Volume 8
The Jewish encyclopedia : a descriptive record of the history, religion, literature, and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest times to the present day / prepared ... under the direction of ... Cyrus Adler [and others] Isidore Singer ... managing editor.
- Date:
- 1901-1906
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The Jewish encyclopedia : a descriptive record of the history, religion, literature, and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest times to the present day / prepared ... under the direction of ... Cyrus Adler [and others] Isidore Singer ... managing editor. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Levi II. Levi ben Abr-aham which place he left about 1240 to settle finally in Villefianche. Levi’s uncle lieuben ben Hayyim, also, like his grandfather, was a scholar. A son of this Reuben hen Hayyim was, probably, Samuel ben Reuben of Beziers, who took Levi’s part, altliough in vain, in his conflict with the orthodox party in Provence. Levi himself was the maternal grand- father of the philosopher Levi ben Gershon of Baguols. Levi ben Abraham was instructed in Bible and Talmud, and in secular sciences as well, and was soon drawn into the rationalistic current of the time. One of his teachers was a certain R. Jacob, whom he cites as his authority for an astronomical explanation, and who may have been Jacob ben Machir ibn Tibbon. It is probable. Life. also, that Levi was instructed by his uncle Reuben ben Hayyim, from whom he quotes an explanation of Gen. i. 3 (Vati- can MS. cxcii. 56b). Levi left his native city (probably on account of poverty, which oppressed him almost throughout his life;, remained for a short time in Perpignan, and then went to Montpellier, where, in 1276, he was engaged in literary pursuits, and earned a scanty living by teaching languages and lecturing. Dur- ing the heat of the controversy over the stud}' of secular sciences he was at Narbonne, in the house of the wealthy Samuel Sulami, who was prominent both as a poet and a scholar. Levi enjoyed his hospitality until, yielding to the pressure of the opposing party, represented especially by Solomon ben Adret, Samuel Sulami asked his guest to leave. The latter then sought shelter with his cousin Sam- uel ben Reuben in Beziers (see “Minhat Kena’ot,” No. 41), but was persecuted, apparently, even thei e. He was excommunicated by the orthodox party, yet, after the conflict was over, in 1315, he found rest and quiet at Arles, where he remained until his death. He has been identified by some with Levi of Perpignan, whom Judah Mosconi, in his super- commentary to Ibn Ezra, characterizes as one of the most prominent of scholars (see Berliner’s “ Maga- zln,” iii. 148 [Hebr. part, p. 41]). Steinschneider points out that a large portion of the scientific works written in Arabic were made accessible in Hebrew translations in Works. the first half of the thirteenth century, and that the entire realm of knowledge began to be treated in encyclopedias in the second half of the same century. Levi ben Abraham wrote two such encyclopedic works, which show the range of knowledge of an educated rationalistic Provencal Jew of that period. The first of these is the ‘Batte ha-Nefesh weha-Lehashim,” the title of which is taken from Isa. iii. 20. It is a rimed com- pendium, didactic in tone, of the various sciences, in ten chapters and 1,846 lines, with a few explanatory notes and a preface, also in rimed prose. In the preface to this work, which is frequently found in manuscripts, Levi demonstrates the usefulness of his compendium by pointing out the difficulties which those who are not well acquainted with gen- eral literature must surmount in order to acquire a knowledge of the sciences, which are scattered through all sorts of books. He had long cherished the thought of compiling an encyclopedia, but had always been deterred by the tear that the task would prove beyond his power; at last, in 1276. strength was promised him in a vision, whereupon he began the work at iMontpellier. Levi was compelled, by the nature of the work, to limit himself to giving the conclusions of the chief authorities, particularly of Mai- His Ency- mouides, whom he follows step by clopedia. step. Ch. i. treats of ethics. In the paragrai)hs treating of the histoiy of the diffusion of learning, the author expresses the view that the Greeks and Arabs derived, almost their entire scientific culture from the ancient Hebrews, a theory which justified the reading of Greco-Aiabic ideas into the Bible (Steinschneider). The following chapters treat of logic (ii.), the Creation (iii.), the soul (iv.), prophecy and the 3Ies- sianic period (v.; the coming of the !Me.ssiah will oc- cur in the year 1345), the mystic theme of the “ilerkabah,” the divine throne-chariot (vi.), num- bers (vii.), astronomy and astrology (viii.), ])hy.sics (ix.), and metaphysics (x.). After the author him- self had found it necessary to provide the difficult verses with explanatory notes (which are not found in all the manuscriptsX Solomon de Lunas, jiroba- bly identical with Solomon ben itienahem Prat (or Porat), wrote, about 1400, a commentary to the “Batte ha-Nefesh wcha-Lehashim.” The second work of Levi was the “ Liwyat Hen ” or“Sefer ha-Kolcl,” a “comprehensive book” (en- cyclopedia). The dates of its beginning and com- pletion are unknown, but it must have been written before the outbreak of the controversy mentioned above. It is divided into two “ pillars,” His called “Jachin” and “ Boaz (after 1 “Liwyat Kings vii. 21), the first containing five Hen.” treatises, and the second one. Since no complete manuscript of this work has yet been discovered, any analysis of its contents is naturally uncertain. According to Steinschneider, its six treatises are as follows: (1) logic or arithme- tic (?); (2) geometry; (3) astronomy and astrology; (4) physics {'!), psychology, and Ihe “theory of intel- lect”; (5) metaphysics; (6) theology, i)roiihecy, the mysteries of the Law, and belief and the Creation. In the third treatise, the most comi)lete (Paris ISIS. No. 1047; Vatican MS. No. 383; Neubauer, “Cat. Bodl. Ilebr. MSS.” No. 2028, and additamenta), the astrological writings of Abraham ibn Ezra are sla- vishly followed, and the prediction is made that the Messiah will appear in the year 1345. The last, or theological, treatise, which is extant at Oxford (Neubauer, “Cat. Bodl. Hebr. ItlSS.” Nos. 1285, 2023), Parma (MS. de Rossi No. 1346), and Rome (Vatican MS. No. 2893), naturally had a greater circulation, and, on account of the author’s ration- alistic interpretation of the Seri jitures, aroused much more opposition than the other sections of the work, which aimed at nothing original and included only what could he found elsewhere. The teachings which Levi ben Abraham promul- gated, both by pen and by speech, although not original with him, naturally aroused the anger of the orthodox. In his hands Abraham and Sarah be- came symbols of “ matter ” and “ intellect ”; the four](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29000488_0008_0055.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
