Dunash ibn Tamim

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Dunasch ibn Tamim ( Hebrew דונש אבן תמים; * around 890 in Kairouan ; † around 956) was a Jewish scholar from North Africa.

It is also called Adonim , a Hebrew translation of the Berber name Dunasch , which corresponds to the Spanish Dueños , and has the Arabic nickname Abu Sahl . He is mainly known through his comments on Sefer Yezira . He also wrote works on linguistics and astronomy .

In Kairouan Dunasch studied with Isaak Israeli , to whom he owed a large part of his intellectual development and probably also acquired medical knowledge from him. Most of Dunasch's works were written in Arabic. The following three have not survived : a) a comparative study of the Arabic and Hebrew languages, b) a book on Indian calculus , probably under the title ḥisab al-Gubar , and c) a three-part treatise on astronomy. The latter work was written at the request of Chisdai ibn Shaprut . The manuscript preserved is a treatise on the astronomical instrument armillary sphere , which was dedicated to a dignitary of the Fatimid dynasty.

The commentary on Sefer Yezira was written in 955-56. In the Cairo Genisa only about a third of the original Arabic text has been cataloged. However, there are four Hebrew versions from the Middle Ages, two of which are anonymous and arguably based on Arabic summaries. The commentary contains thoughts on topics such as the disembodied God as the creator of a perfectly regulated universe, a hierarchy of souls in the various spheres, and prophetic inspiration which, in its highest embodiment, such as in the case of Moses , coincides with Plotinian ecstasy . Dunasch's comment is mentioned several times during the Middle Ages, including by Abraham Abulafia .

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SURNAME Dunash ibn Tamim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Jewish scholar
DATE OF BIRTH around 890
PLACE OF BIRTH Kairouan
DATE OF DEATH around 956