Judah Ḥayyat

Judah ben Jacob ḥayyat was a Spanish kabbalist of some stature, probably originally from Castile. Following the exile of the Jews from Spain, ḥayyat endured great sufferings, which he relates in the autobiographical account found in the introduction to Minḥat Yehudah (The Offering of Judah), his commentary on the late thirteenth-century kabbalistic work, Ma‘arekhet ha-elohut (The Divine Hierarchy). According to his account, for months the ship on which he left Lisbon was not allowed to dock at any port, until it was captured by pirates. When it finally reached Málaga, the Spanish authorities refused to allow the Jews to disembark or receive provisions unless they agreed to convert, and ḥayyat’s wife subsequently died of hunger. ḥayyat eventually arrived in Africa, but there too he experienced persecution and dire poverty. After many wanderings, he settled in Mantua. In his correspondence with another Spanish kabbalist, Joseph Alcastiel, ḥayyat posed questions on various topics, among them the reincarnation of the soul. His commentary on Ma‘arekhet ha-elohut, written at the request of Joseph Jabez, influenced many generations of kabbalists.