Judaism - Poet, Philosopher, Spain

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His chief philosophical work, written in Arabic but preserved in full only in a 12th-century Latin translation titled Fons vitae (“Fountain of Life”), makes no reference to Judaism or to specifically Jewish doctrines and is a dialogue between a disciple and a master who teaches him true philosophical knowledge. Despite its prolixity and many contradictions, it is an impressive"/> <meta property="og:type" content="ARTICLE"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Judaism - Poet, Philosopher, Spain | Britannica"/> <meta property="og:description" content="Judaism - Poet, Philosopher, Spain: In its essentials, the schema of creation and emanation propounded by Isaac Israeli and his Neoplatonic source (or sources) was taken over by Solomon ibn Gabirol, a celebrated 11th-century Hebrew liturgical poet who was also the earliest Jewish philosopher of Spain. His chief philosophical work, written in Arabic but preserved in full only in a 12th-century Latin translation titled Fons vitae (“Fountain of Life”), makes no reference to Judaism or to specifically Jewish doctrines and is a dialogue between a disciple and a master who teaches him true philosophical knowledge. 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border-right-sm border-left-sm open"> <div class="drawer d-flex flex-column open"> <div class="left-rail-section-content"> <div class="topic-left-rail-header text-truncate bg-gray-50 position-relative text-right d-flex align-items-center"> <div class="tlr-title px-20 py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism">Judaism</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/topic/Judaism">Introduction</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref35164"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism#ref35164">The history of Judaism</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35165"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism#ref35165">General observations</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35166"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism#ref35166">Nature and characteristics</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35167"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism#ref35167">Periodization</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35168"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce">Biblical Judaism (20th–4th century <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35169"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce#ref35169">The ancient Middle Eastern setting</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35170"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce#ref35170">The pre-Mosaic period: the religion of the patriarchs</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35171" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce#ref35171">The Mosaic period: foundations of the Israelite religion</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35172"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce#ref35172">The Egyptian sojourn</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35173"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Mosaic-religion">Mosaic religion</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35174"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Mosaic-religion#ref35174">The period of the conquest and settlement of Canaan</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35175" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Mosaic-religion#ref35175">The period of the united monarchy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35176"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Mosaic-religion#ref35176">The religious and political problem</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35177"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Davidic-monarchy">The Davidic monarchy</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35178"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Davidic-monarchy#ref35178">The period of the divided kingdom</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35179" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-period-of-classical-prophecy-and-cult-reform">The period of classical prophecy and cult reform</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35180"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-period-of-classical-prophecy-and-cult-reform#ref35180">The emergence of the literary prophets</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35181"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-period-of-classical-prophecy-and-cult-reform#ref35181">Prophecy in the southern kingdom</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35182"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-period-of-classical-prophecy-and-cult-reform#ref35182">Reforms in the southern kingdom</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35183"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Babylonian-Exile">The Babylonian Exile</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35184"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Babylonian-Exile#ref35184">The period of the restoration</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35185"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hellenistic-Judaism-4th-century-bce-2nd-century-ce">Hellenistic Judaism (4th century <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>–2nd century <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35186" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hellenistic-Judaism-4th-century-bce-2nd-century-ce#ref35186">The Greek period (332–63 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35187"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hellenistic-Judaism-4th-century-bce-2nd-century-ce#ref35187">Hellenism and Judaism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35188"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hellenistic-Judaism-4th-century-bce-2nd-century-ce#ref35188">Social, political, and religious divisions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35189"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-rites-and-customs-in-Palestine-the-Temple-and-the-synagogues">Religious rites and customs in Palestine: the Temple and the synagogues</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35190"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-rites-and-customs-in-Palestine-the-Temple-and-the-synagogues#ref35190">Religious and cultural life in the Diaspora</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35191"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-rites-and-customs-in-Palestine-the-Temple-and-the-synagogues#ref35191">Egyptian Jewish literature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35192"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-rites-and-customs-in-Palestine-the-Temple-and-the-synagogues#ref35192">Palestinian literature</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35193" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Roman-period-63-bce-135-ce">The Roman period (63 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>–135 <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35194"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Roman-period-63-bce-135-ce#ref35194">New parties and sects</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35195"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Roman-period-63-bce-135-ce#ref35195">Origin of Christianity: the early Christians and the Jewish community</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35196"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Roman-period-63-bce-135-ce#ref35196">Judaism under Roman rule</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35197"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century">Rabbinic Judaism (2nd–18th century)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35198" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century#ref35198">The age of the <em>tannaim</em> (135–c. 200)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35199"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century#ref35199">The role of the rabbis</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35200"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century#ref35200">The making of the Mishna</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35201" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century#ref35201">The age of the <em>amoraim</em>: the making of the Talmuds (3rd–6th century)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35202"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century#ref35202">Palestine (c. 220–c. 400)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35203"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Babylonia-200-650">Babylonia (200–650)</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35204" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Babylonia-200-650#ref35204">The age of the <em>geonim</em> (c. 640–1038)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35205"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Babylonia-200-650#ref35205">Triumph of the Babylonian rabbinate</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35206"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Babylonia-200-650#ref35206">Anti-rabbinic reactions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35207"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Babylonia-200-650#ref35207">The gaonate of Saʿadia ben Joseph</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35208" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Medieval-European-Judaism-950-1750">Medieval European Judaism (950–1750)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35209"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Medieval-European-Judaism-950-1750#ref35209">The two major branches</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35210"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Medieval-European-Judaism-950-1750#ref35210">Sephardic developments</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35211"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Medieval-European-Judaism-950-1750#ref35211">Ashkenazic developments</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260811"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Marginalization-and-expulsion">Marginalization and expulsion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35212"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Marginalization-and-expulsion#ref35212">Conflicts and new movements</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35213"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Judaism-c-1750-to-the-present">Modern Judaism (c. 1750 to the present)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35214"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Judaism-c-1750-to-the-present#ref35214">The new situation</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35215" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Judaism-c-1750-to-the-present#ref35215">The Haskala, or Enlightenment</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35216"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Judaism-c-1750-to-the-present#ref35216">In central Europe</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35217"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Judaism-c-1750-to-the-present#ref35217">In eastern Europe</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35218"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-reform-movements">Religious reform movements</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35219" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-reform-movements#ref35219">Orthodox developments</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35220"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-reform-movements#ref35220">In western and central Europe</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35221"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-reform-movements#ref35221">In eastern Europe</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35222"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-reform-movements#ref35222">Developments in scholarship</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35223"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-Christian-relations">Jewish-Christian relations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35224"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-Christian-relations#ref35224">Zionism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35225"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-Christian-relations#ref35225">American Judaism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35226"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-Christian-relations#ref35226">Judaism in other lands</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35227"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-Christian-relations#ref35227">Contemporary Judaism</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref35228"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition">The Judaic tradition</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35229"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition#ref35229">The literature of Judaism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35230"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition#ref35230">General considerations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35231" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition#ref35231">Sources and scope of the Torah</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35232"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition#ref35232">Prophecy and religious experience</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35233"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition#ref35233">Modern views of Torah</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35234"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines">Basic beliefs and doctrines</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35235" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35235">God</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35236"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35236">Unity and uniqueness</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35237"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35237">Creativity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35238"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35238">Activity in the world</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35239"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35239">Otherness and nearness</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35240"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35240">Modern views of God</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35241" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Israel-the-Jewish-people">Israel (the Jewish people)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35242"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Israel-the-Jewish-people#ref35242">Choice and covenant</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35243"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Israel-the-Jewish-people#ref35243">Israel and the nations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35244"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Israel-the-Jewish-people#ref35244">The people and the land</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35245"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Israel-the-Jewish-people#ref35245">Modern views of the people Israel</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35246" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanity">Humanity</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35247"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanity#ref35247">The image of God</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35248"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanity#ref35248">The earthly-spiritual creature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35249"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanity#ref35249">The ethically bound creature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35250"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanity#ref35250">Medieval and modern views of man</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35251" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society">Ethics and society</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35252"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35252">The ethical emphasis of Judaism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35253"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35253">Interpenetration of communal and individual ethics</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35254"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35254">The key moral virtues</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35255"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35255">The relation to non-Jewish communities and cultures</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35256"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35256">The formulation of Jewish ethical doctrines</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35257" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35257">The universe</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35258"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35258">Creation and Providence: God’s world</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35259"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe">Humanity’s place in the universe</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35260"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe#ref35260">Intermediary beings: angels and demons</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35261" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe#ref35261">Eschatology</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35262"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe#ref35262">The future age of humankind and the world</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35263"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe#ref35263">The king-messiah and his reign</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35264"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe#ref35264">Secularization of messianism</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35265"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-practices-and-institutions">Basic practices and institutions</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35266"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-practices-and-institutions#ref35266">The hallowing of everyday existence</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35267"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-practices-and-institutions#ref35267">The traditional pattern of individual and familial practices</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35268"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-practices-and-institutions#ref35268">The traditional pattern of synagogue practices</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35269"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-practices-and-institutions#ref35269">Ceremonies marking the individual life cycles</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35270"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem">Holy places: the land of Israel and Jerusalem</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35271"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35271">The sacred language: Hebrew and the vernacular tongues</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35272" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35272">The rabbinate</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35273"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35273">Legal, judicial, and congregational roles</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35274"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35274">Chief rabbinates</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35275"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35275">General councils or conferences</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35276"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35276">Modern variations</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref260812"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year">The Jewish religious year</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref260813"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year#ref260813">The cycle of the religious year</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref260814" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year#ref260814">The Jewish calendar</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260815"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year#ref260815">Lunisolar structure</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260816"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year#ref260816">Months and notable days</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260817"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year#ref260817">Origin and development</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref260818" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Sabbath">The Sabbath</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260819"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Sabbath#ref260819">Importance</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260820"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Sabbath#ref260820">Observances</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref260821" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Sabbath#ref260821">The Jewish holidays</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260822"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Sabbath#ref260822">Pilgrim Festivals</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260823"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ten-Days-of-Penitence">Ten Days of Penitence</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260824"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ten-Days-of-Penitence#ref260824">Minor festivals: Hanukkah and Purim</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260825"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ten-Days-of-Penitence#ref260825">The five fasts</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260826"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ten-Days-of-Penitence#ref260826">The lesser holidays</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref260827"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ten-Days-of-Penitence#ref260827">The situation today</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35277"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography">Art and iconography</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35278"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35278">The anti-iconic principle and its modifications</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35279"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35279">Ceremonial objects and symbols</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35280"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35280">Architecture</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35281"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35281">Paintings and illustrations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35282"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35282">Music</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35283"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35283">Literature</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35284"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy">Jewish philosophy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35285" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35285">Pre-Hellenistic and Hellenistic thought</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35286"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35286">Bible and Apocrypha</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35287"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35287">Philo Judaeus</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35288"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35288">Other ancient sources</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35289" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35289">Medieval philosophy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35290"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35290">Jewish <em>kalām</em></a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35291"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35291">Saʿadia ben Joseph</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35292"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35292">The Karaites</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35293"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35293">Jewish Neoplatonism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35294"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35294">Isaac Israeli</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35295"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Solomon-ibn-Gabirol">Solomon ibn Gabirol</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35296"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Solomon-ibn-Gabirol#ref35296">Judah ha-Levi</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35297"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Solomon-ibn-Gabirol#ref35297">Other Jewish thinkers, c. 1050–c. 1150</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35298"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Solomon-ibn-Gabirol#ref35298">Jewish Aristotelianism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35299"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Solomon-ibn-Gabirol#ref35299">Abraham ibn Daud</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35300"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Maimonides">Maimonides</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35301"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Maimonides#ref35301">Averroists</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35302"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Maimonides#ref35302">Gersonides</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35303"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hasdai-Crescas">Ḥasdai Crescas</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35304"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hasdai-Crescas#ref35304">Joseph Albo</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35305" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hasdai-Crescas#ref35305">Modern philosophy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35306"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hasdai-Crescas#ref35306">The Iberian-Dutch philosophers</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35307"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hasdai-Crescas#ref35307">Uriel Acosta</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35308"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Benedict-de-Spinoza">Benedict de Spinoza</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35309"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Benedict-de-Spinoza#ref35309">German philosophers</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35310"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Benedict-de-Spinoza#ref35310">Moses Mendelssohn</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35311"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Benedict-de-Spinoza#ref35311">Solomon Formstecher</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35312"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch">Samuel Hirsch</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35313"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref35313">Nachman Krochmal</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35314"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref35314">Solomon Steinheim</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35315"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref35315">Hermann Cohen</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35316"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref35316">Franz Rosenzweig</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35317"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref35317">Martin Buber</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref260828"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref260828">Emmanuel Lévinas</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35318"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism">Jewish mysticism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35319" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism#ref35319">Nature and characteristics</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35320"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism#ref35320">The Judaic context</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35321"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism#ref35321">Three types of Jewish mysticism</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35322" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism#ref35322">Main lines of development</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35323"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism#ref35323">Early stages to the 6th century <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35324"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira"><em>Sefer yetzira</em></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35325"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira#ref35325">The Arabic-Islamic influence (7th–13th century)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35326"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira#ref35326">The making of Kabbala (c. 1150–1250)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35327"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira#ref35327"><em>Sefer ha-bahir</em></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35328"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira#ref35328">School of Isaac the Blind</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35329"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira#ref35329">The 10 <em>sefirot</em></a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35330"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/School-of-Gerona-Catalonia">School of Gerona (Catalonia)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35331"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/School-of-Gerona-Catalonia#ref35331"><em>Sefer ha-temuna</em></a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35332"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/School-of-Gerona-Catalonia#ref35332">Medieval German (Ashkenazic) Hasidism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35333"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/School-of-Gerona-Catalonia#ref35333">The making of the <em>Zohar</em> (c. 1260–1492)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35334"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Lurianic-Kabbala">The Lurianic Kabbala</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35335"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Lurianic-Kabbala#ref35335">Shabbetaianism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35336"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Lurianic-Kabbala#ref35336">Modern Hasidism</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35337"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Jewish-mysticism">Modern Jewish mysticism</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35338"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Jewish-mysticism#ref35338">Jewish myth and legend</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35339"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Jewish-mysticism#ref35339">Significance and characteristics</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35340" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Jewish-mysticism#ref35340">Sources and development</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35341"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Jewish-mysticism#ref35341">Myth and legend in the Bible</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35342"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myths">Myths</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35343"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myths#ref35343">Legends and other tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35344"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myths#ref35344">Contemporary interpretations</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35345"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myths#ref35345">Myth and legend in the Persian period</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35346"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period">Myth and legend in the Hellenistic period</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35347"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35347">Historiated Bibles and legendary histories</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35348"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35348">Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35349"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35349">Myth and legend in the Talmud and Midrash</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35350"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35350">Midrash and Haggada</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35351"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35351">Fables and animal stories</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35352"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35352">Contribution of Haggada to Christian and Islamic legends</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35353"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period">Myth and legend in the medieval period</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35354"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period#ref35354">Jewish contributions to diffusion of folktales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35355"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period#ref35355">Hebrew versions of medieval romances</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35356"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period#ref35356">Jewish contributions to Christian and Islamic tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35357"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period#ref35357">Major medieval Hebrew collections</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35358"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period#ref35358">Medieval legendary histories and Haggadic compendiums</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35360"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period">Myth and legend in the modern period</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35361"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35361">Kabbalistic tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35362"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35362">Judeo-German (Yiddish) tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35363"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35363">Judeo-Persian and Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35364"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35364">Hasidic tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35365"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35365">Droll stories</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35366"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35366">Modern Israeli folktales</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35367"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective">Judaism in world perspective</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35368" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective#ref35368">Relation with non-Judaic religions</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35369"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective#ref35369">Exclusivist and universalist emphases</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35370"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective#ref35370">Relation to Christianity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35371"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective#ref35371">Relation to Islam</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35372"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective#ref35372">Relations with other religions</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35373" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-role-of-Judaism-in-Western-culture-and-civilization">The role of Judaism in Western culture and civilization</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35374"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-role-of-Judaism-in-Western-culture-and-civilization#ref35374">Its historic role</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35375"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-role-of-Judaism-in-Western-culture-and-civilization#ref35375">Its present role</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35376"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-role-of-Judaism-in-Western-culture-and-civilization#ref35376">Future prospects</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/Judaism">Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a 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They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-11-22T00:00:00CST" >Nov 22, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Key People: </dt> <dd><a href="/biography/Saint-Paul-the-Apostle" topicid="447019">St. Paul the Apostle</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Martin-Buber-German-religious-philosopher" topicid="82688">Martin Buber</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Philo-Judaeus" topicid="456612">Philo Judaeus</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Jeremiah-Hebrew-prophet" topicid="302676">Jeremiah</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Ezra-Hebrew-religious-leader" topicid="199520">Ezra</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Related Topics: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/Jewish-religious-year" topicid="303554">Jewish religious year</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Zionism" topicid="657475">Zionism</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/klezmer-music" topicid="1379883">klezmer music</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Reform-Judaism" topicid="495370">Reform Judaism</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Haskala" topicid="256614">Haskala</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/Judaism"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><div class="bg-gray-50 p-15 rounded module-spacing recent-news d-flex flex-column float-false"> <div> <h2 class="font-weight-bold font-14 m-0 d-inline"> News <span class="text-gray-600">•</span> </h2> <div class="recent-news-item first-recent-news-item d-inline"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/307197/52b74577982b34ce2607b693bd51cae7" rel="nofollow">Texas education board approves optional Bible-infused curriculum for elementary schools</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 22, 2024, 5:39 PM ET (AP) </span> </div> </div> <div class="rest-of-recent-news-items"> <button class="js-toggle-recent-news d-flex btn btn-unstyled font-14 pr-10 rounded-sm mt-10" aria-label="Toggle additional news items"> Show less <em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_less"></em> </button> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="4"><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="5" id="ref35295">  <span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In its essentials, the schema of creation and emanation propounded by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-ben-Solomon-Israeli" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Isaac Israeli</a> and his Neoplatonic source (or sources) was taken over by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ibn-Gabirol" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Solomon ibn Gabirol</a>, a celebrated 11th-century <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hebrew" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Hebrew</a> liturgical poet who was also the earliest Jewish philosopher of Spain. His chief philosophical work, written in Arabic but preserved in full only in a 12th-century Latin translation titled <em><span id="ref299554"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Fountain-of-Life" class="md-crosslink ">Fons vitae</a></em> (“Fountain of Life”), makes no reference to Judaism or to specifically Jewish doctrines and is a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="dialogue" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialogue" data-type="MW">dialogue</a> between a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="disciple" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disciple" data-type="MW">disciple</a> and a master who teaches him true philosophical knowledge. Despite its prolixity and many contradictions, it is an impressive work. Few <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="medieval" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/medieval" data-type="MW">medieval</a> texts so effectively communicate the Neoplatonic <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conception" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conception" data-type="MW">conception</a> of the existence of a number of planes of being that differ according to their ontological priority, the derivative and inferior ones <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="constituting" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constituting" data-type="MW">constituting</a> a reflection in a grosser mode of existence of those that are prior and superior.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">One of Ibn Gabirol’s central concerns was the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacred" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">divine</a> will, which appears to be both part of and separate from the divine essence. <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Infinite" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Infinite" data-type="MW">Infinite</a> according to its essence, the will is finite in its action. It is described as pervading everything that exists and as being the intermediary between the divine essence and matter and form. Will was one of the traditional terms used by medieval theologians to identify the entity intermediate between the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="transcendent" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transcendent" data-type="MW">transcendent</a> Deity and the world or the aspect of the Deity involved in creation. According to a statement in <em>Fons vitae</em>, matter derives from the divine essence, whereas form derives from the divine will. This suggests that the difference between matter and form has some counterpart in the Godhead and also that universal matter is superior to universal form. Some of Ibn Gabirol’s statements seem to support the superiority of universal matter; other passages, however, appear to imply the superiority of universal form.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Form and matter, whether universal or particular, exist only in conjunction. All things, with the sole exception of God, are <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="constituted" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constituted" data-type="MW">constituted</a> through the union of the two, the intellect no less than corporeal substance. In fact, the intellect is the first being in which universal matter and form are conjoined. The intellect contains and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="encompasses" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/encompasses" data-type="MW">encompasses</a> all things. It is through the grasp of the various planes of being, through ascending in knowledge to the world of the intellect and apprehending what is above it—the divine will and the world of the Deity—that humans may “escape death” and reach “the source of life.”</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="5" id="ref35296"> <h2 class="h5"><span id="ref299555"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Judah-ha-Levi" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Judah ha-Levi</a></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Judah-ha-Levi" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Judah ben Samuel ha-Levi</a> (c. 1075–1141), another celebrated Hebrew poet from Spain, was the first medieval Jewish thinker to base his thought consciously and consistently on arguments drawn from Jewish history. His views are set forth in an Arabic dialogue, <em>al-Hazari</em> (Hebrew <em><span id="ref299556"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Book-of-the-Khazar" class="md-crosslink ">Sefer ha-Kuzari</a></em>), the full title of which is translated as “The Book of Proof and Argument in Defense of the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="Despised" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/Despised" data-type="EB">Despised</a> Faith.” This work is usually called <em>Kuzari</em>—i.e., “the <span id="ref299557"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khazar" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Khazar</a>.”</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Basing his narrative on the historical conversion to Judaism of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khazar" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Khazars</a> (c. 740), a Turkic-speaking people in central Eurasia, ha-Levi relates that their king, a pious man who did not belong to any of the great monotheistic religions, dreamed of an angel who said to him, “Your intentions are pleasing to the Creator, but your works are not.” To find the correct way to please God, the king sought guidance from a philosopher, from a Christian, from a Muslim, and finally—after hesitating to invite a representative of a people <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="degraded" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/degraded" data-type="EB">degraded</a> by historical misfortune—from a Jewish scholar, who then converted him to Judaism. The angel’s words in the king’s dream may be regarded as a kind of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/revelation" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">revelation</a>. Ha-Levi used this element of the story to suggest that it is not the spontaneous activity of reason that impels human beings to undertake the quest for the true <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/religion" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">religion</a> but the gift of prophecy—or at least a touch of the prophetic faculty (or a knowledge of the revelations of the past).</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The argument of the philosopher whose advice is sought by the king confirms this point. This disquisition is a brilliant piece of writing that lays bare the essential differences between the Aristotelian God, who is wholly <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="indifferent" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/indifferent" data-type="EB">indifferent</a> to human individuals, and the God of the Jewish religion. The God of the philosophers, who is pure intellect, is not concerned with the works of human beings; moreover, the cultural activities to which the angel clearly refers—activities that involve both mind and body—cannot, from a philosophical point of view, either help or hinder humans in the pursuit of the philosophers’ supreme goal, the attainment of union with the active intellect, a “light” of the divine nature. This union was supposed to confer knowledge of all intelligible things on the individual; the supreme goal, therefore, was purely <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="intellectual" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intellectual" data-type="MW">intellectual</a> in nature.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In opposition to the philosopher’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/faith" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">faith</a>, the religion of the Jewish scholar in the <em>Kuzari</em> is based on the fact that God may have a close, direct relationship with humans, who are not conceived primarily as beings endowed with intellect. The postulate that God can have intercourse with a creature made of the disgusting materials that compose the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/human-body" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">human body</a> is scandalous to the king and prevents his acceptance of the doctrine concerning prophecy, expounded by the Muslim sage (just as the extraordinary nature of the Christological <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="dogmas" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dogmas" data-type="MW">dogmas</a> deters him from adopting Christianity).</p><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The Jewish scholar argues that it is contemplation not of the cosmos but of Jewish history that procures knowledge of God. Ha-Levi was aware of the odium attached to the doctrine of the superiority of one particular nation; he held, however, that this teaching alone explains God’s dealings with humanity, which, like many other things, reason is unable to grasp. The controversies of the philosophers serve as proof of the failure of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/human-intelligence-psychology" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">human intelligence</a> to find valid solutions to the most important problems.</p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD9 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Ha-Levi’s dialogue was also directed against the Karaites. He shows the necessity and celebrates the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="efficacy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/efficacy" data-type="MW">efficacy</a> of a blind, unquestioning adhesion to tradition, which the Karaites rejected. Yet he expounds a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/theology" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">theology</a> of Jewish exile that seems to have been influenced by Karaite doctrine. According to ha-Levi, even in exile the course of Jewish history is not determined like that of other nations by natural causes, such as material strength or weakness; the decisive factor is whether the Jews are religiously observant or disobedient. The advent of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Christianity</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Islam</a>, in his view, prepares other nations for conversion to Judaism, an event that will occur in the eschatological period at the end of history.</p><span class="marker MOD9 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="5" id="ref35297"> <h2 class="h5">Other Jewish thinkers, c. 1050–c. 1150</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD10 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Many other Jewish thinkers appeared in Spain during the period from the second half of the 11th century to the first half of the 12th. <span id="ref299558"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bahya-ben-Joseph-ibn-Pakuda" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Bahya ben Joseph ibn Pakuda</a> wrote one of the most popular books of Jewish spiritual literature, <em>Kitāb al-hidāyah ilā farā’iḍ alqulūb</em> (“<span id="ref299559"></span>Guidance to the Duties of the Heart”), which <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="combines" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/combines" data-type="EB">combines</a> a theology influenced by Saʿadia with a moderate <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/mysticism" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">mysticism</a> inspired by the teachings of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sufism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Sufis</a>. The commandments of the heart—that is, those relating to thoughts and sentiments—are contrasted with the commandments of the limbs—that is, the Mosaic commandments enjoining or prohibiting certain actions. Bahya maintained that both sets of commandments should be observed (thus rejecting the antinomian position) but made clear that he was chiefly interested in the commandments of the heart.</p><span class="marker MOD10 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD11 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><span id="ref299560"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abraham-bar-Hiyya" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Abraham bar Hiyya Savasorda</a>, a mathematician, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/astrology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">astrologer</a>, and philosopher, outlined in <em>Megillat ha-megalle </em>(“Scroll of the Revealer”) a view of Jewish history that is reminiscent of ha-Levi but does not emphasize its uniqueness to the same degree; it is also set forth in much less impressive fashion. Living in Barcelona under Christian rule, Bar Hiyya wrote scientific and philosophical <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="treatises" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/treatises" data-type="MW">treatises</a> not in Arabic but in Hebrew. Hebrew was also used by <span id="ref299561"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abraham-ben-Meir-ibn-Ezra" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Abraham ibn Ezra</a> (died 1167), a native of Spain who travelled extensively in Christian Europe. His commentaries on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bible" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Bible</a> contributed to the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="diffusion" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diffusion" data-type="MW">diffusion</a> among the Jews of Greek philosophical thought, to which Ibn <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ezra-Hebrew-religious-leader" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Ezra</a> made many disjointed references. His astrological doctrine had a great influence on some philosophers.</p><span class="marker MOD11 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD12 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The last outstanding Jewish philosopher of the Islamic East, <span id="ref299562"></span>Abū al-Barakāt al-Baghdādī (who died as a very old man sometime after 1164), also belongs to this period. An inhabitant of Iraq, he was converted to Islam in his <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/old-age" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">old age</a> (for reasons of expediency, according to his biographers). His <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">philosophy</a> appears to have had a strong impact on Islamic thought, though its influence on <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jewish-philosophy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Jewish philosophy</a> and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="theology" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/theology" data-type="EB">theology</a> is very hard to pin down and may be practically nonexistent. His chief philosophical work, <em><span id="ref299563"></span>Kitāb al-muʿtabar</em> (“The Book of That Which Has Been Established by Personal Reflection”), contains very few references to Jewish texts or topics. Abū al-Barakāt rejected Aristotelian physics completely. According to him, time is the measure of being and not, as Aristotle taught, the measure of motion; he also replaced Aristotle’s two-dimensional concept of place with the three-dimensional notion of space, the existence of which is independent of the existence of bodies.</p><span class="marker MOD12 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section> <section data-level="4" id="ref35298"> <h2 class="h4">Jewish <span id="ref928208"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aristotelianism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Aristotelianism</a></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD13 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Jewish thinkers in Muslim Spain and the Maghrib adopted <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aristotelianism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Aristotelianism</a> (as well as systems that stemmed from but also profoundly modified pure Aristotelian doctrine) considerably later than did their counterparts in the Islamic East.</p><span class="marker MOD13 mod-inline"></span> <section data-level="5" id="ref35299"> <h2 class="h5"><span id="ref299564"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abraham-ben-David-Halevi-ibn-Daud" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Abraham ibn Daud</a></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD14 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abraham-ben-David-Halevi-ibn-Daud" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Abraham ibn Daud</a> (12th century), who is regarded as the first Jewish Aristotelian of Spain, was primarily a disciple of <span id="ref299565"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Avicenna" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Avicenna</a>, the great 11th-century Islamic philosopher. He may have translated or helped to translate some of Avicenna’s works into Latin, according to one plausible <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="hypothesis" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypothesis" data-type="MW">hypothesis</a>, for he lived under Christian rule in Toledo, a town that in the 12th century was a centre for translators. His historical treatises, written in Hebrew, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="manifest" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manifest" data-type="MW">manifest</a> his desire to familiarize his fellow Jews with the historical tradition of the Latin world, which at that time was alien to most of them. But his philosophical work, <em><span id="ref299566"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sefer-ha-emuna-ha-rama" class="md-crosslink ">Sefer ha-emuna ha-rama </a></em>(“Book of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Sublime" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Sublime" data-type="MW">Sublime</a> Faith”), written in 1161 in Arabic, shows few if any signs of Christian influence.</p><span class="marker MOD14 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD15 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The doctrine of emanation set forth in this work describes in the manner of Avicenna the procession of the 10 incorporeal intellects, the first of which derives from God. This intellect produces the second intellect, and so on. Ibn Daud questioned in a fairly explicit manner Avicenna’s views on the way the second intellect is produced; his discipleship did not mean total <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="adherence" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adherence" data-type="MW">adherence</a>. Ibn Daud’s psychology was also, and more distinctively, derived from Avicenna. The argumentation leading to a proof that the rational faculty is not corporeal attempts to derive the nature of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/soul-religion-and-philosophy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">soul</a> from the fact of immediate self-awareness. Like Avicenna, Ibn Daud founded psychology on a theory of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="consciousness" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consciousness" data-type="MW">consciousness</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD15 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD16 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Ibn Daud often referred to the accord that, in his view, existed between philosophy and religious tradition. As he remarked, the <em>Sefer ha-emuna ha-rama</em> was not for readers who, in their simplicity, are satisfied with what they know of religious tradition or for those who have a thorough knowledge of philosophy. It was intended for readers of one type only: those who, being acquainted with the religious tradition on the one hand and having some rudiments of philosophy on the other, are “perplexed.” It was for the same audience that <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Moses-Maimonides" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Maimonides</a> wrote his <em>The Guide for the Perplexed</em>.</p><span class="marker MOD16 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":30,"pagesTotal":45,"pageId":307197,"pageLength":1891,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"B","adLeg":"B","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":30,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Judaism - Poet, Philosopher, Spain | Britannica