Kabbalah in byzantium

BYZANTIUM: A CENTER OF KABBALAH There can be no doubt that Jewish culture in Byzantium was important both in its own right and for transmitting earlier Jewish material from the Middle East to central and western Europe, already in the ninth century. We know this for instance from evidence relating to the centers of Jewish culture in southern Italy, especially Bari, that were then parts of the Byzantine cultural milieu. However, specific information about original mystical compositions in Byzantium are not available (at least for the time being) before the emergence of the Kabbalah in later medieval times, and the situation is not very clear even afterwards. This chapter will offer a general picture of the development of the Kabbalah in Byzantium, on the basis of the findings of previous scholars, mainly E. Gottlieb and M. Kushnir-Oron, as well as my own. It will deal solely with literature considered to be kabbalistic, namely medieval material, and not with earlier Jewish mystical literature (i.e. the so-called Heikhalot or liturgical poetry), or with magical literature found in this area, even if elements of these literatures did find their way into kabbalistic works. Given that research in this field is in its initial stages, part of the ensuing discussion will try to ascertain the time and place of kabbalistic compositions made in Byzantium. This is necessary for the presentation of the Byzantine literature as a discrete corpus, to be set apart to a certain degree from other centers of Kabbalah. By bringing together the compositions that we are going to consider Byzantine, a new perspective on the history of the Kabbalah will emerge, emphasizing the role of Byzantium among other important centers, and their special characteristics, as well as the power struggles between these centers. R. ABRAHAM ABULAFIA’S STAY IN BYZANTIUM The first Kabbalist to compose kabbalistic works on Byzantine soil and who even actively disseminated his Kabbalah there was R. Abraham ben Shmuel Abulafia (1240-c. 1291). Though born in Navarra, he traveled much and visited Greece twice: once toward the beginning of the 1260s, before he was actually involved in Kabbalah, and the second time during the second half of the 1270s, a few years after he had studied Kabbalah and was already subject to mystical experiences.