פרישות קיצונית וסגפנות במשנתו של חוג פרשני הכוזרי בפרובאנס בראשית המאה הט"ו

One of the characteristic traits of medieval Jewish ethics lies in the tension between the ethos of moderation and the urge towards asceticism. Jewish halakha demands the maintenance of social life, which includes the discharge of familial and sexual obligations, whereas the philosophical ideal of intellectualism demands uncompromising devotion to the process of learning and the acquisition of knowledge. This tension waxes stronger in late medieval philosophy due to the following reasons: (1) the appearance of Averroes' philosophical system, which purports to syncretize between human intellect and the Active Intellect; (2) the revival of Neo-Platonism in Jewish philosophy during the fourteenth century. Neo-Platonism treats the human soul as a prisoner yearning to be freed of its corporeal bondage. The present article traces this basic moral tension in the writings of a philosophical circle which flourished during the third decade of fifteenth-century Provence. The leading light of this circle was Prat Maimon, who was deeply influenced by Levi ben Abraham. His three pupils were Jacob Farissol, Nethanel Caspi and Solomon ben Judah of Lunel, all of whom wrote detailed commentaries on the Kuzari of Judah Halevi. The article concludes with the publication of some relevant texts, consisting of the circle's commentary to the Kuzari III:1.