Joshua ben Josef Lorki

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Josua ben Josef Lorki , also Joshua Halorki (* in Lorca ; † around 1419) was a Jewish doctor who converted to Christianity and then violently polemicized against Judaism as Jerónimo de Santa Fe .

Life

Lorki was a student of Salomon ha-Levi ( Paulus de Santa Maria ). For Don Benveniste de la Cavallería he wrote a treatise in Arabic on plants, herbs and their therapeutic use. It was translated into Hebrew by Don Vidal Joseph.

When Lorki's teacher Salomon ha-Levi converted to Christianity in 1391, Lorki wrote a letter to him and regretted his conversion. The letter contained arguments against the messiahship of Jesus and other Christian dogmas.

Presumably under the influence of Vincent Ferrer , Lorki himself converted to Christianity in 1412. In reference to the church father Hieronymus , he called himself Jerónimo ( Hieronymus de Sancta Fide ). Shortly after his baptism, he was involved in the initiation and implementation of the forced dispute at Tortosa .

Lorki wrote two anti-Jewish polemics, Contra perfidiam Judaeorum , in which v. a. the coming of the Messiah is dealt with, as well as in August 1412 in Latin and Hebrew, De Judaeis erroribus ex Talmuth [o. Talmude ] improbitur, et dicitur liber contra errores Judaeorum , in which several Talmudic passages are dealt with.

Tortosa disputation

This forced "religious talk " ( Wikkuach , disputation) was probably a continuation of the Spanish persecution of Jews in 1391 and the subsequent forced baptisms . It extended over a year and a half from 1413 to 1414. It was convened by the antipope Benedict XIII. ; The place of the disputation was the archbishop's palace; after oral negotiations, letters were exchanged.

Lorki appeared as a representative of the Christian prosecution. The basis of the disputation was his treatise on “Jewish Errors” in or from the Talmud. The Jewish representatives, including the most important Jewish scholars in Aragon , such as Josef Albo , had to respond to the allegations and had no freedom of speech of their own. The Christian party, also represented by Bertrand and Alvarez d'Alarcon, followed a line of argument presented by Pablo Christiani in Barcelona in 1263, which wanted to point out supposed prophecies about the Messiah in the Talmud and in Midrashim and to relate them to Jesus . The Jewish representatives also followed the line of argument already followed in Barcelona, ​​here by Nachmanides : the Talmudic Haggadot are not binding anyway, nor is the belief in the Messiah.

The results of the disputation were published in the papal bull Etsi Doctoris Gentium . It included a partial ban on the Talmud, restrictions on the exercise of the profession, further segregation and the obligation to listen to Christian sermons several times a year. The demoralization among the Jews was great. Thousands were subsequently baptized. The outcome heralded the expulsion of the Jews from Spain .

reception

Because of his anti-Jewish polemics, Lorki was also called M'gadef (heretic), a corruption formed from the first letters of Maestre Gerónimo de (Santa) Fe .

Benedict XIII. was deposed at the Council of Constance in 1415. Since then, Lorki has had little influence either. His two anti-Jewish treatises found widespread use in Europe. They have survived in four manuscripts and were printed in Augsburg in 1468 and by A. Gesnerus and R. Wiesenbachus in Zurich in 1552, and in Frankfurt in 1602 under the title Hebraeomastix, vindex impietatis et perfidiae judaicae, quo deteguntur ac firmissimis argumentis refutantur enormes et nefarii Judaeorum eorumque Talmud errores atque superstitiones , mostly abbreviated Hebraomastix (hostage of the Jews), here with the addition of Nikolaus von Lyra , De probatione adventus Christi per scripturas a Judaeis espanola (1309), and was also included in the Bibliotheca Maxima Veterum Patrum .

Works

  • Contra perfidiam Judaeorum
  • De Judaeis erroribus ex Talmut ( Hebraeomastix )
    • Jerónimo de Santa Fe: El dichado 'De iudaicis erroribus ex Talmut , introduced and commented on by Moisés Orfali, Madrid 1987.
    • Jerónimo de Santa Fe: Errores y falsedades del Talmud , ed. Carlos del Valle, Obras Completas, Volume 1, Madrid 2006, ISBN 84-88324-26-X
  • L. Landau (ed.): The apologetic letter of Josua Lorki to the apostate Don Salomon ha-Levi (Paulus de Santa Maria). Antwerp 1906.

literature

  • Antonio Pacios Lopez: La disputa de Tortosa . Madrid 1957.
  • Natan Peter Levinson: Heretics and Apostates in Judaism . Hannover 2001. pp. 44-49.
  • Sina Rauschenbach : Josef Albo (around 1380–1444) : Jewish philosophy and Christian controversial theology in the early modern period, Studies in European Judaism 3, Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden 2002, ISBN 90-04-12485-3 , esp. P. 12– 23.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. on this and the following Ora Limor: Religions Discussions, III. In: Theological Real Encyclopedia . Volume 28, p. 652.
  2. ↑ See on this compulsory disputation z. B. Sina Rauschenbach: Joseph Albo, the Messiah and the disputation of Tortosa. In: Georgiana Donavin, Carol Poster, Richard Utz (eds.): Medieval Forms of Argument: Disputation and Debate . Wipf & Stock, Eugene, OR 2002, pp. 53-66.
  3. ↑ Bologna BU 1400 (2663); Madrid BN 97; Milano B Trivulziana N. 161; Vaticano Ottob. lat. 351.
  4. ↑ Available for example in the Paris National Library.
  5. ↑ Part 26, Lugduni 1677, 528-544
personal data
SURNAME Joshua ben Josef Lorki
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerónimo de Santa Fe; Joshua Halorki
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Jewish apostate and anti-Jewish agitator
DATE OF BIRTH 14th Century
PLACE OF BIRTH Lorca
DATE OF DEATH around 1419