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Rabbi Yaakov Anatoli (1194-1256)
Jewish Image Magazine January 2006
Edited by Shelomo Alfassa
From just North of the Spanish Pyrenees Mountains, in the South of France, originated a Jewish scholar who captured the true spirit of Maimonides in his teachings, which he later transferred to Italy. Although some considered him controversial in his day, Rabbi Yaakov Anatoli (1194-1256) is remembered as one of the important figures of the period known as the Rishonim. Rabbi Anatoli, or Anatolio, as he has been called, (just a boy of 10 years old when Maimonides died) is remembered as a translator of Arabic scientific literature, a philosopher and Biblical commentator.
Anatoli was the son-in-law, possibly also the brother-in-law, of Shemuel ibn Tibbon, the well-known translator of Maimonides works. Tibbon had fled Granada, Spain, as most Jews did, during the Almohade Islamic invasion in the 12th century. Moshe ben Shemuel ibn Tibbon frequently refers to Anatoli as his uncle, which makes it likely that Samuel married Anatoli's sister, while Anatoli afterward married the daughter of the former. Either way, it is known that Anatoli's literary activity was stimulated early by his learned associates and relations in Southern France. In fact, he distinguished himself so notably that the emperor Frederick II, the most amiable and enlightened monarch of the time, invited him to come to Naples, and, under the emperor's auspices, to devote himself to his studies, particularly to the rendition of scientific Arabic literature into the more accessible Hebrew language. Thus it was at Naples that Anatoli passed his most fertile period of literary production, and from that city were issued the numerous translations bearing his name.
Because of his intimate connection with the Ibn Tibbons, Anatoli was introduced to the philosophy of Maimonides, the study of which was such a great revelation to him that he referred to it as the beginning of his intelligent and true comprehension of the Tankah, while he frequently alluded to Ibn Tibbon as one of the two masters who had instructed and inspired him. His esteem for Maimonides knew no bounds: he placed him next to the Prophets, and with Maimonides' critics and detractors he exhibited little patience. He accordingly interprets the Bible and the Haggadah in a truly Maimonistic spirit, rationalizing the miracles and investing every possible passage in the ancient literature with philosophic significance. Because of his work, historians have stated that Anatoli deserves a place beside other allegoric and philosophical commentators.
Indeed, he may be regarded as a pioneer in the application of the Maimonistic manner to purposes of popular education. These teachings he began while still in France, especially while attending private and public festivities, such as weddings and other assemblies. Later he would begin to give lectures on Shabbat in which he advocated this philosophic method of Scriptural analysis.
This evoked the opposition of the anti-Maimonists, whose number was large in southern France; and probably Anatoli's departure for Sicily was hastened by the antagonism he encountered. But even at Naples, Anatoli's views aroused the ire of some. This treatment, together with several other unpleasant experiences at the royal court, caused him to become greatly depressed. He soon, however, recovered and wrote, for the benefit of his two sons, his Malmad ha-Talmidim, a name which, involving a play on words, was intended to be both a "Teacher of the Disciples" and a "Goad to the Students."
The Malmad was completed when Anatoli was 55 years old, but was first published and circulated in the year 1866, some 617 years after his death. It was a volume of sermons, by which the author intended to stimulate study and to dispel intellectual blindness. As a curious trait of his method, it may be mentioned that he regards the three stories of Noah's ark as symbolic of the three sciences mathematics, physics, and metaphysics.
Anatoli is quite plain-spoken in the manner in which he states and defends his views. He did not hesitate to reproach his fellow rabbis for their general neglect not only of the thorough study, but even of the obligatory perusal, of the Bible, charging them with a preference for solely analyzing the Talmud. He, likewise, was frustrated by the way many in his community practiced their religion, a circumstance which he thought was largely to the imitation of those non-Jews around them. Scientific investigation he insists upon as an absolute necessity for the true comprehension of religion, despite the fact that his contemporaries regarded all the hours which he was accustomed to spend with his father-in-law, Samuel ibn Tibbon, in mathematical and philosophic study as mere waste of time.
His Malmad is divided into brief chapters, according to the perashiot. In it, Anatoli manifests a wide acquaintance not only with the classic Jewish commentators, but also with Plato, Aristotle, Averroes, and the like. To Anatoli all men are, in truth, formed in the image of God, though the Jews stand under a particular obligation to further the true cognition of God simply by reason of their election-"the Greeks had chosen wisdom as their pursuit; the Romans, power; and the Jews, religiousness". Despite its so-called Maimonistic heresies, his Malmad became a very popular book.
Yet, it is rather as a translator that Anatoli deserves a distinguished place in Jewish history; for it is he who played a significant role, under the influence of Frederick II, that opened to the western world the treasure-house of Arabic learning. Anatoli, in fact, was the first man to translate the commentaries of Averroes into Hebrew, thus opening a new era in the history of philosophy. Anatoli probably commenced his work on the commentary while in Provence, though he must have finished the fifth book at Naples about 1231 or 1232. Between the period of 1231 and 1235, Anatoli translated multiple works including works on the science of Astronomy. Rabbi Anatoli died in 1256, just a couple of years after Jews were expelled from Vienne, France, by order of Pope Innocent III, and when Florence, Italy had became a major center for commerce and industry.
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