More Light on the Judge R. Hanan'el b. Samuel / עוד על ר' חננאל בן שמואל הדיין, גדול החסידים

This article follows upon that devoted by Prof. S.D. Goitein to this interesting personality in the Tarbiz Jubilee Volume (1981), pp. 371—395, in which new information from Geniza documents was brought to light to the personal life of R. Hanan'el, notably that he was Abraham Maimonides' father-in-law. Hitherto, with the exception of R. Hanan'el's Commentaries on the RIF, recently published by Y. Suna, very little was known concerning his literary activities. The present article publishes a series of five texts by R. Hanan'el culled from the Geniza and other sources in ms. From the considerable number of holograph fragments listed, which have so far been located in the Geniza it is clear that R. Hanan'el was a prolific writer, who composed commentaries on the Pentateuch and Haffarot as well as works of an ethical and halakhic character. Of particular interest are his exegetical compositions which exhibit a blend of mystical and philosophical elements typical of Maimonides' school, of which he was a contemporary. What is more, his mystical writings, abounding in Sufi terminology place him within the sphere of the Jewish pietists (ḥasidim), of which, judging also by the epithet ḥasid, attached to his name, he must have been an adept. Knowledge of R. Hanan'el's exegetical writings seems to have penetrated to Syria and Yemen and the author suggests that some of the commentaries, especially those of a mystical bent, commonly attributed to R. Hanan'el b. Hushi'el, may in fact stem from his pen. The largest number of quotation of his works are to be found in the recently identified writings of David b. Joshua Maimonides (circa 1335—1415, active in Egypt and Syria), who quotes him as 'my ancestor (ǧiddī) R. Hanan'el'. From the two such extracts which are published here relating to the author's particular conception of qedushāh, it is apparent that R. Hanan'el was an able exegete and philosopher, whose doctrines deserve more attention for the light they shed on the intellectual trends current in the orbit of Maimonides.