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Showing posts with label Jewish Sufi Practice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jewish Sufi Practice. Show all posts
Dhikr: The Remembrance of G-d
Introduction
Each “school” of mysticism or spirituality
has its own particular “path”— usually
derived from the actual experiences of its founders and leading members, and almost always
rooted in what they consider to be an
ancient tradition. This is as true of the Jews who formed our Pietist
movement in Mediaeval Cairo, as it
is of the Safed Kabbalists, the Christian Desert Fathers, Carmelites, and Carthusians— or of the Sufis of Islam.
That Juan
de la Cruz, Rabbenu David ben Joshua
Maimuni, Ibn Arabi, and Rumi should
share the same (or very similar)
spiritual experiences should not
be surprising— as each of them was trying to meet the same G-d seen through different lenses. The source of their similar experiences was not so much an ancestral or tribal culture or a
monolithic mesorah, but their personal experience of contact with
the Divine: the True Teacher: whatever language, text, or
method might be
used as a medium of communication
and instruction.
Some
founders of these “schools” leant heavily on traditional texts and methods, others made their connection to
ancient practice rather more symbolic; being perhaps less afraid of innovation, they might take a
basic traditional principle and then develop it using their creative (and
sometimes inspired) imagination.
Whatever the
ratio of adherence to tradition’s known details in relation to such “re-imagining” and “renewal”: each Kabbalistic
School, Sufi Tariqa, or Christian monastic Order has its
own distinct focus and methods—an ethos
and a set of principles and practices which it encourages its members to use
and promote as a way to develop their
own truly personal and individual journey.
Tariqa Eliyahu is no exception to this general rule.
The Egyptian Hasidim of the mediaeval era were the first flowering of a fully-fledged “movement” in
Jewish-Sufism. (The sufi-derived work of Ibn Paquda gained great
popularity but it never produced a “movement”.)
Like our Cairene forebears in the movement, our Tariqa seeks to “reimagine” the elements of spiritual practice that may
have been elements in the curriculum (as it were) of the biblical Bnei haNevi’im (the Sons of the Prophets).
The use of our imagination in forming our
“path” is necessary because the historical evidence of that biblical curriculum
is minimal.
We can, however, be certain when identifying the two main elements in the path of the Bnei haNevi’im:
KHALWA (solitude/retreats/contemplation)
and
SEMA (Music/chanting).
SEMA (music and chanting) is given a secondary and preparatory role in our Tariqa. Music was undoubtedly of great significance to the Sons of the Prophets and also to the mediaeval Egyptian pietists and we have many mentions of such “Sufic” musical performance in the Maimuni texts.*1
Such music was designed to
induce ecstatic experience,expanded consciousness, and various levels of
prophetic inspiration. In our
meetings we begin with a short period of
mantra chanting (sometimes with instruments
and movement) but, for our
“sober” tariqa, music or chanting is almost always featured as a comparitively brief introduction to a much longer period of silent worship and contemplation).
Instead, we have chosen to make KHALWA
our principal focus and practice: taking its various stages
and forms from the categories given by Rabbenu Abraham ben HaRambam in the Kifaya—namely:
(i) Extended Retreat: in full isolated seclusion;
(ii) Periodic Retreat: involving
short term residence and incubation in shrines, synagogues, or meditation
cells;
(iii) Domestic Retreat: where
the term refers to solitary contemplation and supererogatory devotions
performed at home as vigils or during other times of the day;
(iv) Interior Retreat: the
development of a ‘shiviti consciousness’ of the Divine
Presence at times of private
devotion or (ultimately) at all times and in all situations (khalwat
dar anjuman/khalwa batina).
To
these we have added a ‘new ’ practice derived from the writings
of R.Abraham He-Hasid:*2
(v) Communal Retreat: the practice of regular meetings for silent contemplation as
a Tariqa congregation. Such communal
khalwa is practiced at our weekly
meetings in Safed and is based on priciples related to the three-day “preparation and sanctification” of the Jewish nation at Sinai. Thus,in a very real
sense, we regard it as being a renewed practice rather than a wholly innovatory one.
But there is
a form of Sufic practice that involves both Khalwa-meditation and
Sema-music and chanting simultaneously. Furthermore, it is performed both by the individual on retreat
and by the community when it
meets as a congregation— This
practice is known as DHIKR, a term variously translated as “Invocation”
or “Remembrance”.
What follows is a brief exposition of the way our Tariqa understands this term.
It is not a comprehensive study
or a scholarly academic essay— rather it is intended as an introductory
text,written for the benefit of new
members: some of whom may have had a
limited experience or knowledge of Sufi practice before attending our meetings.
ooo0ooo
What is Islamic-Sufi Dhikr?
The term has several nuances in Islamic
Sufism. It can mean the recitation of
Divine Names/ Attributes; the
repetition of any mantra-phrase
as an act of worship, ritual concentration or trance inducement; the repetitive
chanting of a short text practiced to remove all
focus on oneself,on sensation, or on rationation—all in the attempt to focus on G-d Alone. In these ways: one hopes to make some kind of ‘anamnesis’ of the Ineffable One,
immanent somehow— in/through the contemplative action of one’s soul/heart.
Many
Islamic-Sufi tariqas perform set dhikr mantras vocally,often in combination with
movements of the upper body, and often
over long periods of intense performance.
Some dance or sway. Others
recite Divine Names or religious phrases silently and without
movement; sometimes using beads to count
repetitions and cycles.
The
term can also refer to the silent and attentive act of focussing on such Names
or Phrases (through visualisation and/or mental audition) ceaselessly.*3
It
is this state of intimate relationship/union with the Divine in every moment that
is also the aim of Jewish-Sufi practice:
Rabbenu Abraham Maimuni refers to it as wusul
(arrival/attainment/gnosis)
In his
Shaarei Tzedek, an anonymous Abulafian [thought by some to be R. Shem Tob Ibn Gaon] described the dhikr
method of the Sufis that he
observed in Palestine in 1295 as follows:
“They chant the Name of G-d ( Allāh,as
it is in the the language of Ishmael)...when
they pronounce these letters they direct
their thought completely away from every possible ‘natural form’, and even away from the letters of the name “Allāh”
themselves ... They are carried off into a trance without realising how, [which is remarkable] since no Kabbalah has been transmitted to them. They
refer to this removal of all forms
and images from the soul: Effacement. (mahw)” *4
The author there regards the sufic method as being “vulgar”, and makes
the point that there are higher
forms of Hazkarah— and then
proceeds to outline the linguistic methods of his teacher, R. Abraham
Abu-l’Afia (1240-1291). The author
regards “the permutations and combinations of letters and the mysticism of numbers” to be a higher form of dhikr than mantra
style dhikr. As Jewish-Sufis
we might well disagree with him. *5
We are
fortunate that we have an entire manuscript on the subject of Islamic-Sufi dhikr from the pen of Ibn Atā Allāh
al-Iskandari (1259-1309). Al-Iskandari was a follower of the Shadhili path,*6 —and so we can assume that
he will be referring to the Shadhili dhikr practice common at the
time our movement was flourishing in
his part of Egypt.
A few selected passages from his Miftah al Falah
(The Key to Salvation)*7 can
thus shed some welcome light on (i) Islamic dhikr practice in
mediaeval Egypt;and (ii) what we can therefore assume to be the actual dhikr practice that the Jewish Egyptian
Pietists were observing and copying:
“Remembrance may be
with the tongue,with the heart,
or with the members of the body” Miftah
al Falah p46
Quoting
Al-Ghazali,he writes: “Dhikr is an inner reality in which the Invoked takes possession of the heart while the invoker is effaced and vanishes.” Miftah al Falah p47
“Dhikr
is like a fire that neither stays nor
spreads. When it enters a House it says “It is I-there is noone
else but Me” Miftah al Falah p48
“When you invoke God Most High, all
who hear you invoke with you,because you invoke with your tongue,then with your
heart,then with your soul,then with your spirit, then with your intellect,then
with your innermost self.....When you invoke with your heart, the universe
and all of God’s worlds therein invoke
with your heart...When you invoke with
your innermost Self..the invocation is united with the Essence.” Miftah al Falah
p51
What is Jewish-Sufi Dhikr?
Not
surprisingly, given the cross-culturally shared nature of advanced spiritual
experience—and of Divine inspiration itself— almost all of the Islamic-Sufic principles
mentioned above would also apply in venerable Jewish
practice. This practice is referred to in Midrash Shir HaShirim
and Midrash Otiot Rabbi Akiva.
The concept of the 99 Beautiful
Names of G-d recited during Islamic dhikr may thus be strongly
related to the Judaic “70 Names of G-d” and
quite possibly, in a sense, derived from them.
The recitation of Divine Names is
also a key element in Hekhalot
mysticism, and its sixth century practioners actually used the term ‘Hazkir’ when describing the recitation of such Names.
R.
Aryeh Kaplan cites a Merkavah text from Hekhalot Rabbatai as follows:
“The
text presents a mystical ‘name’
of God, which is actually a rather long phrase consisting of a number of
mystical words or names. The instruction
says that this phrase must be repeated 120 times, again and again.” *8
Though Ibn Pequda describes such invocation of Divine Names in his Hidāya *9 (where he uses the exact word ‘dhikr’ —the principal reference that we have to such a practice in the extant literature of the Egyptian Jewish Pietists comes from Rabbenu Abraham HeHasid who writes:
“The spiritual world can be reached
through the practice of external and
internal piety, passionate love of G-d,
and delight in the invocation of His Holy Names” *10
Nevertheless
we can divine similar hints concerning the practice in a few other places. Referring to fragmentary texts concerning Jewish Pietist vigils, R. Russ-Fishbane writes that these fragments:
“...mention the constant remembrance
or mentioning (dhikr) of God. Obadiah cited the verse from Isaiah 62:6:
“... take no rest, all you who mention the Lord” (... ha-mazkirim et
ha-shem al domi lakhem). See also ENA NS 10 (laminated 46), 1, verso,
ll. 3–5, published by P. Fenton, “A Pietist Letter from the Genizah,”
HAR 9 (1985), 162. Another key source is the composite text published by
Fenton, “A Mystical Treatise on Prayer,” 156, in which meditation on
divine majesty and the remembrance of His name (dhikr ismihi) leads to
love that brings one to spiritual union (al-tauhị̄d ‘alā al-haq̣īqah).” *11
It therefore seems incontestable that the
Pietists practiced mantra hazkarah privately. But there is
no evidence (as yet!) that they held congregational dhikr events
such as ours in Tariqa Eliyahu.
The
scholars have frequently pointed
out that the lack of evidence may
have been because of (a) reticence in publishing matters that deal with any spiritual practice “using”
Holy Names (even though such use was never theurgic magic but always a
method of contemplative concentration (khalwa); or (b)because of a
concern that the exposure of such a
“sufi” practice might induce alarm from the more fanatically conservative members of the general Jewish comunity, bent on
witch-hunting for traces of supposed avodah
zara; or (c) because the outrage of those who vehemently opposed the
Maimuni nagidim’s Jewish-Sufi reforms in toto for purely
political reasons might result in religious
and civil censure and punishment.
We can, however
be certain that the Cairene Pietists will have observed Sufi sema and dhikr rituals closely: both in shared retreats at the Muqattam Mountains and in Fostat generally, as
it was a densely populated city of
multi-storey buildings with countless open windows. The
air would have been full of
the sounds of Islamic-Sufis engaged in vocal dhikr, and there is
incontestable evidence that there was
also an Islamic-Sufi zawiyya in the Jewish Quarter of Cairo itself during
Rabbenu Abraham’s nagidship.
In his detailed
and panoramic essay: Sufis and Jews in Mamluk Egypt, Professor Paul Fenton lists many of the
Islamic-Sufi exemplars whose presence in Cairo must have had a significant role
in the development of the Jewish Pietist movement in Ayyubid and Mamluk times.
He mentions (for example) the poet ‘Umar Ibn al-Farid (d. 1235), Abu l-Ḥasan al-Shadhili (1196-1258) Ahmad
al-Badawi (1199-1276), Abu l-Abbās
al-Mursī (1219–1287), and Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari
(1259-1309). Furthermore the existence of numerous manuscripts by these authors in the Cairo Geniza ( a receptacle for honoured texts) indicates the respect and
value that the Jews placed on these sufic texts. That they studied them is thus
evidential. We already know from the works of the Maimuni family that they quoted and
paraphrased them extensively in their own writings.*12
Dhikr Mantras
“Let
whosoever desires the benefits of dhikr follow the established texts.”
Al Iskandari*13
We do not know which specific texts or Divine
Names might have been used by the
Egyptian Pietists in their devotions and
retreats, but in our Tariqa we have collected certain biblical or prayer-book
texts that lend themselves to choral or
private recitation as mantras.
These
include: Ad-nai melech, Ad-nai
malach, Adonai yimloch l’olam va’ed; Ani l’dodi v’dodi li; Ein
Kel-heinu; Ana Ad-nai hoshiana; and Ribono Shel Olam. In our
meetings we have a special litany of mantras and a formula for their use. Prominence in that
litany is given to the Elijan Mantra ( Ad-nai
Hu Ha Elokim) but we also recite mantras that focus on the Divine Name “Hu”
and some of its variations. In Islamic-Sufi
rites the name “Hu” is often performed
as a breathing exercise and as a method
whereby the practitioner can cease thinking and start
encountering, as it were.
In
Chapter Four of the Miftāh al Falāh,
Al-Iskandari tells us that the
two most commonly used and most
praiseworthy Sufi mantra texts are (i)
the Name
of God (Allāh) and (ii) the
statement “There is no G-d but God” (lā ilāha illa ‘llāh) so one can assume that in the thirteenth century these
will have been the dhikr phrases
with which the Cairene
Jewish-Sufis will have been most familiar. It is most unlikely that
they will have used this precise name and formula, but highly likely that they
will have adapted the Sufi method and form of meditation connected to them.
The second of those above-mentioned forms
is the
first line of the Shahada,
and our “Elijan Mantra” with which we end our Tariqa’s Vocal Dhikr litany —(Ad-nai Hu Ha Elo-kim,
sometimes: Ad-nai Hu,
Ad-nai Hu, Ad-nai Hu, Ha Elo-kim)—is a Hebrew partner to that Shahada
text.
Our “Elijan Mantra” also contains the Hebrew word “Hu” (He) which is both a Jewish and an Islamic Divine Name — a serendipitous connection that we explored
at length in the previous essay Jewish
Sufi Dhikr for Yom Kippur. (https://jewishsufis.blogspot.com/2023/09/jewish-sufi-dhikr-for-yom-kippur.html)
The arabic term Hu (He),
sometimes appearing in the form Huwa or Hua, has always been a Divine Name of the
greatest significance in Islamic-Sufi
dhikr practice. In Judaism, the capitalised hebrew word Hu
(He) has been regarded as a Divine Name
since Talmudic times (at the very
least). In Shabbat 104a we read:
ה"ו - זה שמו של הקדוש ברוך הוא
Heh vav: That is the principal name of the Holy One, Blessed be
He.
It is because of the great significance of the “sufic” Name “Hu/Huwa” that we have made a Judeo-Arabic phrase by Yehuda al-Harizi (1165-1225) the signature dhikr mantra of our Safed group. We will share more on that shortly, b’ezrat HaShem, in a forthcoming essay.
The Dhikr of Simplicity
In
Vocal Dhikr one frequently
encounters a process of progressive simplification from longer
phrases,through a “personal” Name to
the more abstract “He”— a process
which may be reflected in the format of
the litany performed during
congregational Dhikr. But such a
progression is equally significant with regard to a salik’s
contemplative meditations in private.
Indeed, Al-Iskandari actually suggests that once one has approached a trance like
state,one may use sounds rather
than letters or words. He writes:
“He is
subject to whatever comes over him among the sum total of the divine mysteries. Hence there might flow from his tongue Allāh,Allāh,Allāh or Hu,Hu,Hu, or lā
lā lā lā or a a a a a, or āh āh āh āh, or a sound without
any letter or noise. His behaviour, therefore is to submit to the inspiration. After the
passing of the inspiration
he should be
very quiet.
These are the
rules of conduct for the one
who needs to invoke with the tongue. As for the one
who invokes with the heart,he
is in no need of these rules. *14
Al-Ghazali
(1057-1111) made a similar comment about the
process of simplification from
texts to single words, and from forms to essence, in his Ihya ulum
ad-din:
He will endeavour to fix his thought
on nought else but the word Allāh. Then, after having settled in his retreat, he will
continuously repeat the word Allāh, concentrating to such a degree that
he ceases to pronounce the word which will henceforth flow upon his tongue
(...) Then the word's form, its letters and its writing will be absorbed into
his mind, only the meaning remaining (...) *15
This
progressive simplification of mantras used in dhikr and the
notion of liberation from texts,forms, and names are of great importance in our own
Tariqa and it is to a brief account of
our own practice that we will now turn.
The Practice of Dhikr/Hazkarah in Tariqa Eliyahu
You
will remember that the term dhikr
refers to remembering or to the invocation of the Divine. In the Islamic texts the various forms of “invocation” are listed
in several categories and subcategories.
We also have a ladder of
progression on this path which might be outlined, in ascending order (whether
performed in a congregational or a solitary setting) as follows:
Our
Tariqa’s “Ladder of Invocation”
(i)
The vocal recitation of Sacred texts or Divine
Names;
(ii)The
silent recitation of Sacred texts or Divine Names;
(iii)The silent contemplation of
the Divine;
(iv)The total surrender to the Divine in receptive and attentive contemplation.
The third and
fourth rungs on this ladder take place in our period of silent dhikr—most
often during solitary retreat or devotions (khalwa)— though there
is no reason to doubt that the wusul/encounter
that they represent may also be possible during our communal khalwa.
There
is also a level of attainment/Divine
blessing that we might call a “shiviti consciousness” that
can take place anywhere and anytime.
Our
Teacher and Master on the path, R.David ben Joshua Maimuni (1335-1414)
ends his Judeo-Arabic treatise (The Murshid/Guide to Solitude
and Detachment) with an exhortation
that stresses the centrality of
this advanced form of dhikr-hazkarah
when he
writes:
“Do not speak without first thinking, and
do not cease from the practice of the remembrance (dhikr) of G-d.”
*16
In Tariqa Eliyahu’s meetings, though we make use of some movement, postures,and
elements of breath-control in our short VOCAL
dhikr: in our SILENT dhikr we do not specify any motions,
breathing exercises, or postures, or indeed any methodology at all. In our usual meetings,
we balance fifteen minutes of vocal recitation with thirty to forty
of silent free contemplation.
In our focus on this higher form of silent dhikr— physical
movement becomes irrelevant and we follow the
Jewish-Sufi mesorah that insists: silent dhikr should eventually lead to disassociation from all
forms and matters physical during the
act of deep contemplation.
It seems that R. Hayim Vital (1542-1620) had
discovered this “sufic” principle by
himself (or was taught it) as we read of a progression from vocal to silent
contemplation in Shaarei Kedushah, that incidentally seems to justify
our Tariqa’s chosen ratio of vocal and silent dhikr rather well.
Speaking of the Schools of the Prophets while engaged in vocal dhikr, R. Hayim Vital writes:
This is the secret (meaning of):
"the sons of prophets with a timbrel and pipe before them, etc." (I
Sam. 10:5). For by means of the sweet voice of the melody, solitude (hitbodedut)
descended upon them with the pleasantness of the voice, and they divested
their souls (of worldly sensation) and then the musician stopped the melody
and the sons of the prophets remained cleaving to the upper realms and
prophesied. *17
In the
same passage, R. Hayim Vital underscores how the deepest form of contemplation
that follows this vocal preparation (correlating to our third and fourth rungs) produces a certain release from the physical world of matter:
“You already know that all types of
inspiration require a man to seclude himself in a house so that his mind will
not be distracted. There he must isolate himself in his mind to the farthest
limits and divest his body from his soul as if he did not feel that he was
clothed in matter at all-as though he were only soul. The further his
remoteness from matter, the greater will be his inspiration. *18
This
station may be attained, if G-d so wills it, through the practice of
the silent remembrance of G-d —in
the manner of our third and
fourth rung on our Tariqa’s
Ladder of Invocation.
THE DHIKR OF SILENCE
During
the silent dhikr in our meetings,individual members are free to be
taught by the Divine
Teacher: alone and in private whilst— simultaneously—
being part of a Sufi congregation.
This silent dhikr is an unguided activity during which members are
free: to engage in acts of worship and
petition; to practice combinations of
their own preferred yogic or meditational systems; to silently
recite or meditate on texts or Names; to engage in a discussion with their
inner selves; to pray for others; to
examine their lives and sort-out their
problems; and also— to attempt to empty
their minds and hearts to make room for
G-d. That last possibility may be termed the
Dhikr of Silence.
This
fourth rung on our Ladder refers to the process and method that forms the core of the Kuntres
Maarat HaLev, a booklet written in 2005 before I had studied anything related
to Sufic contemplation techniques and Dhikr.In
retropect,I can now see it was
describing and promoting the very same
dislocation from thought and forms
during meditation that Al-Iskandari (and
possibly Hayim Vital) described and
promoted.
The relevant passage is as follows:
In order to meet G-d in private contemplation,
we really only need to do one simple thing:
We need to make some time
to be with Him Alone
and give Him our undivided and loving attention.
Contemplative Prayer is giving G-d a chance to speak to us/do
something to us.
It is not about us, it’s about Him.
הרפו ודעו כי־אנכי אלקים
— BE
STILL and KNOW that I AM G-D—
(Psalm 46)
The method is simply:
Stand or sit in His Presence;
Make space inside yourself for Him to act;
Then listen with focus to whatever He may have to say
to you,
personally and individually.
The
Cave of the Heart-Kuntres Maarat
HaLev page 31
In
recent weeks I discovered a beautiful passage
which describes what lies beyond even that process of receptive audition, a
passage that describes how the
contemplative may ultimately enter that
state I refer to as the Dhikr of
Silence:
“What has been created disappears,
and the only true subject,the everlasting God,is as He had been and will be. This is the
goal of dhikr, as formulated by Junayd;centuries later the Naqshbandiyya would teach that the end of dhikr without words is contemplation (mushāhada), in which the subject and object are eventually,indiscernable. “True dhikr is
that you forget your dhikr”,says Shibli. Since even the word or thought “Oh God!” implies the consciousness of
subject and object, the last mystery of recollection
is complete silence.” *19
The very same
state is described by R. David
ben Joshua Maimuni (1335-1414) in his Murshid:
...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.” *20
Once again, this demonstrates a shared
contemplative experience in both
the Jewish and the Islamic streams of Sufi thought.
©Nachman Davies
August 27th 2024
Safed
NOTES
*1
R.Abraham ben HaRambam writes in the
Kifaya:
“In order to attain inner solitude that leads
to communion [with God] (al-khalwah al-bātinah al-mu’asṣilah ̣), the prophets and their followers
used musical instruments and melodies, seeking to arouse the appetitive faculty
toward [God], may He be exalted, and to empty the mind of anything but
Him.” (Rosenblatt, II: p384)
We
should take note of the
way in which the former musical
activity is here presented as a prelude
to the activity of receptive contemplation: this is also reflected in the format of our Safed Group’s meetings.
*2 Rav
Abraham HeḤasid (Abraham ibn Abi’l-Rabi ) d.circa
1223, teacher and colleague of R. Abraham ben HaRambam (1186-1237).
*3 Our term
shiviti consciousness refers to a popular meditational text that
may appear at the top of a siddur page: or on a calligraphic plaque just above Psalm 67 in the form of a
menorah. The text reads: “I will set
HASHEM before me always.” (Psalm
16:8). Some take the shiviti concept it
illustrates literally and attempt to hold the letters of the Tetragrammaton in
their minds, others regard it as a purely ethical statement. Some others regard it as a description of the contemplative
practice of maintaining a more-or-less
constant awareness of the Presence of
G-d.
*4 Shaarey
Tzedek (Jerusalem ms 8o 148 59b) quoted in Scholem G, Major trends
in Jewish Mysticism, Shocken, 2011. p147
*5
Consequently we have placed vocal and
silent mantra
recitation in the primary position during
vocal dhikr with regard to
methodology (though our principal contemplative method will always be
receptive silence.) The
Abulafian methods of Haskarah are
similar to Sufic practice when it comes
to choreography and breathing control, but they are very closely bound to letters and often to writing. Traditional
Sufi practice also makes use of letters—including
the visualisation of Divine Names— but it aims to go beyond them both, in
a somewhat less intellectual fashion, through the repetition of simple mantras: bypassing both
cerebral language-focus and even (as it
were) the Names themselves. To me
personally: an intuitive and somewhat
visceral approach seems to resonate with
the tambourine tapping,dancing, and chanting of the biblical Bnei Neviím more than with an
image of them sitting down with a pen and paper to meditate.
R.
Abu-l’Afia’s methods may frequently differ
from ours in form and detail, but they also have much in common, and they share
the same ultimate aim as those of the Jewish-Sufis: namely the attainment of
some profound form of union with
the Divine through the development of prophetic skills..... Therefore: our Tariqa members may well
find the Abulafian methods to be a supportive adjunct in their personal
contemplative practice.
*6 Abu l-Hasan al-Shadhili
(1196-1258)—one of the greatest Sufi Shaykhs in Egypt— was known to have
discussions with the Jews of Cairo. Though his official lodge was in Alexandria, he had a Jewish optician in Cairo and it seems
extremely likely to me that he might
have met Rabbenu Abraham (in his capacity as Leader of the Jewish community there) or
other members of his circle.
*7 Ibn Iskandari trans. M.A.Koury
Danner, The Key to Salvation (Miftah al Falah), Islamic
Texts Society,Indiana, 1996)
*8
A.Kaplan ,”Jewish Meditation”,Schocken Books, New York,1985, p 56 The mention of counting might suggest
the use of knot or bead chains reminiscent of Hesychast eremitic usage and also of
the Muslim tasbih. Once
again, cross-cultural sharing amongst contemplatives in different traditions is a highly likely
possibility.
In another fascinating and related comment,this time on the use of mantra techniques by the Safed Kabbalists, R. Kaplan writes:
“In sixteenth century Safed,for example,there
is mention of a technique known as gerushin,which
appears to consist in repeating a biblical verse over and
over as a sort of mantra.
Besides bringing the meditator
into a higher state of
consciousness,the purpose of the technique was to provide him with deeper insight
into the verse itself. As he repeated the verse
it would eventually appear as if
the verse itself were telling the
initiate its meaning. Rather than studying or analysing
the verse, the meditator would then be
communing with it.” (op cit. p56).
This would
mean that gerushin was not only comparable to Dhikr recitation—but also that it
resembled our own technique known as “Hegyon
HaLev”. One also wonders if the practice may have a Sufic origin as we know
the Safed Kabbalists at that time were
living in a city and region full of Sufi practitioners.
*9 Ibn Pequda, Kitāb al-Hidāyah ilā Farā’id ̣ al-Qulūb, ed. Y. Qafiḥ (Jerusalem: Yad Mahari Qafih, 1991), p
423 ̣ –4,
*10 P.Fenton, Some Judaeo-Arabic
Fragments by Rabbi Abraham he-Haṣīd,
the Jewish Sufi, JSS 26 (1981), p50
*11 E.Russ- Fishbane, Judaism,Sufism,and the
Pietists of Medieval Egypt,
OUP, 2015, Page 105
*12 see our essay
at:
https://jewishsufis.blogspot.com/2023/01/islamic-and-jewish-sufis-in-mediaeval.html
*13 Al Iskandari, The Key to Salvation
(Miftah al Falah), p73
*14
Al Iskandari,The Key to Salvation (Miftah al Falah), p 72.
*15 P. Fenton, Solitary Meditation in
Jewish and Islamic Mysticism in the Light of a Recent Archeological Discovery,
ME 1 (1995) p283
* 16 P. Fenton, Deux
traités de Mystique juive, p300
*17
P. Fenton, Solitary Meditation
in Jewish and Islamic Mysticism, p290
*18 P. Fenton, Solitary
Meditation in Jewish and Islamic Mysticism, p290
*19
A.Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam,University of North
Carolina Press,Chapel Hill,1975
*20 P. Fenton, Deux traités de Mystique
juive;Lagrasse: Éditions Verdier; 1987. p.288
The Communal Khalwa (Hitbodedut) of Sinai
The Divine Revelation of Sinai is unique among recorded instances of prophetic experience because it was a revelation simultaneously received by each and every man,woman, and child present— and not solely by a community’s charismatic Leader and Prophet.
The prophetic status and capability of Moses
was incontestably unique, but even he
wished that all Israel might be prophets, and to
some degree we all can be and will be—if we seek G-d with all our hearts in
receptive contemplation.
Various scholars have expounded their views on the differing levels of prophecy that may have been experienced by the Prophet Moses and by the rest of the Israelite community.[1] Many of them opine that it was only the initial ‘words’ of that revelation that were ‘heard’ by the entire community.
Nevertheless, all agree
that each and every Israelite received
something inspirational during this
unique group-prophetic event—each in accordance with their own
individual capability, perspective, and levels of understanding.
Exactly how and what happened might be imagined—and it is beyond the reach of any
pragmatic science or academic research to know such things factually anyway—
but the overriding significance of Sinai remains: It is the recorded statement that all
the people were united in a shared
prophetic event of such momentous power that it created a religion that has
survived to the present day.
But
there is more.
The Sinai event is not
just something momentous that happened in the past. It
can be experienced anew in our own times — and maybe we are actually obliged to make that happen.
With
the aid of some Jewish-Sufi genizah
texts, this short essay hopes to
show you why that is so.
Why am I
writing this essay now?
In 2022 I inaugurated TariqaEliyahu HaNabi —an online, predominantly
anglophone, Jewish-Sufi confraternity with the
aim of studying, renewing, and developing the special path (suluk al- khass)
of the Jewish Sufis of the Egyptian
Pietist movement.[2]
Its
special focus and area of activity was the
development of contemplative gnosis through ascetic practices
which they believed were derived from
those of the biblical Bnei HaNevi’im
(Schools of the Prophets). They held
that these practices had been lost to Judaism
but preserved by the Sufi
movement of Islam. It was their aim to
reclaim and restore these contemplative
practices to Judaism [3]—
in order to prepare for the return of prophetic ability to
Israel. This is also
the stated aim and practice of our Tariqa Eliyahu.
Although
it has a fundamentally Orthodox perspective/adab, the members
of Tariqa Eliyahu actually come from many Jewish
denominations and streams of thought,
and they include Modern Orthodox, Masorti, and Reform members; Ashkenazi, Sefardi, and
Mizrahi members; Mekubalim, Haredi Chasidim, Progressive Neo-Hasidim, and Maimonidean Rationalists. At
the moment, all our members
are Jewish but some of them have also received
Islamic-Sufi or Universalist-Sufi initiation before joining our Tariqa.
Quite unexpectedly (and as the
group’s Administrator) during the
Omer period I felt it was time to “act
locally and geophysically” as well as “think
globally and online”— and thus I began the process of forming a local group
in Safed. I began to gauge local interest for this project last week and, with the aid of
a friend or two—we are hoping to inaugurate this Safed Jewish-Sufi group in the week before Shavuot.
There are very specific reasons for
that pre-Shavuot date which I hope will become clear as you read on. This brief blogpost is intended to serve as outline
preparatory or follow-up reading for those Tzfatim who have expressed an
interest in attending our first meeting.
Khalwa-Hitbodedut
The
mediaeval Jewish-Sufis of the Maimuni dynasty and the Egyptian Pietist group
that they led—all wrote in Arabic, often in Judeo-Arabic which uses Hebrew
characters. In their seminal
writings the Arabic (and Sufic) term “khalwa”
referred variously to (i) concentrated meditation itself; (ii) ascetic and physical isolation techniques,both
short-term and long term; (ii) the contemplative practice of solitude generally—
whether it is practiced through solitary periods of meditation or through solitude in the crowd (khalwat dar anjuman).
In mediaeval times, the Arabic term khalwa
was usually translated by the hebrew word hitbodedut which— in those pre-Breslover days— denoted
(i) solitude itself; (ii) reclusion from society; and (iii) concentrated silent contemplation with
all of the Sufic inflexions of the Arabic term readily understood and appreciated by the Jewish Pietists.
Unquestionably (in both Jewish and
Islamic Sufism) Khalwa is
a term that is most often used with a focus on the individual
in solitude or engaged in an interior process of personal meditation. Some Islamic Sufi orders practice periods of silent meditation communally
whilst performing zhikr (mantra recitation), [4]
though for many such groups the term khalwa
is used exclusively in reference to the individual process of seclusion.
In imitation of Moses and Elijah, the Jewish-Sufis of mediaeval Egypt practiced periodic or extended retreats alongside
Muslim Sufis in the Maqqatam
mountains outside Cairo. In imitation of
the Prophet Muhammad, the Sufis had developed a particularly isolated
form of solitary retreat for extended periods (often forty days long, an
interesting fact which links that practice to the Mosaic retreats on Sinai). These isolation
retreats were often practiced in extremely confined dark spaces [5]
as an intense form of contemplative
practice designed to induce semi-prophetic experiences.
It is
quite clear from the extant writings of the Maimuni dynasty (and from the numerous
anonymously written fragments from other Egyptian Pietist authors) that
solitary retreat and extended retreat was perhaps the most
important and characteristic practice
of the Jewish-Sufi Movement. It
is clear that they were usually
envisaging an individual contemplative
and ascetic practice performed in
as deep a form of reclusion as was deemed individually appropriate: But did they ever practice such meditation
congregationally? I believe we have
the hint to a possibly affirmative
answer to that question— in the
writings of Rabbenu Abraham He-Hasid.[6]
The Communal
Retreat before Sinai
The Divine Revelation at Sinai was made to Moses but also—in some form— to each and everyone present. It is an event which describes the universal and shared experience of prophecy (intimate communication with the Divine) that is the aim of all Jewish-Sufi contemplative strivings.
More than this, it is also a part of the entire Jewish Nation’s journey to the time when a form of prophecy will return to all Israel — at a time when the people of all nations:
“ will be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the waters cover the sea.” [7]
The
Egyptian Pietists believed that the path to such prophetic restoration was Khalwa
(solitary retreat and contemplation) Might it be that the one of the forms
of Khalwa they had in mind was a
communal re-presentation (an anamnesis-zikarah) of that experience at
Sinai?
ooo0ooo
The Judeo-Sufic Texts
In his 1981 paper Some Judaeo-Arabic Fragments by Rabbi Abraham he-Ḥasīd, the Jewish Sufi, Professor Paul Fenton identified,translated, and commented on a group of fragments authored by anonymous mediaeval Jewish Sufis and (most especially) by Rabbenu Abraham HeḤasid (Abraham ibn Abi’l-Rabi’ d.circa 1223).
The texts contain Biblical commentaries that place an original and inspiring Jewish-Sufi
interpretation on the Three-day retreat
before Sinai.
In his examination
of one of the fragments by R. Abraham
He Hasid, Professor Fenton writes:
Rabbi Abraham is of the opinion that in the
days that preceded Revelation, Moses imparted to the Israelites an esoteric
doctrine whereby they might attain to prophecy. Details of this doctrine were
not disclosed by Scripture, on account of their subtlety, but are alluded to in
the "sanctification" that the Israelites underwent. Elsewhere,
Abraham Maimonides intimates that this external and internal purification
consisted in "inward contemplation" (khalwa batina). [8]
For me,
the key expression for our discussion
here is “hakhanah we-qedushah” which Professor
Fenton translates as “preparation
and sanctification”. The
phrase refers specifically to the
three day period of preparation before the Sinai Revelation.
Here is R.
Abraham’s HeHasid’s phrase in its context (emphases mine) :
EXTRACT ONE
Therefore keep these two sublime principles and
forever observe them. The first is the state of vision and revelation. Recall
the "preparation
and sanctification" [hakhanah we-qedushah] which I have indicated
to you, which is the path that leads to Him and the details of which I have
informed you, as well as the purifications which I have imparted to you, so
that you may be elevated to this spiritual state. [9]
Meditative Observations: [10]
In
Extract ONE we read “Recall the "preparation and
sanctification" [hakhanah we-qedushah] which I have indicated to you,
which is the path that leads to Him”
Might we take the term
“Recall” literally and liberally
and regard it as an invitation to
make the Prophetic experience of Sinai actually present (in congregational
re-enactment) ? Might the “path” be
taken as a reference to the process of Judeo-Sufic suluk/tariq
generally, or is R. Abraham hinting that
the path of khalwa is some
undisclosably-secret and esoteric practice or
method of prayer that he was transmitting privately to his immediate
disciples. Both possibilities may also
be derived from the continuation of this passage cited below in Extract Five.
EXTRACT TWO
A term that mirrors hakhanah we-qedushah
appears later in another fragment (from an anonymous Pietist author) as
follows:
"The testimony of the Lord is sure"
alludes to the Ten Commandments inscribed on the Tables of Testimony. They are
qualified as "sure", since they were imparted to the Israelites' souls
through Revelation (kashf), ecstatic vision (mukashafa) and
internal illumination (basira batina)
in the highest degree of certainty (yaqin) and the most elevated type of
faith(iman),of which there is no higher. Furthermore, the truthfulness [of
these commandments] was experienced through a spiritual state and procedure -
that is, the procedure of sanctification and preparation" (qedushah we-hakhanah)
alluded to in the verse (Ex. xix.10-11) "And they shall be ready... and
you shall sanctify them" — and through the unveiling of mysteries, as well
as the outpourings of supernal wisdom and inspiration that result from this
spiritual state without one's knowing whence or how they derive. Therefore, they are described as
"making wise the simple", for through them he who has attained this
state shall become wise. [11]
Meditative Observations:
In
EXTRACT TWO we read “Furthermore, the
truthfulness [of these commandments] was experienced through a spiritual state
and procedure - that is, the procedure of sanctification and preparation"
(qedushah we-hakhanab)” The author
describes the retreat before Sinai as both a “state” and (even more significantly)
“a procedure”. It seems clear that the former refers to the attainment of a state (hal) or station (maqamat) immediately experienced before the
reception of the influx that produces
attainment/gnosis/prophecy. Might
the second term (“procedure”) indicate a specific practice of khalwa (as
receptive contemplative prayer) that was transmitted privately without any human intermediary as well as
by instruction from the Prophet Moses?
Something that was to be deliberately taught in the Sufi circle
but also experienced privately during the intimacy of silent
contemplation. Again, Extract FIVE below might hold the
key — but there is also a
clue to be found
in Extract Three which we will now consider:
EXTRACT THREE
This
third fragment by another anonymous
author from the circle of R.
Abraham HeHasid states (emphases mine) :
"The first chapter in the fundamentals of
this Path is (Deut. iv.35) 'Unto thee it was shewed' " Moses here means
that this Path, that is the Path of Revelation (kashf), provides
knowledge of God and His Oneness, not by manner of induction nor rational
enquiry [nazar] into His works and deeds but
through and from God Himself. For the heart's eye perceives that
which the [sensual] eye cannot see, nor reason grasp, nor demonstration prove.
This is the deeper meaning (yudaq) of the following verse "out of
the heavens He made thee to hear His voice that He might instruct thee. His
Revelation to thee and thy Path to Him are not those of other nations, but
they stem from within thyself towards Him." This is an allusion
to the "preparation
and sanctification" at Sinai through which thou heardst His voice
from the Heavens. [12]
Meditative
Observations:
This
EXTRACT THREE testifies to the
prevailing Jewish Sufic view that it is dhawq (intuitive
knowledge) that trumps all forms of
spiritual seeking and mystical knowledge. But it also traces a kind of “root” to that practice in the retreat before Sinai. Most significantly, it
stresses that the True Teacher is G-d
Himself and that His revelation comes to
the individual in prayer as well as through the textual and legal revelations of the
Oral and Written Torah. One sees
this with the “Eye of the Heart” and the bakhanah we-qedushah
that prepares one for this—With this
reading we might see the process as
the kind
of training in receptive contemplation I described in Kuntres
Maarat Ha Lev.[13]
If so, then
we are discussing a specific
preparation for direct input from
the Divine experienced in meditation.
This is a view that is expressed in several
passages from another section from the
fragments under discussion here.
R.Abraham HeHasid writes:
EXTRACT
FOUR (selections)
"And I will make them hear my words that
they may learn to fear Me. "To make hear" alludes to the state of
unveiling and spiritual illumination (mushahadda)...
Therefore man arrives at this state by means
of the heart's vision, illumination and purification...
"The secret of the Lord is with them that
fear Him". (Ps. cxlvii.11) "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that
fear Him." For the latter know God through God Himself ...
For His
holy ones see with an internal vision and perceive truth according to its
reality. Their grasp of the Most High is intuitive (dawqiyya) and
intimate. [14]
By now, I hope the reader will appreciate the enormous debt we owe to Professor Fenton for translating and sharing this collection of fragments in one single collection for us to reflect on.
THE TRANSMISSION
OF “THE PATH”
We now come
to a brief examination of the
most significant section of R.Abraham HeHasid’s message to us
as latter-day Jewish-Sufis in Tariqa
Eliyahu—and even more crucially— to every single Jew who wants to be
part of the restoration of Israel’s prophetic intimacy with G-d.
I
quote the text here as Extract FIVE in R.Elisha
Russ-Fishbane’s translation. Rabbi
Abraham HeHasid writes (emphases mine):
EXTRACT FIVE
The first meaning grasped by spiritual
intuition is the proximity of revelation and the unveiling of outer and inner
visions and illumination. The second [verse refers] to the giving of the
statutes and laws...
Preserve both of these noble doctrines and practice them,
the first of which is the state of
unveiling and revelation through... preparation and
sanctification........ the path of divine attainment which I have explained to you for
your benefit and the purifications which I have entrusted to you, by which you may ascend to that state
So bequeath and teach them to your
descendants so that they will be an inheritance that will never be severed,
such that your descendants will transmit the wayfaring path (tariq
al-suluk) received from their ancestors... [15]
Paul
Fenton renders this passage
as follows:
[T]he first verse alludes to the proximity of
Revelation and to the unveiling of the external and internal sight and their
illumination (basira qalbiyya). The second verse alludes to the prescription
of the Laws and ordinances.
Therefore
keep these two sublime principles and forever observe
them. The first is the state of vision and revelation. Recall the "preparation
and sanctification" [hakhanah we-qedushah] which I
have indicated to you, which is the path that leads to Him and the details
of which I have informed you, as well as the purifications which I have
imparted to you, so that you may be elevated to this spiritual state.
Bequeath
and teach them to your descendants so that they will be continuously
transmitted within your midst and thus the practices of this path shall
be handed down from your forebears to your descendants. If each generation
attains to the state of vision, then they will witness to the authenticity of
the Torah which they possess and how it was revealed and accepted by their
ancestors. Thus each generation shall inherit this Torah from Sinai and
its appropriate spiritual state
In
footnote Paul Fenton quotes a related passage,but this time from R.Abraham ben Ha Rambam:
"The Revelation took place in order to
familiarise you with the ways and means of Prophecy, so that the perfect ones
among your descendants (i.e. the Jewish Sufis) may attain thereby that which
you have attained. (Ex. xx.20) [16]
Meditative
Observations
It is apparent that both these passages are talking about the ”preparation” for transmission of
something that was received at
Sinai. By stressing that there
are TWO aspects of the Sinai Revelation both of which are to be
preserved and actively transmitted it
also seems (to me) to indicate the hidden agenda of implying that the
path of the bnei ha nevi’im had been neglected in Jewish practice.
I
believe this imbalance in common Jewish observance to be
as present today as it was in the
view of the Egyptian
Pietists of the mediaeval period.
In Kuntres
Maarat HaLev, I wrote:
Israel’s response at Sinai was, and is: “We will do and we will hear.” That is most often interpreted with the meaning: Israel hears G-d’s voice by observing the commandments—that the practical action of observing the mitzvot leads to spiritual understanding. That is most certainly true. But a complementary interpretation occurs to me.
I’m absolutely certain that there are no accidents:
It surely must be of primary significancethat the first commandment in the principal text of Judaism,is Sh’ma!— Listen! —
Judaism has been focussed for
centuries on ‘doing’. But the time is
coming when the significance of ‘listening’ will grow in importance. [17]
To
expand this somewhat:
We have Halacha and Liturgy in abundance....
We study the Written and Oral Torah assiduously....
But in our day:
Where is our religion’s contemporary practice of Khalwah-Hitbodedut?
Where is our contemplative Hakhanah we-Qedushah ?
These are questions we should all be asking, not just in the Omer lead-up to the commemoration of the Sinai Revelation at Shavuot.....but every day and right now.
Should Communal and Congregational
Khalwah-Hitbodedut,
be restored in Jewish Practice?
*
I think
The Mediaeval Egyptian Pietists quoted above
would
support my answer in the passionate
affirmative...
A suggestion for Shavuot
Perhaps the
most immediately apparent form
of practice to renew and commemorate the Three Day Sinai prophetic-preparation period would be for
Jewish Sufis to engage in an annual three day retreat immediately
before the festival of Shavuot.
Perhaps this might
be an annual community gathering
at a retreat centre.
Perhaps
it might be a private practice
that Tariqa members could pursue in their
own locations or at a retreat environment of their choice.
Perhaps
the Mediaeval Jewish Sufis may have
actually practiced something
resembling the Sinai retreat like this
already whilst up in the Maqqatam mountains?
Nevertheless,
because of its connection with Shavuot, it would seem to me
that a community gathering of Tariqa members Three days before Shavuot might
be a most poignant way to
commemorate and renew the first Sinai retreat. It could
then culminate in some form of congregational contemplative event such as a silent zhikr meeting before or after
Shacharit on Shavuot day.
The fragmentary texts we have reflected on here could
even be the inspirational generator for the establishment of an initiatory
or periodic Formal Khalwa for individual Tariqa Eliyahu members
— a full- on three day individual
isolation retreat in the manner
of an Islamic -Sufic Khalwa in a confined space.
ooo0ooo
But Sinai
is not merely a event that resides
in historical memory—to be commemorated
only at Shavuot. It is
not an event that is recalled only when we are in a synagogue
during the reading of the Torah.
It also resides in the memory of
each individual Jew and it is
recalled every time an individual
hears the call to attention that is expressed in the Sh’ma.
The
mediaeval texts just quoted refer to
the Torah of the Heart as well as to the Torah of Jewish Law and Liturgy. To use R.
Obadyah Maimuni’s expression from his Maqala Al Hawardiyya [18]— It is
the Torah al-haqiqiyya —the real and true essence of the Torah—that
the Jewish-Sufi is striving to receive in contemplative prayer.
The Voice
which goes out from Sinai does so
every day [19]
and at every moment.
Our task, our nisayon/training is to become
aware of that—by sudden or by gradual intuitive illumination— and actually listen to it: To be attentive to that Voice, in some sense, just as we
did at Sinai.
In Kuntres Maarat HaLev I put it like this:
The Torah of the Heart is eternally given and when we receive it intentionally, it produces a connecting link between our intellect and our life-force. Our tangible experiences and our spiritual perceptions are thus bound up with our essential soul root, and from there, bound up with our G-d.
When we open up this channel we deepen our relationship with the Supernal Torah, because our obedience to the commands of the Torah would be incomplete if love and true internalisation were absent.
G-d speaks to all of us through the Torah She-bi’chtav (Written Torah) and the Torah She-ba’al Peh (Oral Torah). He also speaks to us in our own prayers and in our own private study and meditation. When we read the scriptures with pauses for meditation or when we meditate in silent prayer, we are hoping to access the Torah of the Heart.
We know how and when we are called to action
as a nation and as individuals through the words of the written and oral
Torah—but we each receive that Torah according to our own abilities and
character, and for this reason we also need to receive and digest those ‘words’
personally, in the Cave of the Heart, alone with our G-d.
ooo0ooo
CONCLUSION
After years of practicing and writing about solitary khalwa in
reclusion and physical isolation, it is only now, in 2024, that I have considered
that khalwa could (and should) be
a communal and congregational practice as well . Both forms might hasten the day when prophecy
returns to Israel as of old.
The Sufic term khalwat dar anjuman
describes the state of shiviti
consciousness and absorption into the
contemplation of the Divine that
persists even when the devotee is amongst a crowd. It usually denotes a high state of individual interior detachment from
the created world and its
creatures.
In recent
days, I remembered the periods of communal silent and totally undirected
meditation that I had engaged in daily as a Carmelite monk. (long before my conversion to Judaism in 1992).
I remembered also the clean
simplicity of Quaker meetings. Both
these events made communal silence in
deep contemplation the regular form of their meetings—for the
Carmelites who spent the majority
of their time alone in their cells they
were a daily event: an hour every
morning and an hour every evening.
We might give a specifically Jewish inflection to the concept of khalwat dar anjuman by relating it to the Sinai experience :
We can
be alone but simultaneously united with
the other seekers in a silent meditative congregation: All of us together, yet each of us alone — with both the individual and
the community engaged in communal preparation for an intimate meeting
with G-d Himself. Just as at Sinai.
Spurred on by the above fragments from R.Abraham ben HeHasid and his circle—and inspired by the convergence of my ruminations with the proximate festival of Shavuot............ we have scheduled the first meeting of Tariqa Eliyahu’s Jewish-Sufi Group in Safed to be convened in the days immediately before Shavuot.
Its
principal practice on that day?
Silent congregational contemplation....
no guided
meditations,no chatter, no preoccupation with systems or liturgies or
performances— just silent shared hakhanah
we-qedushah.
As we
read in the Zohar:
“The acts of G-d are eternal and continue for
ever.
Every
day the one who is
worthy receives the Torah standing at Sinai.
He hears the Torah from the mouth of the Lord
as Israel did….
Every Jew is
able to attain that level, the level of standing at Sinai.” [20]
©Nachman
Davies
Safed
May 27 2024
[1] See the detailed analysis of Jewish Sufi theories on what was received,who received it,and the personal variation in its reception in Lobel.D, Moses and Abraham Maimonides Encountering the Divine, Academic Studies Press,2021, Massachusetts—especially Chapter 6.
[2] The Egyptian Pietists were 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 (1186–1237) was taught by the movement’s prolific author and leader, Rav Abraham HeHasid (Abraham ibn Abi’l-Rabi) d.circa 1223.
Subsequently, R. Abraham ben HaRambam became one of the movement’s authors,leaders, and dynamic defenders himself, as did other members of the Maimuni family such as R. Obadyah Maimuni (1228–1265) and R.David ben Joshua Maimuni (1335–c.1414).
[3] They believed that these practices were originally Jewish—and several scholars make a convincing case that they were— but it is also possible that the Egyptian Pietists were actually being i predominantly innovative,but wished to prevent accusations of heresy.
[4] Zhikr recitation comes in many forms: vocal or silent; involving movement and gesture or performed statically; sitting or kneeling/prostrated; and often focussed on Divine Names or short mantra phrases. The term also refers to a constant remembrance of the Divine: as such it bears a close resemblance to the Jewish idea of a “shiviti conciousness” practiced at all times.
[5] The Archeologist Dr. Yossi Stepansky discovered a Sufi Khalwa cell of this type on Mt Canaan in Safed, which has led to scholarly observation that the practice was clearly familiar to the Safed Kabbalists who may have been inspired (as were the Egyptian Pietiests before them) to develop such (originally Jewish/Christian) practices in a Sufi manner.
[6] Abraham ibn Abi’l-Rabi’ was known as Abraham HeHasid (the term “Hasid”signifying “Sufi”in his time and location). The fact that the son of Moses Maimonides (Abraham ben HaRambam) was also known as “Abraham Ha Hasid” caused some confusion in previous centuries over authorial identities, confusion that has since been resolved.
[7] Joel 3:1
[8] Fenton. P: Some Judaeo-Arabic Fragments by Rabbi Abraham he-Ḥasīd, the Jewish Sufi, in JSS 26 (1981), page 57
[9] Fenton P: Some Judeo-Arabic Fragments, page 66
[10] These are merely my own Hegyon HaLev reflections for the reader’s own contemplation, not academic theories about linguistic textual interpretation.
[11] Fenton P: Some Judeo-Arabic Fragments, page 71
[12] Fenton, P: Some Judeo-Arabic Fragments, page 71
[13] Davies, N: “The Cave of the Heart-Kuntres Maarat HaLev”,KDP Amazon, Safed, 2022 (page 48)
[14] Fenton P: Some Judeo-Arabic Fragments, page 66 &67
[15] Russ-Fishbane E: Judaism Sufism and the Pietists of Mediaeval Egypt, OUP, Oxford, (page229)
[16] Fenton P: Some Judeo-Arabic Fragments, page 66
[17] Davies, N: “The Cave of the Heart-Kuntres Maarat HaLev”, KDP Amazon, Safed, 2022 (page 57)
[18] Fenton, P: The Treatise of the Pool: Al-Maqala al-Hawdiyya. London, Octagon Press, 1981. Page 108
[19] See also Pirkei Avot 6:2
[20]
ZOHAR I:90a
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