Moshe Idel

Moshé Idel

Moshe Idel (Hebrew: משה אידל) is a Romanian born historian and philosopher of Jewish mysticism. He is Emeritus Max Cooper Professor in Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and a Senior Researcher at the Shalom Hartman Institute.

Life and scholarship

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Kabbalah
Concepts Ein Sof Tzimtzum Ohr Ayin and Yesh Sephirot Four Worlds Seder hishtalshelut Tree of Life Merkavah Jewish angelic hierarchy Shekhinah Partzufim Qliphoth Tohu and Tikun Sparks of holiness Messianic rectification Gilgul Kabbalistic astrology Gematria Notarikon Temurah Names of God in Judaism Shemhamphorasch Tzadik Tzadikim Nistarim Anthropomorphism in Kabbalah Panentheism
History Pre-Kabbalistic Jewish mysticism Tannaim Heichalot Sefer Yetzirah Chassidei Ashkenaz Medieval Bahir Toledano tradition Prophetic Kabbalah Zohar Kabbalistic commentaries on the Bible Mainstream displacement of rationalism with Kabbalah Renaissance Selective influence on Western thought Mysticism after Spanish expulsion Mystics of 16th-century Safed Cordoveran Kabbalah Lurianic Kabbalah Maharal's thought Popular Kabbalistic Mussar Early modern Baal Shem-Nistarim Sabbatean mystical heresies Emden–Eybeschutz controversy Immigration to the Land of Israel Traditional Oriental Kabbalists Beit El Synagogue Eastern European Judaism Hasidic Judaism / philosophy Lithuanian Jews Hasidic-Mitnagdic schism Modern Hasidic dynasties Mysticism in religious Zionism Academic interest in Jewish mysticism Non-Orthodox interest in Jewish mysticism
Practices Torah study Mystical exegesis Mitzvot Minhag Customary immersion in mikveh Meditation Kavanot Teshuvah Deveikut Prayer Nusach Tikkun Chatzot Tikkun Leil Shavuot Pilgrimage to Tzadik Pilgrimage to holy grave Lag BaOmer at Meron Asceticism Practical Kabbalah
People 100s Four Who Entered the Pardes Simeon bar Yochai 1100s Isaac the Blind Azriel 1200s Nahmanides Abraham Abulafia Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla Moses de Leon Menahem Recanati 1300s Bahya ben Asher 1400s 1500s Meir ibn Gabbai Joseph Karo Shlomo Alkabetz Moshe Alshich Moshe Cordovero Isaac Luria Chaim Vital Judah Loew ben Bezalel 1600s Isaiah Horowitz Abraham Azulai 1700s Chaim ibn Attar Baal Shem Tov Dov Ber of Mezeritch Moshe Chaim Luzzatto Shalom Sharabi Vilna Gaon Chaim Joseph David Azulai Nathan Adler Schneur Zalman of Liadi Chaim Volozhin 1800s Nachman of Breslov Ben Ish Chai Shlomo Eliyashiv 1900s Abraham Isaac Kook Yehuda Ashlag Baba Sali Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Role History Torah Tanakh Prophecy Ruach HaKodesh Pardes exegesis Talmudical hermeneutics Midrash Jewish commentaries on the Bible Oral Torah Eras of Rabbinic Judaism Generational descent in Halacha Generational ascent in Kabbalah Rabbinic literature Talmudic theology Halakha Aggadah Hakira Classic Mussar literature Ashkenazi Judaism Sephardi Judaism Modern Jewish philosophies Jewish studies Topics God in Judaism Divine transcendence Divine immanence Free will Divine providence Kabbalistic reasons for the 613 Mitzvot Jewish principles of faith Jewish eschatology Primary texts

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Jewish philosophy
Hellenistic Positions: Hasmonean Sadducean Pharisee Boethusian People: Philo of Alexandria
Medieval Positions: Positions in Rabbinic Judaism: Maimonidean / Anti-Maimonidean Tosafist Kabbalist Talmudic Karaism Positions in Western philosophy: Rationalism Averroism Neoplatonism Avicennism Topics: Mutazilites Ismailism Kalam Avempace Brethren of Purity Al-Ma'arri Al-Kindi Muhammad al-Fazari People: Isaac Israeli ben Solomon Saadia Gaon David ben Merwan al-Mukkamas Hasdai ibn Shaprut Chananel ben Chushiel Nissim Ben Jacob Samuel ibn Naghrillah Solomon Ibn Gabirol Abraham bar Ḥiyya Joseph ibn Migash Natan'el al-Fayyumi Bahya ibn Paquda Yehuda Halevi Hibat Allah Abu'l-Barakat Abraham ibn Daud Maimonides Joseph ben Judah of Ceuta Shem-Tov ibn Falaquera Gersonides Moses of Narbonne Isaac ben Sheshet Hasdai Crescas Yosef Albo Mansur ibn Sulayman al-Ghamari Moses ben Isaac ha-Levi Minz Elia del Medigo Judah ben Eliezer ha-Levi Minz Isaac Abravanel Judah Leon Abravanel Francisco Sanches Uriel da Costa Moses Almosnino
Modern Judaism Positions: Orthodox Sephardic Chabad Conservative Reform Existentialist Reconstructionist Chassidic Holocaust Renewal Neo-Hasidic Mussar Rambamist People: Baruch Spinoza Salomon Maimon Joseph Solomon Delmedigo Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm Eliezer ben Elijah Ashkenazi Tzvi Ashkenazi Jacob Emden Samuel Hirsch Shneur Zalman of Liadi Samson Raphael Hirsch Jacob Abendana Isaac Cardoso David Nieto Isaac Orobio de Castro Moses Mendelssohn Samuel David Luzzatto Elijah Benamozegh Moses Hess Eliezer Berkovits Eliyahu Dessler Daniel Rynhold Monsieur Chouchani Emmanuel Levinas Martin Buber Gershom Scholem Abraham Isaac Kook Joseph Soloveitchik Menachem Mendel Schneerson David Hartman Thomas Nagel Jose Faur Jacques Derrida Hilary Putnam Leo Strauss
Topics God Faith Eschatology Ethics Messiah Chosenness Holocaust Tzadik Happiness Anger
Philosophical schools and traditions

Born in Târgu Neamț, Romania, in 1947, Idel was a precocious child, with a passion for reading which made him read all the books in the town, cooperative, then High school Library, in addition to buying more books with the money earned by singing at weddings.^[1] Although the Holocaust did not directly affect the Jewish population of Târgu Neamț, they were affected by the so-called “population displacements”. In 1963 he immigrated with his family to Israel.^[2]

Enrolled at the Hebrew University, he studied under Gershom Scholem. After earning his doctorate with a thesis on Abraham Abulafia, he eventually succeeded Scholem to the chair of Jewish Thought. He has served as visiting Professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, UCLA, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania and the Collège de France.^[3]

Idel has undertaken a systematic revision of the history and analysis of Jewish mysticism. His explorations of the mythical, theurgical, mystical, and messianic dimensions of Judaism have been attentive to history, sociology, and anthropology, while rejecting a naïve historicist approach to Judaism.^[4] His 1988 work, Kabbalah: New Perspectives (Yale University Press), is said to have revolutionised Kabbalah studies.^[5] His historical and phenomenological studies of rabbinic, philosophic, kabbalistic, and Hasidic texts have transformed the understanding of Jewish intellectual history and highlighted the close relationship between magic, mysticism, and liturgy.^[4]

Awards

In 1999, Idel was awarded the Israel Prize for excellent achievement in the field of Jewish philosophy, and in 2002 the EMET Prize for Jewish Thought.^[6] In 2003, he received the Koret Award for Jewish philosophy for his book Absorbing Perfections.^[1] He has been conferred honorary doctorates by the universities of Yale, Budapest, Haifa,^[7] Cluj, Iasi^[8] and Bucharest.

Works

The following is a list of Idel’s publications in English.

• Kabbalah: New Perspectives (Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1988).
• The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia (tr. from the Hebrew by Jonathan Chipman. Albany, State University of New York Press, 1988).
• Studies in Ecstatic Kabbalah [Albany, N.Y., State University of New York Press, 1988]
• Language, Torah and Hermeneutics in Abraham Abulafia (tr. Menahem Kallus. Albany, State University of New York Press, 1989).
• Golem: Jewish magical and mystical traditions on the artificial anthropoid (Albany, State University of New York Press, 1990).
• Hasidism: Between Ecstasy and Magic (SUNY Press, Albany, 1994).
• Mystical Union and Monotheistic Faith, An Ecumenical Dialogue, eds. M. Idel, B. McGinn (New York, Macmillan, 1989; 2nd edn, Continuum, 1996).
• Messianic Mystics (Yale University Press, New Haven, London, 1998).
• Jewish Mystical Leaders and Leadership, eds. M. Idel, M. Ostow (Jason Aronson, Northvale, 1998).
• Abraham Abulafia, An Ecstatic Kabbalist, Two Studies (ed. Moshe Lazar, Labyrinthos, CA, 2002).
• Absorbing Perfections, Kabbalah and Interpretation (Yale University Press, New Haven, 2002).
• Ascensions on High in Jewish Mysticism: Pillars, Lines, Ladders (CEU, Budapest, 2005).
• Enchanted Chains: Techniques and Rituals in Jewish Mysticism (The Cherub Press, Los Angeles, 2005).
• Kabbalah and Eros (Yale University Press, New Haven, 2005).
• Ben: Sonship and Jewish Mysticism (Continuum, London, New York, 2007)
• Old Worlds, New Mirrors, On Jewish Mysticism and Twentieth-Century Thought (University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 2009).
• Kabbalah in Italy 1280-1510 (Yale University Press, New Haven, 2011).
• Saturn’s Jews, On the Withches’ Sabbat and Sabbateanism (Continuum, London, New York, 2011).
• Mircea Eliade: From Myth to Magic (Peter Lang, New York, 2014).
• Representing God, eds. H. Samuelson-Tirosh, A. Hughes (Leiden, Brill, 2014).

References

External links

• Faculty page at Hebrew University
• Faculty page at Shalom Hartman Institute