Before the Zohar

🧿 The Zohar emerged in Castile in the 1290s, but a somewhat-forgotten Kabbala blossomed in the decades prior, including ecstatic Kabbala, which sought experiential mystical connection.

Seven of twety-four circular diagrams of Divine Names with incantations from a work by R. Avraham Abulafia, contained within a commentary on Sefer Yetzira by R. Yaakov ben Yaakov ha-Kohen. Bibliothèque nationale de France Ms. hebr. 763, f. 27r.

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In this issue:

• The Circle of R. Moshe o…