In addition to what has been written in the Menorat Kesef and Mizraḳ Kesef, (one should) know that it is correct to say of God that He is the first cause, in a sense that is compound as well as the (simple) sense of His essence.⁵ This is certainly true of the world of Separate Intelligences of which the Lord, may He be blessed, is part.⁶ (AS II 79 ff.). In the present passage God is described as being the highest part of the world of Separate Intelligences, and therefore “part” of the universe. Cf. above p. 28, n. 188. The reason is that the world of Separate Intelligences, or if you will, the universe of the Intellect, or the universe of the Intelligences, consists of Him, blessed be He, His court and His attendants, as our Sages said. This category is divided, according to our conception, into three components, when described in terms of cause and effect,⁷, ed. M. Steinschneider (Berlin, 1846), p. 5. as Abu-Nasr (Al-Farabi) said (when he described them as) “the Primary One, the Secondary Ones, and the Active Intellect.”⁸ (Beirut, 1959), p. 23, cited in M. Fakhry, A History of Islamic Philosophy (New York: Columbia University Press, 1970), pp. 136 ff., refers to God as “the First.” Here “Primary One” refers to God, “Secondary Ones” refers to the Separate Intelligences as a group (shniyim), with the Active Intellect as the lowest of the Intelligences. Together they constitute the uppermost of the three worlds. On Kaspi’s perception of that world, see A. Altmann, “The Ladder of Ascension,” in Studies in Mysticism and Religion Presented to Gershom Scholem (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1967), p. 23. You should know that it was from this that in ancient times there first emerged a belief in the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Only later was that belief transformed into something else.⁹ (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1964), pp. 141–167, without any reference to Kaspi. Indeed, the Lord, blessed be He, is the Primary One, and is the Father; the Intelligences¹⁰ are known as son or sons, as it says “sons of God,”¹¹ “sons of might,”¹² which is the main meaning of those verses. Certainly God is called “Father” throughout the Torah and the Bible, for He is the primary bestower of life for all. The Active Intellect is referred to as “the Spirit of God,” “the Holy Spirit,” or “the Spirit of the Lord.” All this is evident.¹³ (London, 1877), p. 13.

footnotes: ⁵ 5. Below in n. 14 the sense in which God is “compound” is explained. ⁶ 6. Kaspi here refers to the existence of universe as three successive worlds, as postulated by the Aristotelian school: the world of Separate Intelligences; the world of Heavenly Spheres below that; the sublunar world of elements. This hierarchy, accepted by Ibn Ezra and Maimonides, is explained by Kaspi in detail in the Menorat Kesef ⁷ 7. Each Intelligence is the cause of the one Intelligence below it, and it is in this sense only that they can be numbered separately. This way to distinguish them follows Maimonides, Ma’amar Ha-Yiḥud ⁸ 8. Al-Farabi, Al-Madinah Al-Fadilah ⁹ 9. This is an oblique reference to Christianity. Later in chapter V Kaspi is more explicit. Kaspi’s point here is that the Christian doctrine of the trinity has Jewish roots, a point that is discussed and approved by H. Wolfson, The Philosophy of the Church Fathers ¹⁰ 10. Literally “the Secondary Ones.” ¹¹ 11. Gen. 6:2. ¹² 12. Ps. 29:1. ¹³ 13. For further discussion of the structure of the uppermost world, see M. Friedlander, Essays on the Writings of Abraham Ibn Ezra

Accordingly, the world of Separate Intelligences is in one respect one, and in another respect many. If you will you may say (the Separate Intelligences) are many and they are one. Alternatively, | the world of Separate Intelligences as a whole is three, and is one. It was in this manner that the convention of the trinity arose. Even the Primary One (God) Himself could be described in this manner, being one unto Himself and also the threefold cause of the Intelligences and the Active Intellect.¹⁴ (AM 70), Kaspi attributes this idea that God is the threefold cause of the universe to Al-Batalyawsi’s Book of Intellectual Circles. Such an idea is found in that work, in D. Kaufmann, ed., Die Spuren Al-Batlajusis in der Jüdischen Religionsphilosophie (Berlin, 1880), pp. 37 ff. (according to the pagination at the back). In Menorat Kesef (AS II 83) Kaspi himself explains that God is perceived in a threefold manner, in that not only is He the intellect and the intellectually cognizing subject as well as the intellectually cognized object (cf. Guide I:68), but He is also the efficient, formal and final cause of the universe (see Guide I:69). Accordingly it could also be said of Him that He is one and He is three, even while He is absolutely one, while everything else is many, for they are compounded of and perfected by cause and effect, which is not so with God, for He has no cause. This is according to our Torah. For this reason the Men of the Great Assembly said, “They import holiness to you three times,”¹⁵ prayer. in referring to the statement of Isaiah, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts …”¹⁶ (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1929), p. 459, n. 92, where Crescas is interpreted as referring to a kabbalistic system of sefirot. where the threefold repetition refers to the world of Separate Intelligences in general, and the Lord in particular.

footnotes: ¹⁴ 14. In the ‘Ammudei Kesef ¹⁵ 15. This follows the Sephardic version of the kedushah ¹⁶ 16. Isa. 6:3. Kimḥi, in his commentary to this verse, gives a more conventional reading, finding reference to the three worlds that praise God. The Aramaic Targum Onkelos understands the reference as to the heavens, the earth, and the infinity of time. Kaspi goes beyond them to understand the reference as being to the threefold aspect of God Himself, or that of the world of Separate Intelligences. For other, similar interpretations of this verse, most notably that of Crescas, see H. Wolfson, Crescas’ Critique of Aristotle