Visualizing the Divine

Join Professor Chajes for an eye-opening exploration of ilanot, the ancient visual maps of Kabbalah. These intricate parchment scrolls, dating back to the 14th century, were used by Jewish mystics to map out the divine, blending spiritual insight with stunning imagery. Almost forgotten today, these “tree diagrams” offer a fresh perspective on how Kabbalists viewed the world, absorbed different cultural traditions, and connected with the divine. Whether you’re a history buff, a visual learner, or just curious about the intersection of religion and art, this talk will change the way you think about knowledge, spirituality, and creativity.

Background: J. H. (Yossi) Chajes (Ph.D., Yale University 1999) is the Sir Isaac Wolfson Professor of Jewish Thought in the Department of Jewish History at the University of Haifa. Chajes directs the “Ilanot Project”—an ambitious and unprecedented attempt to research kabbalistic cosmological diagrams. His pioneering work has been awarded five Israel Science Foundation (ISF) research grants, the Friedenberg Prize for the outstanding ISF-funded project in the humanities, and two Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony/Volkswagen Foundation grants to develop the digital humanities project “Maps of God – The Visual Kabbalah Portal” (ilanot.org)