Simeon Ben Samuel

Philosopher and cabalist of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; of French or German birth. He was the author of a work entitled "Adam Sikli," or "Hadrat Ḳodesh" (Freiburg? 1560), a philosophical and theological treatise on the Decalogue, the thirteen attributes of God ("shelosh 'esreh middot"), and the thirteen articles of faith, with a commentary entitled "Gillayon." It is followed by a cabalistic meditation in the form of a prayer ("teḥinnah"). This work was written in 1400. One of his reasons for calling it "Hadrat Ḳodesh" is that the numerical value of the letters of its title, added to 7, the number of letters in the title, is equivalent to the numerical value of . Extracts of the work were given by Hottinger in his "Grammatica Quatuor Linguarum" (Heidelberg 1658), and by Wolf in his "Dissertatio de Libro " (Gera, 1716); in the latter they are accompanied by a Latin translation.

Bibliography:

  * Fürst, Bibl. Jud. iii. 336;
  * Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 2629;
  * Wunderbar, in Orient, Lit. viii. 195.



E. C. M. Sel.