Esoteric and Exoteric Aspects in Judeo-Arabic Culture.

• Author: Wechsler, Michael G.

Esoteric and Exoteric Aspects in Judeo-Arabic Culture. Edited by BENJAMIN H. HARY AND HAGGAI BEN SHAMMAI. Etudes sur le judaism medieval, vol. 33. Leiden: BRILL, 2006. Pp. xi + 338. [euro]90.

This volume is an excellent collection of twelve selected papers from the ninth conference of the Society for Judaeo-Arabic Studies held at Emory University, Atlanta, in 1999. A broad variety of topics are addressed in these papers and many important conclusions advanced. Due to the restriction of space and in view of this writer's areas of strength, however, the present review shall focus on four of the papers in this volume, three of which are concerned primarily with issues of grammar, lexicography, biblical exegesis, or text criticism.

To begin, we would venture a brief critique of one aspect of the provocative paper by David R. Blumenthal ("Philosophic Mysticism: The Ultimate Goal of Medieval Judaism"), in which he analyzes several passages in Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed and Misneh Torn and concludes that the ultimate goal of human existence in the great doctor's conception was not just the union of good praxis (halaka) and correct gnosis (de'd), but in fact the attainment of a "post-intellectual mystical state" within and beyond the union of good praxis and correct gnosis, "which is the true, absolute, pure worship of God" (p. 16)--or, as Blumenthal terms it, "philosophic mysticism." Notwithstanding Blumenthal's obvious mastery of the material, there would seem to be some ambiguity in his presentation of the precise relationship between "intellectual love of God (Heb. ahava, Ar. mahabba)" and "the post-intellectual love, or worship, of God (Heb. avoda, Ar. 'ibada)," (p. 9), which Maimonides holds to be the goal of human existence. Is this final stage of "pure worship," or "philosophic mysticism," exclusive of the intellectual apprehension (gnosis/dea) of God or inclusive of such? Both views appear to be supported by Blumenthal's statements at various points. Supporting the former, for example, he writes that, according to Maimonides, "love of God is intellectual, rational, analytic, and philosophic while worship [by which Blumenthal apparently means the "post intellectual" state of "pure worship"] of God is spiritual, meditative, experiential, and mystical" (p. 10). In support of the latter view, on the other hand, he writes concerning the select few (al-fudala) who are prepared for that final state of "pure worship" that "their intellect...