Description
The presentation concerns a passage from the 18th-century Italian Kabbalist Moses Chayyim Luzzatto’s 138 Doors to Wisdom - probably is one of his most important and ambitious works. Departing from premises of Luranic Kabbalah, Luzzatto’s 138 Doors to Wisdom consists in a number of principles - called «doors» - that are then commented and explained in detail, possibly echoing contemporary manuals of Catholic scholastic theology based on Aquinas’ Summa theologica. This work seek to offer a systematic treatment of many topics that he explain according to a general conceptual and rational framework. The main assumption of this work is that every negative aspect of Creation and history shall be accounted as necessary to a general reunification with the divine. Accordingly, also the individual’s difficulty in grasping God’s supreme mystery shall be included in this dialectics between positivity and negativity.
The passage deals with the nature of colors, their perception, and their role in acquiring esoteric knowledge of God. While commenting on a difficult expression from the Zohar, Luzzatto elaborates on the distinction between the knowable and unknowable - i.e. perceivable and non-perceivable side of God. Luzzatto metaphorically describes these two sides respectively as «the Daw of Bedolach» and the mysterious Godhead called «the Head that is unknown». Accordingly, Luzzatto implicitly elaborates on several Kabbalistic treatises on colors - the writings of the 13th-century Spanish Kabbalist Joseph Gikatilla, the Zohar as the main Kabbalistic work of the 13th century and its later commentary of the 16th Spanish Kabbalist Isaac Luria, transmitted by his pupil Chayym Vital - and argues that colors play an important role in knowing the esoteric mysteries of God.
In particular, Luzzatto implicitly employs the art of separating colors - chromotography - in order to provide a theoretical supplement to his doctrine of emanation. On the one hand, he emphasizes that humans are able to know according to both senses and intellect. On the other hand, he argues the the most hidden side of God cannot be known - especially maintaining that perceptions are deceiving. The nature of the supreme «Head» is apparently perceived by the sense of sight, and yet offers a contradicting assessment of reality. Therefore, Luzzatto draws a clear distinction between what can and cannot be perceived. Accordingly, he argues that «the Daw of Bedolach» contains «all colors together» and perpetually transmutes from one color into another, while the «Head» lays beyond a clear perception and is rather contradicting - therefore ultimately unknowable.
Start Date
19-8-2019 1:00 PM
End Date
19-8-2019 2:00 PM
Included in
Cultural History Commons, European History Commons, History of Religion Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, Social History Commons
The Perception of Colors in Moses Chayyim Luzzatto’s 18th-Century Kabbalah
The presentation concerns a passage from the 18th-century Italian Kabbalist Moses Chayyim Luzzatto’s 138 Doors to Wisdom - probably is one of his most important and ambitious works. Departing from premises of Luranic Kabbalah, Luzzatto’s 138 Doors to Wisdom consists in a number of principles - called «doors» - that are then commented and explained in detail, possibly echoing contemporary manuals of Catholic scholastic theology based on Aquinas’ Summa theologica. This work seek to offer a systematic treatment of many topics that he explain according to a general conceptual and rational framework. The main assumption of this work is that every negative aspect of Creation and history shall be accounted as necessary to a general reunification with the divine. Accordingly, also the individual’s difficulty in grasping God’s supreme mystery shall be included in this dialectics between positivity and negativity.
The passage deals with the nature of colors, their perception, and their role in acquiring esoteric knowledge of God. While commenting on a difficult expression from the Zohar, Luzzatto elaborates on the distinction between the knowable and unknowable - i.e. perceivable and non-perceivable side of God. Luzzatto metaphorically describes these two sides respectively as «the Daw of Bedolach» and the mysterious Godhead called «the Head that is unknown». Accordingly, Luzzatto implicitly elaborates on several Kabbalistic treatises on colors - the writings of the 13th-century Spanish Kabbalist Joseph Gikatilla, the Zohar as the main Kabbalistic work of the 13th century and its later commentary of the 16th Spanish Kabbalist Isaac Luria, transmitted by his pupil Chayym Vital - and argues that colors play an important role in knowing the esoteric mysteries of God.
In particular, Luzzatto implicitly employs the art of separating colors - chromotography - in order to provide a theoretical supplement to his doctrine of emanation. On the one hand, he emphasizes that humans are able to know according to both senses and intellect. On the other hand, he argues the the most hidden side of God cannot be known - especially maintaining that perceptions are deceiving. The nature of the supreme «Head» is apparently perceived by the sense of sight, and yet offers a contradicting assessment of reality. Therefore, Luzzatto draws a clear distinction between what can and cannot be perceived. Accordingly, he argues that «the Daw of Bedolach» contains «all colors together» and perpetually transmutes from one color into another, while the «Head» lays beyond a clear perception and is rather contradicting - therefore ultimately unknowable.
