Prayer of the Destitute and Other Case Studies in the Christian Context of Castilian Kabbalah

• In Event: Kabbalistic Texts as Evidence of Medieval Jewish-Christian Intellectual Exchange

Abstract

The paper will address both practical and theological parallels between the pietistic
discourse of thirteenth-century Castilian kabbalah, on the one hand, and
contemporaneous Christian monasticism and mendicant spirituality, on the other. It
will do so by considering heretofore unexamined examples of such parallelism, such as
the formalization of supererogatory prayer, the promotion of night vigils, penitential
regimens vitae, the ordering of mealtimes, and more. Focusing on evidence from the
writings of Todros Abulafia of Toledo, Moses ben Shem Tov de León of Guadalajara, and
the Zohar, the paper will help to contextualize the sources’ express ethos of competition
with Christianity as well as their avowed revivalism of ancient rabbinic piety.

Author

• Jeremy Brown, University of Notre Dame