Manasseh’s argument aims at proving that the immortality of the soul is an old _Biblical_ as well as a _Talmudical_, _Rabbinical_ and _Cabbalistic_ principle. He defines the _Nefesh_ (Soul) as the internal ultimate principle by which man thinks, feels and wills. The term _Ruach_ (Mind) denotes this principle as the subject of man’s conscious state, while _Nefesh_ denotes it as the source of man’s physical activities as well. The question of the reality of the soul and its separate existence apart from the body is for him one of the most important problems of religion, for with it is bound up the doctrine of a future life. He knows Plato (427?‒347? _b.c.e._), Aristotle (384‒322 _b.c.e._) and Philo (20? _b.c.e._‒_post_ 40 _c.e._). It is well known that Mysticism shares to a great extent the ideas of the system of Plato, _e.g._ in his theory of the world of ideas, of the origin of the world-soul and the human soul. The two standpoints, the cosmological and the epistemological, are found combined in Plato. In the _Phædo_ the chief argument for the immortality of the soul is based on the nature of intellectual knowledge interpreted by the theory of memory; this of course implies the pre-existence of the soul. This doctrine developed into an extreme Transcendentalism. Aristotle, on the other hand, emphasized the intimacy of the union of body and soul. The difficulty in his theory is to determine what degree of distinctness or separateness from the matter of the body is to be conceded to the human soul. He fully recognizes the spiritual element in thought, and describes the “active intellect” as separate, but the precise relation of this “active intellect” to the individual mind was an obscure point in his theory. Philo combined the Platonic theory with the data of the Bible, and taught that every man, by freeing himself from matter and receiving illumination from God, may reach the mystic, ecstatic or prophetic state, where he is absorbed in the Divinity. The Stoics taught that all existence is material, and described the soul as a breath pervading the body. They also called it Divine, a particle of God. Manasseh’s system is a syncretism of the ideas of Plato, Philo and the Stoics, while he rejects the Aristotelian ideas. He endeavours to prove that Moses Maimonides (1135‒1204) did not follow the great Peripatetic, and opposes the commentator of Maimonides’ _Moreh-Nebuchim_ Moses (_fl. 14th cent._) _ben_ Joshua Narboni [Mestre Vidal], in a somewhat forced dialectical manner. Accepting on these grounds the pre-existence of the soul, the continuance of the soul in the world to come, and reincarnation, he comes to the _Cabbalah_, quotes the _Zohar_, and declares himself a disciple of _R._ Isaac Luria. According to the _Zohar_, man is composed of three things: Life, or _Nefesh_, Spirit, which is _Ruach_, and Soul, which is _Neshamah_. By this man becomes a _Ruach Chajah_ (Living Spirit).¹ Manasseh’s doctrine may be summarized as follows:――