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Receiving Tradition, Constructing Authority

in As Light Before Dawn: The Inner World of a Medieval Kabbalist

Isaac ben Samuel of Akko's Me'irat 'Einayim, a supercommentary to Nahmanides' Commentary on the Torah, reflects an eclectic and anthological approach in which he attempts to bridge the diverse ... More

Isaac ben Samuel of Akko's Me'irat 'Einayim, a supercommentary to Nahmanides' Commentary on the Torah, reflects an eclectic and anthological approach in which he attempts to bridge the diverse opinions and views espoused by predecessors and contemporaries in the kabbalistic arts of interpretation. The idea of eclecticism has mainly been interpreted by intellectual historians based on two perspectives: one on ancient Greek philosophy and the other based on the arguments expressed by Denis Diderot in his 1755 Encyclopédie. Both models can be used to understand Isaac's specific cultural role as an eclectic thinker. For the kabbalists, what makes something “Kabbalah” has everything to do with the reliability and authority of the transmissional source. This chapter examines the terms and modes of authoritative transmission in Isaac's writings. After looking at several intriguing antecedents and earlier models in medieval kabbalist literature, it contextualizes the concerns found in Me'irat 'Einayim and 'Ozar Hayyim. It also considers the ideal of harmonization and hermeneutical reconciliation that underlie rhetoric and hermeneutics in Me'irat 'Einayim.Less

R. Menahem ben Benjamin Recanati

Moshe Idel

in Kabbalah in Italy, 1280-1510: A Survey

This chapter focuses on R. Menahem ben Benjamin Recanati, the first Italian Kabbalist to adopt an important version of another type of Kabbalah—theosophical-theurgical Kabbalah. In doing so, he ... More

This chapter focuses on R. Menahem ben Benjamin Recanati, the first Italian Kabbalist to adopt an important version of another type of Kabbalah—theosophical-theurgical Kabbalah. In doing so, he accepted a theological view that differed dramatically from Abulafia's, one that assumed the existence of a transcendental divine layer, designated as 'Illat ha-'Illot, Causa Causarum, and a system of ten divine powers named sefirot. This chapter explores the fact that the first Kabbalist who flourished in Italy after Abulafia did not follow his mystical path and ignored his writings; he did not even engage in polemics with the ecstatic Kabbalist or his followers. The differences between the two Kabbalists active in Italy are important not only for the phenomenology of Kabbalah but especially for the understanding of the specific nature of this lore in Italy.Less

Nahmanides on Law, Land, and Otherness

Joseph E. David

in The Gift of the Land and the Fate of the Canaanites in Jewish Thought

This chapter examines the legal theology of the thirteenth-century kabbalist and jurist Nahmanides, and proposes a new perspective about his conceptual and theological sources. It argues that, beside ... More

This chapter examines the legal theology of the thirteenth-century kabbalist and jurist Nahmanides, and proposes a new perspective about his conceptual and theological sources. It argues that, beside the mystical background, he also responded to legal and theological doctrines that pervaded in the European Christendom of his days. It shows that Nahmanides introduces an innovative notion of the halakhah as divine law, according to which the divine law is derivative to the deity's association to his territory in terms of feudal lordship. Nahmanides introduces a spatial, or a territorial, notion of halakhah that stands against the traditional perceptions of halakhah as a direct prescription.Less