Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia (Hebrew: אברהם בן שמואל אבולעפיה) was born in Saragosa in 1240, and died sometime after 1290, in Comino, Maltese archipelago. He was the founder of a unique kabbalah (mystical tradition), known as "ecstatic kabbalah" or qabbalah nevu'it. He was a student of the writings of Moses Maimonides and of Rabbi Hillel of Verona. Abulafia's writings include Sefer haYashar (The Book of the Righteous), Sefer ha-Ot (The Book of the Sign), and Imre Shefer (Words of Beauty), Get HaShmot, Gan Na'ul (commentary on Sefer Yetzirah), Otzar Eden Ganuz (another commentary on Sefer Yetzirah), and Sefer HaCheshek. Abulafia is closely associated with gematria, the symbolic employment of letters as numerals. Hebrew redirects here. ... Events Batu Khan and the Golden Horde sack the Ruthenian city of Kyiv Births Pope Benedict XI Deaths April 11 - Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, also known as Llywelyn The Great Prince of Gwynedd Monarchs/Presidents Aragon - James I King of Aragon and count of Barcelona (reigned from 1213 to 1276) Castile... For broader historical context, see 1290s and 13th century. ... Comino is an island of the Maltese archipelago between island of Malta and island of Gozo in the Mediterranean Sea. ... This article is about traditional Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). ... Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Hebrew: רבי משה בן מיימון; Arabic: Mussa bin Maimun ibn Abdallah al-Kurtubi al-Israili; March 30, 1135—December 13, 1204), commonly known by his Greek name Maimonides, was a Jewish rabbi, physician, and philosopher. ... Sefer Hayashar ... Sefer Yetzirah (Hebrew, Book of Creation, ספר יצירה) is the title of two books on esoteric Jewish mysticism. ... Gematria (Heb. ...

Early life and travels

Very early in life he was taken by his parents to Tudela, in Navarre, where his aged father Samuel Abulafia carefully instructed him in the Bible and Talmud. When he was eighteen years old his father died, and two years later Abraham began a life of ceaseless wandering. His first journey was to Palestine, whence he intended to start and find the legendary river Sambation and the lost Ten Tribes. He got no further than Akko, however, owing to the desolation and lawlessness in the Holy Land stemming from the chaos following the last Crusades. He then determined to go to Rome, Italy, but stopped short in Capua, where he devoted himself with passionate zeal to the study of philosophy and of the "Moreh" of Maimonides, under the tutelage of a philosopher and physician named Hillel — probably the well-known Hillel ben Samuel ben Eliezer of Verona. Although he always holds Maimonides in the highest estimation, and often makes use of sentences from his writings, he was as little satisfied with his philosophy as with any other branch of knowledge which he acquired. He thirsted after the highest. He was of a communicative disposition, able and eager to teach others. He wrote industriously on kabbalistic, philosophical, and grammatical subjects, and succeeded in surrounding himself with numerous pupils, to whom he imparted much of his own enthusiasm. On his return to Spain he became subject to visions, and at the age of thirty-one, at Barcelona, immersed himself in the study of the Sefer Yetzarah and its numerous commentaries. This book, and particularly the commentary and method of the German mystic, Eleazar of Worms, exercised a deep influence upon him, and had the effect of greatly increasing his mystical bent. Letters of the alphabet, numerals, vowel-points, all became symbols of existence to him, and their combinations and permutations, supplementing and explaining one another, possessed for him an illumining power most effectively to be disclosed in a deeper study of the divine names, and especially of the consonants of the Tetragrammaton. With such auxiliaries, and with the observance of certain rites and ascetic practises, men, he says, may attain to the highest aim of existence and become prophets; not in order to work miracles and signs, but to reach the highest degree of perception and be able to penetrate intuitively into the inscrutable nature of the Deity, the riddles of creation, the problems of human life, the purpose of the precepts, and the deeper meaning of the Torah. His most important disciple, and one who carried his system further, was the cabalist Joseph Chiquitilla. Abulafia soon left Spain again, and in 1279 wrote at Patras, in Greece, the first of his prophetic books, "Sefer ha-Yashar" (The Book of the Righteous). Tudela is a town and municipality in Spain, in the northern province of Navarra. ... Capital Pamplona/Iruña Official languages Spanish; Basque co-official in the north of community. ... For other uses, see Bible (disambiguation). ... The first page of the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot, folio 2a The Talmud (תלמוד) is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history. ... Palestine (from Latin: ; Hebrew: Pleshet, פלשתינה Palestina; Arabic: ‎ FilastÄ«n, FalastÄ«n) is one of several names for the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the banks of the Jordan River with various adjoining lands. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... Lost Ten Tribes, also referenced as the Ten Lost Tribes or the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel, usually refers to ten of the tribes of the ancient Kingdom of Israel that were reported lost after the Kingdom of Israel was totally destroyed, enslaved and exiled by ancient Assyria. ... The Old City of Akko in the 19th or early 20th century, looking south-west from atop the Land Wall Promenade, the open space now a parking lot. ... The phrase The Holy Land (Arabic الأرض المقدسة, al-Arḍ ul-Muqaddasah; Hebrew ארץ הקודש: Standard Hebrew Éreẓ haQodeÅ¡, Tiberian Hebrew ʾÉreá¹£ haqQāḏēš; Latin Terra Sancta) generally refers to Israel, otherwise known as Palestine (sometimes including Jordan, Syria and parts of Egypt). ... This article is about the medieval crusades. ... Nickname: The Eternal City Location within Province of Rome in the Region of Latium Coordinates: Region Latium Province Province of Rome Mayor of Rome Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1,285 km²  (496. ... Country Italy Region Campania Province Caserta (CE) Mayor Elevation m Area 30 km² Population  - Total (as of December 31, 2004) 43,139  - Density 1,329/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Coordinates Gentilic Capuani Dialing code 0823 Postal code 81025 Frazioni Cantone Patron St. ... Look up vision in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Location Coordinates : Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Barcelona (Catalan) Spanish name Barcelona Nickname Ciutat Comtal Postal code 08001-08080 Area code 34 (Spain) + 93 (Barcelona) Website http://www. ... The Tetragrammaton (Greek: τετραγράμματον; word with four letters) is the usual reference to the Hebrew name for God, which is spelled (in the Hebrew alphabet): (yodh) (heh) (vav) (heh) or (YHWH). ...

Journey to Rome

In obedience to an inner voice, he went in 1280 to Rome, in order to effect the conversion of Pope Nicholas III on the day before New Year, 5041. The pope, then in Suriano, heard of it, and issued orders to burn the fanatic as soon as he reached that place. Close to the inner gate the stake was erected in preparation; but not in the least disturbed, Abulafia set out for Suriano and reached there August 22. While passing through the outer gate, he heard that the pope had succumbed to an apoplectic stroke during the preceding night. Returning to Rome, he was thrown into prison by the Minorites, but was liberated after four weeks' detention. He was next heard of in Sicily, where he appeared as a prophet and Messiah. . Nicholas III, né Giovanni Gaetano Orsini (Rome, ca. ... Burning of two sodomites at the stake outside Zürich, 1482 (Spiezer Schilling) Execution by burning has a long history as a method of punishment for crimes such as treason and for other unpopular acts such as heresy and the putative practice of witchcraft (burning, however, was actually less common... For other uses, see Stroke (disambiguation). ... Franciscans is the common name used to designate a variety of mendicant religious orders of men or women tracing their origin to Francis of Assisi and following the Rule of St. ... In religion, a prophet is a person who has directly encountered God, of whose intentions he can then speak. ... In Judaism, the Messiah (מָשִׁיחַ Standard Hebrew , Tiberian Hebrew , Aramaic ) initially meant any person who was anointed by a prophet of God. ...

Decline and exile to Comino

This claim was put an end to by a letter to the people of Palermo, which most energetically condemned Abulafia's conduct. It was written by Rabbi Solomon ben Adret, who devoted much of his career to calming the various messianic hysteriae of the day. Abulafia had to take up the pilgrim's staff anew, and under distressing conditions compiled his "Sefer ha-Ot" (The Book of the Sign) on the little island of Comino, near Malta, 1285-88. In 1291 he wrote his last, and perhaps his most intelligible, work, "Imre Shefer" (Words of Beauty); after this all trace of him is lost. Nickname: Palermu Motto: Official website: http://www. ... Shlomo ben Aderet (or Solomon son of Aderet) (1235-1310), universally known to scholars of Judaism as the Rashba (the acronym for his Hebrew name), was a Medieval rabbi, Halakhist, and famous Talmudist. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Comino is an island of the Maltese archipelago between island of Malta and island of Gozo in the Mediterranean Sea. ...

Mystical teachings

Abulafia called his cabalistic system "prophetical kabbalah," distinguishing it thus from that of his predecessors, which he considers of lower grade, because it satisfied itself with the characterization of God as En-Sof ("the Being without end"), with the Sefirot as vague intermediaries, and with the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, and because its method remained essentially speculative. Such is only a preliminary and inferior grade of knowledge; the highest goal is prophetism, assuring men a certain degree of community with God. Means hereunto are afforded by the close study of the names of God, particularly of the four-lettered YHWH, and also by gemaṭria, the symbolical employment of letters as numerals. In this the letters of a word are to be considered not only as letters, giving the sound, but as numerals, the sum of which may be replaced by the equal sum of other letters, producing, of course, a new word, which must prove to be identical in significance, or at least allied, with the first word whose sum it equals. Thus Abulafia calls himself sometimes and sometimes, because the total of the letters in each of these words equals 248, which is likewise the total of the letters in his own given name . In one place, desiring to call himself "Berechiah," he misspells it in order to make it aggregate 248 (Steinschneider, "Cat. Munich," No. 409). He also employs the processes of notarikon (regarding each letter in a word as the initial of some other word, and so making of it an acrostic), of temurah (substitution of one letter for another), and of ziruf (connecting various letters of the same word). He claims to have derived his system of letter-symbols from Moses Nahmanides; but he probably drew it, especially the gemaṭria and the play with the names of God and the necessary attendant ascetic life and contemplation——from the German mysticism of Eleazar of Worms. His view of prophetism or the prophetic gift as the highest goal seems to indicate the influence of Judah ha-Levi's Kuzari but his idea of the nature of prophecy itself is rather in accord with Maimonides. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Sephirah, also Sefirah (Hebrew language סְפִירָה Enumeration); plural Sephiroth or Sefiroth סְפִירוֹת. In the Kabbalah, the Sephiroth (or Enumerations) are the ten emanations of God (or infinite light: Ain Soph Aur) into the universe. ... Transmigration can has several meanings: Transmigration of the soul is a common term for reincarnation. ... An acrostic (from the late Greek akróstichon, from ákros, extreme, and stíchos, verse) is a poem or other text written in an alphabetic script, in which the first letter, syllable or word of each verse, paragraph or other recurring feature in the text spells out another message. ... Nahmanides (1194 - c. ... Judah Ha-Levi, also Yehudah Halevi, was a Jewish Spanish philosopher and poet. ... The Kuzari is the most famous work by the medieval Spanish Jewish writer Yehuda Halevi. ...

Influence

Abulafia's influence upon the further development of the Kabbalah was rather of a retarding than a fostering nature. He gave it a visionary turn. Owing to his influence there was a growing tendency to juggle with the names of God and angels, and to employ gematria in its most diverse forms. Abulafia began his fruitful literary activity in 1271; he himself states the number of his writings to be twenty-six, of which twenty-two are "prophetical." Of these the following have been printed: "Sefer ha-Ot" (in the "Grätz-Jubelschrift," Hebrew part, p. 65); ("And this is for Judah"), consisting of a reply to Solomon ben Adret's attack, in Jellinek, "Auswahl Kabbalistischer Mystik," p. 13; "Sheba' Netibot ha-Torah" (The Seven Ways of the Law), and "Imre Shefer," in Jellinek, "Philosophie und Kabbala"; a part of his autobiography from his "Ozar Eden Ganuz" (The Hidden Treasure of Eden), in Jellinek, "B. H.," iii. introduction, p. xl.Jellinek, in his preface to "Sefer ha-Ot," says "In the Spaniard Abraham Abulafia of the thirteenth century Essenism of old found its resurrection. Preaching asceticism and the highest potentiality of the spirit through communion with God, effected by a perfect knowledge and use of His names, he was thoroughly convinced of his prophetic mission, and considered himself to be the God-sent Messiah and Son of God. He differs, however, from the Messiahs who have risen at different times in his many-sided philosophical training as well as in his perfect unselfishness and sincerity. He addresses himself not to the masses, but to the educated and enlightened, and does not confine his mission to his coreligionists, but is filled with the desire to extend it to the adherents of the Christian church also. It seems that, for the sake of influencing these, he tried to construct a Trinitarian system, though it was a Trinity in form merely, and did not touch the essence of God's personality. Before his vision stood the ideal of a unity of faith, the realization of which he longed to bring about. Imbued with this spirit, his disciples worked in Spain and Italy, emphasizing still more the Trinitarian idea while treating of the 'Ten Sefirot' in order to win the adherents of the Church. Hence the terms Father, Mother, Son, and Holy Ghost, borrowed from the Christian creed, in the cabalistic literature of the thirteenth century. In order to understand Abulafia psychologically and judge him correctly and without bias in the light of history, it must be borne in mind that his cradle was in Spain, the home of religious ecstasy, and that the age in which he lived was that of the Crusades, so favorable to mystic speculation, an age in which many longed to see the barriers separating Judaism, Christianity, and Islam broken down, and in which the Messianic hopes of the Jews found new nourishment in many hearts." The Annunciation - the Angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear Jesus (El Greco, 1575) An angel is a supernatural being found in many religions. ... The Essenes (Issiim) were a Jewish religious sect of Zadokites that flourished from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD. The name Essene, itself, is either a version of the Greek word for Holy, or various Aramaic dialect words for pious, and is probably not what the... Ascetic redirects here. ... The adjective trinitarian is used in several senses: Ideas or things pertaining to the Holy Trinity A person or group adhering to the doctrine of Trinitarianism, which holds God to subsist in the form of the Holy Trinity The Trinitarian Order is a Catholic monastic order founded in 1198 by... The Holy Spirit, from the Christian viewpoint, while related to Gods will, is not Gods will personified. ...

Jellinek gives a list of Abulafia's works in the introduction to "Philosophie und Kabbala," p. 7; but it needs correction from Steinschneider, "Catalog," 2d ed., No. 285 et passim, Munich. Abulafia's writings are not wanting in excellent ideas and beautiful illustrations, but these are so overgrown with mystic obscurity and abstruseness that a perusal of them is not very edifying.

Trivia

Abulafia is also the nickname given by deuteragonist Jacopo Belbo to his home computer in Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. The machine was used not only for word processing, but also to attempt to extract meaningful snippets from random permutations of text in a fashion reminiscent of Abraham Abulafia's methods. Photo of Umberto Eco by Robert Birnbaum Umberto Eco (born January 5, 1932) is an Italian medievalist, philosopher and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose and his many essays. ... Cover of Foucaults Pendulum, 1989 Picador edition. ...

Paul Durham uses the word Abulafia as the escape code to call up a terminal in his virtual reality simulations in Greg Egan's Permutation City. This is again a reference to the permutation process, though it is unclear whether it is intended as an homage to the machine in Eco's work or to Abraham Abulafia himself. Greg Egan (August 20, 1961, Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian computer programmer and science fiction author. ... Permutation City is a science fiction novel (ISBN 1-85798-218-5) by Greg Egan which explores quantum ontology via the various philosophical aspects of artificial life and simulations of intelligence. ...

Science fiction writer Philip K. Dick claimed at one point to have been possessed by Abulafia's spirit. Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was an American science fiction writer. ...

He is also mentioned in the book "Bee Season" by Myla Goldberg, and the film adaptation (2005) directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel.

Bibliography

• Kohler, Kaufman et al.. "Abulafia, Abraham." Jewish Encyclopedia. 1901-1906; which cites:
  • M. H. Landauer, in Literaturblatt des Orients, 1845, pp. 381 et seq. (this scholar disinterred Abulafia from his long obscurity);
  • Jellinek (who devoted a great deal of study to this author), in the works already mentioned and in his Beiträge zur Gesch. der Kabbala, pt. ii.;
  • Steinschneider, Catalog der Hebr. Handschriften der Staatsbibliothek zu München, 2d ed., Nos. 28 et alia, containing references to Hebr. Bibl.;
  • Grätz, Gesch. d. Juden, vii. 7;
  • Bloch, Gesch. d. Entwickelung d. Kabbala, pp. 46 et seq.;
  • Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. d. Juden in Rom, i. 247 et seq. (needs some emendation).P. B.

The Jewish Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

References

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

The Zohar and Later Mysticism

• JewishEncyclopedia.com article
• Portrait of Abulafia (PDF file)
• "Circles" - from Life of the World to Come

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