Abraham Abulafia Jewish meditation

abraham abulafia (1240–1291), leading medieval figure in history of meditative kabbalah , founder of school of prophetic/ecstatic kabbalah , wrote meditation manuals using meditation on hebrew letters , words achieve ecstatic states. teachings embody non-zoharic stream in spanish kabbalism, viewed alternative , superior theosophical kabbalah criticised. abulafia s work surrounded in controversy because of edict against him rashba (r. shlomo ben aderet), contemporary leading scholar. however, according aryeh kaplan, abulafian system of meditations forms important part of work of rabbi hayim vital, , in turn master ari, rabbi isaac luria. kaplan s pioneering translations , scholarship on meditative kabbalah trace abulafia s publications extant concealed transmission of esoteric meditative methods of hebrew prophets. while abulafia remained marginal figure in direct development of theosophical kabbalah, recent academic scholarship on abulafia moshe idel reveals wider influence across later development of jewish mysticism. in 16th century judah albotini continued abulafian methods in jerusalem.