The idea of Rav Avraham Abulafia is that Jesus was the messiah son of Joseph and that is different from messiah son of David. It does not mean that he was divine in the sense of the Trinity but rather a soul of Emanation אצילות similarly to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, David.
[Rav Kaduri also brought down a similar idea in a note that he said should not be opened until after he would be gone. The note is fairly famous.]
You can see this clearly in his writings of Rav Abulafia, and also in the Ph.D. thesis of Moshe Idel at Hebrew University.
The subject of messiah son of Joseph is dealt with in the Talmud in Suka [at the end] and also in Moshe Haim Luzato in his Tikunim Hadashim [תיקונים חדשים] and also in the Gra in his Kol HaTor (קול התור). [Voice of the Dove].
Moshe Idel also points out a gematria [numerical value of the letters] that reflects negatively on Jesus. But that is not any different than countless gematriot [numerical values] that mean one is the opposite of the other. For example Moshe [משה] is gematria heresy [שמד עם הכולל] with the value of the word itself counting as one. That means Moshe stands against it. Not that he is identified with it.
This same idea is also in the Ari (Isaac Luria) in the books of his disciple Rav Haim Vital on the Five Books of Moses--at the end of Breshit concerning Joseph. [That is the books that are commentaries on the Torah at the end of Genesis -that were actually written by Rav Haim Vital but are of lessons he learned from the Ari.]
This makes a difference in terms of "faith in the wise", that is that it adds something good to one's soul when one believes in a true tzadik [saint].
[Other places that deal with this subject are Tosphot in Avoda Zara, which is quoted by the Rema. But to me it is seems what Tosphot is saying is three different hypotheses. Not just one. I learned that Tosphot with David Bronson.]
[Rav Abulafia is quoted by Rav Haim Vital at the end of his Gates of Holiness and by the Remak. It is a surprise that in the last part of Gates of Holiness is where Rav Haim Vital is talking about unifications that bring to the Divine Presence and as the authority for that he is quoting the books of Rav Abulfia,-- and does not bring the Ari!] [The Chida (Rav David Azulai) also brings Rav Abulafia in his Shem Hagedolim the book that brings a short biography of all the great sages of Israel.]
[Rav Kaduri also brought down a similar idea in a note that he said should not be opened until after he would be gone. The note is fairly famous.]
You can see this clearly in his writings of Rav Abulafia, and also in the Ph.D. thesis of Moshe Idel at Hebrew University.
The subject of messiah son of Joseph is dealt with in the Talmud in Suka [at the end] and also in Moshe Haim Luzato in his Tikunim Hadashim [תיקונים חדשים] and also in the Gra in his Kol HaTor (קול התור). [Voice of the Dove].
Moshe Idel also points out a gematria [numerical value of the letters] that reflects negatively on Jesus. But that is not any different than countless gematriot [numerical values] that mean one is the opposite of the other. For example Moshe [משה] is gematria heresy [שמד עם הכולל] with the value of the word itself counting as one. That means Moshe stands against it. Not that he is identified with it.
This same idea is also in the Ari (Isaac Luria) in the books of his disciple Rav Haim Vital on the Five Books of Moses--at the end of Breshit concerning Joseph. [That is the books that are commentaries on the Torah at the end of Genesis -that were actually written by Rav Haim Vital but are of lessons he learned from the Ari.]
This makes a difference in terms of "faith in the wise", that is that it adds something good to one's soul when one believes in a true tzadik [saint].
[Other places that deal with this subject are Tosphot in Avoda Zara, which is quoted by the Rema. But to me it is seems what Tosphot is saying is three different hypotheses. Not just one. I learned that Tosphot with David Bronson.]
[Rav Abulafia is quoted by Rav Haim Vital at the end of his Gates of Holiness and by the Remak. It is a surprise that in the last part of Gates of Holiness is where Rav Haim Vital is talking about unifications that bring to the Divine Presence and as the authority for that he is quoting the books of Rav Abulfia,-- and does not bring the Ari!] [The Chida (Rav David Azulai) also brings Rav Abulafia in his Shem Hagedolim the book that brings a short biography of all the great sages of Israel.]
