Obj. ID: 39490
Jewish printed books  Or HaShem by Hasdei ben Avraham Crescas, Wrocław (Breslau), 1861

This text was prepared by William Gross: 

Hasdai ben Abraham Crescas (c. 1340 - 1411) was a Jewish philosopher, theologian, and a renowned "halakhist" (teacher of Jewish law). During the catastrophic period of Spanish-Jewish history between 1391 and 1492, Hasdai Crescas wrote a treatise, Or Adonai (Light of the Lord, written in 1410, and printed in Ferrara in 1555) seeking to define and strengthen the Jewish faith in the face of constant attack from Christians and the threat posed by Aristotelian philosophy. The book sets out to protect traditional Judaism by criticizing the Aristotelian formulations proposed by such Jewish philosophers as Moses Maimonides (1186-1237) and Levi ben Gershom (Gersonides) (1288-1344).
Hasdai Crescas was the first European philosopher to argue against Aristotelian cosmology. He asserted that there is no contradiction in the idea of empty space or an infinite magnitude; and that all bodies have weight, not a natural tendency upward or downward. Citing the Talmudic view that God governs 18,000 worlds, Crescas argued for an infinitely extended cosmos. He insisted that Maimonides erred in treating belief in God as a commandment, when it is a presupposed condition of any divine commandment. He replaced knowledge with love as God’s highest purpose, and declared that love, not the attainment of knowledge, brought humanity into communion with God and assured his immortality.
He is considered important in the history of modern thought for his deep influence on Baruch Spinoza. Spinoza (1632-1677) accepted many of the views of Crescas, who opposed the extreme rationalism of Maimonides. His emphasis on the emotional side of religious observance influenced Renaissance figures such as Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) and Giordano Bruno (1548-1600)