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Jewish Thinking in Morocco

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Synthesis and Simplification in Rabbinical Thinking in North Africa according to Rabbi Isaac HaCohen Alfasi (HARIF) 1013-1103 copied to archive

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Rabbi Isaac HaCohen Al Fasi, known as HARIF, is the author of 'Sefer Hahalacot,' a synthesis of the Talmud. He was the first to review the Talmud in its entirety in order to write a simplified and orderly summary.

Harif was born in the small village of Kala' Hamad in contemporary Algeria to Jacob Cohen. He studied in Kirouan with two leading Rabbis, Rabenu Nissim and Rabenu Hananel, among the last to study in Jewish centers of learning in Babylon.

Researchers who often emphasized the lack of information on North African Jewry tend to neglect that following the death of Rav Hay, the last of the Rabbis known as Geonim, Babylon declined as a center of learning while rabbinical academies rose to prominence in North Africa and Andalusia under Moslem rule. Rabenu Nissim and Rabenu Hananel brought Babylonian learning traditions to Kirouan, turning it into an important center of learning in North Africa.

Harif moved to neighboring Fez as soon as he earned his rabbinical accreditation and served there as rabbi, judge and teacher for at least forty years. It was a time when the Talmud was known only by the learned and even so, it was too complex to follow. Simplified interpretations such as Rashi's came much later. Therefore, Harif undertook a comprehensive review of the Talmud to produce a simplified legal code (Halacot). His work gained him reputation throughout the Jewish World then and remains relevant in our days. One may argue that Harif's work paved the way to Harambam's Code (Mishneh Torah) in the process on ongoing development of knowledge.

Harif left Fez in difficult circumstances. It appears that he issued a judgment that favored a humble community member in a case against a community leader who abused his power as advisor to the king. As the said community leader rejected Harif's ruling and tried to harm him, the rabbi and judge escaped to Cordoba in Moslem Spain, spent a few months there, then assumed the function of chief rabbi of Lucena, where he established a new center of learning. Harif taught Baruc Albaliah, Yehuda Halevy and Yossef Ben Meir Migash in Lucena. The latter succeeded Harif at the age of 26 as rabbi of Lucena. He taught Rabbi Maimun, the father of Maimonides (Harambam), who learned Harif’s Halacot from his father. Maimonides, among other leading rabbinic authorities, had great respect for Harif. Some equaled the latter to Rav Hay. Maimonides instructed his students to study 'Sefer Hahalacot' and said about it that 'it equals the sum of all the contributions to the Talmud!'

Historical background (700-1050)

Jews lived in North Africa since and ancient time. However new Jewish settlements sprang up and old ones strengthened with the spread of the Arab conquest into Western North Africa and Andalusia. As usual economic opportunities attracted Jews to rising centers such as Kirouan. Correspondence with Sura and Pumbedita since the time of Yehuda Gaon (760-764) indicates that Jewish communities in the region were well organized and very much alive from a cultural and spiritual point of view. Babylonian Jews looked up to their North African brethren for bridging Jewish learning and secular erudition. North African Jews maintained close relations with Jewish centers in Egypt, Palestine, Spain and Italy. They were wealthy enough to send generous gift to centers of learning in both Babylon and the Holy Land as well as maintain scholarly independence.

Kirouan Jews corresponded with Gaon Zemah Ben Hayim (882-887) relating to Eldad the Danite who visited North Africa and reported that the tribe of Dan had chosen exile beyond the River Sambation in Ethiopia rather than support Jerobam's secession (928 BCE). Naphtali, Gad, Asher and Levites of the Children of Moses joined them after the conquest of Jerusalem by Sennacherib (701 BCE). A king and a judge led the four tribes. They knew Torah and Scriptures but had no knowledge of Esther, Lamentations, Mishnah and Talmud.

The Babylonian Gaon Hay corresponded with presidents of the North African Jewish community (nagids) on a regular basis (i.e., with Abraham Ben Nathan Ibn Ata and Jacob Ben Amram). Further, Cohen Zedek II (917-936) found refuge in Kirouan when he was driven out of Bagdad.

Isaac Ben Solomon Israeli, an older contemporary of Saadia Gaon (882-942) was a court physician in Kirouan. His treaties on fevers and dietetics were translated to Latin. He also wrote books in astronomy, Hebrew grammar and a commentary on the Book of Creation.

Babylonian correspondence indicates that Gaon Sherira and his son Hay (943-1038) respected Rabbi Jacob Ben Nissim, who established a Talmud learning centre in Kirouan. Later Shemouel HaNagid of Muslim Granada corresponded with Jacob Ben Nissim's son, Hananel, a wealthy and learned man who laid the foundation to the synthesis of Babylonian, Palestinian and European traditions. Hananel wrote a commentary on the Talmud in Hebrew with the view of simplifying Talmudic intricacies. In this sense he provided a foundation to Harif's 'Sefer Hahalacot.'

Rabenu Nissim worked at Hananel's side in Kirouan. Shemouel HaNagid regarded him as a veritable genius (gaon). Shemouel's son married Nissim's daughter and many Andalusian Jews moved to Kirouan to study with him, among them the poet Ibn Gabirol. Nissim wrote in Arabic and united secular erudition with Talmudic learning. His principal work 'Key to the Talmud' guided Harif's work and facilitated the legal synthesis that made 'Sefer Hahalacot' possible.

Hananel and Nissim did not have sons but they had Harif as an immediate successor. By his time the whole Jewish Diaspora looked up to North Africa and Muslim Andalusia for Talmudic learning. Later, when Muslim fundamentalism led to the decline of Kirouan, Jewish centers in Cabes, Tahert (birthplace of grammarian Yehuda Ibn Kuraish), Tlemcen, Fez (where Harif worked) and Sijilmasa filled the void. Similarly, Talmudic learning centers developed in Muslim Andalusia and grew in importance with the move of Harif from Fez to Lucena. Some attribute the rise of Spanish Jewish culture to the great following groomed by Yehuda Ibn Ghayat and Harif in Lucena. Among their students were the poets Moses Ibn Ezra and Yehuda Ha Levy (the latter was also a doctor).

As internal feuds weakened Muslim princedoms, Christian states united to force Moslems out of Iberia. Prominent Jews such as Shemouel HaNagid filled important functions in Muslim and Christian courts, often acting as intermediaries. After the fall of Toledo in Christian hands (1085), Yussuf Ibn Tashfin, the Berber king of the Almoravides, came to the rescue of his brethren and turned the Andalusian princedoms into a province of his North African Empire. Ibn Tashfin, like other Muslim kings, pressured Jews to convert to Islam but left them in peace once they paid enormous sum to cover treasury deficits.

Distinguished learned men in North Africa and Andalusia were self-sufficient. They tended to be multi-disciplinary, combining Talmudic learning with erudition in secular domains such as astronomy, philosophy, poetry, medicine, diplomacy and business.

References
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Hirschberg, J.W. 1965, A History of the Jews in North Africa from Antiquity to our Time, Jerusalem Bialik Institute. (Hebrew)

Garber, J. 1992 The Jews of Spain: A History of the Sepahrdic Experience, NY Free Press, MacMillan.

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