Sefer ha-Qabbalah

Book by Abraham ibn Daud around 1160–1161

Sefer ha-Qabbalah (Hebrew: ספר הקבלה, lit. 'The Book of Tradition') was written by Abraham ibn Daud around 1160–1161.^[1] The book is a response to Karaite attacks against the historical legitimacy of Rabbinic Judaism and contains, among other items, the controversial tale of the kidnapping by pirates of four great rabbinic scholars from Babylonian academies, whose subsequent ransoming by Jewish communities around the Mediterranean accounts for the transmission of scholarly legitimacy to the rabbis of Jewish centers in North Africa and Christian Spain.^[2]

Like the Iggeret of Rabbi Sherira Gaon before it, the Sefer ha-Qabbalah forms an important component of Jewish historiography. In terms of chronology, Sefer ha-Qabbalah continues where the Iggeret leaves off, adding invaluable historical anecdotes not found elsewhere. The Sefer ha-Qabbalah puts the compilation of the Mishnah by Judah HaNasi in year 500 of the Seleucid Era, corresponding to 189 CE.

At the time, the term qabbalah simply meant "tradition". It had not yet assumed the mythical and esoteric connotations for which it is now known.

Story of the Four Captives

The story describes a Muslim sea raider from Córdoba, Spain, most likely Ibn Rumahis in 974, who captured a vessel that had departed from Bari in southern Italy.

Onboard were four rabbis believed to be on a mission on behalf of the Talmudic academies in Babylonia to raise funds for the dowries of impoverished brides. These rabbis were eventually ransomed by Jewish communities:

Rabbi Shemariah ben Elhanan was redeemed in Alexandria, Egypt;
Rabbi Chushiel was in "Africa," likely Tunisia, and became the leader of the Kairouan rabbis;
Rabbi Moses ben Hanoch and his son Hanoch ben Moses were ransomed in Córdoba.
A fourth captive and the location of his redemption was unspecified.

The story is not considered to be true, although the named individuals are well-known; for example, "Elḥanan b. Shemarya is thoroughly familiar to all Geniza scholars as a Jewish communal leader in Fustat who appears repeatedly in the early eleventh-century Geniza record."^[3]

Influence

Although Sefer ha-Qabbalah had enormous influence as an authority on the history of Spanish Jewry, modern scholarship no longer considers it to be objective history. Nonetheless, it is valuable as a source of information on the life and thought of 12th century Spain.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b "Ibn Daud, Abraham ben David Halevi". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
^ Cohen, Gerson D. (1960). "The Story of the Four Captives". Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research. 29: 55–131. doi:10.2307/3622487. ISSN 0065-6798. JSTOR 3622487.
^ Krakowski, Eve (2020). [10.1353/jqr.2020.0045 ""Elhanan, Son of Shemariah": The Old Series and the Cairo Geniza"]. Jewish Quarterly Review. 110 (4): 594-5. doi:10.1353/jqr.2020.0045. ISSN 1553-0604. {{cite journal}}: Check |url= value (help)

Bibliography

Cohen, Gerson D. (1967). A Critical Edition with a Translation and Notes of "The Book of Tradition" (Sefer Ha-Qabbalah) by Abraham ibn Daud. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America.
Bages, Jaime (1972). Séfer ha-Kabbaláh (Libro de la Tradición). Valencia: Anubar Ediciones.