The Kitab al Khazari, an Arabic phrase meaning Book of the Khazars, is
one of most famous works of the medieval Spanish Jewish philosopher
and poet Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, completed around 1140.[1] Divided into
five essays ("ma'amarim," Articles), it takes the form of a dialogue
between the pagan king of the Khazars and a Jew who was invited to
instruct him in the tenets of the Jewish religion. Originally written
in Arabic, the book was translated by numerous scholars (including
Judah ibn Tibbon) into Hebrew and other languages. Though the book is
not considered a historical account of the Khazar conversion to
Judaism, scholars such as D.M. Dunlop have postulated that Yehuda had
access to Khazar documents upon which he loosely based his work. His
contemporary, Avraham ibn Daud, reported meeting Khazar rabbinical
students in Toledo, Spain in the mid-12th century.
Introduction
After a short account of the incidents preceding the conversion of the
king, and of the conversations of the latter with a philosopher, a
Christian, and a Muslim concerning their respective beliefs, a Jew
appears on the stage, and by his first statement startles the king;
for, instead of giving him proofs of the existence of God, he asserts
and explains the miracles performed by Him in favor of the Israelites.
The king expresses his astonishment at this exordium, which seems to
him incoherent; but the Jew replies that the existence of God, the
creation of the world, etc., being taught by religion, do not need any
speculative demonstrations. Further, he propounds the principle upon
which his religious system is founded; namely, that revealed religion
is far superior to natural religion. For the aim of ethical training,
which is the object of religion, is not to create in man good
intentions, but to cause him to perform good deeds. This aim can not
be attained by philosophy, which is undecided as to the nature of
good, but can be secured by religious training, which teaches what is
good. As science is the sum of all truth found by successive
generations, so religious training is based upon a set of traditions;
in other words, history is an important factor in the development of
human culture and science.
[edit] "Creatio ex Nihilo"
Halevi writes that as the Jews are the only depositaries of a written
history of the development of the human race from the beginning of the
world, the superiority of their traditions can not be denied. Halevi
asserts that no comparison is possible between Jewish culture, which
in his view is based upon religious truth, and Greek culture, which is
based upon science only. He holds that the wisdom of Greek
philosophers lacked that divine support with which the Israelite
prophets were endowed. Had a trustworthy tradition that the world was
created out of nothing been known to Aristotle, he would have
supported it by at least as strong arguments as those advanced by him
to prove the eternity of matter. Belief in the eternity of matter,
however, is not absolutely contrary to Jewish religious ideas; for the
Biblical narrative of the Creation refers only to the beginning of the
human race, and does not preclude the possibility of preexistent
matter.
Still, relying upon tradition, the Jews believe in "creatio ex
nihilo," which theory can be sustained by as powerful arguments as
those advanced in favor of the belief in the eternity of matter. The
objection that the Absolutely Infinite and Perfect could not have
produced imperfect and finite beings, made by the Neoplatonists to the
theory of "creatio ex nihilo," is not removed by attributing the
existence of all mundane things to the action of nature; for the
latter is only a link in the chain of causes having its origin in the
First Cause, which is God.
[edit] Superiority of his faith
Halevi now attempts to demonstrate the superiority of his religion,
Judaism.
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