Personal profile
About Me
My research has focused on Jewish mysticism in Europe in the middle ages, in Ashkenaz, Provence, Gerona and Castile. I have published a number of editions of texts from the Early Kabbalah and a series of articles on divine hypostases and angelic figures, tracing traditions from rabbinic times through the Spanish Expulsion. I have published a number of studies on the meanings of the masculine and feminine in kabbalistic literature and a book that discusses for the first time the positive description of the subjective and embodied experience of the divine female body in kabbalistic literature. I have published a number of studies on the Zohar showing that it was not composed as a book but rather was edited as such at a much later date. More recently, I published a book of textual scholarship and methodologies of kabbalistic research in light of the wide-spread phenomenon of textual fluidity in Kabbalah and the existence of multiple versions with which that the editor and academic interpreter of these texts works. Since 1996 I have served as editor of ‘Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts’.
Education/Academic qualification
PhD
Jan 1989 → Jan 1993
Award Date: 1 Jan 1993
Research
- Fields of Interest
- Medieval Jewish mysticism (Ashkenaz, Provence, Gerona, Castile)
- Early Kabbalah text editions
- Divine hypostases and angelic figures
- Gender in Kabbalistic literature (masculine and feminine)
- Embodied divine female experience in Kabbalah
- Zohar composition and editorial history
- Textual fluidity and multiple versions in Kabbalah
- Methodologies in Kabbalah research
- תחומי מחקר
- מיסטיקה יהודית בימי הביניים (אשכנז, פרובאנס, גירונה, קסטיליה)
- מהדורות טקסטים של קבלה קדומה
- היפוסטזות אלוהיות ודמויות מלאכיות
- מגדר בספרות הקבלית (זכריות ונשיות)
- חוויית הגוף הנשי האלוהי בקבלה
- חיבור ועריכה של ספר הזוהר
- ריבוי נוסחים וזרימת טקסטים בקבלה
- מתודולוגיה של מחקר טקסטים קבליים
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A literary history of numbered short-form texts of Kabbalah: the ordering of kabbalistic secrets
Abrams, D., 2025, In: Kabbalah; Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts. 59, p. 67-108 42 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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An unresolved Oedipal Complex with the divine mother a psychoanalytic reading of the writings of Joseph Hamadan
Abrams, D., 2025, In: Kabbalah; Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts. 60, p. 81-108 28 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Androcentric readings of Kabbalistic texts by Kabbalists: delimiting the polysemia of Kabbalistic writings
Abrams, D., 2024, New Paths in Jewish and Religious Studies. p. 255-265 11 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Compiling Kabbalistic Secrets after the Spanish Expulsion: A History of Shushan Sodot and the Manuscripts Produced in Early Modern Ashkenaz
Abrams, D., 31 Dec 2024, In: Aschkenas. 34, 2, p. 271-289 19 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Kabbalistic medieval and post-medieval Aramaic books
Abrams, D., 2024, Jewish Languages and Book Culture. p. 49-67 19 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Kabbalah research in the Schocken Institute
Abrams, D. (Participation - Conference participant)
7 Jun 2016Activity: Participating in or organizing an event › Organizing a conference, workshop, ...
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Hidden Creation: Kabbalah and Art
Abrams, D. (Participation - Conference participant)
1 Jun 2016Activity: Participating in or organizing an event › Organizing a conference, workshop, ...
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Conference: Zohar East to West
Abrams, D. (Participation - Conference participant)
28 Dec 2015 → 30 Dec 2015Activity: Participating in or organizing an event › Organizing a conference, workshop, ...
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Conference at the National Library of Israel
Abrams, D. (Participation - Conference participant)
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Gershom Scholem (1897-1982): Life and Work
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17 Jul 2013 → 19 Jul 2013Activity: Participating in or organizing an event › Organizing a conference, workshop, ...