Isaac Abrabanel

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Don Isaak ben Juda Abrabanel , also Abravanel and Abarbanel (* 1437 in Lisbon ; † 1508 in Venice ) was a Jewish politician and financier in the service of the kings of Portugal and Spain , the viceroys of Naples and the Doges of Venice . He died in Venice in 1508 and was buried in Padua . His intellectual historical significance lies in his work as a Bible commentator and philosopher.

Life

Abravanel coat of arms

Abrabanel came from a noble family from Seville who traced their origins back to King David and, according to legend, immigrated to Spain after the destruction of the first temple. His grandfather, Samuel Abrabanel, was under King I. Johann treasurer in Castile . On the occasion of the anti-Jewish pogroms of 1391 he converted to Christianity and took the name Juan Sánchez of Seville. He and his family soon fled to Portugal and returned to Judaism. Samuel's son Judah, the father of Isaak Abravanel and the grandfather of Judah Abravanel (Leone Ebreo) , Samuel Abravanel and his wife Benvenida Abravanel , was chairman of the Portuguese Jewish community and a financier in the service of Ferdinand I and later the Duke of Bragança .

Like his father, Isaac was successful in trade and public finances. After the death of his father, he took over his position as treasurer at the court of Alfonso V. He also started his literary career in Lisbon . Isaac had enjoyed extensive training and, in addition to studying the Jewish traditions with the Rabbi of Lisbon, also studied Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Latin as well as the works of Plato and Aristotle , which opened up his understanding of the culture of the Renaissance . His son Yehuda ben Isaak Abravanel was born in Lisbon . His career in Portugal as treasurer of King Alfonso V ended suddenly after his death in 1481.

Alfons' successor, John II , took action against the dukes of Bragança and Beja - Viseu , cousins ​​of the king, as the leader of a strong opposition to the nobility. Both were executed on the king's orders in 1483. In this context, charges of high treason were brought against Isaak Abrabanel and other people connected to the Bragança family .

Abrabanel therefore fled to Spain in 1483 and was sentenced to death in absentia in May 1485. He settled in Alcalá de Henares , where he became a tax collector from Cardinal Pedro González de Mendoza . Seven years after his arrival in Spain, he soon held a position similar to that in Portugal, as tax collector for the powerful Mendoza family and as financial advisor to the Catholic kings Isabella I and Ferdinand II , whose campaign against the last Moorish city ​​of Granada he was loaned massively supported.

The expulsion of all Jews by the Alhambra Edict , which was signed by the Catholic Kings on March 31, 1492, came as a surprise to him. He and Abraham Sr. had tried in vain to prevent his royal clients from making this decision. Unlike Senior, he resisted the kings' attempts at conversion and decided to emigrate again. From Valencia he fled to Naples with his family .

Here, too, in the service of Ferdinand I and his son Alfons II , Abrabanel again proved to be a successful businessman and was able to acquire a considerable fortune in the course of two years. He also had time for philosophical and theological occupations: he wrote numerous commentaries on the Pentateuch , the biblical prophets and Maimonides . Abrabanel followed Alfonso II to Sicily before the advancing soldiers of the French King Charles VIII . After Ferdinand I had conquered Naples again, Abrabanel gave up his plan to flee to Constantinople and returned from Corfu to Monopoli , a small port town on the Adriatic coast. After the Kingdom of Naples finally fell into the hands of the Spaniards, Abrabanel moved to Venice in 1503 , where his son Joseph worked as a doctor. The latest Portuguese discoveries challenged Venice's leading role in the spice trade and Abrabanel offered the Council of Ten to negotiate with the Portuguese.

Works

In the sixties of the 15th century Abrabanel began his career as a writer of philosophical works and as a biblical exegete : He wrote at the time Zurot ha-Jesodot (forms of elements) and Ateret Sekenim (Crown of the Elder), which his thorough understanding of Arab philosophy and Jewish theology. In Naples he wrote a commentary on the two books of the kings and Zedek Olamim (Eternal Justice), on the subject of divine providence. In his commentary on the Books of Kings , Abrabanel interpreted the national unification of Spain as a brutal appropriation of principles of Christianity. In Corfu he finished a commentary on Isaiah and a tract on the Creeds. In Monopoli he wrote a historical work Jemej Olam (The Days of the World) as well as a commentary on the Haggadah of Passover , three books of Bible commentaries entitled Migdol Jeschuot (Fortress of Security) and Mif'alot Elohim (Deeds of God), which deal with deal with creation. His biblical commentaries cover all the books of the Tanakh with the exception of the hagiographs . His commentary on the Torah is largely based on the political ideas of his time. After three of his works were printed in Constantinople in 1505, he finished his commentaries on the books of the Bible and on Maimonides; the latter has only been partially preserved.

Text editions and translations

  • Isaac Abravanel: Letters . Edition, Translation and Introduction by Cedric Cohen Skalli. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2007, (Studia Judaica. 40.) ISBN 978-3-11-019492-0
  • Isaac Yishak Abravanel: Rosh Amanah. Sifriyati, Tel Aviv 1957/1958.
  • Isaac Abravanel: Principles of Faith (Rosh Amanah). Translated with an introduction and notes by Menachem Marc Kellner. Associated University Presses, London et al. 1982. ISBN 0-8386-3080-4

literature

Web links

Commons : Isaac Abrabanel  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
Wikisource Wikisource: Abarbanel  - Article of the 4th edition of Meyers Konversations-Lexikon

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jacob Guttmann: The religious-philosophical teachings of Isaak Abravanel. Breslau, 1916, pp. 3 and 4.
  2. ^ Meyer Kayserling: History of the Jews in Portugal. Leiner, Leipzig, 1867, p. 73.
  3. ↑ Carsten Schapkow: model and counterpart - The Iberian Judaism in German-Jewish culture of remembrance 1779-1939. Vienna: Böhlau, 2011, p. 283. ISBN 978-3-412-20766-3
  4. ↑ Hanna Liss : Tanach - Textbook of the Jewish Bible. Universitätsverlag C. Winter, 3rd edition, 2011, p. 393. ISBN 978-3-8253-5904-1
personal data
SURNAME Abrabanel, Isaac
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Abrabanel, Isaac ben Judah (full name); Abravanel; Abarbanel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Jewish politician and financier
DATE OF BIRTH 1437
PLACE OF BIRTH Lisbon
DATE OF DEATH 1508
Place of death Venice