Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla

Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla (also Chiquitilla; * 1248 in Medinaceli, † 1325 in Peñafiel ) was a Spanish Kabbalist, philosopher and mystic, which occupies an intermediate position between ecstatic and theosophical Kabbalah.

Life

Gikatilla was born in 1248 in Medinaceli ( Old Castile ), but spent most of his life in Segovia. Counter in 1272 or 1274 he met Abraham Abulafia know and took from this the letter and number symbolism. Here is an intensive examination of the profane sciences, and the writings of Abraham ibn Ezra, Solomon ibn Gabirol of, Baruch Togarmi and Maimonides took place, the latter is often cited overwhelming. Presumably he met Moshe de Leon in the 1270er -Jahren, under whose influence he turned away from the prophetic Kabbalah, Abulafia; as is evident from their writings, Moshe de Leon and Joseph Gikatilla must have mutually influenced (but they do not call themselves mutually by name). Initially Gikatilla was " just the theosophical conception of mysticism quite foreign to ", but later went fully over to the theosophical Kabbalah, and "[ i] n his later writings, we find virtually nothing from the Abulafiaschen Kabbalah and the ideas from the circle of Ginnath ' egos "; Instead, a strong influence of Moshe de Leon shows ascribed Sohar in a different form of expression. Especially in some of the pieces of his 1293 magnum opus incurred Scha'are Orah (Gates of Light), he propagated his ideas, which he specifies as the source at most the " words of the wise ". All his writings treat the recombination of letters and numbers ( gematria ), at the same time but it was his main concern to justify the Kabbalah as the basis of rational philosophy.

According to legend was Gikatillas knowledge of Kabbalah so great that he could work miracles; it is therefore also called Joseph " Ba'al ha - Nissim " ( Mr. Wonder ). Isaac ben Samuel criticized him in his Me'irat ' Enayyim for excessive frequent use of God's name.

Work

Scha'are Orah - The Gates of Light ( 1293 )

Gikatillas major work in ten chapters discussed the ten Sefirot of Keter to Malkuth, and the corresponding names of God. Among the sources cited next to the Zohar includes the Sefer Yetzirah and the Pirka Hekalot.

At the same time, the book is an easily understood introduction to the symbolism of the Zohar published a few years earlier. The Zohar is systematized here according to the rules of the word and Namensrekombination and is referred to by Gershom Scholem as the best representation of the symbolic terminology of the Zohar ", detailing the motives which determine the correlation between the sefirot and their symbols in Scripture ." This interest for word and letter symbolism can not be attributed solely to the Zohar, but goes back to the influence of his teacher Abraham Abulafia and his Sefer ha -ot (Book of the characters). This linguistic tradition met here by focusing on the non-linguistic reality ( in Gikatillas case: on the light) the theosophical line, with whom he came in contact by Moshe de Leon.

From other Yetzirah commentary, the book is distinguished by the different order of the Sefirot and the emphasis on the importance of God's name. Most Sefirotkommentare start with the symbols of the highest sphere Kether or even the En Sof and discuss with the remainder following in descending order. In contrast, Gikatilla favors an ascending order. This is considered as a theoretical debt to the linguistically - ecstatic school Abulafia: during the Theosophist the descending wants to understand emanations of creation, the ecstatic just tried to return to the beginning of creation.

Contrary to the myth-making to his own person makes Gikatilla clear that the knowledge of the Kabbalah for magical or semantic purposes is not appropriate, and revised here own misjudgments from the garden of nuts.

Historically, the book lays witness to the decisive shift within the Castilian mysticism that arose with the departure Abulafia from Spain.

Gikatilla had an immense effect and in particular the Christian Kabbalah, Renaissance, it served as the main reference work about the traditions of Jewish mysticism. Johannes Reuchlin also will cite the authority Gikatillas to defend itself against its critics.

Editions of the gates of light

• Riva di Trento 1559
• Mantua 1561
• Krakow 1600
• Offenbach 1715
• Warsaw 1876
• Jerusalem 1970

Further works by Gikatilla

• Sefer Ginnat Egoz (, The garden of nuts ', 1274) - A book on the mystical meaning of the names of the vowels and the alphabet ( gematria, Notarikon, Temura ), the influences of Jacob ha - Kohen of Soria shows and the enigmatic Yetzirah commentary Togarmis properly prepared in many areas.
• Song of Songs commentary lost ( Schemitott ).
• Kelalei ha - mitzvot - to Halacha
• Sefer ha - Meschalim - Proverbs
• Sha'ar ha - Niqud - over the vowels
• Haggadah shel Pesach Perusch - Kabbalistic commentary on the Passover
• A commentary on the Merkaba
• Scha'are Zedek (also: Sha'ar ha - Shamayin ): a repeat of the results from the Scha'are Orah; again the Sefirot are sorted in ascending order
• Or ha - Sekhel ( light of the intellect )

Translations

• Paul Riccius: Portae Lucis. - Latin translation, the main source of Christian Cabala of the Renaissance.
• J. Winter / A. Requests: Jewish literature since the completion of the canon. Vol III. Trier 1896, p. 267 ( only excerpts ).
• Avi Weinstein: Gates of Light. Walnut Creek, London, New Delhi 1992.