Kaspi, Nethanel ben Nehemiah
KASPI, NETHANEL BEN NEHEMIAH
KASPI, NETHANEL BEN NEHEMIAH (15th century), author of religious-philosophical works. Kaspi was a disciple of Frat Maimon (Solomon b. Menahem). He composed the following works: (1) commentary on the Kuzari, completed in 1424, for which he made use of the Hebrew translations by Judah ibn Tibbon and Judah Cardinal; (2) commentary on the anonymous philosophical work Ru'ah Hen; (3) commentary on Maimonides' Shemonah Perakim. All three commentaries appear to be primarily a record of Frat Maimon's oral explanations. All three are contained in a Parma manuscript (no. 395), copied by Abraham Farissol in Ferrara in 1520. (4) Lekutot ("selections"), consisting of comments on passages in the Pentateuch, and polemical remarks against Christianity including, in the main, the arguments used by French rabbis in their debates with Christians, such as may be found in the writings of Joseph b. Nathan ha-Mekanne. Kaspi also copied works, among them *Levi b. Gershom's commentary on the Pentateuch, in Avignon in 1429. He also copied *Alfasi's Halakhot (in 1454) and other rabbinical works.
bibliography:
Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, 404, 427; Renan, Ecrivains, 235, 409ff., 266; Gross, Gal Jud, 10, 69–70, 89, 390.
[Bernard Suler]