Abraham Abulafia

(1240 - after 1291)

Born in Zaragoza (Spain). Not satisfied nor rationalize the divine being, nor the fact that the proposed theosophical Kabbalah, he created his kabbalistic teachings based on the use of sacred language, in the hope of communion with God. Stern ascetic, he believed that contact with the Divine can be accomplished through constant prayer. Abulafia introduced the doctrine of the mystical significance of the Jewish character of the alphabet and developed a technique TN. gematria, which allows to extract new meaning from the very letters of Scripture, giving the letters a numerical value.

Considering himself a prophet and the Messiah, he spread his teachings in Spain, Italy and Greece. In 1280, attempted to meet with Pope Nicholas III, to persuade him to let the Jewish people in the Holy Land. Abulafia narrowly escaped death, and, after spending several weeks in prison, left the peninsula. He went to Sicily, and later settled on the island of Kamino. Abulafia disappears from the political scene in 1291, and there is no information either about the circumstances, neither the date of his death. Among his works - Sefer ha-On (Book mark, 1285-1288) and Imre Shefer (Fine words, 1291).