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Medieval Jewish Philosophy in Leeser Rosenthal's Collection StRos 38/39 Medieval Jewish Philosophy in Leeser Rosenthal’s Collection Resianne Fontaine Leeser Rosenthal’s library contained a sizeable number of books written by medieval Jewish philosophers from the tenth century to around 1500. A quick perusal of Roest’s catalogue of this library reveals that the writ- ings of these thinkers were well represented in Rosenthal’s collection and that he often possessed more than one edition of the same title.1 The fol- lowing survey is an attempt to show what Rosenthal actually possessed in the fi eld of medieval Jewish philosophical literature and to examine the way in which this component of his library was put together. Survey of Rosenthal’s Medieval Philosophical Library Leeser Rosenthal owned at least 174 titles belonging to the corpus of me- dieval Jewish philosophy.2 For the following titles (in more or less chrono- logical order) Roest lists only a single copy: Josef Ibn Tsaddiq, Olam Qatan; Abraham Ibn Daud, ha-Emunah ha-Ramah; Samuel Ibn Tibbon, Ma’amar Yiqqavu ha-Mayyim; Jacob Anatoli, Malmad ha-Talmidim; Shemtov Ibn Falaquera, Sefer ha-Mevaqqesh, Moreh ha-Moreh, Sefer ha-Nefesh, Liqqutim min Sefer Meqor ha-Hayyim3; Gersonides, Milhamot ha-Shem; Moses Nar- boni, Ma’amar ha-Behirah; Meir Aldabi, Shevilei Emunah; Josef Ibn Kaspi, Amudei Kesef; Hasdai Crescas, Or ha-Shem; Simeon ben Tsemah Duran, Magen Avot; Avraham Bibago, Derekh Emunah; Abraham Shalom, Neveh Shalom, as well as for some Karaite philosophical works, namely Aaron ben Eliya, Ets Hayyim and Hadassi, Eshkol ha-Kofer. However, of other titles Rosenthal possessed more than one edition, ranging from two to as many as 25 editions. We fi nd two editions of Gers- hon ben Solomon’s Sha‘ar ha-Shamayim, of Moses Narboni’s Commen- tary on Moreh Nevukhim, of Judah ben Jehiel’s (Messer Leon) Nofet Tsufim, and of Isaac Abravanel’s Rosh Amanah. The following titles are each repre- sented by three editions: Solomon Ibn Gabirol’s Tiqqun Middot ha-Nefesh, Abraham bar Hiyya’s Hegyon ha-Nefesh, Abraham ibn Ezra’s Reshit Hokhmah, the anonymous thirteenth-century ‘mini-encyclopaedia’ Ruah 15 Medieval Jewish Philosophy 99502-06_01-11-06_ROS_D1.indd502-06_01-11-06_ROS_D1.indd 1155 008-12-20068-12-2006 112:40:152:40:15 Leeser Rosenthal’s Hen and Isaac Arama’s Aqedat Yitshaq. Continuing this ascending order, classifi cation of books in Roest records fi ve editions of Abraham ibn Ezra’s Hay ben Meqits and his his possession, 1830. Flyleaf, Hs. Ros. 169, Yesod Mora as well as of Falaquera’s Tsori ha-Yagon; six of the Hebrew Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana translation of Saadya’s Emunot ve-De‘ot; seven of Albo’s Iqqarim and nine of Halevi’s Kuzari as well as of Mivhar Peninim, a treatise usually attribut- ed to Ibn Gabirol. As might be expected, Maimonides fi gures prominent- ly with eleven editions of Milot ha-Higayon and ten of Moreh Nevukhim (including modern translations and an edition of the Arabic original).4 However, Maimonides is clearly outdone by Bahya ibn Paqudah of whose Hovot ha-Levavot Rosenthal owned no less than sixteen editions, while the 25 editions of Yedayah ha-Penini’s Behinat Olam beats all. In addition, it is worth noting that Rosenthal’s collection also con- tained a number of philosophical works written by non-Jewish authors (Greek, Muslim and Christian Latin) in Hebrew translation. Of Aristotle, for example, we fi nd the medieval Hebrew version of his Nicomachean Ethics (Sefer ha-Middot) by Meir Alguadez in the Berlin edition of 1790 (with commentary by Satanov and notes by Mendelssohn).5 Further- more, he owned a few editions of commentaries on Aristotle by his Mus- lim commentator Averroes in Hebrew translation,6 as well as some pseu- do-Aristotelian works, such as Sefer ha-Tappuah.7 He also possessed a copy of Sefer ha-Nefesh, attributed to Galen.8 As for Muslim philosophers in Hebrew translation, we fi nd nine- teenth-century editions of the treatise Ma’amar be-Mahut ha-Nefesh as- cribed to Al-Farabi9 and of Alghazali’s Moznei Tsedeq.10 Moreover, Rosenthal owned four copies of eighteenth-century editions (two in He- brew and two in Yiddish) of Kalonymus ben Kalonymus’ Sefer Iggeret Ba‘alei Hayyim, which is a partial translation of Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa’, a tenth-century Muslim encyclopaedic work on natural philosophy. Final- ly, the collection contained a Hebrew translation of two questions from Thomas of Aquinas’ Quaestiones disputatae de Anima, and of the same author’s De Animae Facultatibus. Formation of the Philosophical Collection Little is known about the formation and growth of Rosenthal’s library in general, let alone about its philosophical component. Rosenthal noted that his collection was based on that of Michael Hannover.11 Unfortu- nately, no information is available about whether or not he acquired his volumes of medieval Jewish philosophy from Hannover. Rosenthal himself composed several bibliographical lists in note- books but unfortunately the status and dates of these lists are as yet unclear.12 Nonetheless, some concrete information may be gleaned from what is presumably the fi rst of his notebooks.13 In it he recorded some 630 items, specifying in a note that these were books that he had 16 Resianne Fontaine 99502-06_01-11-06_ROS_D1.indd502-06_01-11-06_ROS_D1.indd 1166 008-12-20068-12-2006 112:40:152:40:15 17 99502-06_01-11-06_ROS_D1.indd502-06_01-11-06_ROS_D1.indd 1177 008-12-20068-12-2006 112:40:152:40:15 purchased and that were given to him.14 This note is dated Hanover, 14 Sivan (5)590 (= 5 June 1830). Rosenthal listed the books in fi ve categories: rabbinics and commentaries (145 items); Bible and ‘associated matters, both peshat and derash’ (130 items); grammar and language (holy and oth- er languages) (138 items); works on ‘science’ (sifrei ha-mehqar) (143 items), and musar and similar works (75 items).15 The last two categories are somewhat miscellaneous. Under mehqar we fi nd books on ‘secular’ sub- jects such as philosophy, history, geography, polemics and literature, whereas musar includes works such as Hayyim Vital’s Sha‘arei Qedushah and various haggadot.16 It is diffi cult to tell whether Rosenthal acquired all these books at once. Judging by the handwriting, they were not all recorded at the same time but it is impossible to determine how many were added to the notebook or obtained at a later date. The fact that from p. 13r on Rosenthal lists ad- ditional titles for each of these fi ve categories (adopting the same divi- sion) may indicate that the books listed here were added to the collection subsequently (a number of pages are left blank, perhaps for future acqui- sitions). However, it is also possible that he failed to reserve suffi cient space for the various categories when he started to compile the list. Be that as it may, what is important in the present context is that the fi rst 23 items contained in the fourth category are all philosophical works, and, judging from the handwriting, they seem to have been listed at the same time and thus to have belonged to the books that Rosenthal owned when he started his notebook in 1830. It is worth reproducing this section of the list as Rosenthal composed it. In most cases Rosenthal listed only the titles, providing only scarce or no information at all regarding authors or editions: 1. Moreh Nevukhim, Yessnits 2. Moreh Nevukhim, with Giv‘at ha-Moreh and Narboni 3. Kuzari, fi rst, with Satanov 4. Kuzari, second 5. Sefer ha-Gedarim 6. Aristotle, Sefer ha-Middot 7. Hovot, with the Manoah commentary 8. Milot ha-Higayon, with translation and commentary by Mendelssohn 9. Ruah Hen with Netsah Yisra’el 10. Sefer ha-Berit, with 350 additions 11. Sha‘arei ha-Shamayim by R. Solomon ben Gershom 12. Shamayim Hadashim, Abarbanel 13. Rosh Amanah, idem 14. Ateret Zeqenim, idem; erroneously also listed as 14. Shemonah Peraqim 15. Letters of Maimonides, ed. Brünn 18 Resianne Fontaine 99502-06_01-11-06_ROS_D1.indd502-06_01-11-06_ROS_D1.indd 1188 008-12-20068-12-2006 112:40:202:40:20 16. Ditto, ed. Amsterdam 17. Phaedon in Hebrew 18. and 19. Qishur ha-Nefesh im ha-Guf ve-Sefer ha-Nefesh 20. Qishur ha-Nefesh ve-Sefer ha-Nefesh Defus Dessau im Haggahot 21. Yesod ha-Torah by Mordechai Gumpel 22. Reshit Limmudim It is clear that the majority of these books relate to Haskalah, or more pre- cisely, that they are eighteenth-century books composed by maskilic au- thors or medieval philosophical books that were studied and/or com- mented on by them. It can therefore be inferred that Leeser Rosenthal already possessed a number of important philosophical texts at an early stage of his career as a book collector. While it seems safe to assume that the presence of these 23 items in his collection refl ects a shared mentality with maskilic scholars, it is impossible to determine whether or not this set of ‘key texts’ constituted the beginning of his philosophical library, and whether or to what extent the presence of these books furthered the development of his philosophical library. Further down the list we en- counter more titles belonging to the maskilic library: 79. Mivhar Peninim; 81. Behinat Olam; 82. Behinat Olam; 118. Saadya, Emunot ve-De‘ot, with commentary, Berlin; 119. Commentary on Behinat Olam; 120. Tsel ha- Olam with Hay ben Meqits by Ibn Ezra; 121. Hovot, with Tuv ha-Levanon, Vienna; 123. Reshit Limmudim, part ii, Dessau; 125. Amudei Beit Yehudah; 126. Kuzari, Moscato; 127.
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