Nasir, Isaac

Nasir, Isaac a famous Jewish philosopher devoted to Cabalism, who flourished about 1100, is the author of a cabalistic work entitled מִסֶּכֶת אֲצַילוּת, the Treatise on the Emanations, in which he introduces the prophet Elijah as speaking and teaching under the four names of Eliah ben-Joseph, Jaresiah bein-Joseph, Zechariah ben-Joseph, and Jeroham ben-Joseph, and propounding the system of the Cabala (q.v.). This remarkable treatise was first published by R. Abraham, (Vilna, 1802); it was then reprinted, with all its faults, in Lemberg, 1850; and in 1853 by Dr. Jellinek, in his Auswahl Kabbalistischer Mystik (part i, הִקִּבָּכָה גִּנזֵי חָכמִת). See Ginsburg, The Kabbalah, page 109, where an analysis of this treatise is given; Furst, Bibl. Jud. 3, page 19. (B.P.)