James T. Robinson

The Cultures of Maimonideanism

Drawing on the tools of social, cultural and intellectual history, and using Maimonideanism as the interpretative lens, this volume offers a fresh approach to the history of Jewish thought.

Asceticism, Eschatology, Opposition to Philosophy

This book presents a critical edition and translation of Salmon b. Yeroham’s Judaeo-Arabic commentary on Qohelet. The introduction situates the work in the history of Qohelet exegesis and discusses the primary themes: asceticism, eschatology, opposition to philosophy.

We Drink only from the Master's Water

Everything I interpret in the way of wisdom, I interpret only according to what [Maimonides’] opinion would be in these things, in accordance with what is revealed in his books. I drink from his water and make others drink [cf. Hag. 3a-b]. Everything comes from the ‘fruit of the righteous’ [see Prov. 11:30] and his good ‘work’. It itself is ‘life’ and causes ‘life’, continuously and forever. [Samuel Ibn Tibbon, preface to his Commentary on Ecclesiastes]1

Three Recent Books on Isaac Abarbanel/Abravanel (1437–1508/9)

If quantity is any measure of importance, then Isaac Abarbanel/Abravanel—the fascinating statesman and financier, polemicist and messianic theorist, exegete and philosopher-theologian—has certainly risen very high indeed in the study of medieval Jewish thought. Although never an obscure figure in modern scholarship, having already been the subject of several monographs and dozens of articles, the publication of three books in as many years moves him closer to his more respected predecessors: Maimonides, Gersonides, and Crescas. That there is little overlap in these new books, moreover, which approach the extensive and diverse corpus of Abarbanels writing in very different ways, shows that this interest in his writings is more than a passing fad. Lawee and Feldman, in particular, not only introduce the reader to various aspects of Abarbanels life and thought, but point to new areas of research that deserve further investigation. Like any good scholarship, not only do they summarize and synthesize, connecting particular details to larger themes and concerns, but they also challenge conventional views, forcing the reader to return to the sources themselves to look afresh at the writings of this medieval master.

The Arabic Translation and Commentary of Yefet ben ‘Eli the Karaite on the Book of Joshua

Yefet ben ‘Eli (fl. 960-1005) was the most prolific and influential biblical exegete in the Karaite tradition. However, only a small percentage of his commentaries have been published. The present volume makes available for the first time his commentary Joshua.

Sources and Use of Sources

This book presents a critical edition and translation of Salmon b. Yeroham’s Judaeo-Arabic commentary on Qohelet. The introduction situates the work in the history of Qohelet exegesis and discusses the primary themes: asceticism, eschatology, opposition to philosophy.

Some Remarks on the Source of Maimonides' Plato in Guide of the Perplexed I.17

In Guide of the Perplexed I.17, Moses Maimonides (1138-1204) explains that people of the ‘religious law’, as well as ‘philosophers and learned men of the various communities’, should refrain as much as possible from teaching ‘the multitude’ not only divine science but also the ‘greater part of natural science’. When forced to discuss these subjects, he continues, whether to address the elite few or to transmit ideas to qualified students in the future, philosophers and sages, and especially people of the law, ought to present difficult notions in an indirect manner, using ‘riddles’, ‘metaphors’, and ‘similes’. As an example of this type of figurative representation, Maimonides refers to the image of matter as female and form as male, which he attributes to Plato and his predecessors: ‘Thus Plato and his predecessors called matter [al-m~dda] the female [al-unth~] and form the male [al-dhakar].’ While Maimonides relates this literary figure in Guide I.17 to ‘Plato and his predecessors’, he himself uses it in several chapters of his work as well. In fact, it proved to be quite fruitful in his conceptualization of matter, which he considers passive, potential, deficient, and receptive of forms, the source of corporeal desire and the cause of pain, death, and

Gershom ben Solomon’s Sha’ar Ha-Shamayim: Its Sources and use of Sources

This description of goal and method begins Gershom ben Solomon’s Sha‘ar ha-Shamayim, the lastest of the thirteenth-century encyclopedias discussed in this volume.5 It is a popular work using easy-to-understand argument and homey examples, 6 and use of sources, prefaced by some remarks about biography, bibliography, and structure.