— Abraham bar 9iyya ha-Nasi Abraham b. Isaac of Narbonne
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
of the latter is diii' which ci-nstjmlly chnngts, third form exists which mixes wiih matter for a certain time, to live a.!jraiii in a disembodied state after its separation, aud this is the liunian According to its wisdom Hatter and soul. which makes it seek the ii|>i)er world, Form. tiiiv
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the pure lastiiis: form r>r its folly •which makes it follow lln> impure matter of the perishable world below the soul of man partakes of the nature of either the one or the other but, liis dcstiua tion being to live forever like the angels, man has been appointedby Godtobetherulerof all beings on earth; and in the same measure in whieli he fullilsor deviates from his destination, does he rise or fall in dignity above or below his fellow creatures. Says Abraham b. Hiyya, in common with Aristotle ("Ethics," vii. 11), aud others, "(ireatir is he who has succeeded in training himself to abandon every thought of worldly passion and longs only for the service and adoration of the Most High, tjian he who has still to wrestle with the appetites of the llesh, though he overcome them in the end." For after all, Siiys he with Plato ("Pha'do," p. lU), the soul in this world of llesh is, as it were, imprisoned, while the animal soul craves for worldly pleasures, anil experiences pain in foregoing them. Still, only the sensual man requires corrections of the tlesh to liberate the soul from its bondage; the truly pious need not. or rather should not, undergo fasting or other forms of asceticism except such as the law has prescribed ("Hegyon," p. 16</). But, precisely as man has been set apart among his fellow creatures as God's servant, so Israel is separate from the nations ("Hegyon," p. T), the same three terras {hara, yaziir, 'asa/t) being used by the prophet for Israel's creation (Isa .xliii. 7) as for that of man in Genesis. Like Bahya ("Ilobot ha-Lebabot," ix. 3) Abraham b. Hiyya distinguishes three classes of pious men: (1) such as lead a life altogether apart from worldlypursuits and devoted only to God ("these are but few in number and may in their sovereignty over the world be regarded as one individuality"; Alfarabi, "Model State"; see Three
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ih. p. 2ri, note); (2) such as take part iu the world's affairs. but are. as regards their conduct, ruled only by the divine laws aud statutes without concc-iiing themselves with the rest of men (these form the "holy congregation" or the " faithful city" ); and (3) such as lead righteous lives, but take care also that the wrong done outside of their sphere is punished aud the good of all the people promoted (these form the " kingdom of justice " or the " righteous naIn accordance with these three cla.sses of tion "). servants of God, he finds the laws of the Torah to be divided into three groups: (1) The Decalogue, containing the fundamental laws with especial reference to the God -devoted man who, like ]Mos(S, lives solely in the service of God (the singular being used because only Moses or the one who emulates him is addressed). The first of the Ten Commandments, which he considers merely as an introductory word, accentuates the divine origin and the eternal goal of the Law the other nine present the various laws in relation to God, to domestic life, and to society at Each of these three clas.ses again refers either larire. to the heart or sentiment, to the s])eecli or to the action of man. (2) The group of laws contained in the second, third, and fourth books of Moses, intended for the people of Israel during their wander ing in the desert or during the E.xile. to render them a holy congregation relying solely upon the special protection of God without resorting to warfare. The Deuterouomic legislation intended for the (3)
Classes of Guftmann,
Tious Men.
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people living in an agricultural state and forming a "kingdom of justice." However, in the time of the Messianic redemption, when the evil spirit .shall have vani.shed altogether, when the sensual man shall have become a spiritual one, and the passions that created hatred and strife shall have given way to love of man and to faithful obedience to the will of God. no other laws than those given to the Goddevoted one in the Decalogue the law written upon will be necessary. Men, imbued the heart of man solely with love for their fellows, free from sin, will rise to the standard of the God-devoted man, and, like him. share in the eternal bliss of God Against Uapoport, Guttuumn has shown (" Monats.schrift," p. 201, note 2) that Nahmanides read and used the "Hegyon ha Nefesh," though occasionally differing from it; but while Saadia is elsewhere quoted by Abraham!). Hiyya, he never refers to him in "Hegyon" (Guttm'ann. in "Monatsschrift," pp. 199, 200). Characteristic of the age is the fact that while Abraham b. Hiyya contended against every superstition, against he Ukiifiih (" Sefer ha'Ibbur," p. 8). against prayers for the dead (" Hegyon." p. 32a), and similar practises (rt. p. 40(;), he was, nevertheless, like Ibn In his " Megillat Ezra, a firm believer in astrology. liaMegalleh " he ealculaled from Scripture the exact time for the advent of the ilessiah to be the vear of the worid 5118 (see "Ben Chananja," 1869, iv. 7, 8). He wrote also a work on redemption, from which Isaac Abravanel appropriated many ideas. It is in defense of .Judaism against Christian arguments, and also discusses .Mohammed, "the Insane"; announcing the doH nfall of Islam, according to astrological calculation, for the year 4940 a.m.
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BiBi.iociRAIMlT : Stelnsctinililer, Z. D. M. Q. 1876, p. fi.'B : Idem. Ihlir. mill. 18<)1. iv. IIIS-KKI (whcrp Itapoport" s reading of the name "Ilayyah," instead of "tliyyah." isadopte<l): 1876, xvl. iKI (Where the name ".^ItiarRPlonl" Is declared to be u pure invention). See also Briilfs Jahrli. ii. ISU. .1.
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ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC AUEKBACH Liturgical poet of the seventeenth century; born at Kosfeld and became rabbi at jMllnster. During a visit to Amsterdam in 1()T.5, he was made acquainted with an attempt by a clergyman, named Christopher Bernard, to asperse the .Jews, who triumphantly disproved the charges. Abiaham ben Isaac composed a luunber of stlihot (i)euitential hymns) and pizmoniin (triumphant cnles), the former while the danger was impending, the latter when it was past. These were printed by Joseph Athias at Amsterdam in 1677, in a Jjrochure which has become very rare and which is distinguished by the ntimber of rabbinical authorities who expressed their approbation of Both the past and Auerbach's poetical efforts.
present rabbis of the German congregation of Amsterdam. Isaac Aboab. the hakam of the Portuguese congregation, besides rabbis and rabbinical assessors of Posen. are included among the signatories of the kaskiimah (approbation) BlBLKXiRAPHV Steinschnelder, Cnt. Bod?. No. 2041 Rocst, Cir(<iJo(/ iler Heliraica und Judaica awsderL. RoscnlhaV;
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He wrote: (I) Cabalist of the thirlecntli century. work on the Cabida. under the title of "Sefer ha-Berit." This is quoted by Mo.ses Botarel in the introduction to his commentary on the "Sefer Yezirah," which passage contains a reference to Maimonides' " Jloreh. " (2) Another work on the Cabala, under the title "Berit Menuhah," valued highly
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