Hillel ben Samuel

Hillel ben Samuel (born c. 1220—died c. 1295) was a physician, Talmudic scholar, and philosopher who defended the ideas of the 12th-century Jewish philosopher Maimonides during the “years of controversy” (1289–90), when Maimonides’ work was challenged and attacked; Hillel ben Samuel denounced in turn the adherents of the 12th-century Spanish Arab philosopher Averroës, asserting that they precipitated the controversy through their denial of the immortality of the individual human soul.

Reputed to have lived in the Italian cities of Verona, Naples, and Capua, and later in Barcelona, Spain, Hillel ben Samuel wrote his major work, Tagmule ha-nefesh (1288–91; “The Rewards of the Soul”), to rebut Averroës’ theory of the soul. In the work, he holds that the soul is composed of “formal substance” that derives from the universal soul and that both are immortal.