Hasdai Crescas

Biography

Hasdai Crescas came from a family of scholars. He was the grandson of the Talmudist Hasdai ben Judah Crescas, and a disciple of the Talmudist and philosopher Nissim of Gerona. Following his teacher's footsteps, he became a Talmudic authority and a philosopher of great originality. He is considered critical in the history of modern thought for his profound influence on Baruch Spinoza.

After leaving Barcelona, he held the administrative position of crown rabbi of Aragon. He seems to have been active as a teacher. Among his fellow students and friends, Isaac ben Sheshet, famous for his responsa, takes precedence. Joseph Albo is the best known of his pupils, but at least two others won recognition, Mattathias of Zaragoza and Zechariah ha-Levi.

Crescas was a man of means. As such, he was appointed sole executor of his uncle's will, Vitalis Azday, by King John I of Aragon in 1393. Still, though enjoying the high esteem even of prominent non-Jews, he did not escape their fate. Imprisoned with his teacher upon a false accusation of host desecration in 1378, he suffered personal indignities because he was a Jew. His only son was martyred in the massacre of 1391.

Notwithstanding this bereavement, his mental powers were unbroken. The works that have made him famous were written after that terrible year. In 1401-02 he visited Joseph Orabuena in Pamplona at the request of Charles III of Navarre, who paid the expenses of his journey to various Navarrese towns (Jacobs, l.c. Nos. 1570, 1574). He was at that time described as "Rav of Zaragoza."