Houghton-Medieval Studies Lecture in Early Book History: "Philosophy, Pedagogy, Prophecy, and the Enigmatic Origins of Ilanot"
Houghton Library and the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies present Dr. Yossi Chajes on "Philosophy, Pedagogy, Prophecy, and the Enigmatic Origins of Ilanot.”
In the fourteenth century, Jewish mystics began producing parchment sheets inscribed with arboreal diagrams that mapped the kabbalistic Godhead: ilanot (trees). Rather than serving merely as pedagogical charts designed to introduce beginners to Kabbalah, these iconotexts represent a sophisticated convergence of medieval visual culture and esoteric practice. Exploring the genre’s enigmatic origins, this lecture examines its previously unstudied foundational artifacts, revealing the early ilan as a unique synthesis of systematic theology, philosophical speculation, and ecstatic trance.
The lecture starts promptly at 5:30 PM.
J. H. (Yossi) Chajes (Ph.D., Yale University, 1999) is Sir Isaac Wolfson Professor of Jewish Thought at the University of Haifa. His scholarship explores the intersections of Kabbalah, magic, and science in Jewish cultural history—from dybbuks, exorcism, and Jewish attitudes toward magic to the visualization of knowledge (including his co-edited The Visualization of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, 2020). His most recent book, The Kabbalistic Tree (Penn State University Press, 2022), won the 2023 Jordan Schnitzer Book Prize (AJS) and was a 2024 National Jewish Book Award finalist; he also directs the Ilanot Project, supported by major competitive research funding, which is building Maps of God (ilanot.org) for the study and digital publication of kabbalistic diagrams.
Image: Detail, MS O Hebr. 33:3, Uppsala University Library.
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Hands-On Workshops
Join Dr. Yossi Chajes for "Reading the Tree: A Hands-On Workshop in Ilanot Manuscripts."
This hands-on workshop centers on three major ilanot manuscripts on exclusive loan to the seminar from the Klau Library (HUC–JIR, Cincinnati): an early witness of the Magnificent Parchment (a pinnacle of the classical ilanot tradition); an extraordinary rotulus among the earliest extant “Great Trees” of the Lurianic school; and a highly imaginative ilan visualizing Saruqian cosmogonic teachings. Our close examination will be enriched by comparative consultation of kabbalistic works at Houghton, highlighting the visual repertoires these manuscripts adapt to map divine topography and the emanatory chain of being. This workshop will be offered twice on Thursday, February 26 at Houghton. Follow the links for more information and to register for the morning session or the afternoon session.
We encourage persons with disabilities who would like to request accommodations or have questions about physical access to contact us.
