Career
He is known through his ethical treatise, (Why Catastrophes Come) which he addressed, in the form of a letter, to one of his disciples in 1415. Alami was an eye-witness of the persecutions of the Jews of Catalonia, Castile, and Aragon in 1391. He says in his book:
Let us search for the source of all these trials and sufferings, and we shall find that a state of dissolution prevails in the midst of us.
That an evil spirit pervades our camp, which has split us into two parties.
They diffuse darkness instead of light, and lower respect for the Law. Others, again, clothe the Torah in strange garments, deck it with Grecian and other anti-Jewish ornaments, and endeavor to harmonize it with philosophy, which can only be detrimental to religion and lead ultimately to its decay.
Worse than these, however, are the frivolous persons who have not acquired substantial knowledge, but, relying upon the smattering of Greek that they possess, venture to ridicule tradition and to contemn the commandments of the Holy Law. Such frivolity prevails, above all, among the wealthy.
We find these evil qualities among the proud representatives of the congregations, who have grown rich through dealing in money.
Therefore the great punishment came: it was inevitable. How much our rich co-religionists could learn from their Christian neighbors! The Christian princes and grandees rival one another in efforts to promote and uphold their religion and to train their youth in the pious sentiments of their ancestors. The Hebrew style of the letter is dignified and impassioned, and its moral admonition reveals the noble courage of Alami.
Each section of the is preceded by a Biblical verse suggesting its contents.
Zunz published an abridged German language translation of part of it in Busch"s Jahrbuch für Israeliten, iv. (Vienna, 1844), and this also appeared in his Gesammelte Schriften, ii.
177. An earlier edition appeared in Venice in 1712, as Iggeret ha-Ḥokmah weha-Emunah (Letter on Wisdom and Faith).
But the name of the author was corrupted to Solomon ben Laḥmi. The best edition now extant (c1906) of Alami"s work is that issued by Jellinek (Vienna, 1872).
Extracts of the Iggeret are given in Or ha-Ḥayyim of Joseph Jaabez and in I.S. Reggio"s Ha-Torah weha-Philosophia. On the name Alami, see Steinschneider, Jew.
Quart. Review xi. 486.