5 myths
Myths, legends, and mystical writings about Heavenly Ascent from across Jewish tradition.
5 myths on JewishMythology.com retell how Jewish tradition imagines heavenly ascent, drawn from the Hebrew Bible, Midrash, Talmud, Kabbalah, and later Jewish literature. Each story below synthesizes primary sources into a single narrative; follow any myth to read it, and from there into the source passages behind it.
Enoch's angelic guides abandon him at the threshold of the tenth heaven. He falls to the ground in terror. Then God calls him to come closer.
Enoch ascends through dark heavens, finds chained angels weeping in gloom, then silent Watchers stripped of light, still awaiting judgment.
Enoch rises through the sixth and seventh heavens, where angelic order becomes overwhelming fire, praise, and nearness to God's throne.
An angel carried an emperor into a pigsty and set a condemned sage in his bed, while Rabbi Ishmael learned how dangerous heavenly honor could be.
A grieving judge collapses into a trance, is swept past the firmament, and shown the storehouse of unborn souls and the dated day of judgment.
