  Falaquera sought to make available in Hebrew the most important writings of the Greek and Islamic philosophers. Interestingly, Falaquera rarely simply translated a text and rarely identified his precise source. A good illustration of this is Falaquera’s Reshit Hokhmah. His intention in this book is to treat concisely “whatever the seeker of wisdom needs to apprehend at the beginning of his studies” (9). He divides it into three parts. Part one is on the moral virtues, for as Falaquera explains, “Whoever wishes to engage in the study of science and to apprehend its truth must begin to accustom himself to the moral virtues” (10). This part blends Biblical verses and rabbinic sayings with short passages from the Summa Alexandrinorum and concludes with a pseudo-Aristotelian letter.  The second part is an enumeration of the sciences, which is primarily an abridged version of Alfarabi’s Ihsâ’ al-‘ulûm (Enumeration of the Sciences), but also incorporates other writings by Alfarabi such as his Kitâb al-hurûf (Book of Letters) and small sections from Avicenna’s Fî aqsâm al-‘ulûm al-‘aqliyyah (On the Division of the Rational Sciences).  Falaquera integrates these texts into his version of Alfarabi’s enumeration of the sciences in order to make a new coherent work, which provides important material not present in his primary text. Thus, for example, chapters 2 and 4 from part 2 of Reshit Hokhmah, “On How Language Originates in a Nation” and “On How the Sciences Originate among Men” – the two selections from the Kitâb al-hurûf – introduce respectively chapters 3 on language and chapters 5–9 on logic and the sciences – chapters  translated from Ihsâ’ al-‘ulûm. For another example, a section on political science from Avicenna’s division of the sciences follows the parallel discussion in Alfarabi, and provides the reader with the traditional Aristotelian division of practical science into governance of the city, governance of the household, and governance of oneself or ethics. Part 3 of Reshit Hokhmah, on explaining that philosophy is necessary for the attainment of true happiness, is an abridged translation of Alfarabi’s trilogy on the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. In this part, Falaquera focuses on the Alfarabian texts he is presenting and incorporates no other texts, but through a judicious choice of what to translate and what not, Falaquera is able to adapt the works to suit his own purposes. Thus, he omits from his paraphrase Alfarabi’s controversial statements on the relation between philosophy and religion, such as those that suggest that philosophy alone is necessary for human happiness and perfection, and that religion is an imitation of philosophy that is useful for teaching and governing the multitude, but does not contribute to the perfection of the philosopher’s intellect (see Harvey, “Falaquera’s Alfarabi”). Another aspect of Falaquera’s paraphrasing of texts is his occasional Judaizing of his sources through the insertion of Biblical or Talmudic citations and references or the addition of Jewish material. An example of the latter is in the beginning of Reshit Hokhmah, part 2, where he adds to Alfarabi’s list of benefits of an enumeration of sciences that it makes clear that these sciences do not contradict the Torah and that it is permissible for Jews to study them. It may be added that Falaquera’s Hebrew abridgements of Alfarabi’s books in parts two and three are not attributed to their author; Falaquera simply explains that all “these words on the sciences are the words of Aristotle or those philosophers of his school” (61).  Falaquera’s selective translation of texts and his not mentioning his sources give him the leeway to alter the content and message of those texts in ways that are not possible for faithful translators.