''Sefer ha-Qabbalah'' (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: ספר הקבלה, "Book of Tradition") was a book written by

Abraham ibn Daud Abraham ibn Daud ( he, אַבְרָהָם בֵּן דָּוִד הַלֵּוִי אִבְּן דָּאוּד; ar, ابراهيم بن داود) was a Spanish-Jewish astronomer, historian, and philosopher; born at Córdoba, Spain about 1110; die ...

around 1160–1161. The book is a response to Karaitic attacks against the historical legitimacy of

Rabbinic Judaism Rabbinic Judaism ( he, יהדות רבנית, Yahadut Rabanit), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, or Judaism espoused by the Rabbanites, has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Babylonia ...

, 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 Spain. In terms of chronology, ''Sefer ha-Qabbalah'' continues where the ''

Iggeret of Rabbi Sherira Gaon Iggeret of Rabbi Sherira Gaon (), also known as the Letter of Rav Sherira Gaon, and the Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaon, is a responsum penned in the late 10th century (987 CE) in the Pumbedita Academy by Sherira Gaon, the Chief Rabbi and scholar of ...

'' leaves off, adding invaluable historical anecdotes not found elsewhere. The ''Sefer ha-Qabbalah'' puts the compilation of the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Tor ...

by Rabbi Judah HaNasi in year 500 of the

Seleucid Era The Seleucid era ("SE") or (literally "year of the Greeks" or "Greek year"), sometimes denoted "AG," was a system of numbering years in use by the Seleucid Empire and other countries among the ancient Hellenistic civilizations. It is sometimes r ...

(corresponding to 189 CE). At the time, the term "

Kabbalah Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "receiver"). The defin ...

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

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.

References

Bibliography

External links

1887 publication of ''Sefer Hakabbalah'' in ''Mediaeval Jewish chronicles and chronological notes''

hebrewbooks.org: Full Text
12th-century books Hebrew-language chronicles Hebrew-language religious books Jewish philosophical and ethical texts Jewish Spanish history {{Philo-book-stub