Moses Taku

Rabbi Moshe ben Chasdai Taku (Hebrew: ר' משה בן חסדאי תאקו)(fl. 1250-1290 CE)History of the Jews By Heinrich Graetz, Bella Löwy, Philipp Bloch Published by Jewish Publication Society of America, 1902. Pg, 624. was a 13th Century Tosafist from Bohemia.The name 'Taku' is a variant of Tachau, Bohemia - today Tachov, Czech Republic: Origins of the Kabbalah By Gershom Gerhard Scholem, Raphael Jehudah Zwi Werblowsky, Allan Arkush Translated by Allan Arkush Published by Princeton University Press, 1990. Pg. 34 and 202. Despite his own seemingly mystical orientation, Rabbi Taku is controversially known to have been an opponent of both the esoteric theology of the Chassidei Ashkenaz (particularly the Kalonymides,Studies in Jewish Manuscripts. By Joseph Dan, Klaus Herrmann, Johanna Hoornweg, Manuela Petzoldt. Contributor Joseph Dan. Published by Mohr Siebeck, 1999. Pg. 2. i.e. followers of Rabbi Yehudah HaChasid) and the philosophical orientation of rabbinic rationalists such as Saadia Gaon, Maimonides, Ibn Ezra et al. He believed that both trends were a deviant departure from traditional Judaism, which he understood to espouse a literal perspective of both the biblical narrative, and the Aggadata of the Sages.Ketav Tamim, pg 69:“This opinion of the minority of the Gaonim and the Karaites [that God does not have a body] is taken from the Kalam movement of the Muslims… You should know that everything that the Muslims said regarding this is all taken from the words of the Greeks and the Arameans.” – Translated by Rabbi David Sedley, [Aggada in Jewish Thought]http://hashkafacircle.com/shiurim/category/reshimu/: Changing Paradigm. Pg 27.
==Controversial Views==
Taku is often cited as contradicting Maimonides’ Third Principle of Faith for insisting that God can be corporeally manifest and that to maintain otherwise is heretical. For Taku such a denial would be an infringement on God's omnipotenceKetav Tamim, ed. Kirchheim, pg. 82: “They are issuing a decree to the Creator as to how He must be. By doing so they are degrading themselves.” – Translated by Marc B. Shapiro on pg. 39 of The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides' Thirteen Principles Reappraised, published by Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2004 and that accordingly all anthropomorphic allusions to God in the Tanach are to be taken literally. However, Joseph Dan an Israeli scholar of Jewish mysticism casts aspersion on this widely held view of Taku's position and espouses a more nuanced depiction: 
"Taku insists on the literal acceptance of the prophets' descriptions of their visions as well as the anthropomorphic references to God in talmudic-midrashic literature. He does not do so because of his belief in the literal veracity of these descriptions; he only insists that they represent the maximum that can be conveyed concerning God's essence and appearance, and that any further inquiry cannot lead to valid conclusions. God chose to reveal to us in the scriptures whatever is found in them: man should be satisfied with that, and ask no more questions. It is not that Rabbi Moses Taku believed in an anthropomorphic God; most probably, he did not.""Ashkenazi Hasidism and the Maimonidean Controversy" in Maimonidean Studies vol. 3, pp.42-43 available at 
==Writings==
Ketav Tamim (Hebrew:כתב תמים) is the principal text from which we know of Rabbi Taku's thought. It was composed around 1220 CE,Studies in Jewish Manuscripts. By Joseph Dan, Klaus Herrmann, Johanna Hoornweg, Manuela Petzoldt. Contributor Joseph Dan. Published by Mohr Siebeck, 1999. Pg. 3 and is largely polemical in nature. It serves as both an attack on the theologians of his day who espoused non-literal understandings of Aggada, and as a means to attempt to demonstrate the validity of corporealism by citing proof texts from the Tanach and the Talmud. Though the complete work is not known to have survived to this day, several major sections have endured, and were first published in 1860, in Vienna.Kirchheim first published sections of the book in 1860, and a facsimile of the manuscript was produced by the Dinur Center in 1984.
==Notes & References==
==See also==
* Tosafists
* Maimonidean Controversy
* Medieval Jewish Philosophy
* Heresy in Orthodox Judaism
== External links ==
* Ketav Tamim - כתב תמים
Category:13th-century rabbis
Category:Rishonim
Category:13th-century Czech people
Category:Czech rabbis
Category:Tosafists
Category:Jews and Judaism-related controversies
Category:Jewish Czech history