Person · 5008–5065 AM · 1248 CE — 1305 CE
Rabbi Joseph Gikatilla רבי יוסף בן אברהם ג'יקטיליה
he made the first ordered dictionary of the Divine Names
Sha'arei Orah is ten chapters, one for each sefirah, and each takes up the Names belonging to that sefirah.
He studied under Abraham Abulafia in 1272–74, and Abulafia called him his most successful student. Ginnat Egoz he wrote at twenty-six; Sha'arei Orah was finished before 1293.
The book went far beyond its own world: in Latin translation it became the chief door for the Christian kabbalists—through it Reuchlin read Kabbalah. He was called Joseph Baal ha-Nissim, the worker of wonders.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Rishonim
- Sha'arei Orah, before 1293 — ten gates after the number of the sefirot, with the Names at each
Scholarship
- The Jewish Encyclopedia (1906) — the years, the studentship under Abulafia and the book's fortune in the West
Basis: documents and evidence.