This book analyzes the attitude of Habad philosophers to Maimonides, as well as the Habad exegesis to Maimonidean doctrines. Maimonides was not only viewed by Habad philosophers as an eminent philosopher and rabbinic sage, but as one who merited receiving a “high soul,” His words, therefore, express not only intellectual achievements, but represent a type of “spiritual” level that is beyond intellectual merit. At times, Maimonides' words were understood as anticipating Habad teachings, and at other times as expressing Habad teachings, i.e., his words were interpreted in a Kabbalistic-Hassidic manner. This book traces the trends of development in the attitude of Habad thinkers to Maimonidean doctrines, setting out to prove that the issue of the Habadic perception of the Maimonidean doctrines is not negligible, as it might initially seem, but rather, plays a signigicant role in Habadic philosophy and is organically integrated therein. The book analyzes Habadic philosophy from its inc

This book is the first comprehensive, methodological analysis of the religious-philosophical thought of R. Joseph Albo, author of the Sefer ha-`Ikkarim. Albo was active in Christian Spain in the first half of the fifteenth century, a period in which the Catholic Church exerted great pressure on the Jews in order to convince them to convert to Christianity. During this same time there was an ongoing dispute among Jewish thinkers between conservatives and rationalists regarding the role of philosophy in the formation of religious concepts. The book claims that Sefer Ha-`Ikkarim was written in an esoteric manner, similar to Maimonides` The Guide of the Perplexed, so that the author`s true beliefs are concealed in different philosophical and theological discussions. A close study of Albo`s discussions on many issues related to his theories on divinity, on humanity, onprovidence and on reward reveals his use of many literary and stylistic means of concealment. Analysis of his philosophical