From Germany to Spain:

Numerology as a Mystical Technique1

DANIEL ABRAMS
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY

L ittle is truly known about the origins of the Kabbalah in twelfth- and
Learly thirteenth-century Provence and Spain. While Gershom Scholem's
detailed research, published in his Origins of the Kabbalah,2 discussed the
many figures and texts which lie at the heart of this problem, this study
and others written since then fail to explain how the new orientation cen-
tered around the doctrine of sefirot evolved. Although Scholem explained
the differences between the numerical and linguistic mysticism of the Ger-
man Pietists and the sexualized theosophy of the Kabbalistic texts, he did not
articulate an opinion on how the former orientation lent itself to the devel-
opment and transition to Kabbalistic thought. Indeed, Scholem downplayed
the role of the German Pietist texts in his explanation of the emergence of
the Kabbalah. On the whole, Scholem focused on the historical emergence
of the Kabbalists as a unique circle of mystics in a specific time and place
and looked to ancient sources to illustrate ideational parallels to other bod-
ies of literature. Therefore, in Scholem's research, the mystical symbolism
found in the texts of the German Pietists was seen less as the early signs of an
evolving hermeneutic of Kabbalistic mystical thought and more as proof that
the Pietists were the passive conduits of written texts received from ancient
sources. To go beyond a characterization of the differences between these
two bodies of literature and to offer a more detailed picture of the transition
according to the primary sources is a very difficult task, especially given the
nature of the writings themselves. Jewish mystics rarely spoke of themselves,
let alone their perception of themselves or of their own works in relation to
others.3
This study will focus on one such gap in the understanding of the develop-
ment of Kabbalistic writings in early forms of Spanish Kabbalah with special
emphasis on Castile and the non-sefirotic orientation which evolved there
from sources arriving from Germany. It will be argued that numerology was
already used by some German Pietists to induce a mystical experience and
that similar techniques can be found in the later Kabbalah, particularly in
Castile. The formative period of various schools of Kabbalah in Castile is
in my view the starting point for an investigation into the above-described
shift in orientation among the Spanish Kabbalists in the second half of the
thirteenth century. It was there, rather than Gerona at about the same time,
1 I would like to thank the Warburg Foundation and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish
Culture for their financial support of my research.
2 Princeton-Philadelphia 1987.
3 See Michal Oron, 'Autobiographical Elements in the Writings of the Kabbalists from the
Generation of the Expulsion', Mediterranean Historical Review 6 (1991), pp. 102-111, esp. pp.
102-103.
86 JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES

that the early stages of the Kabbalah of Jacob Ha-Kohen, Joseph Gikatilla
and Moses de Leon emerged. Common to all these figures is a non-sefirotic
orientation, heavily influenced by Ashkenazi sources.4 To be sure, each of
the above figures was influenced by a combination of various earlier sources
and traditions, including those of Eleazar of Worms and the works of Abra-
ham Ibn Ezra, especially their linguistic and numerological exegesis. With
the exception of the 'Ecstatic Kabbalah' of Abulafia and his teacher, Baruch
Togrami, the Kabbalah of each figure evolved into a sefirotic recasting.
Due to the popularity and importance of the Zohar and other related lit-
erature from the second half of the thirteenth century, there is a tendency to
group all other forms together as 'the Kabbalah which is not found in the
Zohar'.s To offset this impression, some of the various texts of non-sefirotic
Kabbalah in thirteenth century Spain will be enumerated. In a study enti-
tled 'On the Sources of Rabbi Moses de Leon's Early Kabbalistic System'6,
Asi Farber places the early literary activity of Moses de Leon alongside a cir-
cle of non-theosophic writings, based mainly in letter and number mysticism.
De Leon's works from this period are his Or Zaru'a,7 the untitled fragment
in Ms. Munich 47 and (possibly) also the 'Secret of the Fingers', which was
copied in the series of 'sodot' (secrets), which comprise much of R. Jacob Ha-
Kohen's Book of Illumination.8 Parts of de Leon's Hebrew Writings reflect
or rework this book, 'The Secret of the Paths of the Letters', a somewhat
lengthy text that has survived in various fragments.9 Farber describes the
4 See A. Jellinek's Beit Ha-Midrash, Leipzig 1853, vol. 3, p. xliii. The linguistic mysticism in
the works of Baruch Togarmi and Abraham Abulfaia should also be noted, as well as locating
some of the early activity of Abulafia in Barcelona.
5 For one early example see: Meyer Waxman, A History of Jewish Literature: From the Close
of the Bible to Our Own Days, Volume II: From the Twelfth Century to the Middle of the Eigh-
teenth, New York 1938, p. 390, who places Eleazar of Worms, Abulafia, Gikatilla and Abraham
of Cologne under the heading of 'letter mysticism'.
6 In: Studies in Jewish Mysticism Philosophy and Ethical Literature Presented to Isaiah
Tishby on his Seventy Fifth Birthday, Jerusalem 1986, pp. 67-96 [Hebrew].
7 A. Altmann, 'Moses de Leon's Sefer Or Zaru'a: Introduction, Critical Text and Notes',
Qovez 'al Yad 9 (1980), pp. 219-293 [Hebrew].
8 On 'The Secret of the Fingers' see my edition of the Book of Illumination along with a
study of R. Jacob's Kabbalah in my Ph.D. dissertation, 'Rabbi Jacob ben Jacob Ha-Kohen's
Book of Illumination', New York University 1993.
9 Due to the fragmentary nature of the text itself as well as that of the notes of scholars
who discussed it, I would like to outline the history of the identification of this text. Steinschnei-
der was the first scholar to make note of this text according to Ms. Paris BN 770 (fols. 209a-
214b), Hebraische Bibliographie 10 (1870), p. 99 n. 3; Scholem noted other parts to the some-
times overlapping fragments of this work: Madaei Ha-Yahadut 2 (1927), pp. 16, 30, 128: Ms.
Vatican 441, fols. 183a-209a, Ms. Mussayef 92 [now Ms. 63], fols. 14b-27a, and an unnumbered
Ms. in the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York (JTS), a copy of which Alexander Marx
provided him. In subsequent studies, (Tarbiz 5, p. 305, Qiryat Sefer 10, p. 506, and Kabbalah, p.
60), Scholem noted the fragments included in Sefer Ha-Ne'elam: Ms. Paris BN 817, fols. 81a-
87b. In his Origins of the Kabbalah, p. 362 n. 317, Scholem added Ms. New York 844 [now Mic
2367, fols. 169a-173a]. In his Einige Kabbalistische Handschriften im Britischen Museum, Berlin
1932, p. 51, Scholem identified yet another fragment in Ms. London, British Library 788, fols.
12a- 1 3a. Shortly thereafter, Alexander Marx remarked on a fragment in a JTS manuscript (Mic
1786, fols. la-15b), 'A New Collection of Manuscripts', PAAJR 4 (1932-1933) 157-158. Farber
(p. 68 n. 2) identified the fragments in JTS, Mic 1886, fols. la-24b and Mic 2156, fols. 51b-58b
raising the possibility that the latter was the manuscript Scholem first saw in New York. Elliot
FROM GERMANY TO SPAIN: NUMEROLOGY AS A MYSTICAL TECHNIQUE 87

affinity of these texts to those of Abraham Abulafia and the early works of
Joseph Gikatilla, but is careful not to place them all together. Instead, while
arguing the mutual influence of Gikatilla and de Leon,10 she describes dif-
ferent 'schools' within the larger activity of a non-theosophic 'trend' in early
Castile, extending to as late as the beginning of the fourteenth century."
Farber termed the school close to de Leon as 'The Kabbalah of the Let-
ters' or the 'Kabbalah of the Names and the Letters'. (Gikatilla's early works
such as Ginat Egoz have been termed 'Philosophic Mysticism' by Shlomo
Blickstein.12) Finally, mention must be made of Jacob ben Jacob Ha-Kohen,
the first known Kabbalist in Castile, whose Kabbalah underwent three trans-
formations. As I have discussed in my work on this figure,13 R. Jacob was at
first heavily influenced by Ashkenazi sources, later by a theology stemming
from a dream-vision of the 'ten holy spheres' and finally by sefirotic texts
including works from the so-called 'Iyyun Circle'."4
To summarize this sketch of the main, non-sefirotic forms of Kabbalah,
there existed at least five trends in the second third of the thirteenth century:
the 'Ecstatic Kabbalah',15 the 'Philosophic Kabbalah',16 the 'Kabbalah of
the Letters' and of the early de Leon, and the early stages of the Kabbalah
of Jacob Ha-Kohen. Although the last decade of research has been able to
sort out with greater precision the various schools of early Kabbalah, we
must still ask whether we can nevertheless speak of a nexus of ideas or simi-
lar hermeneutic techniques which can link them together. If such a common
thread is identified, can a historical link be established suggesting the direct
influence of the early Ashkenazi sources and figures upon the early Kabbal-
ists of Castile? Finally, can a common element of a mystical outlook or even
a method of interpretation be isolated among all these figures which will shed
new light upon our understanding of this pre-sefirotic world view? As will be
Wolfson latter suggested ('Letter Symbolism and Merkavah Imagery in the Zohar', 'Alei Shefer.
Studies in the Literature ofJewish Thought Presented to Rabbi Dr. Alexandre Safran, ed. M. Hal-
lamish, Bar Ilan 1990, p. 204 n. 31) that the manuscript might instead be Mic 1786, less likely
considering that Marx would have referred back to Scholem's 1927 note. Wolfson then identified
yet another fragment in Ms. JTS Mic 1990, fols. 71b-73b which is parallel to parts of Mss. Vati-
can and Paris BN 770. Finally, other fragments can be found in Ms. Sasson 919 which was sold
in 1989 to the New York Public Library (Jewish Division **P), pp. 103-106, Ms. Cambridge
Add. 643.2, fols. 12b-18b, and Ms. Vatican 219, fols. 63b-71a.
Farber, p. 77, and Altmann as cited there.
1 One should note the relatively late and partly non-sefirotic work, based in part on the tech-
niques of gematria, Zror Ha-Hayyim of R. Shemaya ben Isaac Levi, which cites the Zohar. See
Ms. Leiden 24 (Cod. Er. 4762), fols. 185a-208b (Zohar, I, fol. 62a) and Ms. Oxford 1781. On
this work see Boaz Huss, 'Sefer Poqe'ah Ivrim: New Material Toward the History of Kabbalistic
Literature', Tarbiz 61 (1992), p. 501 n. 81 [Hebrew].
12 Shlomo Blickstein, 'Between Philosophy and Mysticism: A Study of the Philosophical-
Qabbalistic Writings of Joseph Gikatila', Ph.D. Dissertation, Jewish Theological Seminary of
America 1983. Farber refers to this stage of his works as 'the early Gikatilla', p. 93.
13 Above note 6.
14 See Mark Verman, The Books of Contemplation, Albany 1992.
15 Abulafia's Kabbalah underwent a transformation in the year 1271 after which he speaks of
the 'Prophetic Kabbalah'.
16 The Kabbalah of Isaac Ibn Latif falls somewhere between Kabbalah and philosophy; see
Sara Heller Wilensky's 'Isaac Ibn Latif-Philosopher or Kabbalist', Jewish Medieval and Renais-
sance Studies, ed. A. Altmann, Cambridge, Mass. 1967, pp. 185-223, esp. p. 221.
88 JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES

shown in the following pages, an element common to the above schools can
be traced back to the German Pietist circles and the historical and textual
links between them can now be made.
In the closing sentence of her above-mentioned article, Asi Farber sug-
gested that the Ashkenazi background, particularly the 'Book of the Divine
Name' by Eleazar of Worms, may have influenced the Spanish 'Kabbalah
of the Letters' and that many more related texts may be found in manu-
script. Indeed, even the most superficial reading of the 'Book of the Divine
Name' and other non-sefirotic works from Spain will leave the reader with
the impression that some connection exists between them. Nevertheless, in
many of the esoteric Ashkenazi and Spanish works under discussion, paral-
lels can be found between various literary forms dealing with a wide range
of subjects. It is therefore difficult to define sharply what particular elements
these corpora have in common. It is true that the 'Book of the Divine Name'
and the 'Secret of the Paths of the Letters' both exhibit a deep interest in the
'secret' (sod) of the divine name, and both engage in letter permutations and
numerology to explore this subject. However, this broad description is true
of many other works from various authors and periods as well, including the
works of Abraham Abulafia. Thus, it cannot be this element alone which uni-
fies these texts. In search of this connection, we will turn toward the greater
problem of the influence of the esoteric writings of the German Pietists on
the Spanish mystics.

Transitionary Texts and Figures

The influence of the esoteric teachings of the German Pietist circles upon
thirteenth century Spanish Kabbalah is difficult to document.17 Judah the
Pious, the head of the main Pietist circle at the time that Kabbalistic ideas
were first known to have circulated in Provence, apparently did not write
any esoteric works himself. And while his main student, Eleazar of Worms,
composed numerous works, neither of them travelled to Spain, nor did they
receive any students who came from Spain. Moreover, the few students
whom Eleazar of Worms did entrust with the secrets he possessed did not
have a strong impact on the emerging Kabbalah.'8 While the works of these
students are certainly important for the study of Eleazar's thought, and of
the extended circle as a whole, one is left with the impression that in the
17 See Joseph Dan in his 'The Vicissitudes of the Esotericism of the German Hasidim'
[Hebrew], Studies in Mysticism and Religion Presented to Gershom Scholem, Jerusalem 1967,
pp. 91-99, and in his book The Esoteric Theology of Ashkenazi Hasidism, Jerusalem 1968, pp.
251-262 [Hebrew]. See now the final pages in his Hasidut Ashkenaz, Tel-Aviv 1992, pp. 77-82
[Hebrew].
18 To date, modern scholarship has not been able to show the direct or significant influence
of Eleazar's works on the Provencal Kabbalists. See however Gershom Scholem's conjecture,
'The Concept of Kavvanah in the Early Kabbalah', Studies in Jewish Thought: An Anthology of
German Jewish Scholarship, ed. A. Jospe, p. 164: 'No doubt there were direct relations between
the circle of Eleazar of Worms and the Provencal Kabbalists: it has become increasingly clear
that it is impossible to view these circles as completely separate from one another as long been
the custom in the literature on the subject'.
FROM GERMANY TO SPAIN: NUMEROLOGY AS A MYSTICAL TECHNIQUE 89

course of the first three generations of Kabbalists, the esoteric thought of the
German Pietists was simply overcome by the new momentum and intellec-
tual lure of the sefirotic Kabbalah.
Only a few exceptions are known to this picture of isolated esoteric circles
in medieval Germany, as I have discussed in a separate study.9 The most
prominent example of a historical link between Ashkenaz and Spain is the
anonymous Hasid, a student of Eleazar of Worms whom Isaac ben Jacob
Ha-Kohen reports meeting in his travels from Spain to Provence. Such inter-
mediary figures were mentioned repeatedly by Scholem in his Origins of the
Kabbalah, as a possible link between the esotericism of Germany and the
Kabbalah of Spain.20 While many more such figures might have existed, con-
crete information exists concerning a certain 'Menahem, student of Eleazar
of Worms' whose only known work was absorbed and reworked into Abra-
ham of Cologne's 'Keter Shem Tov'.
This text is found in at least fifty manuscripts, the fuller version including
the self-attribution of the author, Abraham of Cologne, while in many others
his name has apparently been removed by an early copiest and replaced by
the words ploni almoni, 'I the anonymous writer'.21 In yet other manuscripts,
some of them quite early,22 approximately half of the text is found under the
heading 'From the words of Menahem the student of R. Eleazar of Worms.'
In 1853, Adolph Jellinek first published the full version of this text in a cor-
rupt edition.23 His initial research was later supplemented by a brief discus-
sion by M. Renan in 187724 and a manuscript listing by Scholem in his list of
commentaries to the ten sefirot.25 Joseph Dan summarized the importance
of this figure citing him in the context of the influence of German esotericism
on the emerging Kabbalah.26 As noted by the above scholars, investigations
into a fuller picture of this figure, confirming his existence from other sources
and providing a description of his Kabbalah, have not yielded any new infor-
mation.
Surviving in at least four manuscripts is a short composition entitled
'Secret of [Numerological] Calculation', 'Sod He-Heshbon'. Most striking is
19 'The Literary Emergence of Esotericism in German Pietism', Shofar, 12 (1994), pp. 67-85.
20 See Scholem, Origins, pp. 183 n. 204; 215; 241; 292 n. 285; 310 n. 226; 321; 325, n. 261. On
page 321 Scholem suggested that this 'hasid' might be a member of the 'Iyyun Circle'. See Mark
Verman, The Books of Contemplation, Albany 1992, pp. 199-201. See also J. Dan, 'Samael,
Lilith and the Concept of Evil in Early Kabbalah', AJS Review 5 (1908), p. 31.
21 E. Renan, Les Rabbins Francais: Du Commencement du Quatorzieme Siecle, Paris 1877,
p. 470. Compare with Ms, London, The British Library, Add. 27, 179, fols. 71a-78b, copied in
the year 1341 in which the work introduced with the attribution to R. Judah bar Akshalo of
Cologne, but the text refers to 'ploni almoni' (fol. 71b).
22 E.g. Ms. Paris BN 767 as noted by Renan, p. 473.
23 A. Jellinek, Auswahl kabbalistischer Mystic, Leipzig 1853, pp. 29-52, and reprinted in a
volume of his collected works: Kleine Schriften zur Geschichte der Kabbala, Hidesheim-Zurich-
New York 1988.
24 As cited above, note 21.
25 G. Scholem, 'Index to Commentaries on the Ten Sephirot', Qiryat Sefer 10 (1934-1935),
pp. 502 (#35), 504 (#50), 505 (#55).
26 J. Dan, 'Vicissitudes', (cited above, note 17), p. 97, n. 43; idem, The Esoteric Theology, p.
259.
90 JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES

the note at the end of the text in the manuscript which was copied in the
year 1297: 'These are the words I have gathered from the words of the great
light, the Rabbi Menahem, student of the Rabbi Eliezer[!]27 of Worms, may
his memory be blessed'. As will be demonstrated below, this composition
characterizes a major trend of the transitional stage between the mysticism
of the Kalonymide circle of in Germany (especially the works of R. Eleazar
of Worms) and the emerging Kabbalah in Spain, particularly Castile. And
while the historical influence of this figure on Spanish Kabbalah can only be
suggested, it is highly significant that common to all is the hermeneutic tech-
nique of gematria, a technique with a long and variegated history.

Early Uses of Gematria

Numerological techniques date back to early Greek and Rabbinic texts
and were used periodically as a hermeneutic technique in various works
through the Gaonic period and on into medieval Europe.28 Numerology as
27 Ms, Saint-Petersburg, Firkovitch I A 97-102/2, fols. 19a-21b as discussed in my article
cited above: Shofar 12 (1994), p. 73 n. 19. The incorrect spelling of Eleazar of Worms' name
places the author (or copiest) outside of the immediate circle in Germany, for it would otherwise
have been known that his name and appellation 'RoQeaH' each have the numerical value of 308.
See further, J. Dan, 'Kavvanoth of Prayers attributed to Rabbi Judah the Pious', Da'at 10 (1980),
p. 52 [Hebrew].
28 Various encyclopedia entries and studies have been published on the subject of gema-
tria. The most significant studies of this type were written by Samuel Horedetzky, Encyclopae-
dia Judaica, Berlin 1931, vol. 7 col. 170-179, Simon Mowshowitz, 'Gematria', Universal Jew-
ish Encyclopedia, New York 1941, 5:525-6, Gershom Scholem, 'Gematria', Kabbalah, Jerusalem
1973, pp. 337-343, and idem, Catalogus Codicum Hebraicorum, Jerusalem 1930, p. 28 [Hebrew].
Mention should also be made of an extensive note in Lawrence Fine's 1976 doctoral disserta-
tion at Brandeis University, entitled 'Techniques of Mystical Meditation for Achieving Prophecy
and the Holy Spirit in the Teachings of Isaac Luria and Hayyim Vital', p. 130 n. 64. More
recently, lengthier studies on the history and usage of numerology in Jewish texts have been
published. See Herman Salb, Gematria and Notricon: Homiletic Interpretations based in the
Numerical Value of Letters and Interpretations, Jerusalem 1955 [Hebrew], reprinted in part in
Wiess's edition of Eleazar of Worms' Sefer Hokhmath Ha-Nephesh, Bnei Braq 1987, pp. 16-
17; Richard WeiBkopf, 'Gematria: Buchstabenberechnung, Torah Schopfung im rabbinischen
Judentum', Ph.D. dissertation, Tubingen 1975; Naftali Wieder, 'Be-atya shel gematria anti-nozrit
ve-atni-islamit', Sinai 76 (1975), pp. 1-14; Samuel Lentisch, Sefer Gematriot 'al Kol Ha-Torah
He-Hama, Brooklyn 1977; Immanuel Schochet, 'The Principle of Numerical Interpretation: A
Prolegomenon', to The Spice of Torah-Gematria by Gutman G. Locks, New York 1985, pp.
iv-xxvii. Mention should also be made of the descriptions of Rabbinic numerology and cata-
loguing of these texts; see Samuel Waldberg's Darkei Ha-Shinuiim, Lemberg 1870, fols. 20a-21a,
72b-82a; Meir Tenbaum, Sefer Divrei Meir, Jerusalem 1991; and Ithamar Griinwald, 'Uses and
Abuses of Gematria' in Rabbi Mordechai Bruer Festschrift ed. M. bar Asher, Jerusalem 1992,
vol. II, pp. 823-832 [Hebrew]. Some of the above studies were written from academic orienta-
tions while others were geared to more popular audiences. I have seen dozens of books on what
I will call 'modem experiments' in gematria which remain beyond the historical focus of this
study. See already Rene Guenon, 'Kabbale et Science des Nobres', Le Voile D'Isis 38 (1933), pp.
325-335. The most interesting among them were written in Hebrew. See for example the pam-
phlet entitled Gematria: Collected Studies, ed. Tuvia Wechsler, Jerusalem 1980. See also Harry
Waton, The Key to the Bible, New York 1952, and Moshe Zuriel, Or Torah, Jerusalem 1983 and
the appendix to his Migdal Oz, Benei Beraq, n.d. Mention should also be made of studies con-
cerning the meaning and early context of gematria, discussed in some of the studies above such
as that of I. Grunwald and treated at length by Wilhelm Bacher, Die Exegetische Terminologie
der jiidischen Traditionsliteratur, 1 (1899), pp. 125-128; 2 (1905) 124. These two volumes printed
FROM GERMANY TO SPAIN: NUMEROLOGY AS A MYSTICAL TECHNIQUE 91

a hermeneutic technique became widely accepted in certain Ashkenazi cir-

cles in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Its frequency diminished in the
following decades, and it is all but absent in the Zohar.29 With a handful of
important exceptions, numerology, and to an extent linguistic mysticism as
well, became marginal to the Kabbalists in the course of the following gener-
ations. To a large extent this can be attributed to the centrality of the sefirotic
orientation which took center stage in many Kabbalistic writings.30
In various works of the German Pietist, gematria was most often used
as a way of validating an existing tradition or an interpretation of a text
which would have been maintained without the numerological association.31
As we shall see, another aspect of the usage of numerological calculation in
German sources was the experiential effects it could induce. The experien-
tial aspect of numerical calculations dates back at least to the Hekhalot lit-
erature wherein it is enumerated with the recitation of divine names as one
of the techniques which helps one 'descend to the chariot'.32 References to

in Leipzig were reprinted together in one volume in Darmstadt 1965: Saul Lieberman, Hellenism
in Jewish Palestine, New York 1950, pp. 69 ff. On numerology in Greek sources, see further
Christopher Butler, Number Symbolism, London 1970, pp. 1-21; Stephen Gersh, 'The Linguis-
tic Doctrine of Theodorus of Asine and its Background in Philosophy and Magic', Excursus
to From Iamblichus to Eriugena: An Investigation of the Prehistory and Evolution of the Pseudo-
Dionysian Tradition, Leiden 1978, pp. 289-304; Shmuel Sambursky, 'On the Origin and Signif-
icance of the Term Gematria', Journal of Jewish Studies 29 (1978), pp. 35-38; an earlier version
was published in Tarbiz 45 (1976), pp. 268-271 [Hebrew]. See more recently Stephen Lieberman,
'A Mesopotamian Background for the So-Called Aggadic Measures of Biblical Hermenutics?',
Hebrew Union College Annual 58 (1987), pp. 157-225, esp. 170-174.
29 Gershom Scholem, Ha-Qabbalah shel Sefer Ha-Temunah ve-shel R. Avraham Abaulafia, ed.
J. Ben-Shlomo, Jerusalem 1976, pp. 88-89; idem, Reshit Ha-Qabbalah ve-Sefer Ha-Bahir, ed. R.
Schatz, Jerusalem 1962, p. 83.
30 One such exception is Berit Menuha (Amsterdam 1648) attributed to Abraham the
Sepharadi. Others include Menot Halevi of Shlomo Alkabez, the thirteenth chapter of Cor-
dovero's Pardes Rimonim, Remez Ha-Romez of Mordechai Zakut and Megale Amuqot of Natan
Sahpira. The latter was influenced by the works of Eleazar of Worms as documented by S. Wiess
in the introduction to his edition of Eleazar's Sodei Razaya, Jerusalem 1988, pp. 5-6. Sum-
maries of numerology in Jewish mysticism texts can be found in the works of Ergas and Moses
Cordevero, from textual and ideational perspectives respectively: Mezaref Le-hokhma, Chapter
11, and Asis Rimmonim, chapter 30, printed in Pardes Rimmonim, Munkatch, facsimile edition,
Jerusalem 1962, II, fols. 66b-67a.
31 See Scholem 'Gematria', (above note 28), p. 339. The most known examples of the above
are 'I went down to the garden of the nut' is equivalent to 'This is the depth of the chariot' and
'Depiction [Temunah]' is equivalent to 'the face of man'. See for example 'Sefer Sha'arei Ha-
Yihud Ve-Ha-Emunah', Temirin 1 (1972), p. 146. At times the numerical equivalence between
words or phrases was admittedly imprecise. On this see Ergas's comment in his Shomer Emunim,
Jerusalem 1965, I, 20 and 21: 'Why are numerical calculations sometimes not exact ... because
it is known to those who examine [the matter], that [the technique] is always based on force of
the association (lefi te'amo).'
32 See the discussion of the sources and notes to the relevant literature in Moshe Idel's unpub-
lished Ph.D. dissertation, 'Abraham Abulafia's Works and Doctrine, Jerusalem 1976, pp. 250-
251, and now in his The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia, tr. J. Chipman, Albany 1988,
pp. 14-15; David Halperin, The Merkabah in Rabbinic Literature, New Haven 1980, p. 2. See
now Annelies Kuyt, Ph.D. dissertation, 'Heavenly Journeys in Hekhalot Literature', Amster-
dam 1991, and Elliot Wolfson, 'Yeridah la-Merkavah: Typology of Ecstasy and Enthronement
in Ancient Jewish Mysticism', Mystics of the Book: Themes, Topics and Typologies, ed. R. A.
Herrera, New York 1993, pp. 13-44.
92 JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES

the power of the recitation of divine names and biblical verses by their 'let-
ters and number', i.e. various forms of minute calculations, can be traced
through various Gaonic sources.33 In medieval Europe prior to the German
Pietists, we find a gloss by Rashi,34 that 'by the [use of] the name' the Tana'im
described in Tractate Hagiga were able to enter into the 'Pardes'. Here we
must distinguish between two aspects of a mystical technique: the recitation
of names and numerical calculation. Both appear side by side in the Hekhalot
passages, when only the former can be found in Rashi's commnent. Moshe
Idel has outlined the evolution of the techniques for entering into a prophetic
state, from the Hekhalot references through the various types of thirteenth
century Kabbalah. Although a numerical or linguistic exercise is common to
the techniques discussed by Idel, in the medieval texts (outside of Abulafia's
school), we do not find the numerical calculation of words isolated from the
recitation of divine names as the path to a prophetic state.35 It can be shown,
I believe, that the focus on numerical calculation as a technique for mystical
experience began in Ashkenazi circles, and it is against the background of
this tradition that the Spanish mystics developed their systems.

Gematria as a Mystical Technique

In Jacob ben Asher's 'Tur' (Orah Hjayyim) it is reported that 'the first
hasidim would come at the time of prayer to remove their [sense of] corpo-
reality [which is] similar to the level of prophecy.'36 Elsewhere in the Orah
.Hayyim, R. Jacob ben Asher states in the name of his brother, R. Yehiel,
that the 'Dorshei Reshumot',37 the Ashkenazi Pietists,33 'weighed' and cal-
culated the numbers of words in the prayers and benedictions, and sought
a source for these '3 A third passage links these two statements together,
33 Idel, Dissertation, pp. 250-251; idem, Mystical Experience, p. 15 and notes. See also
Rachel Elior, Hekhalot Zutarti, Supplement I to Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought, Jerusalem
1982, p. I [Hebrew].
34 TB Hagiga, fol. 15b. See also J. Dan, 'Rashi and the Merkabah', Rashi 1040-1990, Hom-
mage a Ephraim E. Urbach, ed. G. Sed-Rajna, Paris 1993, pp. 259-64.
35 To be sure, some crossover can be found in divine names which are immersed in traditions
of their numerical value such as the 72-letter divine name found in Exodus 14:19-21.
36 §98. See also the description of what appears to be a mystical experience in Margolioth's
edition of Sefer Hasidim, Jerusalem 1957, passage 773: 'When their souls are filled with great
love and their hearts with God, it is as if their are not in this world.' The passage from the Tur
seems to be an expansion and interpretation of the tradition recorded in the Tractate Berachot
30b, that 'the first hasidim would linger for an hour and pray so as to intend their thoughts to
their Father in heaven.'
37 A Talmudic expression for allegorists later used to describe the Jewish esotericists; see
A. Marmorstein, The Old Rabbinic Doctrine of God, II: Essays in Anthropomorphism, London
1937, p. 133; M. Smith, Tannaitic Parallels to the Gospels, Philadelphia 1951, pp. 157-158; G.
Scholem, Kabbalah, p. 6. Isaac b. Isaac, author of Sefer Pa'aneah Raza, an early fourteenth-
century commentary to the Torah based largely on gematria and Ashkenazi sources, states that
the author of the Tur and the 'Dorshei Reshumot' decoded the secrets to the acronyms of biblical
texts (Jerusalem 1984, fols. 44b-45a).
38 This is the fist recorded usage of the term Hasidei Ashkenaz.
39 Tur, Orah Hayyim, sect. 113; see also sect. 118. This passage has been cited various times
in discussions of numerology. See Yekutiel Kamelhar, Hasidim Ha-Rishonim, Vatizan 1917, p. 31
FROM GERMANY TO SPAIN: NUMEROLOGY AS A MYSTICAL TECHNIQUE 93

showing that underlying these Ashkenazi texts is an experiential aspect of the

technique of calculating the numerical value of the prayers. In the Mahzor
Vitri, a tradition is recorded in the name of 'Eleazar' of Worms, Judah the
Pious' main student in esotericism, stating that concerning the secrets of the
prayers:40
Gematria is [numerological] calculation, called Notrikon in Greek, so that one
can know how to calculate [Iehashev] the signs [simanel] of the letters until the
point that one is no longer able to speak, as the Greeks used to do, and as was
explained in R. Saadia Gaon's Commentary to the Book of Creation.4"
From these three sources alone, the early development of a mystical tech-
nique can be documented. The above passages all revolve around prayer. The
first quote from Jacob ben Asher's Tur, about removing one's sense of corpo-
reality, can only be understood as a description of an experiential state or
at least a heightened spiritual state.42 R. Jacob therefore associates the state
produced by numerological calculations with the level of prophecy. The sec-
ond passage does not mention a mental state but describes the practice of
counting the numerical value of the prayers (gematria), a virtually endless
and repetitive enterprise. Only in the third and final passage are the two prin-
ciples explicitly connected, that the persistent calculation of the value of the
prayers produces an altered psychological state.43
The technique of counting the numerical value of the letters in the prayers
was practiced by Judah the Pious and other members of his circle and was
taken to an extreme in the works of Abraham Abulafia two generations later.
[Hebrew]; Solomon Schechter, Studies in Judaism, Philadelphia 1924, p. 1; Gershom Scholem,
Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, 3rd revised edition, New York 1964, p. 100; Abraham
Berliner, Ketavim Nivharim, Jerusalem 1969, vol. 1, p. 35 [Hebrew]; Schochet, p.xxi n. 79, Ivan
Marcus in his introduction to the Facsimile Edition of Ms. Parma H3280 of Sefer Hasidim,
Jerusalem 1985, p. 20 n. 49 and by Dan, 'On the Historical Personality' (below, note 44), p. 397
n. 19.
40 Here I would like to supplement a manuscript listing of traditions (some of which bare a
strong Kabbalistic mark) ascribed to R. Eleazar of Worms that I began in my article cited above,
note 19: Ms. New York JTSA MIC 1822, fol. 38b; Ms. New York, JTSA MIC 1878, fol. 108a;
R. Shem Tov ben Shem Tov's Sefer Ha-Emunot, Ferrara 1556, fol. 35b.
41 Mahzor Vitri, ed. S. Horowitz, Nurembug 1823, p. 519. The printed text reads: 'In the Sid-
dur of' and is corrected according to the note of S. Hurwitz in his Einleitung und Register zwn
Machsor Vitri, Berlin 1896-1897, p. 184 [Hebrew]. I have not been able to locate this text in Saa-
dia's works. See further Solomon Gandz, 'Saadia Gaon as a Mathematician', Saadia Anniver-
sary Volume, New York 1943, pp. 141-196, esp. p. 160. See Urbach's doubting of the authen-
ticity of the attribution to Eleazar in his edition of Arugat Ha-Bosem, Jerusalem 1963, vol. 4, p.
100 n. 30.
42 Compare to the passage Scholem cited from R. David ben Judah He-Hasid's Or Zaru'a
in his study 'The Concept of Kavvanah in the Early Kabbalah', Studies in Jewish Thought: An
Anthology of German Jewish Scholarship, ed. A. Jospe, Detroit 1981, p. 169: 'The true kav-
vanah, however, consists in clearing the mind of all extraneous thoughts, these being corporeal
desires...and then to reflect on intelligible matters and to detach yourself from all sense impres-
sions, and to think of oneself as standing before the heavenly Shekhina, one's desires and soul
united with the heavenly King, having eradicated all sensual feelings in oneself to be united with
the heavenly Light.'
43 Arthur Deikman, 'Deautomatization of the Mystic Experience', Psychiatry 29 (1966), pp.
324-338; reprinted in The Nature of Human Consciousness, ed. R. Ornstein, San Francisco 1973,
pp. 216-233.
9494JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES

Judah the Pious is known to have composed a lengthy and exhaustive study
of the numerological value of the prayers, which reverberated in the works of
some of his students and others who studied this text, but has not survived
in its original form."4 We must therefore rely on the accounts of later figures
for the doctrines of Judah's teaching.
In his listing of the seventy-two 'gates' of interpretation he received from
his teacher, Judah the Pious, Eleazar of Worms lists 'the gate of gema-
tria', 'the gate of notrikon' (acronyms) and 'the gate of A'T Ba'Sh (let-
ter transposition).45 In his introduction to his commentary on the prayers,
Eleazar states that he is writing his book so that everyone will know what is
the secret of the prayers.46
Eleazar is therefore claiming
that the secrets he
reveals are part of what he views to be the requirement of prayer. To put it
differently, anyone who prays without these secrets is not fulfilling his oblig-
ation and is not worshipping the Creator properly. And while Eleazar does
not often make the connections explicitly, he does so in a passage from his
'Book of Wisdom':
Everyone who recites the eighteen blessings must recite them with the [proper]
intention, without adding diminishing anything [to
or the text], such as he who
says 'And to Jerusalem' errs for he is supposed to say [only the words] 'to
Jerusalem'. And he who recites [the former] with intention causes 1818 angels
to rise against him.47
From another passage authored by Eleazar, we learn
that while many peo-
ple engaged in numerical calculations of certain texts, Eleazar did not rec-
ommend it equally to all: 'Do not engage in too many numerical calculations
[gematriot], for even the idle do so, and lest others mock you'.8 In this pas-
sage, Eleazar is certainly not negating the validity of the technique of gema-
tria, not as a hermeneutical technique nor as a legitimate activity of the wise.
I understand his remark as a warning,
that one should not take gematria
lightly, as the foolish
do who use excessively or flippantly, and therefore
it
do not produce valid associations.49
44 J. Dan, 'The Emergence of Mystical Prayer', Studies in Jewish Mysticism: Proceedings of
Regional Conferences Held at the University California, Los Angeles and McGill University in
April 1978, ed. J. Dan andE Talmage, Cambridge, Mass. 1982, pp. 87-89; J.Jewry:
Dan, 'On the His-
torical Personality of R. Judah Hasid', in Culture and Society in Medieval Studies Ded-
icated to the Memory of Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson, Jerusalem 1989, pp. 389-397 [Hebrew]. See
further note 37 of my article (cited above note 19).
45 A't BaS'h is the transposition of letters based upon an inversion of the order of letters
of the alphabet. The list of these gates was first published by Joseph Dan in his Studies in
Ashkenazi-Hasidic Literature, Ramat Gan 1975, p. 53 [Hebrew]. See also the partial list pub-
lished there from Ms. Oxford 1568 attributed to R. Judah the Pious, p. 54. The list is contained
in Eleazar's 'Book of Wisdom' which was printed as well in the Rokeah's Commentary to the
Torah, Benei Braq 1986, Vol. 1, p. 13-14. [Hebrew].
46 First printed in an excerpt in Sefer Mezaref Le-Hokhma of Joseph Delmedigo, chapter 12.
Cited by Urbach, Arugat Ha-Bosem, vol. 4, p. 74. See also Eleazar's Sodei Razya, ed. S. Weiss,
Jerusalem 1988, p. 11.
47 Perush Ha-Roqeah 'al Ha-Torah, Bnei Braq 1986, vol. 1, p. 17.
48 Ibidem.
49 Compare with Nahmanides' response to thosein Kitvei
who claim that numerical calculations are
,vain and worthless' (Sefer Ha-Ge'ulah, printed Ramban, ed. H. Chavel, Jerusalem
FROM GERMANY TO SPAIN: NUMEROLOGY AS A MYSTICAL TECHNIQUE 95

The technique of counting the value of the letters of the prayers, partic-
ularly of the eighteen blessings, has a long history, beginning at least with
Judah the Pious50 and the reverberations of these traditions can be found in
the Tur, (Orah .Hayyim) of Jacob ben Asher.51 In these texts, each blessing is
discussed and the letters of the words are counted. This number becomes the
locus of the blessings' interpretation. For example, verses of equal value were
seen as the keys to unfolding each other's meaning.

Numerology in Spanish Kabbalah

This specific method of interpretation of the eighteen blessings had a
strong but limited influence on a number of figures in Castile. I have found
a commentary to the eighteen blessings in various manuscripts, lacking any
attribution to its author.52 This text follows the same method as that found
in the traditions attributed to Judah the Pious, as noted by G. Margoliouth
in his description of one of these manuscripts:
A fragment of a brief kabbalistic commentary on 7T21 iifl7MV headed '7MT 'D
PID12 nfl', and showing much affinity with the kabbalistic exposition of the
Prayers in vogue in the school of Yehudah Hasid and Eleazar of Worms.53

1978, II, p. 262). He responds that one is not allowed to establish numerical equivalence between
words in order to establish ideas which accord with his own view. See further Moshe Idel, 'We
Have No Kabbalistic Tradition On This', Rabbi Moses Nahmanides (RAMBAN): Explorations
in His Religious and Literary Virtuosity, ed. I. Twersky, Cambridge, Mass and London, Eng-
land 1983, p. 59 n. 31. See also Nahmanides' casting of letter numerology at the end of his
introduction to his Commentary on the Torah and in is Torat HaShem Temimah where gematriot
are identified as specific received traditions: Ephraim Kupfer, 'The Concluding Portion of Nah-
manides' Torat Ha-Shem Temimah', Tarbiz 40 (1970), p. 74 [Hebrew], discussed by Moshe Idel
in his forthcoming study, 'NAHMANIDES: Kabbalah, Halakhah, and Spiritual Leadership',
n. 89.
50 See Ms. New York, JTSA Mic. 8122, fols. 97a-100a. On this text see Dan, 'On the Histor-
ical Personality of R. Judah Hasid' as cited above.
51 Hilkhot
Tefilah, #113-117.
52 Ms. Vatican
171, fols. 107- 10a; Ms. London, The British Library 793, fols. 85a-86a; Ms.
Moscow Guinzberg 1302, fols. la-7a; Ms. Paris BN 857, fols. 61a-64a; Ms. Paris BN 851, fols,
31a-38b; Ms. Parma 88 [3489], fols. 147a-151a; Ms. Palo Alto, Berman Collection 1, fols. 146a-
147a. See also Ms. Cambridge Dd. 4.2.5., fols. 234a-239b, which is identical with the above
except for the insertion of a gloss of a text of 'R. Judah ben Yaqar z'l'. A version of this text
can be found in the fuller manuscript version of Sefer Shushan Sodot, Ms. Oxford 1656, fols.
48b-71a. Other versions can be found in Sefer Kizur Zekher Zaddik, Chapter 10, which can be
found in Mss. London, Add. 19785, Or. 10680, Or. 11594 and Ms. Oxford 2367. (And compare
to the manuscripts described by Scholem in his Catalogus Codicum Cabbalisticorum Hebraico-
rum, Jerusalem 1930, p. 9.) An initial transcription and comparison of the commentary from
Ms. Paris 851 and Vatican 171 has demonstrated significant variations in the text suggesting
that various recensions might exist, a matter which I believe can only be fully clarified with the
complex editing of these manuscripts. As Yosef Avivi kindly noted to me, further influence of
the type of letter mysticism found in the above commentary can be found in Sefer Ha-Kavvanot,
Venice 1720, fols. 32a-35b. He has also informed me of material in Ms. Tel-Aviv Gross 121, fol.
I la, where Sefer Ha-Gan is cited, apparently an unknown Ashkenazi work which counted the
words of the prayers.
53 In his Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the British Museum, London
1915, III, p. 100 (Ms. 793 as cited above).
96 JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES

The identity of the author can be ascertained through another later commen-
tary to the eighteen blessings, written from a sefirotic orientation of the late
thirteenth century.54 This later work cites a couple of brief passages from the
earlier non-sefirotic commentary in the name of a 'R. Jacob'. I believe that
the author of the later commentary-which could also be considered a super-
commentary to the former-knew the author or at least his work[s].55
While the author of the earlier commentary could be a certain R. Jacob
unknown to the medieval texts and accounts which have survived until today,
it seems to me more than likely that the R. Jacob mentioned by him is none
other than R. Jacob ben Jacob Ha-Kohen of Segovia who was active in the
second half of the thirteenth century. As noted above, R. Jacob's thought
developed and transformed in the course of his literary career: his earliest
works bear the mark of esoteric Ashkenazi texts, while his last work, his
Commentary to Ezekiel's Chariot, is written from a sefirotic orientation. If
indeed this is the work of Jacob Ha-Kohen, it would find its place at the
beginning the intellectual development of Jacob's works overall, specifically
just prior to his Commentary to the Book of Creation which was also heavily
influenced by esoteric works of the German Pietists.56
Other Spanish Kabbalists knew of some of the numerological texts writ-
ten by the Ashkenazim. In a fragment of a work written by Moses de Leon,
the Ashkenazim, or possibly a group of Spanish Kabbalists heavenly influ-
enced by Ashkenazi texts, are distinguished from their Spanish counterparts
and are called 'those who make numerical calculations'.57 A similar appel-
lation, based upon the verse in Malachai 3:16, received wide currency in the
thirteenth century: 'And the Book of Remembrance was written before Him,
for those who feared the Lord and thought upon His name [u-le-hoshvei
she'mo].' The technical usage of the term 'hoshvei shemo' might already be
found in the opening sentence of the 'Book of the [God] Fearing' (Sefer ha-
Yir'ah) by Judah the Pious' father, Samuel the Pious:
To the fearer's of the [divine] name and the contemplator's of his name [u'le-
hoshvei shemo]. I write this book as testimonial to them in order that they may
54 Ms Parma-Perro 105 [3463], fols. 55a-63b.
ss In a discussion about this text, Professor Elliot Wolfson commented to me that the Kab-
balah found in this work resembles the works of R. Todros Abulafia. A careful study of these
texts and the relationship between them is needed to further investigate this matter.
56 I have identified this work in unidentified manuscripts and have prepared an annotated
critical edition which will appear in volume one of Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish
Mystical Texts. Further discussion on R. Jacob and his works can be found in my dissertation
cited above.
57 Gershom Scholem, 'Eine unbekannte mystische Schrift des Mose de Leon', Monatsschrift
fur Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentumns 71 (1927), p. 177 n. 4: DaB jene PMVrnIl"1iy
vielleicht die 13DWX I'T'rn selbst seien, die damit ja sachlich zutreffend bezeichnent waren, ist
nach dem sephiratheoretiscen Charakter der Zahlenspekulation, auf die Bezug genommen wird,
kaum anzunehmen.' Compare with Abraham Ibn Ezra's comment about the 'men who are
wise in [the method of] calculations' or, according to a variant reading, the 'Greeks', Sefer Ha-
Mispar, ed. Zilbarberg, Jerusalem 1970, p. 24. The figures mentioned by De Leon could very
well be the members of his own circle of pre-theosophic Kabbalists, as described by Asi Farber.
On the above passage, see further Elliot Wolfson (above note 9), p. 202 n. 26. For later usage of
the term Ba'alei He-Heshbon see Sefer Ma'arekhet Ha-Elohut, Mantua 1558, fol. 8a.
FROM GERMANY TO SPAIN: NUMEROLOGY AS A MYSTICAL TECHNIQUE 97

learn to fear God and so that their children [too] shall learn.58
Although not explicit in R. Samuel the Pious' statement, the 'contempla-
tion of the name' was related to numerological techniques in texts from both
German and Spanish mystical literature. In a passage cited from Judah's lost
work, R. Shmuel is said to have transmitted the calculation of the numerical
value of the prayers to R. Judah.59 It is therefore possible that already with
R. Shmuel the Pious, the hoshvei shemo were 'those who engage in numerical
calculations'.
This technical usage becomes more explicit in later writings which still
show connections to their Ashkenazi origins. Shem Tov Bar Simha, the
bearer of the 'Secrets' of the so-called 'Special Cherub Circle' introduces
the 'Secret of Unity' of Judah the Pious with a note about revealing these
secrets. He names the mystics who possess these secrets and their responsi-
bility toward them as the 'Fearers of the [Divine] Name and the Contempla-
tors of His Name'.60 There is also a passage of Abraham of Cologne's Keter
Shem Tov, which appears independently in other manuscripts,61 and which
bears great affinity to certain Ashkenazi texts as does its transmissional his-
tory. Its existence separate from Keter Shem Tov would suggest that it could
be a textual element of the R. Menahem discussed above, which was incorpo-
rated into this work.62 The concluding sentences of this passage which state
that only the prophets were able to see the Divine Glory are important to
the discussion here. This could be a possible reference to contemporary mys-
tics. The text then continues: 'And it is also written: "to the fearers of the
58 Sefer Ha-Yir'ah, printed in Judah Wistinetzki's edition of Sefer Hasidin, Berlin 1891, p.
1. On this passage, see also Y. Kamelhar, The First Hasidism, Waizen 1917, p. 29 [Hebrew]. As
noted by A. Epstein, 'Sode Yirei 'Elohim' ('secret of those who fear God'), which appears just
prior to the above quote, has the numerical equivalent of 'Shmuel', or 377. See his study, 'R.
Shmuel He-Hasid bar Kolymouns the Elder', Ha-Goren 4 (1803), reprinted in his collected stud-
ies edited by A. Haberman, Kitvei R Avraham Epstein, Jerusalem 1957, p. 259. See also Scholem,
Origins of the Kabbalah, pp. 402-403.
5 Ms JTSA 8122, fol. 95a. See further A. Jellinek's note concerning the lost manuscript of
a gematria-based commentary to the Torah attributed to Shmuel the Pious: Auswahl Kabbalis-
tischer Mystik, Leipzig 1853, p. 20 n. 8. See also the citation of the Or Zarua, Orah Hayyim, 2,
§481, as discussed in Hasidim Ha-Rishonim, p. 31, and see the lost text mentioned by A. Berliner,
Ketavim Nivharim, I, p. 35. See also A. Epstein, as cited in the previous note, p. 258, and Siddur
Thiengen 1560, fol. 53b.
60 Published by Joseph Dan in his Studies, p. 80, from Ms. New York, JTSA Mic 2340, fol.
71b. See the parallel text in Ms. Paris BN 767, fols. 32b-33a: 'It is most certainly forbidden that
those who fear the name to reveal the holy and awesome secret to the impure heretics.' An edi-
tion of the short texts found in these two manuscripts will be published in the journal Asufot.
61 I have published these two passages in columns with notes in my study, 'The Shekhina
Prays Before God: A New Source for the Theosophic Doctrine of German Pietism and their
Method for the Transmission of Secrets', Tarbiz 63 (1994), p. 522 [Hebrew]. I have subsequently
found an early Kabbalistic reworking of this passage in Ms. London, The British Library 752,
fol. 37b.
62 In Ms. Parma, DeRossi 1420 [2486], fol. 90a, the paragraph which elsewhere appears inde-
pendently is followed by yet more material and then the beginning of the shorter version of Keter
Shem Tov which in most cases is titled 'The Words of Menahem, Student of Eleazar of Worms'.
Moreover, in Ms Oxford 2274, fol. 27d, the passage appears independent of Keter Shem Tov
with additional material resembling the 'Sod He-Heshbon' which is attributed to him. Might
this text be the basis of contribution of R. Menahem to Keter Shem Tov?
98 JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES

Lord and to those who contemplate the Name" [hoshvei shemo]: The [numer-
ical calculation] of the tetragrammaton amounts to the [Divine Name ofl
seventy-two letters.'
A Spanish example of this numerological technique can be found in a
short composition headed by the words, 'To the fearers of the Name and the
hoshvei shemo'.63 The text which follows demonstrates beyond a doubt that
the term refers to such mystical calculations, enumerating the various tech-
niques or methods:
To the fearers of the Name and the hoshvei shemo. Open you hearts to the cal-
culations [heshbonei] and permutations of the divine names according to the
way of truth. There are seven types of calculations and they are: "rflnl fl2Vfl,
"cris P','no' ]imvn, --mon pmvn, '"DO1i pnIvn, n'pr'? l fl'rn, and
Y:188 pvn.164
While the preoccupation with the numerological value of words and letters
was focused on the prayers in Ashkenaz, Spanish Kabbalistic writings turned
toward the more exclusively mystical subject of the Divine Name. Liter-
ally dozens of such commentaries exist, mainly in unpublished manuscripts.
While here too, the commentaries on the Divine Name of four, twelve, forty-
two and seventy-two letters have their precedents in Ashkenaz and even in
earlier sources,65 they again demonstrate how what was marginal in Ashke-
naz became central in Spain. The converse is also true: the numerical calcu-
lations of the prayers which so captivated Judah the Pious became marginal
to the theosophic Kabbalists of Spain. In Spanish Kabbalah we find numer-
ous commentaries to the prayers, most notably of Azriel of Gerona, Moses
de Leon and later, David ben Judah He-Hasid.66 These commentaries, how-
ever, focus on the theosophic and theurgic aspect of the prayers based on a
sefirotic orientation. Therefore, while the main interest and literary forms of
Jewish mystics might have shifted focus in the transition from Germany to
Spain, the technique of numerical calculation never completely died out.
The main interest of the Gerona Kabbalists in the second third of the thir-
teenth century term centered around the theurgic technique of uniting the
Divine Name. Isaac the Blind's student, Ezra of Gerona, sent a letter to
Abraham (b. Isaac He-Hazan) in which he commented on an eschatological
secret in the land of Israel.67
63 This text was printed in Sefer Arzei Levanon, Venice 1601, fol. 47b. This volume was
reprinted various times under different titles, e.g. Sefer Amudei Shesh, Erez Be-Levanon and in
part in Sefer Sha'rei Zedek, Koretz 1785-see there fol. 45b. Another Spanish example where
this term was used to denote Kabbalists is Sefer Ozar Ha-Kavod of R. Todros Abulafia, Warsaw
1879, fol. 4a.
64 These types of numerical calculations are defined and explained by Schochet, (cited above,
note 28), pp. xxi-xxii.
65 Avraham Hoffer, 'Commentaries to the Twelve, Forty-Two and Seventy-Two Letter Divine
Names', Ha-Zofe Me-Erez Ha-Ger 2 (1912), pp. 127-132, 190 [Hebrew]. See further G. Scholem,
'The Name of God and the Linguistic Theory of the Kabbala', Diogenes, part 1, vol. 79 (1972),
p. 69; part II, vol. 80 (1973), p. 177.
66 See further Moshe Idel, 'Kabbalistic Prayer and Colors', Approaches to Judaism in
Medieval Times, ed. D. Blumenthal, Atlanta 1988, III, pp. 17-27, esp. pp. 17-18.
67 See the discussion on this matter in Haviva Pedia's 'The Spiritual vs. the Concrete Land of
FROM GERMANY TO SPAIN: NUMEROLOGY AS A MYSTICAL TECHNIQUE 99

[The mystic] at the time of the resurrection of the dead, [will be as if his] dust
[is] from the Land of Israel [and he] will not need to roll [to the Land of Israel]
and suffer forgivings like those who died in the Diaspora. [Rather, he will be]
among with the few hasidin and prophets, fearers of the divine name and con-
templators of His Name (hoshvei shemo), who will merit to go up to (the land of
Israel) and to go to the Mount of Olives by way of forgiveness with the blowing
of the shofar.68
In this passage, 'hoshvei shemo' seems to be an appellation for mystics who
practice a theurgic technique centered around the divine name. Ezra's defini-
tion of the few who merit resurrection from the Diaspora is the hasidim and
the prophets.69 These persons (or mystics) seem to be singled out by what
may be a definition, if not a characteristic of their identity: 'the fearers of the
divine name and the contemplators of His Name.'70

An Unnoticed Genre of Numerological Texts

Menahem's 'Secret of [Numerical] Calculation' helps place a genre of liter-
ature which has remained largely unnoticed in the scholarly literature. Parts
of Menahem's text bear a striking resemblance to the writings of Abraham
Ibn Ezra, especially the fifth chapter of his Book of the Divine Name, 'Sefer
Ha-Shem', Yesod Morah (chapter 11), and his Long Commentary to Exodus,
3:15. In a recent study on Abraham Ibn Ezra's mathematical speculations,
Carlos del Valle published a version of this text, noting that some manu-
scripts attribute the text to Ibn Ezra while others seem to be later expansions
of the work.7" By tracing later compositions which are similar to Menahem's
'Secret', it can be shown that, indeed, Menahem was historically and literally
a transitionary figure in medieval Jewish mysticism.

Israel in the Geronese School of Kabbalah', The Land of Israel in Medieval Jewish Thought, ed.
M. Hallamish and A. Ravitsky, Jerusalem 1991, pp. 245-246. [Hebrew].
68 Gershom Scholem, 'A New Document about the Origins of the Kabbalah', Sefer Bialik,
ed. J. Fichman, Tel-Aviv 1934, pp. 161-162 [Hebrew].
69 See further R. Azriel of Gerona's statement about the prayer techniques of the first hasidim
are also equated with prophecy-Perush Ha-Aggadot Le-Rabbi Azriel, ed. I. Tishby, Jerusalem
1941, 1983, p. 40. For further sources on this theme see Daniel Matt, 'Ayin: The Concept of
Nothingness in Jewish Mystcism', The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philoso-
phy, ed. R. Forman, Oxford and New York 1990, p. 154 n. 73.
70 As with the above-cited passage from Keter Shem Tov, R. Eleazar of Worms also draws the
connection between the vision of the prophets and the hoshvei shemo. In his 'Sod Sharei Ha-
Sod Ha- Yihud Ve-Ha-Emunah' he writes that 'God shows his Glory (Kavod) to the prophets as
it says, [Amos 3,7] He revealed his secret to his servants, the prophets'-and also to the fearers
of his name, [as it says, Psalms 25,14] 'The secret of the Lord is for those who fear him. Joseph
Dan's edition, published in Temirin 1 (1971), p. 153 [Hebrew].
71 Carlos del Valle, 'Abraham Ibn Ezra's Mathematical Speculations on the Divine Name',
Mystics of the Book, ed. R. Herrera, New York 1993, pp. 159-176. The Hebrew text was pub-
lsihed from Ms. Cambridge Add. 396, fols. lla-12a. On page 171 n. 19 del Valle cites the
Firkovitch manuscript cited above which includes the attribution to R. Menahem. For further
manuscript witnesses see the following note. See further Aharon Mondschein, 'On the Attitude
of R. Abraham Ibn Ezra to the Exegetical Use of the Hermeneutic Norm Gematria', Te'uda 8
(1992), pp. 137-161 [Hebrew].
100 JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES

In a number of the manuscripts in which the composition is found,72

Menahem's text is followed by a cluster of material which bares remarkable
similarity to the opening lines of Abraham Abulafia's Sefer Hayyei Ha-Olam
Ha-Ba (Book of the Life of the World to Come) which is found as well in
numerous manuscripts.73 Abulafia's authorship is reinforced by a marginal
gloss in one of the manuscripts by a student of Abulafia. The note concludes
with the words 'From the mouth of R. Abraham ben Shmuel', or R: Abra-
ham Abulafia. In two of the manuscripts of Menahem's 'Secret' there follows
another text headed with the title 'This is the Secret of Calculation'. This too
might have been written by Menahem, or at least was copied by him in the
block of material which ends with the copyist's note cited above that names
Menahem as its source.
From my readings, I have come across many short compositions which
bear a strong affinity to the 'Sod He-Heshbon' of Menahem. Of the works of
this genre, strong ties can also be shown to the works of Abraham Ibn Ezra
who relied heavily upon numerology in many of his works.74 These compo-
sitions are so heavily based on numerological calculations which involve the
tedious counting of numerous letter values, that one is left with the impres-
sion that there was a new or different underlying purpose for the works of
this genre.
Judah the Pious canonized the liturgy by counting each and every letter of
the prayers, and Eleazar of Worms expounded the numerological secrets of
the Divine Name. In Spain, the form and goals of these texts and techniques
have shifted. While the divine names are exalted and their truth or holiness
demonstrated by these numerological dissections and associations, the extent
to which this type of inquiry is taken, suggests that it had become a mystical
technique in its own right. That is to say, these works were composed, copied
and read as part of the path toward a mystical experience.
This interpretation is demonstrated in a work written in 1493 by David
ben Aharon Hazan entitled 'Egereth Assereth Ha-Monim'. While this work is
late, relative to the works discussed above, its aim goes to the heart of the
72 Sod He-Heshbon of R. Menahem is found in Ms. Saint-Petersburg, Firkovitch I A 97-
102/2, fols. 19a-21b; Ms. Rome-Casanatensa 179/3152, fol. 109a; Ms. Parma 1230 [2558], fol.
129a; Ms. Cambridge Add. 337,3, fols. 116b-1 19a; Ms. Moscow 1302, fols. 88a-90b.
73 See Moshe Idel, 'Abraham Abulafia's Works and Doctrines', Ph.D. Dissertation, The
Hebrew University 1976, pp. 62-68 [Hebrew]. Abulafia's text on 'Heshbon' is the 'Secret of
Jerusalem' which appears independently of R. Menahem's material in various manuscripts and
was discussed and published by Moshe Idel from Ms. New York JTSA Mic 1813, fol. 64a and
Ms. Vatican 103, fol. 62a-b in his article 'Jerusalem in Thirteenth-Century Thought', The His-
tory of Jerusalem: Crusaders and Ayyubids (1099-1250), ed. J. Prawer and H. Ben-Shammai,
Jerusaelm 1991, pp. 264-286, esp. pp. 278-279 [Hebrew].
74 1 use the term 'genre' to label those compositions which share various elements of form
and language in addition to the type of Kabbalah and techniques of numerology which underlie
them. I have prepared a preliminary listing of the manuscripts of these compositions with edi-
tions to sample texts which I hope to publish elsewhere. On the issue of genres see Hans Robert
Jauss, 'Theory of Genres and Medieval Literature' the third chapter of his Toward an Aesthetic
of Perception, tr. T. Bahti, Minnesota 1982. On Kabbalistic literature in particular see, E. Gott-
lieb, 'Genres of Kabbalistic Literature' in his The Kabbalah at the End of the Thirteenth Century,
ed. Y Liebes, Jerusalem 1979, pp. 3-7 [Hebrew].
FROM GERMANY TO SPAIN: NUMEROLOGY AS A MYSTICAL TECHNIQUE 101

issues argued here. This non-sefirotic work seeks to systematically explain

the various types of numerological calculations with the expressed purpose
of 'enlightening the intellect':
I will explain to you the calculations and permutations, which those wise in the
truth are conversant, and also their ways to knowledge, in order that the usage
of them will not be too difficult for you and so that the eyes of your intellects
will be enlightened.75
It is important to note that, much like Eleazar of Worms in the passage cited
above from his 'Book of Wisdom', David Hazzan does not encourage the per-
sonal and unregulated usage of these techniques; rather they must be calcu-
lations which are 'Kabbalah, passed down from teacher to student [dating
back] to [the revelation] to Moses at [Mount] Sinai'.76
The experiential effects of numerology have been outlined here with special
emphasis on the esotericism of the German Pietists and their influence on
certain figures in thirteenth century Spain. Even though the works of Abra-
ham Abulafia alone are a strong enough example to demonstrate the influ-
ence of numerical calculation on Spanish mysticism as a whole, his linguis-
tic and non-sefirotic system is more an extension and an expansion of the
Ashkenazi orientation, than are the parallel elements found in the sefirotic
and most importantly, non-sefirotic works of contemporary Kabbalists. The
development ofgematria in a genre of texts outside of the schools of both the
sefirotic and Ecstatic Kabbalists shows how this element of Jewish mysticism
is common to its various trends without being the exclusive defining property
of any one.

75 Ms Jerusalem, Mussayef 64, fol. 95a. I would like to thank Moshe Idel for providing me
with this reference. On this manuscript see B. Richier, 'Hebrew Manuscripts Which Have Been
Bifurcated', Asufot I (1987), p. 121. Part of this work can be found in the autograph copy dated
1493 in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, Ms 855, fols la-32a. Other copies include Ms
Oxford 1637, fols 20a-39b and Ms Moscow-Giinzberg 1168, fols. 1 iSa-140a.
76 Ms Paris 855, fol. 31b.