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Hasdai ben Abraham Crescas (Hebrew: ????? ?????) (born in Barcelona
Barcelona

Barcelona is the capital and most populous city of the Autonomous communities of Spain of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008, while the population of the Metropolitan Area was 3,161,081....
,c. 1340 – 1410/1411) was a Jewish philosopher and a renowned halakhist (teacher of Jewish law). Along with Rambam, Ralbag, and Albo
Joseph Albo

Joseph Albo was a Jew philosophy and rabbi who lived in Spain during the fifteenth century, known chiefly as the author of Sefer ha-Ikkarim , the classic work on the Jewish principles of faith....
, he is known as one of the major practitioners of the rationalist
Rationalism

In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive" ....
 approach to Jewish philosophy, and his positions on issues of natural law and free will in Or Hashem
Or Hashem

Or Hashem, The Light of the Lord, is the primary work of Rabbi Hasdai Crescas , a Jewish philosopher. As Adonai is one of the names of God in Judaism, the book is usually called Or Hashem in verbal usage to avoid mentioning God's name directly....
 can be seen as precursors to those of Spinoza.

ai Crescas came from a family of scholars; he was a disciple of the Talmud
Talmud

The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
ist and philosopher Nissim ben Reuben
Nissim of Gerona

Rabbi Nissim ben Reuven of Girona, Catalonia was an influential talmudist and authority on Halakha . He was one of the last of the great Spanish medieval talmudic scholars....
, known as The RaN.






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Hasdai ben Abraham Crescas (Hebrew: ????? ?????) (born in Barcelona
Barcelona

Barcelona is the capital and most populous city of the Autonomous communities of Spain of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008, while the population of the Metropolitan Area was 3,161,081....
,c. 1340 – 1410/1411) was a Jewish philosopher and a renowned halakhist (teacher of Jewish law). Along with Rambam, Ralbag, and Albo
Joseph Albo

Joseph Albo was a Jew philosophy and rabbi who lived in Spain during the fifteenth century, known chiefly as the author of Sefer ha-Ikkarim , the classic work on the Jewish principles of faith....
, he is known as one of the major practitioners of the rationalist
Rationalism

In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive" ....
 approach to Jewish philosophy, and his positions on issues of natural law and free will in Or Hashem
Or Hashem

Or Hashem, The Light of the Lord, is the primary work of Rabbi Hasdai Crescas , a Jewish philosopher. As Adonai is one of the names of God in Judaism, the book is usually called Or Hashem in verbal usage to avoid mentioning God's name directly....
 can be seen as precursors to those of Spinoza.

Biography

Hasdai Crescas came from a family of scholars; he was a disciple of the Talmud
Talmud

The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
ist and philosopher Nissim ben Reuben
Nissim of Gerona

Rabbi Nissim ben Reuven of Girona, Catalonia was an influential talmudist and authority on Halakha . He was one of the last of the great Spanish medieval talmudic scholars....
, known as The RaN. Following in the footsteps of his teacher he became a Talmudic authority and a philosopher of great originality. He is considered important in the history of modern thought for his deep influence on Baruch Spinoza
Baruch Spinoza

Baruch or Benedict de Spinoza was a Netherlands Philosophy of Iberian Jews origin. Revealing considerable scientific aptitude, the breadth and importance of Spinoza's work was not fully realized until years after his death....
.

While Crescas did not occupy an official position as rabbi
Rabbi

Rabbi , in Judaism, means a religious ?teacher?, or more literally, ?my great one?, when addressing any master. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ?great?, used in many senses, including the sense of a ?master? and apprentice, whence someone who is a distinguished ?teacher?....
, he seems to have been active as a teacher. Among his fellow students and friends, Isaac ben Sheshet
Isaac ben Sheshet

Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet was a Spanish Talmudic authority, also know by his acronym, Rivash . He was born at Valencia, Spain and settled early in life at Barcelona, where he studied under Perez ha-Kohen, under Hasdai ben Judah, and especially under R....
 (known as the RIBaSH), famous for his responsa
Responsa

Responsa comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them....
, takes precedence. Joseph Albo
Joseph Albo

Joseph Albo was a Jew philosophy and rabbi who lived in Spain during the fifteenth century, known chiefly as the author of Sefer ha-Ikkarim , the classic work on the Jewish principles of faith....
 is the best known of his pupils, but at least two others have won recognition, Rabbi Mattathias of Saragossa, and Rabbi Zechariah ha-Levi.

Crescas was a man of means. As such he was appointed sole executor of the will of his uncle Vitalis Azday by the King of Aragon
John I of Aragon

John I , called by posterity the Hunter or the Lover of Elegance , but the Abandoned in his lifetime, was the King of Aragon from 1387 to his death....
 in 1393. Still, though enjoying the high esteem even of prominent non-Jews, he did not escape the common fate of his coreligionists. Imprisoned upon a false accusation in 1378, he suffered personal indignities because he was a Jew. His only son died in 1391, a martyr for his faith, during the anti-Semitic persecutions
Anti-Semitism

Antisemitism is prejudice against or hostility towards Jews.This prejudice or hostility is usually characterized by a combination of Religion, Race , cultural and ethnic group biases....
 of that period. Nevertheless he kept his faith.

Notwithstanding this bereavement, his mental powers were unbroken; for the works that have made him immortal were written after that terrible year. Another episode of his life worthy of note is connected with the appearance of the pseudo-Messiah of Cisneros, one of whose adherents he became. In 1401-02 he visited Joseph Orabuena at Pamplona at the request of the King of Navarre
Charles III of Navarre

Charles III , called the Noble, was King of Navarre from 1387 to his death and Count of ?vreux from 1387 to 1404, when he exchanged it for the title Duke of Nemours....
, who paid the expenses of his journey to various Navarrese towns (Jacobs, l.c. Nos. 1570, 1574). He was at that time described as "Rav of Saragossa."

Works

His works on Jewish law, if indeed ever committed to writing – have not reached us. But his concise philosophical work Or Hashem, The Light of the Lord became a classical Jewish refutation of medieval Aristotelianism
Aristotelianism

Aristotelianism is a Tradition#Philosophical tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. Sometimes contrasted by critics with the rationalism and Platonic idealism of Plato, Aristotelianism is understood by its proponents as critically developing Plato?s theories....
, and a harbinger of the scientific revolution in the 16th century.

Three of his writings have been preserved:
  1. His primary work, Or Hashem
    Or Hashem

    Or Hashem, The Light of the Lord, is the primary work of Rabbi Hasdai Crescas , a Jewish philosopher. As Adonai is one of the names of God in Judaism, the book is usually called Or Hashem in verbal usage to avoid mentioning God's name directly....
    , The Light of the Lord.
  2. An exposition and refutation of the main doctrines of Christianity. This "tratado" was written in Catalan in 1398. The Catalan original is no longer extant; but a Hebrew translation by Joseph ibn Shem-Tov
    Joseph ibn Shem-Tov

    Joseph ibn Shem-Tov was a prolific Jud?o-Spanish writer born in Castile . He lived in various cities of Spain: Medina del Campo de Leon ; Alcal? de Henares ; Segovia ....
    , with the title ("Refutation of the Cardinal Principles of the Christians"), has been preserved. The work was composed at the solicitation of Spanish noblemen. Crescas' object in writing what is virtually an apologetic treatise on Judaism was to present the reasons which held the Jews fast to their ancestral faith.
  3. His letter to the congregations of Avignon, published as an appendix to Wiener's edition of "Shevet Yehudah" (see above), in which he relates the incidents of the persecution of 1391.


List of works

  • The Light of the Lord (Hebrew: Or Hashem or Or Adonai)
  • The Refutation of the Christian Principles (polemics and some philosophy)
  • Passover Sermon (religious philosophy and some halakha)


Important studies

  • Harry Austryn Wolfson, Crescas' Critique of Aristotle. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1929.