Secrets and Pearls

The special affinities between Maimonides’ esotericism and Abraham Abulafia’s Kabbalah show the deep impact of the former on the latter. The early studies of Abulafia in medieval philosophy, especially Neoaristotelian one, have been analyzed for the first time. The book surveys main topics in Judaism as interpreted by Abulafia: Hebrew language, Torah, the people of Israel, Paradise, in the light of Maimonides’ esotericism. It claims that Abulafia was a radical Maimonidean thinker for his entire career and revealed, in some cases, the hidden philosophical agenda of Maimonides, as he understood it. The universal aspects of Abulafia’s thought have been put in relief, unlike those of most of other Kabbalists. Some of the texts used in this exposition are still in manuscripts, and they have been identified here for the first time as authored by Abulafia.. His study is intended for students of medieval philosophy, Kabbalah, esotericism, especially in Spain, Byzantine Empire, Italy and Sicily, in the 13th century.