DOCSLIB.ORG

Abulafia's Secrets of the Guide : a Linguistic Turn Author(S): Moshe Idel Reviewed Work(S): Source: Revue De Métaphysique Et De Morale, No

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Abulafia's Secrets of the Guide : a Linguistic Turn Author(S): Moshe Idel Reviewed Work(S): Source: Revue De Métaphysique Et De Morale, No Abulafia's Secrets of the Guide : A Linguistic Turn Author(s): Moshe Idel Reviewed work(s): Source: Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, No. 4, Philosophies juives médiévales (OCTOBRE- DÉCEMBRE 1998), pp. 495-528 Published by: Presses Universitaires de France Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40903642 . Accessed: 07/05/2012 14:30 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Presses Universitaires de France is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale. http://www.jstor.org Abulafia'sSecrets of the Guide: A LinguisticTurn I. BETWEEN JEWISH PHILOSOPHY AND KABBALAH IN MODERN SCHOLARSHIP The main purpose of this studyis to elucidate some aspects of the relations between some writingsof a mystic,Abraham Abulafia, the founderof ecstatic Kabbalah, and the medieval figurehe admiredmost, Maimonides, the founderof JewishAristotelianism. This issue is to be understoodas part of a much broader topic,which is fundamentalfor the understanding of theJewish speculative corpora in theMiddle Ages: therelation between philosophy and mysticism.As seen below, this issue has been alreadyaborded by several scholars,one of the most eminent among thembeing Prof.Alexander Altmann. Therefore, before dwelling upon the details of the particularquestion let me surveybriefly the state of the field. The relationshipbetween philosophyand mysticismin Judaismhas been dis- cussed severaltimes by manyscholars and thinkers.Two of them,David Neumark1 and Franz Rosenzweig2have proposed a theory,which may be designatedas the « pendulum theory», whose basic assumptionis the existence of oscillations betweenthe dominanceof the speculativeand the mysticalin Jewishthought. The emergenceof the centraltrend in medieval Jewishmysticism, Kabbalah, is por- trayedby them as a reaction to the ascent of Jewish philosophyin the form presentedby Maimonides's Guide of the Perplexed.These authorsassume thatthe fluctuationbetween speculation and mysticismis to be tracedto ancienttimes, the medieval period being the most obvious and importantepisode of this ongoing oscillation.Motivated by a deep aversion toward Kabbalah, HeinrichGraetz, the most important19th century Jewish historian, has alreadyconsidered Kabbalah to be a pernicious medieval innovation,or invention,aiming to counteractthe influenceof the « enlightening» Aristotelianismof the « Great eagle »3. Last but not least, GershomScholem emphasizedthe importanceof the encounterbetween 1. Geschichteder juedischenPhilosophie des Mittelalters,Berlin, 1907, vol. I, d. 179-236. 2. KleinereSchriften, Berlin, 1937, p. 531. See also my remarkson this stand of Rosen- zweig's in « Franz Rosenzweigand the Kabbalah » in P. Mendes-Flohr, ed., The Philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig,University Press of New England. 1987. d. 168-171. 3. Geschichteder Juden,Leipzig, 1908, vol. VII, p. 385-402; For an adaptationof Graetz's thesis,with major changes, see my Kabbalah: New Perspectives,New Haven, London, 1988, p. 251-253; « Maimonidesand Kabbalah », in I. Twersky (ed.), Studiesin Maimonides,Cam- bridge,1990, p. 31-33; see too Mark Verman, The Book of Contemplation,Medieval Jewish MysticalSources, Albany,Suny, 1992, p. 20-24. Revue de Métaphysiqueet de Morale, N° 4/1998 496 Moshe Idei an alleged mythicalGnosticism, presumably transmitted in Jewishesoteric circles for centurieson the one hand,and the philosophicalNeoplatonism as representedby the variousmedieval versions on theother hand, as his mainphenomenological description of the emergenceof Kabbalah4.Though Scholem did not ignorethe potentialimpact of the controversyconcerning Maimonides' writings on the earlyKabbalists, he was inclinedto regardit as a secondaryfactor; he indeed observedthe affinitybetween the opponentsto the Jewishphilosopher and thosewho were mysticallybiasecf . Jewishphilosophy and Kabbalah have, however,more oftenbeen regardedby some medieval thinkersand modernscholars as considerablydistinct speculative trends,a view to which I agree. If not always opposing each other,or competing for a impacton the souls and minds of the intelligentsia,they were portrayedas essentiallydiverse types of spirituality.Roughly speaking, this seems to me to be true, but only if we address the extremeforms of Kabbalah and philosophy. However, a perusal of JuliusGuttmann's Philosophies of Judaism,and Gershom Scholem's Major Trendsin JewishMysticism will put his dichotomyin medieval Jewishspeculation in a rathersharper relief. The two summae of long years of researchby the two great scholars who had establishedthe Jerusalemitestandard of research in their respectivefields, are not inclined to offermore synthetic surveysof the whole field of Jewishthought, and then locate theirown specific area of research.Jewish mysticism is marginalizedin Guttmann'sPhilosophies of Judaismwhile Jewishphilosophy is only rarelytreated in details in Scholem's Major Trends.A perusalof theextensive corpus of H.A. Wolfson,another colossus of the studyof Jewishphilosophy, reveals the same marginalizationof Kabbalah, by a major historianof Jewishthought. However,this initial strongdemarcation of areas did not remainso influential in the subsequentscholarship of Jewishthought. Other scholars, belonging to the next generation,the most importantamong them being the late Professors Alexander Altmann,Georges Vajda and - later on in their writings- also Shelomo Pines, JosephB. Sermonetaon the one hand or Isadore Twersky,Colette Sirat and S. O. Heller Wilenskyon the other,were less predisposedtoward strong dichotomies6.Especially importantfrom our point of view is the concept of « rationalmysticism » whichrecurs in scholarshipmore oftenlyin recentdecades, underthe impactof some of the aforementionedscholars, more eminently Georges Vajda, and therecurring attempts of scholars,in boththe historyof Aristotelianism 4. Kabbalah, New York, 1974, p. 45: « Kabbalah, in its historicalsignificance, can be definedas the productof the interpénétrationof JewishGnosticism and neoplatonism». 5. G. Scholem, Origins of the Kabbalah, tr. A. Arkush,R. J. Zwi Werblowsky (ed.), PrincetonUniversity Press, Princeton,jps, Philadelphia,1987, p. 404-414. See, however,his statementin Major Trendsin JewishMysticism, New York, 1967, p. 24: « Kabbalah certainly did not arise as reactionagainst philosophical 'enlightenment' »; as well as his « Me-Hoqer li-Mequbbal», Tarbiz, vol. 6, 1935, p. 91-92 [Hebrew]; « Maïmonide dans l'œuvre des Kabbalistes», Cahiersjuifs, vol. 3, 1935, p. 104-105. 6. GeorgesVajda, « Un chapitrede l'histoiredu conflitentre la Kabbale et la philosophie: la polémique anti-intellectualistede Josephb. Shalom Ashkenazi» in Archivesd'histoire Abulafia's Secrets of the Guide : A LinguisticTurn 497 and Neoplatonism,to highlightthe more mysticalimplications of those formsof thought7.A medieval example of an effortto bridge the gap between the two domainsof speculationis the attemptof some circlesof Kabbaliststo draw Maimo- nides' Guide of the Perplexedon the side of the mystics8.On the otherhand, there were Kabbalists,few indeed,who claimed thatKabbalah is the innerphilosophy9. More recently,more mystical readings of Maimonides'Guide of thePerplexed have been proposed by some scholars10,while the wide range of the philosophical sourcesand speculativeinterpretations of the Kabbalistictypes of thought,received more and more attentionin scholarship11.A crucial phase in the substantial doctrinaleet littérairedu MoyenAge, vol. XXXI, 1956, p. 45-127, idem,Recherches sur la philosophieet la Kabbale dans la pensée juive du Moyen Age, Paris, Mouton, 1962; ibid., « Commentle philosophejuif Moïse de Narbonnecomprenait-il les paroles extatiquesdes soufis?» Actas del primercongreso de estudiosarabes islámicos,Madrid, 1964, p. 129-135; « Recherchessur la synthèsephilosophico-kabbalistique de Samuel ibn Motot», Ahdlma, vol. XXVII, 1960, p. 29-63. AlexanderAltmann, « Moses Narboni'sEpistle on Shfur Qomah », in A. Altmann (ed.), Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Cambridge, Mass. 1967, p. 242-244, ibid., « LurianicKabbalah in a PlatonicKey: AbrahamCohen Herrera's Puertadel Cielo », Hebrew Union College Annual,vol. 53, 1982, p. 321-324, as well as note 15 below. Dov Schwartz, « ContactsBetween JewishPhilosophy and Mysticismin the Rise of the FifteenthCentury », Daat, vol. 29, 1992, p. 41-68 [Hebrew]. 7. P. Hadot, Exercicesspirituels, Annuaire de la Ve sectionde l'École pratiquedes Hautes Études LXXXIV, p. 25-70; Phillip Merlan, Monopsychism,Mysticism, Metaconsciouness, Hague, 1963, RichardT. Wallis, « Nous as Experience», R. Baine Harris, (ed.), The Signi- ficance of Neoplatonism,Norfolk, 1976, p. 122 and 143 note 1 forthe pertinentbibliography; Michael Morgan, Platonic Piety,Philosophy & Ritual in Fourth-CenturyAthens, Yale Uni- versityPress, New Haven, London, 1990. 8. Scholem, « Mi-Hoqer li-Mequbbal». 9. M. Idel, «Major Currentsin Italian Kabbalah between 1560-1660», Italia Judaica [Roma, 1986], II, p. 243-262; reprintedin D.B. Ruderman,ed., Essential Papers on Jewish Culturein Renaissance and Baroque Italy [New York UniversityPress, New
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Moses Hayim Luzzatto's Quest for Providence
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 10-2014 'Like Iron to a Magnet': Moses Hayim Luzzatto's Quest for Providence David Sclar Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/380 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] “Like Iron to a Magnet”: Moses Hayim Luzzatto’s Quest for Providence By David Sclar A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in History in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The City University of New York 2014 © 2014 David Sclar All Rights Reserved This Manuscript has been read and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in History in satisfaction of the Dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Prof. Jane S. Gerber _______________ ____________________________________ Date Chair of the Examining Committee Prof. Helena Rosenblatt _______________ ____________________________________ Date Executive Officer Prof. Francesca Bregoli _______________________________________ Prof. Elisheva Carlebach ________________________________________ Prof. Robert Seltzer ________________________________________ Prof. David Sorkin ________________________________________ Supervisory Committee iii Abstract “Like Iron to a Magnet”: Moses Hayim Luzzatto’s Quest for Providence by David Sclar Advisor: Prof. Jane S. Gerber This dissertation is a biographical study of Moses Hayim Luzzatto (1707–1746 or 1747). It presents the social and religious context in which Luzzatto was variously celebrated as the leader of a kabbalistic-messianic confraternity in Padua, condemned as a deviant threat by rabbis in Venice and central and eastern Europe, and accepted by the Portuguese Jewish community after relocating to Amsterdam.
    [Show full text]
  • Late Aramaic: the Literary and Linguistic Context of the Zohar’, Was Conducted in the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College London
    As per the self-archiving policy of Brill Academic Publishers: the article below is the submitted version. The final version is published as ‘The Aramaic of the Zohar: The Status Quaestionis’, in L.O. Kahn (ed.), Jewish Languages in Historical Perspective (IJS Studies in Judaica; Leiden: Brill, 2018), pp. 9–38. The Aramaic of the Zohar: The Status Quaestionis1 Alinda Damsma Toward the end of the thirteenth century the Kabbalah in Spain reached its creative peak with the emergence of Sefer ha-Zohar, Judaism’s most important corpus of mystical texts.2 It is a 1 This is an extended version of the paper I presented at the ‘Jewish Languages’ conference at University College London (26–27 July 2016). I would like to thank the conference organisers, Dr Lily Kahn and Prof. Mark Geller, for their kind invitation as well as for the acceptance of my paper in this volume. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the conference ‘Zohar — East and West’ at Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, in conjunction with the Ben-Zvi Institute in Jerusalem (28–30 December 2015). It is a pleasure to thank my respective hosts and audiences. I am particularly indebted to Prof. Theodore Kwasman, Prof. Ronit Meroz, and Prof. Willem Smelik, for reading the draft of this paper and kindly offering their expertise. I bear sole responsibility, however, for any errors that this paper may contain. The Aramaic dialects referred to in this article are abbreviated as follows: JBA = Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. This dialect was used in Babylonia from about 200 CE until 900 CE (one of its sub-dialects is BTA= Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic, the main dialect employed in the Babylonian Talmud).
    [Show full text]
  • Kabbalah and the Subversion of Traditional Jewish Society in Early Modern Europe
    Kabbalah and the Subversion of Traditional Jewish Society in Early Modern Europe David B. Ruderman Most discussions about notions of authority and dissent in early mod- em Europe usually imply those embedded in Christian traditions, whether Protestant or Catholic. To address these same issues from the perspective of Jewish culture in early modem Europe is to consider the subject from a relatively different vantage point. The small Jewish com- munities of the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries were shaped in manifold ways by the norms and values of the Christian and Moslem host civilizations to which they belonged. Yet, they were also heirs to powerful rabbinic religious and political traditions that structured their social relationships and shaped their attitudes towards divine law, human responsibility, communal discipline, and authority. To examine their uni- verse of discourse in its proper context is to view it both in its own cul- tural terms and in its dialogue and negotiation with the non-Jewish world. No period in Jewish cultural history has undergone more radical refor- mulation and revision by recent scholarship than the early modem; though to what extent conventional schemes of periodization like "early modern," "Renaissance," or "baroque" can be meaningfully applied to the Jewish cultural experience is a question which still engenders much discussion and debate.' Equally problematic is a proper evaluation of the kabbalah, the traditions of Jewish mystical and esoteric experience, 1. For recent discussions of the meaning of the Renaissance and baroque when applied to Jewish culture, see D. B. Ruderman, "The Italian Renaissance and Jewish Thought," in Renaissance Humanism: Foundations and Forms, 3 vols., ed.
    [Show full text]
  • The Theology of Nahmanides Systematically Presented
    The Theology of Nahmanides Systematically Presented DAVID NOVAK THE THEOLOGY OF NAHMANIDES SYSTEMATICALLY PRESENTED Program in Judaic Studies Brown University BROWN JUDAIC STUDIES Edited by Shaye J. D. Cohen, Ernest S. Frerichs, Calvin Groldscheider Editorial Board Vicki Caron, Lynn Davidman, Wendell S. Dietrich, David Hirsch, David Jacobson, Saul M. Olyan, Alan Zuckerman Number 271 THE THEOLOGY OF NAHMANIDES SYSTEMATICALLY PRESENTED by David Novak THE THEOLOGY OF NAHMANIDES SYSTEMATICALLY PRESENTED by DAVID NOVAK University of Virginia Scholars Press Atlanta, Georgia THE THEOLOGY OF NAHMANIDES SYSTEMATICALLY PRESENTED By David Novak Copyright © 2020 by Brown University Library of Congress Control Number: 2019953676 Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program. The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeriva- tives 4.0 International License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. To use this book, or parts of this book, in any way not covered by the license, please contact Brown Judaic Studies, Brown University, Box 1826, Providence, RI 02912. STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL JUDAISM Edited by Lenn E. Goodman To the Memory of Harry H. Ruskin (1905-1989) The righteous man lives in his faith. - Habakkuk 2:4 other works by David Novak Law and Theology in Judaism (2 volumes) Suicide and Morality The Image of the Non-Jew in Judaism Halakhah in a Theological Dimension Jewish Christian Dialogue Contents Editor's Foreword ix Preface xi Introduction 1 Notes 17 Chapter 1 The Human Soul 25 Chapter 2 Faith 31 Chapter 3 Tradition 51 Chapter 4 Miracles 61 Chapter 5 Natural and Supernatural 77 Chapter 6 The Land of Israel 89 Chapter 7 The Commandments 99 Chapter 8 Eschatology 125 Bibliography 135 List of Abbreviations 136 Index of Names and Subjects 137 Index of Passages 141 Publishers’ Preface Brown Judaic Studies has been publishing scholarly books in all areas of Ju- daic studies for forty years.
    [Show full text]
  • Relazioni a Tema Libero
    RELAZIONI A TEMA LIBERO Andreina Contessa LA RAPPRESENTAZIONE DELL’ARCA DELL’ALLEANZA NEI MANOSCRITTI EBRAICI E CRISTIANI DELLA SPAGNA MEDIEVALE L’arca dell’alleanza e` uno dei motivi ico- un periodo che va dalla fine del secolo XIII al nografici maggiormente raffigurati nell’arte tardo XV, nelle quali vengono ordinatamente ebraica antica e medievale. Simbolo dell’al- assemblati gli oggetti del santuario e del Tem- leanza e dell’incontro spirituale tra l’uomo e pio 1. L’esempio piu` antico e` una Bibbia di To- Dio, questo cofano di legno di acacia rivestito ledo del 1277 che si trova attualmente presso di oro puro dentro e fuori, sormontato dai che- la Biblioteca Palatina di Parma (MS 2668, rubini era custodito nella parte piu` interna e fols. 7v-8) 2. Sui due fogli gli oggetti sono di- inaccessibile del Santuario descritto nell’Esodo sposti in modo arbitrario, non legato cioe` alla (37,1-9) e poi nel Tempio. L’arca dell’alleanza, loro disposizione nel Santuario, e sono visti di fatto, e`ilprimo oggetto d’arte del quale par- frontalmente cosı`dacreare un legame tra tutti la la Bibbia, aprendo la lunga lista delle istru- gli elementi, ciascuno accompagnato da una zioni per la costruzione del tabernacolo. Essa e` scritta esplicativa solo parzialmente conserva- descritta nella Bibbia con una minuzia e una ta (Fig. 1). chiarezza straordinarie, eppure essa sara` rap- Soltanto un oggetto e` racchiuso in una presentata visivamente soltanto dopo la sua cornice verde a carattere vegetale: l’arca del- scomparsa, fatto questo che ne accresce il ca- l’alleanza, riconoscibile dalle tavole della Leg- rattere simbolico di oggetto del passato, che di- ge sormontate dai cherubini, denominati ke- viene portatore di una valenza messianica.
    [Show full text]
  • The Jewish Encyclopedia
    T H E J E W I S H E N C Y C L O P E D I A A GU ID E TO ITS CO NTE N TS A N A ID TO ITS U S E O S E P H A C O BS J J , Rsvxs c EDITO R FU N K WAGNALLS CO M PAN Y N E W YO R K A N D LO N D ON 1906 PR E FACE IN the followin a es I g p g have endeavored , at the s Funk Wa nalls m an reque t of the g Co p y, to give such an account of the contents of THE J E WISH E N C CLO E DIA s as Y P , publi hed by them , will indicate the n u n at re of the work in co siderable detail , and at the same time facil itate the systematic use of it in any of i i ts very varied sections . For th s purpose it has been found necessary to divide the subj ect- matter of the E N CYCLO PE DIA in a somewhat different manner from that adopted for editorial purposes in the various departments . Several sections united under the con trol of one editor have been placed in more logical order in ff e a di er nt parts of the following ccount , while , on the other hand , sections which were divided among different editors have here been brought together under one head. In justice to my colleagues it is but fair to add that they are in no sense responsible for this - redistribution of the subject matter , or indeed for any of the views which either explicitly or by implication are expressed in the following pages on some of the disputed points affecting modern Jews and Judaism .
    [Show full text]
  • Jewish and Christian Intellectual Encounters in Late Medieval Italy
    Poetry, Myth, and Kabbala: Jewish and Christian Intellectual Encounters in Late Medieval Italy Byline: Fabrizio Lelli The nature of a diasporic culture—such as the Jewish Italian one—should be understood as an ongoing process of merging and sharing various intellectual materials derived from both the Jewish and the non-Jewish past and present. Throughout the areas where they settled in the Italian peninsula, Jews have both elaborated their own traditional authorities and borrowed non-native elements from the surrounding cultures, influencing the latter in their turn. In Italy, where Jews had established thriving communities since Roman times, the intellectual cooperation with the non-Jewish society was always especially strong throughout the centuries, in part due to the fact that the Jewish population never became numerically significant, therefore being largely exposed to the cultural influence of the majority. The small Italian communities kept in constant contact with one another and with major centers of Jewish knowledge outside of Italy—especially when they had to solve juridical or religious questions, which often derived from the merging of non-indigenous Jewish groups into the local ones. Italian Jews moved around, for commercial and educational purposes: often in the double identity of traders and scholars, sometimes as talented physicians or renowned philosophers. By wandering about the whole peninsula—and sometimes reaching to farther destinations—they circulated the products of their variegated formation, becoming cultural mediators among Jews and between Jews and non-Jews. They could influence their interlocutors orally or address them with letters or treatises, written in Hebrew, Latin, or the local vernacular languages.
    [Show full text]
  • Isaiah 34 and Lilith Tim Bench, Abilene, TX
    Isaiah 34 and Lilith Tim Bench, Abilene, TX. The most influential Genesis character for us today is (arguably) not Adam, or Eve, Or Cain, Abel, Moses, Abraham, or any of the well-known Genesis characters. Instead, the most effecting character (as we will soon see) may well be a woman many of us have never heard of…. .Lilith.…לילית “Lilith” defined As per Strong's Concordance- 3917. “lilith: a female night-demon Transliteration: lilith Short Definition: monster” Lilith (1892) by John Collier in Southport Atkinson Art Gallery “Lilith”….Adam’s first wife?? As per Jewish folklore, the two “creation versions” dictate that Eve was NOT Adam’s first wife. “Lilith” (the name perhaps inspired by Sumerian mythology about female vampires called “Lillu” or Mesopotanian myths about succubae (female night demons) called “lilin”) is mentioned four times in the Babylonian Talmud. It is not until the Alphabet of Ben Sira (800-900s) that Lilith is associated with the first version of Creation. “Lilith”….Adam’s first wife?? According to the Alphabet of Ben Sira, Lilith was Adam’s first wife but the couple fought constantly. Lilith ultimately decided to leave Adam. She uttered God’s name and flew away into the air, leaving Adam alone in the Garden of Eden. God sent three angels after her and commanded them to bring her back to her husband, one way or another. When the angels found Lilith by the Red Sea they were unable to convince her to return and could not force her to obey them. A deal is ultimately reached…Lilith vowed not to harm newborn children if they are protected by an amulet with the names of the three angels written on it… “The Story of Lilith: The Alphabet of ben Sira Question #5 (23a-b) www.jewishchristianlit.com.
    [Show full text]
  • Jethro's Advice in Medieval and Early Modern Jewish
    JETHRO'SADVICE INMEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN JEWISHAND CHRISTIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT Avraham Melamed Jethro's advice to Moses about how to organize the political system of the ancient Jewish state (Ex. 18:13-27; Deut. 1:12-17) was one of the three major biblical sources which were used in medieval and early modern political thought. (The other sources are Deut. 17 and I Samuel 8.) This ? text was mainly used in two related contexts the theory of government, in which the commentators generally followed Aristotle, and the ? relationship between the spiritual and temporal authorities between ? kingship and prophecy in which a strong Platonic-Alfarabian influence is apparent. This study takes into account the changing historical realities and intellectual trends of the medieval and early modern periods. It opens with Abraham Ibn Ezra's pro-monarchic attack on feudalism in the twelfth century, continues with the discussion of the interpretations to Jethro's advice by Aquinas, Abravanel, Dei Pomis, Alemanno, Calvin, Bodin and others, and culminates with James Harrington's republicanism in the mid seventeenth century. I The exegete and the historian always interpret past events through their own eyes. They interpret these events from the view point of current historical problems and philosophies. This is true to day; itwas all the more so in the Middle Ages, when thinkers never hesitated to give past events meanings directly relevant to their own un period. This was sometimes done in a way thatmight seem totally a more critical to the modern mind. Only with the Renaissance did critical, "scientific" approach to both textual criticism and historical events gradually begin to emerge.
    [Show full text]
  • Forsaken HBI Series on Jewish Women
    Forsaken HBI Series on Jewish Women Shulamit Reinharz, General Editor Sylvia Barack Fishman, Associate Editor Th e HBI Series on Jewish Women, created by the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, publishes a wide range of books by and about Jewish women in diverse contexts and time periods. Of interest to scholars and the educated public, the HBI Series on Jewish Women fi lls major gaps in Jewish tudiesS and in Women and Gender Studies as well as their intersection. Th e HBI Series on Jewish Women is supported by a generous gift from Dr. Laura S. Schor. For the complete list of books that are available in this series, please see www.upne.com Sharon Faye Koren, Forsaken: Th e Menstruant in Medieval Jewish Mysticism Sonja M. Hedgepeth and Rochelle G. Saidel, editors, Sexual Violence against Jewish Women during the Holocaust Julia R. Lieberman, editor, Sephardi Family Life in the Early Modern Diaspora Derek Rubin, editor, Promised Lands: New Jewish American Fiction on Longing and Belonging Carol K. Ingall, editor, Th e Women Who Reconstructed American Jewish Education: 1910–1965 Gaby Brimmer and Elena Poniatowska, Gaby Brimmer: An Autobiography in Th ree Voices Harriet Hartman and Moshe Hartman, Gender and American Jews: Patt erns in Work, Education, and Family in Contemporary Life Dvora E. Weisberg, Levirate Marriage and the Family in Ancient Judaism Ellen M. Umansky and Dianne Ashton, editors, Four Centuries of Jewish Women’s Spirituality: A Sourcebook Carole S. Kessner, Marie Syrkin: Values Beyond the Self Ruth Kark, Margalit Shilo, and Galit Hasan-Rokem,
    [Show full text]
  • The Zohar and Its Influence on the Cabala. 235
    THE ZOHAR AND ITS TNFFXJENCE ON THE CABALA. BY, BICRNIIAUD PICK. NAME AND CONTENTS OF THE ZOHAR. THE titles of the Zohar vary. It is called "Midrash of Rabbi Si- there mon ben Jocliai." from its reputed author ; "Midrash, Let "Seplier ha- be light," from the words in Gen. i. 4 ; more commonly Zohar," from Dan. xii. 3, where the word Zohar is used for "the brightness of the hrmament." The title in full is: Scphcr ha-Zohar al ha-Torah, nie-isli Elohim Kodesh, liu more mcod Jia-tana R. Simo)i ben Jochdi, etc., i. e., "The Book of Splendor on the Law, by the very holy and venerable man of God, the Tanaitc rabbi Simon ben- Jochai, of blessed memory." The editio priiiccps is the one of Mantua (3 vols., 1558-1560) and has often been reprinted. The best edition of the book of Zohar is that by Christian Knorr von Rosenroth, with Jewish com- mentaries (Sulzbach, 1684, fol.) to which his rare Kabbala Denu- data (1677-1684) forms an ample introduction. This edition was reprinted with an additional index (Amsterdam, 1714, 1728, 1772, 1805, 3 vols.). Recent editions of the Zohar were published at Breslau (1866, 3 vols.), Livorno (1877-78, in 7 parts), and Wilna (1882, 3 vols.; 1882-83 in 10 parts, containing many commentaries and additions). The body of the work takes the form of a commentary of a highly mystic and allegorical character extending over the entire Pentateuch ; but the Zohar is not considered complete without the addition of certain appendices attributed to the same author or to some of his personal or successional disciples.
    [Show full text]
  • Yaacov Shavit an Imaginary Trio
    Yaacov Shavit An Imaginary Trio Yaacov Shavit An Imaginary Trio King Solomon, Jesus, and Aristotle Die freie Verfügbarkeit der E-Book-Ausgabe dieser Publikation wurde ermöglicht durch den Fachinformationsdienst Jüdische Studien an der Universitätsbibliothek J. C. Senckenberg Frankfurt am Main und 18 wissenschaftliche Bibliotheken, die die Open-Access-Transformation in den Jüdischen Studien unterstützen. ISBN 978-3-11-067718-8 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-067726-3 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-067730-0 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Das E-Book ist als Open-Access-Publikation verfügbar über www.degruyter.com, https://www.doabooks.org und https://www.oapen.org Library of Congress Control Number: 2020909307 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2020 Yaacov Shavit, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover image: Statue of King Solomon and Christ in the center of the southern portal of the cathedral Notre-Dame of Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin, France), Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain. Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Open-Access-Transformation in den Jüdischen Studien Open Access für exzellente Publikationen aus den Jüdischen Studien: Dies ist das Ziel der gemeinsamen Initiative des Fachinformationsdiensts Jüdische Studien an der Universitäts- bibliothek J. C. Senckenberg Frankfurt am Main und des Verlags Walter De Gruyter. Unterstützt von 18 Konsortialpartnern können 2020 insgesamt acht Neuerscheinungen im Open Access Goldstandard veröffentlicht werden, darunter auch diese Publikation.
    [Show full text]