Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos: Isaac Luria and his Kabbalistic Fellowship PDF
Preview Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos: Isaac Luria and his Kabbalistic Fellowship
Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos Isaac Luria and His Kabbalistic Fellowship Lawrence Fine STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 2003 Stanford UniversityPress Stanford, California ©2003bytheBoardofTrusteesofthe LelandStanford Junior University.Allrights reserved. Publishedwith the assistanceofthe LuciusN.Littauer Foundation. Printed intheUnited StatesofAmerica on acid-free,archival-qualitypaper. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-Publication Data Fine, Lawrence. Physicianofthe soul,healerofthe cosmos: IsaacLuriaandhis kabbalisticfellowship/ Lawrence Fine. p.cm.— (Stanford studies inJewishhistory andculture) Includes bibliographical referencesand index. ISBN0-8047-3825-4—ISBN0-8047-4826-8 1. Luria, Isaac ben Solomon, 1534-15722.. Luria, Isaac ben Solomon, 1534-15—72Disciples.3. Cabala—History4.. Mysticism—Judaism5.. Judaism—Israel—Tsefat—History. I.Title. II. Series. BM525.L83§F562003 296.8'33'092—dc2I 2002154139 Original Printing 2003 Lastfigurebelowindicatesyearofthisprinting: I2 II I0 O9 O08 O7F7 O6 O§ O4 03 TypesetbyClassicTypography in 10.5/14Galliard For Deb, with lovebeyondmeasure Contents Acknowledgments X1 Note toReaders XV Abbreviations XV Introduction: Embodying the StudyofLurianicKabbalah I 1. Rabbinical Scholar, Spice Dealer, Contemplative Ascetic: Luria’sLifein Egypt 19 2. Lamenting Exile,Striving for Redemption: Pre-Lurianic Safed 41 3. Saintliness,Heavenly Communication, and the Divinatory Arts: Luria’sCharismatic ReligiousAuthority 78 4. Lurianic Myth 124 5. Physician of the Soul 150 6. Tiqqun: Healing the Cosmos Through the Performance ofMitsvot 187 7. Tigqun: Healing the Cosmos Through Devotional Prayer 220 8. Communing with the “VerySpecialDead”: The Practice ofYihudim 259 9. | Metempsychosis,MysticalFellowship, and MessianicRedemption 300 Notes 361 SelectBibliography 445 Index 469 Acknowledgments It is my great pleasure to acknowledge individuals and institutions that have supported my work on this book. It wasmy considerable good fortune to havebegun the studyofJewishmysticisminearnestat BrandeisUniversityunder the tutelage ofthe lateProfessorAlexander Altmann,one ofthe mastersofthe historyofJudaisminthetwentieth century.I am indebted to him, not only for what he taught me, but alsofor the rigorous standards of scholarship he exemplified,and for the personal interest he showed in hisstudents. It wasAltmann who saidto me, in one of the earliestconversations I had with him after I arrivedatBrandeis,that “nobody trulyunderstands LurianicKabbalah, not evenScholem,”referring,ofcourse,to the preeminent historian of Jewishmysticism, Gershom Scholem.While I couldn't fathom exactly what he meant at the time, I knew enough to be impressed (but was too naiveto befrightened) bysuchastatement, coming from ascholar’s scholar.Over the course of time, I havecome to realizethat Altmann wasright, bywhich Imeanthat the irreduciblecomplexitiesofLurianic Kabbalahcannot begrasped insome unequivocal fashion. Its ambigu ities,paradoxes, and elaborate multitiered mythic edificeresistsimple resolution or intellectualclosure. During the yearsinwhich I firstbegan to be intrigued bythe spir itual renaissance inSafedand itsmysticalcommunities, mywifeand I wereluckyenough to takepart inour own experiment incommunity, during the earliestyearsofthe Havurat Shalom in Somerville,Massa chusetts.In addition to the manyenduring friendshipsgainedthere, I had the opportunity to experience firsthand the joys and challenges ofcommunal fellowship.AsI look back, I believethat my interest in X11 Acknowledgments studyingintentionalcommunityhadsomethingimportant to dowith my Ownexperience in community during the early 1970s.I am im measurablygrateful to allthe people with whom I sharedthose won derful, exciting years. This work began while I was a member of the facultyof Indiana University. I am grateful for the research support I enjoyed there, as well asfor the exceedinglystimulating intellectual environment pro vided by my colleaguesin the Department of Religious Studies. I am especiallyindebted to JamesAckerman, the late J. Samuel Preus, and DavidSmithfortheir support. Other friendsandcolleaguesofmineat Indiana during that time, with whom I had significantconversations about thesubjectofthisbook, includeHoward Eilberg-Schwartz,Todd Endelman, and George Savran. More recently, I have also benefited from the collegialityof the members of the Department of Religion andthe JewishStudiesProgram atMount Holyoke College,andfrom the generous financialsupport ofthe college. Friends and colleagueswho read allor parts of this book in manu scriptform includethe followingscholars:Robert Goldenberg, Arthur Green, EricLawee,Daniel Matt, IvanMarcus, andAron Rodrigue. I am indebted to eachof them for their helpful suggestions and com ments. Specialthanks to Art Green for hisencouragement andfriend ship over the years.My gratitude goes to ProfessorsAron Rodrigue and StevenJ.Zipperstein ofStanford University,co-editors ofthe dis tinguished seriesofwhich this book 1sapart, for their enthusiastic in terest in this project, aswell asto Norris Pope, program director at Stanford University Press,and Mariana Raykov,production editor. I am especiallygrateful to Peter Dreyer for the meticulous care with which he helped edit this book. This work would not havebeen possiblewithout the support of members ofmyfamily.Mydeep gratitude to myfather,JackFine; my latemother, Mildred Fine; and mymother-in-law, JeanSegal,fortheir love. My late father-in-law, Rabbi Jacob E. Segal,took awarm inter est in myscholarlycareerduring the alltoo fewyearsI wasprivileged to know this remarkable man. My thanks aswellto my brother and sister-in-law,Roger and RebeccaFine, for their loveand friendship. I am grateful for the blessing of my two sons, Jacob and Aaron, who Acknowledgments X11 havewatchedtheir fatherpour overkabbalistictextsformuch oftheir lives.They inspire mebytheir passions and commitments, and bybe ing such beautiful souls. My deepest gratitude and appreciation be longs to mywife,Deborah. It ishard to imagine lifewithout her un commonlygood sense,her stimulating companionship, and most of all,her endless love and friendship. In aremarkablecoincidence, herpaternal great-grandfather, Shalom of Podayetz, migrated from Poland and ended up in Safed,where he becameknown asakabbalistic enthusiast. Weare told that melodies hecomposed, preserved infamilymemory, arestillsung insynagogues in Safed even today. He is buried in the ancient cemetery in Safed, among the mysticalluminariesofthe sixteenthcentury,including Isaac Luria. Even more remarkable, in light of the contents of this book, over the past severalyearshis grave has become the object of venera tionandpilgrimage.Thus, mygratitude to ShalomofPodayetz,through whom I enjoy some smallbut meaningful measure of personal con nection to the orbit ofSafedand itsmysteries.
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