Commentators:R. Yitzchak Arama (Akeidat Yitzchak)/0

R. Yitzchak Arama (Akeidat Yitzchak)

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Akeidat Yitzchak

Name	R. Yitzchak ben Moshe Arama ר' יצחק בן משה עראמה
Dates	1420-1494
Location	Spain
Works	Akeidat Yitzchak
Exegetical Characteristics
Influenced by	Rambam
Impacted on	Abarbanel

Background

Life

• Name – 
  • Hebrew name – ר' יצחק בן משה עראמה¹
  • _ name – 
• Dates – c. 1420-c.1494
• Location – Spain,² Naples³
• Education –  He had a broad Jewish and general education.⁴
• Occupation – The Ba’al HaAkeidah headed a yeshivah in Zamora, and then served as rabbi for the communities of Tarragona and Fraga⁵ in Aragon. He attempted to found a yeshivah in Tarragona, but adequate funds were not forthcoming from the local community, which was taxed heavily by the authorities.⁶ He thus focused his energies on pulpit instruction, winning renown for his derashot (sermons), which were designed to counter the Christian sermons that Jews of Aragon were forced to attend. He later became rabbi of Calatayud, where he was able to found a yeshivah, revise his derashot for publication, and author other works.⁷ He is also known to have participated in several public disputations with Christian scholars.⁸
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Works

• Biblical commentaries – 
• Rabbinics – 
  • Talmudic novellae – 
  • Halakhic codes – 
  • Responses to the works of others – 
  • Responsa – 
• Jewish thought – 
• Misattributed works – 

Torah Commentary

Characteristics

• Verse by verse / Topical – 
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• Peshat and derash – 

Methods

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Themes

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Textual Issues

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Sources

Significant Influences

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Occasional Usage

Possible Relationship

Impact

Later exegetes

Supercommentaries

¹ Often referred to as the Ba’al HaAkeidah, in reference to his authorship of Akeidat Yitzchak.

² See below, Occupation, for specific locales.

³ Where he settled after the expulsion from Spain in 1492.

⁴ Based on citations in his writings, it is clear he studied the gamut of Jewish philosophical literature (see Y. Kurzweil, “רבי יצחק עראמה הוגה שיטתי או מאסף לכל המחנות”, Chemda'at 6 (2009): 92-93), including the works of: R. Yitzchak Yisraeli, Rasag, R. Shelomo ibn Gevirol, R. Bahye ibn Pakudah, R. Avraham Bar Hiyya, R. Yitzchak ibn Latif, R. Yehudah Halevi, R. Avraham ibn Ezra, R. Avraham ibn Daud, Rambam, Ralbag, R. Nissim (Ran), R. Chasdai Crescas, R. Yosef Albo, and R. Avraham Bibago. He also cites Plato and Aristotle, and the Arab philosophers Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Al-Ghazali, and Ibn Rushd (Averroes). Since he only cites works of Aristotle that had been translated into Hebrew, it appears that he did not know Greek or Latin. Similarly, since he only cites Arabic works that had been translated into Hebrew, it seems he did not know Arabic. He occasionally cites Zohar (calling it “HaMidrash HaNe’elam”), and was familiar with a number of Kabbalistic thinkers, including Ramban and R. Yosef Gikatilla, but does not discuss Kabbalistic matters at any length.

⁵ It is possible that while serving in Tarragona he also ministered to Fraga, which was sixty miles away. See the introduction to Akeidat Yitzchak and I. Bettan, “The Sermons of Isaac Arama,” Hebrew Union College Annual Vol. 12/13, (1937-1938, hereafter: Bettan, Sermons): 589 note 11.

⁶ See Bettan, Sermons: 587.

⁷ See introduction to Akeidat Yitzchak.

⁸ See S. Heller-Wilensky, רבי יצחק עראמה ומשנתו הפילוסופית (Jerusalem, 1956): 27.