Abraham Abulafia

Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia was a Sicilian Kabbalist born in Saragossa, Spain in 1240. He is considered one of the most important, but also most complex, figures in Jewish mysticism.  In his thirties, he immersed himself in the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation) and began to teach a kind of Kabbalistic “yoga” based upon the ontological value of Hebrew letters, numbers, and vowel points, as well as rigorous and moral ascesis or a practice of severe self-discipline or ascetism for spiritual reasons. He taught that a complex science of combinations, permutations, and invocations of these symbols gives access to the highest spiritual realities and may even confer a “prophetic” status. After his attempt to convert the Pope – who died from apoplexy one day before Abulafia’s arrival – in 1280, he appeared as a prophet and Messiah in Sicily. He was condemned by Rabbi Solomon ben Adret and had to leave Sicily.  He died sometime after 1291. Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia contributions can be found in the World Wisdom book, Pray Without Ceasing .