John of Oppido

Johannes von Oppido (* around 1073) was a Norman priest from southern Italy who converted to Judaism in 1102 and took the name Obadja (ha-ger), which is why he was also known under the name Obadja the proselyte . The first musical notations for Hebrew texts have been preserved from him.

Life

Johannes was born into a noble Norman family at the end of the 11th century. His older twin brother, Roger, was to become a knight, and Johannes was to become a priest. Not least his studies of the Hebrew Bible brought him close to Judaism, until he finally began to observe Jewish customs as well. He was modeled on the Archbishop of Bari , Andrew II, who had also converted and emigrated to Egypt. John moved to Constantinople, where he deepened his studies, but also wrote polemical writings against Christianity. Eventually he had to move on and came to Aleppo via Baghdad, where a rabbi confirmed his conversion. From there he moved on via banyas at the foot of Mount Hermon and Tyros to Cairo .

swell

Johannes' biography, written after 1122, in which he explains his conversion and the reasons for it, is preserved in several fragments from the Cairo Geniza . There are several settings of Pijjutim by him in Gregorian notation .

Sources for the life story of John are essentially the following fragments from the Cairo Geniza:

• TS K5.41
• TS Misc. 35.31
• TS 10K21
• TS 8.271

Moses Maimonides' letter to Obadja the proselyte , which is one of his earliest and best-known letters, deals, among other things, with the question asked by John whether it is permissible for him to pray to the "God of our fathers", which he apparently very much has busy. Maimonides replied that he too should “say the prayers in the usual way and not change a word”, “like all the sons of Israel”.

literature

• Shlomo Dov Goitein : Obadyah, a Norman Proselyte (A propos the Discovery of a New Fragment of His 'Scroll'). In: Journal of Jewish Studies 4 (1953), 74–84.
• Norman Golb : The Music of Obadiah the Proselyte and his Conversion. In: Journal of Jewish Studies 18 (1967), 43–63.
• Joshua Prawer : The Autobiography of Obadyah the Norman, a Convert to Judaism at the Time of the First Crusade. In: I. Twersky (ed.): Studies in Medieval Jewish History and Literature. Cambridge / Mass. 1979, 110-134.
• Antonio de Rosa; Mauro Perani (ed.): Giovanni-Ovadiah da Oppido, proselito, viaggiatore e musicista dell'età normanna. Atti del convegno internazionale, Oppido Lucano, 28-30 March 2004 . Florence: Giuntina 2005. (Associazione italiana per lo studio del giudaismo. Testi e studi 16)
• Alexander Scheiber : The curriculum vitae of Johannes Obadja from Oppido. In: Antiche Civiltà Lucane. Galatina 1975, 227-248. [reprinted in: Geniza Studies. Collectanea XVII. Hildesheim 1981, 453-476.]
• Luigi Russo:  OVADIAH (Obadiah il proselito) .. In: Raffaele Romanelli (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 80:  Ottone I-Pansa. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2014.

Web links

• Note on Johannes von Oppido with illustration of the manuscript TS K 5.41 with neumes

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Isadore Twersky (Ed.): A Maimonides Reader . Behrman House, New York, 1972, p. 475 f.