The En Yaaqov: Jacob ibn Habib’s Search for Faith in the Talmudic Corpus

Notes

Notes 205 Throughout these notes i make reference to two editions of the En Yaaqov. The citation listed first refers to ibn H . abib’s first printed edition of 1516, and is abbreviated EY (Salonika, 1516). each of these citations is followed by its corresponding reference in the Jerusalem edition of the En Yaaqov published in 1961, and notated parenthetically as (= Jerusalem, 1961). This latter edition, an exact reprint of the traditional Romm (Vilna, 1883) text, is currently among the most widely available and commonly used modern editions of the En Yaaqov. also note that the Bavli pagination postdates ibn H . abib and follows the standard editions of the Bavli published by Romm. ibn H . abib did not have access to an edition of the Talmud with standardized page numbers. all primary sources are capitalized using “headline style”; secondary sources follow the standard Society of Biblical Literature format, which uses “sentence style” capitalization. Introduction 1. isadore Twersky, “Talmudists, philosophers, Kabbalists: The Quest for Spirituality in the Sixteenth Century,” in Jewish Thought in the Sixteenth Century, ed. Bernard dov Cooperman (Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University press, 1983), 432, and Moshe Halbertal, People of the Book: Canon, Meaning, and Authority (Cambridge , Ma: Harvard University press, 1997), 101–3. 2. Note that in the twelfth century, when Maimonides produced his legal code, the Mishne Torah, he wrote in his introduction that when a person reads “the written Torah and then reads this book, [he] knows from it the whole Oral Torah and needs no other book besides them.” Such a statement suggests that the direct study of the Talmud was unnecessary. in addition, he describes the Mishne Torah as a successful and comprehensive summary of the Talmud that renders the study of the Talmud “a waste of time and of very little usage.” See Halbertal, People of the Book, 104–5, where he cites letters drawn from Iggerot Harambam, 2 vols., ed. Y. Shailat (Jerusalem: Hotsaat Maaliyot, 1987), 1:257–59, 312–13, and 438–39. also see Maimonides, Mishnah im Perush Rabbenu Moshe ben Maimon, 6 vols., trans. Joseph Kafih . (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1963), introduction. 3. isaac alfasi, Hilkhot Rav Alfas [Hilkhot Harif], ed. Nissan Zaks (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook), 1969, 2 vols. This edition is based on the first printed edition 03 Lehman BM.indd 205 10/19/11 10:14 AM N OT e S TO i N T RO d U C T i O N 206 (Constantinople, 1509). Hilkhot Harif can be found in the back of standard printed editions of the Babylonian Talmud. See Leonard Robert Levy, “R. Yitzhaq alfasi’s application of principles of adjudication in ‘Halakhot Rabbati’” (ph.d. diss., Jewish Theological Seminary, 2002), iv, for additional bibliographic information. For asher ben Yeh .iel’s Piskei Harosh [Hilkhot Harosh], see the back of standard editions of the Babylonian Talmud. also see Jacob ben asher, Tur (Jerusalem, 1957–1960). 4. Halbertal, People of the Book, 105 (including n41), where he states that even if one argues that Maimonides did not view the Mishne Torah as a complete replacement for the Talmud, he believed that viewing the Talmud as the only document worthy of study was an error. 5. Menachem Kellner points to another aspect of Maimonides’ critique of the Judaism of his day, sharing with Moshe idel the notion that Maimonides’ views developed in response to “proto-Kabbalistic” trends. Within this context, Kellner characterizes Maimonides as a reformer seeking to promote a new vision of Judaism . See Kellner, “Maimonides’ Critique of the Rabbinic Culture of His day,” in Rabbinic Culture and Its Critics: Jewish Authority, Dissent, and Heresy in Medieval and Early Modern Times, ed. daniel Frank and Matt Goldish (detroit: Wayne State University press, 2008), 84–85, 90. See also Moshe idel, “Maimonides and Kabbalah ,” in Studies in Maimonides, ed. isadore Twersky (Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University press, 1990), 34. 6. Menachem Kellner, Maimonides’ Confrontation with Mysticism (Oxford: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2006), 1. 7. See Moses Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, trans. Shlomo pines (Chicago : University of Chicago press, 1963), 3:51, regarding the idea that those who have studied the Talmud and not philosophy “make it” only as far as the courtyard in the parable of the palace and not to the palace itself. also see Maimonides, Mishne Torah, Yesode Hatorah, 4:13, as referred to by Halbertal, People of the Book, 105–6. 8. See both Halbertal, People of the Book, 119–22, and Rachel elior, “Messianic expectations and Spiritualization of Religious...