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Bidding Information
Lot #    8408
Auction End Date    10/19/2004 12:55:00 PM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Milhamot ha-Shem
Title (Hebrew)    מלחמות השם
Author    [Anti-Kabbalah Polemic] R. Yihye El Kafah
City    Jerusalem
Publisher    P. Anav
Publication Date    1931
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    [12], 174, [1] pp., 244:168 mm., light age staining. A good copy loose in the original printed title boards.
          
Detailed
Description		    R. Yihye b. Solomon El Kafah (1850–1932), Yemenite scholar. Kafah was orphaned as a child and was brought up by his grandfather. Though a goldsmith by trade, he dedicated most of his life to study and teaching. He excelled in halakhah and many of the responsa of the bet din of San'a which were sent to inquirers from Yemen and other parts of the world were written by him. He studied the works of medieval Jewish scholars and Haskalah literature while his preoccupation with secular studies and languages (Arabic and Turkish) and his connections with scholars outside Yemen rendered him unique among his Yemenite contemporaries. Especially worthy of mention is his correspondence with A.I. Kook and Hillel Zeitlin concerning matters of Kabbalah. His study of philosophy and Haskalah literature, his contact and discussions with intellectuals and scholars such as Joseph Halevy and Eduard Glaser constituted a turning point in his mode of thought. The Young Turk revolution was also a factor in arousing Kafah's desire for reform and he sought to introduce reforms in the social life of the Jews in all areas: in the way of thought, methods of education, prayer and study, in customs and superstitions (occult medicine, amulets, charms, etc.). For this purpose he set up the movement of Darda'im (a combination of Dor De'ah, after the learning and intellectualism which characterize the movement, and the name of one of the four ancient sages, Darda, who is mentioned in I Kings 5:11 [4:31]). This movement which developed before World War I was a microcosm of the Enlightenment of the 18th-century European Jewry, which it resembled in its aspiration for learning and reform in Jewish life. It led to a certain intellectual revival, but provoked a storm in the life of the community. Kafah wrote Sefer Milhamot ha-Shem (1931), which sought to prove that the Kabbalah harms the true unity of G-d. In his bet midrash he directed the study of Torah in a new spirit, away from the study of homiletics, allegories, and mystical interpretation and toward the simple meaning of the Torah and the study of philosophic speculation. His method of teaching developed a sense of reflection and criticism. In his time the writings of Maimonides were again fully studied. Previously Yemenite Jewry only studied the Mishneh Torah, but from this time Maimonides' other (Arabic) works were also studied, as were other classics, including the Kuzari of Judah Halevi and Hovot ha-Levavot of Bahya ibn Paquda. Kafah was also interested in the writings of the rishonim, both of Yemenite origin and others whose works reached Yemen. He spent considerable time searching for manuscripts, copying them, and preserving them.

In Jerusalem in 1914 the pamphlet Amal u-Re'ut Ruah ve-Haramot u-Teshuvatam was published, including the excommunication of Kafah by the Jerusalem rabbis and his reply. The pamphlet characterizes the energetic struggle of the movement against the Zohar and kabbalistic literature. Defending the Kabbalah, Yemenite rabbis answered it in Emunat ha-Shem (1937).

          
Paragraph 2    (המודיע דרך אמתות יחודו יתברך עפ"י התורה ומפרשיה רז"ל ... וכדעת הגאונים רס"ג ורבינו בחיי... והרמב"ם ... בבטול דעות ... מחבר הזהר) אשר פעל ועשה ... ר' יחיה בן שלמה אלקאפח הי"ו, אב"ד ור"מ ומו"ץ בעוב"י צנעא בירת תימן וכל אגפיה ...יצא לאור פעם ראשונה.

נגד ספר זה יצא ספר אמונת ה', מאת ר' יוסף צובירי, ירושלם תרצ"ח.

          
Reference
Description		    CD-EPI 0161679; Shevut Teiman (1945), 166–231; Yishayahu, in: Harel (1962), 255–8; S. Korah, Iggeret Bokhim (1963); EJ
        
Associated Images
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Listing Classification
Period
20th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Israel:    Checked
Other:    Yemen
  
Subject
  
Kabbalah:    Checked
Polemics:    Checked
  
Characteristic
First Editions:    Checked
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica