Honoring Father and Mother in Early Kabbalah: From Ethos to Mythos

The article examines the ancient roots of the symbols of "father" and "mother" in medieval kabbalah, and the process of development and consolidation of these symbols. The article analizes both medieval kabbalistic (in particular Zoharic) texts and ancient rabbinic traditions, and uncovers essential connections between them. According to the article's conclusion, the Kabbalistic symbols of mother and father as sefirotic entities in the divine world is based on the theological status of the obligation to honor one's father and mother, as it reflects in Talmudic and Aggadic sources. While this obligation is compared in the rabbinic literature to honoring Heaven, it attributes to father and mother a theological value, or in other words sanctity.
From a wide, methological, point of view, the article demonstrates the importance of following the sources of kabbalistic symbols and myths. The awareness of a possible ideological continuum between the kabbalistic discourse and the classic discourse opens up new horizons, because of its contribution towards understanding Talmudic-Midrashic statements, as well as a better understanding the conceptual world of the kabbalists.