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'''Isaac ben Samuel of Acre''' (fl.13th-14th century) was a Palestinian ]. {{Distinguish|Isaac ben Samuel of Dampierre}}
'''Isaac ben Samuel of Acre''' (] 13th&ndash;14th century) (]: יצחק בן שמואל דמן עכו, ''Yitzhak ben Shmuel d'min Akko'') was a Jewish ] who fled to Spain.<ref> - Page 69. "Isaac of Acre was a Palestinian kabbalist of the thirteenth century who fled to Spain after the city of Acre was taken."</ref>


According to ],<ref>In ''Shem ha-Gedolim''</ref> Isaac ben Samuel was a pupil of ].
According to ] (''Shem ha-Gedolim'') he was a pupil of ]. He was at ] when that town was taken by Al-Malik al-Ashraf, and was thrown into prison with many of his coreligionists; but he escaped the massacre, and in ] went to ]. ] states, in his ''Yuḥasin,'' that ] discovered the ] in the time of Isaac of Acre. But Isaac doubted the authenticity of the Zohar, not having heard of it in the ], and made inquiries about it of Naḥmanides' pupils, without, however, any satisfactory result. When he met Moses of Leon at ], the latter took an oath that he had in his house at ] a copy of the Zohar, written by ] himself. But Moses of Leon died before he could return to Avila, and Isaac, more than ever desirous of obtaining the truth, consulted at Avila a certain David Rafan. The last-named told Isaac that Moses of Leon's wife and daughter had revealed to the wife of a certain R. Joseph the fact that Moses of Leon had written the book himself. ] (''Gesch.'' vii. 211) takes this story as historical, but Landauer (in ''Orient, Lit.'' vi. 710-713) shows it to be apocryphal, and demonstrates that the Zohar was discovered much later.


==View of the Zohar==
⚫ Isaac of Acre is frequently quoted by ] in his ''Reshit Ḥokmah,'' and by R. ] in his ''Megillat Setarim.'' He was an expert in composing the sacred names ("ẓerufim"), by the power of which angels were forced to reveal to him the great mysteries (Azulai, l.c.). According to ] he wrote many kabbalistic works. Those that are known are: ''Meirat Enayim,'' a kabbalistic commentary on Naḥmanides' commentary to the ]; ''Sefer ha-Sodot,'' mentioned in the ''Nobelot Ḥokmah'' of ]; ''Ketem Paz,'' a kabbalistic work mentioned by ] in his commentary to the ], and the author of which he calls "Isaac ben Samuel," identified by Michael (''Or ha-Ḥayyim,'' No. 1088) with Isaac ben Samuel of Acre; ''Liḳḳuṭe Shoshanim,'' possibly a compendium of the ''Sefer ha-Sodot.'' It appears from the ''Reshit Ḥokmah'' that Isaac of Acre wrote also a book on ethics. A specimen of the ''Me'irat 'Enayim'' was published by Jellinek in his ''Beiträge''; the remainder of Isaac's works are still in manuscript.
{{Hatnote|See also: ]}}
Isaac ben Samuel was at the ]-controlled town of ] when ] by a ] army led by ]. He was arrested and thrown into prison with many other Jews, but escaped the massacre, and in 1305 went to ].{{Needs citation|date=July 2022}} ] states in his ''Yuḥasin,'' that ] discovered the ] in the time of Isaac of Acre.<ref>{{Cite web |title=יוחסין השלם - זכות, אברהם בן שמואל (page 92 of 322) |url=https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=46738&st=&pgnum=92 |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=hebrewbooks.org}}</ref>


However, Isaac doubted the authenticity of the Zohar and made inquiries about it of Naḥmanides' pupils, without, however, any satisfactory result. When Isaac met Moses of Leon at ], the latter took an oath that he had a copy of the Zohar written by ] himself in his house at ]. However, de Leon died before he could return to Ávila, and Isaac, more than ever desirous of obtaining the truth, consulted at Ávila a man named David Dafan Korpo.


Dafan told Isaac that Moses of Leon's wife and daughter had revealed to the wife of a certain Joseph of ] that Moses of Leon had written the book himself, an anecdote accepted as historical by ],<ref>''Gesch.'' vii. 211</ref> Hebrew University professor ], and academic authorities on the Kabbalah such as ] and Berkeley professor ], while Landauer claims it to be apocryphal and tries to demonstrate that the Zohar was discovered much later.<ref>In ''Orient, Lit.'' vi. 710-713</ref>
⚫ == Jewish Encyclopedia Bibliography ==
⚫ *Grätz, Gesch. 3d ed., vii. 186, 211, 427-428;
⚫ *Abraham Zacuto, Yuḥasin, ed. Filipowski, pp. 95, 96, London, 1857;
⚫ *Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, p. 54;
⚫ *Jellinek, Beiträge, ii., xiii.;
⚫ *Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 2523;
⚫ *Landauer, in Orient, Lit. vi. 182, 224, 509;
⚫ *Michael, Or ha-Ḥayyim, p. 513, No. 1088.


Issac's testimony, which appeared in the first edition (1566) of Sefer Yuchasin, was censored from the second edition (1580)<ref>, p. "ובדף קל"ג השמיט המוציא לאור את המאמר על דבר ספר הזהר." (English: And on page 133 the publisher erased the essay concerning the matter of the book of the Zohar.)</ref> and remained absent from all editions thereafter until its restoration nearly 300 years later in the 1857 edition.<ref>Available at , p. - / - (Hebrew).</ref><ref>Dan Rabinowitz in ''Hakirah, The Flatbush Journal of Jewish Law and Thought'', , ''Nekkudot: The Dots that Connect Us'', p. .</ref>


The Yuchasin's copy of Isaac's account does not include any final conclusion. However, in Isaac's ''Otzar HaHayim'' he assumes that the Zohar was written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.<ref>Aryeh Kaplan, ''The Age of the Universe: A Torah True Perspective'', page 17.</ref>


==Quotations and works in Kabbalah==
⚫ ]
⚫ Isaac of Acre is frequently quoted by ] in his ''Reshit Ḥokmah,'' and by R. ] in his ''Megillat Setarim.'' He was an expert in composing the sacred names ("ẓerufim"), by the power of which angels were forced to reveal to him the great mysteries (Azulai, l.c.). According to ] he wrote many kabbalistic works. Those that are known are: ''Meirat Enayim,'' a kabbalistic commentary on Naḥmanides' commentary to the ]; ''Sefer ha-Sodot,'' mentioned in the ''Nobelot Ḥokmah'' of ]; ''Ketem Paz,'' a kabbalistic work mentioned by ] in his commentary to the ], and the author of which he calls "Isaac ben Samuel," identified by Michael (''Or ha-Ḥayyim,'' No. 1088) with Isaac ben Samuel of Acre; ''Liḳḳuṭe Shoshanim,'' possibly a compendium of the ''Sefer ha-Sodot.'' It appears from the ''Reshit Ḥokmah'' that Isaac of Acre wrote also a book on ethics. The ''Me'irat 'Enayim'' was published in a critical edition by Amos Goldreich in 1983. His "Otzar HaHayyim" was published in 2020 by Machon Hokhmei Yerushalayim.


==Theory of age of the Universe==
Isaac's words have been used by some to calculate the age of the universe as being 15,340,500,000 years old.<ref>{{cite book|title=Immortality, resurrection, and the age of the universe: a kabbalistic view |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cajobAjRh3IC&q=Sefer+Ha+Temunah+forms+of+Hebrew+letters&pg=PA6|publisher= Ktav Publishing House |date=January 1993 |first1= Aryeh |last1= Kaplan |authorlink1= Aryeh Kaplan |page= 9 |isbn= 978-0-88125-345-0}}</ref> Notably, ] arrived at this conclusion based on one view which holds that the author of ] believed that there were 42,000 years prior to the biblical Adam, based on the idea that we would be in the seventh 7,000 year Shmitah cycle, in conjunction with the idea that according to Issac, years prior to Adam should be calculated as "divine years," which, based on a verse from ] stating, "A thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday" (Psalm 90:4), yields an equivalent of 365,250 solar years. Kaplan then multiplies these figures and arrives at the said number. According to Kaplan, "From calculations based on the expanding universe and other cosmological observations, modern science has concluded that the Big Bang occurred approximately 15 billion years ago. But here we see the same figure presented in a Torah source written over seven hundred years ago!" The scientific estimation places the occurrence of the ] at 13.799 ± 0.021 billion years ago.<ref name="Planck 2015">{{cite journal|author=Planck Collaboration|year=2016|title=Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters (See Table 4 on page 31 of pfd).|url=https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/planck-2015-results(491d214e-7255-415e-97b5-96d8ae621eaa).html|journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics|volume=594|pages=A13|arxiv=1502.01589|doi=10.1051/0004-6361/201525830|s2cid=119262962}}</ref>


Kaplan's interpretation of Isaac's views has been contested. ] and Rabbi Ari Kahn describe some objections, citing sources which disagree, including the argument that the author of Sefer HaTemunah actually believed we were in the sixth, not seventh Shmitah, and that Isaac himself said that we were in the second, not seventh Shmitah, which would change the calculation dramatically, and bringing up the ] who was of the view that the matters discussed are spiritual and should not be applied to calculate physical years.<ref>{{Cite web|title=R. Aryeh Kaplan on the Age of the Universe|url=http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2006/08/r-aryeh-kaplan-on-age-of-universe_08.html|date=2006-08-08|website=R. Aryeh Kaplan on the Age of the Universe ~ Hirhurim - Musings|access-date=2020-05-25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Avodah V14 #65|url=http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol14/v14n065.shtml#14|website=www.aishdas.org|access-date=2020-05-25}}</ref>
{{JewishEncyclopedia}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

⚫ == Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography ==
⚫ * ] 3d ed., vii. 186, 211, 427–428;
⚫ * ], Yuḥasin, ed. Filipowski, pp.&nbsp;95, 96, London, 1857;
⚫ * ], Shem ha-Gedolim, p.&nbsp;54;
⚫ * ], Beiträge, ii., xiii.;
⚫ * ], Cat. Bodl. col. 2523;
⚫ * ], in ''Litteraturblatt des Orients'', vi. 182, 224, 509
⚫ * ], p.&nbsp;513, No. 1088.

{{JewishEncyclopedia|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=I&artid=239|article=Isaac ben Samuel of Acre}}
{{Rishonim}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Isaac Ben Samuel Of Acre}}
⚫ ]
]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 08:01, 28 September 2024

Not to be confused with Isaac ben Samuel of Dampierre.

Isaac ben Samuel of Acre (fl. 13th–14th century) (Hebrew: יצחק בן שמואל דמן עכו, Yitzhak ben Shmuel d'min Akko) was a Jewish kabbalist who fled to Spain.

According to Chaim Joseph David Azulai, Isaac ben Samuel was a pupil of Nachmanides.

View of the Zohar

See also: Zohar § Initial view

Isaac ben Samuel was at the Crusader-controlled town of Acre when town was taken by a Mamluk army led by Al-Ashraf Khalil. He was arrested and thrown into prison with many other Jews, but escaped the massacre, and in 1305 went to Spain. Abraham Zacuto states in his Yuḥasin, that Moses de Leon discovered the Zohar in the time of Isaac of Acre.

However, Isaac doubted the authenticity of the Zohar and made inquiries about it of Naḥmanides' pupils, without, however, any satisfactory result. When Isaac met Moses of Leon at Valladolid, the latter took an oath that he had a copy of the Zohar written by Shimon bar Yochai himself in his house at Ávila. However, de Leon died before he could return to Ávila, and Isaac, more than ever desirous of obtaining the truth, consulted at Ávila a man named David Dafan Korpo.

Dafan told Isaac that Moses of Leon's wife and daughter had revealed to the wife of a certain Joseph of Ávila that Moses of Leon had written the book himself, an anecdote accepted as historical by Heinrich Graetz, Hebrew University professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz, and academic authorities on the Kabbalah such as Gershom Scholem and Berkeley professor Daniel C. Matt, while Landauer claims it to be apocryphal and tries to demonstrate that the Zohar was discovered much later.

Issac's testimony, which appeared in the first edition (1566) of Sefer Yuchasin, was censored from the second edition (1580) and remained absent from all editions thereafter until its restoration nearly 300 years later in the 1857 edition.

The Yuchasin's copy of Isaac's account does not include any final conclusion. However, in Isaac's Otzar HaHayim he assumes that the Zohar was written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

Quotations and works in Kabbalah

Isaac of Acre is frequently quoted by Elijah de Vidas in his Reshit Ḥokmah, and by R. Hayyim Vital in his Megillat Setarim. He was an expert in composing the sacred names ("ẓerufim"), by the power of which angels were forced to reveal to him the great mysteries (Azulai, l.c.). According to Azulai he wrote many kabbalistic works. Those that are known are: Meirat Enayim, a kabbalistic commentary on Naḥmanides' commentary to the Pentateuch; Sefer ha-Sodot, mentioned in the Nobelot Ḥokmah of Joseph Solomon Delmedigo; Ketem Paz, a kabbalistic work mentioned by Moses Botarel in his commentary to the Sefer Yezirah, and the author of which he calls "Isaac ben Samuel," identified by Michael (Or ha-Ḥayyim, No. 1088) with Isaac ben Samuel of Acre; Liḳḳuṭe Shoshanim, possibly a compendium of the Sefer ha-Sodot. It appears from the Reshit Ḥokmah that Isaac of Acre wrote also a book on ethics. The Me'irat 'Enayim was published in a critical edition by Amos Goldreich in 1983. His "Otzar HaHayyim" was published in 2020 by Machon Hokhmei Yerushalayim.

Theory of age of the Universe

Isaac's words have been used by some to calculate the age of the universe as being 15,340,500,000 years old. Notably, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan arrived at this conclusion based on one view which holds that the author of Sefer HaTemunah believed that there were 42,000 years prior to the biblical Adam, based on the idea that we would be in the seventh 7,000 year Shmitah cycle, in conjunction with the idea that according to Issac, years prior to Adam should be calculated as "divine years," which, based on a verse from Psalms stating, "A thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday" (Psalm 90:4), yields an equivalent of 365,250 solar years. Kaplan then multiplies these figures and arrives at the said number. According to Kaplan, "From calculations based on the expanding universe and other cosmological observations, modern science has concluded that the Big Bang occurred approximately 15 billion years ago. But here we see the same figure presented in a Torah source written over seven hundred years ago!" The scientific estimation places the occurrence of the Big Bang at 13.799 ± 0.021 billion years ago.

Kaplan's interpretation of Isaac's views has been contested. Rabbi Gil Student and Rabbi Ari Kahn describe some objections, citing sources which disagree, including the argument that the author of Sefer HaTemunah actually believed we were in the sixth, not seventh Shmitah, and that Isaac himself said that we were in the second, not seventh Shmitah, which would change the calculation dramatically, and bringing up the Arizal who was of the view that the matters discussed are spiritual and should not be applied to calculate physical years.

Notes

  1. The book of direction to the duties of the heart - Page 69. "Isaac of Acre was a Palestinian kabbalist of the thirteenth century who fled to Spain after the city of Acre was taken."
  2. In Shem ha-Gedolim
  3. "יוחסין השלם - זכות, אברהם בן שמואל (page 92 of 322)". hebrewbooks.org. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  4. Gesch. vii. 211
  5. In Orient, Lit. vi. 710-713
  6. The Complete Yuchsin Book, third edition (5723), p. XXII "ובדף קל"ג השמיט המוציא לאור את המאמר על דבר ספר הזהר." (English: And on page 133 the publisher erased the essay concerning the matter of the book of the Zohar.)
  7. Available at HebrewBooks.org: ספר יוחסין השלם, p. 88-89 / 95-96 (Hebrew).
  8. Dan Rabinowitz in Hakirah, The Flatbush Journal of Jewish Law and Thought, volume 2 (fall 2015), Nekkudot: The Dots that Connect Us, p. 64.
  9. Aryeh Kaplan, The Age of the Universe: A Torah True Perspective, page 17.
  10. Kaplan, Aryeh (January 1993). Immortality, resurrection, and the age of the universe: a kabbalistic view. Ktav Publishing House. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-88125-345-0.
  11. Planck Collaboration (2016). "Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters (See Table 4 on page 31 of pfd)". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 594: A13. arXiv:1502.01589. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201525830. S2CID 119262962.
  12. "R. Aryeh Kaplan on the Age of the Universe". R. Aryeh Kaplan on the Age of the Universe ~ Hirhurim - Musings. 2006-08-08. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
  13. "Avodah V14 #65". www.aishdas.org. Retrieved 2020-05-25.

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Isaac ben Samuel of Acre". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

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