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Jewish philosophy
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Jewish philosophy refers to all philosophical activity carried out by Jews, or, in relation to the religion of Judaism. Conversely, philosophy is not considered an essential component of Judaism by all Jews and all streams of Judaism; notably Kabbalists and Talmudists. Jewish Philosophy attempts to reconcile coherent new ideas into the traditions of Rabbinic Judaism; thus organizing emergent ideas, that are not necessarily Jewish, within a uniquely Jewish scholastic framework and world-view.
Jewish Philosophy applies analytical philosophies, exegesis, and esoteric methods to Jewish Canon in order to strengthen the basis of Jewish religious faith while answering fundamental questions germane to all religions
- What is the nature of Hashem?
- How does one know that Hashem exists?
- Which of our religious traditions must be interpreted literally or allegorically?
- What must one actually believe to be considered a true adherent of Judaism?
- How can one reconcile the findings of philosophy and science with religion?
Divergent philosophies, embraced by Jews throughout the world, soured many on philosophic investigation because philosophy imposes individually biased, often secular, influences upon Jewish Canon - non-Jewish innovation therefore not necessarily part of Rabbinic Judaism.
Ancient Jewish philosophy
Biblical philosophy
Talmudists suggest that Abraham introduced a philosophy he learned from Melchizedek; Kabbalists ascribe the Sefer Yetzirah "Book of Creation" to Abraham. Talmud [1] 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. Many scholars assume that Melchizedek influenced Abram's views, to what extent Melchizedek influenced Abraham, and the true provenence of Sefer Yetzirah, continues to be debated. 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.
Philo of Alexandria
Philo attempted to fuse and harmonize Greek Philosophy and Judaism via allegory which he learned from Jewish exegesis and the Stoics. 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. Philo's works are not widely accepted in Rabbinic Judaism due to the claims of Karaism, and Christianity, that Philo's works helped crystalize their movements.
Jewish Philosophy in exile
With destruction of the Second Temple Judaism was in disarray - Exilarchs fled to safety in Nehardea, civil war severed the fabric of Jewish culture, Roman genocide, enslavement and expulsion from Jerusalem were harsh blows to Jewish society and its leaders. Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai, in shrewd maneuvers, saved the Sanhedrin and moved it to Yavne. Shortly thereafter, Council of Yavne met to preserve Rabbinic Judaism, formulate texts and revise views. Philosophically, Rabbi Akiva ben Joseph was the only tanna to suggest a religious philosophy. Rabbi Akiva's works illustrate 1.) "How favored is man, for he was created after an image "for in an image, Elohim 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 Bar Kochba Revolt, Rabbinic scholars gathered in Galilee 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 focus upon reconstituting Judaism; little, if any, philosophic investigation in Jewish Academies is pursued.
Around 700 CE, Islamic scholar `Amr ibn `Ubayd Abu `Uthman al-Basri introduces two streams of thought that influence Jewish, Islamic and Christian scholars into contemporary times - 1.) The Qadariyya and, 2.) The Mu'tazilah. The story of Mu'tazilah 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 Spain transcribing Talmud Bavli, for Spanish Talmudic Academies, from memory [2].
Around 760 CE, Karaites reject authority of the oral law (Mishnah), and split off from Rabbinic Judaism, preferring the austere tenets of Mu'tazilah.
Medieval Jewish philosophy - Hakira
Further information: Judeo-Islamic philosophies (800 - 1400)
Further information: Early Islamic philosophy
Who influences whom?
Rabbinic Judaism had no philosophy until 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.
Philosophic synthesis begins
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.
Around 900 CE, Saadia Gaon, in Sura, authors polemics which permanently separate Rabbinic Judaism from Karaism and, at the same time, he formulates Jewish Kalam in response to Kalam; Saadia advances the criticisms of Mu'tazilah, by Ibn al-Rawandi whom some scholars view as a Jew, claiming to be Muslim, later claiming to be an Atheist [3].
| Pumbeditha, Buyid Babylon | |
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| Coordinates: 33°25′08″N 43°18′43″E / 33.419°N 43.312°E |
Around 950 CE, Hai Gaon, at Pumbeditha, sets the stage for a new phase in Jewish scholarship and investigation (Hakira); Hai Gaon augments Talmudic scholarship with non-Jewish studies. He justified his action by saying that scholars in former times did not hesitate to receive explanations from those of other beliefs. 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 Gaon was competent to argue with followers of Qadariyya and Mutazilites, sometimes adopting their polemical methods.
Persian oppression of Jews in 11th century Babylonia, culminated in the murder of Exilarch Hezekiah Gaon, resulting in closing Babylonian Academies and moving Jewish Kalam to Tunisia, Provence, and Morocco, eventually finding a home in Al-Andalus - setting the stage for the development of diverse Jewish Philosophies which reflect influences of their host nations, their geographic location, economic status and secular exchange.
Jewish philosophy before Maimonides
| Kairouan, Aghlabid Tunisia | |
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| Coordinates: 35°40′N 10°06′E / 35.66°N 10.1°E |
Isaac Israeli ben Solomon
Isaac Israeli ben Solomon, of Kairouan, is regarded as the father of medieval Jewish Neoplatonism while in the court of the Fatimids. Isaac Israeli left Tulunid Egypt, for Kairouan, to study general medicine under Ishak ibn Amran al-Baghdadi, an Ismaili, with whom he is sometimes confused[4]. Israeli's philosophical works influenced Christian and Jewish thinkers and, to a lesser degree, Muslim intellectuals of the Kalam School. The only known quotation of Israeli's philosophy in a Muslim work occurs in Ghayat al-Hakim, a book on magic, produced in eleventh-century Al-Andalus. In the twelfth century, Gerard of Cremona, translated Israeli's Book of Definitions and Book on the Elements into Latin. Isaac Israeli's work was quoted and paraphrased by a number of Christian scholars including Gundissalinus, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, Vincent de Beauvais, Bonaventura, Roger Bacon and Nicholas of Cusa.
Saadia Gaon
| Sura, Abbasid Babylon | |
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| Coordinates: 31°53′N 44°27′E / 31.883°N 44.45°E |
Saadia Gaon is considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of the early Jewish philosophers. During Saadia's early years in Egypt, the Tulunids, a branch of the Fatimid Caliphate, ruled all of Egypt. The leaders of the Tulunids were Ismaili Imams. Their influence upon the Jewish academies of Egypt, resonate in the works of Saadia; in contrast to the Karaites who were very strong in numbers in Egypt at that time. 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 in 933 CE, in Sura Academy.
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 Mutazilite school of Al-Jubbai in composing his works[5][6]. It was Saadia, who laid foundations for Jewish rationalist theology which built upon the work of Mu'tazilah without yielding to Islam's Ashari pressures, and demands to abandon Talmud, as the Karaites had done; thus shifting Rabbinic Judaism from mythical explanations of the Rabbis, to reasoned explanations of the intellect.
David Ibn Marwān al-Mukammas al-Rakki
| Rakka, Abbasid Babylon | |
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| Coordinates: 35°57′N 39°1′E / 35.95°N 39.017°E |
David ben Merwan al-Mukkamas, a Syrian philosopher and polemicist, was author of the earliest known Jewish philosophical work of the Middle Ages, a commentary on Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation), therefore he is regarded as the father of Jewish medieval philosophy. Al-Mukammas was the first Jewish thinker to introduce the methods of Kalam into Judaism and the first Jew to mention Aristotle in his writings. He was a convert to 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.
Rav Nissim Gaon
Rabbi Nissim Ben Jacob, though located in Kairouan of the Fatimid Caliphate, was a student of Hai Gaon. Upon the death of his father, Nissim ben Jacob became a student of Chushiel ben Elchanan. He followed the method of Saadia Gaon in defending the anthropomorphisms of the Haggadah against attacks of the Karaites. Nissim also corresponded with Samuel Ha-Nagid in Al-Andalus, and transmitted Hai Gaon's teachings to Samuel Ha-Nagid.
| Cordoba, Zirid al-Andalus | |
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| Coordinates: 37°52′02″N 4°46′12″W / 37.8672°N 4.770°W |
Samuel Ha-Nagid
Samuel Ha-Nagid, who lived in Cordoba, was a child prodigy and student of Rabbi Hanoch ben Moshe. 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, was the man who provided refuge for two sons of (Hezekiah Gaon); Daud Ibn Chizkiya Ha-Nasi and Yitzhak Ibn Chizkiya Ha-Nasi - Patriarchs of the "Ibn Yahya" and "Shealtiel/Kalonymos/Todros" families respectively.
Yitzhak ben Yaakob HaKohen al-Fasi
| Fez, فاس , Zirid Morocco | |
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| Coordinates: 34°2′N 5°0′W / 34.033°N 5°W |
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. He spent the majority of his career in Fez, Morocco, and is therefore known as al-Fasi ("of Fez"). Later in life he is forced to flee Morocco to Lucena, Spain. In Lucena, al-Fasi bestowed upon Joseph ibn Migash the title of Rabbi and Ibn Migash was made "Rosh Yeshiva" of the Yeshiva of Lucena. Joseph ibn Migash, in turn, was the teacher of Rabbi Maimon ben Yosef, father of Maimonides. 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. 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
| Taifa of Málaga | |
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| Coordinates: 36°28′00″N 4°29′09″W / 36.4666°N 4.4858°W |
Shlomo ben Yehuda ibn Gevirol, born in Málaga, was influenced by Plato. Little is known of his youth, but piyyutim for Samuel Ha-Nagid and Hai Gaon suggest he was educated in Rationalist Philosophy which he later shed in favor of Neoplatonism. 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. His work is quoted by Moses ibn Ezra and Abraham ibn Ezra. Christian scholars, including Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas, defer to him frequently.
| Barcelona, Catalonia | |
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| Coordinates: 41°22′59″N 2°10′59″E / 41.383°N 2.183°E |
Abraham bar-Hiyya Ha-Nasi
Abraham bar Hiyya Ha-Nasi, of Barcelona, 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 not only by original works, but also by translations and by acting as interpreter for another great translator, the celebrated Plato of Tivoli. His most well-known 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.
| Granada, Almoravid al-Andalus | |
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| Coordinates: 37°12′43″N 3°34′52″W / 37.212°N 3.581°W |
Yehosef ben Meir Ha-Levi Ibn Migas
Yehosef ben Meir Ha-Levi Ibn Migas was born into one of the oldest Jewish families in Spain. His grandfather, Rabbi Joseph, played an important role at the royal court of Granada, and an associate of Samuel Ha-Nagid. Abraham ibn Daud says that after al-Fasi fled for Lucena, Joseph ibn Migash then twelve years old, also went there, from Seville. al-Fasi shortly before his death (in 1103 CE) ordained Yehosef as a rabbi, and wrote a testimonial for him. al-Fasi, passing over his own son, appointed Rabbi Joseph ibn Migash, then twenty-six years of age, to be his successor as "Rosh Yeshiva".
Nethan'el al-Fayyumi
| Sana'a, Ayyubid Yemen | |
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| Coordinates: 15°22′09″N 44°11′06″E / 15.3691°N 44.185°E |
Natan'el al-Fayyumi[7], 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 the various nations of the world, containing legislations suited to the particular temperament of each individual nation. Each people should remain loyal to its own religion, because the universal teaching was adapted to the specific conditions and experiences of each community. 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. Within a single generation, Nethanel's son Yakob ben Nethanel Ibn al-Fayyumi was compelled to turn to Maimonides, asking urgently for counsel on how to deal with of religious persecutions at the hand of Saladin, and forced conversions to Islam, that was threatening the Jews of Yemen.
Bahya ben Joseph ibn Paquda
| Taifa of Zaragoza | |
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| Coordinates: 41°39′25″N 0°52′34″W / 41.657°N 0.876°W |
Bahye ben Yosef Ibn Paquda, located in Zaragoza, was author of the first Jewish system of ethics Al Hidayah ila Faraid al-hulub, ("Guide to the Duties of the Heart"). Though he quotes Saadia Gaon's works frequently, he is an adherent of Neoplatonic mysticism. 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 Neo-Platonism. 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"[8]
Yehuda Ha-Levi and the Kuzari
| Taifa of Toledo | |
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| Coordinates: 39°51′22″N 4°01′26″W / 39.856°N 4.024°W |
Rabbi Judah Ha-Levi, Born in Toledo, defended Rabbinic Judaism against Islam, Christianity and Karaism. He was a student of Moses Ibn Ezra whose scholastic training came from Isaac ibn Ghiyyat; though trained as a Rationalist, he shed its tenets later in life in favor of Neo-Platonism. The position of Judah ha-Levi in the domain of Jewish philosophy is parallel to that occupied in Islam by Al-Ghazali by whom he was influenced. Like Al-Ghazali, Judah Ha-Levi attempted to liberate religion from the bondage of various philosophical systems. In a work written in Arabic, known in the Hebrew translation of Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon by the title Sefer ha-Kuzari, Judah ha-Levi expounded upon his view of Judaism.
Abraham ibn Daud
| Cordoba, Almoravid al-Andalus | |
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| Coordinates: 37°52′02″N 4°46′12″W / 37.8672°N 4.770°W |
Abraham Ibn Daud was born into one of the oldest aristocratic Jewish families of Cordoba, Spain. Ibn Daud was a student of Rabbi Baruch ben Yitzhak Ibn Albalia, his maternal uncle. Ibn Daud's philosophical work, Al-'akidah al-Rafiyah (The Sublime Faith), has been preserved in Hebrew translation by the title Emunah Ramah. Ibn Daud did not introduce a new philosophy, but he was the first to introduce the phase of Jewish philosophy generally attributed to Maimonides which differs from former systems of philosophy mainly in its more thorough systematic form derived from Aristotle. Accordingly, Hasdai Crescas mentions Ibn Daud as the only Jewish philosopher among the predecessors of Maimonides[9]. Completely overshadowed by Maimonides, ibn Daud's Emunah Ramah, a work to which Maimonides was indebted for many valuable suggestions, received scant notice from later philosophers.
| Cordoba, Almohad al-Andalus | |
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| Coordinates: 37°52′02″N 4°46′12″W / 37.8672°N 4.770°W |
Ibn Daud does not adopt Saadia Gaon's views on the freedom of the will. His attitude toward Ibn Gabirol is entirely antagonistic; in the preface to his Emunah Ramah Ibn Daud condemns Gabirol's "Fountain of Life." [10]. 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.
The Rambam - Maimonides
| Fostat, Fatimid Caliphate Egypt | |
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| Coordinates: 30°0′N 31°14′E / 30°N 31.233°E |
Maimonides 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 was educated more by reading the works of Arab Muslim philosophers than by personal contact with Arab Muslim teachers. 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 of those like Ha-Levi and al-Ghazali on the Avicennian version of 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. In some important points, however, he departed from the teachings of Aristotle, for example, Maimonides taught that the world is not eternal, as Aristotle taught, but was created ex nihilo.
Jewish philosophy after Maimonides
Scholars suggest that Maimonides instigated the Maimonidean Controversy when he attacked the "Gaon of Baghdad" Samuel ben Ali Ha-Levi al-Dastur 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-Dastur of Bagdad was 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).
The Maimonidean Controversy was begun, while Maimonides was still alive, by Meir Abulafia. Outraged by Maimonides' apparent disbelief in physical resurrection of the dead, Abulafia wrote a series of letters to the French Jews in Lunel. To Abulafia's shock and disappointment, they supported Maimonides. When Nahmanides wanted to renew the controversy thirty years later, Rabbi Abulafia refused to participate. Nahmanides was aware that Maimonides' ideas were welcomed by the prosperous Jews of Spain and Provence, and argued that "but for the fact they lived out of the mouth of his works…they would have slipped [assimilated] almost entirely." Nonetheless, Nahmanides believed that Maimonides' ideas were heresy - and actively engaged in fomenting anti-Maimonidean sentiment within the Jewish Communities of Europe and Persia.
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, 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.
Maimonidean controversy flared up again[11] at the beginning of the fourteenth century when Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet, under influence from Asher ben Jehiel, issued a herem on "any member of the community who, being under twenty-five years, shall study the works of the Greeks on natural science and metaphysics."
Yosef ben Yehuda of Ceuta
| Aleppo, Ayyubid dynasty | |
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| Coordinates: 36°13′00″N 37°09′58″E / 36.2166°N 37.166°E |
Joseph ben Judah of Ceuta, born in Ceuta, was 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. Yosef went further east and settled in Aleppo where he established himself as a medical practitioner, married, and made a successful commercial career which enabled him to live independently and free from care. Yosef abandoned his other pursuits and wished to open a school to teach what he learned from Maimonides. Maimonides dissuaded him from the undertaking, unless, Yosef could do it without seeking material profit from teaching. Al-Ḥarizi visited Aleppo, in 1217, where he found Yosef in the zenith of his glory. He praised him as the "Western light," and applied to him the words of Bereishit, "and Yosef was ruler over the whole land; he supplied food for all"[12].
Shemtob Ben Joseph Ibn Falaquera
Shem-Tov ibn Falaquera was a Spanish-born Jewish philosopher who pursued reconciliation between Jewish Orthodoxy and philosophy. Scholars speculate that he was a student of Rabbi David Kimhi whose family fled Spain to Narbonne[13]. He lived an ascetic live of solitude[14]. Ibn Falaquera's two leading philosophic authorities were Averroes and Maimonides. He defended the "Guide for the Perplexed" against attacks of anti-Maimonideans[15]. However, Ibn Falaquera had an open mind when it came to Neo-Platonic writings - proof is found in his decision to write Hebrew versions of Ibn Gabirol's Fons vitae and Pseudo-Empedocles' Five Substances, and from his many citations from Ibn Gabirol in his Moreh ha-Moreh. He knew the works of the Islamic philosophers better than any Jewish scholar of his time, and made many of them available to his co-religionists – often without attribution (as in 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".
| Bagnols, Avignon Papacy | |
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| Coordinates: 43°32′17″N 6°41′53″E / 43.538°N 6.698°E |
Gersonides
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 elaborate Averroistic criticism of the reconciliation of Aristotelism and Jewish orthodoxy 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."[16].
| Perpignan, Kingdom of Aragon | |
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| Coordinates: 43°11′01″N 3°00′15″E / 43.1836°N 3.0042°E |
Moses Narboni
Moses ben Joshua was a scholar and philosopher who mainly composed commentaries on Islamic philosophical works. Moses was an admirer of Averroes; he devoted a great deal of study to his works and wrote commentaries on a number of them. Moses ben Joshua's best know work is his "Treatise on the Perfection of the Soul." He began studying philosophy with his father when he was thirteen and then studied with Moses ben David Caslari and Abraham ben David Caslari - both of whom were students of Kalonymus ben Kalonymus. Moses Narboni believed that Judaism was a guide to the highest degree of theoretical and moral truth. In common with others of his era 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. He rejected the belief in miracles, instead believing they could be explained, and defended man's free will by philosophical arguments.
Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet
Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet, who lived in Barcelona, was a Talmudist who studied under Hasdai Crescas and Rabbi Nissim ben Reuben Gerondi. Nissim ben Reuben Gerondi, was a steadfast Maimonidean Rationalist who did not hesitate to refute leading authorities, such as Rashi, Rabbeinu Tam, Maimonides, Moses ben Nahman, and Solomon ben Adret. The pogroms of 1391, against Jews of Spain, forced Isaac to fleeing 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 them (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 that complicated subject. He shows himself an adversary of Kabbalah. Isaac never spoke of the Sefirot, and Isaac quotes another philosopher when reproaching kabbalists with "believing in the "Ten" (Sefirot) as the Christians believe in the Trinity" [17].
| Barcelona, Kingdom of Aragon | |
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| Coordinates: 41°23′00″N 2°11′00″E / 41.3833°N 2.1833°E |
Hasdai ben Judah Crescas
Hasdai Crescas, born in Barcelona, was one of the leading rationalists on issues of natural law and free will; his views in Or Adonai who, along with Ralbag and Joseph Albo, can be seen as precursors to Baruch Spinoza. Or Adonai became a classical Jewish refutation of medieval Aristotelianism, and a 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. Joseph Albo is the best known of his students, but merit mention, Rabbi Mattathias ha-Yizhari of Saragossa, and Rabbi Zechariah ben Yitzhak ha-Levi, participants in the Disputation of Tortosa.
Joseph Albo
| Monreal, Kingdom of Navarre | |
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| Coordinates: 42°42′N 1°30′W / 42.7°N 1.5°W |
Joseph Albo, born in Monreal, was a student of Hasdai Crescas, a Jewish philosopher and rabbi who wrote Sefer ha-Ikkarim ("Book of Principles"), a classic work on the fundamentals of Judaism. Albo limited the fundamental Jewish principles of faith to three - 1) The belief in the existence of Hashem, 2) in revelation, and 3) 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 an integral part of 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
| Sanaa, Rasulid Empire | |
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Hoter ben Shlomo was a scholar and philosopher in Yemen heavily influenced by the works of Nethanel ben al-Fayyumi, Maimonides, Saadia Gaon and al-Ghazali. The connection between the "Epistle of the Brethren of Purity" and Ismailism might have suggested the adoption of this work as one of the main sources of what would become known as “Jewish Ismailism” as was found in Late Medieval Yemenite Judaism. This “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.[18] Some traces of Brethren of Purity doctrines, as well as of their numerology, are found in two Yemenite philosophical midrashim written in 1420-1430: "The Glad Learning" (Midrash ha-hefez) by Zerahyah ha-Rofé (a/k/a Yahya al-Tabib) and the "Lamp of Intellects" (Siraj al-‘uqul) by Hoter ben Solomon.
Don Isaac Abravanel
Isaac Abravanel was a Portuguese Jewish statesman, philosopher, Bible commentator, and financier who commented on Maimonides' thirteen principles in his Rosh Amanah. Isaac Abravanel was steeped in Maimonidean 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).
Isaac Abravanel was raised in Lisbon after his family fled pogroms against Jews in Castile-Leon. He was a student of the Rabbi of Lisbon, Yosef ben Shlomo Ibn Yahya[19], poet, religious scholar, rebuilder of Ibn Yahya Synagogue of Calatayud, he became 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, Maimonidean Rationalists and accomplished aides to the Portuguese Monarchy for centuries.
| Lisboa, House of Aviz | |
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Many scholars overlook, in the study of Isaac Abravanel, the fact that his 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 name "Juan Sanchez de Sevilla" after living among Christians for six years. These conversions outside Judaism, coersed 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 the coercion of the Alhambra Decree. There area parallels between what he writes, and documents produced by the Inquisition, that present conversos as ambivalent about their new religion and sometimes even ironic in their expressions regarding their new religion - crypto-jews.
Leone Ebreo
Judah Leon Abravanel was a Jewish 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 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 neo-platonism is derived from the Hispanic Jewish community, especially the works of Ibn Gabirol and Maimonides. Platonic notions of reaching towards a nearly impossible ideal of beauty, wisdom, and perfection encompass the whole of the work. In Dialoghi d'amore, Judah defines love in philosophical terms. He structures his three dialogues as a conversation between two abstract and mostly undeveloped “characters”: Philo, representing love or appetite, and Sophia, representing science or wisdom, Philo+Sophia (philosophia).
Francisco Sanchez
Francisco Sanchez (Francisco Sanches), the Father of Modern Skepticism; some scholars even go so far as to declare that his work titled Quod Nihil Scitur ("That nothing is known") inaugurates the beginning of Modern Philosophy. Contrary to Christian theology which maintains that the soul and body are two distinct realms that can be separated by burning and torture, Sanchez regarded them as integral, inseparable and part of a single system: the human being. Sanchez and Maimonides merge in their views of a human being; and for this reason contemporary Jewish scholars view Sanchez as a Converso - a person who outwardly lives life as a Christian yet practices Judaism behind drawn curtains and locked doors.
Sanchez rejected syllogistic reasoning as unscientific and manipulative - according to Sanchez, "the conclusion is always clearer and more lucid than the proof leading to the conclusion". Further, "...what is obtained by means of syllogisms, divisions, predications and similar mental operations is not science". The epistemology of syllogistic reasoning was crafted by Thomas Aquinas, who maintained that natural human reason participates in the eternal law of Hashem. In response to the method championed by Aquinas, (Francisco Sanches) says, "... it seems to me quite stupid, what some have established , that rational demonstrations conclude and necessarily participate in that which is eternal and inviolable"[20].
Renaissance Jewish philosophy
| Mainz/Katzenelnbogen, Germany | |
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Some contemporary scholars argue that there was no Renaissance Period in Spain due to the constant exchange of ideas and philosophic innovation among many creeds and teachers.
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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
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 Maimonidean philosophers and scholars.
| Thessaloniki, Ottoman Empire | |
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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.
| Padua/Verona, Republic of Venice | |
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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[21].
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
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 esteem in which he was held by his contemporaries found expression in a tablet affixed to his seat in the Ashkenazi synagogue which read, "No man [has] sat there till this day," as testified by Isaac Ḥayyim Kohen, a cantor who saw the tablet 120 years after Meir's death. In 1558 he signed two bans against the study of Kabbalah. 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 | |
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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.
Judaism saw the emergence, and refinement, of a brand of Jewish philosophy drawing on the teachings of Torah mysticism derived from the esoteric teachings of the Zohar and the teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria. This was particularly embodied in the voluminous works of Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel known as the Maharal of Prague. While the teachings of the Maharal are based on Jewish mysticism, it presents these ideas in philosophical terms, avoiding Kabbalistic terminology and conflict with Halacha. One work that gained considerable influence in the Christian world was the Dialoghi d'Amore of Judah Leon Abravanel. This series of dialogues between "Philo" and "Sophia", (PhiloSophia) and may be compared with the Renaissance Platonism of Ficino and Pico della Mirandola, but it had no explicitly Jewish content.
Enlightenment Jewish scholars and philosophers
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| Altona, Hamburg, Denmark | |
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| Livorno, Grand Duchy of Tuscany | |
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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.[22] 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[23].
All of the foregoing resulted in an explosion of new ideas and philosophic paths. There were, however, notable contributors who catalyzed philosphic thought of normative Rabbinic Judaism of today. Those most notable contributors to contemporary Jewish Philosophy are noted below -
Yosef Shlomo ben Eliyahu Dal Medigo
Joseph Solomon Delmedigo was a physician and teacher - the teacher of Baruch Spinoza.
Baruch Spinoza
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.
Post-Enlightenment Jewish philosophers
Germany - centers of Jewish scholarship
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| Padua/Verona, Republic of Venice | |
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- Samuel Hirsch (belonging to Reform Judaism.)
- Samson Raphael Hirsch philosophy of Torah im Derech Eretz; belonged to the Neo-Orthodox movement of 19th century Germany, combating Reform Judaism
- Jacob Abendana Sephardic Rabbi and Philosopher
- Isaac Cardoso
- David Nieto Sephardic Rabbi and Philosopher
- Isaac Orobio de Castro Sephardic Rabbi and Philosopher
- Moses Mendelssohn German Jewish philosopher
- Samuel David Luzzatto Sephardic Rabbi and Philosopher
- Elijah Benamozegh Sephardic Rabbi and Philosopher
- Moses Hess a secular Jewish philosopher and one of the founders of socialism.
- Jehuda Leib Schwarzmann was a Russian-Jewish existentialist philosopher.
- Hermann Cohen
Rationalism
Rationalist interpretation of religious tradition is based on the doctrine that Torah and human reason, or intellect, cannot be in conflict, that an individual need not necessarily adopt any position on matters religious which transgresses reason or intellect. The basic spirit of Jewish rationalism is captured by the following two comments from Bachya Ibn Paquda and Ralbag:
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And if he does not delve into the truth and certainty of the matter, he is disgraceful and is considered to be intellectually and functionally lax. He would be like the patient who knew all about his disease and its cure, but who depended entirely on his doctor to heal him, and was reluctant to use his own knowledge and judgment to determine if the doctor was doing the right thing or not... — Bachya ibn Pakuda
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... when the Torah, interpreted literally, seems to conflict with doctrines that have been proved by reason, it is proper to interpret these passages according to philosophical understanding, so long as none of the fundamental principles of the Torah are destroyed... It is even more proper that we not disagree with philosophy when the Torah itself does not disagree with it. — Ralbag
According to 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. In Ralbag's view, the "claim of reason" occupies a higher place than the "claim of tradition," and traditional understandings must be brought into conformity with the demonstrations of philosophy, rather than vice versa, to whatever extent this is possible.
The greatest challenge to a "religion of reason" is that dictates of reason change over time, and this intellectual approach demands a never-ending re-appraisal of tradition in relation to intellectual observation. As new principles are discovered and new facts uncovered, what earlier seemed a "reasonable" position slowly becomes an unconvincing, and, finally, untenable position. This being the case, if Torah and reason are to remain free from contradiction, then the interpretation of Torah may need to change as often as corresponding artifacts of reason. The suggestion of a "religion of reason" has caused many scholars and skeptics to dismiss, as foolhardy, any effort to reconcile religion and reason using our intellect. Some scholars argue that inevitable "tortured reconciliations" forfeit the original meaning and message of the text, while those inclined to skepticism will wonder at the usefulness of a document whose only apparent remaining purpose is to be periodically "reconciled" with external evidence.
Karaism
Main article: Karaite Judaism
Questions debated by the Arab-Islamic and Persian-Islamic theologians were applicable to Judaism, which had not dealt with religion in a philosophical manner before. The processes of reconsidering religion in light of new learning proceeded rapidly with the emergence of Islam and its conquering of Jewish centers of learning. The forerunners in this process were the Karaites. They were the first Jewish Sect to subject Judaism to Mu'tazilah. Rejecting Talmud and the wisdom of Rabbis, Karaites took liberty to reinterpret Tanach in accordance with demands of the new age. This meant succumbing to pressures of Islamic scholarship and criticism - 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 this 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. Exactly who influenced whom is vigorously debated. Karaite philosophers were stricter in their adherence to the principles of Mu'tazilah than Rabbinic students of that theological school. On the other hand, Karaites adopted the views of neo=platonic Ash'ari when contemplating the sciences.
Kabbalah
Main article: 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.
Contemporary, Lurianic, Kabbalah is a collection of techniques of esoteric textual interpretation - not as expressed in Ibn Daud's Sefer Ha-Qabbalah. It is one of the most universally misunderstood components of Judaism; most misunderstandings arise from distortions of Lurianic, or Cordoveran, Kabbalah by non-Jewish mystics and occultists. Cordoveran and Lurianic Kabbalah were originally developed entirely within the milieu of Jewish scholarship and uses classical Jewish sources to explain and demonstrate its esoteric teachings. Because it is, by definition, esoteric, there is no complete, precise, and accurate explanation of contemporary Kabbalah. Because it is built upon Jewish Canon, Lurianic Kabbalah is often embraced as a replacement for philosophies which may not be part of Jewish Canon of all streams of Judaism.
Criticism of mysticism and esoteric methods
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- Saadia Gaon teaches in his book Emunot v'Deot that Jews who believe in gilgul have adopted a non-Jewish belief.
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- Maimonides rejected many texts of Heichalot, particularly Shi'ur Qomah whose anthropomorphic vision of HaShem he considered heretical.
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- 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 -
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- "... 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. God 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."
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- 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.
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- Rabbi Yihhyah Qafahh 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.
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- 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
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Revival of Rationalism
Re-invigoration of Rationalism is a rapidly growing movement in Judaism. 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. Reviving Jewish Rationalism can be seen as "Restorationist"; reaching back in time for tools to simplify Rabbinic Judaism and bring all Jews, regardless of stream of Judaism they practice, closer to Orthodox observance of Halacha, Mitzvot and Kashrut.
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 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."
Jewish Existentialism
Main article: Jewish existentialism
One of the major trends in contemporary Jewish philosophy was the attempt to develop a theory of Judaism through existentialism. One of the primary players in this field 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 favored 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. Later Jewish existentialists include Conservative rabbis Neil Gillman and Elliot N. Dorff.
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 Kaddushin, Milton Steinberg and Levi A. Olan, Harry Slominsky and to a lesser degree, Abraham Joshua Heschel.
Non-Orthodox revival of Kabbalah
Jewish religious thinking 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.
Haredi theology
Haredim consider 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.
Some Haredim contend that one cannot simultaneously be a philosopher and a true adherent of a revealed religion. In this view, all attempts at synthesis ultimately fail. For example, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, views all philosophy as untrue and heretical. In this he represents one strand of Hasidic thought, with creative emphasis on the emotions. Approaching this point of view from the opposite direction, Baruch Spinoza, a pantheist, views revealed religion as inferior to philosophy, and thus saw traditional Jewish Religious philosophy as an intellectual failure.
In the texts of Chabad, 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. One example of this is given by Schneur Zalman of Liadi in the early chapters of the Tanya. In a parenthetical side-column to the main text, Kabbalists are said to agree with Maimonides' description that "HaShem is the knower, the knowledge, and the known", but that this statement only applies to certain, stated Kabbalistic levels of Divinity, and no higher.
Hasidic Theosophy
Main article: Hasidic philosophy
Hasidic Theosophy is the thought and teachings of the Hasidic movement founded by the Baal Shem Tov. It expresses esoteric Lurianic Kabbalistic methods in a new paradigm in relation to man, and so could be conveyed to the Jewish masses. As the movement grew, it developed into various different interpretations, formed by the circles of close followers of the Baal Shem Tov, and his successor Dov Ber of Mezeritch. In the school of Chabad, formed by Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the mystical revivalism of the early Hasidic Masters was brought into a systematic philosophical articulation, that brought the esoteric Kabbalah of Isaac Luria into understanding. 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.
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.
More Jewish philosophers
The following philosophers have had a substantial impact on the philosophy of contemporary Jews. They are writers who consciously dealt with philosophical issues within a uniquely Jewish framework.
Sephardic Philosophers
Main article: Sephardic Judaism
- Abraham ibn Ezra
- Moses ibn Ezra
- Yehuda Alharizi
- Hillel of Verona
- Jedaiah ben Abraham Bedersi
- Joseph ibn Tzaddik
- Samuel ibn Tibbon
- Jacob Anatoli son-in-law of Samuel ibn Tibbon
- Simeon ben Zemah Duran
- Nissim of Gerona
- Jacob ben Machir ibn Tibbon
- Joseph Caspi a/k/a Joseph ben Abba Mari ibn Kaspi
- Miguel de Barrios
- Isaac Nathan ben Kalonymus
- Judah Messer Leon
- David ben Judah Messer Leon
- Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno
- Judah Moscato
- Azariah dei Rossi
- Isaac Aboab I
- Isaac Campanton a/k/a "the gaon of Castile."
- Isaac ben Moses Arama
- Profiat Duran a Converso, Duran wrote Be Not Like Your Fathers
- Uriel da Costa
- Thomas Nagel a Serbia-born Jewish Philosopher, though not necessarily embraced by prevailing talmudic authorities.
- Rabbi Dr. Jose Faur
Ashkenazi Philosophers
Main article: Orthodox Judaism
- Eliezer Berkovits
- Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler
- Daniel Rynhold
- Samson Raphael Hirsch
- Monsieur Chouchani
- Emmanuel Levinas a French philosopher and Talmudic commentator
- Joseph Soloveitchik - "The Rav"
- David Hartman (rabbi)
Philosophers of Conservative Judaism
Main article: Conservative Judaism
- Bradley Shavit Artson
- Elliot N. Dorff
- Neil Gillman
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
- Max Kadushin
- William E. Kaufman
Philosophers of Reform Judaism
Main article: Reform Judaism
See also
References
- Daniel H. Frank and Oliver Leaman (eds.), History of Jewish Philosophy. London: Routledge, 1997. ISBN 0415080649
- Colette Sirat, A History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN 0521397278
- ^ Bereishit Rabba (39,1)
- ^ "Geonica", By Ginzberg Louis, Pg. 18, ISBN 1110355114
- ^ 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
- ^ "Sefer ha-Yashar," p. 10a
- ^ http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ei2/Jubai.htm
- ^ W. Montgomery Watt, Free will and predestination in early Islam, London 1948, 83-7, 136-7.
- ^ 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.
- ^ See Kaufmann, "Studien über Solomon ibn Gabirol," Budapest, 1899.
- ^ 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.)
- ^ "Taḥkemoni," xlvi., l.
- ^ 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
- ^ In the Shadow of History: Jews and Conversos at the Dawn of Modernity by Rabbi Dr. Jose Faur
- ^ 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
External links
- Adventures in Philosophy - Jewish Philosophy Index (radicalacademy.com)
- Survey of Jewish Philosophy (jct.ac.il)
- Jewish Philosophy, The Dictionary of Philosophy (Dagobert D. Runes)
- Rabbi Haim Lifshitz-articles review Jewish Philosophy
- Rabbi Marc Angel's Project reflecting a fusion of Modern Orthodoxy and Sephardic Judaism
- "Machone Torath Moshe™" with many contributions by Rabbi Michael Shelomo Bar-Ron
Further reading
- (Hebrew) Material by topic, daat.ac.il
- (Hebrew) and (English) Primary Sources, Ben Gurion University
- (English) Online materials, Halacha Brura Institute
- (Hebrew) From the Israeli high-school syllabus, education.gov.il
- (English) Articles on Jewish Philosophy-Haim Lifshitz and Isaac Lifshitz
- (English) Free will in Jewish Philosophy
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