Table of Contents: Ariel Kopilovitz Ezekiel's Theology of Holiness and Impurity as a Key to Understanding the Description of the Departure of the 'Glory of YHWH' from the Temple (Ezekiel 8-11) Nadav Na'aman The Story of the Exodus between Historical Memory and Historiographical Composition Gideon Bohak A New Genizah Fragment of the Aramaic Levi Document Binyamin Katzoff Blessings over Mitzvot in Eretz Israel and in Babylonia: Further to David Rosenthal, 'Tefillin Blessing in Eretz Israel and in Babylonia' Yacov Fuchs MS Mantova 30 Itamar Kislev 'Exegesis in Perpetual Motion': The Short Commentary of Ibn Ezra as a Source for Rashbam in his Commentary on the Pentateuch Aviram Ravitsky The Doctrine of the Mean and Asceticism: On the Uniformity of Maimonides' Ethics Moshe Idel Sefer Yetzirah: Twelve Commentaries on Sefer Yetzirah and the Extant Remnants of R. Isaac of Bedresh's Commentary Maoz Kahana How did the Hatam-Sofer Seek to Trump Spinoza? Text, Hermeneutics, and Romanticism in the Writings of R. Moses Sofer

Tarbiz is the only Hebrew academic journal that is devoted to the entire range of Jewish studies. Appearing quarterly, this journal is the principal forum for the expression of the most important developments in Jewish studies in our generation, and its contributors include the leading scholars in the various fields of Jewish studies in Israel and the world, as well as young scholars who are beginning to make their mark. Tarbiz was first published in 1930 at the Institute of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, under the editorial pen of Prof. Jacob Nachum Epstein z"l.

This study describes the mystical experience, a central issue in Rabbi Abraham Abulafia’s work. The author stresses the significance of Abulafia’s writing in medieval Jewish mysticism, and the ambivalent approaches toward him. Abulafia calls his theory by two names: ‘Prophetic Kabbalah’, the ecstatic Kabbalah, and ‘Kabbalah of Names’, which focuses on letter combinations of holy names. Ecstatic Kabbalah is distinguished by its aim as well as the technique for obtaining it. The ecstatic Kabbalists strive to experience revelation and near unison with God, by movement, the enunciation of letters, breathing exercises, and music. Abulafia often describes this experience using erotic imagery. This edition includes an additional chapter, a survey of Gershom Scholem’s approach, which situates Abulafia within the general Kabbalah discipline.