She’eloth le-he-Chacham Shaul Hakohen [Responsum based on a series of twelve philosophical questions addressed to the Author by Saul Hakohen Aschkenazi]

Saul Hakohen Aschkenazi was an author of philosophical works and a disciple of the Aristotelian thinker, Elijah Delmedigo. His philosophical queries were addressed to Isaac Abrabanel with a view to ascertaining a Maimonidean position. Abrabanel’s answers constitute his sharpest and weightiest attack upon the Averroist renderings of Maimonides. Indeed, it is in this work that Abrabanel finally relieved himself from the arduous internal struggle he had contended with Maimonidean thought, evidenced by his clear analysis of the points of difference and agreement between him and Maimonides. “It is not unlikely that after completing this book, Abravanel returned to systematic work on his great commentary on the Guide.” B. Netanyahu, Don Isaac Abravanel, Statesman & Philosopher (1968), pp. 86-7. Abrabanel’s response to Saul Hakohen also contain important autobiographical comments. He complains of physical weakness and of his despair of Redemption following the Expulsion from Spain. In a deeply personal note of self-evaluation, he writes on f.8: “I frittered away my time making money and seeking honor... the wealth was lost and honor has been taken away from Israel.” The second part of the book amounts to collectanea of various indices and commentaries to Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed: Index by Moses ben Judah Nagari (ff. 2-3); Twenty-five Prefaces of Abu Bakr bin Muhammad al-Tabrizi to the Second Part of the Guide (ff. 3-18); Commentaries Attributed to R. Joseph Gikatilia (ff. 19-31). The attribution to the kabbalist Joseph Gikatilia, author of Sha’arei Orah, should not strike one as outlandish. Actually, Maimonides’ philosophical work, bizarre as it might seem, attracted sundry mystical interpretations. Witness the fact that Gikatilia’s teacher, Abraham Abulafia, founder of the school of “prophetic kabbalah,’” composed a lengthy commentary to Guide of the Perplexed