Some Aspects of Yehudah Halev's Mysticism

Author(s): Israel Efros

Source: Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 11 (1941), pp. 27-41
Published by: American Academy for Jewish Research
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SOME ASPECTS OF YEHUDAH HALEVI'S MYSTICISM

ISRAEL EFROS

There was a vein of mysticism running through all of medieval

Arabic philosophy. Even the great Aristotelians, Alfarabi and
Avicenna, devoted much thought to the nature and conditions
of prophecy.' But this gift, they believed, resulted from a union
with a supernal being of pure reason, and the way to union lay
through reason. It is the philosopher in whom, according to the
summary of that viewpoint given at the beginning of the Kuzari,
hereditary and environmental factors developed intellectual,
moral, and practical capacities which, when perfected through
instruction and training, cause a divine light to dwell with him
so that he and the Active Intellect become one.2 Indeed reason
was not only a condition but also, in itself, a reliable source of
physical and metaphysical knowledge, even though slow, gradual,
syllogistic, as compared with prophecy which gives truth in a
timeless flash.3 It is this rationalism, both as metaphysics and
epistemology, to which Halevi is opposed.
1See M. Horten, Texte zu dem Streite zwischen Glaubenund Wissen im
Islam, pp. 3, 4, 7. See also quotation from Avicenna in n. 4 and Alfarabi's
Hatbalotha-Nimsasmin Filipowski's Ha-Asif (1849), p. 41 ,innin nysnn nmtn
rr pYDn' :rR Wyn
vno. i 4n e
nrwian Kn
Iyii ^ZiwnJo.
-mp ;l m:; yDo"'
2 See Das Buch Al-Chazarides Abi-l-.HasanJehuda
Hallewi, ed. by Hartwig
Hirschfeld (Leipzig, 1887) I, 1, p. 5. This edition will be the basis of reference throughout this article. See also I. 87 p. 39 na:z n imni,nn
mv
,'nmavnDlDD' zt' m D'SiDo,n
l7:n
and Alfarabi's statement in note 1.
3 V. 12, p. 319 nna ,n
v:a ipainno D'r,mn n
nx n,', ':i
npa n-iir
nrt lnio cDnpm nmm 71:'nm: nmn 1,yn D'l
,'
,ym nmippna molinDDn,

mn wipm rnivp. This agrees literally with the view of Ibn Sina as quoted
prpni
by Palqera and cited by Cassel in his edition of the Kuzari, p. 27, n. 3. See
Kaufmann's Attributenlehre,p. 204, n. 181. Cassel and Kaufmann as well as
Moscato misinterpret r:ai:az nti,

n~ii
min r'7yo i'D,' for the meaning is, as

Hirschfeld gives it, "escaping such necessity by inspiration and revelation."

Palqera's nmriiynnin his quotation from Avicenna as well as in his Reshit
27

28

EFROS

[2]

His presentation of the Active Intellect seems to be drawn

mainly from the writings of Avicenna. Like Alfarabi and Avicenna, he calls it the Holy Spirit or Ruah ha-Qodesh.4 Like
Alfarabi and Avicenna, he gives it sublunary place and rank,
whereas Algazali regards it as the regent of the moon, and
Alexander of Aphrodisia as identical with God.5 However, there
is a neo-Platonic view, found in Bahya's Kitab Ma'dni al-Nafs,
which identifies it with the first emanation also called Name,
Hokmah, p. 55, is a better rendering than -noi for the Ar. oDRn~. See also
V. 14, p. 327 pin -inn pin oD'n D m nmunn K inix,

n6i.

In V. 12 p. 319

the author does not contradict himself in saying n==nn=ortalnry= nbr=w'sy1

S a'at<
m,iln~ Inln nan nn=n=mllye nwMpnn
lmot DOan5Dvn axy 'It lIta n,na
for though the grasping of the conclusion when the two premises are given
is timeless, still that part of an intellectual operation involved in obtaining
the premises is a gradual and timely process. In this way, Sa'adia's emphasis
in the introduction to his Emunot we-deoton the timeliness of thought and
lnn~1V
s r7= n,n=n (pir:= r,,) p DnID','I
his statements t inmiW,s
t ... pn -int pin Dt7ys n-.I D6w llnn m
DM!Dn'rn lfn Ht M'H1-Tin
o
^DD
lotr nI- m,',n'Yn l'lm nr'in,n ,'mneed not be taken as opposed to the view

of Halevi.
4 I, 87 mK'n=m
1Kipm'rinp3n
p. 2.

-ip-n-n m l nmnmi

1 1i in
mn:

ymis ~Da. Similarly Alfarabi in Hathalot,

' 'im n -in mn

yisn ~t?nm. By O=mmnn

is meant Gabriel (Kaufmann, op. cit., p. 205 n. 181). As for Avicenna, see
the Palqera-quotation cited by Cassel, op. cit., p. 27 ,tvn nrn n,nr-isvWm
Inp'9D' tm ymrnni-l}ox, KtI6 -s? 'Zn ^stD n1pa-rUl pniP 1n9n nxpom pin
':in tmKn^ynnta

plmin i1 .pipn ni mnp' nn ntmi

nmnniynn. See however

Palqera's Reshit Hokmah, p. 55 where, in an interpolation in his version of

Alfarabi's I14a al-'Ulum (see JQR N. S. XXV, 227-235 and XXVII, 100),
npp-n mn-imn
Palqera states from another source D"w,in D"lnnln D'D1Yn y:
a',nzn y=un p"'nmn thus regarding the Holy Spirit as higher than Gabriel.

A. M. Goichon in his Lexique de la langue philosophiqued'ibn Sind (Paris,

1938), p. 145, states that to Ibn Sina the Holy Spirit was a psychological
state, the highest disposition of the human soul when it is in constant contact with the Active Intellect. See notes 11, 44, 49. As for the meaning of
,
:4..J1 JJJj5l
the "Universal Intellect," see ibid. p. 231: l2Jl.
r' 1-i
f<in. See also V. 21
5 I 1, p. 7 nn-n 5a: mnirvon
jl6nn 1= na inmn
Nobelot Hokmah,
See
onn-yT
nrnnmi.
Delmedigo's
yis9n ?W:n x Dnro
Mn-npm
in,-I1nD1' onsp
t'n' t?n
o'in 'D'-iin9m i-mDDr ny- in
p. 17 ... iuy D'nirnKnD
'
ivnma,
'
li
nn,n i:5, y,,n "I6DKwnW
iln
'8nyn
5,:ao nt5, 5,v rinas:tn, :n,'D
nn,n b:a nnn ::-' 5=inwrn= l:n, n":1inx:i:mi . . . nn,n.

[3]

SOME ASPECTS OF YEHUDAH HALEVI'S MYSTICISM

29

Shekinah, and Glory;6 and it would seem that Halevi followed

this view in V. 10 where he says that philosophers regarded it
below, i. e. next to God (Ar. nY ]i-r m:n, Tibbon: innm'iD
,n'~in). But in the face of Halevi's other utterances, the word
allah should be taken here technically as a name for a species of
angels. Thus in V. 21 Halevi states: "And they called those
Intelligences allah and secondary causes7 as well as other names;
and the last of their rank and nearest to us is the Active Intellect.8
Maimonides also in his Yesodei ha-Torah, II 7, places the Active
Intellect or m'v'K at the end of a hierarchy of angels the
last four grades of which he designates as elohim, bnei elohim,
cherubim and 'ishim.
On the other hand, Halevi's presentation of the function of
the Active Intellect seems to agree with that of Avicenna and
Algazali, that the influences of the Active Intellect extends to
all sublunar things including minerals, as against Alfarabi, followed by Averroes, who limits it to man, that is, to the translation of human thought from potentiality to actuality.9 There is
6 Kitdb Ma'dni al-Nafs ed. by I. Goldziher in Abhandlungender Koniglichen Gesellschaftder Wissenschaftenzu Gdttingen.Philologisch-Historische
Klasse, N. S. IX, Nro 1 (Berlin, 1907), pp. 53-54 nmuDK=1
nmsyiDvi nim 5s m
... nrZ
n
a ] rw KU
911 1 K:-DK
Np7l
b6ylHii
Um't H DD
ii Klie
H'I9W1
OW'f
m aW
T.'D. 11 ....1
n,
ni ;i
n~'K1
DabybM1Dw-i,nK1 'in,I M
rDn 716DDl'... .nIr7m i 13 n^i 'DI' '-IK =im3pKm zMniml
pyINK1"Itl'3
5M5B99. According to Shahrastani, top of p. 44 this neo-Platonic view was
i3Jl J4Vi JAjI
also held by the later Mutazilites: t -. JJI ,.
,,Jsl
oiJl
.
J_IJl
)L?
..i.
4.
c>*l~-.
yj. Algazali too in

one place identifies the highest angel, the Obeyed One, who moves the allsurroundingsphere, with the Active Intellect, according to A. J. Wensinck,
"On the Relation between Ghazali's Cosmology and his Mysticism" p. 19,
in Mededeelingender Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen,Afdeeling
letterkundedeel 75, Serie A. No. 6.
7 This term is also used by Alfarabi in Hat4alot, p. 2 ,irn n~VMn a"3,,m
win D'lTtiD DsnKIr D" Dnn7 -i,DKRy.
8 See also IV. 1 n v,', W,i ...
~= n'nvl -o
3 ra lon' nn m,n
'in n
In n=3
mn
i mn o n= 1= n-vii tin=v pin:. Halevi frequently joins the word 'n,K with
',IDo. Thus in I 42 n,msrin n'ni nKrrnnSon and in IV. 3 p. 243',nin I1D
',KDHn. Indeed in V. 10, 21 it is called just n,nSn m-nonr.
9 V. 10 p. 307 Sinnn'D ='9Snnv o')rDio,' n-It m-nD'n 'O nvpnn 'v:t nyw by
n , D,n,m,-'lKm
I'mnmnxin
Imn u xmD iSnnDm,in
min
'lim
D'5t
nlDipDn
on5 om'-m,'n ',mi nimnDorn' wv , no ',imDn 57. Similarly in V. 4 p. 299.

30

[4]

EFROS

an intermediate view, that the influence of the Active Intellect

embraces animals and plants but not minerals which are what
they are by virtue of their composition and require no "divine
forms." This view too as held by some thinkers is mentioned by
Halevi.10

But Halevi opposes the entire emanation system of which the

Active Intellect is a part. "People accepted it and were beguiled
by it to such an extent that they thought it conclusive because
they ascribed it to Greek philosophers. But it is only an assertion, carrying no conviction, and is open to various objections."'
5
As for the Arabian thinkers, see Delmedigo 1. c. n1n
=v tnv an'v? nm, 1=i
D
n
11
ll
Min
n nl^ by nn
,
o'n~,
lnun ~"i (?) nr,m=ilp ,:'l ': m'p3mm
^D'
5ztvo, Imnn'nmn t,=ni wvo
,SI,n'W
nyTnpi m~nDi m- lnv ,,^nn
Innmnmsn
intvnn 1,m-i=t
n
nn3r im
nnn ^"azv t4w Tin
Tvinvn w xbn U!9"n Y'rt Da-DIn
n'n5 niSnn tV:mn
'nD'o,nuiyn nm5ia. See also
by Y'i 'vi)tn 1'nnmni b7y
'y
Alfarabi, Hat.halot, p. 2: n=n-n 'n: nnmnn in~lys Ylon Dv.-m.Tibbon in his

Glossary on Maimonides calls it an Aristotelian view. Shem Tob in his

commentary on the Moreh I 72 joins the name of Algazali to that of Ibn
Sina. See also quotation from Shahrastani in Emil Berger's Das Problem
der Erkenntnisin der ReligionsphilosophieJehuda Hallewis, p. 67.
I0See V. 10, p. 307. Shem Tob 1. c. and also on II 12 maintains that this
view was held by Maimonides. See also Moscato on Kuzari (Wilna, 1904),
V. 10 p. 28. Delmedigo however (see above n. 9) infers from Moreh, II 4
that Maimonides followed Ibn Sina. Delmedigo probably referred to the
n:nln
ovn
n n,' '
[n rin nln'l
n o
MyII
in m:
i u: Dn
ny
passage Fm'n,n
yio n
tinn 5h5~, but see Shem Tob, ad loc.

" See IV. 25 p. 283 and V. 14 p. 329 and pp. 355-57 where he regards
that theory as heresy. In IV. 3, p. 245 Halevi says concerning the eternal
angels anlt $p$

f5i o l--i:n ,n1n n lt

D'nZia a-"3nnn Dn N)VI.

"D11,i'iD,1n

This would seem to be out of keeping with his emphatic opposition to the
assumption of Separate Intellects. But Halevi opposes only the view that
there are agencies other than God that move the spheres and therefore interfere with divine sovereignty but not to the idea of the existence of pure
Intellects. To this philosophical notion, he is completely indifferent. Both
Avicenna and Algazali maintained that there were such spiritual beings
higher than the movers (see quotations in Steinschneider's Alfarabi p. 115
n. 49). See also Palqera's Reshit Hokmahp. 55 in a quotation from an older
x :nyp:l 'y
cnD"3-in
n '1 D'IxD
aD',YlY
source: 11w 'yl a'ni,'l
I:on,pz
iy
::lo
tnmin

'n, $?n. The word D',xu is probably a rendering of 1.

'

cenna in Goichon, op. cit., p. 145

JJ <'4..j
'>2 .. .Jl
and p. 384 -..J .
';..1
it

l
j1

Similarly Avi-

.J

r .
JjU

[5]

31

SOME ASPECTS OF YEHUDAH HALEVI'S MYSTICISM

Instead of the Active Intellect, he posits what he terms alamr

alildhi (Tibbon: ha-'inyan ha-elohi) as the goal for human striving. What does this term mean? It can be taken in the general
sense of divin.e nature or being, in which case Tibbon's rendering
is correct, or else in the technical sense of the neo-Platonic
Logos, in which case the Hebrew rendering is inadequate. The
latter is the view of Goldziher who however admits that
Halevi did not use the term in this sense with systematic precision."2 Now, it is true that, as A. J. Wensinck has shown,
through the channel of the Syrians who were acquainted with
the terminology of the fourth Gospel as well as with the works
of Philo, the notion of Logos reached the Arabian thinkers, and
that sometimes in the writings of Alfarabi and Algazali the word
amr has this meaning.13 But it seems very unlikely that this is
the sense of the term anywhere in the Kuzari, for the following
reasons.
1. If the term amr is used technically, to denote Logos, it is
strange that nowhere in the Kuzari is it used alone but is always
accompanied, and occasionally several times in the same paragraph, by the word ildhi. This shows that Halevi used the word
amr only in the general sense of nature or being.
2. The term is first presented in I 42 as parallel to the three
lower grades of being: amr (abi'yi or nature, amr nifsdan or soul,
and amr 'aqli or intellect, in all of which the word amr can only
have the general sense, so that the expression amr ilUdhto denote
the fourth and highest grade can only mean divine nature or
divinity. Indeed in the next paragraph he calls it al-iladht,
divinity.
3. In III 17 p. 165 reference is made to the amr ilahi as the
giver of the Torah, as the one who arranged Israel in the wilder\ 4
\.
j i
E AJl
^kJ
ISe*^J ICy;jyxA
tJ1
4<JSLJ.See notes4, 44, 49. Neumarkin his Toledotha-Pilosofliah
be-Israel,

to meanPlatonicIdeas.
II, 286, takes the wordo",,nriin the Kuzari-passage
12 See R.E.J., L, 32-41 and Emil Berger,op. cit., pp. 69-72.
'3 See Wensinck,op. cit., pp. 5, 6, 13, 15, 17, 20. See also RisalatFuwq,
ed. Dieterici, in his Alfarabi's PhilosophischeAbhandlungen,?9 4,.
ULo
IJ1 <J IS li
L, 4S A4; y
j
.
.
My

Jkij

32

[6]

EFROS

ness under four standards, and who rested upon Israel in order
to be a God unto them. If a deutero-deity is herein intended,
Halevi becomes the champion of the very doctrine attributed to
the philosopher at the beginning of the book, of the aloofness
and unconcernedness of the First Cause, a doctrine which he
repudiates, as e. g. in the beginning of IV 3.
4. Parallel passages indicate the meaning. Thus the saying:
"There is no niggardliness with alamr alildhi" in V. 10 p. 309,
is repeated on the same page in the words: "There is no niggardliness with Him, blessed be He." The statement in V. 20
p. 345: "The speech .of the prophets when they are enwrapped
by the Holy Spirit is dictated verbatim by alamr alildhi and
the prophet cannot change14 a single word" is parallel to the
passage in I 87, p. 39: "The speech addressed to Moses had its
origin in the Creator and was not due to any thought or counsel
on the part of Moses."
5. Halevi combats the theory of emanation in IV. 25 and V. 14,
and he emphasizes in many places God's unremitting administration of the universe.'5 In V. 21, he warns: "Let us take no heed
of the words of the philosophers who divide the divine world
into degrees, since we reject anthropomorphism.,6 It is God alone
who leads all things corporeal." The assumption of Goldziher
and Berger that Halevi opposed only that emanational doctrine
which grew out of Aristotle's cosmology and which was polytheistic but not the neo-Platonic form which was "rich in religious motives", is disproven by the fact that Halevi voices his
dissatisfaction even with the emanationism of the Sefer Yesirah.
"Where is the need of the letters he, waw and yod or an angel
or a sphere or other things when we affirm the divine Will and
creation and that God created the multitudinous things in one
'4

1 n, n,,
Ar. ,innDK:

aSn
, m

D'i. Tibbon renders:

rn=m,:3 l'ml

,nimotnn'n,n=evidently reading n,'n instead of v',n.

'
rn
o:ni1,
See e. g. III. 17, p. 167 Dwaln -wiz ilm,i ninnn rn
o,wiyn
oinr ,",yri.
See also V. 10, p. 307 l-ian, m nnv nvmn yli
v iKty:m rlynn , ',nn rmn,ninnRtip nln'inn nrininaDa'm'.The Arabic
nr 1RK
has in addition KO5Dim but as the context shows we should read ,hmn disIS

DID] sK D',:urn iy

position, quality. See also V. 21.

i6 Hirschfeld'srendering"as soon as we are free from our bodies" is incorrect.

[7]

SOME ASPECTS OF YEHUDAH HALEVI'S MYSTICISM

33

moment ... and sustains them each moment by his divine

power" (IV. 26). Even to the philosophical assumption of spiritual realities in which Halevi saw no interference with the belief
in God's sovereignty, he maintains an attitude of cold indifference: "we need not accept them nor reject them."
It is union with this amr ildht, therefore, the divine essence
itself, and not with any intermediary, that constitutes the highest
attaintment of man; and in his expressions for this ecstatic state,
Halevi goes even beyond Algazali. The latter condemned the
use of the terms ittihdd (identification), hulul (fusion), and wusul
(union), as inconsistent with true unity,I7 whereas Halevi, either
because the word amr muffles the anthropomorphic ring or because Biblical and Talmudic literature paved the way for such
utterances, uses ittisdl most commonly, and does not hesitate to
employ the term hzulul,though he avoids the term ittihdd except
in the exposition of the philosopher's idea of the Active Intellect.,8
But how can this union be effected? Not through qiyds or
reasoning. Great, it is true, are the achievements of the philosophers in the realm of logic and mathematics. "They established
the demonstrable sciences on an unlimited basis and excelled in
them and there is no conflict of opinion in those sciences."I9
But they lose all their reliability and unanimity when they enter
the realm of physics and particularly that of metaphysics.
Halevi examines in detail their theory of emanation (IV. 25, 26;
'7 See Duncan B. Macdonald, The Religious Attitude and Life in Islam,
p. 187.
I8 mxnm(Tibbon: ,p,pT, nip-nm,nimpnn,,nm'n,nrmnnn,). See e.
g. I 4 p.
19; I 27, p. 17; I 68 p. 31; I 109 p. 59; II 2 p. 73; V. 12 p. 323. As for ~in
(Tibbon: in), see e. g. I 95 pp. 42, 46; I 103 p. 54; III 23 p. 179. As far as
I have noted Halevi used -mnnmt
only once and not in con(Tibbon: nmnnmn,i)
nection with amr ilahi but with the Active Intellect in the exposition of the
philosophersviewpoint in I 1 p. 5. Similarly in V. 12 p. 321, in the summary
of Avicenna's psychology, he uses the verb niNq (Tibbon inmnn).
I9 V. 14, p. 328 oimy~mpin ,9 l'xt1'pa
p1 ' 5 m 1ii
i
5
m-namti.
Hirschfeld
in the sense of
gives here a meaningless rendering because he takes ti-nmbmi
"and they separated," whereas the word can only mean here "and they
excelled," "they were unique." Thus in IV. 15 ,nrt-i:m means "and His
uniqueness." On the other hand, the Hebrew commentators and Buxtorf
and Cassel mistook Tibbon's correct rendering nrm,nm
in the sense of being
united instead of "and they were distinguished."

34

EFROS

[8]

V. 14, 21), their cosmogony (V. 2-8, 14), their psychology (V. 14),
and shows their unconvincingness. The difficulty is not entirely
due to their reasoning. "There are things which it is not in the
nature of man to conceive by means of reason" (V. 14; I. 64).
"There is a curtain of bright light conquering human vision"
(V. 21). "A rationalistic faith is open to many doubts" (I. 13).
"Proofs are deceiving, leading man to heresy and false thoughts"
(IV. 3; V. 16). "The masses do not follow the philosophers
because the soul feels the truth" (IV. 17). "There is much in
heaven, earth, and sea not known to the philosopher" (V. 14).
In place of reason, Halevi offers the direct, mystic experience
and the certitude of prophecy. He calls it pin (Tibbon Dyt), a
term which he uses sometimes in a literal sense, as personal taste
and opinion, and therefore synonymous with qids,20 but mainly
as a sufi-term for mystic intuition and therefore antynomous
with qiyds. Indeed he finds the difference between the God of
Aristotle and the God of Abraham to be due to the fact that the
former is proven through qiyas and the latter is experienced
through dawq. The term is defined in Arabic literature as
a mystic light projected by God into the heart of His chosen
and as the beginning of the appearance of divinity.21 Other
terms used by Halevi are 'rit'an, the general experience of
beholding God, of which dawq is the first taste," also 'inm,,n:
20 See

III 49 where Tibbon rightly kh:ao, opinion.

2xSee IV 16, 17 and Kaufmann, Attributenlehre,pp. 121, 234. See Jurjani,
) 3jj1j
Definitiones, ed. G. Fliigel (Leipzig, 1845), p. 112 43[1 i.
*?

..l
-

.A

_>.
L ?jIJIi;,

C1 ,

&A
L U8

lJ1J

'.
See
also p. 288 <4J4
Jj31 jOii. See also 'Abdu-r-RazL2~J;.1
zaq's Dictionary of the Technical Terms of the Sufies, ed. by Aloys Sprenger
J Ajl ^ Jji
)43 cAt-.j
(J1
J.
(Calcutta, 1845), p. 162 )
[1.
J.1
a
..J1
;1
r "3
43.^J}11 L19.1
Algazali in

his Mishkat al-Anwdr p. 41, bottom, speaks of 3JJ-i1 J-1.

Tibbon: n,,n I 10; IV 15, 16. In IV. 3 mn,yD6m, Tibbon
"22nv,
R (Goldziherin ZDMG vol. 41 p. 693). See quotation from
,Mrln:=-i'
ntu
'Abdu-r-Razzaqin note 21.

SOME ASPECTS OF YEHUDAH HALEVI'S MYSTICISM

[9]

35

and lb'y, all of which mean mystic visions of God.23 In IV. 15;
III. 53, the prophetic sight is described as that state where
man almost ceases to be man, joining the company of angels;
and a new spirit, the Holy Spirit, enters into him, showing him
true dreams and wonders. He sees the God of revelation and
laughs at his former doubts and at qiyds through which he sought
God and is ready to undergo martyrdom because of the sweetness
of union. He becomes so much at one with alamr alilahi that he
no longer cares if he dies. It is a new plane of being, Halevi
emphasizes in I 41, as high above that of men as the latter is
above that of the animals. Compare Algazali's outcry: "Why
should it be impossible that beyond reason there should be a
further plane on which appear things which do not appear on
the plane of intelligence, just as it is possible for the intelligence
itself to be a plane above the discriminating faculty and the
senses; and for revelations of wonders and marvels to be made
to it beyond the reach of senses and the discriminating faculty?
Beware of making the ultimate perfection stop at thyself! Consider the intuitive faculty of poetry, if thou wilt have an example
of everyday experience taken from those special gifts which particularize some men."24 Halevi too likens faith, in general, to
the poetic gift in V. 16 p. 331.
Halevi's discussion of prophetic experiences follows so closely
Arabian patterns that his Hebrew translator occasionally finds
only vague equivalents for his terminology and is sometimes inconsistent and even contradictory. He recognizes two states of
but
prophecy. One he calls ilhdm or illumination (Tibbon: 71m31,
also rnynn, nyn, Int),25 which implants

the primary ideas in the

human mind as distinguished from the inferred or acquired

23 ,'^m3, nia

%,~Y1

(Tibbon ,,nw, nmi), IV. 3, 15, 17. See Jurjani, op. cit. p. 47
L4
AAJ. ;)'J
.)rjl
jiI,ill;1
LJ
XLJ.
d~L>

For m'lyTibbon has ,rny nm- in I 19, 25.

l'Llj~,.
24AI-Ghazzali's Mishk&tal-Anwdr, translated by W. H. T. Gairdner,
pp. 82-83.
2s See V. 12, 20. In I 87 'vmnnomni=rnimi rl-y. In III 39 p. 189 -rmn
i
In II 26 nynr. Comp. expression in I. 109 'n,wn lpy
mnim,=yrnm rm.
n, =Inp mwn nol ,maa.

36

EFROS

[10]

ideas,26 and which imparted to the synhedrin their scientific

knowledge and inspired the composition of the Mishna.27 It is
the state of the saint (;1i, Tn;, Tibbon: n DnM)28who is con-

stantly aware of the presence of God and sees the Shekinah,

the heavenly

forms and the angels, and hears the Echo.29

It

can be acquired also by one who was not born an Israelite.30

which
Higher than ilhdm3I is the degree of wahi, inspiration,3
is limited to Israelites and to the land of Israel,33and consists of
specially created images and forms, such as an outstretched hand,
a drawn sword, fire and lightning - all of which convey in one
flash and symbolically the greatness, power, and love of God and also of hearing a divine message, warning, announcing or
predicting.34 Halevi repeatedly emphasizes the utter passivity of
the prophet's mind when it receives a divine message, for therein
lies the triumph of prophecy over qiyds. Prophecy is not due to
thought and counsel. It does not spring from a soul of purified
thoughts, as the philosophers maintained. It does not rise from
investigation and research.35 "For the speech of the prophets
26 V. 12 p. 315 iinD on nW 'pllpam onK'nn: m aomONliDln mnlxn 13
1nn
D Onn lnnv' :CK inNWln nlmzvlxn oil (Ow6mn)
K DK0 )3 isnit^
,Ynatnarunn iy
Here we see the inconsistency
nil aDnnmto)
nrimrInmwrn nMwpIm
a'P on n-il.
nm H,rni Inn ,'
of Tibbon, for in V. 20 p. 349 we read nivwsanmp nnD'n
m,
n 3mn where -nin: stands of course
nn
noD rmnZirm
1
1n1: lnK D'Wm'KWV
not for DK-im but for its opposite a=mnDntA:.
27 I 97; III 39 p. 189; III 41 p. 193. See also "The Confessionof Al-Ghazzali"
translated by Claud Field (London, 1909) p. 53: "He who studies the medical
science and astronomy is obliged to recognizethat they are derived from the
revelation and special grace of God."
28See II 14 p. 81; II 23 p. 91; III 11 pp. 153, 157; III 19 p. 173

29III 11, 19.

I. 115.
3' III 1. D'1',:n nnnD mn: ny
-r ',m. Similarly III 11 p. 157.
n'TDnn nmn
32 Tibbon: nK:: but also prn. II 28; III 41; IV. 27; V. 12.
33 I 115 p. 65 Dnnm
TmD
n
o"i
D'm,nitK'
inp'W, Dt'y nI,mn Danin ntoim o-1'
a,D'n
a, ,': M I'K ,N'Dnmm
m'i. See also II 12-14.
34IV. 5.
35 I 87. yn7Kiity innn,mnrnKl
r nri
nn nrnmy
ninn n~nnn n'nn MHw
T nonD
n
nmiIn n'nn mvW...
+nmn nmn
iDrt'pW3s
D'01Mi'n ivn elow
p,m l, n,intvnD
l'nDWt' IN'inD1iKp mnm
Kpn Yimni=m. See also III 53 DoD ninnnn ' izrn
30

[11]

SOME ASPECTS OF YEHUDAH HALEVI'S MYSTICISM

37

when they are enwrapped by the Holy Spirit is in all its words
directed by the divine essence, and the prophet exercizes no
freedom of choice even in a single word."36
All these distinctions between ilhdm and wahi: the former
internal, the source of Talmudic traditions, found in the walis but
open to all mankind, and the latter entirely external and literal,
the source of the Bible and limited to Israel, are standard Mohammedan doctrine except for the necessary change of the "Talmud"
to the "Sunna", the "Bible" to the "Bible and the Koran", and
"Israel" to the "prophets culminating in Mohammed."37
Halevi however differs from the general Mohammedan belief
that while the power of mujizat or miracles is vested only in
the prophets, there are kardmat i. e. wonders, spontaneous miracles, extraordinary phenomena appearing of themselves and for
the glorification and protection of that somewhat larger class
called walis or saints.38 This tended to give rise to a cult of
saints, who according to some Sufis stood even higher than the
prophets.39 Halevi insists on the superiority of the prophetic
level,40 and ignores the difference between wonders and miracles,
nsnim
r,n.
Alfarabi and Avicenna took
,'ina ownn 1,n mo D'',ni1
pninp
a different stand and it is against them that Halevi levels his criticism. For
Alfarabi, see note 1; and for Avicenna see particularly Goichon, Lexique,
W
1
A
r ( v1 &
f> J
p. 375 '4.iJl
('
^
L \I
\
iJl
\
Jl^l
t4}\ Y\
,5,J, J 4
JAl1I Ja3l. It is Algazali who taught Halevi not only the essential uniqueness of the plane of prophecy but also that it is independent of learning.
See his Mishkatal-Anwar (Cairo, 1904) p. 14: IJ-.J_j .
, L.t 'S 1j
ojl
JjYi
",o E :
J53 j LUJl. Similarly on p. . 26: .-

? LJAl >~j.
20 p. 345.
See Edward Sell, The Faith of Islam (London, 1880), pp. 37-38.
38 See Duncan B. Macdonald, Muslim Theology,Jurisprudenceand Constitutional Theory,p. 313.
39 Ibid. pp. 263, 282.
36 V.

37

r
4?V. 10 ,3:: ? T,n
n''
n,n

nion

inm

-= '0 n
IN5

n::i

',1n1 rn, sb .

38

EFROS

[12]

denying both kinds to the saints.41 In this position Halevi sided

with the rationalistic Mutazilites.42
A source of confusion and contradiction in Tibbon's version
is his use of the Hebrew word kavod or karamat, wonders, as
well as in places where the Arabic original has kavod or kevod
Adonai. These are two different concepts; for whereas wonders
distinguish prophets from saints, kavod or glory may be revealed
to both classes and to all Israel. It is a manifestation of divinity
and is of the same order as Shekina, nmzo, Fire, Cloud, Image,
Form, Rainbow - all attesting the divine word.43 It consists of
spiritual forms fashioned out of the fine spiritual substance called
the Holy Spirit.4 It is that fine substance which, following the
divine will, assumes form when God desires to appear to the
prophet, or else it is the totality of angels and spiritual vessels,
the Throne, the Chariot, the Firmament, the Wheels, and other
imperishable things; that is to say, it is either temporary in its
form or permanent but in either case the same essence - the
Ruay. ha-Qodeshin a glorious epiphany.45 "And this is the meaning," Halevi says at the end of IV. 3, "of the Glory of God,
the Angelhood (mznxa) of God, and the Shekinah of God in
religious terminology. Sometimes they are applied to natural
phenomena, even as it is said: The whole earth is full of His
Glory and His Kingdom reigneth in all; but in truth the Glory
and the Kingdom (m:zn~) are revealed only to the saints, the
pure and the prophets."
4' V. 20 p. 343 (rowii
Oi (MrDKMrt)
-nns vpal
nmrwn z:n nrnrim
i Tmn rN1
=1:==in
nxm lion 1i H'3= mn sC. See also V. 20 p. 347 nrtywarl nwsr=5
rnimmi. However in I 4 p. 9 nmr;pD=n==3. In III 53 p. 207, Tibbon translates nmSn'i by mnl'n, in I 4 p. 9 by nriyn. In I 109 nmt?ynD
=-onm.
Comp.
Palqera's Reshit IHokmahp. 55: onsin on'n o,n:lm where n-m== probably

stands for mrnwin.

42 See D. B. Macdonald, The Religious Attitude and Life in Islam, p. 50.
43 IV. 3, p. 231 p!y vm mSi
n
= n oKm
n:,=' -Ti= np: yi,nq
'l,n
8pty
lnl~ o,Klpl ltY?o o=p q:'ltw o5 n,i n,rn n== nmln
UT
nrpi ,q:ml=worn1D^S
44 II 4 'n nn: nlxnp:nnrm,mn nnrim
p'"mnwiprn 'rnn pin otan I ,,xn pli.
How different this concept of the Rua4 ha-Qodesh is from that of Avicenna!
See notes 4, 11, 49.
4s IV. 3, p. 245. See Qol Yehudah, ad loc. See also IV. 25 p. 279 min n,pnm
'R ,1; DOwl=qn'nD p'ln ihn
am,3nin
nlli'!n nim,' nli'nnn nmai
.
DI,r

[13]

SOME ASPECTS OF YEHUDAH HALEVI'S MYSTICISM

39

The term mz5n, Kingdom, is used in this passage as synonymous with kavod, but geneologically they differ. Goldziher in his
introduction to his edition of the Kitdb Ma'dni al-Nafs, ascribed
to Bahya, states that the word ,mr'm in the expression ,Dz'vi,a
0n,n1Zli in the Ma'dan means angels and, should be vocalized
DTan;?,and that it has its origin in the Koranic O^JG and
for angels.46 But the expression in the Ma'ani and the
eif
statements of Halevi show that it denotes more than angels and
its fuller form 'n rn1z as given both in the Ma'ani and in the
Kuzari as well as the use of the Hebraic form in the Arabic
text reveal a consciousness of an Hebraic concept. Biblical in
origin, in a theophanic sense,47 the term was early developed,
under the influence of neo-Platonism to convey the sense of a
metaphysical entity, so that Benjamin Nahawendi stated that
before creation God created the Glory and His throne,48 and
Saadia amplified it further by assuming a "second air", a fine
all-pervasive substance which was created before all things, and
which carried the divine words to the prophets and was the
instrument of demonstrations and visions and was designated
in the Bible by the terms Glory, Holy Spirit, Throne, and Shekinah.49 In this Saadyanic sense, it became the Hebraic parallel
46Kitab Ma'ani al-Nafs, ed. by Goldziher, p. 37.
47 See e. g. Ex. 16:10 lym m
nrm 'n 'n rnam,Ex. 24:17 tvm 'n 'nm nmD'i

5 mxmimpmi. See also Mekilta on

nlibt, Ezek. 3:23 'n n= ow n:m nmypan
Beshallak 2, 4: n-lm v' "y nrapIn 1w y.
48See Judah Hadassi, Eshkol ha-Kofer,47: 'n I'o, ''w
,',lKmn
Z,,'Dn31
Rn
lKDDI81nsDn 1'K
49 Commentairesur

i
':

:D

31p.

le Sefer Yesira, par le Gaon Saadya de Fayyoum,

(OA
publie et traduit par Mayer Lambert (Paris, 1891), p. 72: _J.l .

* * * ojjJl (4^ *51^ f;ljJl

t
I
.
.
*)l
#ll LJr
.I^Jl
;&11 1 . . . dIJ
if j
4-J
lI
J.A.
vnpn mn no'o1nJl J451

I 1_4
1s U
;
,
,l ,14 =>.j
4J ) ^^Ji
i ^Js
>
j
. See also Ma'dan al-Nafs, p. 10.

UJl-713lD

This corresponds to Halevi's first view of Glory; Halevi's second view is

expressed by Ibn Ezra on Ex. 3:15, quoted in Qol Yehudah1.c. pl'isn olym
m 1 . . . 1s1mn3
r nt'il mfl2 OQ3Mo' 13prrp ^n;
I n:D713D1.Iyn nr
Do
y btn
'7D1y. See notes 4, 11, 44. See also Neumark, Toledotha-Pilosoflahbe-Israel,
I. 172.

40

[14]

EFROS

to Avicenna's "spiritual substances which convey prophecy," and

to which Halevi, in his distrust of the metaphysical assumptions
of the philosophers, registers an attitude of indifference.50 On
the other hand, the term malekut, Kingdom, the terminological
synonym of Kavod, owes its origin to the Arabic conception of
an 'alam almalakit, the supernal changeless world of angels, in
distinction from 'alam almulk, the lower world of sense and
perception. Alfarabi says concerning the Active Intellect that
"it is necessary to believe that he is the faithful spirit (i. e.
Gabriel) and the Holy Spirit and that his rank is called malakut."5' "The world of malakut," says Algazali, "is the Preserved
Table and the angelic world."5s This will explain why in that
passage from the end of IV. 3 it is used interchangeably with
nm%iDangelhood (Ar l~o= angel).53 Indeed in V. 10 p. 304,
1Yw)
Halevi uses the full phrase mnzt?z 6t4y (Tibbon: rn5zt,n
describing it as the world of rest and timeless perception symbolized by the Sabbath.
Both Alfarabi and Algazali identify malakut with amr,54and
it is tempting to take it also as the meaning of Halevi's alamr
alilahi; but considerations, already mentioned, make us forbear.
And there is a difference. The vision of the Kingdom and the
Glory is granted to those whom the Divine Essence leads. One
soSee note 11.
sTSee quotationfromAlfarabiin Wensinck,op. cit. p. 6: Jil

J)lJ

and Hathalotp. 2 nnn MIT, 1 ,'w 'i,< IWn ln ilmn 5mll

,3 nMn'
nDn
1v nInn rn
')p'I
, lrn pn ml
wp~n mzInr-mm
o'w. A rendering of malakut by 'nw m:nis is also found in Kuzari III 1
,
MI;wW5 rr n.
p. 141. Comp. Albo's IqqarimII 11 n,n ,'vr~1inn,i tni i=n

c~ ~,1l
mD

52

~o.

,'~C'
i't

See Wensinck, op. cit. p. 19:

pJl ._o:;1Jl
.

s3 Similarly in II 7 mn i nrs,m nm3

'n m2nlz 'n m22. In view of
=m':nz
this fact, Tibbon should not be criticized (Comp. Hirschfeld on I 107 p. 57)
for translating tin,mln:S by o"mnlSn, since Halevi himself regards them as
equivalent. See also Tibbon's renderingof this term in I 1 p. 7; I, 42; I 103
p. 57. However in I 103 'n,lm2n=b'n angelic.
54 See Wensinck, op. cit., pp. 6, 13, 15, 17.

[15]

SOME ASPECTS OF YEHUDAH HALEVI 'S MYSTICISM

41

is the cause, the other the effect.55 Furthermore, Alfarabi, followed by Albo,56 identifies it with the Active Intellect. Indeed
in this light we discern more clearly the meaning of the philosopher in the opening of the Kuzari concerning the soul of the
perfect man that "it becomes an angel and reaches the nethermost rung of the kingdom which is pure from matter and which
is the degree of the Active Intellect." Halevi however does not
accept this identification. The Active Intellect with its rationalistic and somewhat polytheistic connotations he rejects; but he
accepts the 'dlam almalakut, as well as ittisdl dawq, ilhdm, wacz
and kardmdt, all of which are terms and distinctions taken from
the very warp and woof of Mohammedan doctrine. Escaping
from Arabic rationalism, he found refuge in Muslim mysticism
which was more congenial to his Jewish teaching.

POSTSCRIPT
I wish to take this occasion to make the following corrections
in my "Maimonides' Treatise on Logic", published in the Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, vol.
VIII (1937-1938).
P. 3, n. 1. Read: Fiinn's Ha-Carmel, I (1861), No. 38, p. 307.
P. 6, section b. Read: Edition Venice, 1550.
P. 29, n. 33. Read: for Avicenna, see his poem on logic,
his Najdt, and Ishdrdt; for Algazali, see his Mi'ydr, Mihakk,
and particularly the introduction to his Ma.dsid where he
writes.
ISRAEL EFROS

s55See IV. 3 p. 231 ,:3 n^n Dp'p-r r'm DTK'3=3 p3 inin:am11n --VnW
-ln y
'1:i1rnlD n: m3'31-n=3-p3
nm yixD3 iniK Dw'K1in - t 13 Dm. See IV. 3 p. 233
namm wnn np3T ly-it Ilona 13nniilp3-n
'n-tn 1i, 'mo3. Ar. nDmDi -rnrn.

Perhaps Tibbon read '3sn. See I 109 1i3z= nl'nin 13 nin

,n
',nsi3lM.See also II 4 p. 75.
s6 See note 50.

yn i nnm