Objectives : This course will offer through frontal lectures, close readings and in class discussion an historical and conceptual introduction to the main principles of Jewish mysticism.

Learning Outcomes : Students who take this course will gain an understanding of the thought of the Jewish mystics and encounter major readings of the classics of the Jewish esoteric tradition. With this course students will acquire the basic concepts regarding the rise of Kabbalah in the Middle Ages and will have a basis for thinking critically in the history of ideas and to begin a comparative analysis with the mystical systems of other religions in future study.

Content : The course content will be comprised of the classics in scholarship in the study of Jewish mysticism, offering the main background of its academic study. With class discussion, these studies will illuminate the historical framework and provide definitions of the methods and terms used to study Jewish mysticism.

Methodology : The course will include a discussion of the key terms in the field, such as mysticism, esotericism and Kabbalah. The lessons will focus on the rise of the Kabbalah in thirteenth-century Europe, where the first named kabbalists were known to be active. The Kabbalah as a social and literary phenomenon is recognized to have emerged in Provence at the end of the twelfth century and the centre of mystical activity quickly moved to Gerona where famous kabbalists wrote their major works. Just after this period, a Jewish mystic named Abraham Abulafia, born in 1240, began to develop his own form of Kabbalah which he called “Prophetic Kabbalah”, referred to in scholarship as the Ecstatic Kabbalah. It was in the last third of the thirteenth century in Castile, that the celebrated kabbalistic classic of all times, the Zohar, was composed. After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 a new form of mysticism appeared in Safed, known as Lurianic Kabbalah, named after its founder, Isaac Luria. This form of Kabbalah had a profound impact on all forms of Kabbalah from the sixteenth century until today.

Means of Evaluation : Students will complete a take home assignment at the end of the term.