Abraham ben David of Posquières

Abraham ben David of Posquières in Hebrew אברהם בן דוד מפּוֹשְקְיֶרָה , also known by the acronym Rabad (III), Hebrew ראב"ד(born around 1125 in Narbonne ; died on November 27, 1198 in Posquières ) was a Talmudic scholar in Provence. He is best known for his criticism of the works of Maimonides .

Life

Abraham ben David studied with Moses ben Joseph ben Merwan ha-Levi and Meschullam ben Jacob von Lunel , two of the most influential and respected scholars of the time. After completing his studies, he gained fame in Montpellier and Nîmes as well as great wealth (he is said to have traded in textiles) and finally settled in Posquières, where he, apart from a short period of time (1172-73), when he went to Narbonne and Carcassonne had fled the hostility of the local sovereign, had his permanent residence. He founded and directed a yeshiva in Posquières whose students came from far away: from France, Germany, Spain, North Africa, Italy, Palestine and Slavic countries. He provided for the needs of destitute students from his own resources. Many of his students and close followers themselves became outstanding rabbis and authors in the Jewish communities of Provence. Nachmanides describes his learning and piety, and Solomon Adret says that Rabad "revealed the depths of the Torah as from the mouth of Moses and explained the difficulties". All of the contemporary commentators on Maimonides are also respectful students of Rabad.

Works

Rabad developed a diverse literary activity. He wrote codes of rabbinical law, commentaries on various subspecies of Talmudic literature, responses , homiletic treatises and Hassagot , i. H. critical comments on standard works of rabbinical literature . These Hassagot are his last works. He commented on the Halachot by Isaak Alfasi and the Mishneh Torah by Maimonides. Rabad's most important code is called Baale ha-Nefesch (“possessor of the soul”) and deals with laws relating to behavior towards women in seven chapters.

Text output

• בעלי הנפש / Ba'alei ha-Nefesh , ed. by Y. Kafaḥ, Mosad ha-Rav Ḳuḳ, Jerusalem 1964. (Digital copies: 1. , 2. )

literature

• Louis Ginzberg :  Abraham ben David of Posquières. In: Isidore Singer (Ed.): Jewish Encyclopedia . Funk and Wagnalls, New York 1901–1906 ..
• Biti Roi: Ba'alei Ha-Nefesh. In: Paula Hyman, Dalia Ofer (eds.): Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. Shalvi Publishing Ltd. / Jewish Women's Archive, Brookline, MA 2009.
• Haym Soloveitchik: Rabad of Posquières: A programmatic essay. In: Imanu'el Etkes, Yosef Salmon (Ed.): Studies in the History of Jewish Society in the Middle Ages and the Modern Period. Magnes Press, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 1980, 7-40.
• Isadore Twersky , David Derovan : Article ABRAHAM BEN DAVID OF POSQUIÈRES. In: Encyclopaedia Judaica . 2nd ed., Volume 1, pp. 296-298.
• Isadore Twersky: Rabad of Posquières: A Twelfth-Century Talmudist. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1962.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ This to differentiate between Abraham ben Isaac from Narbonne ("Rabad II") and Abraham ibn Daud ("Rabad I"), cf. z. B. Jakob Guttmann :  ABRAHAM IBN DAUD (= DAVID) HA-LEVI. In: Isidore Singer (Ed.): Jewish Encyclopedia . Volume 1, Funk and Wagnalls, New York 1901-1906, pp.  101-103 ., 101.