The Founding Fathers of Sephardic Jewry: From Rav Saadia Gaon (882-942 C.E. to Shemuel ibn Tibbon (1150-1232 C.E.)

The Founding Fathers of Sephardic Jewry is a series of short biographical and intellectual sketches of the great Torah scholars that brought about the Golden Age of Andalusia. The book begins with Rav Saadia Gaon, who lived between 882 C.E. and 942 C.E. in Southwestern Asia and whose life and intellectual legacy launched an unprecedented growth in the studies of Biblical exegesis, Talmudic scholarship, philosophical exploration, Jewish poetry, and Jewish mysticism. Rav Saadia Gaon represents the most direct and authentic link to the rabbinic tradition of Babylonia and Israel. This book links the teachings of the great teacher Maimonides, Rabbi Moshe ben Mimon (1138 C.E. – 1204 C.E.), to the teachings of Rav Saadia Gaon. By making such a linkage, one confirms the thesis that Maimonides was more of a transmitter and preserver of an existing tradition and less of an innovator. The celebrated Maimonidean scholar Professor Isadore Twersky of Harvard notes how: The generations before the age of Maimonides had produced philosophers-scientists of great learning and dialectical skill as well as Talmudist-jurists of great erudition and versatility many of them in Spain. There were even, as Rabbi Abraham ibn Daud reports with great pride and precision in Sefer HaKabbalah philosophically trained Talmudists such as Rabbi Baruch ibn AlBalia – or others such as Rabbi Bachya ibn Pakuda or Rabi Joseph ibn Saddik …scholars wel versed in both Greek science and Rabbinic lore and thoroughly convinced of the need to maintain the peaceful coexistence of the two disciplines. (Introduction to the Code of Maimonides: Mishneh Torah page 356) HaRambam was primarily a transmitter of the tradition he inherited from his father and the world of Andalus who, in turn, received it from his teachers who were the authentic link between the Talmud and the Middle Ages. HaRambam was indeed creative and innovative, and he was a first-rate educator, but he devoted his life and creative output to record the Jewish way of life as it was lived in Andalusia. This tradition has its roots in the period of the Ge’onim. In his introduction to the Mishneh Torah HaRambam follows in the footsteps of his predecessors who wrote similar histories as he describes in detail the succession of the Torah and how it was transmitted from one bet din [supreme court] to the next from the days of Moshe Rabbenu onward. When he arrives at the Babylonian Talmud he remarks: It is incumbent upon all the house of Israel to comply with all that is contained in the Babylonian Talmud, and every city and every country is compelled to conform to all the customs adopted by the Talmudic sages to enforce their decrees and to follow their regulations. This is due to the fact that the entire people of Israel agreed to all the Talmudic precepts. (HaRambam Introduction to Mishneh Torah) HaRambam wrote this towards the end of the twelfth century when the Babylonian academies and the Ge’onate were in advanced stages of decline. In the above quote, HaRambam ratifies two critical points that he gleaned from the halakhic legacy of the Ge’onim. The task of the Ge’onim was to anchor the Babylonian Talmud as the authoritative source of Jewish law and the fact that all the Jewish people adopted the Talmud as authoritative proves it is a legitimate legal source.
ASIN: B0CR5NCH6F
VSKU: BVV.B0CR5NCH6F.VG
Condition: Very Good
Author/Artist:Levy, Yamin
Binding: Paperback
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: Book has little sign of wear or use