Medieval alchemy, Kabbalah and Islamic esotericism

Azriel of Gerona

The Gerona kabbalist who argued the sefirot into existence philosophically. His Commentary on the Ten Sefirot answers objections rather than reporting a tradition, and the argument it makes is Neoplatonic through and through.

Dates: c. 1160 – c. 1238
Dating: approximate dates
Born: Gerona
Died: Gerona

The life

A student of the Provençal circle around Isaac the Blind, writing in Catalonia alongside Ezra of Gerona and Nachmanides.

Place in the tradition

This is the join. Emanation arrives as Greek philosophy in Arabic dress; it leaves Gerona as ten divine potencies with Hebrew names, defended by argument. Ein-Sof gets its settled sense here.

a note on the record

History and later legend

Azriel and Ezra of Gerona were long confused with one another, and several works have been attributed to each in turn.

the written record

Principal works

first half of the 13th century

Commentary on the Ten Sefirot

Perush Eser Sefirot

Thirteen questions and answers, written to defend the sefirot against the objection that a perfectly simple God can have no parts. The defence is Neoplatonic and the vocabulary is kabbalistic, which is the moment the two become one thing.