Language, Torah, and Hermeneutics in Abraham Abulafia

235 Pages·1989·4.01 MB·English

by  Moshe Idel

Language, Torah, and Hermeneutics
in Abraham Abulafia
This One
G3H9-7J0-CDLH
SUNY Series in Judaica:
Hermeneutics, Mysticism, and Religion
Michael Fishbane, Robert Goldenberg, and Arthur Green,
Series Editors
Language, Torah,
and Hermeneutics in
Abraham Abulafia
Moshe Idel
Translated from the Hebrew by
Menahem Kallus
State University of New York Press
In memoriam Gershom G. Scholem
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
® 1989 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews.
For information, address State University of New York
Press, State University Plaza, Albany N. Y 12246
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
!del, Moshe, 1947-
Language, Torah, and hermeneutics in Abraham
Abulafta.
(SUNY series in Judaica)
Bibliography: p.
Includes indexes.
1. Abulafia, Abraham ben Samuel, 1240-ca. 1292.
2. Cabala - History. 3. Ecstasy (Judaism) 4. Hebrew
language - Philosophy. 5. Bible. O. T. - Criticism,
interpretation, etc., Jewish. I. Title. II. Series.
BM526.I339 1988 296.16*0924 87-33630
ISBN 0-88706-831-6
ISBN 0-88706-832-4 (pbk.)
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21

Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction ix
1. Abulafia's Theory of Language 1
2. The Meaning of the Torah in
Abulafia's System 29
3. Exegetical Methods in the Hermeneutical
System of Abulafia 82
Transliteration Note 125
Abbreviations 127
Notes 131
Subject Index 201
Author Index 205
Index of Cited Works 209

Acknowledgments
The present volume, like that dealing with The Mystical Experi-
ence in Abraham Abulafia, is part of a doctoral dissertation on Abra-
ham Abulafia's Kabbalah, submitted at the Hebrew University, Jeru-
salem 1976. Since then, several unknown sources and perspectives
have enriched the content of the expanded chapters devoted to the
concept of language, Torah, and exegetical methods. As in the above
volume, the presentation offered is heavily based on the significant
texts of Abulafia, this being a deliberate effort to allow as direct an
encounter as possible with Abulafia's formulations in his manuscript
writings.
The topics dealt with here belong to a neglected area of
kabbalistic thought: They were rarely mentioned by Scholem in some
of his phenomenological discussions on kabbalistic subjects, and they
are absent from others, such as his important article on the Torah in
Kabbalah. This study is the first elaborate attempt to describe the
views of one kabbalist, who was deeply interested in linguistic
Kabbalah and also contributed some daring, even eccentric insights,
into the possibilities included in kabbalistic exegesis. In comparison
to modern criticism, like deconstructionism, it seems that Abulafia's
hermeneutics is an extreme method, which deconstructs the text to
its letters to reconstruct it in new ways.
Thanks are due to several institutions who contributed to the
emergence of this volume; first and foremost, to the Institute of
Microfilms of Hebrew Manuscripts of the National and University
Library in Jerusalem, where the material used here was perused; to
the National and University Library in Jerusalem; to the Memorial
Foundation for Jewish Culture in New York, whose grants allowed
vii