ר׳ יוסף אלבו

ר׳ יוסף אלבו (c.1380–1444) was an Aragonese-Castilian rabbi, preacher and philosopher, best known for ספר העיקרים. He was probably born at Monreal in Aragon and studied with ר׳ חסדאי קרשקש, likely in Zaragoza. By 1413 he represented the Jewish community of Daroca at the Disputation of Tortosa, the prolonged, coercive Christian-Jewish debate convened by Antipope Benedict XIII. The collapse of Daroca’s Jewish community in 1415 was followed by his relocation to Soria in Castile. There he served as rabbi and preacher and completed ספר העיקרים around 1425; he is still documented preaching in Soria in 1433. The work responds both to Christian polemic and to earlier Jewish debates over dogma. In place of the thirteen principles formulated by ר׳ משה בן מימון or the six roots of ר׳ חסדאי קרשקש, ר׳ יוסף identifies three fundamental principles of divine religion: the existence of God, revelation and reward and punishment. His method is deliberately synthetic, drawing upon earlier Jewish philosophy and occasionally scholastic terminology while allowing substantial interpretive latitude within Judaism. The book became one of the most widely read medieval Hebrew works on Jewish belief and was first printed at Soncino in 1485. He probably died in Soria around 1444.