elliot wolfson has published extensively in the area of jewish mysticism and philosophy in the medieval and modern eras. engaging the immense and complex corpus of kabbalistic texts critically, he also seeks to extend and transform this distinctive tradition of speculative thought. in so doing, he intersects with and contributes to a range of fields and disciplines, including philosophical hermeneutics, the history and phenomenology of religion, and theories of gender and eroticism.  books: The Book of the Pomegranate: Moses de Leon's Sefer ha-Rimmon. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988. Through a Speculum That Shines: Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism. Princeton , NJ: Princeton University Press. 1994.
Circle in the Square: Studies in the Use of Gender in Kabbalistic Symbolism. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1995. Along the Path: Studies in Kabbalistic Myth, Symbolism, and Hermeneutics. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1995. Abraham Aboulafia—Cabaliste et Prophète: Herméneutique, Théosophie, et Théurgie, translated by J.-F. Sené. Paris: Éditions de L'éclat, 1999. Abraham Abulafia—Kabbalist and Prophet: Hermeneutics, Theosophy, and Theurgy. Los Angeles: Cherub Press. 2000. Sprache, Eros, Dasein: Kabbalistische Hermeneutik und poetische Einbildungskraft, translated by D. Westerkamp. Berlin: Philo Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 2002. Language, Eros, Being: Kabbalistic Hermeneutics and Poetic Imagination. New York: Fordham University Press, 2005.
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 articles: "Left Contained in the Right: A Study in Zoharic Hermeneutics," Association for Jewish Studies Review 11 (1986): 27-52. "Circumcision and the Divine Name: A Study in the Transmission of Esoteric Doctrine," Jewish Quarterly Review 78 (1987): 77-112. "Circumcision, Vision of God, and Textual Interpretation: From Midrashic Trope to Mystical Symbol," History of Religions 27 (1987): 189-215. "Mystical-Theurgical Dimensions of Prayer in Sefer ha-Rimmon," in Approaches to Medieval Judaism, 3:41-80. Edited by D. R. Blumenthal. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988. "Light Through Darkness: The Ideal of Human Perfection in the Zohar," Harvard Theological Review 81 (1988): 73-95. "Mystical Rationalization of the Commandments in Sefer ha-Rimmon," Hebrew Union College Annual 59 (1988): 217-251. "The Hermeneutics of Visionary Experience: Revelation and Interpretation in the Zohar," Religion 18 (1988): 311-345.  "La hermenéutica de la experiencia visionaria: revelación e interpretación en el Zohar," Acta Poetica 9-10 (1989): 117-143. Reprinted in Ensayos sobre cábala y misticismo judío, 161-181. Edited by Y. T. Assis, M. Idel, and Y. L. Senkman. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Lilmod, 2006. "The Problem of Unity in the Thought of Martin Buber," Journal of the History of Philosophy 27 (1989): 419-439. "Anthropomorphic Imagery and Letter Symbolism in the Zohar," Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought 8 (1989): 147-181 (Hebrew). "By Way of Truth: Aspects of Nahmanides' Kabbalistic Hermeneutic," Association for Jewish Studies Review 14 (1989): 103-178. "Female Imaging of the Torah: From Literary Metaphor to Religious Symbol," in From Ancient Israel to Modern Judaism, Intellect In Quest of Understanding: Essays in Honor of Marvin Fox, 2: 271-307. Edited by J. Neusner, E. Frerichs, and N. Sarna. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989. "Letter Symbolism and Merkavah Imagery in the Zohar," in Alei Shefer: Studies in the Literature of Jewish Thought Presented to Rabbi Dr. Alexandre Safran, 195-236 (English section). Edited by M. Hallamish. Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan Press, 1990. "The Secret of the Garment in Nahmanides," Da‘at 24 (1990): 25-49 (English section). "God, the Intellect, and the Demiurge: On the Usage of the Word Kol in Abraham ibn Ezra," Revue des études juives 149 (1990): 77-111. "Merkavah Traditions in Philosophical Garb: Judah Halevi Reconsidered," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 57 (1990-1991): 179-242. "Hai Gaon's Letter and Commentary on ‘Aleynu: Further Evidence of R. Moses de León's Pseudepigraphic Activity," Jewish Quarterly Review 81 (1991): 365-410. "Images of God's Feet: Some Observations on the Divine Body in Judaism," in People of the Body: Jews and Judaism From An Embodied Perspective, 143-181. Edited by H. Eilberg-Schwartz. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992. "The Theosophy of Shabbetai Donnolo, with Special Emphasis on the Doctrine of Sefirot in Sefer Hakhmoni," Jewish History 6 (1992): 281-316. "The Influence of the Ari on the Shelah," Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought 10 (1992): 423-448 (Hebrew). "Yeridah la-Merkavah: Typology of Ecstasy and Enthronement in Early Jewish Mysticism," in Mystics of the Book: Themes, Topics, and Typologies, 13-44. Edited by R. Herrera. New York: Peter Lang, 1993. "Beautiful Maiden Without Eyes: Peshat and Sod in Zoharic Hermeneutics," in The Midrashic Imagination: Jewish Exegesis, Thought, and History, 155-203. Edited by M. Fishbane. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993. "The Tree That Is All: Jewish-Christian Roots of a Kabbalistic Symbol in Sefer ha- Bahir," Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 3 (1993): 31-76. "The Mystical Significance of Torah-Study in German Pietism," Jewish Quarterly Review 84 (1993): 43-78. "The Image of Jacob Engraved Upon the Throne: Further Speculation on the Esoteric Doctrine of the German Pietism," in Massu'ot Studies in Kabbalistic Literature and Jewish Philosophy in Memory of Prof. Ephraim Gottlieb, 131-185 (in Hebrew). Edited by M. Oron and A. Goldreich. Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 1994. "Forms of Visionary Ascent as Ecstatic Experience in the Zoharic Literature," in Gershom Scholem's Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism 50 Years After, 209-235. Edited by J. Dan and P. Schäfer. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1993. "Woman—The Feminine As Other in Theosophic Kabbalah: Some Philosophical Observations on the Divine Androgyne," in The Other in Jewish Thought and History: Constructions of Jewish Culture and Identity, 166-204. Edited by L. Silberstein and R. Cohn. New York: New York University Press, 1994. "Negative Theology and Positive Assertion in the Early Kabbalah," Da‘at 32-33 (1994): V-XXII. "Mysticism and the Poetic-Liturgical Compositions From Qumran ," Jewish Quarterly Review 85 (1994): 187-204. "Varieties of Jewish Mysticism: A Typological Analysis," in Mysticism and the Mystical Experience: East and West, 133-169. Edited by D. H. Bishop. Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press, 1995. "Weeping, Death, and Spiritual Ascent in Sixteenth-Century Jewish Mysticism," in Death, Ecstasy, and Other Worldly Journeys, 207-247. Edited by J. Collins and M. Fishbane. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995. "Metatron and Shi‘ ur Qomah in the Writings of Haside Ashkenaz," in Mysticism, Magic and Kabbalah in Ashkenazi Judaism, 60-92. Edited by K. Grözinger and J. Dan. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1995. "From Sealed Book to Open Text: Time, Memory, and Narrativity in Kabbalistic Hermeneutics," in Interpreting Judaism in a Postmodern Age, 145-178. Edited by S. Kepnes . New York: New York University Press, 1995. "On Becoming Female: Crossing Gender Boundaries in Kabbalistic Ritual and Myth," in Gender and Judaism, 209-228. Edited by T. M. Rudavsky. New York: New York University Press, 1995. "Crossing Gender Boundaries in Kabbalistic Ritual and Myth," in Ultimate Intimacy: The Psychodynamics of Jewish Mysticism, 255-337. Edited by M. Ostow. London: Karnac, 1995. Harper's Dictionary of Religion. Edited by W. S. Green. Entries: Baal Shem Tov; Devequt; Hitlahavut; Hasidism; Judaism, mysticism of; Lubavitch; Mitnaggedim; Torah Scroll; Zaddiq (1995). "Walking as a Sacred Duty: Theological Transformation of Social Reality in Early Hasidism," in Hasidism Reconsidered, 180-207. Edited by A. Rapoport-Albert. Oxford: Litman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1996. "The Doctrine of Sefirot in the Prophetic Kabbalah of Abraham Abulafia," Jewish Studies Quarterly 2 (1995): 336-371 and 3 (1996): 47-84. "Iconic Visualization and the Imaginal Body of God: The Role of Intention in the Rabbinic Conception of Prayer," Modern Theology 12 (1996): 137-162. "Traces of Philonic Doctrine in Medieval Jewish Mysticism: A Preliminary Note," The Studia Philonica Annual 8 (1996): 99-106. "Jewish Mysticism: A Philosophical Overview," in The Routledge History of Jewish Philosophy. Edited by D. H. Frank and O. Leaman. New York and London: Routledge, 1996. "The Face of Jacob in the Moon: Mystical Transformations of an Aggadic Myth," in The Seduction of Myth in Judaism: Challenge and Response, 235-270. Edited by S. Daniel Breslauer. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997. "Effacer l'effacement: sexe et écriture du corps divin dans le symbolisme kabbalistique," in Transmission et passages en monde juif, 65-97. Edited by E. Benbassa . Paris: PUBLISUD, 1997. "Coronation of the Sabbath Bride: Kabbalistic Myth and the Ritual of Androgynisation," Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 6 (1997): 301-344. "Facing the Effaced: Mystical Eschatology and the Idealistic Orientation in the Thought of Franz Rosenzweig," Zeitschrift für Neure Theologiegeschichte 4 (1997): 39-81. "Eunuchs Who Keep the Sabbath: Becoming Male and the Ascetic Ideal in Thirteenth- Century Jewish Mysticism," in Becoming Male in the Middle Ages, 151-185. Edited by J. J. Cohen and B. Wheeler. New York: Garland , 1997. "Tiqqun ha-Shekhinah: Redemption and the Overcoming of Gender Dimorphism in the Messianic Kabbalah of Moses Hayyim Luzzatto," History of Religions 36 (1997): 289-332. "Mystical Rationalization of the Commandments in the Prophetic Kabbalah of Abraham Abulafia," in Perspectives on Jewish Thought and Mysticism, 311-360. Edited by A. Ivry, A. Arkush, and E. R. Wolfson. Reading , 1998. "Hebraic and Hellenistic Conceptions of Wisdom in Sefer ha-Bahir," Poetics Today 19 (1998): 147-176. "Constructions of the Feminine in the Sabbatian Theology of Abraham Cardoso, with a Critical Edition of Derush ha-Shekhinah," Kabbalah: A Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts 3 (1998): 11-143. "Re/membering the Covenant: Memory, Forgetfulness, and History in the Zohar," in Jewish History and Jewish Memory: Essays in Honor of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, 214-246. Edited by E. Carlebach , D. S. Myers, and J. Efron. Hanover and London: Brandeis University Press, 1998. "The Engenderment of Messianic Politics: Symbolic Significance of Sabbatai Sevi's Coronation," in Toward the Millennium: Messianic Expectations From the Bible to Waco , 203-258. Edited by P. Schäfer and M. Cohen. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1998. "Fore/giveness On the Way: Nesting in the Womb of Response," Graven Images: Studies in Culture, Law, and the Sacred 4 (1998): 153-169. "Listening to Speak: A Response to Dialogues in Postmodern Jewish Philosophy," in S. Kepnes, P. Ochs, and R. Gibbs, Reasoning After Revelation: Dialogues in Postmodern Jewish Philosophy, 93-104. Boulder: Westview Press, 1998. "Le Tiqqun ha-Shekhinah: Rèdemption et rèsolution du dimorphisme sexuel dans la Kabbale messianique de Moïse Hayiim Louzzatto," Pardès 24 (1998): 51-93. "Occultation of the Feminine and the Body of Secrecy in Medieval Kabbalah," in Rending the Veil: Concealment and Revelation of Secrets in the History of Religions, 113-154. Edited by E. R. Wolfson. New York and London: Seven Bridges Press, 1999. "Sacred Space and Mental Iconography: Imago Templi and Contemplation in Rhineland Jewish Pietism," in Ki Baruch Hu: Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Judaic Studies in Honor of Baruch A. Levine, 593-634. Edited by R. Chazan, W. Hallo, and L. H. Schiffman. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1999. "Ontology, Alterity, and Ethics in Kabbalistic Anthropology, " Exemplaria 12 (2000): 129-155. "Gazing Beneath the Veil: Apocalyptic Envisioning the End," in Reinterpreting Revelation and Tradition: Jews and Christians in Conversation, 77-103. Edited by J. T. Pawlikowski, O.S.M., and H. G. Perelmuter. Franklin: Sheed & Ward, 2000. "Megillat 'Emet we-'Emunah: Contemplative Visualization and Mystical Unknowing," Kabbalah: A Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts 5 (2000): 55-110. "Beyond the Spoken Word: Oral Tradition and Written Transmission in Medieval Jewish Mysticism," in Transmitting Jewish Traditions: Orality, Textuality and Cultural Diffusion, 166-224. Edited by Y. Elman and I. Gershoni. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2000. "Judaism and Incarnation: The Imaginal Body of God," in Christianity in Jewish Terms, 239-254. Edited by T. Frymer-Kensky, D. Novak, P. Ochs, and M. Signer. Boulder: Westview Press, 2000. "Lying on the Path: Translation and the Transport of Sacred Texts," AJS Perspectives 3 (2001): 8-13. "Martyrdom, Eroticism, and Asceticism in Twelfth-Century Ashkenazi Piety, "in Jews and Christians in Twelfth-Century Europe , 171-220. Edited by J. Van Engen and M. Signer. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2001. "Phantasmagoria: The Image of the Image in Jewish Magic from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages," in The Review of Rabbinic Judaism: Ancient, Medieval, Modern 4 (2001): 78-120. "Messianism in the Christian Kabbalah of Johann Kemper," in Millenarianism and Messianism in the Early Modern European Culture: Jewish Messianism in the Early Modern World, 139-187. Edited by M. D. Goldish and R. H. Popkin. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001. "Moisés de León y el Zohar," in Pensamiento y Mística Hispanojudía y Sefardí, 165-192. Cuenca: Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 2001. "Gender and Heresy in Kabbalah Scholarship," Kabbalah: A Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts 6 (2002): 231-262 (Hebrew). "Before Alef/Where Beginnings End," in Beginning/Again: Towards a Hermeneutics of Jewish Texts, 135-161. Edited by A. Cohen and S. Magid. New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2002. "Beyond Good and Evil: Hypernomianism, Transmorality, and Kabbalistic Ethics," in Crossing Boundaries: Ethics, Antinomianism and the History of Mysticism, pp. 103-156. Edited by J. J. Kripal and W. Barnard. New York and London: Seven Bridges Press, 2002. "The Cut That Binds: Time, Memory, and the Ascetic Impulse," in God's Voice From the Void: Old and New Studies in Bratslav Hasidism, 103-154. Edited by S. Magid. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002. "Divine Suffering and the Hermeneutics of Reading: Philosophical Reflections on Lurianic Mythology," in Suffering Religion, 101-162. Edited by R. Gibbs and E. R. Wolfson. New York and London: Routledge, 2002. "Assaulting the Border: Kabbalistic Traces in the Margins of Derrida," Journal of the American Academy of Religion 70 (2002): 475-514. "Mirror of Nature Reflected in the Symbolism of Medieval Kabbalah," in Judaism and Ecology: Created World and Revealed Word, 305-331. Edited by Hava Tirosh- Samuelson. Cambridge , Mass.: Harvard University , Press, 2002. "Asceticism and Eroticism in Medieval Jewish Philosophical and Mystical Exegesis of the Song of Songs," in With Reverence for the Word: Medieval Scriptural Exegesis in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, 92-118. Edited by J. D. McAuliffe, B. D. Walfish, and J. W. Goering. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. "Circumcision, Secrecy, and the Veiling of the Veil: Phallomorphic Exposure and Kabbalistic Esotericism," in The Covenant of Circumcision: New Perspectives on an Ancient Jewish Rite, 58-70. Edited by E. W. Mark. Hanover and London: Brandeis University Press, 2003. "Seven Mysteries of Knowledge: Qumran E/sotericism Reconsidered," in The Idea of Biblical Interpretation: Essays in Honor of James L. Kugel, 173-213. Edited by H. Najman. Leiden: Brill, 2003. "Hermeneutics of Light in Medieval Kabbalah," in The Presence of Light: Divine Radiance and Religious Experience, 105-118. Edited by M. T. Kapstein. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2004. "Beneath the Wings of the Great Eagle: Maimonides and Thirteenth-Century Kabbalah," in Moses Maimonides (1138-1204)—His Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Wirkungsgeschichte in Different Cultural Contexts, 209-237. Edited by G. K. Hasselhoff and Otfried Fraisse. Würzburg: Ergon Verlag, 2004. "Iconicity of the Text: Reification of the Torah and the Idolatrous Impulse of Zoharic Kabbalah," Jewish Studies Quarterly 11 (2004): 215-242. "Text, Context, Pretext: A Review Essay of Yehuda Liebes's ‘Ars Poetica in Sefer Yetsirah'," Studia Philonica Annual 16 (2004): 218-228. "Biblical Accentuation in a Mystical Key: Kabbalistic Interpretation of the Te‘amim," Journal of Jewish Music and Liturgy 11 (1988): 1-16; 12 (1989): 1-13. Reprinted in Essays of Jewish Music and Prayer: Commemorating the Jubilee Year of the Philip and Sarah Belz School of Jewish Music, 90-118. Edited by M. Nulman. New York: Philip and Sarah Belz School of Jewish Music, 2005. "The Body in the Text: A Kabbalistic Theory of Embodiment," Jewish Quarterly Review 95 (2005): 479-500. "Language, Secrecy, and the Mysteries of Law: Theurgy and the Christian Kabbalah of Johannes Reuchlin," Kabbalah: A Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts 13 (2005): 7-41. "Mythopoeic Imagination and the Hermeneutic Bridging of Temporal Spacing: A Note on Fishbane's Biblical Myth and Rabbinic Mythmaking," Jewish Quarterly Review 96 (2006): 233-238. "New Jerusalem Glowing: Songs and Poems of Leonard Cohen in a Kabbalistic Key," Kabbalah: A Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts 15 (2006): 103-152. "Suffering Eros and Textual Incarnation: A Kristevan Reading of Kabbalistic Poetics," in Toward a Theology of Eros: Transfiguring Passion at the Limits of Discipline, edited by V. Burrus and C. Keller, 341-365. New York: Fordham University Press, 2006. "Beschneidung, Gottesvision und Textinterpretation Vom Midrasch-Tropus zum mystischen Symbol," Analytische Psychologie: Zeitschrift für Psychotherapie und Psychoanalyse 146 (2006): 369-405. "La hermenéutica de la experiencia visionaria: revelación e interpretación en el Zohar," Acta Poetica 9-10 (1989): 117-143. Reprinted in Ensayos sobre cábala y misticismo judío, 161-181. Edited by Y. T. Assis, M. Idel, and Y. L. Senkman. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Lilmod, 2006. "Secrecy, Modesty, and the Feminine: Kabbalistic Traces in the Thought of Levinas," Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 14 (2006): 195-224. "Inscribed in the Book of the Living: Gospel of Truth and Jewish Christology," Journal for the Study of Judaism 38 (2007): 234-271. "Imago Templi and the Meeting of the Two Seas: Liturgical Time-Space and the Feminine Imaginary in Zoharic Kabbalah," RES 51 (2007): 121-135. "Angelic Embodiment and the Feminine Representation of Jesus: Reconstructing Carnality in the Christian Kabbalah of Johann Kemper," in The "Jewish Body" in the Early Modern Period. Edited by M. Diemling and G. Veltri, 395-426. Leiden: Brill, 2007. "Structure, Innovation, and Diremptive Temporality: The Use of Models to Study Continuity and Discontinuity in Kabbalistic Tradition," Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies 18 (2007): 143-167. "Oneiric Imagination and Mystical Annihilation in Habad Hasidism," ARC, The Journal of the Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University 35 (2007): 131-157. "Via Negativa in Maimonides and Its Impact on Thirteenth-Century Kabbalah," Maimonidean Studies 5 (2008): 363-412. "Kenotic Overflow and Temporal Transcendence: Angelic Embodiment and the Alterity of Time in Abraham Abulafia," Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts 18 (2008): 133-190. "Murmuring Secrets: Eroticism and Esotericism in Medieval Kabbalah," in Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in the History of Western Esotericism, edited by J. Kripal and W. Hanegraff, 65-109. Leiden: Brill, 2008. "Revisioning the Body Apophatically: Incarnation and the Acosmic Naturalism of Habad Hasidism," in Apophatic Bodies: Infinity, Ethics, and Incarnation. Edited by C. Boesel and C. Keller. New York: Fordham University Press, 2009. "Sage Is Preferable to Prophet': Revisioning Midrashic Imagination," in Scriptural Exegesis: The Shapes of Culture and the Religious Imagination: A Festschrift in Honor of Michael Fishbane. Edited by D. A. Green and L. S. Lieber. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. "Secret of the Secret: Esotericism in Menachem Mendel Schneerson's Kabbalah," in Reaching for the Infinite: The Lubavitcher Rebbe—Life, Teachings, and Impact. Edited by N. Loewenthal , L. H. Schiffman, and E. R. Wolfson. "Judaic Mystical Literature of Late Antiquity." Judaism in Late Antiquity. Volume Four. Special Topics: Death, Afterlife, Resurrection, and the World to Come. Edited by A. J. Avery-Peck and J. Neusner. Encyclopedia of Women and World Religion. Edited by Serenity Young. Macmillan Reference. Entries on "Divinity" and "Torah." Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Oxford University Press. Entries on "Heikhalot Literature" and "Kabbalah." |