Razei Chayyei Ha’Olam Ha’Ba [Kabbalistic treatise on the Divine Names]. Copied by Shalom ben Jacob Luria of Brody, completed in Copenhagen

Provenance: Library of the London Beth Din, Manuscript no. 71(Neubauer, p.25) Christie’s, Important Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books from The Library of the London Beth Din, New York, 23rd June 1999, Lot 4 The date mentioned in the central rosette at the bottom of the title-page reads 1689; the correct date, 1789, can be found on the right-hand side of this rosette and is corroborated by a date found in another manuscript by this scribe - another copy of this text with a similar decorated title-page, executed in Copenhagen in the same year (MS Oxford, Mich, 143). The first part of this work was printed for the first time in Jerusalem 1999. R. Abraham Abulafia was one of the most original and prolific Kabbalistic scholars of the 13th century. He expounded an unusual type of "ecstatic Kabbalah" and believed he attained prophetic inspiration. His profound mystical experiences of Revelation led him to make Messianic pronouncements. Although the foremost Rabbinical authority of his time, the Rashb”a (Shlomo ben Adret) of Barcelona fiercely opposed him (see his responsa no. 548) he defended himself iin a number of treatises. This work, Razal Chayei Olam Haba was especially popular. It contains explanations and permutations of the names of God illustrated with a multitude of circular figures with exact instructions for mystical meditation. Despite the esoteric topic, the language is clear and intimate. The short preface is most definately by Abulafia himself and not as has been attributed until now. It states that one should not study this text until one has purified his thoughts from the vain pleasures of this world "haughtiness, anger, ....desire for honor, food, and women.” Page 6a contains an extraordinary description of the ecstatic state one can attain through meditation - “His hair will stand upon his head, his limbs will tremble and shake and if he merits it, the Heavenly spirit will then settle upon him...and he will feel as if his entire body from his head to his feet is annointed with the "Shemen Hamishcha..." Abulafia’s brand of ecstatic Kabbalah has gained recent scholarly attention especially due to the writings of Prof. Moshe Idel. See also E. Wolfson, Abraham Abulafia, Kabbalist and Prophet (Culver City, Calif. 2000).