The Kabbalistic Ilan of Rabbi Yitzhak Wanne: Local Kabbala in a Global World

This article deals with the book of Rabbi Isaac Wanne “Rechev Elohim” (The chariot of G-d). Rabbi Isaac Wanne was a Kabbalist who lived in Yemen in the seventeenth century. The center of the book is a series of Kabbalistic diagrams, which create a map of the upper worlds, and serve as an orientation for the Kabbalists.

The book is based entirely on Kabbalistic knowledge that came to Yemen from Europe during this period. The article deals with the question of the influence of European knowledge on the kabbalistic culture in Yemen in general and on the visual kabbalistic culture specifically. I would like to show how Wanne sees himself as part of the  European culture by interpreting the printed books that came to Yemen in his own way.

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