רוח חן - אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב

ii
structured in an unconventional order, and written in a condensed style,
impeding identification of its sources. This treatise, which was named Rua˙
Óen most likely after it was out of the author's hands, supplies the reader with a
tool with which to acquaint himself with the scientific background upon which
discussions found in the Guide for the Perplexed are based. At the same time, it
is a valuable textbook for those seeking to pursue basic education in
Aristotelian sciences, specifically theories in physics, meteorology, and
psychology, that would be helpful in studying other philosophic and scientific
texts. In my discussion I put forward the hypothesis that the author of Rua˙
Óen was Jacob Anatoli, the author of Malmad ha-Talmidim.
The second part of the study offers a comprehensive investigation of the
history of the study of Rua˙ Óen, and its role in the spreading of scientific
knowledge among Jews. This investigation is used as a "Looking Glass" or
prism, through which the attitudes of various Jewish cultures towards the study
of science are explored. This type of diachronic investigation of the
dissemination and appropriation of a scientific text in Jewish cultural contexts
has not been carried out till now.
My study is based on an examination of all of the existing manuscripts of
Rua˙ Óen (over one hundred twenty), and of most of the editions that were
printed until 1834. I have focused on three aspects of the appropriation of Rua˙
Óen: how it circulated, how it was received, and how it was studied. I have
examined these aspects in light of the Jews engagement with (especially their
reading in) the Aristotelian sciences in the cultural areas investigated. A central
aim of the study is to depict the role of Rua˙ Óen in shaping the scientific
world-view of Jewish readers for whom science was not a central occupation
and whose involvement with science was therefore neglected in studies on the
history of Jewish interest in the sciences. These readers were not interested in
science per se, and typically did not compose scientific texts or translations.