Abstract
Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Iggeret ha-Shabbat is a short, three chapter polemical work devoted to refuting calendrical heresies. A prologue describes the fantastic circumstance of its composition: the Sabbath Day appeared to Ibn Ezra in a dream and delivered a poetic lament castigating him for contributing to heretical desecration of the Sabbath. Voluminous scholarship has been devoted to the question of whether the heretical work refuted is the Commentary of R. Samuel ben Meir (Rashbam). This literature is reviewed in toto, with a focus on Samuel Poznański’s seminal 1897 study identifying the heresy with the obscure Mishawite sect. The importance of the earliest known manuscript is first noted; copied in Lleida in 1382, it served as a basis for a little-known 1840 edition. The authenticity of the fantastic prologue – previously published separately, appended to various Rabbinic volumes – had already been questioned in the 18th century. Manuscripts that Samuel D. Luzzatto (Shadal) wrote and corrected by hand in preparing his first edition are reviewed. A previously unpublished note of his addresses a responsum by R. Hai Gaon, paraphrased by Ibn Ezra or his students in two different works, regarding tequfot superstitions, magical forces associated with the solstices and equinoxes.
| Translated title of the contribution | Authors, targets and versions of ibn ezra’s iggeret ha-shabbat; a polemic against calendrical heresies |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Pages (from-to) | 123-161 |
| Number of pages | 39 |
| Journal | Sefarad |
| Volume | 79 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Jan 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2019 CSIC.
Funding
I would like to thank Marc Shapiro, Gad Freudenthal, Emma Abate, Justine Isserles, Shimon Steinmetz, Jose Manuel Fradejas Rueda and anonymous reviewers for their valuable input. I acknowledge support received from The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. Most research was carried out at the National Library of Israel, which graciously granted access to manuscripts and rare books and whose staff privided vital bibliographic guidance. As Jean Rafael and Tania Guetta’s love of Sephardic culture and scholarship knows no bounds, neither does my gratitude to them. Autores, objetivos y versiones del Iguéret ha-Šabat de Ibn Ezra, una polémica acerca de herejías calendáricas.– El Iguéret ha-Šabat del rabino Abraham ibn Ezra es un breve trabajo polémico de apenas tres capítulos, que trata de las herejías calendá-ricas. En el prólogo se describen las fantásticas circunstancias que rodearon su compo- ? I would like to thank Marc Shapiro, Gad Freudenthal, Emma Abate, Justine Isserles, Shimon Steinmetz, Jose Manuel Fradejas Rueda and anonymous reviewers for their valuable input. I acknowledge support received from The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. Most research was carried out at the National Library of Israel, which graciously granted access to manuscripts and rare books and whose staff privided vital bibliographic guidance. As Jean Rafael and Tania Guetta’s love of Sephardic culture and scholarship knows no bounds, neither does my gratitude to them. ? leor [email protected] sición, pues el šabat se le apareció a Ibn Ezra en un sueño y, por medio de un poético lamento, le amonestó por haber contribuido a la herética desacralización del šabat. Han corrido ríos de tinta acerca de si el trabajo herético rebatido es el Comentario de R. Samuel ben Meir (Rašbam). En este artículo se revisan todas las publicaciones que hay sobre el tema, y se presta atención especial al estudio seminal de Samuel Poznański, publicado en 1897, en el que se identifica la herejía con la oscura secta mishawita. Por primera vez, se pone de relieve la importancia del manuscrito más antiguo, el copiado en Lérida en 1382, que constituye la base de la poco conocida edición de 1840. La autenticidad del prólogo fantástico –publicado previamente y de manera aislada en varios volúmenes rabínicos– había sido puesta en duda durante el siglo xviii. En apéndice se analiza el manuscrito que Samuel David Luzzatto (Šadal) corrigió mientras preparaba su edición. Una nota inédita recoge un responsum de R. Hai Gaon, que parafrasearon Ibn Ezra o sus discípulos en dos obras diferentes, referente a las supersticiones tecufot y a las fuerzas mágicas asociadas a los solsticios y equinocios.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Library of Israel | |
| Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture |
Keywords
- Abraham Ibn Ezra
- Jewish Calendar
- Karaites
- Mishawites
- Samuel David Luzzatto