Abraham bar Hiyya Ha-Nasi
Encyclopedia
is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
– 1136 or 1145 Narbonne
Narbonne
Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) was a Jewish mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
, astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
and philosopher, also known as Savasorda (from the Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
صاحب الشرطة Ṣāḥib al-Shurṭa "Chief of the Guard") or Abraham Judaeus. He was born in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
and scholars suspect he travelled to Narbonne where he is thought to have died.
Abraham bar Ḥiyya's most influential work is his Ḥibbūr ha-meshīḥah we-ha-tishboret ("Treatise on Measurement and Calculation"), a Hebrew treatise on Islamic algebra
Islamic mathematics
In the history of mathematics, mathematics in medieval Islam, often termed Islamic mathematics or Arabic mathematics, covers the body of mathematics preserved and developed under the Islamic civilization between circa 622 and 1600...
and practical geometry
Geometry
Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
. It was translated in 1145 into Latin by Plato of Tivoli as Liber Embadorum (the same year Robert of Chester
Robert of Chester
Robert of Chester was an English arabist of the 12th century. He translated several historically important books from Arabic to Latin, by authors such as Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan and Al-Khwarizmi including:...
translated al-Khwārizmī
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
'There is some confusion in the literature on whether al-Khwārizmī's full name is ' or '. Ibn Khaldun notes in his encyclopedic work: "The first who wrote upon this branch was Abu ʿAbdallah al-Khowarizmi, after whom came Abu Kamil Shojaʿ ibn Aslam." . 'There is some confusion in the literature on...
's Algebra.) It contains the first complete solution of the quadratic equation
Quadratic equation
In mathematics, a quadratic equation is a univariate polynomial equation of the second degree. A general quadratic equation can be written in the formax^2+bx+c=0,\,...
x2 - ax + b = 0 known in Europe and influenced the work of Leonardo Fibonacci.
Bar Ḥiyya wrote several more works on mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
and Jewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy , includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or, in relation to the religion of Judaism. Jewish philosophy, until modern Enlightenment and Emancipation, was pre-occupied with attempts to reconcile coherent new ideas into the tradition of Rabbinic Judaism; thus organizing...
.
Biography
Abraham bar Hiyya, great-grandson of Hezekiah GaonHezekiah Gaon
Hezekiah Gaon was the last Gaon of the Talmudic academy in Pumbedita from 1038-40.Hezekiah was a member of the exilarchal family, son of David,who was son the of Zakkai,who was the son of Avraham, who was the son of Nathan, son of David a Rabbi, whose father was Hazub...
is remembered in the world of mathematics for his role in the dissemination of the quadratic equation
Quadratic equation
In mathematics, a quadratic equation is a univariate polynomial equation of the second degree. A general quadratic equation can be written in the formax^2+bx+c=0,\,...
. Bar Hiyya wrote several scientific works in the fields of astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, land surveying and calendar
Calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...
calculations. Abraham ben Chiya Albargeloni (b. 1065, d. 1136), also occupied a high position under another Mahometan prince al-Hud. He was a sort of minister of police (Zachib al-Shorta, hence Savasorda which literally means something like 'chief of police' but probably indicates a position of a courtier), and bore the title of prince. Savasorda is a Latinized degeneration of the Arabic title and scholars assume that Bar Hiyya would have obtained this title in the court of Banu Hud
Banu Hud
The Banu Hud were an Arab dynasty that ruled the taifa of Zaragoza from 1039-1110. In 1039, under the leadership of Al-Mustain I, Sulayman ibn Hud al-Judhami, the Bani Hud seized control of Zaragoza from a rival clan, the Banu Tujibi...
of Saragossa-Lerida; there is even a record of a Jewish Savasorda there in the beginning of the 12th century. Zachib al-Shorta, meaning " Chief of the Police" is a large landed proprietor was then named, "Governor" or " Nasi" as he was called in Hebrew. By his name Savasorda he is known through the works of the Middle Ages. He was held in high consideration by the ruler he served on account of his astronomical knowledge, and had disputes with learned priests, to whom he demonstrated the accuracy of the Jewish calendar. He also praised the parasitic science of astrology, and drew a horoscope of favourable and unfavourable days. Abraham Albargeloni reckoned that the Messiah would appear in the year after the Creation 5118 (1358 CE).
Benjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 12th century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years...
, in the 1160s, starting his famous journey to the East, traveled first from Tudela, which is to the northeast of Soria (bar Hiyya's birthplace), along the river Ebro to Saragossa and then further to Tortosa on the coast of the Mediterranean, before turning northwards along the coast, through Tarragona to Barcelona and Provence. He says of Barcelona: " Where there is a holy congregation, including sages, wise and illustrious men, such as R. Sheshet, R. Shealtiel, R. Solomon and R. Abraham, son of Chisdai".
According to Adolph Drechsler, he was a pupil of Rabbi Moshe haDarshan and teacher of Abraham Ibn Ezra
Abraham ibn Ezra
Rabbi Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was born at Tudela, Navarre in 1089, and died c. 1167, apparently in Calahorra....
. Abraham bar Hiyya is said to have been a great astronomer and wrote some works on Astronomy and Geography. One tells about the form of the earth, the elements and the structure of the spheres (Manuscripts may be in the Vatican, in Vienna and Paris); this work was printed in Basel by Oswald Schreckenfuchs, including a Latin translation. Other works included papers on astrology, trigonometry and music.
He also wrote two religious works in the field of Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
and the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
: Hegyon ha-Nefesh ("Contemplation of [the] Soul") on repentance and Megillat ha-Megalleh on the redemption of the Jewish people. Even these religious works contain scientific and philosophical speculation. His Megillat ha-Megalleh ("Scroll of the Revealer") was also astrological
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
in nature. It claimed to forecast the messianic
Jewish Messiah
Messiah, ; mashiah, moshiah, mashiach, or moshiach, is a term used in the Hebrew Bible to describe priests and kings, who were traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil as described in Exodus 30:22-25...
future
Bar Hiyya wrote all his works in Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, not in Judaeo-Arabic of the earlier Jewish scientific literature, which made him a pioneer in the use of the Hebrew language
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
for scientific purposes. He also cooperated with Plato of Tivoli in the translation of scientific works from Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
into Latin, particularly the translation of Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
's Tetrabiblos
Tetrabiblos
The Tetrabiblos , also known under the Latin title Quadripartitum , is a text on the philosophy and practice of astrology, written in the second century AD by the Alexandrian scholar Claudius Ptolemy ....
in 1138 at Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
.
Dating
Some scholars think that the Magister Abraham who dictated De Astrolabio (probably at ToulouseToulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
) to Rudolf de Bruges (a work that the latter finished in 1143) was identical with Abraham bar Ḥiyya. As the title "Sephardi" (Spaniard) is always appended to his name, it is certain that he was Spanish. Nevertheless, he must have passed several years in southern France
Southern France
Southern France , colloquially known as le Midi is defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Gironde, Spain, the Mediterranean, and Italy...
, likely Narbonne, as he composed some works for the Jews of Provence, in which he complains of their Provençal Jewry's ignorance of mathematics.
Original works
Abraham bar Ḥiyya, together with Abraham ibn EzraAbraham ibn Ezra
Rabbi Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was born at Tudela, Navarre in 1089, and died c. 1167, apparently in Calahorra....
, occupies an important place in the history of Jewish science. He was, indeed, one of the most important figures in the scientific movement which made the Jews of Provence, Spain, and Italy the intermediaries between Mohammedan science and the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
world. He aided this movement not only by original works, but also by translations and by acting as interpreter for another great translator, the celebrated Plato of Tivoli. Steinschneider has also shown that his original works were written in Hebrew and not, as some have thought, in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
. These original works are:
- יסודי התבונה ומגדל האמונה ("The Foundations of Understanding and the Tower of Faith"), an encyclopedic work, which is said to treat of arithmetic, geometry, optics, astronomy, and music. Unfortunately only a few short fragments of this work have been preserved (MSS. De Rossi Library, No. 1170; Berlin Library, No. 244; Munich Library, No. 36; and, under a false title, MSS. Bodleian, 1268, No. 7).
- חבור המשיחה והתשבורת ("Treatise on Geometry"), probably intended to be a part of the preceding work. This is the celebrated geometry translated in 1145 by Plato of Tivoli, under the title Liber Embadorum (see Boncompagni in Atti dell' Accademia dei Lincei, 1851, iv. 275; Hebr. Bibl. vii. 84; Serapeum, 1858, p. 34; it was edited by Steinschneider in the Publications of the Meḳiẓe Nirdamim, 1895, vol. xi.).
- צורת הארץ ("Form of the Earth"), an astronomical work on the formation of the heavens and the earth, which was to have been followed by a second part on the course of the stars (see No. 4). A portion was translated into Latin by Sebastian MünsterSebastian MünsterSebastian Münster , was a German cartographer, cosmographer, and a Hebrew scholar.- Life :Münster was born at Ingelheim near Mainz, the son of Andreas Munster. He completed his studies at the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen in 1518. His graduate adviser was Johannes Stöffler.He was appointed to...
and by Erasmus Oswald SchreckenfuchsErasmus Oswald SchreckenfuchsErasmus Oswald Schreckenfuchs was an Austrian humanist, astronomer and Hebraist.-Life:He was born in Merckenstein, near Bad Vöslau in Lower Austria, and studied in Vienna, Ingolstadt and Tübingen. He became a student and friend of Sebastian Münster...
. It appears also that complete translations into Latin and FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
were made (Steinschneider, Abraham Judæus, 12). MS. 2033 in the Bodleian Library at Oxford contains a copy with a commentary, apparently by Ḥayyim Lisker.
- חשבון מהלכות הכוכבים ("Calculation of the Courses of the Stars"), the sequel to the preceding work, which is found sometimes in manuscripts with the notes of Abraham ibn EzraAbraham ibn EzraRabbi Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was born at Tudela, Navarre in 1089, and died c. 1167, apparently in Calahorra....
(MS. 37 of Leyden, according to the catalogue of Steinschneider, p. 147; MS. 203 of Rome, Bibl. Casanatense, according to the catalogue of Sacerdote).
- לוחות or לוחות הנשיא ("Tables" or "Tables of the Prince"), astronomical tables, called also Tables of Al-Battani, because the author followed the Arabic astronomer of that name (see Battani). Several manuscripts of this work contain notes by Abraham ibn EzraAbraham ibn EzraRabbi Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was born at Tudela, Navarre in 1089, and died c. 1167, apparently in Calahorra....
, and this fact has occasioned some confusion between the "Tables" of these two authors.
- ספר העבור ("Book of Intercalation"). This work was published in 1851, in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, by Filipowski. It is the oldest Hebrew work treating of the calculation of the Hebrew calendarHebrew calendarThe Hebrew calendar , or Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today predominantly for Jewish religious observances. It determines the dates for Jewish holidays and the appropriate public reading of Torah portions, yahrzeits , and daily Psalm reading, among many ceremonial uses...
.
- הגיון הנפש ("Meditation of the Soul"), an ethical work upon a rationalistic religious basis. It was published in 1860 by Freimann, with a biography of the author (by the editor), a list of his works, and a learned introduction by Rapoport.
- מגלת המגלה ("Scroll of the Revealer"), a controversial work, in defense of the theory that the MessiahJewish MessiahMessiah, ; mashiah, moshiah, mashiach, or moshiach, is a term used in the Hebrew Bible to describe priests and kings, who were traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil as described in Exodus 30:22-25...
would appear in the year 5118 (1358; MS. Munich, 103).
- An apologetic epistle addressed to Judah ben Barzilai al-Barzeloni.
Translations
As has already been stated, Abraham bar Ḥiyya assisted a number of scholars in their translations of scientific works. But there is still a great deal of doubt as to the particulars. A number of Jewish translators named Abraham existed during the 12th century, and it is not always possible to identify the one in question. It is only possible, therefore, to give the titles of the works thus translated, without touching upon the question of authorship, or inquiring into the language of the originals, as follows:- De Horarum Electionibus, the well-known treatise of Ali ben Aḥmad al-Imrani.
- Capitula Centiloquium, astrological aphorisms.
- A commentary of Aḥmad ibn Yusuf on the CentiloquiumCentiloquiumThe Centiloquium , also called Ptolemy's Centiloquium, is a collection of one hundred aphorisms about astrology and astrological rules...
, attributed to PtolemyPtolemyClaudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
. - De Astrolabio of Rudolph de Bruges.
- Liber Augmenti et Diminutionis, a treatise on mathematics; a manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris (7377 A).
Abraham b. Ḥiyya or (as Rapoport in his introduction to the Hegyon ha-Nefesh, p. 63, suggests) Ḥayya, so as to rime with "Zakkaya", was a pioneer in his field of work. In the preface to his book, Ẓurat ha-Areẓ he modestly states that, because none of the scientific works such as exist in Arabic was accessible to his brethren in France, he felt called upon to compose books which, though containing no research of his own, would help to popularize knowledge among Hebrew readers. His Hebrew terminology, therefore, occasionally lacks the clearness and precision of later writers and translators.
As a moral philosopher
Not only as mathematician and astronomer, but also as moral philosopher, the author of the profoundly religious work, Hegyon ha-Nefesh (Meditation of the Soul) deserves special notice. In this field of philosophy he had also pioneer work to do; for, as is shown by GuttmannGuttmann
Guttmann is a surname. It may refer to the following people:* Béla Guttmann , Hungarian football player and coach* Jakob Guttmann , German rabbi and religious Zionism philosopher...
(Monatsschrift, 1900, p. 195), in refutation of Kaufmann
Kaufmann
Kaufmann is a surname with many variants such as Kauffmann, Kaufman, and Kauffman. In German, the name means merchant. It is the cognate of the English Chapman . "Kaufmann" may refer to:- Kaufmann :* Aloys P. Kaufmann , Mayor of St...
's assumption that the Hegyon ha-Nefesh was originally written in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
(Z. D. M. G. xxx. 364; Die Spuren Al-Baṭlajûsis, p. 28, and Bacher, Die Bibelexegese der Jüdischen Religionsphilosophen des Mittelalters, p. 82), Abraham b. Ḥiyya had to wrestle with the difficulties of a language not yet adapted to philosophic terminology.
Whether composed especially for the Ten Days of Repentance
Ten Days of Repentance
The Ten Days of Repentance are the first ten days of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, usually sometime in the month of September, beginning with the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah and ending with the conclusion of Yom Kippur.-Introduction:...
, as Rapoport (ibid.) and Rosin (Ethik des Maimonides, p. 15) think, or not, the object of the work was a practical, rather than a theoretical, one. It was to be a homily in four chapters on repentance based on the Hafṭarot of the Day of Atonement
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
and Shabbat Shuvah. In it, with the fervor of a holy preacher, he exhorts the reader to lead a life of purity and devotion. At the same time he does not hesitate to borrow ideas from non-Jewish philosophers, and he pays homage to the ancient sages of the heathen world who, without knowledge of the Torah, arrived at certain fundamental truths regarding the beginning of things, though in an imperfect way, because both the end and the divine source of wisdom remained hidden to them (Hegyon, pp. 1, 2). In his opinion the non-Jew may attain to as high a degree of godliness as the Jew (Hegyon, p. 8a).
Matter and Form
Abraham b. Ḥiyya's philosophical system is like that of ibn Gabirol and of the author of Torot ha-Nefesh (Reflections on the Soul), ed. Broydé, 1896—Neoplatonic as PlotinusPlotinus
Plotinus was a major philosopher of the ancient world. In his system of theory there are the three principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His teacher was Ammonius Saccas and he is of the Platonic tradition...
has stated it:
- Matter, being void of all reality, requires form to give it existence. Now the union of these two by the will of God, which brings them from a state of potentiality into one of actuality, is creation, time itself being simultaneously produced with the created things. Both matter and form consist of two different elements. There is pure and there is impure matter. So also there is form too sublime to mingle with matter, such as that of the angelic or the upper world; and form which, being receptive and hollow, is susceptible to mixture with matter. The upper world, while gazing upon the lower and radiating its higher light, causes the mixture of matter with receptive form, the "tohu va-bohu"; and out of pure matter the celestial bodies, and out of impure matter the four elements, were evolved. But while the first formed into an inseparable combination and the mixture of the latter is one which constantly changes, a third form exists which mixes with matter for a certain time, to live again in a disembodied state after its separation, and this is the human soul. According to its wisdom—which makes it seek the upper world, the pure lasting form—or its folly—which makes it follow the impure matter of the perishable world below—the soul of man partakes of the nature of either the one or the other but, his destination being to live forever like the angels, man has been appointed by God to be the ruler of all beings on earth; and in the same measure in which he fulfills or deviates from his destination, does he rise or fall in dignity above or below his fellow creatures.
Says Abraham b. Ḥiyya, in common with Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
(Ethics, vii. 11), and others:
For after all, says he with Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
(Phædo, p. 64), the soul in this world of flesh is, as it were, imprisoned, while the animal soul craves for worldly pleasures, and experiences pain in foregoing them. Still, only the sensual man requires corrections of the flesh to liberate the soul from its bondage; the truly pious need not, or rather should not, undergo fasting or other forms of asceticism except such as the law has prescribed (Hegyon, p. 16a). But, precisely as man has been set apart among his fellow creatures as God's servant, so Israel is separate from the nations (Hegyon, p. 7), the same three terms (bara, yaẓar, 'asah) being used by the prophet for Israel's creation (Isa. xliii. 7) as for that of man in Genesis.
Three Classes of Pious Men
Like Baḥya (Ḥobot ha-Lebabot, ix. 3) Abraham b. Ḥiyya distinguishes three classes of pious men:- such as lead a life altogether apart from worldly pursuits and devoted only to God ("these are but few in number and may in their sovereignty over the world be regarded as one individuality"; Alfarabi, Model State; see GuttmannGuttmannGuttmann is a surname. It may refer to the following people:* Béla Guttmann , Hungarian football player and coach* Jakob Guttmann , German rabbi and religious Zionism philosopher...
, ib. p. 212, note) - such as take part in the world's affairs, but are, as regards their conduct, ruled only by the divine laws and statutes without concerning themselves with the rest of men (these form the "holy congregation" or the "faithful city")
- such as lead righteous lives, but take care also that the wrong done outside of their sphere is punished and the good of all the people promoted (these form the "kingdom of justice" or the "righteous nation").
In accordance with these three classes of servants of God, he finds the laws of the Torah to be divided into three groups:
- The DecalogueTen CommandmentsThe Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
, containing the fundamental laws with especial reference to the God-devoted man who, like MosesMosesMoses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
, lives solely in the service of God (the singular being used because only Moses or the one who emulates him is addressed). The first of the Ten CommandmentsTen CommandmentsThe Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
, which he considers merely as an introductory word, accentuates the divine origin and the eternal goal of the Law; the other nine present the various laws in relation to God, to domestic life, and to society at large. Each of these three classes again refers either to the heart or sentiment, to the speech or to the action of man. - The group of laws contained in the second, third, and fourth books of Moses, intended for the people of Israel during their wandering in the desert or during the ExileExileExile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
, to render them a holy congregation relying solely upon the special protection of God without resorting to warfare. - The Deuteronomic legislation intended for the people living in an agricultural state and forming a "kingdom of justice." However, in the time of the Messianic redemptionJewish eschatologyJewish eschatology is concerned with the Jewish Messiah, afterlife, and the revival of the dead. Eschatology, generically, is the area of theology and philosophy concerned with the final events in the history of the world, the ultimate destiny of humanity, and related concepts.-The Messiah:The...
, when the evil spirit shall have vanished altogether, when the sensual man shall have become a spiritual one, and the passions that created hatred and strife shall have given way to love of man and to faithful obedience to the will of God, no other laws than those given to the God-devoted one in the Decalogue—the law written upon the heart of man—will be necessary. Men, imbued solely with love for their fellows, free from sin, will rise to the standard of the God-devoted man, and, like him, share in the eternal bliss of God.
Against Rapoport, Guttmann
Guttmann
Guttmann is a surname. It may refer to the following people:* Béla Guttmann , Hungarian football player and coach* Jakob Guttmann , German rabbi and religious Zionism philosopher...
has shown (Monatsschrift, p. 201, note 2) that Naḥmanides read and used the Hegyon ha-Nefesh, though occasionally differing from it; but while Saadia
Saadia Gaon
Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon was a prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the Geonic period.The first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Arabic, he is considered the founder of Judeo-Arabic literature...
is elsewhere quoted by Abraham b. Ḥiyya, he never refers to him in Hegyon (Guttmann, in Monatsschrift, pp. 199, 200). Characteristic of the age is the fact that while Abraham b. Ḥiyya contended against every superstition, against the teḳufah
Tekufah
Tekufot are the four seasons of the year recognized by Talmud writers. The four tekufot are:#Tekufat Nisan, the vernal equinox , when the sun enters Aries; this is the beginning of spring, or "eit hazera" , when day and night are equal.#Tekufat Tammuz, the summer solstice , when the sun enters...
(Sefer ha-'Ibbur, p. 8), against prayers for the dead (Hegyon, p. 32a), and similar practises (ib. p. 40a), he was, nevertheless, like Ibn Ezra
Abraham ibn Ezra
Rabbi Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was born at Tudela, Navarre in 1089, and died c. 1167, apparently in Calahorra....
, a firm believer in astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
. In his Megillat ha-Megalleh he calculated from Scripture the exact time for the advent of the Messiah to be the year of the world 5118 (see Ben Chananja, 1869, iv. 7, 8). He wrote also a work on redemption, from which Isaac Abravanel appropriated many ideas. It is in defense of Judaism against Christian arguments, and also discusses Mohammed, "the Insane"; announcing the downfall of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, according to astrological calculation, for the year 4946 A.M.
Math
Avraam proved by geometro-mechanical method of indivisibles the following equation for any circle: S = LxR/2, where S is the square, L is the circumference length and R is radius.]].The same proof as appears in Babylonian Talmud of Vilna edition, Succa 8A:
External links
(PDF version)- Jewish Encyclopedia article for Abraham bar Hiyyah, by G. Sacerdote and J. Guttmann and Kaufmann KohlerKaufmann KohlerKaufmann Kohler was a German-born U.S. reform rabbi and theologian.-Life and work:Kaufmann Kohler was born into a family of rabbis...
. - PDF biography
- musicologie.org Abraham bar Hiyya and music. Sources, editions, bibliography, comments. (In French)