The Golden Age of Jewish Philosophy

Samuel ibn Naghrillah

Samuel ibn Naghrillah (lit. Samuel the Prince) (born 993; died after 1056), was a medieval Spanish Talmudic scholar, grammarian, philologist, soldier, merchant, and politician who lived in Iberia at the time of the Moorish rule. He was perhaps the most politically influential Jew in Muslim Spain. He founded the yeshiva that produced such brilliant scholars as Yitzhaq ibn Ghiath and Maimon ben Joseph, the father of Maimonides.

Naghrillah was also a famous poet of the Middle Ages, as well a patron of many other poets, and was well known for his homoerotic poetry. Abba Eban credited Naghrillah's influence in the establishment of a new style of Hebrew poetry by applying aspects of Arabic poetry to biblical Hebrew. This unique application made Hebrew poetry accessible to the major genres of Arabic poetry, making his work widely read throughout Spain.

THE HOUR

She said: “Be happy that God has helped you reach

The age of fifty in this world,” not knowing

That to me there is no difference between my life’s

Past and that of Noah about whom I heard.

For me there is only the hour in which I am present in this world:

It stays for a moment and then like a cloud moves on.

Judah Halevi

Judah Halevi was a Spanish Jewish physician, poet and philosopher. He was born in Spain, either in Toledo or Tudela, in 1075 or 1086, and died shortly after arriving in the Holy Land in 1141, at that point the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Halevi is considered one of the greatest Hebrew poets, celebrated both for his religious and secular poems, many of which appear in present-day liturgy.

THE PHYSICIAN’S PRAYER

My God, heal me and I shall be healed,

Let not Thine anger be kindled against me so that I be consumed.

My medicines are of Thee, whether good

Or evil, whether strong or weak.

It is Thou who shalt choose, not I;

Of Thy knowledge is the evil and the fair.

Not upon my power of healing I rely;

Only for Thine healing do I watch.

(UNTITLED 1)

So we must be divided; sweetest, stay,

Once more, mine-eyes would seek thy glance’s light.

At night I shall recall thee Thou, I pray,

Be mindful of the days of our delight.

Come to me in my dreams, I ask of thee,

And even in my dreams be gentle unto me.

If thou shouldst send me greeting in the grave,

The cold breath of the grave itself were sweet;

Oh, take my life, my life, ‘tis all I have,

If it should make thee live, I do entreat.

I think that I shall hear when I am dead,

The rustle of thy gown, thy footsteps overhead.

Abraham Ibn Ezra

Abraham Ibn Ezra also known as Ibn Ezra, 1092 – 1167) was one of the most distinguished Jewish biblical commentators and philosophers of the Middle Ages. He was born in Tudela in northern Spain.

Ibn Ezra's most famous work was his commentary on the Bible. Unlike Rashi, Ibn Ezra didn't want to use midrash in his explanations. He concentrated on the grammar and literal meaning of the text. His most controversial beliefs were all couched in very careful language; scholars suspect that Ibn Ezra did not believe that the Torah was written by Moses on Mount Sinai. He found seams and grammatical problems which indicated that the Torah was written over a period of time. He didn't dare proclaim this opinion openly; it would have meant his death. However, there are hints of his suspicions within his commentary. He carefully used the phrase, "And the intelligent will understand" whenever he discussed a controversial insight.

Caleb the son of Jephunneh was 39 years of age at the time that Bezalel constructed the tabernacle. For Caleb said, "Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land (Josh. 14:7)." Now the tabernacle was constructed in the first year of the Exodus, and the spies were sent in the second year of the Exodus. Caleb was thus 39 years of age when Bezalel constructed the tabernacle. I.E. reasons that it is highly unlikely for a 39-year-old man to be a great-grandfather. In fact, the only way the sages of the Talmud could explain the aforementioned was to maintain that the early generations had children at the age of eight.

Moses ben Nahman

Moses ben Nahman (1194–1270), commonly known as Nachmanides, and also referred to by the acronym Ramban, was a leading medieval Jewish scholar, Sephardic rabbi, philosopher, physician, kabbalist, and biblical commentator. He was raised, studied, and lived for most of his life in Girona, Catalonia. He is also considered to be an important figure in the re-establishment of the Jewish community in Jerusalem following its destruction by the Crusaders in 1099.

From Nachmanides' arguments in front of King James of Aragon on the subject of the Divinity of Jesus:

"It seems most strange that the Creator of heaven and earth resorted to the womb of a certain Jewess and grew there for nine months and was born as an infant, and afterwards grew up and was betrayed into the hands of his enemies who sentenced him to death and executed him, and that afterwards… he came to life and returned to his original place. The mind of a Jew, or any other person, cannot tolerate this.

You have listened all your life to priests who have filled your brain and the marrow of your bones with this doctrine, and it has settled with you because of that accustomed habit."

At the end of the disputation, James awarded Nachmanides a prize of 300 gold coins and declared that never before had he heard "an unjust cause so nobly defended." On the Shabbos after the debate, the king also attended the Sinagoga Major de Barcelona and addressed the Jewish congregants there, "a thing unheard of during the Middle Ages".

Moses ben Maimon

Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam was a medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. In his time, he was also a preeminent astronomer and physician, serving as the personal physician of Saladin. Born in Córdoba, Almoravid Empire (present-day Spain) in 1138, he worked as a rabbi, physician and philosopher in Morocco and Egypt.

During his lifetime, most Jews greeted Maimonides' writings on Jewish law and ethics with acclaim and gratitude, even as far away as Iraq and Yemen. Yet, while Maimonides rose to become the revered head of the Jewish community in Egypt, his writings also had vociferous critics, particularly in Spain. His fourteen-volume Mishneh Torah stands as one of the clearest and most comprehensive codifications of Talmudic law ever composed. In a radical departure from tradition, Maimonides omitted from the Mishneh Torah both the names of earlier scholars and most of their opinions, preserving only those rulings he deemed correct.

Aside from being revered by Jewish historians, Maimonides also figures very prominently in the history of Islamic and Arab sciences and is mentioned extensively in studies. Influenced by Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, and his contemporary Ibn Rushd, he became a prominent philosopher and polymath in both the Jewish and Islamic worlds. Educated more by reading the works of Arab Muslim philosophers than by personal contact with Arabian teachers, he acquired an intimate acquaintance not only with Arab-Muslim philosophy, but with the doctrines of Aristotle. Maimonides strove to reconcile Aristotelianism and science with the teachings of the Torah.

Maimonides Principles of Faith Summarized:

1. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, is the Creator and Guide of everything that has been created; He alone has made, does make, and will make all things.
2. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, is One, and that there is no unity in any manner like His, and that He alone is our God, who was, and is, and will be.
3. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, has no body, and that He is free from all the properties of matter, and that there can be no (physical) comparison to Him whatsoever.
4. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, is the first and the last.
5. I believe with perfect faith that to the Creator, Blessed be His Name, and to Him alone, it is right to pray, and that it is not right to pray to any being besides Him.
6. I believe with perfect faith that all the words of the prophets are true.
7. I believe with perfect faith that the prophecy of Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, was true, and that he was the chief of the prophets, both those who preceded him and those who followed him.
8. I believe with perfect faith that the entire Torah that is now in our possession is the same that was given to Moses our teacher, peace be upon him.
9. I believe with perfect faith that this Torah will not be exchanged, and that there will never be any other Torah from the Creator, Blessed be His Name.
10. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, knows all the deeds of human beings and all their thoughts, as it is written, "Who fashioned the hearts of them all, Who comprehends all their actions" (Psalms 33:15).
11. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, rewards those who keep His commandments and punishes those that transgress them.
12. I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; and even though he may tarry, nonetheless, I wait every day for his coming.
13. I believe with perfect faith that there will be a revival of the dead at the time when it shall please the Creator, Blessed be His name, and His mention shall be exalted for ever and ever.

Jacob ben Asher

Jacob ben Asher (1270-1340) was an influential Medieval rabbinic authority. He is often referred to as the Ba'al ha-Turim ("Master of the Columns"), after his main work in halakha, the Arba'ah Turim ("Four Columns"). Ben Asher wrote that he undertook the project to establish a legal code suited to contemporary needs, because Maimonides’ compilation of Talmudic laws was too bulky for general use. Ben Asher simplified Maimonides’ work by omitting laws that could not be applied after the destruction of the Temple, while adding accounts of the different Jewish customs he had observed in various countries and pointing out the differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardic practices. While the first of the four sections cites Ashkenazi rabbis more frequently than Sephardic ones, the other three sections rely more on Sephardic authorities.

Introduction to the Arba'ah Turim

"The basic principle of all basic principles and the pillar of all knowledge is to realize that there is a First Being who brought every existing being into being. All existing things, whether celestial, terrestrial, or belonging to an intermediate class, exist only through this true existence."

Joseph Karo

Joseph Karo, (1488 – 1575) was the author of the last great codification of Jewish law, the Shulchan Aruch, which is still authoritative for all Jews pertaining to their respective communities. In 1492, aged four years old, he left Spain with his family and the rest of Spanish Jewry as a result of the Alhambra Decree and subsequently settled in the Kingdom of Portugal. After the expulsion of the Jews from Portugal in 1497, the Ottomans invited the Jews to settle within their empire. He later settled in the city of Safed, where he completed writing the first order of the Shulhan Arukh, Orach Chaim.

Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah 246:10

"The rabbi should not be angry with his pupils if they do not understand but he should repeat the matter over and over again until they grasp the proper depth of the law. The pupil should not say that he understands when he does not but should ask over and over again. And if the rabbi is angry with him he should say, 'Rabbi, it is the Torah and I want to know it, but my mind is inadequate."'