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Moshe Idel: Abulafia's Secrets of the Guide 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 York, 1992], pp. 345-368. 10. David Blumenthal, « Maimonides' IntellectualistMysticism and the Superiorityof the Prophecyof Moses », Studies in Medieval Culture,vol. X, 198l,p. 51-67. 11. Ze'ev Harvey, «Kabbalistic Elements in R. Hasdai Cresças' book Or ha-Shem», JerusalemStudies in Jewish Thought,vol. 2, 1983, p. 75-109 [Hebrew]; Moshe Hayyim Weiler, « Inquiriesin the KabbalisticTerminology of R. JosephGikatilla and its Relationto Maimonides», HUCA vol.37, 1966, p. 13-44 [Hebrew]; Elliot R. Wolfson, « Merkavah Traditionsin PhilosophicalGarb: JudahHalevi Reconsidered», Proceedingsof theAmerican Academyfor JewishResearch, vol. LVII, 1991, p. 179-242; Charles Mopsik, «Philosophie et souci philosophique:les deux grandscourants de la pensee juive », Archiviodi filosofìa vol. LXI, 1993, p. 247-254; Dov Schwartz, « Divine Immanence in Medieval Jewish Philosophy», Journalfor JewishThought and Philosophy,vol. Ill, no. 2, 1994, p. 249-278; Idel, « Divine Attributesand Sefirot in Jewish Theology»,
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