Subject: Mysticism, Messianism and Interfaith Dialog in the Writings of R. Moshe David Valle
Supervisor: Prof. Jonathan Garb
Abstract:
My dissertation is dedicated to the writings of the 18th-century Italian kabbalist R. Moshe David Valle. The work focuses on three major themes in his writings: mysticism, messianism, and interfaith dialog. Each of these three themes is discussed in its immediate context, as a text created by R. Valle while he was a member of the Ramchal’s circle, as well as in in the broader context of Italian Jewry and European culture in the first half of 18th century.
The main arguments of the work are:
• Some of Valle’s most essential writings were created as part of an acute messianic effort in which R. Valle identified himself as the Messiah, son of David. Consequently, his writings are replete with autobiographical paragraphs depicting his suffering during his mystical attempt to accelerate the arrival of Redemption. By turning the cosmic struggle between holiness and impurity into an internal struggle, his writings precede the psychologization of Kabbalah of the Hasidic movement that developed several decades later. This psycho-theological trend corresponds with parallel developments in the world of the Catholic Reformation of the time.
• R. Valle’s dialog with Christianity is profound. In his early writings, some in Italian, he dealt with anti-Christian polemics, occasionally using sources from the classical world. Later, he conducted a dialog with Christianity based on Kabbalistic thought. The zenith of this dialog is a systematic comparison between Judaism and Christianity, which demonstrates his proximity to Christianity on the one hand and rejection of it on the other. This dialog too echoes the growing interest in other religions in Europe at the time.
Bio:
Publications:
Tzvi Luboshitz, `An Early Version of the Simsum Debate in Immanuel Hay Ricchi's Yosher Levav`, Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts, 42 (2018), pp. 269-320 [Hebrew]
- `R. Moses Zacuto`s Zohar Commentary: Ideology and Hermeneutics Aspects`, Pe`amim, 157 (2019), pp.75-105 [Hebrew]
- 'Prolegomena to `Mishnat Hasidim`', Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts, 48 (2021), pp. 265-305 [Hebrew]
- `Textbook, Prayer Book, Amulet: On the Metamorphosis of R. Immanuel Hay Ricchi’s ‘Mishnat Hasidim’`, Alei Sefer – A Journal for the Study of the Hebrew Book, 30-31 (2021), pp. 159-179 [Hebrew]
- `“The Secret of That Herb”: Mystical Smoking from Italian Sabbateanism to Hasidism`, Modern Judaism - A Journal of Jewish Ideas and Experience, Vol. 41, No. 3, (2021), pp. 317–338
President Scholarship 2019/2020