Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos: Isaac Luria and his Kabbalistic Fellowship

496 Pages·2003·7.541 MB·English

by  Lawrence Fine

Physician of the Soul,
Healer of the Cosmos
Isaac Luria and
His Kabbalistic Fellowship
Lawrence Fine
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
2003
Stanford UniversityPress
Stanford, California
©2003bytheBoardofTrusteesofthe
LelandStanford Junior University.Allrights reserved.
Publishedwith the assistanceofthe
LuciusN.Littauer Foundation.
Printed intheUnited StatesofAmerica
on acid-free,archival-qualitypaper.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-Publication Data
Fine, Lawrence.
Physicianofthe soul,healerofthe cosmos: IsaacLuriaandhis
kabbalisticfellowship/ Lawrence Fine.
p.cm.— (Stanford studies inJewishhistory andculture)
Includes bibliographical referencesand index.
ISBN0-8047-3825-4—ISBN0-8047-4826-8
1. Luria, Isaac ben Solomon, 1534-15722.. Luria, Isaac ben
Solomon,
1534-15—72Disciples.3. Cabala—History4.. Mysticism—Judaism5..
Judaism—Israel—Tsefat—History. I.Title. II. Series.
BM525.L83§F562003
296.8'33'092—dc2I 2002154139
Original Printing 2003
Lastfigurebelowindicatesyearofthisprinting:
I2 II I0 O9 O08 O7F7 O6 O§ O4 03
TypesetbyClassicTypography in 10.5/14Galliard
For Deb, with lovebeyondmeasure

Contents
Acknowledgments X1
Note toReaders XV
Abbreviations XV
Introduction: Embodying the StudyofLurianicKabbalah I
1. Rabbinical Scholar, Spice Dealer,
Contemplative Ascetic: Luria’sLifein Egypt 19
2. Lamenting Exile,Striving for
Redemption: Pre-Lurianic Safed 41
3. Saintliness,Heavenly Communication, and the
Divinatory Arts: Luria’sCharismatic ReligiousAuthority 78
4. Lurianic Myth 124
5. Physician of the Soul 150
6. Tiqqun: Healing the Cosmos
Through the Performance ofMitsvot 187
7. Tigqun: Healing the Cosmos
Through Devotional Prayer 220
8. Communing with the “VerySpecialDead”:
The Practice ofYihudim 259
9. | Metempsychosis,MysticalFellowship,
and MessianicRedemption 300
Notes 361
SelectBibliography 445
Index 469

Acknowledgments
It is my great pleasure to acknowledge individuals and institutions
that have supported my work on this book. It wasmy considerable
good fortune to havebegun the studyofJewishmysticisminearnestat
BrandeisUniversityunder the tutelage ofthe lateProfessorAlexander
Altmann,one ofthe mastersofthe historyofJudaisminthetwentieth
century.I am indebted to him, not only for what he taught me, but
alsofor the rigorous standards of scholarship he exemplified,and for
the personal interest he showed in hisstudents. It wasAltmann who
saidto me, in one of the earliestconversations I had with him after I
arrivedatBrandeis,that “nobody trulyunderstands LurianicKabbalah,
not evenScholem,”referring,ofcourse,to the preeminent historian of
Jewishmysticism, Gershom Scholem.While I couldn't fathom exactly
what he meant at the time, I knew enough to be impressed (but was
too naiveto befrightened) bysuchastatement, coming from ascholar’s
scholar.Over the course of time, I havecome to realizethat Altmann
wasright, bywhich Imeanthat the irreduciblecomplexitiesofLurianic
Kabbalahcannot begrasped insome unequivocal fashion. Its ambigu­
ities,paradoxes, and elaborate multitiered mythic edificeresistsimple
resolution or intellectualclosure.
During the yearsinwhich I firstbegan to be intrigued bythe spir­
itual renaissance inSafedand itsmysticalcommunities, mywifeand I
wereluckyenough to takepart inour own experiment incommunity,
during the earliestyearsofthe Havurat Shalom in Somerville,Massa­
chusetts.In addition to the manyenduring friendshipsgainedthere, I
had the opportunity to experience firsthand the joys and challenges
ofcommunal fellowship.AsI look back, I believethat my interest in
X11 Acknowledgments
studyingintentionalcommunityhadsomethingimportant to dowith
my Ownexperience in community during the early 1970s.I am im­
measurablygrateful to allthe people with whom I sharedthose won­
derful, exciting years.
This work began while I was a member of the facultyof Indiana
University. I am grateful for the research support I enjoyed there, as
well asfor the exceedinglystimulating intellectual environment pro­
vided by my colleaguesin the Department of Religious Studies. I am
especiallyindebted to JamesAckerman, the late J. Samuel Preus, and
DavidSmithfortheir support. Other friendsandcolleaguesofmineat
Indiana during that time, with whom I had significantconversations
about thesubjectofthisbook, includeHoward Eilberg-Schwartz,Todd
Endelman, and George Savran. More recently, I have also benefited
from the collegialityof the members of the Department of Religion
andthe JewishStudiesProgram atMount Holyoke College,andfrom
the generous financialsupport ofthe college.
Friends and colleagueswho read allor parts of this book in manu­
scriptform includethe followingscholars:Robert Goldenberg, Arthur
Green, EricLawee,Daniel Matt, IvanMarcus, andAron Rodrigue. I
am indebted to eachof them for their helpful suggestions and com­
ments. Specialthanks to Art Green for hisencouragement andfriend­
ship over the years.My gratitude goes to ProfessorsAron Rodrigue
and StevenJ.Zipperstein ofStanford University,co-editors ofthe dis­
tinguished seriesofwhich this book 1sapart, for their enthusiastic in­
terest in this project, aswell asto Norris Pope, program director at
Stanford University Press,and Mariana Raykov,production editor. I
am especiallygrateful to Peter Dreyer for the meticulous care with
which he helped edit this book.
This work would not havebeen possiblewithout the support of
members ofmyfamily.Mydeep gratitude to myfather,JackFine; my
latemother, Mildred Fine; and mymother-in-law, JeanSegal,fortheir
love. My late father-in-law, Rabbi Jacob E. Segal,took awarm inter­
est in myscholarlycareerduring the alltoo fewyearsI wasprivileged
to know this remarkable man. My thanks aswellto my brother and
sister-in-law,Roger and RebeccaFine, for their loveand friendship. I
am grateful for the blessing of my two sons, Jacob and Aaron, who
Acknowledgments X11
havewatchedtheir fatherpour overkabbalistictextsformuch oftheir
lives.They inspire mebytheir passions and commitments, and bybe­
ing such beautiful souls. My deepest gratitude and appreciation be­
longs to mywife,Deborah. It ishard to imagine lifewithout her un­
commonlygood sense,her stimulating companionship, and most of
all,her endless love and friendship.
In aremarkablecoincidence, herpaternal great-grandfather, Shalom
of Podayetz, migrated from Poland and ended up in Safed,where he
becameknown asakabbalistic enthusiast. Weare told that melodies
hecomposed, preserved infamilymemory, arestillsung insynagogues
in Safed even today. He is buried in the ancient cemetery in Safed,
among the mysticalluminariesofthe sixteenthcentury,including Isaac
Luria. Even more remarkable, in light of the contents of this book,
over the past severalyearshis grave has become the object of venera­
tionandpilgrimage.Thus, mygratitude to ShalomofPodayetz,through
whom I enjoy some smallbut meaningful measure of personal con­
nection to the orbit ofSafedand itsmysteries.