Harvey (Chaim) Hames | Ben Gurion University of the Negev

Harvey (Chaim) Hames

Ben Gurion University of the Negev, General History, Faculty Member

Ben Gurion University of the Negev, General History, Faculty Member |

I am interested in all aspects of medieval and modern religious polemics, interaction and dialogue, as well as Jewish, Christian and Muslim mysticism (whatever that last term may mean), apocalypticism and anything else that takes my fancy.

I have published articles and a book about Ramon Llull (ca. 1232-1316) and his interaction with Jews (and Muslims) particularly with Kabbalistic ideas and how he used them to try and convince Jews of the truth of Christianity (see The Art of Conversion). I have also delved into the fascinating, yet crazy, world of the ecstatic Kabbalist, Abraham Abulafia (end of 1239- ca. 1291) and his relations with Franciscans who were interested in the Calabrian abbot, Joachim of Fiore's teachings (see Like Angels on Jacob's Ladder). I have looked at a text dealing with a supposed ritual murder (in Bristol), engaged with figures like Alfonso de Valladolid / Abner of Burgos (one and the same person), and famous disputations such as Paris 1240 and Barcelona 1263 (I am still very interested in the latter which I think has been misunderstood, to a certain degree, by scholarship) and other such fascinating bits and pieces.

I have completed an edition and translation (into English) of a Hebrew translation of Ramon Llull's Ars brevis (his most popular work judging by the manuscripts written in 1308) carried out in Senigallia in 1474, and then copied and re-copied within two years. The colophon of the extant copy is very interesting and suggests that a circle of Jewish scholars viewed this work "short in quantity, but great in quality" as a way of achieving unio mystica.

I am working on the first extant complete translation of the four gospels into Hebrew which, it turns out, was not from Latin as might have been expected, but from Catalan. This fascinating translation is probably from the end of the fourteenth or early fifteenth century. The volume will appear in the Corpus Biblicum Catalanicum, and will contain the Hebrew text, a modern Catalan translation along with detailed notes, a glossary and introduction.

I have written a non-academic book for the educated public in Israel (in Hebrew) entitled, I (do not) Believe: Judaism and Israel - past, present, future, which can be bought as an electronic book as well (http://mendele.co.il/?p=4458).

Currently, I am working on the issue of religious polemics from Paris 1240 to the Disputation of Tortosa re-examining the motives and context of this Christian-Jewish interaction, and am writing a book about God, Monotheism and Religion [a sort of companion book to I (do not) Believe].

I am the Director of the Center for the Study of Conversion and Inter-Religious Encounters (I-CORE) which has received funding for five years (2013-2018) and is based at Ben-Gurion University (http://in.bgu.ac.il/en/csoc/Pages/default.aspx)

As of the 1st August 2018, I am no longer the Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, but have been elected Rector (Provost) of the university. Sadly, this means that most of the ongoing projects above are on hold for the time being....

less

645 Followers | 220 Following | 4 Co-authors | —Total Views

Books

L’art de la conversió. El cristianisme i la càbala en el segle XIII

A Catalan translation of The Art of Conversion with a new preface and updated bibliography

Ha-Melacha ha-Ketzara. A Hebrew Translation of Ramon Llull’s Ars Brevis

Ramon Llull completed the Ars breuis in 1308. This short but very popular work extant in over sev... more Ramon Llull completed the Ars breuis in 1308. This short but very popular work extant in over seventy manuscripts was a concise and much more easily digestible version of the much longer Ars generalis ultima, the final redaction of Llull’s Art. In Senigallia in the March of Ancona in July or August 1474, the Ars breuis was translated into Hebrew and then copied twice over the next couple of years. The colophon of the latter copy shows that these Jewish students of the Ars breuis used the work to attain unio mystica. This seems to be a unique example of a Christian work, described as being ”short in quantity but great in quality”, knowingly being used by Jews for mystical purposes.

The translator and copyists seem to have read and understood Llull’s work through the prism of Abulafian Kabbalah. Abraham Abulafia (d. ca. 1291), a contemporary of Llull’s, wrote numerous works dealing with the divine names and the combination of letters. He believed that the whole Torah was the names of God, and by manipulating the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, one could have knowledge of the divine and created world. This Jewish circle seemed to have understood the letters of the Lullian alphabet and the various combinations and compartments of the Ars breuis as leading to true mystical cognition.

This volume presents the Hebrew edition together with the original Latin (based on a slightly revised edition of ROL 12 / CC CM 38) along with an English translation and detailed notes which show how the Jewish translator and copyists understood and used this work.

I (do not) Believe: Israel and Judaism - Past, Present, Future (Hebrew)

From the back cover (a rough translation): “The Jewish God has gone through many changes since H... more From the back cover (a rough translation):

“The Jewish God has gone through many changes since He was created by the Rabbis, and He still plays a major role in 21st century Israel. However, like Rabbinic Judaism itself, He is an exilic God who is unable to find His place in the independent democratic State of Israel. He does not know how to adapt to the new and changing conditions, and His representatives are not willing to face the challenge of re-thinking the essence and status of God in a pluralist, free and modern society. A situation has emerged, where God remains in exile in the redemptive state which Israel is. Unfortunately, as time passes, God (together with His rabbinic representatives in all their shapes, sizes and forms), is becoming a persona non grata for many”.
Judaism as we know it today was born in a particular historical and national context. After the destruction of the Second Temple, the people of Israel had no political independence or power, nor a religious center, and it was in this historical reality that Rabbinic Judaism flourished in autonomous and widely dispersed communities. The Rabbis offered a way of life which provided answers for the existential problems of the exilic Jew, and the Rabbinic interpretation of the Torah took root and became the foundation stone of Jewish identity from ancient times till today.
However, after the exile has come to an end with the establishment of the State of Israel, is there still a need for Judaism in its present structure? Can Rabbinic Judaism adjust to a reality whereby Jews have political power and are sovereign in their land? Can Judaism give a real answer to the existential needs of Jews who live in Israel today?
In order to be a free people in our land, we need to connect to our biblical and rabbinic past, to draw out the ethical teachings, and adapt them to our needs in the modern world in a sovereign state. We have to write a new Torah which will give significance to both time and place and imbue our presence in this country with meaning.

Log In