The three figures whose writings on the principles of Judaism will be surveyed briefly in this chapter have a number of things in common. All late fifteenth-century Spanish Jews, they each composed theological works in which dogmatic questions are given fairly brief and unsystematic attention. In this they differ markedly from their contemporary countrymen, Bibago and Abravanel, each of whom devoted extensive attention to the principles of Judaism.

Abraham Shalom

Abraham Shalom (d. 1492) apparently lived in Catalonia. He is the author of Neveh Shalom, a work ostensibly devoted to justifying the Aggadic portions of the Talmud but which also includes a series of philosophic discussions devoted to discovering which teachings of philosophy accord with the Torah. These discussions reflect Shalom's desire to defend Maimonides from Crescas's critique that he was too radical and from Gersonides’ critique that he was too conservative.

Shalom makes a number of passing references to beliefs which he calls variously ikkarim and yesodot. All told, the different beliefs which he mentions in this fashion are the following:

Shalom also mentions the immutability of God and eternity of the Torah as beliefs which may be considered as principles even though he does not explicitly call them ikkarim or yesodot.

The first four beliefs appear to be Shalom's basic list of principles. The list appears three times in the Neveh Shalom (although in the first occurrence, divine omnipotence is listed in place of providence). The other beliefs are listed in various contexts, almost haphazardly. A distinguishing feature of Shalom's account of the principles of Judaism is the heavy emphasis he places on the centrality of belief in creation. It is, he says, ‘the foundation which precedes all of the Torah, upon which the latter built its house, and upon which all its foundations stand’. This opinion concerning the importance of creation, we shall see, was shared by all of Shalom's contemporaries who dealt with the principles of Judaism.