La cabale du livre de l'Image et d'Abraham Aboulafia

Book Description

This previously unpublished work presents lectures delivered by renowned scholar Gershom Scholem at Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1964-1965, offering readers access to substantial unpublished material from one of the most important authorities on Jewish mystical thought.

The book explores two parallel currents of thirteenth-century Spanish Kabbalah that developed alongside the writing of the Zohar, examining spiritual traditions that emerged at the margins of dominant rabbinical literature. Scholem guides readers through the cosmic visions found in the Book of the Image, which presents a dizzying panorama of universal cycles and cosmic revolutions that transcend the boundaries of our familiar world. This mystical text boldly challenges conventional notions of time itself, proposing multiple acts of Creation governed by Hebrew letters and the sefirot, determined by whether they emerge from Divine Rigor or Divine Compassion.

The second focus examines Abraham Abulafia, a thirteenth-century mystic who developed what became known as "prophetic Kabbalah." Abulafia crafted an innovative synthesis between rationalism and mysticism, bridging what Western and Jewish logic traditionally viewed as irreconcilable opposites. His approach integrated the rational Jewish tradition exemplified by Maimonides with a sophisticated spirituality grounded in complex theories of language and embodiment.

Scholem demonstrates how these marginal traditions fostered dialectical thinking that harmonized Jewish rationality with profound spiritual insight, revealing extraordinary depths within seemingly peripheral mystical movements.