ר׳ יוסף יעבץ

ר׳ יוסף בן חיים יעבץ (c.1440–1508), known as החסיד יעב״ץ, was a preacher, exegete and theologian shaped by the catastrophe of the Iberian expulsions. Born in Lisbon, he became associated with the learned Jewish world of Spain and Portugal and witnessed the displacement of 1492. His subsequent route took him through Portugal, Sicily and Naples before he settled at Mantua. During these migrations he preached faith, divine providence and consolation to refugees. The expulsion also became the central problem of his writings: he argued that simple religious loyalty had sustained many ordinary Jews, while excessive devotion to philosophy had weakened parts of the intellectual elite. His critique was directed not against reason itself but against philosophical systems that, in his view, displaced revelation and observance. אור החיים presents this argument most forcefully; חסדי ה׳ interprets suffering and messianic expectation, while מאמר האחדות and יסוד האמונה discuss the principles of Judaism. He also wrote a widely studied commentary on Pirkei Avot. Most of these works were printed only decades after his death, and their publication dates must not be mistaken for travel to the printing cities. Later kabbalistic and Hasidic authors repeatedly cited his defence of faith and his interpretation of the Spanish exile.