Isaac “the blInd”

Isaac "the Blind" a Jewish writer of the 13th century (from 1190-1210), is noted as the reputed author of the modern cabalistic system. SEE CABALA. Some writers, as is well known, assert that the Cabala originated with him, but this is doubted by the best authorities, and he is considered only to have been the first to give a new impulse to the study of this peculiar philosophical system, to oppose the inroads of Maimonides's (q.v.) philosophical interpretation of the Scriptures. It 'is certain, at least, that he had much to do with one of 'the mystical books of the Cabala, the Jezirah. His theories were further developed after his death by his two disciples Ezra and Azariel of Zerona. Gratz (Gesch. d Julden, 7, 74 sq., 444 sq.) seems inclined to favor the assertion of Joseph Ibn-Gikatilla, that the Cabala system was the production of Isaac the Blind, and that neither the sacred Scriptures nor Jewish tradition bear any reference to prove its earlier existence. (J. H. W.)