Jewish Sufis-(Tariqa Eliyahu HaNabi): Introducing this Tariqa

בסייד

with a brief commentary by Nachman Davies

We are a confraternity of religious jews from all denominations who aim to study, renew, and develop the contemplative practices of the mediaeval Jewish-Sufi Movement of R.Abraham HeHasid, R. Abraham ben Ha Rambam,R. Obadya Maimuni and R. David ben Joshua Maimuni.

Like them, our Tariqa admires and respects the Islamic Sufi tradition and seeks to adopt many of its contemplative practices into our own observant Jewish practice.

We are aspiring “Sons of the Prophets”who trace our “path” to Elijah the Prophet and the hermits of Mount Carmel.

PREAMBLE

This Group/Tariqa was founded to be:

(i) a community base for Religious Jews who are also aspiring or practising Jewish Sufis;

(ii) an attempted renewal of the contemplative practice of the mediaeval movement known as the Egyptian Pietists;

(iii) a place where we could share and study Jewish Sufi texts (classical and newly composed) to formulate ways in which that renewal might be developed in our own era.

All this is outlined in our Facebook GROUP DESCRIPTION and FOUNDATION STATEMENT together with many statements about what the group is not...... but it seems that new applicants for membership often misunderstand the nature of the group when they apply— so I need to make the aims and character of the group much clearer, both for members who may have joined and those who have yet to apply. I intended (and still intend) the group to be composed of active and contributing members in a small online community devoted to the aims of the group as expressed in those three points above.

As a group for predominantly Orthodox Jews, we are limited in the extent to which we can accept open religious syncretism,eclecticism, and the mixing or hybridisation of Jewish and Islamic or Christian faith-concepts and liturgy.

The exact details of those practical limitations for us–as Jews bound by the (Orthodox) Halakha–really need to be discussed here in our group as there are areas of controversy and divergence in the interpretation of the permissable, the forbidden, and the desirable elements of authentically-Jewish Sufism.

Our predominantly Orthodox character does not stop us from being promoters of religious co-existence, or indeed: loving and warm in our relationship to those who are not Jewish, or towards those who are not observant according to the Halakha as we see it—but it does mean that we follow that Halakha as it would be defined by our models: R.Baḥya Ibn Pequda, R.Abraham HeḤasid, R.Abraham ben HaRambam, R.Obadyah Maimuni, and R.David ben Joshua Maimuni.

It is my belief and hope that, if the group is kept private and selective till it has become secure in its principles and exclusively Jewish modus operandi, then we may become sufficiently secure in our agreed and shared “mission” that we can open our Facebook Group membership to a wider learning community of observers,learners,teachers,and commentators— from Islam, from other non-Jewish Sufi traditions, and from other religions. At some point, the Group’s Facebook Page may become open to the general public—but the time for that is not yet. We need to build the sukka and prepare the meal before we invite the guests.

At the moment we are the ONLY Orthodox group with this specific set of Judeo-Sufi aims and we need to be given time to develop them in private at the start.

In what follows, I will cite those original Foundation Documents (from November 2021) with added item reference-numbers to aid community discussion in the future. I will then add a very simple commentary in footnotes (for the time being—this will not be an academically sourced commentary, just an outline draft elucidation).

Nachman Davies

Motsei Yom Kippur 2022

GROUP DESCRIPTION

(November 2021)

This is a private group for Religious Jews¹ who are also (practising or aspiring) Jewish-Sufis in the tradition of Rabbenu Baḥya Ibn Paquda,² and (most especially) the Egyptian Pietists³ of the Maimuni dynasty.⁴

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[1] Religious Jews: Our tariqa is predominantly Orthodox in character,and is inclusive of (for example) Litvish, Ḥasidic, Haredi, Sefardi, Ashkenazi, Mizraḥi, Modern Orthodox, Rationalist, Kabbalistic streams. It welcomes members from all streams of Judaism who respect traditional Halakha, though each individual member's chosen level of observance is to be respected.

The Judeo-Sufic approach and the Path of the Maimuni dynasty is relevant to them all.

For example: The movement’s debt to HaRambam is frequently acknowledged by Rabbenu Abraham, though the two authors are by no means identical in their perspective and opinions. The influence of the Rambam (and Rationalist Philosophies) on our Path is considerable, but it does not mean that members who follow the modern Ashkenazic-Ḥasidic mesora or who adhere to Kabbalistic modes of piety cannot also find a home in this group. It is thought that many of the solitary and ascetic practices of the Safed kabbalists were based on observed Islamic-Sufic practice in the Galil. There is also a significant likelihood that the founders and students of early Safed mysticism would have been familiar with the Maimuni dynasty texts, the activities of the Egyptian Pietist movement in the region, and the many Sufic volumes in the huge nearby Syrian library of Rabbenu David Maimuni II himself.

These practices fed into the modern Ḥasidic movement of the Baal Shem Tov and so they too should be considered as being significantly indebted to the Islamic Sufism which so inspired our own movement in its infancy. Orthodoxy is a broad and varied descriptor, and ultimately, as Sufis, we are all looking for denominational achdut amongst our members (and beyond). May our Tariqa Eliyahu advance the happy coexistence of these Fathers with their Children. (Malachi 3:23).

2 Rabbenu Baḥya Ibn Paquda (1050–1120): author of al-Hidāyah ilā Farā’id ̣al-Qulūb (Duties of the Heart) — a Pietist manual displaying countless similarities with Islamic-Sufi spiritual and musar approaches.

3 Egyptian Pietists: An Oriental/Middle-Eastern Ḥasidic movement centred on Egypt and later spreading to the Palestinian and Syrian region, believed to have been in existence at the time of the Rambam (who was not part of the movement). His son and successor (Rabbenu Abraham ben HaRambam) was taught by the movement’s prolific leader, Rav Abraham HeḤasid (Abraham ibn Abi’l-Rabi’) and subsequently became its dynamic leader himself.

4 Maimuni Dynasty: The three principal authors of the mediaeval Jewish Sufi movement who were descendants of the Rambam. We refer to them by their surname Maimuni. They advocated the formation of small synagogues and contemplative residential yeshivot whose members were to follow an overtly Judeo-Sufic path. They were conceived by them as Jewish versions of the Islamic-Sufi Khanqa and the Zawiya. A brief biographical note of each will follow later in the document. As they are our group’s special teachers I think it appropriate that we might refer to them all as “Rabbenu”. (giving: Rabbenu Abraham,Rabbenu Obadyah, and Rabbenu David. I mean no disrespect by using the honorific “Rav” when referring to Abraham He-Ḥasid —I have merely done this to distinguish him from Abraham ben HaRambam—because, in many documents they are both confusingly referred to as Abraham He-Ḥasid)

As such, we are inspired by the writings of Rav Abraham HeḤasid,⁵Rabbenu Abraham ben Ha Rambam,⁶ Rabbenu Obadyah Maimuni,⁷ and Rabbenu David ben Joshua Maimuni,⁸ who each insisted that, for Jewish aspirants, the loving observance of the Halakha⁹ is an essential pre-requisite to the station¹⁰ of attainment/arrival.¹

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5 Rav Abraham HeḤasid (Abraham ibn Abi’l-Rabi’ ) (d.circa 1223): Fragments of his writings —as well as those of Rabbenu Abraham’s father-in-law, Hananel ben Samuel, and of several unidentified members of the Egyptian Pietist circle) have been identified in the Cairo Genizah. Many of them are translated and published online by Professor Fenton, but by no means all of them. (This is surely a pressing task for our group’s academically and linguistically gifted members to take on.)

6 Rabbenu Abraham ben HaRambam (1186–1237): Though Moshe Rabbenu and Eliyahu HaNabi are considered our Jewish-sufic progenitors, in many ways, Rabbenu Abraham ben HaRambam is an Uwaysi-type sheik of our Tariqa. He was the author of many halakhic and philosophical works but his principal legacy to our group is the Kifaya (Kitab Kifayat al-‘ābidīn) — known in Hebrew translations as HaMaspik L'Ovdei Hashem and in English translations as The Guide to Serving God (Wincelberg) or Highways to Perfection (Rosenblatt). It follows a similar literary pattern to Rabbenu Baḥya’s Islamic-Sufi inspired Duties of the Heart but has a particularly contemplative taḥlit in so far as its goal is attained through a kind of solitude that leads to ( or is synonomous with) the acquisition of various levels of prophecy. We only have a tiny fragment of this voluminous work and the entire concluding chapter (on contemplation and prophecy) has yet to be discovered. May we live to see and study it! (Amen).

For our group, this penultimate extant chapter on Hitbodedut (which for him means external solitary practices or interior retreat modelled on Biblical and Sufi khalwa practice) is the thesis supporting our group’s contemplative practice: the development of which is our principal focus of activity.

7 Rabbenu Obadyah Maimuni (1228–1265): The son of Rabbenu Abraham ben HaRambam. His Judeo-Sufic Treatise of the Pool (Al-Maqala Al Hawdiyya) restates his father’s opinion that Islamic-Sufi mysticism and supererogatory devotional practices were a temporarily lost tradition from the curricula of the biblical prophetic yeshivot, fortuitously maintained and preserved for our restoration by Islamic Sufism. He supported,but did not insist on, celibacy (or very late marriage) as an ascetic religious practice for his Jewish-Sufi ḥasidim and it is thought that he himself never married.

8 Rav David ben Joshua Maimuni (1335–c.1414): A fifth generation descendant of the Rambam, variously referred to as David Maimuni II, or David ben Joshua. He is often confused with David HaNagid I who (as far as we know) was not a Jewish Sufi. Rabbenu David Maimuni II was the author of the dynasty’s most adventurous Sufic volume, Murshid ila al-tafarrud, known in English as The Guide to Solitude or The Guide to Detachment. It openly quotes the Quran and contains our most developed (extant) statement of a Jewish-Sufi mystical theology. It also presents a thorough defence of asceticism. Rabbenu David authored several other works that are highly relevant to our tariqa, but at the moment they are difficult to access in either print or in translation.

9 Halakha: The traditional Jewish Oral Law, parallel to the Islamic Sharia for Islamic Sufis. (Al Ghazali held a similar belief that a Sufi must be meticulously observant of the law as well as devout and is often compared to Rabbenu Abraham). For the Maimonidean dynasty the Mishneh Torah and Sefer HaMitzvot of HaRambam were foundational halakhic sources.

10 Station: Maqam. The Judeo-Sufic Way proposes a gradated course of refinement by steps that were outlined (in various forms) with a profound debt to Islamic texts in the works of Rabbenu Baḥya and the Maimuni dynasty leaders that we hope to follow. Each of these Masters offers a slightly different order in the maqamat, and sometimes diverges from the others in which maqam(at) they view as most important. This is something for us to study and discuss. (In passing, a common feature of each of our authors’ texts is their use of Islamic-Sufi terminology, the precise definition of which should also occupy our members’ researches.)

11 Attainment/Arrival/Wusul. Whether this term describes unio mystica or human perfection is still being discussed by scholars of Jewish Philosophy and linguistic academics. Rav David Maimuni II comes extremely close to promoting the belief that final and complete ittisal is possible.

Therefore, we aim to follow and develop their "Special Path" (suluk al-Khas ¹²) of Jewish-Sufi contemplative practice combined with the [meticulous] observance of [traditional Jewish] Halakha.

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12 Suluk al-Khas. The special path of the Jewish Sufi ascetic pietist (according to Rabbenu Abraham and his circle) is only to be followed once the aspirant has perfected the observance of the “common way”, by which he means the fundamental observance of the mitzvot. The Suluk al-khas also has its own levels/maqamat—and practitioners range (according to the Kifaya) from long term (geo-physical and interior) solitaries to those who are highly active in professional and/or congregational activity but nevertheles practice khalwat dar anjuman (solitude in the crowd, or interior detatchment).

Membership is also open to members of all Jewish denominations who agree to respect the orthodox religious character of the group in what they say or post here in the group.¹³ Their personal levels on the spectrum of halachic observance are to be respected.¹⁴

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13 Member’s postings. One of the principal reasons I decided to create an Orthodox Jewish group was because many other Judeo-Sufi groups are not shomer Shabbat in the orthodox manner. So I particularly wished to exclude posted references to events or communities which would not be in synch with our Orthodox ethos and practice.

There are also other sensitive issues to be aware of, for example— potential or actual avoda zara/ḥukat ha goyim, the use of Islamic texts in Jewish liturgy or devotions, public participation in non Jewish worship (as opposed to study or observation): things which we need to discuss once the group is fully established.

There is a wide spectrum of possibilities of how our group might approach these questions, but I wanted to avoid partisan controversy in our group’s initial stages and that is the reason for my asking non-Orthodox members to agree to respect our ethos in the application questionnaire before joining.

14 Respecting non orthodox members: I added this clause when I composed the original document in order to indicate that we did not wish to “make windows into other people’s souls”. Although we hold up the very highest l’ḥumra observance as our group’s Pietist ideal, we are all works in progress, and (in private) die gedanken sind frei.

There are several online groups related to Judaism and Sufism. These groups are often focussed on forging positive interfaith links between Jews and Moslems,¹⁵ or on sharing & discussing matters relevant to both Judaism, Islamic Sufism, Universalist Sufism and Secular Sufism.¹⁶

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15 See:The Sufi Way of Abraham , Abraham’s Tent, Inayati-Maimuni Order

16 See: Inayati Sufism and most especially: Judaism and Sufism

We respect all those approaches and may well be involved in such channels of activity, but here in this special group, we are uniquely focussed on developing our own Jewish-Sufi¹⁷ religious knowledge and practice.¹⁸

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17 Jewish Sufi: The term Jewish Sufi was coined by Professor Paul Fenton in the 1980s—specifically to describe the Egyptian Pietist movement whose activity and presence in kehal Yisrael we hope to renew, here in our Tariqa Eliyahu HaNabi.

The term “Jewish Sufi” has come to mean many other things online. For many it describes “Jews who incorporate Islamic-Sufi music and dance into their spiritual practice or cultural or political activities”, “People of Jewish heritage who happen to follow an Islamic or Universalist Sufi path” or “Jews who have converted to Islam and yet still align in some way with both Sufism and Judaism”. Other groups have every right to use the term in these ways, but in this group our meaning should be clear: We are ḥasidim (pietists) of the movement that was led by the Maimuni Dynasty. (for a definition of “ḥasid” See Rav David Maimuni II’s Murshid— it is now accepted by scholars that, for the Maimuni circle, the term “HeḤasid¨ was a common descriptor for a Jewish-Sufi).

18 Our own knowledge and practice: The classic Jewish-Sufi claim is that the roots of Jewish Sufi practice are in our own Scriptures but were lost or neglected until they were restored by the Egyptian Pietists. This may be the case (I personally believe so) or it may have been a political device used to counter accusations of heresy from unsympathetic Jews; accusations of suspicious “innovation” by both Jewish and Islamic authorities. It is also possible that the concept was a creative way to legitimise a religious revolution. But the fact remains: it was the belief of the Egyptian Pietists themselves.

It is for this reason (among others) that our primary sources are: (a) the Jewish Scriptures; (b) the biblical commentaries of Rabbenu Abraham and other Jewish-Sufi leaders and masters; and (c) their halakhic, philosophical, and ethical writings.

Our secondary sources are the (often fragmentary but highly treasured) sefarim and short texts of the Maimuni dynasty’s circle and their subsequent followers.

To these we should add our own scriptural novellae....for we are attempting to develop their legacy. For this reason it seems to me that, on our Facebook Group Page, we should be posting and reflecting profoundly together on these and on short extracts from Jewish Sufi classics intensively, each of us at our own level of understanding and inspiration.

The works of Islamic Sufis are discussed in great detail by scores of websites and online groups and members can consult these freely according to their own taste, but in our group I would ask that we really should not be too focussed on those Islamic texts except when they have a specific connection with our own Jewish-Sufi tradition. Having said that: The very concept of a “sufi mentality” is also something we can learn from a study of Islamic Sufism, as the Maimuni dynasty authors have shown us, and as contemplative practitioners we have much to learn from Islamic mystics and philosophers.

Indeed, this could be said of several classical works on contemplation and asceticism from Christian authors—some of whom will have had an influence on both Islam and Judaism themselves— if one can filter out the references to major problematic theological issues. (The Desert Fathers,the Hesychasts, Juan de La Cruz, and the Carthusian author of the Cloud of Unknowing come to mind in various ways). But, to reiterate my point: our discussions and practices should be clearly and primarily focussed on the Egyptian Pietist Jewish tradition: in our history and in our own day.

Our prime goal is the development of deveykut : an intimate relationship with G-d.¹⁹

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19 Deveykut: Though this clause is the shortest in the document, it may be the most important one. It marks the clear statement that the group’s aim....its taḥlit... is a mystical and contemplative one—wusul/wusla/ittisal. This cannot be overstated.

Other groups of a similar nature may be focussed on politics, cultural/racial co-existence, or interfaith matters or on the creation of congregational experiences and social events. Ultimately our group is about the journey of the individual soul towards some kind of meeting/union with Divinity in solitary contemplation. In this we are not only walking in the footsteps of the Maimuni Sufis, we are also (to some degree) following the Rambam.

At the moment we are not concerned with real-time congregational activities such as group zhikr or sema, and so our focus is on individual practice: Each of us Alone, but all of us united in spirit. This will involve our study and development of Jewish Sufi meditation, formal tefilla, and supererogatory devotions as well as the observance of the musar and ethical precepts of the Judeo-Sufi Way that Rabbenu Baḥya and Rabbenu Abraham presented.

Our own models and spiritual forebears, in this our exclusively Jewish silsila,²⁰are Moshe Rabbeinu and the Prophets of Israel. In a sense we aim to be the Sons [and Daughters] of the Sons of the Prophets,²¹and we hope to prepare for the return of prophecy²² as "Children of the Prophet Elijah".²³

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20 Exclusively Jewish silsila: I thought long and hard before including this phrase in the original (November 2021) Group Description as it is actually the factor which makes our Tariqa totally different from all other contemporary Jewish-Sufi groups. I had wanted to state it more comprehensively but there was a limit to the number of characters Facebook would allow in the feature. It may be the bone of contention that causes some of our present and future members to retire from the group—but as it is the unique principle on which this Tariqa must function, it needs to be clear. So now I take this opportunity to say precisely what this phrase means.

One of the primary characteristics of Islamic Sufi groups is the lineage of transmission known as its silsila. This is something like a chain of semikha ordination whereby each member links to current and previous masters through intiation rites in an initiatory chain.

In Islamic Sufi Orders this usually attempts to establish a connection with the early leaders of Islam and especially with its Prophet.

There is already in existence a Jewish-Sufi Tariqa which follows this pattern: The Inayati-Maimuni Order.

[Some brief explanatory background is called for at this point: I first “discovered” the Egyptian Pietists in 2003, and swiftly realised that I had found a movement that connected with my own ideas on solitude/retreat/eremiticism/intentionally dedicated Jewish Contemplative lifestyles (see the website at https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/).

Shortly after this (somewhat synchronistically) Reb Zalman Schachter Shalomi of the Jewish Renewal Movement set up a pioneering project to renew the legacy of Rabbenu Abraham. But he chose to do this by newly creating a joint silsila binding Islamic-Inayati Sufism to (Ashkenazic-origin) Ḥasidism. (it can be viewed here: http://www.inayati-maimunis.org/lineage )

In doing this he was creating an an interfaith/universalist venture that included a silsila marrying the semikha (as it were) of the Prophets of Israel and the mesora of the Baal Shem Tov to that of the Prophet of Islam and the Islamic-Sufi Masters. Then, and to this day, I do not feel that is what the Maimuni leaders would have wished. This is, of course a purely unsubstantiated personal view and it can be contested.]

I intuit, in humility and accepting that I may be mistaken, that we ought to take Rabbenu Abraham’s lead (as expressed in the Kifaya) and count as our founders .....ONLY the Hebrew Biblical Prophets and not the Prophets of our dear Abrahamic brothers. It was with this in mind that I founded this Tariqa in 2021. I had considered this view and kept it to myself for two decades but felt that the time was now right to look for like minded Jewish Sufis who might share this intuition and outlook.

Some members may feel that a broken lineage (or indeed one that disconnects from an Islamic-Sufi silsila) invalidates the Sufi nature of our group—but we have learned to adapt in the past and that is so in the present: We have survived without a Temple or a Sanhedrin for centuries by adapting (or spiritualising) these institutions. The Temple is enshrined in our tefilla and ritual practices, and the role of Sanhedrin is (to some extent) assumed by our Posekim and Rabbinical Courts. Consequently I propose that a Jewish-Sufi Tariqa might find similar ways to acknowledge, interpret, (and spiritualise) our Biblical Prophetic silsila. It was broken and lost, but it can be restored in a renewed form.

21 B’nei Nevi’im: Our Maimuni dynasty masters make the strongest of connections between their own movement and the Biblical Schools of the Prophets. These prophetic schools made use of music and dance as generators of ecstasy in order to prepare aspirants for inspirational activity, and one can see their connection with the Islamic sufi Sema “concerts” immediately. (The significance of musical elements in contemplative practice is especially evident in the writings of Rabbenu David.)

22 Return of prophecy: Both the Rambam and the Egyptian Pietists believed that the attainment of prophecy was the highest level of religious attainment. They also held that the promised return of prophecy to all Israel was imminent. I have a deep personal interest in this concept and in 2005 I wrote a very short booklet —The Cave of the Heart/ Kuntres Maarat HaLev—on the subject. [see also the related essays on prophetic training (Hegyon Ha-Lev) here and here .] The development of prophetic ability was thought ( by the B’nei Nevi’im ) to be something that could be trained if God wished a person to reach such a level. The Treatise [Firkovitch 2, NS 1223 et al] by Rav Abraham He- Ḥasid or a member of his circle, supports this view as an active practice. Tariqa Eliyahu Ha Nabi aims to develop ways to further this process.

²³ Elijah: Rabbenu Abraham chose the relationship between Elijah and Elisha as the model form of Jewish Sufi initiation. The reasons I chose the patronage of Eliyahu HaNabi for this Tariqa are many and beyond the scope of this document, but–as the original founder of the B’nei Nevi’im– he is our Master,as it were. Despite Rabbenu Abraham’s account in the Kifaya, at the moment our group does not have any form of initiation rite or kirqah (other than the tallit) —and purely personally I do not think such externals are at all necessary for us — What seems (to me) to be more relevant to us in this group is the fact that the gilui Eliyahu (Revelation of Elijah) spoken of by so many Jewish mystics and philosophers is also the exact parallel to the Jewish-Sufi term wusul. Furthermore, in the Murshid, Rabbenu David himself calls Eliyahu “ Master of the mystics and Sovereign of the ascetics” and states quite clearly: ‘Elijah’ is a metaphor for ittisal (union with the Divine). [profound thanks to Professor Paul Fenton for this information].

Although it is not the Islamic Sufi practice, I expect our Tariqa to have no living sheik, (though who knows who may emerge if Providence provides us with one someday). At the same time, each of the Maimuni dynasty leaders insisted that the relationship of a murshid (Spiritual Guide) and murid (Aspiring Sufi student) is essential. It seems to me that the principle of each individual member seeking a relationship with a Murshid/ Guide of some sort is a principle of the Maimunis that cannot be ignored. Speaking personally, whether an individual’s “Teacher and Guide” is a book, or a person, or a tradition, or an agent (malakh)/or series of agents of the Divine is not a subject that is developed in this document, though it is obviously an important Sufic element that each one of will have to consider and apply in their own personal practice. It is something the group members need to discuss.

Think of it as a specifically Jewish Khanqa....a private online "convent" for like minded salikin (seekers)²⁴ to develop as an online Pietist community of Jewish "perushim and mitbodedim" (ascetics and meditators/solitaries).²⁵

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24 “Salikin” (seekers/travellers/wayfarers) being one of the principal terms favoured by Rabbenu Abraham when describing those following his Suluk.

25 The term"perushim and mitbodedim" is borrowed from Isaac of Akko who used it (positively and with admiration) to describe members of a contemporary Pietist community of solitaries living in a decidedly Sufic style. Of course, not all our members will follow such an extreme celibate and solitary form of the Kifaya’s suluk al khas (though I do myself)—but retreat (khalwa-hitbodedut) and asceticism (zuhd-perishut) are something all Jewish Sufis practice in some form or another. For the Jewish-Sufi Maimunis this was not an optional process but a spiritual necessity if a person were to become “perfect” in this world and the next.

10:

We practise and promote a respectful friendship and encourage a compassionate coexistence with all the Children of Abraham,²⁶ and with all of humanity²⁷— and we seek to advance that Universalist process by walking alongside Sufis of other traditions whilst maintaining our own specifically Jewish task as a "People set apart" and a "Light to the Nations".

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26 We share the principle of Tariqa Abraham in holding that shared study and co-existence between Islamic-Sufis and Jewish-Sufis is a highly positive tool for attaining peace between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as between Moslems and Jews. Many of our members may choose to be members of that group as well as this one—and it is there rather than here that they may practice their commitment to interfaith principles most fully. We are highly supportive of their Interfaith focus, but our own approach here is focussed exclusively on spiritual practice in an specifically Orthodox Jewish context.

27 Our prayer will always be “May His Name be One” and that His House will be a “House of Prayer for all Nations” as we prepare for the time when “the knowledge of the glory of G-d will fill all the world, as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakuk 2:14)

ooOoo

The second foundational document from November 2021, which follows below, was very much shorter, but it is nonetheless very important because it outlines the areas in which members are invited to contribute to our growth.

For that reason I am appending it here.

FOUNDATION STATEMENT

November 25 2021

In creating this group, I am simply providing an online vehicle for both experts and seekers to share their knowledge, expertise, and suggestions. It may take a very long time for people to discover and contribute to this group, or it may generate insufficient interest and involvement for it to grow. The creation of the group is therefore an experiment.

But it is my hope that it might one day attract the involvement of sufficient members to form an online version of the "Ten Batlanim" (akhyar,zuhhad fi’d-dunya) spoken of in the Kifaya. ²⁸

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[1] The passage from Rabbenu Abraham’s Kifaya reads (In Elisha Russ Fishbane’s translation of Dana):

“It is essential for the leadership of Jewish communities that a group of people be selected from each one who are all upright and virtuous, renouncing this world and longing for the world to come. They should be permanently secluded in the synagogue for the recitation of the Torah and to practice solitary devotion (al-tafarruḡli’l-‘ibādah). ...These individuals are the ones designated by the sages, of blessed memory, as the batlaṇīm of the synagogue ... There ought to be ten people in the synagogue, who have no occupation apart from communal needs and the study of Torah, who are permanently attached to the synagogue as in the case of the Temple, which was to include secluded devotees...” (see also Wincelberg page 545)

Group members are invited to post anything that they feel may help to develop "specifically Jewish" Sufi knowledge and practice.

FOR EXAMPLE:

· Practical suggestions for private Jewish-Sufi zhikr,

· Personal meditation techniques,

· Links to scholarly/inspirational articles or books,

· Questions or requests for information on the subject.

· Personal reflections or creative writing/art/photography/videos on the subject.

· Related Lectures or zoom shiurim (with obligatory captions or accompanying transcriptions.)

· Online or geographic events that might be of interest to members.

ooOoo

Safed

October 2022