Le Principe De La Foi, Ou La Discussion Des Croyances Fondamentales Du Judaïsme, Tr. Par M. Mossé... (French Edition)
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Le Principe De La Foi, Ou La Discussion Des Croyances Fondamentales Du Judaïsme, Tr. Par M. Mossé
Isaac Abarbanel
Benjamin Mossé
Isaac ben Judah Abarbanel was a Portuguese Jewish statesman, philosopher, Bible commentator, and financier.
Background
Isaac Abravanel, a descendant of an old and distinguished Spanish family, was born in 1437 in Lisbon, Portugal. He was one of the oldest and most distinguished Jewish Iberian families, the Abravanel or Abarbanel family, who had escaped massacre in Castile in 1391.
Education
In addition to intensive religious training, he received a broad liberal education and acquired a thorough grounding in Greek, Latin, and Christian literature. He was a student of the rabbi of Lisbon, Joseph Chaim.
Career
Like his father, Isaac was highly successful in both his commercial and diplomatic careers. He served as treasurer under the Portuguese kings Alfonso V and John II. Falsely charged with plotting against the monarchy, Abravanel fled in 1483 to Castile, Spain. There he devoted himself to his commentary on several biblical books of the prophets.
In 1490 Abravanel was appointed treasurer to the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. But in 1492 Torquemada, the head of the Spanish Inquisition, persuaded the royal couple to expel the Jews from Spain. Despite Abravanel's important services to the Crown, his attempts to have the decree of expulsion revoked were unsuccessful. He went into exile with his fellow Jews and moved to Naples, where he was soon given a financial post in the government.
In 1495 a French invasion forced him to leave Naples. After some years of intermittent wandering, he settled in Venice in 1503. He died there in 1508 and was buried in Padua. His Writings Abravanel's most important works are the commentaries which he wrote on almost all the books of the Old Testament.
He died in Venice in 1508 and was buried in Padua next to Rabbi Judah Minz, Rabbi of Padua. Owing to the destruction of the Jewish cemetery there during the Siege of Padua in 1509, his grave is now unknown.
In general Abravanel developed a negative view of culture and civilization. He was influenced by the Stoics in his condemnation of luxurious living and by the Cynics in his criticism of the political state.
Views
He employed what might be termed a critical or scientific approach in his biblical studies. He examined the historical episodes in the Bible in the light of economic, political, and social factors and often drew analogies to his own times. In dating biblical books, he often deviated from tradition, and he did not hesitate to consult the works of Christian scholars.
His pessimism was balanced, however, by a firm belief in the miraculous coming of the Messiah, which he expounded in Maayene Hayeshuah (Founts of Salvation), Yeshuath Meshiho (Salvation of His Messiah), and Mashmia Yeshua (Proclaimer of Salvation). These works contributed to the subsequent rise of false messiahs.
Quotations:
He quoted extensively from the Midrash, but allowed himself to criticize his source when, in his view, it did not accord with the literal meaning of the text. He explains, “I shall not refrain from pointing to the weakness inherent in their statements where they are homiletical in nature and are not accepted by them as authoritative” (Introduction to Joshua).
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
Ironically, according to David Brion Davis, a Yale historian who specializes in slavery, Abarbanel played a pivotal role in providing the conceptual basis for black slavery: "[. .. ] the great Jewish philosopher and statesman Isaac ben Abrabanel, having seen many black slaves both in his native Portugal and in Spain, merged Aristotle's theory of natural slaves with the belief that the biblical Noah had cursed and condemned to slavery both his son Ham and his young grandson Canaan. Abravenel concluded that the servitude of animalistic black Africans should be perpetual. "
Abarbanel's commentary on Amos 9:7 and other writings, argues Schorsch, show the complexity of Abarbanel's views of Blacks. "Abarbanel's conflicting passages regarding Blacks were written at different times and addressed different realms of discourse, the one abstract myth, the other actual living Blacks. "
"Hence, the many statements that Ethiopians engaged in relations. .. with their siblings or parents. In this view, families, a cultured product, would not have been known to primitives who lived like animals. Yet Abarbanel dismissed all these derogatory notions when defending the behavior of actual Blacks living in Portugal. "
Connections
Claimed descendents of Abarbanel include Boris Pasternak, the Russian 20th century author of Dr Zhivago.