Two Astrological Fragments Included in the Commentary to Sefer Yeṣirah by Yehudah ben Barzilay al-Bargeloni.

Abstract

The main object of this article is to translate, scrutinize the contents and reveal the sources of two Hebrew astrological texts embedded in the commentary on Sefer Yeṣirah composed by Yehudah ben Barzilay, the leading Rabbinic authority in Barcelona in the first half of the 12th century. The first text arises great interest because it incorporates the first ever known horoscopic chart written in Hebrew. The second text includes a miscellany of cosmological and astrological theories. The analysis of both fragments reveals the reception of astrological texts by Jewish intellectuals in the Iberian Peninsula. In contrast with Abraham bar Ḥiyya and Abraham Ibn 'Ezra, who epitomize a renovating trend couching into a Hebrew mold various aspects of Greek and Arabic science, Ben Barzilay embodies a conservative trend which exclusively relies on Jewish astrological and scientific sources.