Introducing the Jewish-Sufi Group of Safed


 

 

TARIQA ELIYAHU HA NABI

Tariqa Eliyahu is a  global  Jewish-Sufi group for religious Jews who wish to renew and develop the  contemplative practices of the Mediaeval Egyptian Pietist Movement—a group  that flourished in the 13th to the  15th centuries. 

In the  mediaeval era, the  Egyptian Pietist Movement’s  leaders included R. Abraham He-Hasid (d.circa 1223), and several members of the  Maimonides dynasty [R.Abraham ben HaRambam (1186–1237), R.David ben Abraham Maimuni (1222- 1300), R.Obadya Maimuni (1228–1265), and  R. David ben Joshua  Maimuni (1335–c.1414)].

R.David ben Abraham Maimuni actually visited Meron and both he and R.Abraham ben HaRambam  are  buried next to Maimonides in Tiverya. 

With such strong leadership, the  movement became  extremely popular, and it spread from Cairo throughout Palestine  and  Syria—flourishing  for over three hundred years.

Though  much of its literary output was in handwritten  Arabic (and  thus largely  lost to us save  in Genizah fragments)  its legacy impacted the contemplative practices of  those Galil hasidim who were to develop Safed’s mystical brotherhoods in the  sixteenth century.  The Egyptian Pietists were not focused on the cosmology and theosophy of the  sefirotic kabbalah that became  Safed’s  most popular mystical system— but instead, they were almost totally concerned with devotional and ascetic contemplative  practice.  

Most remarkably, They were Jews, but they quoted Islamic texts (including sections  from the  Quran and Hadith), and openly borrowed the  ritual and contemplative manuals and poetic  texts of  the Islamic  sufis whose devotion they admired.

WHY DID THEY DO THIS?

They did  it  because they believed those contemplative texts had preserved something that was originally Jewish.

Specifically: They did  it  because they believed that the  ascetic and contemplative practices of the Biblical B’nei Nevi’im  (Schools of the  Prophets) had been lost to Judaism but had been preserved in Islamic Sufism—and they sought to restore, renew, and develop those practices in Judaism. 

 Their aim was to prepare the Movement’s members  to attain a personal and intimate state of   marifah/intuitive gnosis and  contemplative “nearness to G-d” that would hasten the  return of prophecy to Israel.

Those same spiritual perspectives and aims—and  that same respect for  the texts and practices of Islamic Sufism— are the  core principles of  our own century’s “Tariqa Eliyahu”... and they are also essential features  of our newly formed group in Safed. 

You can read  much more  about the history, aims, and practices  of our global Tariqa on our website HERE

 

THE SAFED JEWISH SUFI GROUP

In June 2024, Tariqa Eliyahu inaugurated a local branch in Tzfat (Safed) in Northern Israel.    This group meets weekly in the Old City for an hour of  contemplative prayer (Silent Dhikr/Hazkara) in a  Jewish-Sufi mode.

 

REGULAR MEETINGS

The main element of our meetings  is  the practice of  SILENT DHIKR  (silent congregational contemplation).  We do not offer “guided meditations”, we do not teach or learn “meditation”.  We do not offer courses of study on religious or contemplative  matters. We do not present  what we do as a form of “therapy” or “self improvement”.

Such practices are attractive and  have  their place in one’s spiritual development— but they can also  distract from our simple attentiveness to the  Divine  Voice. And  that receptive attentiveness to the “still small voice” is  the Heart of  our Elijan Tariqa.

In classic Sufic tradition, and in reference to the musical practice of the Bnei Nevi’im—meetings  begin with a very short vocal Dhikr unit (mantra recitation) and (on special occasions) a brief Sohbet lesson or discussion.  At the  start of the  meeting this  might also assist the members to transition from their busy world and interior noise to the calm and receptive  mode of the silent Dhikr/Hazkara that follows. For that, we simply sit together in silent contemplation for  between  thirty minutes to an hour....and leave  in silence.  Anyone who wishes to leave before the  end of the  silent dhikr period  may do so.

At our meetings we do not discuss or describe our personal and individual  contemplative experiences or practices with the group—they are matters  to remain secret or shared only with one’s own spiritual director.  At our meetings  we simply perform the Tariqa´s specific Vocal Dhikr together (in unison) and  then maintain a period of  congregational silence.

What one does during that silence is left completely to the individual. Discretely and without causing disturbance to the  others, one may sit, kneel, stand,or prostrate at will. 

We wish to  make our Group’s   meditational process to be  something that is experienced privately  in the hearts of the members—an educational process whose direction and form is left entirely up to G-d who is our  true Teacher and Master.  

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From what you  have  just read, you  will now appreciate  that we are  not a group of “New Age” hippies, nor are we culture-based "sufi-jews".  We are religious Jewish-Sufis of the  School of Abraham ben HaRambam. But the Safed Jewish-Sufi Group has its own distinct adab (format and character) because attendance at our meetings is open to anyone who receives  our invitation to attend.

Though  our core members are religious observant Jews, and  though the   texts we use paraliturgically  are Jewish (Classical Hebrew or Judeo-Arabic)—the Safed group also welcomes participants  from  all religions  and none—who respect that core ethos  even if they do not follow it themselves.

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SO WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?

 

*Opportunities for Torah study and meditational courses and events  are legion  and readily available in  Tzfat already.   Our function supplements rather than replicates them.

 

*For some  people who are not intellectually or academically inclined, or who are uncomfortable with long verbal synagogue services, it may actually provide a non-liturgical but  much needed way to meet G-d in a community setting.  Being a paraliturgical event with no formal services, it also enables the full egalitarian participation of  both men and  women in one shared practice.

 

*Individual Khalwa (retreat) in solitary hitbodedut at one’s home or at a secluded location is  always  going to be  the ideal Jewish-Sufi practice, as is stressed especially in the  Kifaya of R.Abraham ben HaRambam and the  Murshid of R.David ben Joshua— but reclusive or calm environments are not available to many who live in crowded areas; whose shuls are busy sociable places;  or whose domestic and  business situation does not provide much space or time  in which to develop this  form  of  solitary prayer.  Our meeting environment  and practice might  provide them with this.

 

*Others who are maybe beginning the practice of contemplative  prayer might find  extended retreat or lengthy contemplative silence difficult to manage—and  for  them our practice might offer a gentle introduction to receptive meditative prayer with the  added support and  discipline of  a contemplative community.

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Our weekly regular meetings are held each Wednesday in the  late afternoon— though some  special events  will be  held on Sundays.  If you are visiting Tzfat  and  would  like  to attend, please contact us   using the contact-form on the  sidebar.

   For  the summer months we have  agreed to set the  following simple format for  our weekly Wednesday  meetings:

 

SOHBET—15 mins

[business, discussion, or brief lesson]

VOCAL DHIKR—15mins

[using hebrew biblical and liturgical texts and classical Judeo-Arabic texts]

SILENT DHIKR 30—45 mins

[free private prayer/meditation: attentive/receptive  contemplation.]

 

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We  hope to bring together local contemplatives (and would-be contemplatives) from all streams  of Judaism and of  Israeli society: streams whose members can so often be shockingly antagonistic,dismissive,or intolerant  of  one another.

In these times of denominational,sectarian, racial, and political turmoil in Israel (and  globally) it is  hoped that by keeping shared contemplative silence, all religious, sectarian, racial,or political differences may be shelved (however briefly) by the commonly shared  desire  to be personally attentive  to the ‘Voice of  G-d’ within all of us.

 

Let Light dawn in the  world,in our days,

for we wait and  work for  Your Salvation

 

May HaShem grant success to the  work of our hands.



 

Nachman Davies

Safed

May 29 2024 (reposting: July 28 2024)


As of this date:  much of the future activity on this  "Jewish Contemplatives" website will be transferred to the "Jewish Sufi" website HERE  and  to our   Jewish Sufi Facebook Group HERE