DOCSLIB.ORG

From Denunciation to Appreciation: Gersonides in the Eyes of Members of the Ibn Shem Ṭov Family

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
From Denunciation to Appreciation: Gersonides in the Eyes of Members of the Ibn Shem Ṭov Family chapter 4 From Denunciation to Appreciation: Gersonides in the Eyes of Members of the Ibn Shem Ṭov Family Doron Forte Alongside Isaac Albalag and Moses ben Joshua of Narbonne (Narboni), Ger- sonides has been one of the most controversial of the medieval Jewish Aris- totelians. Although his biblical commentaries and other (mostly lost) writings pertaining to the Oral Law have to some extent improved his standing,1 his untraditional views were strongly criticized.2The present article examines how Gersonides was perceived by the four well-known members of the Ibn Shem Ṭov family, all of whom served as heads of yeshivas in fifteenth-century Spain.3 An examination of their writings makes it clear that their attitude towards him 1 See Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet, Sheʾelot u-teshuvot 1:45; ed. D. Metzger (Jerusalem, 1993), 51. The author refers to Gersonides as “ḥaḵam gadol ba-talmud” (a great talmudic scholar), who wrote a fine commentary on theTorah and the Prophets. On his halakhic responsa see Pinchas Roth, “The Responsa of Gersonides and their Reception,” in the present volume (I thank Dr. Roth for showing me a prepublication draft of his article). According to Isaac de Lattes, who praised Gersonides, he composed commentaries on “all” the Written and Oral Torah. See Shaʿarei ṣiyyon, ed. S. Buber (Yaroslav, 1885), 48. Solomon ben Simeon Duran, a relative of Gersonides, attributed to him a commentary on the aggadic portions of tractate Bava Batra. See Milḥemet miṣvah, ed. Yeruḥam Fishel (Leipzig, 1856), 23. Gersonides himself mentions a commentary he wrote on tractate Beraḵot (see his commentary on Deut. 3:11) as well as on Nedarim (see Roth, “The Responsa of Gersonides,”). Shaʿarei ṣedeq, although attributed to Gersonides in all extant sources, has been shown to have been written by someone else. See Aviram Ravitsky, “ʿAl zemano shel sefer Shaʿarei ṣedeq ha-meyuḥas la-Ralbag,” Tarbiẓ 68 (1999): 401–410, on 401–403. See there, 402 n. 7, for a bibliography of Gersonides’ presumed halakhic writings. 2 For a bibliography of Gersonides’ critics, see Menachem M. Kellner, “Gersonides and his Cul- tured Despisers: Arama and Abravanel,” Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 6 (1976): 269–296, at 270 n. 5. 3 Shem Ṭov Ibn Shem Ṭov’s yeshiva was presumably located in Valladolid. See Erez Peleg, “Between Philosophy and Kabbalah: The Criticism of Jewish Philosophy in the Thought of Rabbi Shem Ṭov ben Shem-Ṭov,” Ph.D. diss., University of Haifa, 2002, 32–33 (Heb.). For the philosophical activity in the academies of the Shem Ṭov family, see Colette Sirat and Marc Geoffroy, “The Modena Manuscript and the Teaching of Philosophy in Fourteenth and Fif- teenth Century Spain,” in Study and Knowledge in Jewish Thought, vol. 1, ed. Haim (Howard) Kreisel (Beer Sheva, 2006), 185–202, on 197–200. For a general account of the Jewish Castil- ian academies in the fifteenth century, see Abraham Gross, “Qavvim le-toledot ha-yeshivot be-qasṭilya ba-meʾah ha-ṭet-vav,”Peʿamim 31 (1987): 3–21. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004425286_005 92 forte was influenced, in varying degrees, by their notion of the borders of legiti- mate theoretical speculation within a religious worldview and by their specific stances towards philosophy. 1 Shem Ṭov Ibn Shem Ṭov The cultural atmosphere of Jewish society in fifteenth-century Spain included several intellectual currents that were often in disharmony or even outright confrontation. The devastating events that befell the communities and the mass apostasy that followed produced growing suspicion of and animosity towards philosophy. Traditionalist rabbis tended to accuse the philosophers of weakening the people’s loyalty to religion and blamed their rationalistic views for facilitating rejection of the fundamental tenets of Jewish belief. Shem Ṭov Ibn Shem Ṭov, a self-taught kabbalist, was one of the most blatant and uncom- promising opponents of Jewish Aristotelianism. He was born around 1380 and seemed to have died (inValladolid?) in the 1430s.4 He witnessed the pogroms of 4 Solomon Ibn Verga quotes a passage attributed to Shem Ṭov: “In the year 150 of the sixth mil- lennium in Spain, in the days of King Enrique, when he was a youth, many nations rose up to בשנת מאה וחמשים לאלף הששי בספרד, בימי המלך) ”remove the Israelites from [their] faith See Sheveṭyehudah; ed. I. Baer .(אנריקי, בהיותונערקמועמיםרביםלהוציאאתישראלמכללהדת (Jerusalem, 1947), 119 (“48th forced conversion”). This testimony led many to designate 1380 as -youth) refers to him; it seems much more reason) נער ShemṬov’s date of birth, assuming that able that it rather refers to the king (Enrique [Henry III of Castile] was crowned in 1390, at the age of 11). See Mattityahu Strashun, “Miḵtav ʿal devar r[abbi] Shem Ṭov baʿal ha-ʾemunot ve- r[abbi] Shem Ṭov Falaqira,” in Mivḥar ketavim (Jerusalem, 1969), 121 (first published in Pirḥei ṣafon, ed. Eliezer L. Horowitz and Samuel J. Fuenn [Vilna, 1844], 77–89, 191–195). Although it is plausible that Shem Ṭov was born around 1380, there is no real evidence to confirm this date. For different views regarding the date of his death, see Peleg, “Between Philosophy and Kabbalah,” 41. There is also little support for his alleged blindness: his confession that “sins have caused him to never see light” should probably be understood metaphorically (Sefer ha-ʾEmunot 4:2 [Ferrara, 1556], 26b). See Peleg, “Between Philosophy and Kabbalah,” 32. In Shem Ṭov’s writings one can find additional statements in which darkness symbolizes lack of understanding. He writes: “and even in these days when on account of our sins only dark- ואפי׳ בזמנים אלו שאין) ”ness exists in the world and not light, and the eyes have darkened Sefer ha-ʾEmunot 8:13, p. 98a]); “here] בעונותינו בעולם נמצא כי אם חשך ולא אור וחשכו הרואות I am, poor in thought, impoverished in understanding. As I sat in darkness, … my heart led ואני הנני בדעה דל בתבונה,) ”(me to seek the path that leads to where light dwells (Job 38:19 It is worth mentioning that Shem .(בהיותי במחשכים … הניעני לבי לבקש אי זה דרך ישכון אור Ṭov’s son Joseph suffered at some stage from an eye disease. See Joseph Ibn Shem Ṭov, ʿEin ha-qoreʾ, New York, Jewish Theological Seminary, MS 10759, fol. 2r (formerly London Mon- tefiore 61; online at https://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLI/Hebrew/digitallibrary/pages/viewer.aspx ?presentorid=MANUSCRIPTS&docid=PNX_MANUSCRIPTS000186424‑1#|FL50596274); also.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • TALMUDIC STUDIES Ephraim Kanarfogel
    chapter 22 TALMUDIC STUDIES ephraim kanarfogel TRANSITIONS FROM THE EAST, AND THE NASCENT CENTERS IN NORTH AFRICA, SPAIN, AND ITALY The history and development of the study of the Oral Law following the completion of the Babylonian Talmud remain shrouded in mystery. Although significant Geonim from Babylonia and Palestine during the eighth and ninth centuries have been identified, the extent to which their writings reached Europe, and the channels through which they passed, remain somewhat unclear. A fragile consensus suggests that, at least initi- ally, rabbinic teachings and rulings from Eretz Israel traveled most directly to centers in Italy and later to Germany (Ashkenaz), while those of Babylonia emerged predominantly in the western Sephardic milieu of Spain and North Africa.1 To be sure, leading Sephardic talmudists prior to, and even during, the eleventh century were not yet to be found primarily within Europe. Hai ben Sherira Gaon (d. 1038), who penned an array of talmudic commen- taries in addition to his protean output of responsa and halakhic mono- graphs, was the last of the Geonim who flourished in Baghdad.2 The family 1 See Avraham Grossman, “Zik˙atah shel Yahadut Ashkenaz ‘el Erets Yisra’el,” Shalem 3 (1981), 57–92; Grossman, “When Did the Hegemony of Eretz Yisra’el Cease in Italy?” in E. Fleischer, M. A. Friedman, and Joel Kraemer, eds., Mas’at Mosheh: Studies in Jewish and Moslem Culture Presented to Moshe Gil [Hebrew] (Jerusalem, 1998), 143–57; Israel Ta- Shma’s review essays in K˙ ryat Sefer 56 (1981), 344–52, and Zion 61 (1996), 231–7; Ta-Shma, Kneset Mehkarim, vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Medieval Jewish Philosophy and Its Literary Forms'
    H-Judaic Lawee on Hughes and Robinson, 'Medieval Jewish Philosophy and Its Literary Forms' Review published on Monday, March 16, 2020 Aaron W. Hughes, James T. Robinson, eds. Medieval Jewish Philosophy and Its Literary Forms. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2019. viii + 363 pp. $100.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-253-04252-1. Reviewed by Eric Lawee (Bar-Ilan University)Published on H-Judaic (March, 2020) Commissioned by Barbara Krawcowicz (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) Printable Version: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=54753 Among the religious and intellectual innovations in which medieval Judaism abounds, none sparked controversy more than the attempt of certain rabbis and scholars to promote teachings of ancient Greek philosophy. Most notable, of course, was Moses Maimonides, the foremost legist and theologian of the age. Not only did he cultivate Greco-Arabic philosophy and science, but he also taught the radical proposition that knowledge of some of its branches was essential for a true understanding of revealed scripture and for worship of God in its purest form. As an object of modern scholarship, medieval philosophy has not suffered from a lack of attention. Since the advent of Wissenschaft des Judentums more than a century and half ago, studies have proliferated, whether on specific topics (e.g., theories of creation), leading figures (e.g., Saadiah Gaon, Judah Halevi, Maimonides), or the historical, religious, and intellectual settings in which Jewish engagements with philosophy occurred—first in
    [Show full text]
  • Readings on the Encounter Between Jewish Thought and Early Modern Science
    HISTORY 449 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA W 3:30pm-6:30 pm Fall, 2016 GOD AND NATURE: READINGS ON THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN JEWISH THOUGHT AND EARLY MODERN SCIENCE INSTRUCTOR: David B. Ruderman OFFICE HRS: M 3:30-4:30 pm;W 1:00-2:00 OFFICE: 306b College Hall Email: [email protected] SOME GENERAL WORKS ON THE SUBJECT: Y. Tzvi Langerman, "Jewish Science", Dictionary of the Middle Ages, 11:89-94 Y. Tzvi Langerman, The Jews and the Sciences in the Middle Ages, 1999 A. Neher, "Copernicus in the Hebraic Literature from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century," Journal History of Ideas 38 (1977): 211-26 A. Neher, Jewish Thought and the Scientific Revolution of the Sixteenth Century: David Gans (1541-1613) and His Times, l986 H. Levine, "Paradise not Surrendered: Jewish Reactions to Copernicus and the Growth of Modern Science" in R.S. Cohen and M.W. Wartofsky, eds. Epistemology, Methodology, and the Social Sciences (Boston, l983), pp. 203-25 H. Levine, "Science," in Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought, eds. A. Cohen and P. Mendes-Flohr, l987, pp. 855-61 M. Panitz, "New Heavens and a New Earth: Seventeenth- to Nineteenth-Century Jewish Responses to the New Astronomy," Conservative Judaism, 40 (l987-88); 28-42 D. Ruderman, Kabbalah, Magic, and Science: The Cultural Universe of a Sixteenth- Century Jewish Physician, l988 D. Ruderman, Science, Medicine, and Jewish Culture in Early Modern Europe, Spiegel Lectures in European Jewish History, 7, l987 D. Ruderman, Jewish Thought and Scientific Discovery in Early Modern Europe, 1995, 2001 D. Ruderman, Jewish Enlightenment in an English Key: Anglo-Jewry’s Construction of Modern Jewish Thought, 2000 D.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Beginning the Conversation
    NOTES 1 Beginning the Conversation 1. Jacob Katz, Exclusiveness and Tolerance: Jewish-Gentile Relations in Medieval and Modern Times (New York: Schocken, 1969). 2. John Micklethwait, “In God’s Name: A Special Report on Religion and Public Life,” The Economist, London November 3–9, 2007. 3. Mark Lila, “Earthly Powers,” NYT, April 2, 2006. 4. When we mention the clash of civilizations, we think of either the Spengler battle, or a more benign interplay between cultures in individual lives. For the Spengler battle, see Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996). For a more benign interplay in individual lives, see Thomas L. Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree (New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1999). 5. Micklethwait, “In God’s Name.” 6. Robert Wuthnow, America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005). “Interview with Robert Wuthnow” Religion and Ethics Newsweekly April 26, 2002. Episode no. 534 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week534/ rwuthnow.html 7. Wuthnow, America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity, 291. 8. Eric Sharpe, “Dialogue,” in Mircea Eliade and Charles J. Adams, The Encyclopedia of Religion, first edition, volume 4 (New York: Macmillan, 1987), 345–8. 9. Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald and John Borelli, Interfaith Dialogue: A Catholic View (London: SPCK, 2006). 10. Lily Edelman, Face to Face: A Primer in Dialogue (Washington, DC: B’nai B’rith, Adult Jewish Education, 1967). 11. Ben Zion Bokser, Judaism and the Christian Predicament (New York: Knopf, 1967), 5, 11. 12. Ibid., 375.
    [Show full text]
  • Tanya Sources.Pdf
    The Way to the Tree of Life Jewish practice entails fulfilling many laws. Our diet is limited, our days to work are defined, and every aspect of life has governing directives. Is observance of all the laws easy? Is a perfectly righteous life close to our heart and near to our limbs? A righteous life seems to be an impossible goal! However, in the Torah, our great teacher Moshe, Moses, declared that perfect fulfillment of all religious law is very near and easy for each of us. Every word of the Torah rings true in every generation. Lesson one explores how the Tanya resolved these questions. It will shine a light on the infinite strength that is latent in each Jewish soul. When that unending holy desire emerges, observance becomes easy. Lesson One: The Infinite Strength of the Jewish Soul The title page of the Tanya states: A Collection of Teachings ספר PART ONE לקוטי אמרים חלק ראשון Titled הנקרא בשם The Book of the Beinonim ספר של בינונים Compiled from sacred books and Heavenly מלוקט מפי ספרים ומפי סופרים קדושי עליון נ״ע teachers, whose souls are in paradise; based מיוסד על פסוק כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו upon the verse, “For this matter is very near to לבאר היטב איך הוא קרוב מאד בדרך ארוכה וקצרה ”;you, it is in your mouth and heart to fulfill it בעזה״י and explaining clearly how, in both a long and short way, it is exceedingly near, with the aid of the Holy One, blessed be He. "1 of "393 The Way to the Tree of Life From the outset of his work therefore Rav Shneur Zalman made plain that the Tanya is a guide for those he called “beinonim.” Beinonim, derived from the Hebrew bein, which means “between,” are individuals who are in the middle, neither paragons of virtue, tzadikim, nor sinners, rishoim.
    [Show full text]
  • The Kuzari and the Shaping of Jewish Identity, 1167-1900 Adam Shear Index More Information
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-88533-1 - The Kuzari and the Shaping of Jewish Identity, 1167-1900 Adam Shear Index More information Index Abarbanel, Isaac, 101, 112, 118–119, 121–122, 168 Alashkar, Moses, 122–123 Abdelhac, Aron, 35 Albalag, Isaac, 34 Abelard, Peter, 193 Albo, Joseph, 45, 50–51, 85–86, 123, 156, 211–212, Abendana, Isaac, 177 271, 272 Abendana, Jacob, 53, 176–177, 178, 294 Aldabi, Meir, 32 Aboab, Immanuel, 179 Alemanno, Yoh. anan, 101, 117, 121, 125–126, Aboab, Isaac, 177 128–130, 132–133, 156–157 Aboab, Samuel, 179 Alexander, Isaak, 215 Abraham bar H. iyya, 36 Alexander the Great, 105 Abraham ben David, of Posquieres` (Rabad), 28, Alexander-Frizer, Tamar, 175 32 al-Farabi, 221–222 Abraham ben Isaac, 33, 73 Alfasi, Isaac (the Rif), 28, 298 Abraham ben Judah, 80 al-Ghazali, 11, 128, 129 Abraham ibn Daud, 24, 104 al-Harizi, Judah, 24 Abraham ibn Ezra aliyah, 296, 299–300. See also Zionist movement Ascher influenced by, 263 Alkabetz, Solomon, 174 folktales of, 271 Allony, Nehemya, 7, 174 Halevi as associate of, 23, 296, 298 Almangari, 162. See also Sangari, Isaac Halevi’s daughter married to, 192 Almoli, Solomon, 102 on magic, 153–154 Altmann, Alexander, 216 Mendelssohn on, 233, 234 Amelander, Menahem, 192 neoplatonists influenced by, 35 Amos (prophet), 291 on worship and belief, 72, 118 Amsterdam, 176–177, 178–179 writings in Hebrew language, 36–37 Anatoli, Jacob, 40 Abraham (Patriarch), 3, 222 Andalusian Jewish intellectuals, 23–27, 31–32, 36, Abulafia, Abraham, 75–76, 101 66, 175–176, 230, 297–298, 308–309 Abulafia, Meir ben Todros ha-Levi, 31, 32–33 animals, 155–156 academic treatment of the Kuzari, 4–12, 293–295 anonymous preacher, 168 accidents of transmission, 21–22 anti-rationalism.
    [Show full text]
  • Platonic Themes in Gersonides' Commentary on Song of Songs
    Yehuda Halper The Sex Life of a Metaphysical Sceptic: Platonic Themes in Gersonides’ Commentary on Song of Songs In his bestselling book Born to Kvetch, the popular Yiddishist Michael Wex recounts how, as pupils at a religious yeshivah, he and his friends learned of Rashi’s explana- tion of the first reference to breasts in the Song of Songs as, in fact, referring to Moses and Aaron, who were responsible for nourishing the Children of Israel in the desert. In his account, the boys then proceeded to notice the “Moses and Aaron” on various women around town and one would expect that they could hardly suppress giggles at any mention of Moses and Aaron in any other context.1 Rashi’s de-eroticization of Song of Songs thus had as a side effect that it simultaneously eroticized Moses and Aaron precisely among the impressionable youth whom he had intended to shield. De-eroticization is a tricky business; comparison of the erotic to the non-erotic tends rather to eroticize the non-erotic. Whether Rashi was aware of this effect I leave to the scholars of that pious man of Troyes. Gersonides, however, who lived 200 years after Rashi and much further South, was certainly aware of how eros can spread from the allegory to the allegorized. Ger- sonides explains that the expressions of love between the interlocutors of the Song of Songs are allegories of the soul’s path to intellectual perfection, a path that moves from ethical perfection, to the perfection of imagination and thought, to mathemat- ics, to the physical sciences, and, finally, to metaphysics.2 Far from removing eros from the picture, Gersonides uses Song of Songs’ highly erotic language to describe the desire of the soul, its faculties, and even the hylic intellect for the active intel- lect.
    [Show full text]
  • Miracles and the Natural Order in Nahmanides*
    Miracles and the Natural Order in Nahmanides* MMIRACLESIRACLES ANDAND THETHE NATURALNATURAL ORDERORDER IINN NNAHMANIDESAHMANIDES* From: Rabbi Moses Nahmanides (Ramban): Explorations in his Religious and Literary Virtuosity, ed. by Isadore Twersky (Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass., 1983), pp. 107-128. The centrality of miracles in Nahmanides’ theology cannot escape the attention of even the most casual observer, and his doctrine of the hidden miracle exercised a particularly profound and abiding influence on subsequent Jewish thought. Nevertheless, his repeated emphasis on the miraculous—and particularly the unrestrained rhetoric of a few key passages—has served to obscure and distort his true position, which was far more moderate, nuanced and complex than both medieval and modern scholars have been led to believe. I To Nahmanides, miracles serve as the ultimate validation of all three central dogmas of Judaism: creation ex nihilo, divine knowledge, and providence (hiddush, yedi‘ah, hashgahah).1 In establishing the relationship between miracles and his first dogma, Nahmanides applies a philosophical argument in a particularly striking way. “According to the believer in the eternity of the world,” he writes, “if God wished to shorten the wing of * Some of the issues analyzed in this article were discussed in a more rudimentary form in chapters one, three, and four of my master’s essay, “Nahmanides’ Attitude Toward Secular Learning and its Bearing upon his Stance in the Maimonidean Controversy” (Columbia University, 1965), which was directed by Prof. Gerson D. Cohen. 1 Torat HaShem Temimah (henceforth THT), in Kitvei Ramban, ed. by Ch. Chavel I (Jerusalem, 1963), p. 150. On Nahmanides’ dogmas and their connection with miracles, see S.
    [Show full text]
  • The Philosophy of Don Hasdai Crescas
    Hl~ ILLINOI S UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Brittle Books Project, 2009. 296 W56p Ri _ _ r THE PHILOSOPHY OF DON HASDAJ CRESCAS COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS SALES AGENTS NEW YORK: LEMCKE & BUECHNER 30-32 EAST 20TH STREET LONDON : HUMPHREY MILFORD AMEN CORNER, E.C. SHANGHAI : EDWARD EVANS & SONS, LTD. 30 NORTH SZECHUEN ROAD COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ORIENTAL STUDIES VOL. XVII THE PHILOSOPHY OF DON HASDAI CRESCAS BY MEYER WAXMAN SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, IN THE FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Qltu Pork COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 1920 All rights reserved PRINTED IN ENGLAND AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS NOTE A PECULIAR interest attaches to Hasdai Crescas. He swam against the current of the philosophical exposition of his day. He was bold enough to oppose the speculative reasoning of Aristotle, the man who held nearly all the philosophers in his grip during so many centuries; and, above all, he dared to criticize the introduction of Aristotelian views into the religious philosophy of his own people, even though these views were dressed in Jewish garb by the master hand of Maimonides. The current passed him by; it could not overwhelm him. In the following pages Dr. Meyer Waxman has given us a detailed and a very interesting exposition of Crescas's philosophic system; and he has added to this a comparison of Crescas's views, not only with those of Maimonides, but also with those of Spinoza. We have thus lined up for us the three greatest minds that speculative Jewish theology produced during the Middle Ages; and the means are afforded us to estimate the value of their dip into the Unknown.
    [Show full text]
  • Sceptical Paths Studies and Texts in Scepticism
    Sceptical Paths Studies and Texts in Scepticism Edited on behalf of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies by Giuseppe Veltri Managing Editor: Yoav Meyrav Editorial Board Heidrun Eichner, Talya Fishman, Racheli Haliva, Henrik Lagerlund, Reimund Leicht, Stephan Schmid, Carsten Wilke, Irene Zwiep Volume 6 Sceptical Paths Enquiry and Doubt from Antiquity to the Present Edited by Giuseppe Veltri, Racheli Haliva, Stephan Schmid, and Emidio Spinelli The series Studies and Texts in Scepticism is published on behalf of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies ISBN 978-3-11-058960-3 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-059104-0 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-059111-8 ISSN 2568-9614 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 Licence. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Control Number: 2019947115 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2019 Giuseppe Veltri, Racheli Haliva, Stephan Schmid, Emidio Spinelli, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover image: Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg, Ms Cod. Levy 115, fol. 158r: Maimonides, More Nevukhim, Beginn von Teil III. Printing & binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Contents Introduction 1 Carlos Lévy Philo of Alexandria vs. Descartes: An Ignored Jewish
    [Show full text]
  • The Passion for Metaphysics in Maimonides' Thought
    Dov Schwartz The Passion for Metaphysics in Maimonides’ Thought My concern in this paper is five chapters in Guide of the Perplexed I:31–35. Centring on an educational and didactic issue, this unit deals with the proper approach to the study of metaphysics as manifest in the requirements concerning four aspects: 1. A scientific aspect: preceding the study of metaphysics by the study of other sciences (logic, mathematics, physics, and astronomy). 2. A methodological aspect: preserving proper rules of thought, proceeding cau- tiously and constantly examining the arguments. 3. An ethical aspect: focusing exclusively on the study of these sciences and keeping away from material concerns. 4. A political aspect: concern for the masses – guaranteeing they do not exceed the limited boundaries of their comprehension while ensuring their access to a minimum of metaphysical assumptions. I will argue that, in this unit, Maimonides relies on what he views as an almost uncon- trollable urge to reach the summits of knowledge. I will further argue that Maimo- nides turned the passion for metaphysics into a powerful political and theological factor. The conclusion of the discussion will be that this unit is one of the most con- centrated expressions of Maimonidean rationalism. Several questions recur in discussions about the Guide: Maimonides’ aim in writing the book, his attitude towards science and its connection to revelation on the one hand, and towards biblical exegesis and rabbinic sources on the other. Additional questions touch on the character of the book, the reason for the order of its chapters, its concealment techniques, the identification of esoteric ideas, and so forth.
    [Show full text]
  • The Contribution of Spanish Jewryto the World of Jewishlaw*
    THE CONTRIBUTION OF SPANISH JEWRYTO THE WORLD OF JEWISHLAW* Menachem Elon Spanish Jewry's contribution to post-Talmudie halakhic literature may be explored in part in The Digest of the Responsa Literature of Spain and North Africa, a seven-volume compilation containing references to more ? than 10,000 Responsa answers to questions posed to the authorities of the day. Another source of law stemming from Spanish Jewrymay befound in the community legislation (Takanot HaKahal) enacted in all areas of civil, public-administrative, and criminal law. Among themajor questions con sider edhere are whether a majority decision binds a dissenting minority, the nature of a majority, and the appropriate procedures for governance. These earlier principles of Jewish public law have since found expression in decisions of the Supreme Court of the State of Israel. *This essay is based on the author's presentation to the Biennial Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, Madrid, June 27, 1992. JewishPolitical Studies Review 5:3-4 (Fall 1993) 35 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.82.205 on Tue, 27 Nov 2012 04:27:45 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 36 Menachem Elon The Contribution of Spanish Jewry to theWorld of Jewish Law The full significance of Spanish Jewry's powerful contribu tion to post-Talmudic halakhic literature demands a penetrating study. To appreciate the importance of Spanish Jewry's contri bution to the halakhic world, one need only mention, in chrono logical order, various halakhic authorities, most who lived in Spain throughout their lives, some who emigrated to, and some who immigrated from, Spain.
    [Show full text]