his anti-commandments were directed at the entire structure of rabbinic and Talmudic authority based on the perverse paradox, bittulah shel torah zehu kiyumah: ‘in the violation of the Torah lies its fulfilment’. His acts of juvenile daring in Smyrna – the out-loud pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton without being struck down for the blasphemy – now became a sign of his exalted status.
