Abba Mari
Rabbi Abba Mari ben Moses ben Joseph, was a Provençal rabbi, born at Lunel, near Montpellier, towards the end of the 13th century. He is also known as Yarhi from his birthplace (Hebrew "Yerah", i.e. moon, lune), and he further took the name Astruc, Don Astruc or En Astruc of Lunel from the word "astruc" meaning lucky. He is the founder of the Astruc family.

The descendant of men learned in rabbinic lore, Abba Mari devoted himself to the study of theology and philosophy, and made himself acquainted with the writings of Moses Maimonides and Nachmanides as well as with the "Talmud".

In Montpellier, where he lived from 1303 to 1306, he was much distressed by the prevalence of Aristotelian rationalism, which (in his opinion) through the medium of the works of Maimonides, threatened the authority of the Old Testament, obedience to the law, and the belief in miracles and revelation. He therefore, in a series of letters (afterwards collected under the title "Minhat Kenaot", i.e., "Offering of Zealotry") called upon the famous rabbi Solomon ben Aderet of Barcelona to come to the aid of orthodoxy. Ben Aderet, with the approval of other prominent Spanish rabbis, sent a letter to the community at Montpellier proposing to forbid the study of philosophy to those who were less than twenty-five years of age, and, in spite of keen opposition from the liberal section, a decree in this sense was issued by Ben Aderet in 1305. The result was a great schism among the Jews of Spain and southern France, and a new impulse was given to the study of philosophy by the unauthorized interference of the Spanish rabbis.

Upon the expulsion of the Jews from France by Philip IV in 1306, Abba Mari settled at Perpignan, where he published the letters connected with the controversy. His subsequent history is unknown. Beside the letters, he was the author of liturgical poetry and works on civil law.
Q5637099
Provençal rabbi
UNK
Q318082
Lunel
LOC
Q6441
Montpellier
LOC
Q9288
Hebrew
Concept
Q405
moon
CEL
Q96372484
Astruc family
Concept
Q2117603
rabbinic
Concept
Q34178
theology
Concept
Q5891
philosophy
Concept
Q127398
Moses Maimonides
PER
Q355455
Nachmanides
PER
Q43290
Talmud
ORG
Q868
Aristotelian
PER
Q483024
rationalism
Concept
Q19786
Old Testament
Concept
Q170774
miracle
Concept
Q192906
revelation
Concept
Q982170
Solomon ben Aderet
PER
Q1492
Barcelona
LOC
Q7325
Jew
Concept
Q29
Spain
LOC
Q142
France
LOC
Q130969
Philip IV
PER
Q6730
Perpignan
LOC
Q2747857
Abba Mari
PER
Q2747857
Abba Mari
PER
Q2747857
Abba Mari
PER
1303-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1303
DATE
1306-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1306
DATE
1305-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1305
DATE
1306-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1306
DATE
+13^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
13
NUMBER
place of birth
residence
country of citizenship
country