430) Did Yehuda Halevi contribute to the theurgy of Kabbalah?

Sefer haKuzari with the Kol Yehuda commentary by R. Yehuda Moscato. 

Introduction

This article, based extensively on the research by Dr Avishai Bar-Asher,[1] examines how R. Yehuda Halevi (1075-c.1141) − the great Spanish physician, poet, philosopher and author of the Kuzari  − may not only have contributed to medieval Kabbalah but may have introduced parts of its theurgical elements. 

[Note: Theurgy is almost a magical approach to mysticism, where, by doing certain actions and rituals, or by reciting certain formulas, one can influence the Divine Being. This is as opposed to Theosophy, which is more of a theoretical study of mystical concepts without necessarily trying to influence the cosmos.] 

305) THE EARLIEST VIEWS ON THE ORIGINS OF KABBALAH:

 

First edition of R. Menachem Recanati's commentary on the Torah (Venice, 1523)

INTRODUCTION:

We have previously looked at the origins of the Zohar, one of (modern[1]) Kabbalah’s foundational works, which first emerged around 1290.  The traditional view is that it was authored by R. Shimon bar Yochai, a second-century Tannaic sage; whereas historical evidence, as well as some rabbinic sources, point to its author being R. Moshe de León (1240-1305). The latter claimed to have found the writings of R. Shimon bar Yochai from a thousand years earlier and simply published[2] them in the Zohar. Either way, the Zohar only surfaced at around 1290.

This article, based extensively on the research of Professor Oded Yisraeli^[3] explores how three of the earliest mystics explained the origins of the Kabbalah in general.

Yisraeli takes an interesting tack because instead of relying on later scholarship, he focuses on early contemporaneous mystical sources which attempt to explain the origins of Kabbalah to other mystics. His research led him to uncover three primary yet divergent views on when and where Kabbalah originated.