In this month of Elul—perhaps the most ‘Sufi’ of Jewish months because of its history as a time of retreat and meditation — the phrase offers us a springboard for contemplative reflection, and also presents us with a potential recitation mantra for our private dhikr.
The imaginative possibility that this biblical text from the Song of Songs might refer to the Sufi concepts of fana and baqa was apparent to our Jewish-Sufi forebears. Furthermore, they chose to emphasise such a reading of its hidden meaning within their unique system of Jewish mysticism.
R.Abraham Ibn Abi'l-Rabi (d c.1223)—also known as Abraham He-Hasid—was the teacher and colleague of R. Abraham ben HaRambam (1186-1237) and he made a clear reference to these two Sufic concepts in his Commentary on Shir HaShirim.
In a fragment discovered and translated by Prof. Paul Fenton, Rabbenu Abraham He-Hasid connects the phrase to the aspirant’s need for a mentor and guide (Shaykh/Murshid). The essential nature of this system of transmission and guidance was later stressed by both R. Abraham ben Ha Rambam (in the Kifaya) and R. Obadya Maimuni (1228-1265) in his Hawdiyya.
Most significantly, for us here in Tariqa Eliyahu haNabi, R. Abraham He-Hasid also connects this pattern of transmission and guidance to the Bnei Neviím: the biblical “Schools of the Prophets” that so inspired Rabbenu Abraham ben Ha Rambam and his circle.
Rabbenu Abraham He-Hasid writes:
“The Sage (Solomon) at times refers to this vision and communion as "bride" and at others as "love", whereas the seeker (qasid) of this "bride" and "love" is called "beloved", as it is said
"My beloved is mine... as an apple among the trees of the orchard, so is my beloved among the young men". (Cant, ii.3)
The plural is here mentioned as an allusion to those who choose a master in their quest for the goal, these are (2 Kings vi.i and elsewhere) "the disciples of the prophets." *1
It was the intention of the Mediaeval Cairene Pietists to revive the esoteric practices of the BneiNevi’im that they considered to have been temporarily lost to Judaism— yet fortuitously preserved by the Islamic Sufis. These practices were understood to be a path that led to spiritual maturity, human perfection, and the potential attainment of prophecy. Our Tariqa Eliyahu seeks to renew this specific Jewish-Sufi Path.
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The Ani l'Dodi quotation appears in connection with the concepts of the fana (annihilation) that leads to baqa (intimate union with the Divine) in the writings of R.David ben Joshua Maimuni (1335-c1414).
Here the debt to Islamic Sufism is explicit— both linguistically and philosophically— and his writings indicate precisely how enthusiastically the concepts of fana and baqa had been adopted by the Jewish-Sufis of his era. Following his example,we regard them with the same enthusiasm in our own Tariqa's spiritual practice.
In an unattributed (but possibly autographic) commentary on Shir HaShirim ( from a manuscript that is nevertheless most certainly in R. David ben Joshua’s own handwriting) we read:
“I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine” (Cant. 6:3). We have already explained earlier (fol. 8b, Cant. 2:15) that whenever thou turnest to the love of an object and desirest all that that object desires, then it is as though [that object] had become thyself and thou hast become it, insofar as thou possessest it and thou art enslaved unto it. To be sure, thine annihilation (fana) within it is a mighty witness and indication that he belongs to thee and thou belongest to him.” *2
In the Murshid, R. David ben Joshua Maimuni writes:
“...during the final station, the soul sinks so deeply into love that it is no longer aware either of itself or of its love. Indeed, when the lover reaches the stage where he declares: ‘I am my beloved and my beloved is I’, he loses awareness of his own self due to the contemplation of the object of his love, which occupies him to such an extent that he perceives nothing except [that which he perceives] through his Beloved.” *3
Paraphrasing Mansour Al-Hallaj*4 — R. David Ben Joshua declares:
“I am my Beloved and my Beloved is I
...Oh Goal of my desire, in You I am freed from my Self.
You brought me so close to You
that it seemed as though You were I " *5
©Nachman Davies
Safed
Elul 1 2023
Revised Sept 16 2024
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*1 Fenton, P. “A Mystical Commentary on the Song of Songs in the Hand of David Maimonides II,” (p.49) in Esoteric and Exoteric Aspects in Judeo-Arabic Culture, ed. B. Hary and H. Ben-Shammai (Leiden: Brill, 2006)
*2 Fenton,P ibid. p 42
*3 translated from: Fenton, P. Deux traités de mystique juive;Lagrasse: Éditions Verdier; 1987. (p.288-289)
*4 Mansour Al-Hallaj (c.858-922): a Persian Islamic Sufi saint and martyr who was a proponent of the concept that annihilation of the ego could lead to true unio mystica. He was tortured and then executed for stating this belief.
*5 translated from Fenton. P. Deux traites, p289The phrase “Ani l'Dodi v’Dodi Li” displays an acronymic reference to the Month of Elul.