists developed a rich body of myth and ritual which articulated a new vision of the Sabbath. Several outstanding examples of this are the re-imaging of the Sabbath as a mystical marriage ceremony, a day on which the divine lovers re-unite; the Sabbath as a cosmic Axis, around which Time is organized and through whose channels the week is ennobled and blessed; and the Sabbath as a festival of spiritual restoration, whereby the Jew is graced with an additional pneuma, the Sabbath-soul, enabling him to participate more fully in the mysteries of the divine world. The Sabbath is thus experienced as a multi-leveled process of renewal, whereby Divinity, Time, and Person-indeed the Cosmos as a whole-are transformed and brought near their ideal state.

As we shall see, the mystical Sabbath is a complex melding of tradition and innovation: although the rabbinically ordained praxis was retained, its underlying meaning was significantly altered, recast in line with sefirotic symbolism and distinctively mystical concerns. For example, in the fiery crucible of the Kabbalistic imagination, the traditional blessing over the wine becomes a mythic representation of Shekhinah and the Holy One's “coronation,” while the three Sacred Meals serve as occasion to partake in the divine Sabbath and to invest the lower worlds with supernal blessing. The Kabbalists transform the Rabbinic Sabbath into a mystery rite; it is a celebration of cosmic renewal, a pilgrimage to the heart of being.

The purpose of this chapter is to classify, describe, and interpret the key mythic motifs of the Kabbalistic Sabbath, paying close attention to the course of their historical development. To provide a broader context for these themes, we will first outline some of the major elements of the pre-Kabbalistic Sabbath and briefly compare mizvat Shabbat among the Rabbinic Sages and their Kabbalistic descendants.

SECTION ONE: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

The Sabbath in Antiquity

Israel's enduring love affair with the Sabbath is first attested in the Biblical corpus. Its authors accorded Shabbat both universalsacramentaP and national-social significance, linking the institution with two of the pivotal moments in “Sacred History,” Creation and the Exodus from Egypt.