348 A History of Judaism
Abulafia’s ecstatic mysticism was based on pseudo- rationality, as is
clear from his attempt to foist his ideas on to Maimonides, and in this
respect his doctrines were similar to those of Sufism in Islam. In Abula-
fia’s case, this is unlikely to have resulted from direct Islamic influence,
but in Egypt the descendants of Maimonides (in particular his son
Abraham and grandson Obadiah) advocated quite specifically the adop-
tion of Sufi practices by Jews as a way to attain perfection and union
with God:
Firstly it behoves you to reduce your intercourse with common folk ...
Then you must inure yourself to speak little except that which causes you
gain in this world and happiness in the hereafter ... Next you must amend
your diet as much as you can, decreasing your relish until you become
accustomed to partake infrequently of food, so that your thoughts desist
therefrom. Strive also to reduce your slumber ... Then train your soul pro-
gressively to think of nothing else but Him or that which draws you near
to Him until your soul waxes strong enough to help you to obtain the end
to which you aspire. Furthermore, at prayer time, purify your intention
and be thoroughly mindful of what you utter. Lo, after having attained to
this state, so passionate will be your rapture that you shalt not suffer to be
separated from Him, even for an instant. And as your bliss increases, so
will your passion increase and you will no longer delight in food nor drink
nor rest.Jewish Sufi texts, written in Arabic, belong firmly in the tradition of
Islamic Sufism and display much more contact with Muslim mystics
such as ibn Arabi than with other branches of Jewish mysticism. We
have already seen how the moral teachings of Bahya ibn Pakuda in
eleventh- century Spain show traces of Sufi influence.
But, like the reformist teachings of the Hasidei Ashkenaz at the heart
of Rhineland Jewish spiritual life in the same period, and indeed as with
the absolute poverty espoused by later Christian mystics like St Theresa
of Avila, this movement too demonstrated how an intense religiosity
among the leaders of a community could lead to ethical and philosoph-
ical teachings taking on a distinct mystical tinge. The pious were urged
to seek a life as the spiritual heirs of the biblical prophets, especially
Elijah, through asceticism, mastery of the passions, and concentration
of thought on God, ‘attiring themselves in the garment of rags and such-
like garment[s] of the poor resembling the dress of the Sufis in our days,
and [also to their assumption of] restriction in food to the point of being
content with crumbs and the like ... in order that people might believe