In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Editor’s foreword
  • Gad Freudenthal

This issue includes an English translation of a seminal paper on Samuel Ibn Tibbon by Aviezer Ravitzky (below, pp. 361–400). Prof. Ravitzky approved the translation several months before he was severely injured in a traffic accident (October 16, 2006) from which he has not yet fully recovered. Because the article was set in type long ago, the accident and its aftermath are not mentioned in the Editor’s Prefatory Note to the article (below, p. 361). This is rectified here, where I also would like to offer Prof. Ravitzky my best wishes for a complete and swift recovery, as well as my gratitude that he authorized us to translate and publish his article. Another article on Samuel Ibn Tibbon is included in this issue of Aleph; still another will be published in the next. Both are indebted to Ravitzky, whose doctoral dissertation directed scholarly attention to this formerly neglected thinker.

This issue of Aleph also includes a major forum in which seven scholars discuss a cardinal problem in Maimonidean scholarship: Maimonides’ view on the knowability of the heavens and of their Mover. Owing to the length of the forum, there was no room for the book review section; it, as well as two articles originally scheduled for inclusion here, have been deferred to the next issue.

Concerning that next issue, I am happy to announce that, starting in 2009, Aleph will be published twice a year, in March and September. While the total number of pages per year will remain roughly the same, Aleph’s transition to twice-yearly publication is a new milestone in its coming of age. [End Page 13]

...

pdf

Share