Abraham Abulafia on the Messiah and the Pope^†

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The author invested appropriately in anonymizing the manuscript, but the results were not complete, an understandable shortage considering the fact that the author is one of the greatest authorities in this field. His identity is revealed in fn 62 (my Language, Tora...), 81 (my studies in Ecstatic Kabbalah), 84, ...

In lines 328-9, another structural difficulty is revealed: "and we shall revert to this issue in ch. 7 below". This sentence is reminiscent of the author's last major books dedicated to the topic of Abraham Abulafia's Esotericism. This, at some point, raises the concern of self-plagiarism. However, reading the entire paper and knowing well the previous monograph published back in 2020, I can confirm that the paper offers a significant further step in the argument, although it still involves some reminiscences that must be edited out of the text.

I have almost no comment on the text itself. It is well-written and well-argued. A few typos will be easily removed when proofreading. Note that in fn. 50, the Hebrew text is corrupted and must be corrected.

One remark regards the author's argument on p. 14 that Abulafia's engagement with a Christian scholar was not an exception in Italy at that time. The author refers only to two papers by Sermoneta and Rigo about Moses of Salerno. However, the phenomenon is well known, especially in Italy, and if one limits himself to the 13th century, then the most exemplary case will be that of Anatoli at the court of Frederek II discussing matters with Frederek and Michel Scott. As the author knows very well, Abulafia is acquainted with at least one tradition connected to this circle: the famous infant experiment.

Author Response

I attach the corrected version of my article, which takes in serious considerations the remarks of readers,  I removed the overlapping and added reference to additional contacts sof Jews and Christians in 13th southern Italy, as well as a reference to Eliiot R. Wolfson's. consideration of the entire story as the figment of Abulafia's imagination. 

All the best，

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This article involves new material on a subject that the author has already deal with in the past (AJS Review vol. 7-8, rep. in Studies in Ectsatic Kabbalah, both in the hebrew).

Author Response

I attach the corrected version of my article, which takes in serious considerations the remarks of readers,  I removed the overlapping and added reference to additional contacts sof Jews and Christians in 13th southern Italy, as well as a reference to Eliiot R. Wolfson's. consideration of the entire story as the figment of Abulafia's imagination. 

All the best，

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article expands on the goal of Abulafia's intended encounter with the Pope, which has been variously divined by scholars. It offers an interpretation based on the contextualization of the kabbalist's few words on this specific topic within his conception of Judaism and religion more generally.

 

The author's argument is convincingly supported by a wealth of primary sources, although some Abulafian passages that betray a more particularistic, anti-Gentile stance, may have been adduced for nuance.

 

The argument advanced by the author is not novel, as evidenced by the large number of references to studies on closely related topics published by the author himself. It is however developed comprehensively in a focused study, which makes the article valuable.

 

To improve the quality of the manuscript, some specific considerations are in order:

 

- For the sake of comprehensiveness, it might be advisable to spell out, alongside the other scholarly opinions about Abulafia’s intentions in meeting the Pope, Wolfson’s contention that this whole enterprise was just the kabbalist’s own fantasy.

 

- The line of the argumentation in some sections is hindered by either seemingly unrelated references (for example, to Lessing in lines 484-9, to R. Asher’s poem in line 439, to a “chapter 7 below” in line 329, or to an article in The Forward in note 74) or by insufficient clarification of certain claims—such as the notion that Nahmanides’ messianic narrative counteracts Christian claims in lines 62-3.

 

- There is a certain degree of internal repetition that appears unnecessary. For example, lines 339-56 repeat almost verbatim lines 76-85. 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

A number of sentences appear—at least to this reader—unclear or tortuously structured: for example, lines 91-2, 140-4, 197-9, 241-3, 251-4, 307-8, 363-4.

 

Perhaps breaking down certain longer sentences into smaller ones, and limiting loosely related digressions would be advisable.

Author Response

I attach the corrected version of my article, which takes in serious considerations the remarks of readers,  I removed the overlapping and added reference to additional contacts sof Jews and Christians in 13th southern Italy, as well as a reference to Eliiot R. Wolfson's. consideration of the entire story as the figment of Abulafia's imagination. 

All the best，

Author Response File: Author Response.docx