Part of a series on Philosophy Jewish philosophy

Jewish use of western philosophical method
Hellenistic
People: Philo of Alexandria Position in Western Philosophy: Hasmoneans, Sadducees, Sabeans, Himyarites, Pharisees, Boethusians
Medieval Hakirah-Investigation Part of Rabbinic canon
People: Isaac Israeli ben Solomon, Saadia Gaon, David ben Merwan al-Mukkamas, Hasdai ibn Shaprut, Chananel ben Chushiel, Nissim Ben Jacob, Samuel ibn Naghrela, Isaac Alfasi, Solomon Ibn Gabirol, Abraham bar Ḥiyya, Joseph ibn Migash, Natan'el al-Fayyumi, Bahya ibn Paquda, Yehuda Halevi, Hibat Allah Abu'l-Barakat al-Baghdaadi, Abraham ibn Daud, Maimonides, Joseph ben Judah of Ceuta, Shem-Tov ibn Falaquera, Gersonides, Moses of Narbonne, Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet, Hasdai ben Judah Crescas, Yosef Albo, Mansur ibn Sulayman al-Ghamari, Moses ben Isaac ha-Levi Minz, Elia del Medigo, Judah ben Eliezer ha-Levi Minz, Yitzhak ben Yehuda ben Shmuel Abravanel al-Daudi, Yehuda ben Yitzhak Abravanel al-Daudi, Francisco Sanches, Uriel da Costa, Moses Almosnino Position in Rabbinic Judaism: Maimonideans, anti-Maimonideans, Tosafists, Kabbalists, Talmudists, Karaism Position in Western Philosophy: Rationalism, Averroism, Neoplatonism, Avicennism, Topics: Mutazilites, Ismailism, Jewish Kalam, Jewish Ismailis, Jewish tribes of Arabia, Avempace, Brethren of Purity, Al-Ma'arri, Al-Kindi, Muhammad al-Fazari
Modern
People: Rashi, Baruch Spinoza, Salomon Maimon, Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm, Eliezer ben Elijah Ashkenazi, Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi, Jacob Emden, Samuel Hirsch, Samson Raphael Hirsch, Jacob Abendana, Isaac Fernando Cardoso, David Nieto, Isaac Orobio de Castro, Moses Mendelssohn, Samuel David Luzzatto, Elijah Benamozegh, Moses Hess, Eliezer Berkovits, Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler, Daniel Rynhold, Monsieur Chouchani, Emmanuel Levinas, Martin Buber, Gershom Scholem, Joseph Soloveitchik, David Hartman, Thomas Nagel, Jose Faur, Jacques Derrida, Hilary Putnam, Leo Strauss Position in Modern Judaism: Orthodox Judaism, Sephardic Judaism, Chabad, Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism, Jewish existentialism, Reconstructionist Judaism, Chassidic Theosophy, Holocaust theology, Jewish Renewal, Neo-Hasidism, Mussar movement, Rambamists
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Ancient Jewish philosophy

Philosophy in the Bible

Rabbinic literature sometimes views Abraham as a "philosopher." Some have suggested that Abraham introduced a philosophy learned from Melchizedek;^[1] Some Jews ascribe the Sefer Yetzirah "Book of Creation" to Abraham.^[2] A midrash^[3] describes how Abraham understood this world to have a creator and director by comparing this world to "a house with a light in it", what is now called the Argument from design. The Book of Psalms contains invitations to "admire the wisdom of Hashem through his works"; from this, some scholars suggest, Judaism harbors a Philosophical under-current.^[4] The Book of Ecclesiastes is often considered to be the only genuine Philosophical work in the Hebrew Bible, its author seeks to understand the place of human beings in the world, and life's meaning.^[5]

Philo of Alexandria

Philo attempted to fuse and harmonize Greek Philosophy and Judaism via allegory which he learned from Jewish exegesis and the Stoics.^[6] Philo attempted to make his philosophy the means of defending and justifying Jewish religious truths. These truths he regarded as fixed and determinate, and philosophy was used as an aid to truth, and a means of arriving at it. To this end Philo chose from philosophical tenets of Greeks, refusing those that did not harmonize with Judaism such as Aristotle's doctrine of the eternity and indestructibility of the world.

Dr. Bernard Revel, in dissertation on "Karaite Halacha", points to writings of a 10th century Karaite, Ya'qub al-Qirqisani, who quotes Philo, illustrating how Karaites made use of Philo's works in development of Karaism. Philo's works became important to Medieval Christian scholars who leveraged the work of Karaites to lend credence to their claims that "these are the beliefs of Jews" - a technically correct, yet mendacious, attribution.

Jewish scholarship after destruction of Second Temple

With destruction of the Second Temple Judaism was in disarray,^[7] but Jewish traditions were preserved especially thanks to the shrewd maneuvers of Yochanan Ben Zakkai, who saved the Sanhedrin and moved it to Yavne. Philosophical speculation was not a central part of rabbinic Judaism, though some have seen the Mishnah as a philosophical work,.^[8] Rabbi Akiva ben Joseph has also been viewed as a philosophical figure^[9]: his statements include 1.) "How favored is man, for he was created after an image "for in an image, Elokim made man" (Gen. ix. 6)", 2.) "Everything is foreseen; but freedom [of will] is given to every man", 3.) "The world is governed by mercy... but the divine decision is made by the preponderance of the good or bad in one's actions".

After the Bar Kochba Revolt, Rabbinic scholars gathered in Tiberias and Safed to re-assemble and re-assess Judaism, its laws, theology, liturgy, beliefs and leadership structure. In 219 CE, the Sura Academy is founded, by Abba Arika, from which Jewish Kalam emerges many centuries later. For the next five centuries Talmudic Academies focused upon reconstituting Judaism; little, if any, philosophic investigation in Jewish Academies is pursued.

Who influences whom?

Further information: Early Islamic philosophy

Rabbinic Judaism had limited philosophical activity until it was challenged by Islam, Karaism, and Christianity - with Mishnah, Talmud and Tanach, there was no need for a philosophic framework. From an economic viewpoint, Radhanite Trade dominance was being usurped by coordinated Christian and Islamic forced-conversions, and torture, compelling Jewish scholars to understand nascent economic threats. These investigations triggered new ideas and intellectual exchange among Jewish and Islamic scholars in the areas of jurisprudence, mathematics, astronomy, logic and philosophy. Jewish scholars influenced Islamic scholars and Islamic scholars influenced Jewish scholars. Contemporary scholars continue to debate who was Muslim and who was Jew - some "Islamic scholars" were "Jewish scholars" prior to forced conversion to Islam, some Jewish scholars willingly converted to Islam, such as Abdullah ibn Salam, while others later reverted to Judaism, and still others, born and raised as Jews, were ambiguous in their religious beliefs such as Ibn al-Rawandi- though lived according to the customs of their neighbors.

Around 700 CE, `Amr ibn `Ubayd Abu `Uthman al-Basri introduces two streams of thought that influence Jewish, Islamic and Christian scholars

1.) The Qadariyya and,
2.) The Bahshamiyya Mu'tazilites.

The story of Bahshamiyya Mu'tazili and Qadariyya is as important, if not more so, as the intellectual symbiosis of Judaism and Islam in Islamic Spain.

Around 733 CE, Mar Natronai ben Habibai moves to Kairouan, then to Spain, transcribing Talmud Bavli for the Academy at Kairouan from memory - later taking a copy with him to Spain.^[10]

Karaism

Main article: Karaite Judaism

Karaites were the first Jewish Sect to subject Judaism to Mu'tazilah. Rejecting Talmud and Rabbinic tradition, Karaites took liberty to reinterpret Tanach as they saw fit. This meant abandoning foundational Jewish belief structures. Some scholars suggest that the major impetus for the formation of Karaism was a reaction to the rapid rise of Shi'a Islam, which recognized Judaism as a fellow monotheistic faith, but claimed that it detracted from monotheism by deferring to Rabbinic authority. Karaites absorbed certain aspects of Jewish sects such as Isawites (Shi'ism), Malikites (Sunnis) and Yudghanites (Sufis), who were influenced by East-Islamic scholarship yet deferred to Ash'ari when contemplating the sciences.

Philosophic synthesis begins

Pumbeditha

Sura

Baghdad

Basra

Babylon - Centers of Ancient Jewish scholarship

The spread of Islam throughout the Middle East and North Africa rendered Muslim all that was once Jewish. Greek philosophy, science, medicine and mathematics was absorbed by Jewish scholars living in the Arab world due to Arabic translations of those texts; remnants of the Library of Alexandria. Early Jewish converts to Islam brought with them stories from their heritage, known as Isra'il'iyat, which told of the Banu Isra'il, the pious men of ancient Israel. One of the most famous early Islamic mystics - Sufi Hasan al-Basri introduced numerous Isra'il'iyat legends into Islamic scholarship, stories that went on to become representative of Islamic mystical ideas of piety of Sufism.

Further information: Judeo-Islamic philosophies (800 - 1400)

Hai Gaon, at Pumbeditha Academy, begins a new phase in Jewish scholarship and investigation (Hakira); Hai Gaon augments Talmudic scholarship with non-Jewish studies. Hai Gaon was a savant with an exact knowledge of the theological movements of his time so much so that Moses ibn Ezra called him a mutakallim. Hai was competent to argue with followers of Qadariyya and Mutazilites, sometimes adopting their polemic methods. Through correspondence with Talmudic Academies at Kairouan, Cordoba and Lucena, Hai Gaon passes along his discoveries to Talmudic scholars therein.

The teachings of the "Brethren of Purity" were carried to the West by a Spanish Arab of Madrid, Muhammad Abu'l-Qasim al-Majnti al-Andalusi, who died in A.D. 1004-1005. Thanks to Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Spain became a center of philosophical learning as is reflected by the explosion of philosophical inquiry among Jews, Muslims and Christians.^[11]

Jewish philosophy before Maimonides

"Hiwi the Heretic"

According to Saadia Gaon, the Jewish community of Balkh (Afghanistan) was divided into two groups: "Jews" and "people that are called Jews"; Hiwi al-Balkhi was a member of the latter. Hiwi is generally considered to be very first "Jewish" philosopher to subject the Pentateuch to critical analysis.^[12] Hiwi is viewed by some scholars as an intellectually conflicted man torn between Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Gnostic Christianity, and Manichaean thought.^[13]^[14]

Hiwi espoused the belief that miraculous acts, described in the Pentateuch, are simply examples of people using their skills of reasoning to undertake, and perform, seemingly miraculous acts.^[15] As examples of this position, he argued that the parting of the Reed Sea was a natural phenomenon, and that Moses' claim to greatness lay merely in his ability to calculate the right moment for the crossing. He also emphasized that the Egyptian magicians were able to reproduce several of Moses' "miracles," proving that they could not have been so unique. According to scholars, Hiwi's gravest mistake was having the Pentateuch redacted to reflect his own views - then had those redacted texts, which became popular, distributed to children.^[16] Since his views contradicted the views of both Rabbanite and Karaite scholars, Hiwi was declared a heretic. In this context, however, we can also regard Hiwi, while flawed, as the very first critical biblical commentator; zealous rationalistic views of Hiwi parallel those of Ibn al-Rawandi.

Saadia Gaon wrote a polemic against Hiwi denouncing him as an extreme rationalist, a "Mulhidun", or atheist/deviator. Abraham Ibn Daud described HIwi as a sectarian who "denied the Torah, yet used it to formulate a new Torah of his liking".^[17]

Saadia Gaon

Sura Academy

Sura in modern Iraq

Ibn al-Rawandi

Saadia Gaon, son of a proselyte, is considered the greatest early Jewish philosopher. During Saadia's early years in Tulunid Egypt, the Fatimid Caliphate ruled Egypt; leaders of the Tulunids were Ismaili Imams. Their influence upon the Jewish academies of Egypt resonate in the works of Saadia. Saadia's Emunoth ve-Deoth ("Beliefs and opinions") was originally called Kitab al-Amanat wal-l'tikadat ("Book of the Articles of Faith and Doctrines of Dogma"); it was the first systematic presentation and philosophic foundation of the dogmas of Judaism, completed at Sura Academy in 933 CE.

In "Book of the Articles of Faith and Doctrines of Dogma" Saadia declares the rationality of the Jewish religion, with the caveat that reason must capitulate wherever it contradicts tradition. Dogma takes precedence over reason. Saadia closely followed the rules of the Mu'tazilah school of Abu Ali al-Jubba'i in composing his works.^[18]^[19] It was Saadia, who laid foundations for Jewish rationalist theology which built upon the work of Mu'tazilah, thereby shifting Rabbinic Judaism from mythical explanations of the Rabbis to reasoned explanations of the intellect. Saadia advances the criticisms of Mu'tazilah, by Ibn al-Rawandi.^[20]

David Ibn Marwān al-Mukammas al-Rakki

Rakka, Abbasid Caliphate, Babylon

Rakka in modern Syria

David ben Merwan al-Mukkamas was author of the earliest known Jewish philosophical work of the Middle Ages, a commentary on Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation); he is regarded as the father of Jewish medieval philosophy. Al-Mukammas was first to introduce the methods of Kalam into Judaism and the first Jew to mention Aristotle in his writings. He was a proselyte of Rabbinic Judaism (not Karaism as some argue); al-Mikammas was a student of physician, and renowned Christian philosopher, Hana. His close interaction with Hana, and his familial affiliation with Islam gave al-Mukammas a unique view of religious belief and theology. In 1898 Abraham Harkavy discovered, in Imperial Library of St. Petersburg, fifteen of the twenty chapters of David's philosophical work entitled Ishrun Maḳalat (Twenty Chapters) of which 15 survive.

Mérida

Córdoba

Mérida and Cordoba in modern Spain

Samuel Ha-Nagid

Shmuel Ha-Nagid, born in Mérida - lived in Cordoba, was a child prodigy and student of Rabbi Hanoch ben Moshe. Shmuel Ha-Nagid, Hasdai Ibn Shaprut, and Rabbi Moshe ben Hanoch founded the Lucena Yeshiva that produced such brilliant scholars as Rabbi Yitzhak ibn Ghiath and Rabbi Maimon ben Yosef (father of Maimonides). Ha-Nagid's son, Yosef, provided refuge for two sons of (Hezekiah Gaon); Daud Ibn Chizkiya Gaon Ha-Nasi and Yitzhak Ibn Chizkiya Gaon Ha-Nasi. Though not a philosopher, he did build the infrastructure to allow philosophers to thrive. In 1070 the gaon Isaac ben Moses ibn Sakri, of Denia (Spain), traveled to the East and acted as rosh yeshivah of Baghdad Academy.

Yitzhak ben Yaakob HaKohen al-Fasi

Fez

Location of Fez in modern Morocco

Lucena

Location of Lucena in modern Spain

Rabbi Yitzhak ben Yakob HaKohen al-Fasi was a student of Nissim Gaon. al-Fasi is best known for his work of halachah, the legal code Sefer Ha-halachot, considered the first fundamental work in halachic literature. al-Fasi wrote Talmud Katan ("the Little Talmud"). At the close of the Middle Ages, when the Talmud was banned in Italy, al-Fasi's Talmud Katan was exempted so that from the 16th to the 19th centuries his work was the primary subject of study of the Italian Jewish community. al-Fasi occupies an important place in the development of the Sephardi method of studying the Talmud and influencing the growth of rational philosophic exploration of Jewish Canon. In contrast to Tosafists who made the Talmud more intricate, al-Fasi taught his students to simplify the Talmud and free it from casuistic detail.

Solomon ibn Gabirol

Málaga

Valencia

Malaga & Valencia in modern Spain

Shlomo ben Yehuda ibn Gevirol, born in Málaga then moved to Valencia. Ibn Gabirol was one of the first teachers of Neoplatonism in Europe. His role has been compared to that of Philo. Ibn Gabirol occidentalized Greco-Arabic philosophy and restored it to Europe. The philosophical teachings of Philo and Ibn Gabirol were largely ignored by fellow Jews; the parallel may be extended by adding that Philo and Ibn Gabirol, alike, exercised considerable influence in secular circles; Philo upon early Christianity, and Ibn Gabirol upon the scholars of medieval Christianity. Christian scholars, including Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas, defer to him frequently.

Abraham bar-Hiyya Ha-Nasi

Arles

Barcelona

bar-Hiyya-Barcelona then Arles

Abraham bar Hiyya Ha-Nasi, of Barcelona and later Arles-Provence, was a student of his father Hiyya al-Daudi Ha-Nasi. Abraham bar Ḥiyya was one of the most important figures in the scientific movement which made the Jews of Provence, Spain, and Italy the intermediaries between Averroism, Mu'tazilah and the Christian world. He aided this scientific movement by original works, translations and as interpreter for another translator, Plato of Tivoli. bar-Hiyya's best student was Abraham Ibn Ezra. bar-Hiyya's philosophical works, are ("Meditation of the Soul"), an ethical work written from a rationalistic religious viewpoint, and an apologetic epistle addressed to Judah ben Barzilai al-Barzeloni.

Hibat Allah

Originally known by his Hebrew name "Nethanel" Baruch ben Melech al-Balad^[21] later became known as Abu'l-Barakat Hibat Allah ibn Ali ibn Malka al-Baghdadi was a Jewish philosopher and physicist and father-in-law of Maimonides who converted to Islam in his twilight years - once Head of the Baghdad Yeshiva and considered the leading philosopher of Iraq. Historians differ over the motive for his conversion to Islam, some suggest it was a reaction to a social slight inflicted upon him, because he was a Jew, while others suggest he was forcibly converted at the edge of a sword (which prompted Maimonides to comment upon Anusim. Despite his conversion to Islam, his works continued to be studied at the Jewish Baghdad Academy, a well-known academy, into the thirteenth century. He was a follower of Avicenna's teaching, who proposed an explanation of the acceleration of falling bodies by the accumulation of successive increments of power with successive increments of velocity.

His writings include Kitāb al-Muʿtabar (“The Book of What Has Been Established by Personal Reflection”); a philosophical commentary on the Kohelet, written in Arabic using Hebrew aleph bet; and the treatise “On the Reason Why the Stars Are Visible at Night and Hidden in Daytime.” According to Hibat Allah, Kitāb al-Muʿtabar consists in the main of critical remarks jotted down by him over the years while reading philosophical text, and published at the insistence of his friends, in the form of a philosophical work.

Abu al-Ma'ali 'Uzziel Ibn Hibat Allah, son of Hibat Allah never converted to Islam and married the sister of Maimonides. Abu al-Ma'ali 'Uzziel Ibn Hibat Allah was the personal physician of Saladin and arranged employment for Maimonides when he fled to Egypt. Maimonides then married the sister of Abu al-Ma'ali 'Uzziel Ibn Hibat Allah.^[22]

Nethan'el al-Fayyumi

Sana'a, Ayyubid Yemen

Sana'a in Modern Yemen

Natan'el al-Fayyumi,^[23] of Yemen, was the twelfth-century author of Bustan al-Uqul ("Garden of Intellects"), a Jewish version of Ismaili Shi'ite doctrines. Like the Ismailis, Nethanel al-Fayyumi argued that haShem sent different prophets to various nations of the world, containing legislations suited to the particular temperament of each individual nation. Ismaili doctrine holds that a single universal religious truth lies at the root of the different religions. Some Jews accepted this model of religious pluralism, leading them to view Prophet Mohammed as a legitimate prophet, though not Jewish, sent to preach to the Arabs, just as the Hebrew prophets had been sent to deliver their messages to Israel; others refused this notion in entirety. Nethanel's son Yakob ben Nethanel Ibn al-Fayyumi turned to Maimonides, asking urgently for counsel on how to deal with forced conversions to Islam and religious persecutions at the hand of Saladin. Maimonides' response was Iggret Teiman

Bahya ben Joseph ibn Paquda

Zaragosa

Zaragoza in modern Spain

Bahye ben Yosef Ibn Paquda, of Zaragoza, was author of the first Jewish system of ethics Al Hidayah ila Faraid al-hulub, ("Guide to the Duties of the Heart"). Bahya often followed the method of the Arabian encyclopedists known as "the Brethren of Purity" but adopts some of Sufi tenets rather than Ismaili. According to Bahya, the Torah appeals to reason and knowledge as proofs of haShem's existence. It is therefore a duty incumbent upon every one to make haShem an object of speculative reason and knowledge, in order to arrive at true faith. Baḥya borrows from Sufism and Jewish Kalam integrating them into Neoplatonism. Proof that Bahya borrowed from Sufism is underscored by the fact that the title of his eighth gate, Muḥasabat al-Nafs ("Self-Examination"), is reminiscent of the Sufi Abu Abd Allah Ḥarith Ibn-Asad, who has been surnamed El Muḥasib ("the self-examiner"), because—say his biographers—"he was always immersed in introspection"^[24]

Yehuda Ha-Levi and the Kuzari

Toledo

Toledo in modern Spain

Rabbi Judah Ha-Levi, of Toledo, defended Rabbinic Judaism against Islam, Christianity and Karaism. He was a student of Moses Ibn Ezra whose education came from Isaac ibn Ghiyyat; trained as a Rationalist, he shed it in favor of Neoplatonism. Like Al-Ghazali, Judah Ha-Levi attempted to liberate religion from the bondage of philosophical systems. In particular, in a work written in Arabic Kitab al-Ḥujjah wal-Dalil fi Nuṣr al-Din al-Dhalil, translated by Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon, by the title Sefer ha-Kuzari he elaborates upon his views of Judaism relative to other religions of the time.

Cordoba, Almoravid al-Andalus

Toledo

Almoravid Cordoba

Abraham ibn Daud

Cordoba, Almohad al-Andalus

Almohad Córdoba

Abraham Ibn Daud was a student of Rabbi Baruch ben Yitzhak Ibn Albalia, his maternal uncle. Ibn Daud's philosophical work written in Arabic, Al-'akidah al-Rafiyah ("The Sublime Faith"), has been preserved in Hebrew by the title Emunah Ramah. Ibn Daud did not introduce a new philosophy, but he was the first to introduce a more thorough systematic form derived from Aristotle. Accordingly, Hasdai Crescas mentions Ibn Daud as the only Jewish philosopher among the predecessors of Maimonides.^[25] Overshadowed by Maimonides, ibn Daud's Emunah Ramah, a work to which Maimonides was indebted, received little notice from later philosophers. "True philosophy", according to Ibn Daud, "does not entice us from religion; it tends rather to strengthen and solidify it. Moreover, it is the duty of every thinking Jew to become acquainted with the harmony existing between the fundamental doctrines of Judaism and those of philosophy, and, wherever they seem to contradict one another, to seek a mode of reconciling them".

Fez

Fez in Morocco

Other notable Jewish philosophers pre-Maimonides

The Rambam - Maimonides

Artist's depiction, sculpture of Maimonides

Location of Fostat in modern Egypt

Abbasid Fostat

Main article: Maimonides

Maimonides wrote The Guide for the Perplexed - his most influential philosophic work. He was a student of his father, Rabbi Maimon ben Yosef (a student of Joseph ibn Migash) in Cordoba, Spain. When his family fled Spain, for Fez, Maimonides enrolled in the Academy of Fez and studied under Rabbi Yehuda Ha-Kohen Ibn Soussan - a student of Isaac Alfasi. Maimonides strove to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy and science with the teachings of Torah. In some ways his position was parallel to that of Averroes; in reaction to the attacks on Avicennian Aristotelism, Maimonides embraced and defended a stricter Aristotelism without Neoplatonic additions. The principles which inspired all of Maimonides' philosophical activity was identical those of Abraham Ibn Daud: there can be no contradiction between the truths which haShem has revealed and the findings of the human intellect in science and philosophy. Maimonides departed from the teachings of Aristotle by suggesting that the world is not eternal, as Aristotle taught, but was created ex nihilo. In "Guide for the Perplexed" (1:17 & 2:11)" Maimonides explains that Israel lost its Mesorah in exile, and with it "we lost our science and philosophy - only to be rejuvenated in Al Andalus within the context of interaction and intellectual investigation of Jewish, Christian and Muslim texts.

Medieval Jewish Philosophy after Maimonides

Maimonides writings almost immediately came under attack from Karaites, Dominican Christians, Tosafists of Provence, Ashkenaz and Al Andalus. His genius was obvious, protests centered around his writings. Scholars suggest that Maimonides instigated the Maimonidean Controversy when he verbally attacked Samuel ben Ali Ha-Levi al-Dastur ("Gaon of Baghdad") as "one whom people accustom from his youth to believe that there is none like him in his generation," and he sharply attack the "monetary demands" of the academies. al-Dasturwas an anti-Maimonidean operating in Babylon to undermine the works of Maimonides and those of Maimonides' patrons (the Al-Constantini Family from North Africa). To illustrate the reach of the Maimonidean Controversy, al-Dastur, the chief opponent of Maimonides in the East, was excommunicated by Daud Ibn Hodaya al Daudi (Exilarch of Mosul). Maimonides' attacks on Ibn al-Dastur may not have been entirely altruistic given the position of Maimonides' in-laws in competing Yeshivas.

In Western Europe, the controversy was halted by the burning of Maimonides' works by Christian Dominicans, in 1232. Avraham son of Rambam, continued fighting for his father's beliefs in the East; desecration of Maimonides' tomb, at Tiberias by Jews, was a profound shock to Jews throughout the Diaspora and caused all to pause and reflect upon what was being done to the fabric of Jewish Culture. This compelled many Anti-Maimonideans to recant their assertions and realize what cooperation with Christians meant to them, their texts and their communities.

Maimonidean controversy flared up again^[26] at the beginning of the fourteenth century when Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet, under influence from Asher ben Jehiel, issued a cherem on "any member of the community who, being under twenty-five years, shall study the works of the Greeks on natural science and metaphysics."

Contemporary Kabbalists, Tosafists and Rationalists continue to engage in lively, sometimes caustic, debate in support of their positions and influence in the Jewish world. At the center of many of these debates are 1) "Guide for the Perplexed", 2) "13 Principles of Faith", 3) "Mishnah Torah", and 4) his commentary on Anusim.

Ceuta, North African Spain

Yosef ben Yehuda of Ceuta

Ayyubid Aleppo

Aleppo in modern Syria

Joseph ben Judah of Ceuta, of Ceuta, was the son of Rabbi Yehuda Ha-Kohen Ibn Soussan and a student of Maimonides for whom the "Guide for the Perplexed" is written. Yosef traveled from Alexandria to Fustat to study logic, mathematics, and astronomy under Maimonides. Philosophically, Yosef's dissertation, in Arabic, on the problem of "Creation" is suspected to have been written before contact with Maimonides. It is entitled Ma'amar bimehuyav ha-metsiut ve'eykhut sidur ha-devarim mimenu vehidush ha'olam ("A Treatise as to (1) Necessary Existence (2) The Procedure of Things from the Necessary Existence and (3) The Creation of the World").

Jacob Anatoli

Jacob ben Abba Mari ben Simson Anatoli is generally regarded as a pioneer in the application of the Maimonidean Rationalism to the study of Jewish texts. He was the son-in-law of Samuel ibn Tibbon, translator of Maimonides. Due to these family ties Anatoli was introduced to the philosophy of Maimonides, the study of which was such a great revelation to him that he, in later days, referred to it as the beginning of his intelligent and true comprehension of the Scriptures, while he frequently alluded to Ibn Tibbon as one of the two masters who had instructed and inspired him. Anatoli wrote the Malmad exhibiting his broad knowledge of classic Jewish exegetes, as well as Plato, Aristotle, Averroes, and the Vulgate, as well as with a large number of Christian institutions, some of which he ventures to criticize, such as celibacy and monastic castigation, as well as certain heretics and he repeatedly appeals to his readers for a broader cultivation of the classic languages and the non-Jewish branches of learning. To Anatoli all men are, in truth, formed in the image of G-d, though the Jews stand under a particular obligation to further the true cognition of G-d simply by reason of their election— "the Greeks had chosen wisdom as their pursuit; the Romans, power; and the Jews, religiousness"

Hillel ben Samuel

Firstly, Hillel ben Samuel's importance in the history of medieval Jewish philosophy lies in his attempt to deal, systematically, with the question of the immortality of the soul. Secondly, Hillel played a major role in the controversies of 1289–90 concerning the philosophical works of Maimonides. Thirdly, Hillel was the first devotee of Jewish learning and Philosophy in Italy, bringing a close to a period of relative ignorance of Hakira in Verona (Italy). And finally, Hillel is one of the early Latin translators of "the wise men of the nations" (non-Jewish scholars).

Defending Maimonides, Hillel addressed a letter to his friend Maestro Gaio asking him to use his influence with the Jews of Rome against Maimonides' opponents (Solomon Petit). He also advanced the bold idea of gathering together Maimonides' defenders and opponents in Alexandria, in order to bring the controversy before a court of Babylonian rabbis, whose decision would be binding on both factions. Hillel was cetrtain the verdict would favor Maimonides.

Hillel wrote a commentary on the 25 propositions appearing at the beginning of the second part of the Guide of the Perplexed, and three philosophical treatises, which were appended to Tagmulei ha-Nefesh: the first on knowledge and free will; the second on the question of why mortality resulted from the sin of Adam; the third on whether or not the belief in the fallen angels is a true belief.

Shemtob Ben Joseph Ibn Falaquera

Narbonne

Narbonne in modern France

Shem-Tov ibn Falaquera was a Spanish-born philosopher who pursued reconciliation between Jewish dogma and philosophy. Scholars speculate he was a student of Rabbi David Kimhi whose family fled Spain to Narbonne.^[27] Ibn Falaquera lived an ascetic live of solitude.^[28] Ibn Falaquera's two leading philosophic authorities were Averroes and Maimonides. Ibn Falaquera defended the "Guide for the Perplexed" against attacks of anti-Maimonideans.^[29] He knew the works of the Islamic philosophers better than any Jewish scholar of his time, and made many of them available to other jewish scholars – often without attribution (Reshit Hokhmah). Ibn Falaquera did not hesitate to modify Islamic philosophic texts their texts when it suited his purposes. For example, Ibn Falaquera turned Alfarabi's account of the origin of philosophic religion into a discussion of the origin of the "virtuous city". Ibn Falaquera's other woirks include, but are not limited to Iggeret Hanhagat ha-Guf we ha-Nefesh, a treatise in verse on the control of the body and the soul.

Iggeret ha-Wikkuaḥ, a dialogue between a religious Jew and a Jewish philosopher on the harmony of philosophy and religion.
Reshit Ḥokmah, treating of moral duties, of the sciences, and of the necessity of studying philosophy.
Sefer ha-Ma'alot, on different degrees of human perfection.
Moreh ha-Moreh, commentary on the philosophical part of Maimonides' "Guide for the Perplexed".

Joseph ben Abba Mari ibn Kaspi

Ibn Kaspi was a fierce advocate of Maimonides to such an extent that he left for Egypt in 1314 in order to hear explanations on the latter's Guide of the Perplexed from Maimonides' grandchildren. When he heard that the Guide of the Perplexed was being studied in the Muslim philosophical schools of Fez, he left for that town (in 1332) in order to observe their method of study.

Ibn Kaspi began writing when he was 17 years old on topics which included logic, linguistics, ethics, theology, biblical exegesis, and super-commentaries to Abraham Ibn Ezra and Maimonides. Philosophic system he followed Aristotle and Averroes. He defines his aim as "not to be a fool who believes in everything, but only in that which can be verified by proof...and not to be of the second unthinking category which disbelieves from the start of its inquiry," since "certain things must be accepted by tradition, because they cannot be proven." Scholars continue to debate whether ibn Kaspi was a heretic or one of Judaisms most illustrious scholars.

Gersonides

Bagnols Avignon Papacy

Bagnols in Modern France

Rabbi Levi ben Gershon was a student of his father Gerson ben Solomon of Arles, who in turn was a student of Shem-Tov ibn Falaquera. Gersonides is best known for his work Milhamot HaShem ("Wars of the Lord"). Milhamot HaShem is modelled after the "Guide for the Perplexed". Milhamot HaShem is an Averroistic criticism of reconciliation of Aristotelism and Jewish dogma as presented in that work. Gersonides and his father were avid students of the works of Alexander of Aphrodisias, Aristotle, Empedocles, Galen, Hippocrates, Homer, Plato, Ptolemy, Pythagoras, Themistius, Theophrastus, Ali ibn Abbas al-Magusi, Ali ibn Ridwan, Averroes, Avicenna, Qusta ibn Luqa, Al-Farabi, Al-Fergani, Chonain, Isaac Israeli, Ibn Tufail, Ibn Zuhr, Isaac Alfasi, and Maimonides. Gersonides held that haShem does not have complete foreknowledge of human acts. "Gersonides, bothered by the old question of how haShem's foreknowledge is compatible with human freedom, suggests that what haShem knows beforehand is all the choices open to each individual. haShem does not know, however, which choice the individual, in his freedom, will make.".^[30]

Moses Narboni

Perpignan Kingdom of Aragon

Perpignan in modern France

Moses ben Joshua composed commentaries on Islamic philosophical works. As an admirer of Averroes; he devoted a great deal of study to his works and wrote commentaries on a number of them. His best know work is his Shelemut ha-Nefesh ("Treatise on the Perfection of the Soul"). Moses began studying philosophy with his father when he was thirteen later studying with Moses ben David Caslari and Abraham ben David Caslari - both of whom were students of Kalonymus ben Kalonymus. Moses believed that Judaism was a guide to the highest degree of theoretical and moral truth. He believed that the Torah had both a simple, direct meaning accessible to the average reader as well as a deeper, metaphysical meaning accessible to thinkers. Moses rejected the belief in miracles, instead believing they could be explained, and defended man's free will by philosophical arguments.

Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet

Barcelona

Valencia

Barcelona and Valencia in modern Spain

Algiers

Algiers in modern Algeria

Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet, of Barcelona, studied under Hasdai Crescas and Rabbi Nissim ben Reuben Gerondi. Nissim ben Reuben Gerondi, was a steadfast Rationalist who did not hesitate to refute leading authorities, such as Rashi, Rabbeinu Tam, Moses ben Nahman, and Solomon ben Adret. The pogroms of 1391, against Jews of Spain, forced Isaac to flee to Algiers - where he lived out his life. Isaac's responsa evidence a profound knowledge of the philosophical writings of his time; in one of Responsa No. 118 he explains the difference between the opinion of Gersonides and that of Abraham ben David of Posquières on free will, and gives his own views on the subject. He was an adversary of Kabbalah who never spoke of the Sefirot; he quotes another philosopher when reproaching kabbalists with "believing in the "Ten" (Sefirot) as the Christians believe in the Trinity".^[31]

Hasdai ben Judah Crescas

Barcelona

Barcelona in modern Spain

Hasdai Crescas, of Barcelona, was a leading rationalist on issues of natural law and free-will. His views can be seen as precursors to Baruch Spinoza. His work, Or Adonai, became a classic refutation of medieval Aristotelism, and harbinger of the scientific revolution in the 16th century. Hasdai Crescas was a student of Nissim ben Reuben Gerondi, who in turn was a student of Reuben ben Nissim Gerondi. Crescas was not a Rabbi, yet he was active as a teacher. Among his fellow students and friends, his best friend was Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet. Cresca's students won accolades as participants in the Disputation of Tortosa.

Simeon ben Zemah Duran

Influenced by the teaching of Rabbi Nissim of Gerona, via Ephraim Vidal's Yeshiva in Majorca, Duran's commentary Magen Avot (“The Shield of the Fathers”), which influenced Joseph Albo, is important. He was also a student of philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, and especially of medicine, which he practiced for a number of years at Palma, in Majorca. Magen Avot deals with concepts such as the nature of haShem, the eternity of the Torah, the coming of the Messiah, and the Resurrection of the dead. Duran believed that Judaism has three dogmas only: the existence of haShem, the Torah's Divine origin, and Reward and Punishment; in this regard he was followed by Joseph Albo.

Joseph Albo

Monreal, Kingdom of Navarre

Monreal in modern Spain

Joseph Albo, of Monreal, was a student of Hasdai Crescas. He wrote Sefer ha-Ikkarim ("Book of Principles"), a classic work on the fundamentals of Judaism. Albo narrows the fundamental Jewish principles of faith from thirteen to three -

belief in the existence of haShem,
belief in revelation, and
belief in divine justice, as related to the idea of immortality.

Albo rejects the assumption that creation ex nihilo is essential in belief in haShem. Albo freely criticizes Maimonides' thirteen principles of belief and Crescas' six principles. According to Albo, "belief in the Messiah is only a 'twig' unnecessary to the soundness of the trunk"; not essential to Judaism. Nor is it true, according to Albo, that every law is binding. Though every ordinance has the power of conferring happiness in its observance, it is not true that every law must be observed, or that through the neglect of a part of the law, a Jew would violate the divine covenant or be damned. Contemporary Orthodox Jews, however, vehemently disagree with Albo's position believing that all Jews are divinely obligated to fulfill every applicable commandment.

Hoter ben Solomon

Sana'a, Rasulid Yemen

Sana'a in modern Yemen

Hoter ben Shlomo was a scholar and philosopher in Yemen heavily influenced by Nethanel ben al-Fayyumi, Maimonides, Saadia Gaon and al-Ghazali. The connection between the "Epistle of the Brethren of Purity" and Ismailism suggests the adoption of this work as one of the main sources of what would become known as "Jewish Ismailism” as found in Late Medieval Yemenite Judaism. “Jewish Ismailism” consisted of adapting, to Judaism, a few Ismaili doctrines about cosmology, prophecy, and hermeneutics. There are many examples of the Brethren of Purity influencing Yemenite Jewish philosophers and authors in the period 1150–1550.^[32] Some traces of Brethren of Purity doctrines, as well as of their numerology, are found in two Yemenite philosophical midrashim written in 1420–1430: Midrash ha-hefez ("The Glad Learning") by Zerahyah ha-Rofé (a/k/a Yahya al-Tabib) and the Siraj al-‘uqul ("Lamp of Intellects") by Hoter ben Solomon.

Don Isaac Abravanel

Isaac Abrabanel

Lisboa, House of Aviz

Porto, Portugal

Lisboa in modern Portugal

Corfu in modern Greece

Isaac Abravanel, statesman, philosopher, Bible commentator, and financier who commented on Maimonides' thirteen principles in his Rosh Amanah. Isaac Abravanel was steeped in Rationalism by the Ibn Yahya family, who had a residence immediately adjacent to the Great Synagogue of Lisbon (also built by the Ibn Yahya Family). His most important work, Rosh Amanah ("The Pinnacle of Faith"), defends Maimonides' thirteen articles of belief against attacks of Hasdai Crescas and Yosef Albo. Rosh Amanah ends with the statement that "Maimonides compiled these articles merely in accordance with the fashion of other nations, which set up axioms or fundamental principles for their science".

Isaac Abravanel was born and raised in Lisbon; a student of the Rabbi of Lisbon, Yosef ben Shlomo Ibn Yahya.^[33] Rabbi Yosef was a poet, religious scholar, rebuilder of Ibn Yahya Synagogue of Calatayud, well versed in rabbinic literature and in the learning of his time, devoting his early years to the study of Jewish philosophy. The Ibn Yahya family were renowned physicians, philosophers and accomplished aides to the Portuguese Monarchy for centuries.

Padua & Verona, Republic of Venice

Genoa, Republic of Genoa

Kingdom of Sicily

Padua and Verona in modern Italy

Isaac's grand-father, Samuel Abravanel, was forcibly converted to Christianity during the pogroms of 1391 and took the Spanish name "Juan Sanchez de Sevilla". Samuel fled Castile-Leon, Spain, in 1397 for Lisbon, Portugal, and reverted to Judaism - shedding his Converso after living among Christians for six years. Conversions outside Judaism, coerced or otherwise, had a strong impact upon young Isaac, later compelling him to forfeit his immense wealth in an attempt to redeem Iberian Jewry from coercion of the Alhambra Decree. There are parallels between what he writes, and documents produced by Inquisitors, that present conversos as ambivalent to Christianity and sometimes even ironic in their expressions regarding their new religion - crypto-jews.

Leone Ebreo

Judah Leon Abravanel was Portuguese physician, poet and philosopher. His work Dialoghi d'amore ("Dialogues of Love"), written in Italian, was one of the most important philosophical works of his time In an attempt to circumvent a plot, hatched by local Catholic Bishops to kidnap his son, Judah sent his son from Castile, to Portugal with a nurse, but by order of the king, the son was seized and baptized. This was a devastating insult to Judah and his family, and was a source of bitterness throughout Judah’s life and the topic of his writings years later; especially since this was not the first time the Abravanel Family was subjected to such embarrassment at the hands of the Catholic Church.

Judah's Dialoghi is regarded as the finest of Humanistic Period works. His neoplatonism is derived from the Hispanic Jewish community, especially the works of Ibn Gabirol. Platonic notions of reaching towards a nearly impossible ideal of beauty, wisdom, and perfection encompass the whole of his work. In Dialoghi d'amore, Judah defines love in philosophical terms. He structures his three dialogues as a conversation between two abstract “characters”: Philo, representing love or appetite, and Sophia, representing science or wisdom, Philo+Sophia (philosophia).

Criticisms of Kabbalah

The word "Kabbalah" was used in medieval Jewish texts to mean "tradition", see Abraham Ibn Daud's Sefer Ha-Qabbalah also known as the "Book of our Tradition". "Book of our Tradition" does not refer to mysticism of any kind - it chronicles "our tradition of scholarship and study" in two Babylonian Academies, through the Geonim, into Talmudic Yeshivas of Spain. In Talmudic times there was a mystic tradition in Judaism, known as Maaseh Bereshith (the work of creation) and Maaseh Merkavah (the work of the chariot); Maimonides interprets these texts as referring to Aristotelian physics and metaphysics as interpreted in the light of Torah.

In the 13th century, however, an mystical-esoteric system emerged which became known as "the Kabbalah." Many of the beliefs associated with Kabbalah had long been rejected by philosophers. Saadia Gaon had taught in his book Emunot v'Deot that Jews who believe in gilgul have adopted a non-Jewish belief. Maimonides rejected many texts of Heichalot, particularly Shi'ur Qomah whose anthropomorphic vision of HaShem he considered heretical.

In the 13th century, *Meir ben Simon of Narbonne wrote an epistle (included in Milhhemet Mitzvah) against early Kabbalists, singled out Sefer Bahir, rejecting the attribution of its authorship to the tanna R. Nehhunya ben ha-Kanah and describing some of its content as follow -

"... And we have heard that a book had already been written for them, which they call Bahir, that is 'bright' but no light shines through it. This book has come into our hands and we have found that they falsely attribute it to Rabbi Nehunya ben Haqqanah. haShem forbid! There is no truth in this... The language of the book and its whole content show that it is the work of someone who lacked command of either literary language or good style, and in many passages it contains words which are out and out heresy."

Renaissance Jewish philosophy and philosophers

Ottoman Empire welcomed Jews expelled from Spain & Portugal

Some of the Monarchies of Asia Minor and European welcomed expelled Jewish Merchants, scholars and theologians. Divergent Jewish philosophies evolved against the backdrop of new cultures, new languages and renewed theological exchange. Philosophic exploration continued through the Renaissance period as the center-of-mass of Jewish Scholarship shifted to France, Germany, Italy, and Turkey.

Elias ben Moise del Medigo

Candia

Heraklion in modern Crete

Elia del Medigo was a descendant of Judah ben Eliezer ha-Levi Minz and Moses ben Isaac ha-Levi Minz. Eli'ezer del Medigo, of Rome, received the surname "Del Medigo" after studying Medicine. The name was later changed from Del Medigo to Ha-rofeh. He was the father and teacher of a long line of rationalist philosophers and scholars. Non-Jewish students of Delmedigo classified him as an “Averroist”, however, he saw himself as a follower of Maimonides. Scholastic association of Maimonides and Ibn Rushd would have been a natural one; Maimonides, towards the end of his life, was impressed with the Ibn Rushd commentaries and recommended them to his students. The followers of Maimonides (Maimonideans) had therefore been, for several generations before Delmedigo, the leading users, translators and disseminators of the works of Ibn Rushd in Jewish circles, and advocates for Ibn Rushd even after Islamic rejection of his radical views. Maimonideans regarded Maimonides and Ibn Rushd as following the same general line. In his book, Delmedigo portrays himself as defender of Maimonidean Judaism, and — like many Maimonideans — he emphasized the rationality of Jewish tradition.

Salonika, Ottoman Empire

Thessaloniki in modern Greece

Moses Almosnino

Moses Almosnino was born Thessaloniki 1515 - died Constantinople abt 1580. He was a student of Levi Ibn Habib, who was in turn a student of Jacob ibn Habib, who was, in turn, a student of Nissim ben Reuben. In 1570 he wrote a commentary on the Pentateuch titled "Yede Mosheh" (The Hands of Moses); also an exposition of the Talmudical treatise "Abot" (Ethics of the Fathers), published in Salonica in 1563; and a collection of sermons delivered upon various occasions, particularly funeral orations, entitled "Meammeẓ Koaḥ" (Re-enforcing Strength).

al-Ghazâlî's Intentions of the Philosophers (De’ôt ha-Fîlôsôfîm or Kavvanôt ha-Fîlôsôfîm) was one of the most widespread philosophical texts studied among Jews in Europe having been translated in 1292 by Isaac Albalag.^[34] Later Hebrew commentators include Moses Narboni, and Moses Almosnino.

Padua & Verona, Republic of Venice

Padua & Verona in modern Italy

Moses ben Jehiel Ha-Kohen Porto-Rafa (Rapaport)

Moses ben Jehiel Ha-Kohen Porto-Rafa (Rapaport), was a member of the German family "Rafa" (from whom the Delmedigo family originates) that settled in the town of Porto in the vicinity of Verona, Italy, and became the progenitors of the renowned Rapaport Rabbinic family. In 1602 Moses served as rabbi of Badia Polesine in Piedmont. Moses was a friend of Leon Modena.^[35]

Abraham ben Judah ha-Levi Minz

Abraham ben Judah ha-Levi Minz was an Italian rabbi who flourished at Padua in the first half of the 16th century, father-in-law of Meïr Katzenellenbogen. Minz studied chiefly under his father, Judah Minz, whom he succeeded as rabbi and head of the yeshiva of Padua.

Meir ben Isaac Katzellenbogen

Mainz - Katzenelnbogen, Germany

Location of Mainz in modern Germany

Prague, Czech Republic

Location of Prague in modern Czech Republic

Meir ben Isaac Katzellenbogen was born in Prague where together with Shalom Shachna he studied under Jacob Pollak. Many rabbis, including Moses Isserles, addressed him in their responsa as the "av bet din of the republic of Venice." The great scholars of the Renaissance with whom he corresponded include Shmuel ben Moshe di Modena, Joseph Katz, Solomon Luria, Moses Isserles, Obadiah Sforno, and Moses Alashkar.

Lublin/Chelm, Poland-Lithuania

Lublin & Chelm in modern Poland

Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm

Rabbi Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm was a student of Rabbi Solomon Luria who was, in turn a student of Rabbi Shalom Shachna - father-in-law and teacher of Moses Isserles. Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm was also a cousin of Moses Isserles.

Eliezer ben Elijah Ashkenazi

Rabbi Eliezer ben Elijah Ashkenazi Ha-rofeh Ashkenazi of Nicosia ("the physician") the author of Yosif Lekah on the Book of Esther.

Other notable Renaissance Jewish philosophers

Seventeenth-century Jewish philosophy

Altona, Hamburg, Denmark

Altona, Hamburg in modern Germany

Candia

Heraklion in modern Crete

With expulsion from Spain came the dissemination of Jewish Philosophical investigation throughout the Mediterranean Basin, Northern Europe and Western Hemisphere. The center-of-mass of Rationalism shifts to France, Italy, Germany, Crete, Sicily and Netherlands. Expulsion from Spain and the coordinated pogroms of Europe resulted in the cross-pollenation of variations on Rationalism incubated within diverse communities. This period is also marked by the intellectual exchange among leaders of the Christian Reformation and Jewish scholars. Of particular note is the line of Rationalists who migrate out of Germany, and present-day Italy into Crete, and other areas of the Ottoman Empire seeking safety and protection from the endless pogroms fomented by the House of Habsburg and the Roman Catholic Church against Jews.

Rationalism was incubating in geographies far from Spain. From stories told by Rabbi Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm, German-speaking Jews, descendants of Jews who migrated back to Jerusalem after Charlemagne's invitation was revoked in Germany many centuries earlier, who lived in Jerusalem during the 11th century were influenced by prevailing Mutazilite scholars of Jerusalem. A German-speaking Palestinian Jew saved the life of a young German man surnamed "Dolberger". When the knights of the First Crusade came to siege Jerusalem, one of Dolberger's family members rescued German-speaking Jews in Palestine and brought them back to the safety of Worms, Germany, to repay the favor.^[36] Further evidence of German communities in the holy city comes in the form of halakic questions sent from Germany to Jerusalem during the second half of the eleventh century.^[37]

All of the foregoing resulted in an explosion of new ideas and philosophic paths.

Yosef Shlomo ben Eliyahu Dal Medigo

Livorno, Grand Duchy of Tuscany

Padua & Verona, Republic of Venice

Livorno in modern Italy

Joseph Solomon Delmedigo was a physician and teacher - Baruch Spinoza was a student of his works.^[38]

Baruch Spinoza

London

London in modern United Kingdom

Amsterdam, Holland

Amsterdam in modern Netherlands

Baruch Spinoza adopted Pantheism, broke with Rabbinic Judaism tradition and was excommunicated. Nevertheless the Jewish influence in his work from Maimonides and Leone Ebreo, is evident. Some contemporary critics (e.g. Wachter, Der Spinozismus im Judenthum) claimed to detect the influence of the Kabbalah, while others (e.g. Leibniz) regarded Spinozism as a revival of Averroism; a talmudist manner of referencing to Maimonidean Rationalism.

Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi

Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi was a student of his father, but most notably also a student of his grandfather Rabbi Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm.

Jacob Emden

Rabbi Jacob Emden was a student of his father Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi a Rabbi in Amsterdam. Emden, a steadfast Talmudist, was a prominent opponent of the Sabbateans (Messianic Kabbalists who followed Sabbatai Tzvi). Though anti-Maimonidean, Emden should be noted for his critical examination of the Zohar concluding that large parts of it were forged.

Other seventeenth-century Jewish philosophers

Jacob Abendana Sephardic Rabbi and Philosopher
Isaac Cardoso
David Nieto Sephardic Rabbi and Philosopher
Isaac Orobio de Castro Sephardic Rabbi and Philosopher

Philosophical criticisms of Kabbalah

Main article: Kabbalah

Rabbi Leone di Modena wrote that if we were to accept the Kabbalah, then the Christian trinity would indeed be compatible with Judaism, as the Trinity closely resembles the Kabbalistic doctrine of the Sefirot.

Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century Jewish philosophy

Germany - centers of Jewish scholarship

London

London in modern United Kingdom

A new era began in the 18th century with the thought of Moses Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn has been described as the "'third Moses,' with whom begins a new era in Judaism," just as new eras began with Moses the prophet and with Moses Maimonides.^[39] Mendelssohn was a German Jewish philosopher to whose ideas the renaissance of European Jews, Haskalah (the Jewish Enlightenment) is indebted. He has been referred to as the father of Reform Judaism, though Reform spokesmen have been "resistant to claim him as their spiritual father".^[40] Mendelssohn came to be regarded as a leading cultural figure of his time by both Germans and Jews. His most significant book was Jerusalem oder über religiöse Macht und Judentum (Jerusalem), first published in 1783.

Alongside Mendelssohn, other important Jewish philosophers of the eighteenth century included:

Solomon Maimon, Enlightenment philosopher
Naphtali Ullman, Haskalah philosopher^[41]
Menachem Mendel Lefin, anti-Hasidic Haskalah philosopher
Isaac Satanow, a Haskalah philosopher

Important Jewish philosophers of the nineteenth century included:

Samuel David Luzzatto a Sephardic rabbi and philosopher
Elijah Benamozegh, a Sephardic rabbi and philosopher
Samuel Hirsch, a leader of Reform Judaism
Nachman Krochmal, Haskalah philosopher in Galicia
Samson Raphael Hirsch, leader of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of 19th century neo-Orthodoxy
Moses Hess, a secular Jewish philosopher and one of the founders of socialism
Hermann Cohen, a neo-Kantian Jewish philosopher

Traditionalist attitudes towards philosophy

Main articles: Haredi Judaism and Hasidic philosophy

Haredi traditionalists who emerged in reaction to the Haskalah considered the fusion of religion and philosophy as difficult because classical philosophers start with no preconditions for which conclusions they must reach in their investigation, while classical religious believers have a set of religious principles of faith that they hold one must believe. Most Haredim contended that one cannot simultaneously be a philosopher and a true adherent of a revealed religion. In this view, all attempts at synthesis ultimately fail. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, for example, viewed all philosophy as untrue and heretical. In this he represents one strand of Hasidic thought, with creative emphasis on the emotions.

Other exponents of Hasidism had a more positive attitude towards philosophy. In the Chabad writings of Schneur Zalman of Liadi, Hasidut is seen as able to unite all parts of Torah thought, from the schools of philosophy to mysticism, by uncovering the illuminating Divine essence that permeates and transcends all approaches. Interpreting the verse from Job, "from my flesh I see HaShem", Shneur Zalman explained the inner meaning, or "soul", of the Jewish mystical tradition in intellectual form, by means of analogies drawn from the human realm. As explained and continued by the later leaders of Chabad, this enabled the human mind to grasp concepts of Godliness, and so enable the heart to feel the love and awe of HaShem, emphasised by all the founders of hasidism, in an internal way. This development, the culminating level of the Jewish mystical tradition, in this way bridges philosophy and mysticism, by expressing the transcendent in human terms.

20th and 21st-century Jewish philosophy

Martin Buber

Jewish existentialism

Main article: Jewish existentialism

One of the major trends in modern Jewish philosophy was the attempt to develop a theory of Judaism through existentialism. Among the early Jewish existentialist philosophers was Lev Shestov (Jehuda Leib Schwarzmann), a Russian-Jewish philosopher. One of the most influential Jewish existentialists in the first half of the 20th century was Franz Rosenzweig. While researching his doctoral dissertation on the 19th-century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Rosenzweig reacted against Hegel's idealism and developed an existential approach. Rosenzweig, for a time, considered conversion to Christianity, but in 1913, he turned to Jewish philosophy. He became a philosopher and student of Hermann Cohen. Rozensweig's major work, Star of Redemption, is his new philosophy in which he portrays the relationships between haShem, humanity and world as they are connected by creation, revelation and redemption. Orthodox rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik^{[citation needed]} and Conservative rabbis Neil Gillman^{[citation needed]} and Elliot N. Dorff^{[citation needed]} have also been described as existentialists.

The French philosopher and Talmudic commentator Emmanuel Levinas, whose approach grew out of the phenomenological tradition in philosophy, has also been described as a Jewish existentialist.^[42]

Hermann Cohen

Jewish rationalism

Rationalism has re-emerged as a popular perspective among Jews.^[43] Contemporary Jewish rationalism often draws on ideas associated with medieval philosophers such as Maimonides and modern Jewish rationalists such as Hermann Cohen.

Cohen was a German Jewish neo-Kantian philosopher who turned to Jewish subjects at the end of his career in the early 20th century, picking up on ideas of Maimonides. In America, Steven Schwarzschild continued Cohen's legacy.^[44] Another prominent contemporary Jewish rationalist is Lenn Goodman, who works out of the traditions of medieval Jewish rationalist philosophy. Conservative rabbis Alan Mittleman of the Jewish Theological Seminary^[45] and Elliot N. Dorff of American Jewish University^[46] also see themselves in the rationalist tradition, as does David Novak of the University of Toronto.^[47] Novak works in the natural law tradition, which is one version of rationalism.

Philosophers in modern-day Israel in the rationalist tradition include David Hartman^[48] and Moshe Halbertal.^[49]

Ramat Gan, Israel

Ramat Gan in modern Israel

Some Orthodox rationalists in Israel take a "restorationist"^{[citation needed]} approach, reaching back in time for tools to simplify Rabbinic Judaism and bring all Jews, regardless of status or stream of Judaism, closer to observance of Halacha, Mitzvot, Kashrut and embrace of Maimonides' "13 Principles of Faith". Dor Daim, and Rambamists are two groups who reject mysticism as a "superstitious innovation" to an otherwise clear and succinct set of Laws and rules. According to these rationalists, there is shame and disgrace attached to failure to investigate matters of religious principle using the fullest powers of human reason and intellect. One cannot be considered wise, or perceptive, if one does not attempt to understand the origins, and establish the correctness, of one's beliefs.

Holocaust theology

Main article: Holocaust theology

Judaism has traditionally taught that HaShem is omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent. Yet, these claims are in jarring contrast with the fact that there is much evil in the world. Perhaps the most difficult question that monotheists have confronted is "how can one reconcile the existence of this view of HaShem with the existence of evil?" or "how can there be good without bad?" "how can there be a God without a devil?" This is the problem of evil. Within all monotheistic faiths many answers (theodicies) have been proposed. However, in light of the magnitude of evil seen in the Holocaust, many people have re-examined classical views on this subject. How can people still have any kind of faith after the Holocaust? This set of Jewish philosophies is discussed in the article on Holocaust theology.

Reconstructionist theology

Main article: Reconstructionist Judaism

Perhaps the most controversial form of Jewish philosophy that developed in the early 20th century was the religious naturalism of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan. His theology was a variant of John Dewey's pragmatist philosophy. Dewey's naturalism combined atheist beliefs with religious terminology in order to construct a philosophy for those who had lost faith in traditional Judaism. In agreement with the classical medieval Jewish thinkers, Kaplan affirmed that haShem is not personal, and that all anthropomorphic descriptions of haShem are, at best, imperfect metaphors. Kaplan's theology went beyond this to claim that haShem is the sum of all natural processes that allow man to become self-fulfilled. Kaplan wrote that "to believe in haShem means to take for granted that it is man's destiny to rise above the brute and to eliminate all forms of violence and exploitation from human society."

Process theology

A recent trend has been to reframe Jewish theology through the lens of process philosophy, more specifically process theology. Process philosophy suggests that fundamental elements of the universe are occasions of experience. According to this notion, what people commonly think of as concrete objects are actually successions of these occasions of experience. Occasions of experience can be collected into groupings; something complex such as a human being is thus a grouping of many smaller occasions of experience. In this view, everything in the universe is characterized by experience (not to be confused with consciousness); there is no mind-body duality under this system, because "mind" is simply seen as a very developed kind of experiencing entity.

Intrinsic to this worldview is the notion that all experiences are influenced by prior experiences, and will influence all future experiences. This process of influencing is never deterministic; an occasion of experience consists of a process of comprehending other experiences, and then reacting to it. This is the "process" in "process philosophy". Process philosophy gives HaShem a special place in the universe of occasions of experience. HaShem encompasses all the other occasions of experience but also transcends them; thus process philosophy is a form of panentheism.

The original ideas of process theology were developed by Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000), and influenced a number of Jewish theologians, including British philosopher Samuel Alexander (1859–1938), and Rabbis Max Kadushin, Milton Steinberg and Levi A. Olan, Harry Slominsky, and Bradley Shavit Artson. Abraham Joshua Heschel has also been linked to this tradition.^{[citation needed]}

Kabbalah and philosophy

Kabbalah continued to be central to Haredi Orthodox Judaism, which generally rejected philosophy, though the Chabad strain of Chasidism showed a more positive attitude towards philosophy. Meanwhile, non-Orthodox Jewish thought in the latter 20th century saw resurgent interest in Kabbalah. In academic studies, Gershom Scholem began the critical investigation of Jewish mysticism, while in non-Orthodox Jewish denominations, Jewish Renewal and Neo-Hasidism, spiritualised worship. Many philosophers do not consider this a form of philosophy, as Kabbalah is a collection of esotric methods of textual interpretation. Mysticism is generally understood as an alternative to philosophy, not a variant of philosophy.

Among modern the modern critics of Kabbalah was *Rabbi Yihhyah Qafahh, who wrote a book entitled Milhhamoth HaShem, (Wars of the L-RD) against what he perceived as the false teachings of the Zohar and the false Kabbalah of Isaac Luria. He is credited with spearheading the Dor Daim. Rabbi Yeshayahu Leibowitz publicly shared the views expressed in Rabbi Yihhyah Qafahh's book Milhhamoth HaShem and elaborated upon these views in his many writings.

Contemporary Jewish Philosophy and the denominations

Some post-World-War-Two Jewish philosophers are associated with major Jewish movements -- Modern Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and Reform Judaism.

Philosophers associated with Modern Orthodox Judaism

Joseph Soloveitchik

Main article: Modern Orthodox Judaism

Philosophers associated with Conservative Judaism

Main article: Conservative Judaism

Philosophers associated with Reform and Progressive Judaism

Main articles: Reform Judaism and Progressive Judaism

Leo Baeck (leader in German Progressive Judaism)
Eugene Borowitz (leader in American Reform Judaism)
Emil Fackenheim (German-Canadian-Israeli philosopher)
Avigdor Chaim Gold (German-Israeli philosopher)

Jewish philosophers whose philosophy isn't focused on Jewish themes

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries there have also been many philosophers who are Jewish, and whose Judaism might influence their approach to some degree, but whose writing is not focused on issues specific to Judaism. These include:

Saul Kripke, a metaphysician and modal logician
Thomas Nagel, a Serbia-born Jewish philosopher
Henri Bergson
Ayn Rand, a Russian-American Jewish philosopher who focused upon Aristotle's reason
Martha Nussbaum, an American moral and political philosopher
Jacques Derrida, a French-Jewish philosopher
Ronald Dworkin, an American philosopher of law
Noam Chomsky, an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and political activist
Hilary Putnam, an American analytic philosopher
Peter Singer, a utilitarian philosopher
Joseph Agassi, an Israeli philosopher of science who developed Karl Popper's ideas^[50]
Adi Ophir, an Israeli philosopher of science and moral philosopher
Yehuda Elkana, an Israeli philosopher of science
Raymond Aron
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Karl Popper
Emmanuel Levinas
Alfred Tarski - Polish logician
Edmund Husserl
Theodor W. Adorno
Leo Strauss
Walter Benjamin

References

^ "The Melchizedek Tradition: A Critical Examination of the Sources to the Fifth Century ad and in the Epistle to the Hebrews", by Fred L. Horton, Jr., Pg. 54, Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-521-01871-4
^ "Sefer Yetzirah", By Aryeh Kaplan, xii, Red Wheel, 1997, ISBN 0-87728-855-0
^ Bereishit Rabba (39,1)
^ "Medieval Philosophy and the Classical Tradition: In Islam, Judaism and Christianity" by John Inglis, Page 3
^ "Introduction to Philosophy" by Dr Tom Kerns
^ http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=281&letter=P
^ "Christianity, Judaism and other Greco-Roman cults: studies for Morton Smith at sixty", Volume 12,Part 1, Pg 110, Volume 12 of Studies in Judaism in late antiquity, by Jacob Neusner ann Morton Smith, Brill 1975, ISBN 90-04-04215-6
^ Jacob Neusner, Judaism as Philosophy
^ "Beginnings in Jewish Philosophy", By Meyer Levin, Pg 49, Behrman House 1971, ISBN 0-87441-063-0
^ "Geonica", By Ginzberg Louis, Pg. 18, ISBN 1-110-35511-4
^ "A literary History of Persia" Book IV, Chapter X. ON THE FIRST PERIOD OF THE DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE, FROM THE ACCESSION OF AL-MUTA WAKKIL TO THE ACCES SION OF SULTAN MAHMUD OF GHAZNA, Page 339, by EDWARD G. BROWNE, M.A.
^ Fleischer, Ezra. "A Fragment from Hivi Al-Balkhi's Criticism of the Bible." Tarbiz 51, no. 1 (1981): 49-57.
^ "The Messiah in Isaiah 53: The Commentaries of Saadia Gaon, Salmon Ben Yeruham, and Yefet Ben Eli 52:13-53:12", Trade paperback (1998) by Sa'adia, Joseph Alobaidi
^ Rosenthal, J. "Hiwi Al-Balkhi: A Comparative Study." Jewish Quarterly Review 38; 39 (1947-48; 1948-49): 317-42, 419-30; 79-94.
^ Gil, Moshe. Hivi Ha-Balkhi Ha-Kofer Me-Horasan, Ketavim. Merhaviah: Sifriyyat Po'alim, 1965
^ Davidson, Israel, ed. Saadia's Polemic against Hiwi Al-Balkhi: A Fragment Edited from a Genizah Ms, Texts and Studies of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. New York: The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1915.
^ Malter, Henry. Saadia Gaon: His Life and Works, Morris Loeb Series. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1921.
^ s.v. al-Djubba'i, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. 2: C–G. 2 (New ed.). Leiden: E. J. Brill. 1965. ISBN 90 04 07026 5.
^ W. Montgomery Watt, Free will and predestination in early Islam, London 1948, 83-7, 136-7.
^ A'asam, Abdul-Amîr al-Ibn al-Rawandi's Kitab Fahijat al-Mu'tazila: Analytical Study of Ibn al-Riwandi's Method in his Criticism of the Rational Foundation of Polemics in Islam. Beirut-Paris: Editions Oueidat, 1975–1977
^ "Jews in Islamic countries in the Middle Ages Volume 28 of Études sur le judaïsme médiéval" by Moshe Gil and David Strassler, ISBN 900413882X, 9789004138827
^ Maimonides: The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds By Joel L. Kraemer
^ A history of Jewish philosophy in the Middle Ages By Colette Sirat
^ http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=134&letter=B&search=Bahya#ixzz0Tx3CqjNq
^ Or Adonai, ch. i.
^ Stroumsa, S. (1993) 'On the Maimonidean Controversy in the East: the Role of Abu 'l-Barakat al-Baghdadi', in H. Ben-Shammai (ed.) Hebrew and Arabic Studies in Honour of Joshua Blau, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. (On the role of Abu 'l-Barakat's writings in the resurrection controversy of the twelfth century; in Hebrew.)
^ The encyclopædia britannica: a dictionary of arts, sciences ..., Volume 13 edited by Hugh Chisholm, Pg 174
^ A short biographical article about Rabeinu Shem Tov Ben Yosef Falaquera, one of the great Rishonim who was a defender of the Rambam, and the author of the Moreh HaMoreh on the Rambam's Moreh Nevuchim. Published in the Jewish Quarterly Review journal (Vol .1 1910/1911).
^ Torah and Sophia: The Life and Thought of Shem Tov Ibn Falaquera (Monographs of the Hebrew Union College) by Raphael Jospe
^ ^ Jacobs, Louis (1990). haShem, Torah, Israel: traditionalism without fundamentalism. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press. ISBN 0-87820-052-5. OCLC 21039224
^ Responsa No. 159
^ D. Blumenthal, "An Illustration of the Concept 'Philosophic Mysticism' from Fifteenth Century Yemen," and "A Philosophical-Mystical Interpretation of a Shi'ur Qomah Text."
^ "Isaac Abarbanel's stance toward tradition: defense, dissent, and dialogue" By Eric Lawee
^ Steinschneider 1893, 1:296–311; Harvey 2001
^ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0016_0_16007.html
^ Seder ha-Dorot", p. 252, 1878 ed]
^ Epstein, in "Monatsschrift", xlvii. 344; Jerusalem: Under the Arabs
^ "Blesséd Spinoza: a biography of the philosopher", by Lewis Browne, The Macmillan Company, 1932, University of Wisconsin - Madison
^ Jewish Encyclopedia, http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=446&letter=M
^ Wein (1997), p. 44. (Google books)
^ Shmuel Feiner, The Jewish Enlightenment 72-3
^ Benjamin A. Wurgaft, Emmanuel Levinas, myjewishlearning.com.
^ "Jewish Rationalism Reemergent," Conservative Judaism, Volume 36, Issue 4‎, Page 81
^ Steven Schwarzschild, "To Re-Cast Rationalism," Judaism 2 (1962).
^ http://www.jtsa.edu/x12578.xml, accessed 12-15-2010
^ http://www.adath-shalom.ca/dorf_rev.htm, accessed 12-15-2010
^ Tradition in the public square: a David Novak reader‎, page xiv
^ Halakhic Latitudinarianism: David Hartman on the commanded life
^ Noam Zion, Elu v'Elu: Two Schools of Halakha Face Off On Issues of Human Autonomy, Majority Rule and Divine Voice of Authority, p. 8
^ As early as 1934 Karl Popper wrote of the search for truth as "one of the strongest motives for scientific discovery." Still, he describes in Objective Knowledge (1972) early concerns about the much-criticized notion of truth as correspondence. Then came the semantic theory of truth formulated by the logician Alfred Tarski and published in 1933. Popper writes of learning in 1935 of the consequences of Tarski's theory, to his intense joy. The theory met critical objections to truth as correspondence and thereby rehabilitated it. The theory also seemed, in Popper's eyes, to support metaphysical realism and the regulative idea of a search for truth. Popper coined the term critical rationalism to describe his philosophy. Contemporary Jewish philosophers who follow Popper's philosophy include Joseph Agassi, Adi Ophir and Yehuda Elkana.

Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Wikipedia

Jewish philosophy

Contents

Ancient Jewish philosophy

Philosophy in the Bible

Philo of Alexandria

Jewish scholarship after destruction of Second Temple

Who influences whom?

Karaism

Philosophic synthesis begins

Jewish philosophy before Maimonides

"Hiwi the Heretic"

Saadia Gaon

David Ibn Marwān al-Mukammas al-Rakki

Samuel Ha-Nagid

Yitzhak ben Yaakob HaKohen al-Fasi

Solomon ibn Gabirol

Abraham bar-Hiyya Ha-Nasi

Hibat Allah

Nethan'el al-Fayyumi

Bahya ben Joseph ibn Paquda

Yehuda Ha-Levi and the Kuzari

Abraham ibn Daud

Other notable Jewish philosophers pre-Maimonides

The Rambam - Maimonides

Medieval Jewish Philosophy after Maimonides

Yosef ben Yehuda of Ceuta

Jacob Anatoli

Hillel ben Samuel

Shemtob Ben Joseph Ibn Falaquera

Joseph ben Abba Mari ibn Kaspi

Gersonides

Moses Narboni

Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet

Hasdai ben Judah Crescas

Simeon ben Zemah Duran

Joseph Albo

Hoter ben Solomon

Don Isaac Abravanel

Leone Ebreo

Criticisms of Kabbalah

Other notable Jewish philosophers post-Maimonides

Renaissance Jewish philosophy and philosophers

Elias ben Moise del Medigo

Moses Almosnino

Moses ben Jehiel Ha-Kohen Porto-Rafa (Rapaport)

Abraham ben Judah ha-Levi Minz

Meir ben Isaac Katzellenbogen

Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm

Eliezer ben Elijah Ashkenazi

Other notable Renaissance Jewish philosophers

Seventeenth-century Jewish philosophy

Yosef Shlomo ben Eliyahu Dal Medigo

Baruch Spinoza

Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi

Jacob Emden

Other seventeenth-century Jewish philosophers

Philosophical criticisms of Kabbalah

Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century Jewish philosophy

Traditionalist attitudes towards philosophy

20th and 21st-century Jewish philosophy

Jewish existentialism

Jewish rationalism

Holocaust theology

Reconstructionist theology

Process theology

Kabbalah and philosophy

Contemporary Jewish Philosophy and the denominations

Philosophers associated with Modern Orthodox Judaism

Philosophers associated with Conservative Judaism

Philosophers associated with Reform and Progressive Judaism

Jewish philosophers whose philosophy isn't focused on Jewish themes

See also

References

External links

Further reading

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