ISRAELI, ISAAC BEN SOLOMON

ISRAELI, ISAAC BEN SOLOMON (c. 855-c. 955), physician and philosopher. Born in egypt , Israeli emigrated at about the age of 50 to kairouan , capital of the maghreb , where ʿUbayd Allāh al-Mahdī, founder of the Fatimid dynasty, appointed him court physician. His renown among his fellow Jews is attested by the fact that saadiah gaon , while still in Egypt, addressed numerous letters to him, consulting him on philosophical and scientific matters. He remained unmarried and is quoted as having referred to his books as more likely to keep his memory alive than children would. -Philosophical Writings Of Israeli's philosophical writings, the Kitāb al-Ḥudūd (Sefer ha-Gevulim, "Book of Definitions") is the best known. It was popular among the Latin schoolmen, who knew it in two versions, a Latin translation of the Arabic original by Gerard of Cremona, and an anonymous abridged Latin text (both edited by J.T. Muckle in Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du moyen âge, 12–13 (1937–38), 299ff.). Medieval Jewish writers, too, were familiar with the work. Moses ibn Ezra reproduces a few passages from it without naming the source in his Kitāb al-Ḥadīqa ("Book of the Garden"), as is most probably also the case with the 11th-century Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm ("Aim of the Wise"), known among the Latin schoolmen as Picatrix, by a Muslim author in Spain who seems to have used Israeli's work. Isaac ibn Laṭīfy, Abraham Ibn Ḥasdai , and Isaac de Lattes also mention the book. maimonides , in his letter to Samuel ibn Tibbon, lists it among some Neoplatonic treatises described by him as of little merit, whereas Shem Tov ibn falaquera remarks: "The books of Isaac Israeli are most useful" (Sefer ha-Mevakkesh). The Arabic original of the work was translated into Hebrew twice. Nissim b. Solomon's version was first published by H. Hirschfeld (in: Festschrift… Moritz Steinschneiders (1896), Heb. sect. 131–41). Fragments of the second Hebrew version were discovered by A. Borosov and edited by A. Altmann (JSS, 2 (1957), 232–42). The book offers 56 definitions. It opens with an account (based on al-Kindī ) of aristotle 's four types of inquiry (whether, what, which, why), and an elaboration of al-Kindī's definitions of philosophy. Israeli's dependence on al-Kindī was first noticed by S.M. Stern. There follow definitions of wisdom, intellect, soul, the celestial sphere, the vital spirit, and nature, which reflect the   influence of a Neoplatonic pseudepigraphon (ascribed to Aristotle) that is traceable even more clearly in Israeli's other writings, and other definitions, most of them very brief. Israeli's Kitāb al-Jawāhir ("Book of Substances") has survived only in fragments of the original Arabic, discovered by A. Borisov and edited by S.M. Stern (JSS, 7 (1956), 13–29). The Sefer ha-Ru'aḥ ve-ha-Nefesh ("Treatise on Spirit and Soul"), which may have formed part of a larger work (possibly an exegetical treatise on "Let the waters bring forth abundantly," and is extant only in Hebrew, was published by M. Steinschneider (in Ha-Karmel (1871), 400–5). In both works Israeli develops his doctrine of emanation which is derived from the Neoplatonic source mentioned above. A clue to this source is found in another treatise attributed to Aristotle, the Sha'ar ha-Yesodot le-Aristo ("Chapter on the Elements by Aristotle"), preserved in a Hebrew Mantua manuscript, but which, following a suggestion by G. Scholem, A. Altmann has established to be a work by Israeli. It incorporates the previously mentioned pseudo-Aristotelian treatise, and refers to its source in the opening sentence ("Aristotle … said"). In his edition of the Mantua text (JSS, 7 (1956), 31–57), Altmann showed that Israeli's metaphysical doctrine throughout his writings is decisively influenced by this source, and he listed a number of parallel texts in other writings (partly already noticed by Scholem and J. Guttmann), which enhanced the significance of the discovery of that source. The relationship between Israeli's source on the one hand, and the parallel texts in Abraham ibn Ḥasdai′s Ben ha-Melekh ve-ha-Nazir and in the long version of the Theology of Aristotle (discovered by Borisov) on the other, has been investigated by S.M. Stern (see A. Altmann and S.M. Stern, Isaac Israeli, A Neoplatonic Philosopher of the Early Tenth Century (1958), 95–105, 114–7, and Stern's article in: Oriens, 13–14 (1961), 58–120). The conclusion reached by Stern is that there existed a Neoplatonic treatise (termed by him "Ibn Ḥasdai's neoplatonist") which served as a source for the anonymous author of the long version of the Theology of Aristotle, Israeli, and Ibn Ḥasdai. A further treatise by Israeli, and the most extensive in scope, is his Kitāb al-Ustuquṣṣāt ("Book on the Elements"), of which there is a Latin version by Gerard of Cremona (printed in Omnia Opera Ysaac) and two Hebrew translations, one by Abraham ibn Ḥasdai (Sefer Yesodot, edited by S. Fried, 1900), and one contained in a Munich manuscript which may have been made by Moses ibn Tibbon. An excerpt from this work and the full texts of all the other treatises by Israeli hitherto mentioned were published in English translation with comments in Altmann-Stern's Isaac Israeli. -His Philosophy The philosophical doctrine of Israeli describes the various stages of being as a series of emanations from the intellect (Plotinus' Noûs), while the intellect itself is constituted by the union of first matter and first form (the latter also called "wisdom"), which are "created" by the power and will of God. Israeli thus upholds the notion of creatio ex nihilo in the case of the first three hypostases, while adopting the Plotinian concept of emanation for the rest. Both the long version of the Theology and Ibn Ḥasdai use a similar phraseology, due no doubt to their common source. The interposition of first matter and first form between God and the intellect is likewise derived from the peculiar variant of Neoplatonic doctrine represented by Israeli's source, and is reflected also in the parallel texts. A somewhat similar interposition occurs in the pseudo-Empedoclean scheme known from the Hebrew fragments of the "Five Substances" (ed. by D. Kaufmann, in: Studien ueber Salomon Ibn Gabirol, 1899) where, however, spiritual matter alone intervenes between God and the intellect. From the intellect, three souls (rational, animal, and vegetative) and the celestial sphere (also called "nature") emanate. The process of emanation is, following Plotinus, sometimes described as a radiance, "like the light of the sun, which emanates from its essence and substantiality," but is also viewed as a casting of shadows by the light and as the coming-to-be of progressively denser substances out of these shadows. The celestial sphere is the last of the "simple substances" emanating from the intellect, and holds an intermediate position between the higher world and the sensible world. From the motion of the celestial sphere the four elements come into being, and from them, in turn, arise the composite substances of the sublunar bodies. Man's soul, caught in the embrace of the "shells" and "darkness" of the coarse sensible world, is destined to pursue an upward path leading to union with the supernal light of wisdom. Like al-Kindī and the Ikhwān al-ṣafāʾ (brethren of Sincerity), Israeli adopts Proclus' theory of the three stages of purification, illumination, and union. The bliss of the highest stage is, in Israeli's view, tantamount to the bliss of paradise. In this way he links traditional Jewish eschatology with Neoplatonic mysticism. He interprets the notion of hell in terms of the impure soul's inability to penetrate beyond the sphere; it is doomed to remain beneath the sphere and to be consumed by its fire. In his concept of prophecy (treated in his Book on the Elements and in the commentary to the Sefer Yeẓirah of his disciple, dunash ibn Tamīm, who reflects his master's view), Israeli distinguishes between three forms: that of a created voice (kol); of spirit (ru'aḥ), including vision (ḥazon); and of speech (dibbur), which designates union with the supernal light and represents the highest rank. The case of Moses is described in terms of this highest stage. The function of prophecy is, however, conceived also in terms of spiritual guidance of the multitude of men, for which reason the divine truths must be couched in imaginative, allegorical form. Israeli's influence on the Neoplatonic trend in medieval Jewish philosophy must not be underrated. He is the father of Jewish Neoplatonism, and his traces can be found in such philosophers as Solomon ibn gabirol and Joseph ibn Ẓaddik . The Gerona school of Jewish mysticism is likewise indebted to him. The Mantua text of Israeli's Book on the Elements is quoted in azriel of Gerona's commentary on the Aggadot. -Medical Works Israeli has been classed among the great physicians of the early   Middle Ages. From 875 to 904 he apparently was a successful eye doctor near Cairo. His medical works were translated (or adapted) by Constantine the African (1087) from the Arabic into Latin, and were thus introduced to Europe and included in the Salerno school. Innumerable manuscripts in Arabic, Latin, and Hebrew by various translators testify to their popularity. Among Israeli's medical and quasi-medical writings are books on urine, fevers, the pulse, drugs, and the abovementioned "Treatise on Spirit and Soul" in a half-medical and half-philosophical treatise, probably part of a commentary on Genesis (all printed in Omnia Opera Isaac, 1515). A work entitled Musar ha-Rofe'im ("Medical Ethics") has also been attributed to Israeli, though his authorship has been doubted by some scholars. (Alexander Altmann) Harry A. Wolfson questioned Alexander Altmann's interpretation of Israeli's doctrine of creation in "The Meaning of Ex Nihilo in Isaac Israeli," in: JQR, 50 (1959), 1–12 (reprinted in Wolfson, Studies in the History of Philosophy and Religion, 1(1973), 222–33) and was answered by Altmann in "Creation and Emanation in Isaac Israeli: A Reappraisal," in: I. Twersky (ed.), Studies in Medieval Jewish History and Literature (1) (1979), 1–15. See also G. Vajda, in: P.B. Fenton, Le Commentaire sur le Livre de la Création de Dunas ben Tamim de Kairouan (Xe siècle) (2002). (Daniel J. Lasker (2nd ed.) -BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Guttmann, Die philosophischen Lehren des Isaak b. Salomon Israeli (1911); idem, in: MGWJ, 69 (1919), 156–64; Altmann, in: Tarbiz, 27 (1958), 501–7; Plessner, in: KS, 35 (1960), 457–9; H. Friedenwald, Jews and Medicine, 3 (19672), 86–88, with list of medical works and bibl.