Shem Tov ben Abraham ibn Gaon
Shem Tov ben Abraham ibn Gaon (1283-ca. 1330) (Hebrew: שם טוב בן אברהם אבן גאון) was a Spanish Talmudist and kabbalist.
Biography
Shem Tov was born at Soria, Spain. From his genealogy given in the preface to his Keter Shem Tov, Azulai (Shem ha-Gedolim, ii., s.v. Keter Shem Tov) concluded that "Gaon" must have been the proper name of one of Shem Tov's ancestors. Zunz (in his Zeitschrift für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums, p. 137) and Geiger (Jüd. Zeit. v. 397), however, suppose "Gaon" to be the Hebrew transliteration of "Jaén", indicating that Shem Tov's family originally came from that Spanish city. After he had studied Talmud under Solomon ben Adret and Kabbala under Isaac ben Todros (RIBaṬ, which is the abbreviation, David Conforte declares in his Ḳore ha-Dorot, p. 24b, of "R. Joseph b. Tobiah"), Shem Tov betook himself to Palestine in the hope of finding in the Holy Land a more suitable place for kabbalistic meditation. He sojourned for some time in Jerusalem, and then settled at Safed.
Works
At Safed Shem Tov wrote the following works, of which only the first two have been published:
- Migdal 'Oz, a commentary on Maimonides' Yad; in this he defends Maimonides against the strictures of Abraham ben David. The part covering the first volume of the Yad was printed with the text at Constantinople in 1509; and parts of other volumes, also with the text, at Venice in 1524. Certain rabbis, Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya (Shalshelet ha-Ḳabbalah, p. 45b, Amsterdam, 1697) among them, ascribe the Migdal 'Oz to Yom Tov ben Abraham (RIṬBA).
- Keter Shem Tov (Leghorn, 1839).
- Badde ha-Aron u-Migdal Ḥanan'el, a kabbalistic work in five parts, finished in the month of Iyyar, 1325, and named by Shem Tov after his traveling companion, Hananeel b. Azkara, who died before reaching his destination.
- 'Supercommentary on Abulafia's Ginnat Bitan, a kabalistic commentary on Genesis.
- Commentary on Saadia Bekor Shor's cabalistic poem, which he quotes in his Badde haAron.
- Sefer, ha-Pe'er, kabalistic treatise on phylacteries. De Rossi (Parma MS. No. 68, 8) declares the author's name to be doubtful, since the manuscript is anonymous; but Assemani (Catalogue of Hebrew MSS. in the Vatican Library, No. 235) concludes that its author was Shem Tov of Soria.
- Zibḥe Ẓedeḳ and Rosh ha-Shalishim, mentioned in the Badde ha-Aron, while in his Keter Shem Tov (section "Yesode ha-Torah", ch. i.) Shem Tov speaks in general terms of his "other works."
Keter Shem Tov
The Keter-Shem Tov is a supercommentary on and continuation of Nahmanides' commentary (particularly on the kabalistic part) on the Pentateuch, from whose interpretations those of Shem Tov differ in many places. Shem Tov says in his preface that at first he had entitled his work "Sitre Setarim", and that he then revised it and gave it the title "Keter Shem Tov", the work having been completed at Safed in 1315. Isaac ben Samuel of Acre, in his Me'irat 'Enayim, violently attacks the Keter Shem Tov, saying that most of the author's theories are not those of the older cabalists, but are simply his own inventions. This work is printed at the end of Judah Koriat's Ma'or wa-Shemesh (Leghorn, 1839), where it is entitled Perush Sodot ha-Torah; and the preface has been published in Jehiel Ashkenazi's Hekal Adonai (Venice, n.d.) under the title Perush Liḳḳuṭim.
In a manuscript containing piyyuṭim of various liturgists there is one written by a Shem Tov b. Abraham, whom L. Dukes (Orient, Lit. vi. 147 et seq.) supposes to be identical with the subject of this article. But Dukes seems to have distinguished between Shem Tov b. Abraham and Shem Tov of Soria, the author of the Sefer ha-Pe'er. On the other hand, Conforte (l.c.) confusing Shem Tov b. Abraham with Shem Tov Ardotial, wrongly ascribes to the former the "widdui" (confession) recited on Yom Kippur in the Musaf prayer.
The following works are erroneously attributed to Shem Tov b. Abraham ibn Gaon by Wolf (Bibl. Hebr. iii., No. 2152) and by other bibliographers: Keter Shem Tov (Venice, 1601), a collection of sermons, and Ma'amar Mordekai (Constantinople, 1585), a commentary on Book of Esther, the author of both works being Shem Tov Melammed; also a kabalistic treatise by an unknown author on the crowns ("taggin") of the letters.
Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
- Eliakim Carmoly, Itinéraires, pp. 312–313;
- Julius Fürst, Bibl. Jud. iii. 265;
- Heinrich Grätz, Gesch. 3d ed., vii. 281;
- M. H. Landauer, in Litteraturblatt des Orients, vi. 226;
- Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi, Dizionario, ii. 123;
- Moritz Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. cols. 2520 et seq.;
- idem, Jewish Literature, p. 110
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