Rabbi Abraham Abulafia - Their mystery is (from Life of the Future World)

December 11, 2009

From our dear friend Ivan. his notes at the foot are always worth reading. AJ

Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana --

Their mystery is (from Life of the Future World)

By Rabbi Abraham Abulafia(1240 - 1295?)

English version by Jewish Theological Seminary

Their mystery is: God my only One in them my heart will be worthy.And their mystery is Enough! Enough! Enough!

-- from Meditation and Kabbalah, by Aryeh Kaplan

Amazon.com / Photo by Pedro Angelini /

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Thought for the Day:

Spiritual awakening is the fundamental political act.Awareness spreads outwardinto the world.

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Here's your Daily Music selection --

Budowitz

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Hi Alan -Hanukkah begins tonight at sundown...A moment of ecstasy, a heart overflowing in its encounter with the mystery. The tongue rebels in the mouth at trying to formulate words. The whole awareness wants to simply watch in silence.==Rabbi Abraham (or Avraham) Abulafia was an important figure in Spanish Kabbalah mysticism, founder of "prophetic Kabbalah." He was born in Zaragosa, Spain.His father was his first teacher, instructing him in knowledge of the Torah and Talmud.His father died when he was Rabbi Abulafia was 18. He then began to travel. He went to Palestine, but in the chaos following the Crusades, he found it too dangerous. He then traveled through Greece and into Italy, where he settled for a while and studied philosophy, including Kabbalah and the works of Maimonides. During this time he also gained notoriety as a

teacher.Rabbi Abulafia eventually returned to Spain, where he deepened his esoteric study. He delved deeply into important Kabbalistic texts, like the Sefer Yetzirah, as well as the writings of other Jewish mystics.Rabbi Abulafia is especially associated with the Kabbalistic tradition of meditating on sacred words. Because each act of creation in the Torah begins with the phrase, "And God said...," he understood words both as keys to manifestation, but also signposts pointing the way back to the Divine Source. Rabbi Abulafia taught a meditation practice in which the letters of sacred words are manipulated and rearranged as a way to gain deep insight into the true nature of creation and oneself and, ultimately, to reconnect with God.He continued his travels, returning to Greece and Italy, teaching and writing. While teaching in Italy, he was condemned by some of the local Jewish communities for his unorthodox views. When important

rabbis in Spain heard of the controversy, it became clear he was no longer welcome in Spain. He spent his remaining years traveling and writing in exile.==Have a beautiful weekend!IvanPS - Music Listen Links Working AgainA few months back I had to disable the "Listen" links for the music selections because of a change in changes with the online independent retailer CDBaby. I've now switched as many music selections as possible over to Amazon, which allows me to include links for listening directly to the music selections again. Click on the "Listen" link -- if the CD is available through Amazon, it will open a page in your web browser and automatically start playing some short samples from the CD. A little music returns to our lives...

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