THE AUTHOR

THE AUTHOR'S NAME

On the very first page of his Commentary to the Principles, our

author identifies himself as follows: "I, I:Ioter, the son of my father
[and] master, Shel6m6, may his soul be in Eden, the son of al-Mu<al-
lim, may his soul be bound up in the bond of life, ... " In the course
of this Commentary, our author mentions another of his works, his
commentary to the Torah entitled, Siraj al-'Uqul and, in one
of the poems in this commentary, it is written: "I, I:Ioter, saw it
with my eyes; and the name of my father, my master, is Rav
Shel6m6" .1) This would not seem at all strange were it not for the
fact that a scholar, probably of the next generation, David al-Lawa-
ni, lists the author of the Siraj at-<Uqul as Man~iir al-Dhamari. 2)
Fortunately, this problem is easily solved by referring to the intro-
ductory lines of our author's Responsa which read :3) "The author,
Man~iir ibn Suleiman, al-Dhamari, said, 'In the year ... Now, the
time has come that I, I:Ioter, the son of [my] father and master,
Shel6m6, may his soul be in Eden, the son of al-Mu <allim, may the
memory of the righteous be a blessing ... ' " Our author, then, was
known by his Arabic name: Man~iir ibn Suleiman and also by his
Hebrew name: I:Ioter ben Shel6m6. 4)
The name, I:Ioter, is one of the "names of salvation" common
among the Yemenites and is based upon Isaiah II: r. 5) Only two
other occurences of this name are known to me. 6) The name,

1 ) Siraj, "Vayishlah" JTS 53b, HU 62b. This poem was not noticed by

previous researchers. Cf. below p. 4, n. 6, for a discussion of the manuscripts.

2 ) David al-Lawani, al-Wajiz al-Mughni, as cited by M. Steinschneider,

Die arabische Literatur der ]uden, section 205, p. 255; Catalogue of the Bodleian
Library, ms. number 2493, p. 885; and I. Ratshabi, "Sifrut Yehudei Teman",
Kiryat Sefer, 28 :263.
3 ) D. Sassoon, Ohel David, ms. 827 I, fol. 508.
4 ) The scribal heading in SAS to the Commentary and to the Responsa lists

our author as Rabbi l;Ioter ben Shelomo, al-Dhamari.

5 ) This information comes from my revered teacher, Dr. S. D. Goitein, in

private conversation. On the basis of it, Ohel David should be changed to read
"l;Ioter" and not "Heter". Dr. Z. Ankori has suggested that perhaps the
Arabic "Mani;;iir" is meant to play upon the Hebrew "netser" from the second
phrase of the verse in Isaiah and Dr. Goitein adds that this is also a messianic
name, especially in Yemen.
6 ) Ms. Berlin, number 101, Catalogue, p. 68, (also cited in A. Neubauer,

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 4 THE ANALYTIC INTRODUCTION

Man;;ii.r, however, is not an uncommon name. 1) The addition to our

author's name of "Aboo" by the late Prof. Kohut 2) has no basis in
the manuscripts and was treated with reserve by Steinschneider
and Ratshabi. 3) The name, al-Dhamari, is, as has been noted, 4 )
derived from a place-name and is not a family as Kohut suggested,
a fact which is confirmed by the text of Nur al-f,alam where
Dhamar is listed as a city in East Yemen. 5)

THE AUTHOR'S WORKS

The existing works of our author are: Siraj at-<Uqul, his commen-
tary to the Torah ;6) a Supercommentary to Maimonides' Commentary

"Introduction to the Arabic Literature of the Jews", ]QR, o.s., X:53r) lists
"Rabbi I;Ioter ha-Cohen" in Yemen in r497. N. Golb, Spertus Catalogue of
judaica Yemenite Manuscripts (Spertus College of Judaica Press, Chicago:
r972) p. ix, n. 25 lists "Solomon ben Hoter, al-'Uzeiri" in r699.
1) Ms. Berlin, ibid.; Ratshabi, 28 :409.
2 ) A. Kohut, "Notes on a Hitherto Unknown Exegetical, Theological and

Philosophical Commentary to the Pentateuch", Proceedings of the Jewish

Theological Seminary of America Association, r892, p. r3 reads: "It is there-
fore obvious to my mind that, we encounter here no one else than the renown-
ed author of the Siraj al-'Uqul, whose name is Aboo Man'.(:ur al-Dhamari."
3 ) Steinschneider, ibid., section 204, p. 255, he writes: "[abu]". Ratshabi,

28:408, lists the "Aboo" but, in 33:rr5, he deletes it.

4 ) Cf. Neubauer, ibid., X:520, number 146b; XII:r24, number r46b (also

cited in Steinschneider, ibid., section 204, p. 254) and XI: 142, number 355.
The reference in Kohut is top. r4.
5 ) M'or ha-'Afeila, ed. and transl. Y. Qafih, 74. Cf. also (E.I.) 2 , sub "Dha-
mar", that is was a district and village, the latter being South of $an<a, on the
road to Aden. The following description is also given:
Le district de Dhamar etait tres fertile, et possedait de riches champs de
ble, de magnifique jardins et de nombreux et anciens palais et citadelles.
On l'appelait a cause de sa fertilite, le Mi~;r du Yaman ....
La ville de Dhamar etait le centre de la sect zayidiya; elle avait une
celebre madrasa frequentee par 500 etudiants.
We are also told that there were many Jews in the district which was also,
famous for its horses. Dhamar declined as a center when the zayyidite regime
ceased in $an 'a but exists even today. The only date of our author, r423,
places him in Dhamar during the reign of the Zaydites, 1375-1456 (cf. ibid.,
sub "$an 'a").
6) For Genesis and Exodus, there are two manuscripts: one at the Library
of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, number 5254, and one at the
Hebrew University and National Library, number Heb. 8°2059. I wish to
express my sincere thanks to Drs. Schmelzer and Nadav for making xerox
copies of the manuscripts available to me. These manuscripts are designated
"JTS" and "HU", respectively. The pages are frequently out of order. For
Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, there is only one manuscript:
number k: r48 of the Library of the Jewish Institute of Religion. I wish to
thank Dr. Kiev and Dr. Blau of Columbia University for the microfilm of the

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 THE AUTHOR 5

to the Mishna; 1) his Responsa; 2 ) and the Commentary to the Princi-

ples.3) Our author refers also to his Commentary to Rosh ha-Shana, 4 )
his Commentary to Esther 5 ) and his responses to Da>ud ibn Sa <ad 6 )
and to some Jews from ShiyaJ:i,7) although we do not have copies of
these four works.
The sequence of these works is very difficult to determine because

manuscript and Dr. Schmelzer for having traced it. This manuscript used
to be in the possession of Deinard and served as the basis for Kohut's study,
which is the only part of the Siraj ever to have been published. It is designated
"JIR". N. Golbin the Spertus Catalogue, ms. c-II, appears to have excerpts
from Siraj for Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Ratshabi does not
seem to know of the manuscripts available although Kasher knew of the
Seminary manuscript (cf. Torah Sheleymah, 15, "anokhi", where it is trans-
lated as Ner ha-Sekhalim). "Siraj al-'Uqul means, however, "the lamp of the
intellectuals" (cf. Wright, II: 304/206 :C).
1 ) Okel David, 827G. I wish to express my thanks to Rabbi Sassoon and

Dr. Nadav for supplying the photocopies of all the manuscripts needed from
the Sassoon collection.
2 ) Ibid., 827I. There were two editions of them by the author himself, see

below.
3 ) Cf. xi-xii, for a discussion of the manuscripts.
4 ) Responsum #78 (also cited Okel David, 545).
5 ) Siraj, Parasha not certain but near the end of Exodus (JTS 88b; HU

l36a). All the works of our author, with the exception of the Commentary to
Esther, are mentioned by Ratshabi.
6 ) In the second decade of the fourteenth century (so Qafih, M'or

ha-'Afeila, 9) an allegorical commentary to the Torah was written called

Kitab al-lfaqa'iq ("The Book of the Truths") in the city of $a'da. There
appears to be only one copy of this book in the possession of Rav Qafih (ibid.,
9: n. l). The allegories proved so preposterous that a polemic developed over
the book. Rabbi Netan'el ben Yesha'yahu in his Nur al-:{alam, (edited by
Qafih as M'or ha-'Afeila) cited an example of the method in the story of the
Flood and rejected it (ed. Qafih, 74, with note 4 that the allegory cited refers
to K. al-lfaqa'iq). Furthermore, the rabbis of the city of $an'a mocked the
book, calling it Kitab al-Khaqa'iq ("The Book of Jokes, or Nonesense")
(Ratshabi, 28: 263-4), attacked the book, and excommunicated its author
(Qafih, ibid.). The book was, in turn, defended by the scholars of $a '<la, among
them a certain Da'iid ibn Sa'ad whose defence was contained in a set of
Ten Questions [and Answers]. This defense was, in turn, attacked ( ?) by our
author almost roo years after K. al-lfaqa'iq was written (Siraj, "Bereshit",
JTS 3a-b, HU 5b-7a; Ratshabi, 33: 115). Cf. now Qafih, "Ktav Hagana
mi-Teman 'al ha-Shita ha-'Allegorit be-Feirush ha-Miqra," (Hebrew),
Kobetz al-Yad, 1951, 40-63. His identification of Da'ud ibn Sa'ad [ibn Sulei-
man] al-$a'adi as the chief rabbi of $an'a and, hence, an opponent and not a
defender of the K. al-lfaqa'iq (42) seems to be brought into question by the
quotation from our author where Da'ud ibn Sa'ad is clearly identified as a
defender of K. al-lfaqa'iq.
7 ) Ar., "yahud min al-shiya/:ii" in Siraj, "Eiqev", JIR, 83a (cited also by

Ratshabi, 28: 394). Cf., perhaps, Golb, pp. xv, 9, l 7, that there was a Jewish
settlement in the town al-?Yl:i which he reads as "al-$ai/:i".

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6 THE ANALYTIC INTRODUCTION

each of the major works, as we have them before us, refers to all the
others. The starting point of a tentative unraveling of this problem
must be the introductory lines of the Responsa 1) where the author
says that: "In the year 1423, 2) the occasion to compose Seventy
Questions and their answers from the words of our Sages, may their
memory be a blessing, as well as from the words of the philosophers
presented itself. Now, the time has come that I, I:Ioter ... , compose
[another] thirty questions so that the total be One Hundred Ques-
tions. This, however, is only a paltry [contribution], for the totality
[of knowledge] belongs to the Sages, may their memory be a
blessing." The version of the Questions, i.e., the Responsa, which
follows in SAS-and it is the only manuscript we have of them-is
of the One Hundred Questions, although only 93 l/2 are preserved.
This version of the Responsa includes references to Siraj al-<Uqul
and the Commentary.
There are three references to the Responsa in the literature: Siraj,
"Vayetse": "I have explained this in Question 33 of the One
Hundred Questions" ;3) Siraj, "Shbftim": "in [one of] the questions
of the One Hundred Questions ;4) Commentary: "Before the time
of the Jana', I composed Seventy Questions and the issue of Shi<ur
Qomah was among them. I divided it into two questions: number 19
and number 50". 6) Crosschecking the references shows that the
issue of Jacob's ladder is, indeed, dealt with in Responsum #33 but
the issue of Shi<ur Qomah is dealt with in Responsa #35 and 67 of
the One Hundred Questions' edition.
From the above, we can safely induce that: (1) the version of the
Commentary in SAS follows the Seventy Questions and precedes the
One Hundred Questions; and (2) the version of Siraj al-<Uqul in our
manuscripts follows the One Hundred Questions. From the author's
discussion of thejana', 6 ) we can add that both the Commentary and
the Siraj al-'Uqul followed the Seventy Questions since the author
says he wrote the former after the Jana' and the latter before it.
This could only be confirmed, however, if we were to have a text of

1)SAS, 827 I, fol. 508 (also cited in Ohel David, 545).

2)Cf. 7, n. 1, for a discussion of the author's dates.
3 ) JTS 49b, missing HU.
4 ) JIR 88b; not cited by Kohut.
5 ) SAS, 827 H, fol. 494. The parallel texts in JTS and QAF read: " ... to

compose questions, the issue of Shi'ur Qomah being among them"-i.e., the
edition of the Responsa and the numbers of the questions are missing!
6) Cf. IO, below.

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 THE AUTHOR 7

the Seventy Questions which would be free from reference to the

author's later works.
The sequence would thus seem to be: the Seventy Questions
edition of the Responsa (1423), [the Jana'], a first edition of Siraj
al-'Uqul (cited by the next work listed, but which is no longer
existent), the Commentary according to SAS, the One Hundred
Questions edition of the Responsa, and a second edition of Siraj
al-'Uqul (citing the work just listed). Thus, the places of the Super-
commentary, the Commentary to Rosh ha-Shana, our author's other
correspondence, the Commentary to Esther, and the Commentary to
the Principles (in the JTS and QAF editions) in the sequence of the
author's works remain unknown.
THE AUTHOR'S MILIEU
R. I:loter appears to have lived in an intellectually active milieu.
From the introductory lines to his Responsa, we know that he wrote
his edition of Seventy Questions in the year 1423. 1 ) The possibility
that this edition may be among the earlier works of our author would
lead us to believe that he continued to write for some years to come,
thus placing his jloruit in the second, third, and fourth decades of the
fifteenth century. Fortunately, several studies have been made of the
literature of the Jews of Yemen 2) and, according to the most recent
of them, our author, who wrote eight works that we know of, could
count the following men and their works as his predecessors:
R. Netan'el ben Yesha'yahu, author of Nur al 4'alam (1329) 3) and
a Commentary on the Mishneh Torah; 4) R. Sa'adia ben Zecharia,
author of Hilkhot Shehita (1308) ;5) R. Ma 'uza ben Shelomo, al-Dani,
author of 'Ibbur Shanim ( ?1329, ?1346) ;6) David al-'Adeni, the
1) Heb.: 'tshld li-shefiirot (cited in Ohel David, 545 and Ratshabi, 28 :394).

Note that the date 1339 for Siraj given by Ratshabi in 28: 261 is withdrawn
by him as a printing error in 33: II I.
2 ) A. Kohut, Studies in Yemen-Hebrew Literature, 1894; A. Neubauer,

"Introduction to the Arabic Literature of the Jews", ]QR, o.s., X: II9-l38,

513-540; XI: l 15-149, 305-345, 480-489, 585-625; XII: l 14-132, 195-212,
481-501, 602-617; XIII: 92-no, 296-320, 446-487; and Steinschneider, op. cit.
All these are superseded by I. Ratshabi, "Sifrut Yehudei Teman", Kiryat
Sefer, 28: 255-280, 394-409; 33: II l-II7; and 34: ro9-II6. Unfortunately,
Ratshabi did not index his authors by date and the information presented
here has been culled by me from his essay. See now S D. Goitein, From the
Land of Sheba (rev. ed.: 1973) l-30.
3 ) Ratshabi, 28: 261 and 34: ro9 ('trm ti-she.tarot).
4 ) Ibid., 28: 274.
5 ) Ibid., 28: 269 ('tryf li-shefarot).
6 ) Ibid., 33: l 14, 399. Note the confusion of dates there.

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8 THE ANALYTIC INTRODUCTION

compiler of Midrash ha-Gadol (about 1400), 1) and the author of

Kitab al-lfaqa>iq.2)
Our author's most productive older contemporary was R. Zechar-
ya ben Shelomo, ha-Rofe> (also known as R. Y ahya ibn Suleiman,
al-tabib/aHiakim/al-'isra>ili) who, according to one source, was even
of the city of Dhamar, as was our author. 3) R. Zecharya wrote ten
books that we know of, including a commentary to the Torah (1427),
a commentary to that commentary, and an abridgement of it ;4)
commentaries to Maimonides' Commentary to the Mishnah, Mishneh
Torah (also 1427), Sefer ha-Mitsvot, and Guide ;5) a commentary to
the Ma<aseh Merkabah, a philosophical treatise, and a medical
treatise. 6 ) Another older contemporary was R. Abraham ben
Shelomo, author of Midrash al-$iyani (1422). 7)
His younger contemporaries include: Sa <jd ben David (also
known as Sa <jd ibn Da>ud and Sa 'adya ben Da'ud), also of the city
of Dhamar, the author of Hilkhot Shehita (1446) and Midrash
ha-Bei>ur (1441) ;8 ) and Sar Shalom ben David, the author of
, Azharot Pesal.i (1451). 9) Ratshabi's list also contains a R. I:Iosen,
al-Dhamari, who wrote a book on the laws of slaughtering but no
date is g ven. 10) Our author also had contact with non-Jews. 11)
I shall mention the scholars who were probably of the immediately
succeeding generation in order to complete the picture of the intellec-
tual milieu of Yemen at that time and because one of them mentions
our author: R. Netan>el ben Yitsl:J.aqi, author of Sejer Margaliot
(1464) ;12) R Sa'id ben David, al-<Adeni/al-Temani/al-Yamani (also
known as Sa 'adya ben David and not, I believe, identical with the
1) So Ratshabi, 28: 262. That the contemporaries of our author used
Midrash ha-Gadol as a source is confirmed by Dr. Margulies, p. Ir of his
introductory note.
2) See p. 5, n. 6 above.
3 ) Cited from al-Wajiz al-Mughni in Ratshabi, 28:263.

4) Ratshabi, 28: 261-2 and 33: II r ('tshlfi li-shefarot).

5 ) Ibid., 28: 274, 278.
6) Ibid., 28:401, 267, and 402. The indices on 28:409 and 34:524 must be

corrected to include this last work.

7) Ibid., 28: 267 and 33: II2.
B) For The Laws, Ratshabi, 28: 269 ('tshnz Zi-shefarot); for Midrash ha-
Bei 'ur, Ratshabi, 28 : 262; 33 : I I 2; and 34 :09-r ro ( 'tshnb li-shefarot; hr' la-
yetsira).
9 ) Ibid., 28: 273 ('tsha' li-shefarot). Ratshabi's date of 1448 should be

corrected to read 145r.

10) Ibid., 28: 269.
11 ) Siraj, "Terumah, (]TS rora; HU ?).
12 ) Ratshabi, 28:276 and 33:n3 ('tsh'h li-shefarot).

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 THE AUTHOR 9

older man of the same name cited above), author of Tsofnat Pa<ane-
a'IJ, (r45r-r485), Najat al-Ghariqin (1482), a Commentary to the
Mishneh Torah (1478-1483), and Lua'IJ, Gidulin (r467) ;1) and
Da'iid al-Lawani (also known as David ha-Levi from $an<a), the
author of a Commentary to Hilkhot She'IJ,ifa, a Commentary to Sefer
ha-Mitsvo', and al-Wajiz al-Mughni (r484-r493). 2) It is in this last
work, that R. I:Ioter is cited as the author of Siraj al-<Uqul.3)
It would be very interesting to know what effect R. I:Ioter had on
this active environment. Unfortunately, the reference in Da'iid
al-Lawani is the only direct reference available to us although it
must be said that most of these texts are unpublished. The effect of
this milieu on our author is easier to determine. Again and again,
our author complains of the ignorance and superficiality of the
scholars of his day: He gives that ignorance as the reason which
prompted him to write both his Commentary 4 ) and the Siraj al-
<Uqul.5) He accuses his contemporaries of not having the answers to
his questions, 6 ) of not understanding the Jewish mystic texts,7) and
of blindly following one another. 8) It would even appear that the
publication of his works aroused the antagonism of his contempora-
ries for he complains of being attacked for his views on prophecy, 9 )on
the length of time that a woman who has just given birthisimpure, 10)
for citing opinions opposed to prophecy,11) for citing opinions in
1) Ibid., 28: 262 for the first two books, the latter dating from rmb la-yetsi-

ra; 28: 2 76 for the Commentary (tshts-tshth li-shefiiri5t) ; and 28: 399 for the last
work (ths'! li-shefiiri5t).
2 ) Ibid., 28: 277, 278, and 262, respectively (hrng la-yetsira).
3 ) In 33: III, Ratshabi claims that Da'iid al-Lawani must have known our
author because he mentions his name without the remark "May his memory
be a blessing" although even Ratshabi admits that the gap between 1423 (the
composition of the Seventy Questions) and 1484 (the beginning of the composi-
tion of al-Wajiz) is very large. Ratshabi did not note that al-Lawani also
cites R. Netan'el ben Yesha'yahu, the author of Nur al-:?aliim without the
benedictory phrase and R. Netan'el lived a full 155 years before al-Wajiz
was begun.
4 ) Cf. 49.
5 ) Siraj, "Mishpatim" (JTS 96a, 97b; HU 124a): that explaining the
secrets of revelation [which he believed his contemporaries had poorly
expounded] is the reason for the writing of Siraj. The missing "Introduction"
to Siraj would be helpful here.
6 ) Cf. 94.
7 ) Siraj, "Mishpatim" (]TS 95b; HU 124b).
8 ) Siraj, "Emor" (JIR 26b).
9 ) Cf. 125.
10) Ibid., 163.
11) Ibid., II8,

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IO THE ANALYTIC INTRODUCTION

favor of the eternity of the world, 1) for citing opinions challenging

the Resurrection, 2) and for his theory of the intellect and the soul. 3)
His repeated statement of intention that he will reveal the secrets
also met opposition. 4)
To defend himself, our author takes refuge in Maimonides'
quotations from Aristotle, 5) in proverbs, 6 ) and, failing all else, he
counsels the advocate of truth to avoid dialogue with the spokesmen
of ignorance."') He, thus, counts himself among al-falasifa al-
mu'f:taqqiqun ("the true philosophers") and not among mutakallimi
zamanina ("the theologians of our day"). 8)
Before proceeding to an analysis of R. I.Ioter' s sources, there is one
more biographical note to relate, fragmentary though it is. In the
Commentary, our author tells us that, before a certain disaster, he
composed his Seventy Questions edition of his Responsa 9) and that
he also studied the deepest secrets of the Torah 10) at that time.
During this f ana', he continued his studies and eventually found an
answer. 11) After it, hewrotethe5iraj al-'Uqul and theCommentary. 12)

1) Ibid., 98.
2) Ibid., 187.
3 ) Siraj, "Ki Tissa'" (JTS unnumbered page 3a; HU 126a): "As to the

mutakallimun of our time, whenever I mention any of this [i.e., the nature of
the intellect and the soul] to them, they increase their stupidity and repul-
siveness. The only remedy from them is to turn away from them for they
loathe logic and philosophy. They do not know that he who has no hand in
philosophy, one of whose subjects is logic, cannot know [the true nature of]
either the angels, or the intellect, or the soul, or nature, or the "crowns"
mentioned here, or the species, or the genera, or the essences or any of the
truths [of reality]." Cf. also Responsum #50 on the inability of the mutakalli-
mun to grasp this issue.
4 ) Siraj, "Vayaqhel" (JTS 87a; HU 13ob) that one of mutakallimun warned

him not to publish the secrets but he does so anyway. Cf. also Siraj, "Mish-
patim" (JTS 96a, 97b; HU 124a): "Not that I am more eloquent than those
who have preceded me. Rather, I have promised [myself] that I will not
conceal any secret [so HU] in my book as long as I am able to clarify it [so
that it be a source of] perfection for the researcher even though this be in spite
of the zealous". Cf. also 135 and the author's presentation of the Shi'ur
Qomah texts,
5 ) Cf. 119.
6 ) Ibid., 118, n. 2.
7 ) Ibid., 58; Siraj, cf. above note 3; cf. 199 where the eleven types of

people with whom dialogue is to be avoided are listed.

8 ) Cf. 62, 125 respectively.
9 ) Cf. 139, with the critical notes ad Joe.
10) Ibid., 94.
11) Ibid.

12) Ibid.

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 THE AUTHOR II

He does mention the date of this Jana> in the "Introduction" to

Siraj al-'Uqul 1) but, unfortunately, that part of the text is missing
in both our manuscripts. The Jana> itself was probably a disaster of
some kind, probably an epidemic or plague. 2)
THE AUTHOR'S SOURCES

The sources used by our author fall into three categories: works,
or authors, quoted by name; material cited accurately enough to be
safely identified as a borrowing even where the source is not
mentioned by our author; and material that has a ring and a
cadence to it such that I believe it is borrowed even though I cannot
identify the source.
The Jewish works and/or authors actually cited by R. I:Ioter are
the following: First and foremost, Maimonides is quoted and
referred to and his authority, even 300 years after his death, was so
overwhelming that our author only needed to say, "Our Rabbi, may
his memory be a blessing, says" in order to identify his source as
Maimonides. Especially indicative of our author's attitude towards
Maimonides is the following interpretation of the last sentence of
the Torah :3 )
This verse was said of the Moses of our time 4 ) as it was said of
Moses, the son of 'Amram, may their memory be a blessing. It is said
of Moses, the son of 'Amram, "and concerning all things [which have
to do with] the might of the hand" and the Moses of our time wrote
fourteen books, equivalent to yad ("hand"), that is, The Composition
[i.e., the Mishne Torah]. And it is said of Moses, the son of 'Amram,
"and concerning all those things [which have to do with} awesome
terror [moriP]" and the Moses of our time wrote the Mor eh N evukhim,
which is the Dalalat al-Ifa'irzn [i.e., the Guide to the Perplexed]-
may the memories of the saints be a blessing. 6 )
Indeed, our author's attitude is reflective of that of Yemenite
1) Ibid., and 139, according to JTS and QAF.
2) Dr. S. D. Goitein in private correspondence to me. Cf. also Golb, p. ix,
n. 20, quoting Y. L. Nahum, Misefunoth Yehudei Teman (Tel Aviv: 1962),
253-4: "We are informed in the Midrash ha-Ifefes of R. Zechariah Halevi that
in the year 1436 'there was a great plague [in Yemen], only a few people
remaining alive in the cities ... ' " For a description of a devastating famine,
cf. Goitein, From the Land of Sheba, r25-6.
3 } Siraj, "Vezot ha-Berakha", (JIR n4a; also cited by Kohut, 25).
4 ) Heb., Moshe ha-zemiin. Cf. also Comm., SAS 492. In private correspon-

dence Rav Qafih informs me that this title is common in Yemenite literature.
Cf. 127.
5 ) Kohut, 25: n.6, is wrong in attributing the concluding phrase to the
Guide and not to the two Moses'.

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12 THE ANALYTIC INTRODUCTION

Jewry as a whole. Already, in Maimonides' life-time, missions were

sent from Yemen to copy his works. 1) And, after his death, "There
was no book written in Yemen after the period of Maimonides in
which the latter does not occupy the chief place." 2)
The other Jewish sources cited by name by our author are: the
Targum, 3 ) Pirqei d'Rabbi Eliezer, 4 ) Shi<ur Qomah/') 'Otioyot d>Rabbi
Akiba, 6) Kitab aPAmanat [>Emunot v-De>ot of Saadia Gaon];7)
Saadia's Commentary to Se/er Yestira; 8 ) an interpretation of Gen.
49:14according to Judah ha-Levi; 9) a poem of Abraham ibn Ezra; 10)
lbn Yesha <yahu [Nur al-4-aliim], 11 )Kitab al-Ifaqa>iq and the Defense

1) J. Qafih in his Introductory note to M. Havazelet, Maimonides and the

Geonites (Jerusalem-New York, 1967), 13.

2 ) ] • Qafih in M'or ha-'Afeila, p. 8 of the Introduction.
3 ) Responsa #29, 39, 6I, 64.
4 ) Responsa #57, 58, 65, 68, 92. Cf. below, 13 for quotations without the

source being given. Siraj, "Al;tarei Mot" (JIR 18b); "Bamidbar" (JIR 34b;
both overlooked by Kohut); "Vayetse" (HU 56b; missing JTS). Cf. also 37.
6 ) Cf. 135, and Responsa #35 and 67.
6 ) Responsum #67, Siraj, "Bel:mqotai" (]IR 31b; Kohut, 18). Cf. below,

13 for quotations without the source being given.

7 ) Siraj, "Vezot ha-Berakha" (]IR noa; Kohut, 19).
8 ) Ibid., "Vitro" (]TS 87b, HU 117a).
9 ) Ibid., "Vayehi" (]TS 25a, HU missing).
10 ) Ibid., Parasha not certain (]TS unnumbered pages 6b; HU missing).

The poem is 'el na<aratz besod gelalo, uqedoshav beyado; shem 'otot shemo <al
diglo, baruch shem kevodo. Cf. 13, that this poem is cited again anonymously.
11) The Nur al-?alam is quoted three times; Siraj, "Vayigash" (]TS 7ob;

BU 77b) (corresponding top. 170, ed. Qafih); "Beshalah" (HU xo8b; missing
inJTS) (correspondingtoQafih, 213-214)-The issue under discussion is the
practice oflowering the voice during the ritual reading of Ex. 14: 19-21, a
custom no longer practiced by Yemenite ] ews (So Qafih, note 6, ad loc). Ibn
Yesha<yahu says it is because the "cloud" is the cloud of prophecy while the
"pillar" symbolizes the separated Intelligences. Our author says that the
reason is that the first verse contains the secret to the Name of the Forty
Two Letters since the total of its letters is 42 while the total number of letters
in the three verses is 71, corresponding to the Supernal Court (cf. 72).
R. Boter's association is correct but his counting is wrong. (Cf. Kasher,
Torah Sheleymah, "Beshalal)." (vol. 14), p. 67 and, especially the supplemen-
tary note, p. 284-286, where: the tradition of lowering the voice for the reading
of these verses is cited from Midrash ha-Be'ur [written by a younger contem-
porary of our author, cf. above]; a full chart of the Seventy-Two [and not
Seventy-One] Names is given. Cf. also the Mishna, "Sukkot'', 4: 5, with the
full Tosephot Yorn Tov, ad loc, and Rashi, to "Sukka", 45a). Verse 18 (and
not 19) of Ex. 14 does, indeed, have 42 letters but I have found no tradition
on its connection with the Name of Forty-Two Letters.-And "Balak",
(]IR 57b; Kohut, 19) (corresponding to Qafih, 443). Again, the context is
interesting: Nu. 23:23 is interpreted to apply to Maimonides[!] and the
latter's tradition about the renewal of prophecy in his days (Cf. Qafih, ad loc

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 THE AUTHOR 13

of it by Da'ud ibn Sa <ad, 1) an anonymous Commentary to the

Principles, 2) Kitab al-Faraj ba<d al-Shidda, 3 ) and an anonymous
Commentary to the Se/er Yetsira. 4 )
The following are the Jewish sources used in cases where the
material quoted is sufficiently close to the known texts so as to
remove all reasonable doubt about its having been borrowed:
Pirqei d'Rabbi Eliezer/') 'Otiyot d' Rabbi Akiba, 6) the poem of
Abraham ibn Ezra, 7) various Talmudic and classical midrashic
sources, 8) the prayerbook, 9 ) and the M idrash ha-Gadol. 10 )
The following non-Jewish sources are cited by our author by
name: Rasa'il Ikhwan al-$afa',11) Kitab al-Shi/a' of Avicenna, 12)
Maqa$idal-Falasifaofal-Ghazzali, 13 ) theQoran, 14) KitabAkhbar Mi$r
of al-sheikh Abu $alt, 15) Kitab al-Masalik, 16 ) al-'Ilahiyyat of Razi, 17)

and A. Halkin, Maimonides' Epistle to Yemen, xii:n. 78 and 82). Both Ibn
Yesha'yahu and our author accept the date, even though it had passed, as
nonetheless, an indication of the validity of Gd's redemptive promise!
1) Cf. p. 5, n. 6 above.
2) Cf. 49.
3 ) Ibid. 195. The book is otherwise unknown in Jewish circles.
4 ) Siraj, "Yitro" (]TS 87b; HU 117a).
5 ) Cf. the Index of Sources. Much more work must be done on Siraj and
Responsa to complete this paragraph.
6 ) Cf. 196 with the notes ad loc.
7 ) Siraj, "Mishpatim" (JTS 95a; HU 126b).
8 ) Cf. Index of Sources.
9 ) Cf. 68 and 164-5.
111) Ibid., 69, n. 6 and Siraj "Va'ethanan", (JIR 79b).
11 ) Cf. the Index of Sources and Responsum #87. Cf. below for quotations

without the source being given.

12 ) Siraj, "Ki Tetsei" (JIR 94b; missed by Kohut).
13 ) Responsum #52. Cf. below for quotations without the source being
given.
14 ) Cf. 150; Siraj, "Mishpatim" (]TS 95a; HU 125a).
16 ) Siraj, "Shelah" (]IR 46b; Kohut, 41) identified by Steinschneider,
p. 254, section 204: "(ohne Zweifel identisch mit Risala. al-Misrijja [sic] bei
Os. II, 62, woraus Stellen bei Chwolsohn, s.V.A. 94 S. 29)". The quotation
recurs with only the author's name in the Commentary (cf. 178). Cf. (E.l.) 2 ,
"Abu $alt" where the name is recorded as Umayya b. Abd al-Aziz b. Abi
$alt al-Andalusi, born 1067, author of Rasa'il Mi;;riyya.
16 ) Siraj, "Vayetze" (JTS 48a; HU missing) and ibid., "Shela))." (JIR 46a;
Kohut, 40). Cf. Steinschneider, ibid.
17 ) Siraj, "Vayetse" (JTS 5oa; 51b; HU 54a) on how to fly through the air.
Our author says he confirmed the possibility of this by talking to an expert
in the field. Cf. Maimonides' disdain of this book in Guide, III :12 and Pines'
notes, lx and cxxi-ii.

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14 THE ANALYTIC INTRODUCTION

Sefer Yetsiratha-Vlad, 1)Kitabal-Ni?am, 2)Abf1 Ja <far, Mul).ammed ibn

Musa al-'Ardebili,3) <Ali ibn Al).med al-Balkhi, 4) the poet al-Hariri, 5)
Kitab al-'Adab 6) perhaps identical with the ">Adab of Aristotle",7)
an anonymous book of the Kalam, 8 ) an anonymous source for the
eleven types of persons to be avoided, 9) and Kitab al-Tabi<iyya. 10)
There are also some anonymous poems, 11) one of which can be identi-
fied as being by the poet al-I:Iallaj, 12) as well as several sayings and
proverbs common in the Arab world. 13)
The following are the non-Jewish sources used in cases where the
material quoted is sufficiently close to the known texts so as to
remove all reasonable doubt about its having been borrowed: the
Qoran, 14 ) Rasa,il Ikhwan al-$aja> 15) and Maqa!jid al-Falasifa. 16)
There were also two very interesting quotations in the Siraj

1 ) Siraj, "Shemot" (JTS 23a; HU missing), that the Israelite women in

Egypt could not have given birth to five or six children at a time. On this
book, cf. Kitab Ma'ani al-Nafs, IX:41, and M. Steinschneider, Die hebrai-
schen Ubersetzungen des Mittelalters und die juden als Dolmetscher (Graz:
1956), section 428, p. 671, for a similar title on the same subject which was a
translation from the Arabic.
2 ) Siraj, "VayishlaJ:i" (JTS 7oa; HU 64a).
3 ) Siraj, "Emor" (JIR 26b-27a; Kohut, 41). Even Steinschneider remarks

"scheint unbekannt" (ibid). He was a philosopher and wrote (?)Fi al-Taqlid

wa-siMiat al-'Ulum.
4 ) Siraj, "Balak" (JIR 57b; missed by Kohut). He was an astronomer.
5 ) Siraj, "Mas'ei" (]IR 66b; Kohut, 41).
6 ) Siraj, "Hayye Sarah" (]TS 37a; HU 41b).
7 ) Siraj, "Mas'ei" (]IR 67b; missed by Kohut).

8 ) Cf. 97.
9 ) Ibid., 199.
10) Responsum #57·
11 ) Cf. 61; 64, n. 7; 65; 118 the second one being in Hebrew. Siraj,

"Lekh Lekha" (JTS 13a; HU 18a): dawaka fika wa-lam tash'aru; wa-'daka
minka wa-tastankaru; Aristotle is mentioned. Siraj, "Terumah" (JTS roob;
HU 129b): ya qa~idi na(iwa al-'ilah bi-fikratika; la-qad 'ajiztu wa-'azza
'ilahi. Siraj, "Ki Tissa" (JTS 122b; HU 126a): 'idha lanat 'alat al-'ilm musha-
wwashtan ( ?) ; wa-laysa yudrak al-'ilm 'illa biha. It is in praise of logic. A
closer analysis may reveal more such poems.
12 ) The same poem occurs several times. Cf. Appendix II.
13 ) Kull mujtahid mu~ib. Cf. 50. 'Afisanuhu 'akdhabubu. Ibid. 'Al-'ajz
'an dark al-'idrak 'idrak. Ibid. 65, n. 2. 'A 'rafukum bi-nafsihi, 'a'rafukum
bi-rabbihi. Ibid., 62, n. 3. Man 'arafa nafsahu 'arafa rabbahu. Ibid. ~udur
al-'afirar qubur 'al-'asrar. Ibid., 99, n. 3. 'Unzuru al->Isra'il[iyun] 'ilahakum.
Siraj, "Ki Tissa" (]TS 78b; HU 117b).
1 4 ) Cf. 65: n. 1 and 95: n. 1.
15 ) Ibid., 87-8, 97-3, Ill-!12.
16) Ibid., 60, 78. Closer study of the other texts of our author would prob-
ably yield more such material.

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 THE AUTHOR 15
(which was, after all, a commentary to the Torah) from Mohammed!
Thus: 1)
The prophet, may Gd pray for him and give him peace ($alla 'alayhi
'Allah wa-sallama). said: "Themost beloved of the practices (al-suna)
is [that which is] in the heart. And the heart shall appear on the Day
of Judgement either lucent or darkened but only he who brings his
Master a whole heart will be saved".

And again: 2)

You have now been informed of what the prophet, may Gd pray
for him and give him peace, has said: "There is no man who does
not have a devil with[in] him. Thus, I, too, have a devil with[in] me
but I have been victorious over him and he has made peace". And
he said to those who wish to set up deterrents in some matters of
recompense, "Strike at the head for the devil is at the head".

The following material from the Commentary has a ring and

cadence such as to suggest that it has been borrowed even though I
cannot identify the source: the midrash of 'ani5khi, 3 ) the midrash
of ka-"f:iatsi5t, 4) the midrash of the neshami5t, 5) and the series of
'eyn ben David bi'i', 6 ) several of the questions on the Resurrection,')
the section on the Dualists and the Christians, 8 ) the definitions of
worship, 9 ) belief, 10) and of Providence,11) the different levels of
reward in the Afterlife, 12) the suggestions on how to answer ques-
tions,13) the stages of life, 14) the section on the kernel and the shells, 15)
the section on the formation of words, 16 ) and several proverbial

1) Siraj, "Shemini" (JIR Sa). These two "traditions" are not found in

Wensinck.
2 ) Ibid., "Behar" (JIR 28b\.
3 ) Ibid., 72. Only the material from the Commentary is analyzed here.
4 ) Ibid., 176.
6 ) Ibid., 138-9.
6 ) Ibid., 174·
7 ) Ibid., 187 ff. (with the notes where some are identified as having been

dealt with by Saadia.)

8 ) Ibid., 76-7.
9 ) Ibid., 107.
10 ) Ibid., 146.
11) Ibid., 165.
12 ) Ibid.' l 68-9.
13) Ibid., 58.
14 ) Ibid., 63.
15 ) Ibid., 154-5.
16 ) Ibid., 149-50.

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16 Tl-IE ANALYTIC INTRODUCTION

phrases. 1) Indeed, neither our author nor his colleagues let the many
occasions which Jewish life in Yemen presented for displaying
their knowledge slip by and some of these occasions bore fruit in the
learned and enlightening books that have come down to us. 2)

1 ) Bi-"fiutj,ur al-bafil yatabayyan al-l;aqq wa-yattatj,il;. Ibid. rr8, n. 2.

'Un$uf 'idhnak min fak. Ibid., 192, n. I. 'Abharana bi-kamalihi wa-khafiya
'anna li-shiddati ?Uhurihi, Ibid., 55, n. 7, which, even though it is quoted
from Guide, I: 59, is quoted there in the name of "the philosophers".
2) Qafih, M'or ha-'Afeila, 8:n. 1, that no social gathering was without its
devar Torah.

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