Shem Tov ibn Shem Tov (c. 1390 – c. 1440) (
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
: שם טוב אבן שם טוב) was a Spanish
kabbalist and fierce opponent of rationalistic philosophy.
Tov was president of a
yeshivah in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
. He lived about 1390-1440 (
Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph (Hebrew: גדליה אבן יחיא בן יוסף; – 1587) was a 16th-century Italian Talmudist and Biblical chronologist chiefly known for his Biblical Chronology "Shalshelet HaḲabbalah".
Biography
Born in I ...
, ''Shalshelet ha-Ḳabbalah,'' ed. Venice, p. 62b). He was the father of
Joseph ibn Shem-Tov and Isaac ibn Shem-Tov.
Works
He wrote: ''Sefer ha-Emunot,'' on religious dogmas (Ferrara, 1556); ''Sefer Yesodot'' (perhaps only another title for the preceding); a commentary on the ''
Pesach Haggadah
The Haggadah ( he, הַגָּדָה, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the mitzvah to each J ...
'' (Steinschneider, ''Cat. Munich,'' 264, 3; idem, ''Cat. Bodl.'' col. 99). The ''Sefer ha-Emunot'' is an attack on the
Aristotelian philosophy
Aristotelianism ( ) is a philosophical tradition inspired by the work of Aristotle, usually characterized by deductive logic and an analytic inductive method in the study of natural philosophy and metaphysics. It covers the treatment of the socia ...
and on the rationalistic conception of Judaism. It is also a eulogy of the
Kabbalah
Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...
, "the true teaching, which has lived on through tradition and which alone can help Israel." Shem Tov endeavors to prove that, from the standpoint of positive Judaism, there is not the agreement between religion and philosophy that is claimed by many
Jewish philosophers. In the introduction he makes the philosophical investigators and the "enlightenment" brought about by them responsible for the defection from Judaism and for the political persecutions of the times. He renders especially severe judgments upon
Maimonides
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...
(whom he understood to be withholding belief in resurrection), upon
Abraham ibn Ezra, upon
Levi ben Gershon
Levi ben Gershon (1288 – 20 April 1344), better known by his Graecized name as Gersonides, or by his Latinized name Magister Leo Hebraeus, or in Hebrew by the abbreviation of first letters as ''RaLBaG'', was a medieval French Jewish philosoph ...
, and upon other men of liberal views.
In his survey of the historical development of the Kabbala, Shem Tov cites a number of older kabbalistic writers, whose existence, however, is not thereby proved. This reference to them is appended to a short passage from the
Zohar
The ''Zohar'' ( he, , ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah (the five ...
.
Moses Alashkar Moses ben Isaac Alashkar (1466–1542) () was a rabbi who lived in Egypt, but subsequently resided in Jerusalem.
Moses Alashkar was prominent among contemporaneous rabbis, and his opinions were held in esteem throughout the Levant, and even in Ita ...
vehemently opposed Shem Tov's dogmatic system in his ''Hassagot Al Mah She-Katab R. Shem-Tov Neged ha-RaMbaM'' (Ferrara, 1556). The ''Sefer ha-Emunot'' has been much cited by both old and modern authors, and is valuable for the history of the Kabbala. To judge from a remark on page 31b it would seem that Ibn Shem-Tov wrote other works, but nothing is known concerning them.
References
Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
*Grätz, ''Gesch. Hebr.'' ed. of Rabbinowitz, vi.99-100;
*Kaufmann, ''Die Attributenlehre,'' Index;
*
Steinschneider, ''Cat. Bodl.'' cols. 2558 et seq.;
*idem, ''Jewish Literature,'' pp. 94, 304;
*idem, ''Die Polemische und Apologetische Litteratur,'' pp. 321, 367;
*idem, ''Hebr. Uebers.'' p. 120;
*M. Straschon, in ''Pirḥe Ẓafon,'' ii.77 et seq.;
*Winter and Wünsche, ''Die Jüdische Litteratur,'' iii.281, 365
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shem Tov Ibn Shem Tov
1390 births
1440 deaths
15th-century Castilian rabbis
Kabbalists