![Hands writing with quill on parchment, candle close by](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2026-07/iStock-466268089.jpg?itok=xCvpife8) # Abraham Abulafia’s Mystical Technique July 02, 2026 Maximillian Wetter Abraham ben Shmuel Abulafia (1240–ca. 1291) was a foundational Spanish Kabbalist who created a unique form of Jewish mysticism. His approach, commonly referred to as Ecstatic Kabbalah or Prophetic Kabbalah, emphasized how one could elicit a direct encounter with God through a mystical technique known as *hokhmat ha-tzeruf* (“the wisdom of combination”). Abulafia wove the mystical teachings of the *Sefer Yetzirah*, an ancient text which explores the creation of the world through permutations of Hebrew letters, together with the philosophical system of Moses ben Maimon, or Maimonides (1139–1204). According to this tradition, all letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and therefore all aspects of creation, are connected to the Tetragrammaton of the Divine Name. By recombining the letters of creation, the practitioner sought to facilitate the union of their own rational faculty with the Active Intellect, through which the influx of the Divine Intellect flows. One must prepare to receive the divine influx in order to reach this unitary state, and Abulafia’s mystical technique, seen in the source below, is meant to cultivate and purify the mind in anticipation of the ecstatic moment. For Abulafia, the state of conjunction that results from letter combination is itself a prophetic state, resulting in an ontological transformation of the spirit that has messianic implications. The eschatological nature of Abulafia’s mystical technique is reflected in the title of his work *Sefer Hayyei ha-Olam ha-Ba*, translated as “Life of the World to Come,” in which the below text is recorded. Although there are many manuscripts which outline the practice of letter combinations, this passage succinctly captures Abulafia’s approach to the preparation for, content of, and departure from the ecstatic event. Although Abulafia’s form of Kabbalah was in active opposition with the Sefirotic system which remained central to the Jewish mystical tradition, his mystical technique remained highly influential on later Kabbalistic leaders. The centrality of mystical technique and experience in Abulafia’s thought stands outside the norm of the Jewish mystical tradition, and therefore served as a central guide for practitioners in generations to come. While it is not clear how the particular experience (recorded in the source below) impacted Abulafia, it is clear that the experience born from prophetic receptivity and ecstatic unity was perceived as the highest goal of Abulafia and his students’ lives. Furthermore, Abulafia’s writings on the theory and practice of letter combination have guided many subsequent generations of Jewish mystics in apprehending divine wisdom from the Hebrew alphabet. This influence can be seen most explicitly in thinkers such as Moses Cordovero, Hayyim Vital, Nathan of Gaza, and the Ba’al Shem Tov, though his theory of language has also been observed as extending as far as Spinoza and Meister Eckhart. The most relevant impact of the below passage, though, is that Abulafia’s technique and autobiographical reports legitimized the importance of mystical experience in the Jewish mystical tradition. ## Source This passage is taken from Abraham Abulafia’s *Sefer Heyyei ha-Olam ha-Ba* (Book of the Life of the World to Come; Ms. Oxford 1582, fol. 45b), a manuscript of which was translated by Gershom Scholem and first published in his *Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism*. The translation below is by Gershom Scholem as published in Louis Jacobs, *Jewish Mystical Testimonies*.\[1\] (Schocken Books, 1977). > In the hour when thou preparest thyself to speak with the Creator and thou wishest Him to reveal His might to thee, then be careful to abstract all thy thought from the vanities of this world. Cover thyself with thy prayer shawl and put *tefillin* on thy head and hands that thou mayest be filled with the awe of the *Shekhina* which is near thee. \[...\] Then take ink, pen and a table to thy hand and remember that thou art about to serve God in joy of the gladness of the heart. Now begin to combine a few letters or many letters, to permute and to combine them until thy heart by warm. \[...\] And when thou feelest that thy heart is already warm and when thou seest that by combinations of letters thou art thus prepared to receive the influx of divine power which flows into thee, then turn all thy true thought to imagine His name and His exalted angels in thy heart as if they were human beings sitting or standing about thee. And feel thyself like an envoy whom the king and his ministers are to send on a mission, and he is waiting to hear something about his mission from their lips, be it from the king himself, be it from his servants. \[...\] And know, the stronger the intellectual influx within thee, the weaker will become thy outer and thy inner parts. Thy whole body will be seized by an extremely strong trembling, so that thou wilt think that surely thou art about to die, because thy soul, overjoyed with its knowledge, will leave thy body. And be thou ready at this moment consciously to choose death, and then thou shalt know that thou hast come far enough to receive the influx. And then wishing to honor the glorious Name by serving it with the life of body and soul, veil thy face and be afraid to look at God. Then return to the matters of the body, rise and eat and drink a little, or refresh thyself with a pleasant odor, and restore thy spirit to its sheath until another time, and rejoice at thy lot and know that God loveth thee! ## Notes \[1\]Louis Jacobs, *Jewish Mystical Testimonies* (New York: Schocken Books, 1997), 78–80. ## Bibliography Idel, Moshe. *Studies in Ecstatic Kabbalah*. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988. ———. *The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia*. Translated by Jonathan Chipman. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988. ———. *Abraham Abulafia’s Esotericism: Secrets and Doubts*. Edited by Racheli Haliva. Berlin, Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2020. Idel, Moshe and Shahar Arzy. *Kabbalah: A Neurocognitive Approach to Mystical Experiences*. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015. Jacobs, Louis. *Jewish Mystical Testimonies*. New York: Schocken Books, 1997. Scholem, Gershom. “Abraham Abulafia and the Doctrine of Prophetic Kabbalism.” In *Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism*, 119–155. New York: Schocken Books, 1974. Wolfson, Elliot. *Abraham Abulafia––Kabbalist and Prophet: Hermeneutics, Theosophy, and Theurgy*. Los Angeles: Cherub Press, 2000. Author Biography ### Maximillian Wetter Maximillian Wetter is a PhD student in the Department of Religion at Rice University. He earned his Master of Theological Studies, with a concentration in Jewish studies, from Harvard Divinity School in 2025. His research explores motifs of suffering and joy in the mystical and philosophical writings of post-Holocaust Jewish thinkers. ![Max Wetter, smiling, standing in front of an academic building](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2026-07/m.Wetter.jpg?itok=BpQ_ONp3) See also:- [ Archive of Mystical Experiences ](/topic-tags/archive-mystical-experiences) - [ Jewish Studies ](/topic-tags/jewish-studies)