Jewish Mysticism in the Lands of the Ishmaelites: A Re-Orientation r 161Abulafia’s system: (1) among his writings are first-person accounts of mys-
tical meditations and “manuals of discipline,” step-by-step procedurals for
practicing a combined aural and visual meditation on the divine names
and the Hebrew letters; and (2) his assertion that the goal of his mysticism
is nothing less than unity with God, a deathlike state in which the mystic
feels hu’ hu’ (“he is He”), an exact replication of al-Hallaj’s expression of
unio mystica. As to the first point: one is hard pressed to find in Jewish
mystical literature outside of the ancient merkabah texts any first-person
accounts of mystical transport, and the genre of “manuals of discipline,”
so noteworthy in Sufi adab literature, is one of the distinguishing features
of Abulafia and his followers. As to the second point: the goal of the mys-
tic way in the theosophical Kabbalah of Spain is rarely described so boldly
as union with or even death unto God; instead, the Spanish mystics of the
sefirot (and all their latter-day followers) speak at most of devequt, “adhe-
sion” or a close drive-by acquaintance with God.
Idel has referred to Abulafia’s mysticism as “the Kabbalah of Byzan-
tium,” for Abulafia had few if any followers in Spain, and not a single Abu-
lafian treatise (by either master or disciple) was ever composed there. All
his writings were composed in the eastern Mediterranean, and his suc-
cessor school flourished for a time in Palestine. No doubt Abulafia’s short
visit to Acre in 1260 had something to do with the success of his school in
the land of Israel, and a number of his disciples in the Galilee went on to
produce writings even more pronouncedly integrating the master’s teach-
ings with Sufi traditions. One student in particular, R. Natan b. Sa ̔adya,
wrote a remarkable short tract entitled Sha ̔arey Sedeq (Gates of Justice)
that contains numerous references to Islamic spiritual practices.^39 For ex-
ample, in this text, which is replete with first-person descriptions of com-
plicated nocturnal meditations on the name of God, we find:
I... have probed my heart for ways of grace to bring about spiritual
expansion and I have found three ways of progress to spiritualiza-
tion: the vulgar, the philosophic, and the Kabbalistic way. The vulgar
way is that which, so I learned, is practiced by Ishmaelite ascetics.
They employ all manner of devices to shut out from their souls all
“natural forms,” every image of the familiar, natural world. Then,
they say, when a spiritual form, an image from the spiritual world,
enters their soul, it is isolated in their imagination and intensifies the
imagination to such a degree that they can determine beforehand