This lecture first deals with an early passage by Maimonides, found in his commentary on the Mishnah, Sanhedrin, dealing with the post-mortem union of the human intellect with the angelic world, which reflects the impact of the rational mysticism of Avicenna. This passage was accurately translated from Arabic into Hebrew by Nahmanides, which puts into relief aspects that correspond with his understanding of Kabbalah. Then, following the lead of Leo Strauss and Shlomo Pines, the sceptical aspects of the late Maimonides, in the Guide for the Perplexed, concerning his attitude to the Hebrew language and the limits of human speculation will be briefly discussed. Finally discussed is a passage from the Guide dealing with the manner in which the secrets of the Torah should be extracted from the biblical text, comparing it to Abraham Abulafia’s ecstatic Kabbalah .

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