Menaḥem ben Jacob Shalem and the Study of Philosophy in Late Medieval Prague

Abstract

The article examines the study of philosophical works, most notably Maimonides's Guide of the Perplexed and its commentaries, among the Jews living in Prague at the turn of the fifteenth century. It focuses on a Jewish author named Menahem ben Jacob Shalem and his fragmentary treatise discussing motifs from the Guide of the Perplexed, III:51. The article also discusses later dissemination of Menahem's texts.