“Sweetening the Judgment” across the Mediterranean: An Oenological Interpretation - The 17th World Congress of Jewish Studies August 6-10, 2017

In the Zohar divine harmony may be accomplished by “sweetening the judgments” through various practices. Scholem noted that the Aramaic verb itbasem was introduced in the Zohar as a translation of the Spanish “endulzar;” together with “judgments” (dinin), it was used in post-Zoharic literature as the standard expression for the mitigation of the divine power of severe judgment. Gerold Necker has recently suggested that, in fact, the whole phrase is borrowed from the Castilian language, speculating further that a more technical meaning is implied as well in the use of this phrase: the term “endulzar” was also used to refer to the addition of gum Arabic in the preparation of iron gall ink.

Drawing on my analysis of rituals requiring wine consumption in Zoharic literature and Hayyim Vital’s writings, I contend that the kabbalistic use of the phrase “sweetening the judgment” may have also been inspired by another common practice that involved gum Arabic. In fact, in the premodern Mediterranean gum Arabic was also customarily added to wine in order to balance its astringency and acidity, making it smoother and sweeter. Given that, for both the Zoharic author(s) and Vital, in all rituals involving its drinking wine symbolizes the negative element—the judgment to be sweetened—and that both of them must have been acquainted with the custom of sweetening wine with gum Arabic, I suggest that they may have chosen to adopt the expression “sweetening the judgment” in their works because of their familiarity with this common Mediterranean oenological practice.