Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/79

33 credited to Moses of Narbonne, with whom Abba Mari is elsewhere confounded, is uncertain. The same doubt holds ... of Gazziili's

' Ti/udt'ucius

ascrilK'd to Ablja Mali,

of

is

whom Abba The

which is

but possibly also belongs to the aforesaid Moses. But there is no reason for Steinschneider's doubt coneerninjr a Munich iiiaiiuseripl. containing the introduction to the first book of Euclid, with the suiierscriplion. "Written by Abba Mari. philosopher and Icaclicr of truth": it certainly belongs to otu- Abba Mari. and the words A/i/ui .lA'c/ are not to be translated ".My Lord and Father." for these two words would othcrwi.se liave their proper place at the begiiudiig and not at the end of the sentence. Abba .Mari also wrote "Hefutations," in winch he assailed .losi'.i'il C.spi's " Booli of Secrets." This book, with the exception of a few quotations fruiu it in other writers, has disappeared. Bnu.l00R.»PnY: Stelnsohnplder, lUhr. I'flierx. p. iijiH; ]Iisfo/rt- hitti-rnirc dc Itt Fnn.ci', vol. .xxxi. lLc» Eeriraius Jiiiftt fVflMrrti.s),

Idem,

111

pp.

.'>4H-;V):i;

lifv. (:t. Juircx, Ix.

(Jrdss, f»ai/i<I

5!)

JwMtcd.

p. 'tS9;

(date ol dauRbter's marriage

wrongly given).

L. G.

ABBA MARI BEN ISAAC OF ST. GILLES

Flourished about the middle of the twelfth century, and lived at St. Gilles. near Lunel. in Lau According to Benjamin of Tudela, who guedoc. visited the Jewish conniiunily of that jilace, Abba ^lari held the ollice of /miUi (magistrate) about 11G5, having been aiijiointed by Kayniond V., who was frienilly to the Jews. The inoiiarcli made St. Gilles That a Jew was he second capital of his country. in those times chosen to so high an ollice is a fact of some importance, as it goes far to show the jiosilion which the Jews occupied in southern France previous to the war with the Albigeiises. The war Some scholars pretend to see in l«st<'d until r229. this .Miba .Mari the father of I.saac ben Abba JIari,

the author of the"I(tur."

In this work

Isinic re-

fers to his father as a iirominciit Talniudist. from which circumstance it is inferred thai Ihe subject id' Ihis sketch was not only a high ollieial but also a

Talmudic scholar — a deduction which has been pU'tely set aside by Gross. Biiii.i(iii.vriiv



i,»< Hahhins 372. t»l.

colli-

tiraiv!. Gcwb. d. Jtiilcn, 2d ed. vl.230: Renan, Francain.p. 5S0; OToas, Gatlia Judaica, pi>.

L. O.

ABBA MARI BEN JOSEPH IBN CASPI. See Caspi, Abba Mari ben Joseph ibn

ABBA MARI BEN MOSES BEN JOSEPH DON ASTRUC (En Astruc) OF LUNEL (Graetz and other have incorrectly En Duran): Leader of the opposition to the rationalism of the Maimonists in the Montpellier controversy of 1303–1306, born at Lunel—hence his name. Yarhi (from Yerah = Moon = Lune).

He was a descendant of Meshullam ben Jacob of Lunel, one of whose live sons was Joseph, the grandfather of Abba Mari, who, like his son Moses, be father of Abba Mari, was highly respected for both his rabbinical learning and his general erudition. Abba Mali moved to Montpellier, where, to his chagrin, he found the study of rabbinical lore greatly neglected by the young, who devoted all of their time and zeal to science and philosophy. The rationalistic method pursued by the new school of Maimonlsls (including Levi ben .Mini ham ben Ilayyim of Villefriniche, near the town of Perpignan, and Jacob Anatolil especially provoked his indignation; for the sermons preached and Ihe woiks publisheil bv them seemed to resolve the entire

Scriptures into allegory and threatened to undermine the Jewish faith and the observance of the Law and tradition. He was not without some philosophical training. He mentions even with reverence the name Maimonides, whose work he possessed and studied: but he was more inclined toward the mysticism of Naḥmanides. Above all. he was a thorough believer in revelation and in a divine providence, and was a sincere, law-observing follower of rabbinical Judaism. He would not allow Aristotle," the searcher after God among the heathen," to be ranked with Moses.

Abba Mari possessed considerable Talmudic knowledge and some poetical talent but his zeal for the Law made him an agitator and a per.secutor of all the advocates of liberal thought. lieing himself without suliicient authority, he appealed in a number of letters, afterward iiublished under the title of "Minhal Kenaol " (Jealousy Offering). to Soi.oMox hex Adkkt of Barcelona, the nmsl intluential rabbi of the lime, to use his powerful authority to check the source of evil by hurling his analheiiia against both the study of philosophy and the allegorical

interpretations of the Bible, which did away with all belief in miracles. Ben .dret, while reluctant to interfere in the alTairsof other congreaccord with .bba ]Mari as to the danger of the new rationalistic systems, and advised him to organize the coiiserv:itive forces in defense of the Law. Abba Mari, through Ben .Vdrct's aid, obtained allies eager to take up his caii.se. among

gations,

whom was in perfect

were Don Bonafoux Vidal of Barcelona and

Don Crescas Vidal, then in I'erpignan. proposition of the latter to prohibit, under penalty of excommunication, the study of philosophy and any of the sciences exce|it medicine, by one under thirty years of age, met with thea|ii)rovalof Ben .Vdret. Accordingly. Ben Adrct adilressed to the congregation of .Moiitpelli<T a letter, signed by fifteen other rabbis, iirojiosing to issue a decree pronouncing the anathema against all those who should pursue the study of pliijosophy and science before due niatnrily in agi' and in rabliinical knowledge. On a Sabbath in September, i:i(l4. the letter was to be read before the congregation, when Jacob ilal.iir Don I'rotiat Tibbon, the I'eiiowned astronomical and rnathem.ilieal writer, entered his protest against such unlawful interference by the Barcelona rabbis, and a schism ensued. Twellty-eiglil members signed Abba Mari's letter of approval the others, under Tibbon's leadersliiii, addressed another letlir to Ben Adret, rebuking him and his colleagues for condemning a whole community without knowledge of the local conditions. Finally, Ihe agitation for and against the liberal ideas brought about a schism in the entire Jewish population in southern France and Spain.

Encouraged, however, by letters signed by the rabbis of Argentiere and Lunel. and particularly by the support of Kalonymus ben Todros, the nasi of Narbonne, and of the eminent Talniudist .Vsheri of Toledo, Ben Adret issued a decree, signed by thirty three rabbis of Barcelona, excommunicating those who should, within the next fifty years. study physics or metaphysics before their thirtieth year of age (basing his action on Ihe jirinciple laid down by iSlaimonidis. "^loreh," i. 34), and had Ihi- order promulgated in Ihe synagogue on Sabbath, July 20, When this heresy decree, to be made elTeelI'.W't. ive, was forwarded to other congregations for approval, Ihe friiiids of libenil Ihonghl. under the leadership of the Tibbonites. issued a counter ban, and the conflict threatened to assume a serious character, as blind party zeal (this time on the liberal