Judah Halevi’s Fideistic Scepticism in the Kuzari

126 Pages·2020·1.756 MB·English

by  Ehud Krinis, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

EhudKrinis
JudahHalevi’sFideisticScepticisminTheKuzari
Studies and Texts in Scepticism

Edited on behalf of
the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies
by Giuseppe Veltri
ManagingEditor:YoavMeyrav
EditorialBoard
HeidrunEichner,TalyaFishman,RacheliHaliva,
HenrikLagerlund,ReimundLeicht,StephanSchmid,
CarstenWilke,IreneZwiep
Volume 11
Ehud Krinis
’
Judah Halevi s
Fideistic Scepticism
The Kuzari
in

TheseriesStudiesandTextsinScepticismispublishedon
behalfoftheMaimonidesCentreforAdvancedStudies
ISBN 978-3-11-066101-9
e-ISBN(PDF)978-3-11-066474-4
e-ISBN(EPUB)978-3-11-066484-3
ISSN2568-9614
DOIhttps://10.1515/9783110664744
ThisworkislicensedundertheCreativeCommonsAttribution–NonCommercial-NoDerivatives4.0
License.Fordetailsgotohttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
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TheDeutscheNationalbibliothekliststhispublicationintheDeutscheNationalbibliografie;
detailedbibliographicdataareavailableontheInternetathttp://dnb.dnb.de.
©2020EhudKrinis,publishedbyWalterdeGruyterGmbH,Berlin/Boston.
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Table of contents
AcknowledgementsVII
ForewordbyWarrenZevHarvey1
Chapter1 ClassicalHellenisticScepticismasaBackgroundtotheAppearanceof
ScepticisminArabicCultureandTheKuzari7
Chapter2 FideismandScepticisminTheKuzari19
Chapter3 ScepticalMotifsinTheKuzari35
A:TheKuzariI,11–2535
B:TheKuzariI,6761
C:TheKuzariV,1475
Chapter4 JudahHalevi’sFideisticScepticismagainsttheBackdropof
DevelopmentsintheArabicCultureofHisTime87
Epilogue99
Bibliography103
TransliterationCharts113
IndexofNamesandSchools115
IndexofTechnicalTerms117

Acknowledgements
Thebulkoftheworkforthisbookwascarriedoutin2017whenIwasafellowatthe
MaimonidesCentreforAdvancedStudiesattheUniversityofHamburg.Iamgrate-
ful to the centre’s director Giuseppe Veltri, its co-director Racheli Haliva, and the
restofthecentre’sstaffforgivingmetheopportunitytoexamineJudahHalevi’suse
of sceptical motifs in The Kuzari. In my other studies devoted to Halevi’s thought,
boththosealreadypublishedandthosethatIhopetopublishinthefuture,Ifocus
on what I consider to be Halevi’s main concern: the historical and meta-historical
aspectsofthestatusofthepeopleofIsraelasGod’schosenpeople.However,inthe
currentstudy,IamaddressingatopicwhichIconsidertobesecondary,albeitim-
portantandfascinating,inHalevi’soverallmakeup:hisstrugglewiththerationalis-
tic trends of his period. This topic has already received much attention from many
scholars. Yetasscepticism has rarely beenstudied in thecontextofArabic culture
anditsJudeo-Arabicsub-culture,itislittlewonderthatthescepticalmotifsofHale-
vi’sthoughthavereceivedverylittleattentionsofar.Thus,thepresentstudyseeks
to shed light on Halevi’s wrestle with rationalism from the angle of this much less
studiedperspective.Asaby-product,itisacontributiontothemainlyuncultivated
fieldofobservingthetracesofscepticisminArabicculture.TheMaimonidesCentre
servedasanexcellentvenueforfulfillingthistask.
AftermyfellowshipattheMaimonidesCentre,thepresentstudybenefitedfrom
the generosity of Binyamin Abrahamov, Daniel J. Lasker, Josef Stern, Sarah
Stroumsa, and an anonymous reader. These scholars read drafts of my work and
offeredvaluablecommentsandsuggestionsthatenabledmetoimproveitinsignifi-
cantways. Iamindebted toWarrenZevHarveyforkindly acceptingtherequestto
contributeaforewordtothisbookandfortheinsightfulobservationsincludedinit.
Lastbutnotleast,IamgratefultoSusannCodish,TamarAlmog,KatharineHandel,
andYoavMeyravfortheirassistanceintranslatingandeditingthisstudy.
EhudKrinis
KibbutzShoval,June2019
OpenAccess.©2020EhudKrinis,publishedbyDeGruyter. Thisworkislicensed
undertheCreativeCommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives4.0License.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110664744-202

WarrenZev Harvey
Foreword
Ehud Krinis is one of the finest interpreters of the philosophy of Judah Halevi. His
firstbook,God’sChosenPeople:JudahHalevi’sKuzariandtheShīʿīImāmDoctrine,1
continuedthepioneeringresearchofShlomoPinesandgaveusaprofoundandde-
tailed understanding of the Shiʿite influences on Halevi’s Kuzari. In the words of a
leading expert on Judeo-Arabic philosophy, Krinis’s book is “the most comprehen-
siveandboldprojecttodateofsituatingHalevi’sKuzariwithinitscontextinIslamic
civilization.”2Krinis’spresentbookexaminesthescepticalmotifsinHalevi’sKuzari
andisthefirstextendedstudyofHalevi’sscepticism.
HaleviwasabrilliantpoetinHebrew.HisphilosophicalbookTheKuzari,writ-
teninArabic,alsoexhibitsextraordinaryliteraryskill.Thebookiscomposedindia-
logue form and purports to record the discussions of the King of Khazaria, whose
kingdom has allegedly converted to Judaism, with a philosopher, a Christian
scholar,aMuslimscholar,andaJewishscholar.KrinisshowshowHaleviresource-
fullyusedthedialogueforminordertoportraythetensionbetweenscepticismand
dogmatisminreligionandscience.3
InwhatsensewasHaleviasceptic?Pines,whoseresearchdidmuchtoadvance
the studyof scepticism in medievalJewish and Muslim philosophy, chose to avoid
the term “scepticism,” since he was not convinced that Greek scepticism had ex-
erted a significant influence on medieval Arabic philosophy.4 However, at least
since the studies of Saul Horovitz eleven decades ago,5 there have been authors
1 EhudKrinis,God’sChosenPeople:JudahHalevi’sKuzariandtheShīʿīImāmDoctrine,trans.Ann
BrenerandTamarLizaCohen(Turnhout:Brepols,2014).SeeKrinis,“TheArabicBackgroundofthe
Kuzari,”JournalofJewishThoughtandPhilosophy21(2013):1–56;Krinis,“GalutandGhayba:The
ExileofIsraelandtheOccultationoftheShīʿīImām-Messiah:AComparativeStudyofJudahHalevi
andEarlyImāmī-ShīʿīWriters,”JerusalemStudiesinArabicandIslam40(2013):245–300.Seealso
ShlomoPines,“ShiʿiteTermsandConceptionsinJudahHalevi’sKuzari,”JerusalemStudiesinArabic
andIslam2(1980):165–251.
2 DianaLobel,reviewofGod’sChosenPeople:JudahHalevi’sKuzariandtheShīʿīImāmDoctrineby
EhudKrinis,JournalofSemiticStudies61(2016):543.
3 Seebelow,30.
4 ShlomoPines,“TheLimitationsofHumanKnowledgeaccordingtoAl-Fārābi,IbnBājja,andMai-
monides,” in Studies in Medieval Jewish History and Literature, vol. 1, ed. Isadore Twersky (Cam-
bridge,MA:HarvardUniversityPress,1979):82–109;Pines,“Leslimitesdelamétaphysiqueselon
Al-Fārābi,IbnBājja,etMaïmonide,”MiscellaneaMediaevalia13,no.1(1981):211–25.
5 SaulHorovitz,ÜberdenEinflussdergriechischenPhilosophieaufdieEntwicklungdesKalam(Bres-
lau:Schatzky,1909);Horovitz,“ÜberdieBekanntschaftSaadiasmitdergriechischenSkepsis,”in
Judaica:FestschriftzuHermannCohenssiebzigstemGeburtstage,ed.IsmarElbogen,BenzionKeller-
mann, and Eugen Mittwoch (Berlin: Bruno Cassirer, 1912), 235–52; Horovitz, “Der Einfluss der
OpenAccess.©2020WarrenZevHarvey,publishedbyDeGruyter. Thisworkislicensed
undertheCreativeCommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives4.0License.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110664744-001
2  WarrenZevHarvey
suchasCarmelaBaffioni6andGiuseppeVeltri7whohavearguedthattherewasin-
deed such an influence. Josef Stern, in his The Matter and Form of Maimonides’
Guide,presentedacompellingscepticalinterpretationofMaimonides’sbook.8
Tobesure,Krinisiswellawareofalltheargumentsagainsttheuseoftheterm
“scepticism” withregard to medieval philosophers writing in Islamic lands. He ex-
plainshisownviewasfollows:
Thefirstgapbetween[theGreekscepticsandtheirArabicsuccessors]isthatofknowledge.[…]
NotranslationofanyessaywrittenbyaHellenisticscepticwas[…]includedinthe[…]transla-
tions[…]from[…]Greek[…]or[…]SyriactoArabicduringtheeighthtotenthcenturies.The
AcademiaandPyrrho[…]arerarelymentionedin[classical]Arabicliterature[…].Thechannels
bywhichknowledgeofancientscepticismreachedwritersinArabiccultureinthe[classical]
era[…]werethusindirect[…].InHalevi’scase[…],theplaceofdirectexposureto[…]Hellenis-
ticscepticswasfilledbynon-scepticalHellenisticwriterssuchasGalen[…]and[…]Ptolemy
[…].Asecondgapbetween[theGreeksandthephilosophersofArabicculture][…]isthatof
[religion].Fromthepaganperspective[…]thegodswereaninseparablepartofthenaturalor-
der [and] discussing them [was considered] part of the science of physics. By contrast, a
[monotheistic]religion[…]posits[…]aGodwhoseexistence[…][predates]thatoftheworld
andnature[…].These[two]gaps[…]provideanexplanationastowhyitisimpossibletospeak
of[the]continuity ofscepticism[…]inthetransitionfromthe classicalworld to theMuslim
era.[…]
Nonetheless,thisshouldnotgetinthewayof[the]scholar[…].[ScepticisminArabicphiloso-
phy] […]would[…]indicateatransformationratherthan [a]replication.Gaps inknowledge
andculturalclimatefunctionascatalysts[…].Halevi’sthoughtprovidesuswithhighlyinstruc-
tiveexamplesoftheextenttowhichthetransmissionofscepticalconcepts[…]betweeneras
andculturescanbe[…]fascinatingpreciselybecauseoftheprofoundtransformationtheyun-
derwent.9
Yes, Krinis admits, medieval philosophers in Islamic lands had only a meagre
knowledgeofGreekscepticism.However,thismeagrenesswasnotonlyadisadvan-
tage; it was also an advantage! The literary and cultural gaps separating those
monotheistic philosophers from their Greek predecessors prevented them from be-
ing merely replicators and forced them to be transformers. They developed their
griechischen Skepsis auf die Entwicklung der Philosophie bei den Arabern,” in Jahresbericht des
jüdisch-theologischenSeminarsFraenckel’scherStiftungfürdasJahr1914(Breslau:Schatzky,1915),
5–49.
6 CarmelaBaffioni,“Perl’ipotesidiuninflussodellascepsisullafilosofiaislamica,”inLoscetti-
cismoantico:AttidelConvegnoorganizzatodalCentrodiStudidelpensieroanticodelCNR,Roma5–8
nov.1980,ed.GabrieleGiannantoni(Naples:Bibliopolis,1981),1:417–34.
7 GiuseppeVeltri,“ScepticisminJewishPhilosophy,”inJudaistikimWandel:einhalbesJahrhun-
dert Forschung und Lehre über das Judentum in Deutschland, ed. Andreas Lehnhardt (Berlin: De
Gruyter,2017),211–22.
8 Josef Stern, The Matter and Form of Maimonides’ Guide (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press,2013).Seemyreview(inHebrew)ofthe2017HebrewtranslationinIyyun66(2017):399–404.
9 Seebelow,14-17.