Saadya Gaon (Saadya ben Joseph)
(b. 882, Fayyûm, upper Egypt; d. 942, Baghdad, Abbasid dynasty)
Theologian, philosopher and rabbi, he was the gaon, or rector, of the great Talmudic academy that flourished in Sura. A briliant writer on philosophic and scientific subjects, he introduced a new and novel method of Bible study which attempted a rational analysis of the Scriptural text based principally on scientific philology.
Books:
Hans Lewy, Alexander Altmann, and Isaak Heinemann (Ed.), Three Jewish Philosophers: Philo, Saadya Gaon, Jehuda Halevi (Atheneum, 1979)
Saadya Gaon, Alexander Altmann, and Daniel H. Frank, The Book of Doctrines and Beliefs (Hackett Publishing Company, 2002)
Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon)
(b. 1138, Córdoba, Spain, d. 1204, al-Fustât, Egypt)
Foremost Jewish scholar and thinker of the medieval period and still widely read today. His great philosophical work, Guide of the Perplexed, attempts to reconcile Scripture with the accepted scientific and philosophical knowledge of his time. In 1183 he became physician to the court of Saladin in Cairo. He wrote medical works on a number of diseases and their cures.
More on Maimonides
Books:
Moses Maimonides, Julius Guttmann, Daniel H. Frank, and Chaim Rabin, The Guide of the Perplexed (Hackett Publishing Company, 1995)
Sherwin B. Nuland, Maimonides (Jewish Encounters) (Schocken, 2005)
Herbert A. Davidson, Moses Maimonides: The Man and His Works (Oxford University Press, USA, 2004)
Fred Rosner, The Medical Legacy of Moses Maimonides (Ktav Publishing House,1997)
Solomon Ibn Gabirol (b. c. 1021, Málaga, Spain; d. 1070, Valencia, Spain)
Hebrew poet and philosopher whose emotional liturgical poems are still chanted by the pious in synagogues today. The philosophical ideas put forward in his major work Fons Vitae ("Fountain of Life") had impact on Christian thought and made profound impression on Duns Scotus, founder of the Franciscan Order.
More on Solomon Ibn Gabirol
Books:
Solomon Ibn Gabirol and Peter Cole, Selected Poems of Solomon Ibn Gabirol (Princeton University Press, 2000)
Raphael Loewe, Ibn Gabirol (Grove Pr, 1991)
Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi)
(b. 1040, Troyes, France; d. 1105, Troyes, France)
Outstanding French scholar and teacher known for his detailed commentaries on the Bible and the entire Babylonian Talmud. His work is distinguished by its authority and clarity and is still important in Jewish learning today.
More on Rashi
Books:
Maurice Liber and Adele Szold, Rashi (Dybbuk Press, 2007)
Pinchas Doron, Rashi's Torah Commentary: Religious, Philosophical, Ethical, and Educational Insights (Jason Aronson, 2000)
Maggie Anton, Rashi's Daughters, Book I: Joheved (Plume, 2007)
Baruch Spinoza
(b. 1632, Amsterdam, Holland; d. 1677, The Hague, Holland)
Eminent philospher born to Portugese Jews living in exile in Holland. His views brought him into conflict with the orthodox Jewish community and, after being tried for heresy, he was excommunicated. His most ambitious philosophical work, the Ethics, is a systematic critique of the traditional philosophical conceptions of God, the human being and the universe, and of the religions and the theological and moral beliefs based on them.
Books:
Benedict de Spinoza, Ethics (Penguin Classics, 2005)
Rebecca Goldstein, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity (Schocken, 2006)
Don Garrett, The Cambridge Companion to Spinoza (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy) (Cambridge University Press, 1995)
Benedictus de Spinoza and Edwin M. Curley, A Spinoza Reader (Princeton University Press, 1994)
Isaac Abravanel
(b. 1437, Lisbon; d. 1508, Venice)
Scholar, Bible commentator, philosopher and statesman. He was born into a wealthy and distinguished family in Portugal and succeded his father in the service of King Alfonso V. After moving to Spain in 1482 he became the minister of finance to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in Spain. On learning about the plans to expel the Jews from Spain, both Abravanel and another prominent Jew made futile attempts to intercede with the King and Queen. In exile, he finally found refuge in Italy with his three sons. More on Isaac Abravanel
Books:
Benzion Netanyahu, Don Isaac Abravanel: Statesman & Philosopher (Publisher's Row/Varda Books, 2007)
Seymour Feldman, Philosophy in a Time of Crisis: Don Isaac Abravanel: Defender of the Faith (RoutledgeCurzon Jewish Philosophy Series) (RoutledgeCurzon, 2002)
Joseph Sarachek, Don Isaac Abravanel (Bloch publishing company, 1938)
This page was last modified on 22 April 2008