one has ever beaten me, except a certain artisan." Kabbalist and philosopher Many Kabbalists view the Ravad as one of the fathers of their system, and this is true to the extent that he was inclined to mysticism, which led him to follow an ascetic mode of life and gained for him the title of "the pious." He wrote that "the holy spirit has appeared in our beit midrash" and taught them specific halachic rulings, and attributed rulings to "The Lord's counsel to those who fear Him". The Ravad is widely considered to be the source of the commonly used diagram of the Sephirot of the Tree of Life that was ultimately written down by his son Isaac the Blind. The Ravad was not an enemy to science, as many deem him. His works show that he was a close student of Hebrew philology; and the fact that he encouraged the translation of R' Bahya ibn Paquda's Chovot HaLevavot shows that he was not hostile to philosophy. This philosophic work argues strongly against the anthropomorphistic conception of the Deity; and the favour with which Raavad looked upon it is sufficient grounds to acquit him of the charge of having held anthropomorphistic views. Some of his works show acquaintance with philosophy; for instance, his remark on "Hilchot Teshuvah", 5, end, is a literal quotation from Honein ben Isaac's "Musre ha-Philosophim," pp. 11, 12—or Loewenthal, p. 39, below—which is extant only in Al-Charizi's translation. Descendants The Ravad had many descendants, who today could carry the family name Raivid, Rayvid, Ravid, and Ravad. Family records indicate they made their way to Spain, where they appeared in Toledo and Barcelona and were reputedly advisers in the court of Ferdinand and Isabella. After the Inquisition, they were exiled to Italy, from whence they made their way to northern, and then later eastern, Europe, where they served as rabbis in Telšiai, Lithuania, and teachers in its Telshe yeshiva. Before the First World War, they emigrated to countries throughout the world, and today they live on every inhabited continent. References Further reading 12th-century French rabbis Provençal Jews 1120s births 1198 deaths Year of birth uncertain Authors of books on Jewish law