The Voice of God Meandered in Eden: Voice as Metaphor in Midrashic Texts

Over the last two years, I have been teaching a weekly study group in Midrash to participants who have brought diverse skills from the knowledge of Greek literature to contemporary philosophy. We have focused on the unfolding of motifs involving the human perception and awareness of time and space and of the Divine in the material world. We have traced static elements and dynamic developments over time in Midrashic texts from the Mekhilta through the various books composing Midrash Rabbah.

This paper focuses on our work on the evolving Midrashic use of voice (kol) as metaphor – for immanence versus absence and for the relationship between unity and diversity.