1. Yosef Giqatilla, The Gates of Justice
Edited by Federico Dal Bo
Scheduled for 2009
The book The Gates of Justice was written by Yosef Giqatilla (1248 – c. 1325) during his mature theosophical-mystic period. In contrast to his previous Book on Punctuation, he immersed himself totally here into the world of divine emanations. Rephrasing and recasting his earlier disquisitions on the traditional names of God, Giqatilla provides a systematic and comprehensive explanation of their relationship to the ten sefirot and also equates the En Sof (“Infinite”) with the first sefirah, Keter (“Crown”). Giqatilla's intellectual shift from his early philosophical-kabbalistic period to this mature theosophical-mystic period should thus not be understood as a sudden conversion to the sefirotic kabbalah, but rather as a complex and refined rewriting of previous mystical themes.
2. Yosef Giqatilla, Book on Punctuation
Edited by Annett Martini
Scheduled for 2009
The Book of Punctuation was written by Yosef Giqatilla (1248 – c. 1325) in his early philosophical-kabbalistic period. The exact date of origin of this short treatise, however, cannot be established with certainty. The text focuses first of all on Hebrew vowels, which are fundamental elements in Giqatilla’s theory of creation. The author integrates the vowels in a complex system, assigning a specific task to each of them with respect to the cosmos and to creation, according to their respective grammatical functions. The book, which is inspired both by medieval cosmology and by the philosophy of Maimonides, reveals a unique concept of linguistic mysticism.
3. The Gate of Heaven
Edited by Susanne Jurgan
Scheduled for 2010
This book contains a systematic analysis of sefirotic symbolism, written by an unknown author presumably in Italy towards the end of the 14th century. Essential notions about the sefirot theory and the function of emanation are explained for a reader with little knowledge of the kabbalah. The text also serves as a kind of dictionary of the most common sefirotic symbols. Several passages in The Gate of Heaven indicate that the work is a commentary of a – not preserved - parchment that contained the drawing of a sefirotic tree. It is perhaps an adaptation of the Commentary to the Small Parchment by Reuven Sarfati, (one of the most important Italian kabbalists of the 14th century) written by a kabbalist close to his circle.
4. The Crown of the Good Name
Edited by Konstanze Kunst
Scheduled for 2010
This 13th century text, usually ascribed to Avraham ben Alexander of Cologne, appears to be the earliest work of Ashkenazi provenance handed down to us which combines mystical ideas of the Hasidut Ashkenaz with the conception of the sefirot that emerged from the kabbalistic circles of Provence and Gerona. Therefore, it can be regarded as a source of crucial importance for the study of one of the most enigmatic questions in the history of medieval Jewish mysticism: the encounter of the mystical lore of Hasidut Ashkenaz with the early kabbalah. Despite its conspicuous significance, The Crown of the Good Name has been almost entirely neglected by modern scholarship, and to date there has been no edition of the text that meets scientific demands. The forthcoming volume will help to fill this gap. The book will show that The Crown of the Good Name is probably not the work of one single identifiable author but a text redacted by some anonymous scholars, and that it originated from the oral teachings of two men, Avraham ben Alexander of Cologne and Menahem of Worms, who are believed to have been pupils of Eleazar of Worms.
5. Avraham Abulafia, The Secrets of the Torah
Edited by Renate Smithuis and David Juste
In preparation
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