REUBEN HA-SEFARDI:

Reputed author of "Kelimmat ha-Goyim," a work which attacks Christianity, probably written by Profiat Duran (Efodi) in 1349. The assumption is that the "Kelimmat ha-Goyim" is the same as the "Sefer ha-Kelimmah" mentioned by Joseph b. Shem-Ṭob, and that this is identical with the "Sefer ha-Kelimmah" by Reuben ha-Sefardi mentioned in Moses Botarel's commentary on "Sefer Yeẓirah" (end of mishnah 2, ch. i.); but there is no doubt of the correctness of Zunz's view that "Reuben ha-Sefardi" and his "Sefer ha-Kelimmah" as well as the other work ascribed to him, "Sefer ha-Shulḥan," are all fictitious names, invented like many others by Botarel.

Bibliography:
  • Fürst, Bibl. Jud. iii. 179;
  • Oẓerot Ḥayyim MS. No. 341, and p. 346, note: Zunz, G. V. p. 408;
  • Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS. Nos. 2153-2155;
  • Geiger, Kobeẓ Wikkuḥim, pp. 4, 6, 22, Breslau, 1844;
  • Benjacob, Oẓar ha-Sefarim, p. 241.
E. C. P. Wi.
Images of pages