To see god in his beauty: Avraham Chalfi and the mystical quest for the evasive God

Avraham Chalfi's poetry contains some of the main themes of the mystical experience, namely, the attempt "to see God in his Beauty" and the quest to gain an intimate communion with the Divine.1 Uncovering the intertextual references and the repertoire of his allusions positions this poetry within the ever-evolving mystical-religious discussion. Chalfi's theology transforms the Jewish mystical tradition into a critical, at times even fierce, encounter with God and turns fundamental elements, such as ascent to the Pardes and the respective roles of the mystic and God, on their heads. Exploring Chalfi's mystical poems expands our awareness of the theological elements embedded in a variety of modern secular Hebrew poems and their contribution to the evolution and diversification of the canon of Jewish thought.