Ibn Tibbon

• Munk, Mélanges, p. 489;
• Carmoly, Histoire des Médecins Juifs, p. 90;
• Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1232;
• idem, Hebr. Uchers.;
• Grätz, Gesch. 7:246;
• Renan-Neubauer, Les Rabbins Français, pp. 599 et seq.;
• Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 332.

Judah ben Moses ibn Tibbon:

Rabbi in Montpellier; took part in the dispute between the followers and the opponents of Maimonides. He induced his relative Jacob ben Machir ibn Tibbon to support the Maimonidean party by pointing out that the anti-Maimonideans were the opponents of his grandfather Samuel ibn Tibbon and of the son-in-law of the latter, Jacob ben Abba Mari ben Samson ben Anatoli. In consequence of this, Jacob ben Machir ibn Tibbon protested against the reading of Solomon ben Adret's letter to the community of Montpellier, which nevertheless took place in the synagogue of that city on the following day, a Sabbath, in the month of Elul, 1304 ("Minḥat Ḳena'ot," Nos. 21, 22). According to Jacob ben Machir ibn Tibbon (ib. No. 39), Judah wrote various works, and made several translations which were praised even by Naḥmanides. None of them are extant.

Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon:

Translator; born at Granada, Spain, 1120; died after 1190. He left his native place in 1150, probably on account of persecution by the Almohades, and went to Lunel in southern France. Benjamin of Tudela mentions him as a physician there in 1160. Judah lived on terms of intimacy with Meshullam ben Jacob and with Meshullam's two sons, Asher and Aaron, whom in his will he recommends as friends to his only son, Samuel. He was also a close friend of Abraham ben David of Posquières and of Zerahiah ha-Levi, the latter of whom he freely recognized as a greater scholar than himself, and whose son he also wished to have as a friend for his own son. He had two daughters whose marriage caused him much anxiety.

Judah was very active as a translator, his works including the translation into Hebrew of the following:

Translations of Philosophic Works.

1. Baḥya ben Joseph ibn Paḳuda's "Al-Hidayah ila Fara'id al-Ḳulub," under the title "Torat Ḥobot ha-Lebabot." He was induced to undertake this work by Meshullam ben Jacob and his son Asher, at whose desire he translated the first treatise, in 1161. After its completion Joseph Ḳimḥi translated the other nine treatises and afterward the first one also. At the wish of Abraham ben David of Posquières, Judah continued his translation of the work. Judah's translation is the only one that has held its place. That of Ḳimḥi was gradually superseded and at last came to be forgotten entirely. Only a small fragment of it has been preserved (published by A. Jellinek in Benjacob's edition of "Ḥobot ha-Lebabot," Leipsic, 1846). Judah's translation of Baḥya's work was first printed at Naples in 1489 without a title.
2. Solomon ibn Gabirol's " Kitab Islaḥ al-Akhlaḳ," under the title "Tiḳḳun Middot ha-Nefesh" (printed together with the first-mentioned translation at Constantinople in 1550).
3. Judah ha-Levi's "Kitab al-Ḥujjah," under the title "Sefer ha-Kuzari" (1167; printed at Fano in 1506 and many timessince). In this instance also Judah's translation drove that of his rival, Judah ibn Cardinal, out of the field, so that only a small portion of the latter's work has been preserved (see Cassel's ed., pp. 344 et seq.).
4. Two works by Ibn Janah: (a) His grammar, "Kitab al-Luma'," under the title "Sefer ha-Rikmah" (1171; edited by B. Goldberg, with notes by R. Kirchheim, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1856). The translator's preface is interesting for the history of literature, and it gives Judah's opinions on the art of Hebrew translation. (b) "Kitab al-Uṣul," under the title "Sefer ha-Shorashim" (edited by Bacher, Berlin, 1896). Isaac al-Barceloni and Isaac ha-Levi had already translated this dictionary as far as the letter "lamed," and Judah finished it in 1171.
5. Saadia's "Kitab al-Amanat wal-I'tiḳadat," under the title "Sefer ha-Emunot weha-De'ot" (1186; first ed. Constantinople, 1562).

Spurious Works Attributed to Judah.

Judah's independent works are:

1. Sod Ẓaḥut ha-Lashon, on rhetoric and grammar. It is doubtful if this work was ever completed; and nothing but its title has been preserved (in Ibn Tibbon's testament; see No. 2, below).It is also doubtful whether he wrote a commentary on the last chapter of Proverbs. The remark on the subject in his will (see below), "Remember also my explanation of 'Eshet Ḥayil,' p. 9," can refer to an oral explanation.
2. Ẓawwa'ah, his ethical will, written in 1190 or after, and addressed to his son, Samuel, who at that time already had a son of his own (published with a biographical sketch in German by M. Steinschneider, Berlin, 1852; with an English translation by H. Edelmann in "Derek Ṭobim," London, 1852).

His Ethical Will.

Judah's testament, with its homely style and frankness, is one of the most interesting in this class of literature. It gives a deep insight into the soul of the man and his relation to his indisputably greater son, Samuel. Against the latter his chief complaint is that he never initiated his father into his literary or business affairs, never asked for his advice, and, in fact, hid everything from him.

He recommends Samuel to practise writing in Arabic, since Jews like Samuel ha-Nagid, for example, attained rank and position solely through being able to write in that language. He exhorts him to morality and to the study of the Torah as well as of the profane sciences, including medicine. He is to read grammatical works on Sabbaths and festivals, and is not to neglect the reading of "Mishle" and of "Ben Mishle." In regard to his medical practise he gives his son sage advice. He further advises his son to observe rigorously the laws of diet, lest he, like others, become ill frequently in consequence of intemperate and unwholesome eating, which would not fail to engender mistrust in him as a physician on the part of the general public. Interesting are Judah's references to his library as his "best treasure," his "best companion," and to his book-shelves as "the most beautiful pleasure-gardens." He adds:

His fine linguistic sense and his conception of the art of translating are shown by his counsels on this subject.

Views on Translation.

Judah ibn Tibbon well understood the difficulties of the translator's task. He says in the preface to his translation of Baḥya's "Ḥobot ha-Lebabot" that he hesitated to translate the book because he did not feel sufficiently acquainted with Hebrew, and that he undertook the task only in compliance with the wish of his friend. He knows that he is laying himself open to adverse criticism with his translation, as is the case with every innovation. He attributes the imperfect character of his predecessors' translations from Arabic into Hebrew to the fact that either they did not have a thorough knowledge of Arabic or of Hebrew or that they gave in the translation their own opinions instead of those of the author. Judah is also of the opinion that the Hebrew translation can not always reproduce the pregnancy of the Arabic original. He holds that a translator should first make a strictly literal rendering of the original, and then revise his translation as though it were an original production of his own. For his creation of new word-forms (in the use of which he was not without precedents), and for the rabbinicisms in his Hebrew style, he excuses himself to the reader by saying that they are unavoidable. It is true that he often translated the mistakes of the original without heeding the sense, or rather lack of sense, expressed therein.

His son, Samuel, in his introduction to the "Moreh Nebukim" justly calls Judah "the father of translators"; since Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya he has also had the title of "chief of translators" (Wolf, "Bibl. Hebr." 1:455). Maimonides speaks very flatteringly of Judah in a letter to Samuel.

Moses ibn Tibbon:

Original Works.

Physician and author; born in Marseilles; flourished between 1240 and 1283; son of Samuel ibn Tibbon and father of the Judah ibn Tibbon who was prominent in the Maimonidean controversy which took place at Montpellier.The number of works written by Moses ibn Tibbon makes it probable that he reached a great age. With other Jewish physicians of Provence, he suffered under the order of the Council of Béziers (May, 1246) which prohibited Jewish physicians from treating Gentiles. He wrote the following works:

1. Commentary on Canticles (Lyck, 1874). Written under the influence of Maimonides, it is of a philosophical and allegorical character, and is similar to that by his brother-in-law Abba Mari ben Simson ben Anatoli, whom he quotes repeatedly. In a long preface he deals with the poetical form and the philosophical content of the book, especially discussing the three classes of poetry according to the "Organon" of Aristotle. This part of the preface, taken from Immanuel ben Solomon's commentary to Canticles, was published by Dukes in his "Naḥal Ḳedumim" (pp. 55, 56; Brüll's "Jahrb." 3:171 et seq.; Steinschneider, "Hebr. Bibl." xiv 99, Salfeld, in Berliner's "Magazin," 6:25).
2. Commentary to the Pentateuch, according to Isaac de Lattes' "Sha'are Ẓiyyon" (see p. 42 of Buber's Yaroslav, 1885, edition of the latter work) and Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya's "Shalshelet ha-Ḳabbalah (see Wolf, "Bibl. Hebr." 1:1055). This commentary is quoted in the Commentary on Canticles (p. 24a). Azulai, in his "Shem ha-Gedolim" (1:144), mentions that, according to an early source, Moses ibn Tibbon composed a work of this kind. But an ancient authority, Judah Mosconi (c. 1370), in his supercommentary on Abraham ibn Ezra, expresses some doubt as to the authenticity of this commentary on account of its often very unsatisfactory explanations. According to Steinschneider, it was merely a supercommentary on Abraham ibn Ezra (see "Cat. Bodl." col. 2004; "Hebr. Bibl." 14:103; Berliner's "Magazin," 3:47,150; comp. Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 2282, 9).
3. "Leḳeṭ Shikḥah," mentioned by Isaac de Lattes (c.) as contained in the foregoing work, though he does not give any further indication of its contents. Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya (c. p. 54b, ed. Venice) gives only the title.
4. "Sefer Pe'ah," an allegorical explanation, in ninety-one chapters, of haggadic passages in the Talmud and the Midrash (Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 939, 9). Its tendency is apologetical. After Raymund de Pennaforte had established schools, in which Arabic and Hebrew were taught, for the purpose of converting Jews and Moors, Christian clerics, in their incomplete knowledge of the rabbinical writings, attempted to cast scorn on the, anthropomorphisms of the Midrashim. Moses ibn Tibbon traces this to those who took the anthropomorphic passages in a literal instead of, as Maimonides had taught, an allegorical sense (see Isaac de Lattes, c.; Zunz, "G. V." p. 400; Steinschneider and Cassel, "Jüdische Litteratur," in Ersch and Gruber, "Encyc." section , part 28, p. 409; "Cat. Bodl." c.).
5. Commentary on the weights and measures of the Bible and the Talmud (Vatican MSS., No. 298, 4; see Assemani, "Catal." p. 283; Steinschneider, "Joseph ibn Aḳnin," in Ersch and Gruber, "Encyc." section , part 31, p. 50; "Ginze Nistarot," 3:185 et seq.).
6. "Sefer ha-Tanninim," mentioned by Isaac de Lattes (c.), but without indication of its contents; the Vatican MS. has the title "Ma'amar 'al ha-Tanninim." According to Assemani (c), it contained explanations on the creation of the Tanninim (comp. Genesis 1:21). Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya (c.) gives its title as "Sefer ha-Ḳinyanim," which has been accepted as correct by Azulai ("Shem ha-Gedolim") and Benjacob ("Oẓar ha-Sefarim," p. 531); it is, however, certainly incorrect, as the contents of the book show.
7. "'Olam Ḳaṭon," a treatise on the immortality of the soul, several manuscripts of which exist (Vatican MSS., No. 292, 2; Paris MSS., No. 110. see Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." Nos. 1319, 7, 1324, 10, 1335, 2, 1600, 13; see also Carmoly in "Orient, Lit." 2:235,314). Moses ibn Tibbon's authorship is doubtful. According to a Bodleian manuscript, No. 1318, 7, his father, Samuel ibn Tibbon, was its author; in another passage Judah, his grandfather, is said to be its author (see Steinschneider, "Cat. Bodl." cols. 2003-2004).
8. Letter on questions raised by his father, Samuel ibn Tibbon, in regard to Maimonides' "Moreh Nebukim" (Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 2218, 2).

Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya (c.) erroneously ascribes to Moses ibn Tibbon a "Sefer ha-Kolel," a "Sefer ha-Melek," and a "Sefer 'Asarah Debarim" (see Zunz, "Z. G." pp. 471-472; Steinschneider, c.). Moses, was also wrongly accredited with three other works: a commentary on Abot, a commentary on Ibn Gabirol's "Azharot," and notes on the "Sefer ha-Madda'" of Maimonides (Steinschneider, c.).

Moses ibn Tibbon's translations are even more important and numerous than his original works. They include versions of Arabic works on philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. The name of the author of the work from which the translation was made precedes, in the following list, the title by which the translation is known. His most important translations are as follows:

• Averroes: Commentaries, etc., on Aristotle: "Physica Auscultatio" (about 1250; Steinschneider, "Hebr. Uebers." p. 109); "Kelale ha-Shamayim weha-'Olam" ("De Cœlo et Mundo"; c. p. 126); "Sefer ha-Hawayah weha-Hefsed" (1250: "De Generatione et Corruptione"; c. p. 130); "Sefer Otot 'Elyonot" ("Meteora"; c. p. 135); "Kelale Sefer ha-Nefesh" (1244: "De Anima"; c. p. 147); "Bi'ur Sefer ha-Nefesh" (1261: "The Middle Commentary"; c. p. 148); "Ha-Hush we-ha-Muḥash" (1254: "Parva Naturalia"; c. p. 154); "Mah she-Aḥar ha-Ṭeba'", (1258: "Metaphysica"; c. p. 159); "Bi'ur Arguza" (commentary on Avicenna's "Arjuzah"; Renan, "Averroes," p. 189; Steinschneider, c. p. 699).
• Avicenna: "Ha-Seder ha-Ḳaṭon" (1272: "The Small Canon"; c. p. 693, comp. p. 285).
• Baṭalyusi: "Ha-'Agullot ha-Ra'yoniyyot" ("Al-Ḥada'iḳ," on the "similarity of the world to an imaginary sphere"; c. p. 287), edited by D. Kaufmann ("Die Spuren al-Bataljusi's in der Jüdischen Religionsphilosophie," Leipsic, 1880).
• Al-Ḥaṣṣar: "Sefer ha-Ḥeshbon" (1271: Treatise on Arithmetic; Steinschneider, c. p. 558; "Isr. Letterbode," 3:8).
• Euclid: "Shorashim," or "Yesodot" (1270: "Elements"; Steinschneider, c. p. 506, comp. p. 510).
• Alfarabi: "Hatḥalot ha-Nimẓa'ot ha-Tib'iyyim" (1248: "Book of the Principles"; c. p. 291. comp. p. 47), edited by H. Fillpowski, in a Hebrew almanac of 5610 (Leipsic, 1849).
• Geminus: "Ḥokmat ha-Kokabim," or "Ḥokmat Tekunah" (1246, Naples: Introduction to the "Almagest" of Ptolemy; c. p. 539).
• Ibn al-Jazzar: "Ẓedat ha-Derakim" (1259. "Viaticum").