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Bahya ben Asher ibn Halawa (בחיי בן אשר אבן חלואה, 1255–1340) was a rabbi and scholar of Judaism, best known as a commentator on the Hebrew Bible. He is one of two scholars now referred to as Rabbeinu Behaye, the other being philosopher Bahya ibn Paquda.
Bahya was a pupil of Rabbi Shlomo ibn Aderet (the Rashba). Unlike the latter, Bahya did not publish a Talmud commentary; he is, however, considered by Jewish scholars to be one of the most distinguished of the biblical exegetes of Spain. He "discharged with zeal" the duties of a darshan (Hebrew for "expounder") in his native city of Zaragoza, sharing this position with several others. He is buried in Kadarim, Israel, a few minutes walking distance from the prophet Habakkuk.
Bahya's principal work is his commentary on the Torah (the five books of Moses), but he is also known for others, especially Kad ha-Kemah.
The commentary on the Torah - "מדרש רבינו בחיי על התורה " - enjoyed much favor, as attested to by the numerous supercommentaries published on it (not less than ten are enumerated by Bernstein (Monatsschrift xviii. 194-196)). Owing to the large space devoted to the Kabbalah, the work was also particularly valuable to Kabbalists.
It considered to "derive a particular charm" from its form: Each parashah, or weekly lesson, is prefaced by an introduction preparing the reader for the fundamental ideas to be discussed; and this introduction bears a motto in the form of some verse selected from the Book of Mishlei (Proverbs). Furthermore, by the questions that are frequently raised the reader is compelled to take part in the author's mental processes; the danger of monotony being also thereby removed.
In preparing his commentary "he thoroughly investigated" the works of former biblical exegetes, using all the methods employed by them in his interpretations; although Rabbi Bahya also availed himself of non-Jewish sources. In his biblical exegesis, Bahya took as his model Rabbi Moses ben Nahman (Nachmanides) or Ramban, the teacher of Rabbi Shlomo ibn Aderet, who was the first major commentator to make extensive use of the Kabbalah as a means of interpreting the Torah. He enumerates the following four methods, all of which in his opinion are indispensable to the exegete:[ citation needed ]
The commentary was first printed at Naples in 1492; Later editions of the commentary appeared at Pesaro, 1507, 1514, and 1517; Constantinople, 1517; Rimini, 1524; Venice, 1544, 1546, 1559, 1566, and later.
Bahya's next most famous work is his Kad ha-Kemah ( כד הקמח, "The Flour-Jar"; Constantinople, 1515.) It consists of sixty chapters, alphabetically arranged, containing discourses and dissertations on the requirements of religion and morality, as well as Jewish ritual practices. Kad ha-Kemah is both a work of musar (ethics) and philosophy: It is regarded as a work of ethics, in that its purpose is to promote a moral life; it is a work of philosophy in that Rabbeinu Bahya endeavors to give his ethical teachings a philosophical aspect. In this work Bahya discusses the following subjects: belief and faith in God; the divine attributes and the nature of providence; the duty of loving God, and of walking before God in simplicity and humility of heart; the fear of God; Jewish prayer; benevolence, and the love of mankind; peace; the administration of justice, and the sacredness of the oath; the duty of respecting the property and honor of one's fellow man; the Jewish holidays, and halakha ("Jewish law".)
Another work of Bahya's is the Shulkhan Shel Arba ("Table of Four"). It consists of four chapters, the first three of which contain religious rules of conduct regarding the various meals, while the fourth chapter treats of the banquet of the righteous in the world to come. It has also been published frequently, and the first Mantua edition of 1514 was erroneously ascribed to Nachmanides.
A work might have been written by Rabbi Bahye under the title of Hoshen ha-Mishpat (Breastplate of Judgment). Reference to this work is made only once by him, and it is unknown if this work was actually written or not.
A number of works whose author is simply "Bahya", or whose authors are unknown, have been attributed to Rabbi Bahye ben Asher. Many modern day authorities on Rabbi Bahya's writings have shown that many of these attributions are spurious.[ citation needed ]
One book ostensibly written by Bahya, edited by M. Homburg under the title of Soba Semakhot ("Fulness of Joy"), as being a commentary on the Book of Job, is actually a compilation made by a later editor from two of Bahye's actual works, Kad ha-Kemah (Constantinople, 1515) and Shulhan shel Arba (Mantua, 1514).
Asher ben Jehiel was an eminent rabbi and Talmudist best known for his abstract of Talmudic law. He is often referred to as Rabbenu Asher, “our Rabbi Asher” or by the Hebrew acronym for this title, the Rosh. His yahrzeit is on 9 Cheshvan.
Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writing, and thus corresponds with the Hebrew term Sifrut Chazal. This more specific sense of "Rabbinic literature"—referring to the Talmudim, Midrash, and related writings, but hardly ever to later texts—is how the term is generally intended when used in contemporary academic writing. The terms mefareshim and parshanim (commentaries/commentators) almost always refer to later, post-Talmudic writers of rabbinic glosses on Biblical and Talmudic texts.
Bahya ben Joseph ibn Paquda, c. 1050–1120, was a Jewish philosopher and rabbi who lived at Zaragoza, Al-Andalus. He was one of two people now known as Rabbeinu Behaye, the other being Bible commentator Bahya ben Asher.
Moses ben Nachman, commonly known as Nachmanides, and also referred to by the acronym Ramban and by the contemporary nickname Bonastruc ça Porta, was a leading medieval Jewish scholar, Catalan rabbi, philosopher, physician, kabbalist, and biblical commentator. He was raised, studied, and lived for most of his life in Girona, Catalonia. He is also considered to be an important figure in the re-establishment of the Jewish community in Jerusalem following its destruction by the Crusaders in 1099.
Jewish philosophy includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until modern Haskalah and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to reconcile coherent new ideas into the tradition of Rabbinic Judaism, thus organizing emergent ideas that are not necessarily Jewish into a uniquely Jewish scholastic framework and world-view. With their acceptance into modern society, Jews with secular educations embraced or developed entirely new philosophies to meet the demands of the world in which they now found themselves.
Jacob ben Asher, also known as Ba'al ha-Turim as well as Rabbi Yaakov ben Raash, was an influential Medieval rabbinic authority. He is often referred to as the Ba'al ha-Turim, after his main work in halakha, the Arba'ah Turim.
Jacob ben Meir, best known as Rabbeinu Tam, was one of the most renowned Ashkenazi Jewish rabbis and leading French Tosafists, a leading halakhic authority in his generation, and a grandson of Rashi. Known as "Rabbeinu", he acquired the Hebrew suffix "Tam" meaning straightforward; it was originally used in the Book of Genesis to describe his biblical namesake, Jacob.
Rishonim were the leading rabbis and poskim who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the Shulchan Aruch and following the Geonim. Rabbinic scholars subsequent to the Shulchan Aruch are generally known as acharonim.
Chananel ben Chushiel or Ḥananel ben Ḥushiel, an 11th-century Kairouanan rabbi and Talmudist, was in close contact with the last Geonim. He is best known for his commentary on the Talmud. Chananel is often referred to as Rabbeinu Chananel – Hebrew for "our teacher, Chananel".
Shlomo ben Avraham ibn Aderet was a medieval rabbi, halakhist, and Talmudist. He is widely known as the Rashba, the Hebrew acronym of his title and name: Rabbi Shlomo ben Avraham.
Abraham ben David, also known by the abbreviation RABaDRavad or RABaD III, was a Provençal rabbi, an important commentator on the Talmud, Sefer Halachot of Rabbi Yitzhak Alfasi and Mishne Torah of Maimonides, and is regarded as a father of Kabbalah and one of the key links in the chain of Jewish mystics.
Samuel ben Meir, after his death known as "Rashbam", a Hebrew acronym for RAbbi SHmuel Ben Meir, was a leading French Tosafist and grandson of Shlomo Yitzhaki, "Rashi".
Joseph Kimchi or Qimḥi (1105–1170) was a medieval Jewish rabbi and biblical commentator. He was the father of Moses and David Kimhi, and the teacher of Rabbi Menachem Ben Simeon and poet Joseph Zabara.
Vidal of Tolosa, alternate spelling Vidal de Toulouse, was a Spanish rabbi and scholar of the late 14th century, and is often referred to by the sobriquet, Harav Ha-Maggid, or the Maggid Mishneh, named for his magnum opus by that name.
Jewish commentaries on the Bible are biblical commentaries of the Hebrew Bible from a Jewish perspective. Translations into Aramaic and English, and some universally accepted Jewish commentaries with notes on their method of approach and also some modern translations into English with notes are listed.
Sifrei Kodesh, commonly referred to as sefarim, or in its singular form, sefer, are books of Jewish religious literature and are viewed by religious Jews as sacred. These are generally works of Torah literature, i.e. Tanakh and all works that expound on it, including the Mishnah, Midrash, Talmud, and all works of halakha, Musar, Hasidism, Kabbalah, or machshavah. Historically, sifrei kodesh were generally written in Hebrew with some in Judeo-Aramaic or Arabic, although in recent years, thousands of titles in other languages, most notably English, were published. An alternative spelling for 'sefarim' is seforim.
Musar literature is didactic Jewish ethical literature which describes virtues and vices and the path towards character improvement. This literature gives the name to the Musar movement, in 19th century Lithuania, but this article considers such literature more broadly.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Judaism:
The Maimonidean Controversy is the series of ongoing disputes between so called “philosophers” and so called “traditionalists”. The principal part of the controversy took place in the thirteenth and fourteenth century, but the questions raised have remained unresolved until today. The debates initially centered around Maimonides’ writings after they had been made accessible to French rabbinic scholars by translation to Hebrew from Judeo-Arabic and stood in direct relation to Maimonides’ project of mediating Jewish tradition and Greco-Arabic philosophy and science. However, characters within the controversy can often not be clearly ascribed to one camp, these are simplified and polemic categories, used in the literature contemporary to the controversy itself.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "BAḤYA (BEḤAI) BEN ASHER BEN HALAWA". The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
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