Ibn-baruch, Baruch

Ibn-Baruch, Baruch a Jewish philosopher and commentator, flourished at Venice in the 16th century. But little is known of the history of his life. He published a twofold commentary on Ecclesiastes, called both קֹהֶלֶת יִצִקֹב; (the Congregation of Jacob) and יַשׂרָאֵל קֹדֶשׁ. (Holy Israel) (Venice, 1599), the first of which is discursive and diffuse, and the second exegetical and brief. "Based upon the first verse, 'the words of Coheleth, son of David, king in Jerusalem,' he maintains that two persons are speaking in its book, a skeptic named Coheleth, and a believer called Ben-David, and accordingly treats the whole as a dialogue, in which these two characters are shown to discuss the most important problems of moral philosophy, and the philosophic systems of Greece and Arabia are made to furnish the two heroes of the dialogue with the necessary philosophic materials." — Gisburg in Kitto. The 'Quaestiones disputat de d'Animna of Thomas Aquinas, which were translated into Hebrew by Ali Xabillo, are used in this work both to put objections into the mouth of the skeptic and to furnish the believer with terse replies (comp. also Commentary, 65, a; 71, b; 96, a; 97, c; 117, a; 118, b; 119, a). It is a very valuable aid to the study of Jewish philosophy. See Jellineck, Thoman s v. Aquino i. d. jüd. Lit. (Lpz. 1853), p. 2 (13) and 7. (J. H.W.)