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1. Term Cabala (also spelled cabbala, cabbalah, kabala, kabbala, and kabbalah) means “tradition”—more specifically, “esoteric, mystical tradition.” It is the common name for the most important school of Jewish mysticism, which flourished from the late 12th century to the 19th, mainly in Christian Europe and the Middle East. The early cabalists in medieval Europe relied on ancient Jewish (Judaism) mystical traditions known as Hekhalot (heavenly palaces) and Merkabah (chariot) mysticism and on the traditions of the ancient cosmological work Sefer Yetzirah (Book of creation). T…

Reuchlin, Johannes, * 22 Feb 1455 (Pforzheim), † 1522 (Liebenzell) Reuchlin was the leading German humanist of the Renaissance, the most prominent Hebraist of his age and the author of the central text of Christian kabbalah, De arte cabalistica (1517). The influence of his numerous books and the intense controversy which surrounded them make him a key figure in the history of European spirituality in the 16th century and the main influence on the integration of Jewish and kabbalistic elements into European thought [→ Jewish Influenc…

[English Version] (bibl.-hebr. צְפַת/ṣepat), Kleinstadt im Norden des Staates Israel, die vom 16.Jh. an jüd. Mystikern als spirituelles Zentrum galt (Land Israel: IV.). Dort sammelten sich viele Kabbalisten (Kabbala: II.), angezogen von dem nahe gelegenen Meron mit dem Grab Rabbi Simeon bar Jochais. Diesem Weisen des 2.Jh. wird das Buch Zohar zugeschrieben. In S. lebten mehrere bedeutende Persönlichkeiten: Rabbi Joseph Karo, Autor des Shulchan Arukh, des wichtigsten rel. Gesetzbuches im modernen J…

[English Version] Narboni, Moses (ca.1300 Perpignan, Frankreich – 1363 Soria, Spanien), bedeutender jüd. Philosoph des 14.Jh. N. arbeitete als wandernder Arzt in verschiedenen Städten Spaniens und der Provence. Sein bekanntestes und einflußreichstes Werk ist der Komm. zu Moses Maimonides' »More Nevukhim« (veröff. 1852 in Wien). N. vertrat eine fundamentale Maimonides-Interpretation und folgte in höherem Maße als die meisten jüd. Rationalisten den Lehren Averroes'. N. behauptete eine Judentum, Chris…

[English Version] Urbach, Ephraim Elimelech (26.5.1912 Wloclawec, Polen – 2.7.1991 Jerusalem), gehörte in der 2. Hälfte des 20.Jh. zu den einflußreichsten Wissenschaftlern für Jüd. Studien. U. studierte am Breslauer Rabbinerseminar und an den Universitäten von Breslau und Rom. Seit 1938 in Jerusalem; ab 1953 lehrte er als Prof. für Talmudstudien an der Hebr. Universität Jerusalem. 1974 Präsident der isr. Akademie der Künste und Wiss. der »World Union of Jewish Studies«. Darüber hinaus engagierte sic…

[English Version] von Brazlav (1771 Medshibosh, Ukraine – 1811 Uman, ebd.). Rabbi N. ben S. gehörte zu den einflußreichsten Führern der chassidischen Bewegung (Chassidismus). Obwohl er ein Urenkel des Baal Shem Tov, des Gründers des Chassidismus, war, hatte sich nur eine kleine Gruppe von Schülern um ihn geschart. Auf seiner Pilgerreise in das Land Israel (1798) konnte er der Belagerung von Akko durch Napoleon I. an Bord eines türkischen Kriegsschiffes entkommen. Nach Europa zurückgekehrt, predigte…

[English Version] . Das Sh. (»Gesang von Gottes Einheit«) ist ein langes Gedicht theol. Inhalts in lockerer Reimform, vf. von einem unbekannten dt. jüd. Gelehrten im 12.Jh. Es wurde zum wichtigsten Ausdruck einer neuen Vorstellung der göttlichen Welt innerhalb dieser Kultur. Das Sh. spricht von einem absolut transzendenten Schöpfergott, gleichfalls jedoch auch von dessen Immanenz in allen Bereichen der Schöpfung. Als eine Quelle des Sh. gilt eine frühe hebr. Übers. (11.Jh.) des rationalistischen W…

[English Version] . Der Z. ist das bedeutendste Buch der Kabbala (: II.) und eines der fundiertesten Werke der ma. Mystik (: III.,2., b). Mit der Bibel und dem Talmud gehört er zu den drei heiligsten Büchern des Judentums. Nach G. Scholems Auffassung wurde er im wesentlichen von Rabbi Moses De Leon in Nordspanien zw. 1270 und 1291 vf.; gemäß Isaiah Tishby entstand er erst in dessen Todesjahr 1305. Von 1280 an hatte der Vf. Auszüge aus dem Z. verteilt und behauptet, es handle sich um Abschriften au…

[English Version] von Gaza (1643 Jerusalem – 11.1.1680 Skopje, Mazedonien), erster Prophet und wichtigster Theologe des Sabbatianismus. Nach einer Begegnung mit Sabbatai Zevi (S.Z.) in Gaza 1665 berichtete der junge N., Schüler der Kabbala (: II.) I. Lurias, von einer Offenbarung, die S.Z. als den Messias auswies – ein Anspruch, den dieser schon jahrelang erfolglos erhob. Erst N.s Prophezeiung rief jedoch den eigentlichen Sabbatianismus ins Leben, dessen geistl. und administrativer Führer N. wurde.…

[English Version] (Moses ben Nachman, Akronym »Ramban«; 1194 Gerona – 1270 Akko), Rabbi, Arzt, Prediger, Exeget und große halakhische Autorität. N. war in der 1. Hälfte des 13.Jh. der geistige Führer der span. Juden (Judentum: II.) und das Oberhaupt der kabbalistischen Schule (Kabbala: II.) von Gerona, wo Rabbi Ezra und Rabbi Azriel zu seinen Lehrern zählten. In Disputationen mit seinen christl. Zeitgenossen trat er apologetisch für das Judentum ein. Sein exegetisches Werk zum Pentateuch, in dem der traditionelle, midrashische Komm. mit ma. linguistischer A…

[English Version] Scholem, Gershom (urspr. Gerhard; 5.12.1897 Berlin – 20.2.1982 Jerusalem). Sch. zählt zu den einflußreichsten modernen jüd. Denkern und war im 20.Jh. der bedeutendste Gelehrte auf dem Gebiet der Judaistik. Ihm ist v.a. die Begründung der wiss. Erforschung der Kabbala zu verdanken. Er wurde als Sohn einer assimilierten jüd. Familie geboren. In seiner Jugend wandte er sich dem Zionismus zu, pflegte Kontakt mit M. Buber, begann Hebr. zu lernen und nahm Talmudunterricht. Seine früh mi…

[English Version] Schneur Salman, 1.  ben Baruch von Liadi (1745–1813 Piena, Bezirk Koisk), Gründer der chassidischen Chabad-Gemeinschaft (Lubawitsch, Chassidismus), Schüler des Großen Maggid Rabbi Dov Baer von Mezeritch. Als seine engsten Mitarbeiter, Menachem Mendel von Witebsk und Abraham von Kalisch, 1777 nach Safed gingen, übernahm er die Führung der Gemeinde in Südrußland. Sein wachsender Einfluß zog Tausende an seinen Hof. In seinem Bemühen um eine Lösung des Konflikts zw. den Chassiden und ihren…

[English Version] als Begriff der Lurianischen Kabbala (I. Luria), in dem sich seit dem 17.Jh. das messianische Streben der Anhänger der kabbalistischen Weltanschauung ausdrückte, läßt sich auf das talm. »tiqqun ha-‘olam« zurückführen, das Handlungen bez., um die Welt intakt zu halten. Im Denksystem Lurias bezieht »T.« sich auf die dritte Phase des hist.-kosmischen Mythos (erste Phase: Zimzum; zweite Phase: Shevirat ha-kelim [»der Bruch der Gefäße«], die Katastrophe, die den göttlichen Plan vereit…

[English Version] . Unter Tosafot (T.; wörtl. »Zusätze«) versteht man einen lit. Typus von Komm. und Diskussionen zu Abschnitten des Talmud, Ba‘ale ha-T. (»Autoren der T.«, Tosafisten) bezieht sich demnach auf die Schule der talm. Gelehrten, die diesen Typus entwickelten; sie waren zw. dem 11. und 13.Jh. bes. in Nordfrankreich und im westlichen Deutschland aktiv. In den Druckausg. des Talmud stehen die T. dem klassischen Komm. von Salomo ben Isaak (Rashi) gegenüber, beidseitig des eigentlichen Tal…

[English Version] , Auslegungsmethode der hebr. Midrashlit., bei der jeder Buchstabe eines Bibelverses durch einen anderen ersetzt werden kann, so daß in der göttlichen Sprache der Schriften neue Bedeutungsebenen entstehen. Urspr. ist die Methode bibl., denn Jeremia nennt die Stadt Babylon (hebr. Bavel) zweimal »Sheshakh« (Jer 25,26; 51,41). Hier wurde die als ATBSh bez. T.-Technik angewandt, in der die 22 Buchstaben des hebr. Alphabets in einer Spalte vom Anfang bis zum Ende und in einer zweiten daneben in umgekehrter Reihenfolge notiert werden. Somit wird der erste Buchstabe א …

[English Version] 2.  Menachem Mendel , von Ljubawitsch (1789 Liadi – 1866 ebd.), Enkel von 1., genannt Zemach Zedek, seit 1828 drittes Oberhaupt der chassidischen Chabad-Gemeinschaft (Lubawitsch). Sch. wuchs im Haus seines Großvaters, des Gründers der Gemeinschaft, auf und folgte ihm in seinen Lehren und der Art und Weise seiner geistigen Führerschaft. Unter ihm wurde die Chabad-Gemeinschaft zur zentralen, einflußreichen Größe im orth. osteur. Judentum. Seinen volkstümlichen Namen erhielt er nach de…

[English Version] (hebr. נָגִיד, Pl. Negidim) ist der hebr. Titel des Oberhauptes einer jüd. Gemeinde in einem arabischsprachigen Land. Er löste den bab. Titel »Rosh ha-Gola« (»Exilarch«; Resh Galuta) des frühen MA ab. In Spanien, Ägypten, Tunesien, Marokko und im Jemen entstanden mehrere Dynastien von N. Viele jüd. Dichter, Gelehrte, Philosophen und Wissenschaftler hatten diese Stellung inne, in einigen Fällen war sie über drei oder vier Generationen erblich. Das Amt des N. wurde nach dem Modell i…

[English Version] (hebr. סְפִרוֹת; Sg. Sefira). S. sind erstmals im Sefer Jezira belegt: Es gibt davon »zehn und nicht neun, zehn und nicht elf«, d.h. die zehn »Richtungen« des Kosmos (oben, unten, Anfang, Ende, Norden, Süden, Osten, Westen, Gut, Böse), die Mächte des göttlichen Thronwagens oder die kosmischen Elemente. Im 13.Jh. bez. die frühen Kabbalisten (Kabbala: II.) damit die zehn persönlichen, dynamischen Kräfte, die das Emanationssystem der göttlichen Welt konstituieren (Kosmologie: IV.,2.).…

[English Version] (Nagˇara), Israel ben Moses (ca.1555 Damaskus – ca.1625), gilt als der große Dichter des »Goldenen Zeitalters« jüd. Kultur im 16.Jh. in Safed. Infolge der Zerstörung der jüd. Gemeinden in Spanien (1492) erlebte diese obergaliläische Ortschaft, in der verschiedene kabbalistische Schulen (Kabbala: II.) ansässig waren, eine neue Blütezeit. Obwohl N. oft als kabbalistischer Dichter angesehen wird, spielt die Kabbala in seinem Werk keine bedeutende Rolle. Einige Jahre lang amtierte er …

[English Version] (»göttliche Kontraktion«), gehört zu den aussagekräftigsten und einflußreichsten Begriffen der lurianischen Kabbala (: II.; Isaak Luria). Er bezieht sich auf den ersten Schritt, der von der Unendlichkeit der ewigen Gottheit (En Sof) zur Emanation der göttlichen Mächte und der irdischen Welt führt. Luria zufolge ist der Z. ein negativer Prozeß, bei dem das Zusammenziehen bzw. der Rückzug des unendlichen Göttlichen in sich selbst stattfindet, um einen leeren Raum (Tehiru) zu schaff…

[English Version] Taku, Moses ben Chisdaj (ca.1170–1230). Rabbi Moses T., dessen Name sich wahrscheinlich auf eine Stadt – entweder Dachau oder Tachau in Böhmen – bezieht, war ein angesehener Tosafist (Tosafot), der zu einigen Talmudtraktaten und Rechtsresponsen Kommentare vf. Bis ins 15.Jh. wird er in der halakhischen Lit. oft zitiert. Vermutlich amtierte er als Rabbiner in Regensburg. In der Hs. Paris H711 findet sich die Abschrift eines Teils aus seinem polemischen Werk Ketav Tamim (»Ein Buch de…

[English Version] . Der Begriff Z. (צַדּֽיק/ṣaddîq; »Gerechter«) wird meist als unpräziser allg. Titel verwendet und mit rel. Hingabe und Führerschaft in Verbindung gebracht. Er weist in der Regel auf soziales Engagement und hochstehende ethische Maßstäbe hin, die noch über die schon strengen Forderungen der Halakha hinausgehen, und läßt auf eine herausragende Stellung in der rel. Gemeinschaft schließen. In Spr 10,25 erhält der Begriff eine kosmische Bedeutung: Der Z. ist das Fundament des Universums …

[German Version] (1488, Toledo or Portugal – 1575, Safed). Karo was the greatest Jewish legal scholar of the modern period; his legal works are still considered normative. During or shortly before the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, his family left Spain and settled in Turkey. In 1536 he moved to Zefat, then a center of Kabbalistic circles (Kabbalah: II). His most important work is the Bet Yosef [House of Joseph], a commentary on the entire halakhic tradition (Halakhah), which provided the basis for the condensed version, the Shulchan ʿarukh [Prepared table], which even today remains…

[German Version] I. Modern Hasidism – II. Ashkenazi Hasidism I. Modern Hasidism Hasidism is the largest and most important Orthodox Jewish religious movement of the modern period. Founded in southern Russian by Rabbi Israel Baʾal ¶ Shem Tov (acronym Besht) in the middle of the 18th century, it spread throughout Europe in the 19th century. Today its strongholds are in the great cities on the East Coast of the USA and in Israel. Before the Holocaust, the movement had several million members; today it numbers several hundred thousand,…

[German Version] (1160–1238) was a significant writer of the first generation of Kabbalists in Girona. He probably was a disciple of Isaac, and with Rabbi Ezra he founded a new center in Catalonia. Many of his ideas influenced the Zohar and hence the Kabbalah as a whole. He wrote a commentary on the traditional prayers, in which he identifies the hidden divine power within every word and letter; a commentary on the Haggadah, which was a major step in presenting a hidden kabbalistic meaning in talmudic sayings; a commentary on the ancient Sefer Yetzirah and many other treatises. He combi…

[German Version] (1604, Madeira – Nov 20, 1657, Middelburg, Netherlands), scholar and leader of the Jewish community of Amsterdam. Ben Israel was one of the first Jewish writers to dedicate a significant part of his literary religious activity to presenting Judaism to non-Jewish European audiences. He played a leading role in the negotiations with O. Cromwell to enable the return of Jews…

[German Version] (Qadmon; אדם קדמון, lit. primordial man). In 13th-century Kabbalah and later as well, Adam Kadmon articulated in anthropomorphic terminology the idea of the highest, concealed nature of the totality of divine powers, namely, of the plḗroma (Gk. πλήρωμα ). The antithetical concept is that of shiʾur qoma in Hekhalot mysticism (with which it belongs together in the Kabbalah). In the Zohar and in the Lurianic myth of the late 16th century, in which it represents the first emanation …

[German Version] I. ben Baruch of Liadi (1745–1813, Piena, Bezirk Koisk),founder of the Hasidic community of Habad (Lubavich, Hasidic movement, Hasidism). Schneur was a disciple of the great Maggid rabbi Dov Baer of Mezhirech. His two closest colleagues, Menachem Mendel of Vitepsk and Abraham of Kalisk, immigrated to Zefat in 1777, and he took it upon himself to lead the community in southern Russia. His influence grew, and thousands flocked to his court. He tried to seek a resolution of the conflict b…

[German Version] (c. 1300, Perpignan, France – 1363, Soria, Spain) was one of the great Jewish philoso-¶ phers of the 14th century. He was a physician by profession and wandered between several cities in Provence and Spain. His best-known and most influential work is his commentary on Moses Maimonides's More Nevukhim (publ. 1852 in Vienna). He was a radical interpreter of Maimonides, and loyal, more than almost all other Jewish rationalists, to the teachings of Averroes. He did not hesitate to assert a common truth underlying Judaism, Christian…

[German Version] is a Hebrew midrashic technique (Midrash) in which any letter in a biblical verse can be substituted by another one, in order to reveal new layers of meaning in the divine language of the Scriptures. Its origin is biblical: Jeremiah twice calls the city of Babylon (Heb. “Bavel”) “Sheshach” (Jer 25:26; 51:41). This was achieved by the temurah technique called ETBSh, in which the 22 letters of the alphabet are written in one column from beginning to end, and from end to the beginning in the parallel column. Thus the first letter א (aleph) is substituted by (ת (tav), the last le…

[German Version] (c. 1435, Florence – c. 1504), one of the most important kabbalists, philosophers, and educators in the Jewish community in Italy in the second half of the 15th century. He was an important source of Kabbalah for his contemporary Pico della Mirandola, thus having great influence on the development of the Christian kabbalah of that period. He was raised in Florence, where he spent most of his life, but also lived in Mantua and other cities. Part of his printed work is his commentary on the Song of Songs, Heshek Shlomo (“Solomon's Desire”), published as Sha'ar ha-Heshek (“The …

[German Version] This term is used both by traditional Jewish genre designation and modern scholarship to describe the body of spiritual literature, usually intended for the wide public, which directs Jews in their daily lives. The emphasis, in most cases, is not on the purely practical aspect of ethical conduct (which is codified in the Halakhah), religious law, but in the spiri…

[German Version] The use of narrative literature in the presentation of Hasidism occurred mainly more than a century after the beginning of the movement. It peaked in the period between 1863 and 1914 when many scores of collections of Hasidic tales were published in Hebrew and Yiddish, mainly in Poland. In the ealier period of Hasidism, only two narrative works were published, both in 1815: Shivchey ha-Besht [In praise of the Besht], a hagiographic biography of the founder of the movement, Israel Baʾal Shem Tov (acronym Besht; this collection became paradigmat…

[German Version] (c. 1420 Aragon – 1494), one of the leading thinkers of Spanish Jewry in the 15th century and the author of Aqedat Yitzhaq (The Binding of Isaac), a major, influential, homiletical-philosophical work. Arama taught in several towns and was appointed the rabbi of Calatayud; after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492) he settled with his family in Naples. Aqedat Yitzhaq is comprised of 105 homiletical expositions, which deal with the problems of religion and reason: creation, revela…

[German Version] (1522, Zefad [Safed]? – 1570, Zefad), the greatest Kabbalist in Zefad before I. Luria. His family, whose origin was in Córdoba, was exiled from Spain in 1492. Cordovero was a disciple of ¶ Rabbi Joseph Karo and Shlomo Alkabetz. His main work, an extensive commentary on the Zohar with the title Or Yaqar ( Precious Light) was first published in the last decades (printed in Jerusalem, 1961ff., 22 vols.). His best known work is Pardes Rimmonim ( A Garden of Pomegranates), a systematic presentation of Cordovero's interpretation of the classical Kabbalah. An…

[German Version] (Heb. סְפִרוֹת; sg. sefira). Sefirot is found for the first time in the Sefer Yetzirah: there are “ten and not nine, ten and not eleven,” i.e. the ten “directions” of the cosmos (up, down, beginning, end, north, south, east,west, good, evil), as well as the powers of the divine chariot and the cosmic elements. In the 13th century this term was adopted by the early kabbalists (Kabbalah) to denote the ten personal, dynamic powers which together constitute the emanated system of the divine world (Cosmology). Each Sefira is a divine power with unique characteristics: Ke…

[German Version] (Moses ben Nachman, acronym “Ramban”; 1194, Gerona – 1270, Akko) was a rabbi, physician, preacher, exegete, and a great halakhic authority. In the first half of the 13th century, Nachmanides was the spiritual leader of Spanish Jews ¶ (Judaism: II) and the head of the Kabbalistic school (Kabbalah: II) of Gerona, where Rabbi Ezra and Rabbi Azriel were among his teachers. He was a defender of Judaism in disputations with his Christian contemporaries. His exegetical work on the Pentateuch is a landmark in medieval Jewish culture; it combines traditional mi…

[German Version] is the general Hebrew word for “speaker.” In religious terminology, it has two different meanings: I. In the meaning of preacher, maggid refers to one of the most important cultural institutions of modern Judaism (II; III). It refers to a religious elite that is second in authority to the official rabbinate (Rabbis: II, 2). Although large congregations always employed preachers in permanent positions, most maggidim wandered from one congregation to another, staying in each place for weeks or months. …

[German Version] (died 1391 in Toledo), leader of the Jewish community in Toledo in the 14th century, author of one of the most important ethical/theological works of the period, Menorat ha-Maor (“Candelabrum of Light”). Alnakawa was the son of an important family in Toledo and a disciple of the great halakhists (Halakhah), Rabbi Asher ben Yehiel and his son Jacob. In the preface to his book Alnakawa tells how he was ordered …

[German Version] (Oct 16, 1886, Plonsk, Poland – Dec 1, 1973, Sdeh Boker, Israel), the first prime minister of the state of Israel following his vigorous leadership of the Zionist movement (Zion); on May 14, 1948, Ben Gurion declared the state of Israel's independence. He remained in office with a short interval until 1953. As minister of defense, he led Israe…

[German Version] (1643, Jerusalem, Israel – Jan 11, 1680, Skopje, Macedonia), the first prophet and main theologian of Shabbetaianism. After a meeting with Shabbetai Tzevi in Gaza in 1665, Nathan, a young scholar of I. Luria’s Kabbalah, declared that he had a revelation which identified Shabbetai Tzevi as the messiah, a claim that the latter had been making for years without any positive response. However, actual Shabbetaianism was only brought to life with Nathan’s prophecy, and Nathan became its…

[German Version] (orig. Gerhard; Dec 5, 1897, Berlin – Feb 20, 1982, Jerusalem), the most important scholar in Jewish studies in the 20th century and the founder of the scholarly study of the Kabbalah. He was born to an assimilated Jewish family. In his youth he devoted himself to Zionism, associated with M. Buber and began to learn Hebrew, taking lessons in Talmud. One of his early friends was W. Benjamin; their friendship lasted till Benjamin’s death in 1940. Scholem decided to write his Ph.D. on the Book of Sefer ha- Bahir, which he identified as the earliest work of the Kabbalah …

[German Version] (“divine contraction”), is one of the most profound and influential terms in Lurianic Kabbalah (II; I. Luria). It denotes the first step leading from the infinity of the eternal Godhead ( En Sof) to the emanation of the divine powers and the earthly world. According to Luria, the zimzum is a negative process: it signifies the contraction of the infinite divine into itself, to create an empty space ( tehiru) into which the divine light can flow and shape the Sefirot. In the original Lurianic myth this was a cathartic process in which potentially evil elements …

[German Version] 1. Isaac ben Judah (1437, Lisbon – 1508, Venice) was an important Jewish leader, diplomat, exegete and philosopher in the period before and after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492). Abrabanel was from a prominent family who were reputed to stem from the house of David. He was a financial advisor to King Alfonso V of Portugal, although he was forced …

[German Version] (c. 1065–1136) was the first Jewish rationalistic philosopher and scholar to write in Hebrew. His many trips to Northern Spain and the Provence, where Jews were no longer familiar with Arabic, prompted him to write his treatises in Hebrew. His main philosophical works are Hegyon ha-Nefesh (“The Meditation of the Soul”) dealing with creation of the world, the nature of the soul, and repentance, and Megillat ha-Megalle (“The Scroll of the Discoverer”) dealing with creation and cosmology with a strong …

[German Version] The term zaddiq (קידְּצַ/ ṣaddîq; “Righteous”) is in most cases a vague, general title associating with religious devotion and leadership. It indicates social involvement and ethical perfection beyond the strict demands of the Halakhah and prominent position in the religious community. The verse in Pro 10:25 gave this term a cosmic meaning: the zaddiq is the foundation of the universe ( axis mundi). The legends of the 36 zaddiqim who are the justification of the world’s existence developed from this concept. In the Kabbalah, the term was used to indicate the ni…

[German Version] (c. 1225–1295) was one of the most productive and popular rationalist philosophers of 13th-century Spanish Judaism (Spain: II, 1). He wrote most of his works in Hebrew and was also active as a translator from Arabic. His most important ¶ works include Sefer ha-Mevaqqesh (ET: cf. Falaquera's Book of the Seeker, 1976), a description in rhyming prose of the search for spiritual truth among the various competing schools and factions; Sefer ha-Nefesh (ET: cf. Torah and Sophia, 1835), one of the earliest treatises on the human soul in Hebrew; Iggeret ha-Vikuach (ET: cf. Falaque…

[German Version] (ben David; acronym Rabad I; c. 1110, Córdoba – 1180, Toledo), historian, philosopher, and scholar. Ibn Daud was one of the leading personalities of the Jewish community in 12th-century Spain. He acquired an extensive knowledge of philosophy, medicine, and astronomy in his native town of Córdoba, and was also familiar with the Qurʾān and the New Testament. His main historical work, Sefer ha-Kabbalah (ET: The Book of Tradition, 1967), was on the one hand a polemical tractate against the Karaites, who rejected rabbinic tradition; Ibn Daud according…

[German Version] a literary genre, which became frequent in Hebrew ethical literature in the Middle Ages and modern times, deriving its roots from midrashic literature (Midrash) and which may have been influenced by comparable literary devices in Christian medieval literature. An early medieval example of the use of exempla was the anthology Midrash Aseret ha-Dibrot (“Expounding the Ten Commandments”), which originated probably in Babylonia in the 7th and 8th centuries. This work contains examples of …

[German Version] (1771, Medshibosh, Ukraine – 1811, Uman, Ukraine). Rabbi Nahman ben Simhah was one of the most influential leaders of the Hasidic movement (Hasidism). Although he was the great-grandson of Baʾal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, only a small group of adherents gathered around him. On his pilgrimage to the Land of Israel (1798) he was able to escape Napoleon's siege of Akko aboard a Turkish warship. When he returned to Europe he preached a new doctrine according to ¶ which there is only one true Zaddik, who is the redeemer of all the people of Israel. He did …