Between Philosophy and Sufism: Readings from a Lost World

In the centuries following Maimonides, Arabic-speaking Jews continued to engage with philosophy and mysticism, and wrote many fascinating original works. These works, authored over 300 years, were almost entirely lost. They are now being rediscovered, published, and studied, for the first time in centuries. We will discover a number of thinkers from the lost period, and read some fascinating texts that are both deeply Jewish, and deeply informed by Islamic philosophy and Sufism.

If you have already booked in for Jewish Philosophy from the start of the term, you are already booked into this series.

Upcoming classes

Dates: 10 Aug 2026 – 31 Aug 2026

Total of 4 sessions

Monday 10 August

8:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Raphael Dascalu

Monday 17 August

8:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Raphael Dascalu

Monday 24 August

8:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Raphael Dascalu

Monday 31 August

8:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Raphael Dascalu

About the facilitator

Raphael Dascalu

Founder and facilitator

Raphael Dascalu is a Melbourne-based researcher and translator. Born and raised in Sydney, he completed his MA at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, his PhD at the University of Chicago, and studied in a number of institutions of Jewish learning, including Yeshivat ha-Kibbutz ha-Dati (Ein Tzurim), the Pardes Institute, and the Shalom Hartman Institute. He is a Senior Research Fellow at Notre Dame University Australia, an Adjunct Research Associate at Monash University, and a student of the mysteries of the cosmos.