Extension:Ex-1.6.5
Rabbi Natan Note ben Shelomoh Shapira (1585-1633), who served as the head of a private yeshivah in Kraków from 1617, was one of the most important Polish rabbis and kabbalists of his generation. He wrote about 15 works of mainstream rabbinical scholarship as well as Kabbalah, only some of which were ever printed.
His most famous book – after which he is often called – is Megaleh ‘Amuḳot, which was first published in Kraków in 1637, a few years after his death at a relatively young age. In the preface to the book, his sons wrote about the nature of their father’s pursuits, describing him as having broad horizons as well as a mastery of “the entire Torah, the revealed and the hidden, astronomy and philosophy, and Kabbalah […] he knew all these by heart.” He was active in the public sphere in the realm of Torah learning as the yeshiva head and preacher at large public gatherings; and in the practical sphere of public leadership “he governed mightily in the illustrious city of Kraków.” He is also described as a philanthropist and propertied man, this allowing him to engage in Torah study unencumbered by financial concerns and to manage public affairs even-handedly.
Shapira’s kabbalistic activity manifested both in his lifestyle and in the teachings that he put into writing and delivered orally in his sermons. His sons describe him as one who rises at midnight, according to kabbalistic custom, “belting out songs, dirges and wails on the destruction of the Temple and the glorious city [Jerusalem] which had been set on fire, forlorn and bereaved […] and singing hymns in the melody sung by the highest seraphim in the third watch of the night.” According to his sons, Shapira had the privilege of receiving a communication from a wondrous medium “when there appeared to him one time a man clothed in a garment made entirely of hair, and told him these things.” In addition, his public sermons, which he delivered on the Sabbath and on holidays, integrated “sweet and incisive interpretations, deep mystical secrets, [exegesis of] letters, cantillation marks, and vowels,” – in other words, Talmudic pilpulistic interpretations informed by mystical kabbalistic lore.
His son, Shelomo, describes his father’s innovative interpretations of Kabbalah, writing that “he pondered and investigated, and prepared treatises on the topic of Kabbalah.” Shapira’s book Megaleh ‘Amuḳot comprises 252 homilies that revolve around Moses’s prayer: “Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly hill-country, and Lebanon” (Deuteronomy 3:5). These homilies include interpretations concerning Moses, derived from the diverse kabbalistic literature that Shapira had before him. This book is one of the most influential works whose impact on Eastern European preachers lasted for generations. It reflects a variety of kabbalistic sermons, some of which most certainly were delivered in the synagogue in front of an audience.
The homiletic style that was popular in Eastern Europe is neither a work of exegesis, nor a set of systematic explications that follow a specific kabbalistic method or approach. Like the Talmudic pilpul, the homiletic style combines a variety of novel comments into a lengthy, creative disquisition. In his homilies, Shapira cites a wealth of kabbalistic works as he forges original kabbalistic ideas and sermons. In his writings, he combines ideas from Rabbinic literature, with hermetic and kabbalistic themes from the Hekhalot literature, the Zoharic literature, and other works such as Sefer Sodei Razia, Sefer ha-Temunah, Recanati’s commentary on the Torah, Sefer ha-Peli’ah, Pardes Rimonim, and Lurianic Kabbalah. These writings reflect a compilation of the variety of kabbalistic literature that was available in print and in manuscript form. Thus, for example, Shapira develops the idea of the transmigration of Moses’ soul, following Yitsḥaḳ Luria’s ideas, but also adopts elsewhere the historical approach of Sefer ha-Temunah, to which Luria’s vehemently objected, and follow its lead in his own creations.[1] In one case, he writes “this secret was revealed to me in a night vision on Shabbat Bereshit, 1610”[2] – and the content represents a fusion of two ideas from the book Pirḳei Hekhalot and Sefer Tiḳunei ha-Zohar, which illuminate Moses’s figure as the deliverer of the Torah.
Shapira’s kabbalistic homiletics indicate the way in which kabbalists in Eastern Europe freely drew on kabbalistic texts to compose their own original creations. His work also suggests the role that the Kabbalah played in the public sphere, as an important textual resource for oral sermons and written homiletic creativity.
(Translated from Hebrew by Ilana Goldberg)