Le néo-platonisme a-t-il influencé l’eschatologie des rabbins antiques ?
Résumé
At first sight, rabbinic and Neo-Platonic eschatology differ substantially from one another: the
former focuses on bodily resurrection and messianic faith, the latter on immortality of the soul.
As it is well known, the rabbis distinguish between soul and body and several of their texts show
obvious Platonic features. It still remains difficult to find clear evidence of a Neo-Platonic influence
on rabbinic eschatology. This article is mainly interested in a rabbinic tradition describing the place of
the preexistent souls as a “body” (guf), which is mentioned no less than four times in the Babylonian
Talmud. According to us, the Talmudic “body” of the souls remains a real puzzle, so long as it is not
understood against the background of the Neo-Platonic okhêma, a kind of body which is the vehicle of
the soul before and after death. Outside the eschatological domain, a possible Neo-Platonic influence is
also perceptible in the rabbinic conception of the Shekhina as an emanation of God.