Esotericism and Divine Unity in Early Kabbalah

• In Event: The Development and Transmission of Kabbalistic Traditions

Abstract

In this paper, I will argue that Abraham ben David (Rabad) and his son Isaac the Blind, two central figures of early Kabbalah, each articulated exoteric stances of divine unity that differed from their esoteric ones. Rabad’s chief exoteric statement occurs in his Ba‘alei ha-Nefesh. It makes no reference to kabbalistic ideas, but rather reads like a standard philosophical explication of the nature of divine unity as simplicity. Indeed, it was influenced by a passage in Baḥya ibn Paquda’s Duties of the Heart. Isaac’s chief exoteric statements occur in his Commentary on Sefer Yetsirah (a work that may be a faithful recording of his teachings by his students). I will show that in this work, Isaac tries to demonstrate the compatibility of divine simplicity and the ten sefirot. He does so, however, without explicit reference to the gendered nature of the sefirot or their sexual unions—points which, if articulated, would seem to undermine the argument for compatibility. At the same time, a number of key teachings, accurately attributed to Rabad and Isaac, take the diametrically opposite position that the sexual union of the sefirot is required for divine unity. I will contend that these teachings reflect received traditions that Rabad and Isaac regarded as esoteric. This analysis naturally raises the question of the nature of the relationship between their esoteric and exoteric views. One possibility is that the esoteric traditions represent their true positions while their exoteric views are posturing for the uninitiated. I will, however, reject this possibility and argue, that, at least in the case of Isaac and perhaps also in the case of Rabad, the exoteric position reflects their true view, which was developed on the basis of an interpretive dialogue between their esoteric traditions and newly available philosophic sources. They chose to keep their traditions esoteric not in order to hide their true positions but out of fear that their traditions would be misunderstood. On the basis of this discussion, I will suggest that these Kabbalists believed that, at times, philosophical views are required to clarify their own received traditions.

author

• Jonathan Dauber, Yeshiva University