Jewish mysticism, particularly in the Zohar" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="source-link">Tikkunei_Zohar" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="source-link">Tikkunei Zohar, uses the image of a giant fish to explore just that feeling.
The Tikkunei Zohar, a companion volume to the Zohar, delves into the deeper meanings of the Torah. In Tikkunei Zohar 106, we encounter this potent image: a great fish, a crocodile even, connected to the story of Jonah and the exodus from Egypt. It's a powerful and somewhat unsettling metaphor.
So, what's this all about?
The text states, "All these cycles of decrees were by his hand, and this is... the great fish... of which it is stated: (see Ez. 29:3) ... the great crocodile..." This “great fish” or crocodile, is linked to Egypt, "the fish of Egypt," and significantly, it has a female partner, dagah, "the female fish." Remember Jonah praying "from the bowels of the fish" (Jon. 2:2)? According to the Tikkunei Zohar, those "bowels" represent the Egyptians themselves. We’re already deep in symbolic territory here.
But it goes further. God appoints a "great fish" in the story of Jonah (Jon. 2:1). Here, the Tikkunei Zohar equates this fish with the spleen – yes, the organ – and with Lilith. Lilith, in Jewish folklore, is a complex figure often associated with chaos and the untamed feminine. She's also linked to the 'eirev rav, the "mixed multitude" that left Egypt with the Israelites (Ex. 12:38). Some versions of this text even equate the "great fish" with Samael, a figure often seen as the angel of death or a representation of evil.
This is where it gets really interesting. The spleen, according to this passage, is "the mirth of the fool" (Ecc. 7:6) and the place where "anger lies in the lap of fools" (Ecc. 7:9). So, the fish – representing Egypt, Lilith, the mixed multitude, and even the spleen – becomes a container for negativity, for anger, and for the unrefined aspects of the human psyche. It's the thing that swallows us whole when we give in to those darker impulses.
What can we take away from this intricate web of symbolism?
Perhaps the image of the fish, and particularly its "bowels," represents the internal struggles we face. The anger, the foolishness, the chaotic energy within us that can feel overwhelming, like being trapped inside a giant creature. Maybe it speaks to the parts of ourselves we try to ignore or deny.
The Tikkunei Zohar doesn't offer easy answers, but it does provide a powerful framework for understanding the forces at play within us and around us. And it reminds us that even in the darkest "bowels of the fish," like Jonah, we still have the capacity to pray, to connect with something higher, and ultimately, to find our way out.