Abraham Abulafia

1.

THE

MAN

One of the most important early figures in Kabbalah meditation isRabbi Abraham Abulafia. Not only was he party to many importanttraditions, but he also wrote voluminously regarding them. Indeed,very little would be known about many of these traditions

if

not for hiswritings.Unfortunately, however, very few of his writings have ever beenpublished. Most exist only in manuscript form, either in major librariesor in the hands of Kabbalists who refuse to publicize the fact. Findingand correctly identifying Abulafia's manuscripts has been a difficulttask, since many of these were catalogued incorrectly or not cataloguedat all. In a number of cases, important manuscripts were tracked downby word of mouth and discovered in the libraries of individuals whohad no idea as to their content. Although much important work hasbeen done by library scientists, manuscriptologists and otherscholars, the study of Abulafia's writings requires much basicresearch into the largelyunexplored world of ancient manuscripts.An important problem in working with manuscripts is the factthat many were written in ancient scripts that are almost illegible to themodern reader. Others were privately made, written hurriedly byindividuals with poor handwriting. When added to the fact that theirbasic script may now be obsolete, the reading of these manuscriptsbecomes next to impossible. Much study has to be done to decipher thealphabets of many manuscripts, and in some cases, relevant portionshad to be transcribed letter by letter before they could be read.One reason why Abulafia's works were not published wasundoubtedly related to the general retincence surrounding thepublication of materials dealing with meditation and the mystical arts.But another reason was the controversy that surrounded Abulafia as aperson. In many places in his writings, Abulafia indicates that he is aprophet, and in others, he hints that he has a special mission. There are

also many veiled allusions that could be interpreted to reflect messianicdelusions on his part. For the most part, however, these are ambiguous,and it is probable that when he speaks of himself as the "anointed one,"he means that he is enlightened, and not that he is the promisedmessiah. In a number of places, he speaks of the prophet experience asone resembling being anointed with oil

I

In no place did Abulafia everattempt to actually implement

a

messianic role for himself, so thisinterpretation appears highly probable.All of his alleged claims, however, did not escape the notice of thereligioils leaders of his generation. His strongest opposition came fromthe Rashba (Rabbi Shlomo ben Adret, 123521310). Five years olderthan Abulafia, the Rashba had been appointed rabbi in Barcelona in1280, and he enjoyed a reputation as the leading sage of his time. Eventoday, his Talmudic commentaries are counted among !he mostimportant, and his responsa are considered basic to Jewish Law.It is evident that while Abulafia was in Sicily, the Rashba mounted

a

scathing attack agdinst him. This involved his own letters as well asmessages that he influenced the leaders of other congregations to sendto Sicily, denouncing Abulafia. In the early 1290's, the Rashba wrote aresponsum to the community of Saragosta, Abulafia's birthplace,regarding a self-proclaimed prophet in Avila, possibly a disciple ofAbulafia. In

it,

he alludes to his earlier attacks on Abulafia, denouncinghim in no uncertain terms.This attack by the leading figure of the generation was enough tovirtually guarantee that the religious establishment would shun andignore Abulafia's works. In some ways, however, the intensity of theattack is understandable, considering the status of the Kabbalah at thetime. The Zohar had not yet been published, and although the Bahirhad been published in 1175,

it

was far from being universally accepted.A very strong school opposed the Kabbalah, denouncing its teachingsas approaching heresy. This is best exemplified by

a

statement by theRashbash (Rabbi Shlomo ben Shimon Duran, 1400-1467), a centurylater, who wrote, "The Christians believe in the Three, while theKabbalists believe in the Ten.."

2

As a strong defender of the Kabbalah, the Rashba might have seenAbulafia's statements as being very dangerous to its healthy growth.Abulafia was very much hurt by the Rashba's attacks, and

it

was as areply to them that he wrote his famous epistle,

VeZot LiYehudah

(AndThis is to Judah).The Rashba's responsum was taken up by another majorKabbalist, Rabbi Judah Chayit, who lived around the time of the

1

Spanish Inquisition. The entire attack against Abulafia was thenexpanded upon by the Yashar of Candia (Rabbi Yoseph ShlomoDelmedigo,1591-1655), one of the most important defenders of theKabbalah.3In view of all this, one would expect that Abulafia and his writingswould be relegated to the dustbin of history, and not have any influencewhatsoever on the Kabbalah tradition. This, however, turns out to befar from true, and his works are quoted, albeitguardedly, by many ofthe most important Kabbalists. Thus, the Ramak (Rabbi MosheCordevero, 1522-1570), dean of the Safed school, considers Abulafiato be an authority on the pronunciation of Divine Names, and quotes alengthy section from his

Or HaSekhel

(Light of the Intellect).4 In theunpublished, fourth section of his

Shaarey Kedushah

(Gates ofHoliness), Rabbi Chaim Vital cites Abulafia's methods as beingtechniques for meditation. He speaks of his

Chayay O!am HaBah

(Lifeof the Future World) as

if

it

were a well-known book in Kabbalisticcircles, and quotes at length from his

Sefer HaCheshek

(Book ofPassion). Another major figure, the Radbaz (Rabbi David abu Zimra,1470-1572), mentions Abulafia's works in a positive conte~t.~The final word regarding the acceptability of any Hebraic text isusually given to the Chida (Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai,1724-1806). Quoting a number of attacks against Abulafia, the Chida

i

then cites the fact that his works have been accepted by the greatestKabbalists, and have been found to be beneficial.

I

In view of this opinion, the general trend among knowledgeable

I

Kabbalists has been to accept the teachings of '~bulafia, ven though

i

his methods are considered to be very advanced and dangerous. His

i

manuscripts have been copied and circulated among many Kabbalists,

I

and they form an important part of the curriculum in some secret

j

schools. While the personality of Abulafia may be questioned,

it

isgenerally recognized that he was in possession of authentic traditions,

!

and that he recorded them faithfully and accurately.

SOURCES

There are many frauds whom

I

have heard and seen. One is thedisgusting creature, "may the name of the wicked rot," whose name isAbraham [Abulafia]. He proclaimed himself as a prophet and messiahin Sicily, and enticed many people with his lies. Through the mercy ofGod,

I

was able to slam the door in his face, both with my own letters

and with those of many congregations.

If

not for this, he would haveactually been able to begin.He invented many false ideas, totally foolishness which resembleshigh wisdom, and with this, he could have done much damage. Makinguse of a certain consistence, he places his mind on an idea for manydays, and comes up with elaborate numerical exercizes

(gematriot)

involving both scripture and the words of our sages.

The Rnshba.6

I

have also seen books written by a scholar by the name of RabbiAbraham Abulafia. In his foolishness and pride

.

. .

he calls himself aprophet. But

it

is taught that since the Temple has been destroyed,"prophecy has been given over to the insane."

.

His books are Filledwith his own inventions, imaginations and falsehood.He may have written

Or

HnSrkl~cl

Light of the Intellect) but heactually walks in darkness. He wrote the

Moreh HaMoreh

(Guide to theGuide) as a Kabbalistic commentary on [Maimonides']

Guide

to

thePerplexed.

How idiotic

it

is to invent a Kabbalistic commentary to the

Guide!

Maimonides would never even dream of such an interpretation!He also wrote a

Book of the

Nanre(this is

Chayay Olam HaBah:

"Life of the Future World")

as

a

commentary on the Name of Seventy-Two. He writes the entire book as a series of circles so as to confusethose who look at it.8 As

if

this would make up for its lack of truecontent! He filled this book with word manipulations, made up by hisown deficient mind.

Rabbi ludah Chayit.9Chayah Olam HaBah

(Life of the Future World) is a book writtenby Rabbi Abraham Abulafia, in circles, concerning the Name ofSeventy-Two.

I

have seen a manuscript of it, written on parchment.The Rashba, in Chapter

544

[of his responsa] and Rabbi Yashar[of Candia] in his

Metzaref LiChokhmah

(Purifier of Wisdom),

-

denounce him like one of worthless and worse.Still,

I

must tell the truth,

I

saw a great rabbi, one of the majormasters of the mysteries, of great reputation. According to his words,there is no question that he made use of this book and benefited greatlyfrom

it.

The Chidah.10

2.

GROWTH

OF

A

PROPHET

Abulafia included considerable autobiographical material in hiswritings, and much is thereFore known about his life, even though thereare some important blank spots. From all this material, we obtain apicture of a sincere, inspired individual, who also possessed manyhuman failings.He was born in the year 1240. This does not appear verysignificant until we realize that on the Hebrew calendar, which countsfrom the birth of Adam, this was the year 5000, literally the beginningof a new millennium. AbulaFia was very much aware of this distinction,and in a number of places, cites it as proof that he was destined for aspecial mission.In his autobiography, Abulafia speaks about many of his disciples.The most important of these was Rabbi Joseph Gikatalia, who later wasto become one of the greatest Kabbalists of that period. Eight yearsyounger than Abulafia, it can be ascertained that he came under theinfluence of Abulafi.1 in the year 1273, when he was twenty-five yearsold.11 Gikatalia's

Shaarey Orah

(Gates of Light) bpcame one of the mostimportant Kabbalistic classics, and in many places, it reflects the

!

teachings of Abulafia.Another disciple mentioned in the autobiography is a certain ShemTov of Burgos. We shall meet him again as one of the possible authors

OF

Shaarey Tzedek

(Gates of Righteousness), an important expositionof Abulafia's techniques.It has often been stated that Abulafia was opposed to the Talmudand deficient in its knowledge, but this is an inaccurate conclusion. As ateenager, AbulaFia learned Scripture, Mishnah and Talmud from hisfather,. attaining what was then considered an adequate knowledge ofthese subjects. When the Rashba accused him of being an ignoramus,he replied that he had completed the entireTalmud, and had learnedhow to render decisions in religious law from two prominent