Techniques of Mystical Practice: Isaac of Acre and Kabbalistic Contemplation in the 14th Century

FAIN: FT-52216-04

Eitan P. Fishbane
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (Los Angeles, CA 90007-3717)

The primary aim of this study is to present a typology of contemplative and meditative techniques as they were outlined and understood by a fourteenth century Jewish kabbalist. I am particularly interested in the mystic’s representation of internal states of devotion and prayer â€" of the place accorded to intention and focus in medieval Jewish mysticism. In studying these practices as modalities of ritual, I shall also seek to clarify the manner in which the Jewish mystic articulates a language of the self (insofar as he testifies to personal experience) while simultaneously attempting to situate these practices within an authoritative line of reception and pedagogical transmission.