Azriel ibn Menahem ibn Ibrahim al-Tarās (
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
: عزريل بن مناحيم بن ابراهيم التاراس ''Azrēyl bin Mināḥīm ben Ibrāhim āl-Tārās'';
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
: עזריאל בן מנחם בן אברהם אלתראס ''ʿÁzrīyʾēl ben Mənáḥēm ben ʾAḇrāhām al-Taras''; – ) also known as Azriel of Girona was the founder of speculative
Kabbalah
Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...
and the Gironian Kabbalist school. He is known for implementing
Neoplatonic
Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...
thought into mainstream kabbalistic tradition.
Biography
Azriel ibn Menahem ibn Ibrahim al-Tarās was born around 1160 in
Girona
Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...
,
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
to the
al-Taras family. His father Menahem was a minor
rabbi
A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
in Girona. In his early years, Azriel moved to
southern France
Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...
, where he studied under
Isaac the Blind
Isaac the Blind ( ''Rabbī Yīṣḥaq Saggī Nəhōr'', literally "Rabbi Isaac, of much light"; c. 1160–1235 in Provence, France), was a French rabbi and a famous writer on Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). The Aramaic epithet "Saggi Nehor" means " ...
. Azriel later travelled across Spain, preaching his kabbalistic views, however this proved to be unsuccessful, with Azriel later stating that "''the philosophers believe in nothing that can not be demonstrated logically''." He later returned to Girona, where he founded a kabbalistic school. Amongst his main students, were
Nachmanides
Moses ben Nachman ( ''Mōše ben-Nāḥmān'', "Moses son of Nachman"; 1194–1270), commonly known as Nachmanides (; ''Nakhmanídēs''), and also referred to by the acronym Ramban (; ) and by the contemporary nickname Bonastruc ça Porta (; l ...
and
Abraham Zacuto
Abraham Zacuto (, ; 12 August 1452 – ) was a Sephardic Jewish astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, rabbi and historian. Born in Castile, he served as Royal Astronomer to King John II of Portugal before fleeing to Tunis.
His astrolabe of cop ...
. The poet
Meshullam of Gerona hails Azriel as the greatest Kabbalist of Spain, and Isaac the Blind, later opposed Azriel's open propagation of kabbalistic doctrines in wider circles.
Theology
According to Azriel, the status and importance of the
will of God
The will of God or divine will is a concept found in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and a number of other texts and worldviews, according to which God's Will (philosophy), will is the cause of everything that exists.
Thomas Aquinas
Accord ...
surpasses all other attributes. He laid the foundation for the idea of
Ein-Sof, by stating that
God
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
can have no desire, thought, word, or action, emphasizing it by the
negation
In logic, negation, also called the logical not or logical complement, is an operation (mathematics), operation that takes a Proposition (mathematics), proposition P to another proposition "not P", written \neg P, \mathord P, P^\prime or \over ...
of any attribute. Azriel goes on to adopt a
gnostic
Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...
approach, going as far as to say that all qualities of God are ascribed. Azriel investigates the relation of this En-Sof to the universe, asking "has the universe been created from nothing?" he explains "No,
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
is perfectly right in saying that nothing can proceed from nothing. Moreover, creation implies a decrease in the Creator's essence through subtraction, and that can not be predicated of the En-Sof. Nor can the universe have existed eternally, as Aristotle asserts, because nothing is eternal except for God."
In order to solve the problem of creation, Azriel recourses to the theory of
emanation Emanation may refer to:
*Emanation (chemistry), a dated name for the chemical element radon
*Emanation From Below, a concept in Slavic religion
*Emanation in the Eastern Orthodox Church, a belief found in Neoplatonism
*Emanation of the state, a lega ...
, which he develops as follows:
The universe, with all its manifestations, was latent in the essence of the En-Sof, in which, notwithstanding its infinite variety, it formed an absolute unit, just like the various sparks and colors that proceed from the one and indivisible flame potential in the coal. The act of creation did not consist in producing an absolutely new thing; it was merely a transformation of potential existence into realized existence. Thus there was really no creation, but an
Atziluth
Atziluth or Atzilut (also ''Olam Atsiluth'', עוֹלָם אֲצִילוּת, literally "the World of Emanation") is the highest of four worlds in which exists the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. It is also known as "near to God."MEIJERS, L. D., and J. ...
. The effluence was effectuated through successive gradations from the intellectual world to the material, from the indefinite to the definite. This material world, being limited and not perfect, could not proceed directly from the En-Sof; neither could it be independent of God. In that case God would be imperfect. There must have been, therefore, intermediaries between the En-Sof and the material world, and these intermediaries were the
Ten Sefirot. The first
Sefirah was latent in the En-Sof as a dynamic force. The second Sefirah emanated as a substratum for the intellectual world; afterward the other Sefirot emanated, forming the moral, the material, and the natural worlds. But this fact of emanation does not imply a gradation in the En-Sof, the flame of which is capable of igniting an indefinite number of lights. The Sefirot, according to their nature, are divided into three groups: the three superior forming the world of thought, the next three the world of soul, the last four the world of corporeality. They all depend upon one another, being united like links to the first one. Each of them has a positive and a passive quality, which emanates and receives.
Works
Azriel's works are as:
* ''Shaar ha-Shoel'' ("The Gate of the Enquirer") - an explanation of the doctrine of the ten Sefirot in question and answer form, with the addition of Azriel's personal commentary.
* ''Perush Sefer Yetzirah'' - a commentary on
Sefer Yetzirah
''Sefer Yetzirah'' ( ''Sēp̄er Yəṣīrā'', ''Book of Formation'', or ''Book of Creation'') is a work of Jewish mysticism. Early commentaries, such as the ''Kuzari'', treated it as a treatise on mathematical and linguistic theory, as opposed t ...
.
* ''Perush Aggadot ''- a commentary to the
talmudic
The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewi ...
aggadot.
* ''Perush Tefillah'' - a commentary on the
Jewish liturgy
Jewish prayer (, ; plural ; , plural ; Yinglish: davening from Yiddish 'pray') is the prayer recitation that forms part of the observance of Rabbinic Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the '' ...
.
Azriel also wrote a number of shorter treatises, the most important of which is a large section of a partly-preserved work called Derekh haEmunah veDerekh haKefirah ("The Way of Belief and the Way of Heresy").
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azriel
13th-century Catalan rabbis
Kabbalists
Rabbis from Girona
12th-century Catalan rabbis
1160s births
1238 deaths