docYitşhaq Abravanel`s First Edition (Constantinople 1505)
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Yitşhaq Abravanel`s First Edition (Constantinople 1505)
HISPANIA JUDAICA BULLETIN Articles, Reviews, Bibliography and Manuscripts on Sefarad Editors: Yom Tov Assis and Raquel Ibáñez-Sperber No 5 5767/2007 The Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel’s First Edition (Constantinople 1505) Rertorical Content and Editorial Background Cedric Cohen Skalli Almost 500 years ago, the 9th Kislev of the Jewish year 5256 or the 5th December 1505,1 the first printed edition of Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel’s works was completed and published. It contained three of his works: Rosh Amanah (Principles of Faith),2 Zevaḥ Pesaḥ (The Sacrifice of Passover),3 and Naḥalat Avot (The Inheritance of the Fathers).4 The publishers of this impressive in quarto were the two brothers David and Shmuel Ibn Nah ̣mias, the first known printers ever established in Constantinople.5 David and Shmuel Ibn Nah ̣mias were descendants of an ancient and leading Jewish family of Toledo.6 They arrived in Constantinople in the aftermath of the Spanish Expulsion of 1492. The two brothers brought their printing knowledge from Spain, from the Híjar printing house of Eli’ezer ibn Alantansi, where they most likely worked. This collaboration with Alantansi is generally deduced from the fact that the Nah ̣mias brothers brought their ornamental border and some of their fonts from the Portuguese printing house of Eli’ezer Toledano, whose original name is considered to be Eli’ezer ben Avraham ibn Alantansi, none other than the Jewish printer of Híjar.7 Indeed, the frame used in the Abravanel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 See the colophon of the printers at the end of edition. This colophon is transcribed in Yaari’s bibliographical description of the edition. Abraham Yaari, Hebrew Printing at Constantinople: Its History and Bibliogaphy, Jerusalem 1967, pp. 60–61 (Hebrew). Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel, Rosh Amanah, ed. Menahem Kellner, Ramat Gan 1993; Principles of Faith (Rosh Amanah), trans. M. Kellner, Toronto 1982. See Seder Haggadah shel Pesaḥ ... Zevaḥ Pesaḥ ha-shalem me-et ha-sar ve-ha-gadol la-yehudim Don Yitsḥak Abarbanel..., Bnei Brak 1962. Pirqei Avot im perush Moshe ben Maimon veim perush Naḥalat Avot me-ha-sar hagadol rabenu Don Yitsḥak Abarbanel, New York 1953. Yaari, Hebrew Printing at Constantinople, pp. 17–21, Adri K. Offenberg, A Choice of Chorals: Facets of Fifteenth-Century Hebrew Printing, Nieuwkoop 1992, pp. 102– 132; Nigel Allan, ‘A Typographical Odyssey: The 1505 Constantinople Pentateuch’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Series 3, I, 3 (1991), pp. 343–51. See Sheelot u-tshuvot le-rabenu Yehudah ben ha-Rosh, Jerusalem, 2005, pp. 39–41; N. Melechen, The Jews of Medieval Toledo: Their Economic and Social Contacts with Christian from 1150–1391, Dissertation Fordham University, New York 1999, pp. 86–87, 263–269. Joshua Bloch, Early Hebrew Printing in Spain and Portugal, New York 1938; Offenberg, A Choice of Chorals, 121; Alexander Marx, ‘Notes on the Use of Hebrew [Hispania Judaica *5 5767/2007] Cedric Cohen Skalli edition of 1505 (fig. 4) as well as in the Torah edited earlier the same year (fig. 3) was the one made by the silversmith and type-cutter Fernández de Córdoba for the 1486 Híjar edition of the Manuale Caesaraugustanum (fig. 1), the Church ritual according to the usage of Saragossa. The same frame served also for Hebrew editions of Alantansi in Híjar and Lisbon (fig. 2), and was brought to Constantinople along with other fonts after 1497, the year of the forced baptism of Portuguese Jews. Manuale Caesaraugustanum, publisher Eli’ezer Ibn Alantansi, Híjar 1486 (fig. 1). The Historical and Social Background of the Edition The link between the Nah ̣mias and Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel is rooted in their Iberian origins. One can reasonably conjecture that Abravanel, settled in Castile from 1483, knew of the Híjar printing house where the Nah ̣mias probably acquired their printing knowledge. Offenberg showed quite convincingly, on the ground of their borrowing Soncino’s fonts, that the Nah ̣mias belonged to the group of Spanish refugees who left Valencia on 31st July of 1492 led by Don Yitsh ̣aq and who arrived at Naples around the David Abudraham’s Commentary on Liturgy, publisher Eli’ezer Toledano, Lisbon 1489 (fig. 2). Type in Non-Hebrew Books, 1475–1520’, Studies in Jewish History and Booklorei, New York 1944, pp. 299–300. [154] Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel’s First Edition 22nd September.8 Actually, Soncino was printing at that time in Naples; early in May he completed his edition of the Mishnah with Maimonides’ commentary.9 The relationship between the Nah ̣mias and Abravanel has to be viewed also as part of a network of close relationships between leading Sephardic families. An example of this network can be found in a letter written to Don Yitsh ̣aq in spring 1506, a few months after the publication of Abravanel’s first edition. In the letter, the author, Torah Haftarot Megilot, publishers David and Shmuel Ibn Nah ̣mias, Constantinople 1505 (fig. 3). Shaul Hacohen, underlines the great admiration that David Ibn Yah ̣ia (c. 1440–1504) and Eli’ezer Al-Tansi had for Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel: Words of good reputation, we heard... from the lips... of the famous wise men... Among them was one wise man in the Ottoman land... your fellow countryman... the honorable R. David Ibn Yah ̣ia... who spoke well of my Lord, and told me of your great virtues... Ten years ago, my lord was Yehudah Abravanel’s first introductory poem to Rosh Amanah, publishers David and Shmuel ibn Nah ̣mias, Constantinople 1505 (fig. 4). 8 9 Offenberg, A Choice of Chorals, pp, 121, 133 figs. 7–10. Allan suggests another hypothesis, that the Nah ̣mias brothers left Spain for Istanbul before the Expulsion of 1492 and that once settled in Istanbul, they imported some of theirs fonts from the Soncino printshop in Naples. Allan, ‘A Tipographical Odyssey’, p. 349. Haim Friedberg, History of Hebrew Typography in Italy, Spain-Portugal and Turkey, Tel Aviv 1956, p. 49 (Hebrew). [155] Cedric Cohen Skalli standing near to us in Corfu ... in company of what was left of the leaders of the people [Iberian Jewry]. Among them was Eli’ezer Al Tansi... whom I encountered after that... in the Ottoman land. I found him there a very learned doctor, favorite of the king and of the ministers. He also... praises... your virtues... and considers you as the supreme of all our wise men...10 David ben Shlomo Ibn Yah ̣ia, whose praise of Abravanel is reported by Shaul Hacohen, was a rabbi in Lisbon and belonged, like the Abravanels, to the Jewish Portuguese elite. He met Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel after 1492 in Naples and in Corfu.11 His literary activity has certain parallels with that of Abravanel. Like him he wrote a commentary on Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed, and devoted one of his writings to the question of the principles of Judaism.12 David’s cousin, David ben Ya’aqov Ibn Yah ̣ia, supported financially several editions of the Nah ̣mias printing house and wrote poems for them.13 The Eli’ezer Al-Tansi to whom the letter refers is the same person as the Spanish and then Portuguese printer and physician Eli’ezer Toledano, whose original name in Spain was Eli’ezer Ibn Alantansi. In Lisbon in 1492 Eli’ezer printed David ibn Yah ̣ia’s commentary on Proverbs.14 As already mentioned, the Nah ̣mias brothers took their border and some of their fonts from Alantansi’s printing house. This fragment of Shaul Hacohen’s epistle reveals how the network of the leading Jewish Iberian families remained alive in spite of the Expulsion, and became on the eve of the 16th century a new Mediterranean network whose members were spread across Italy, Salonika, and Constantinople. If we add the fact that the colophon of our edition states that a merchant called Yitsh ̣aq Kaspota financed the edition15 and that the elder son of Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel, 10 Abravanel, Sheelot le-Shaul Hacohen, Venice 1574, 3–4. Here is the original text: ... מבני ארצך... מכללם היה איש חכם בארץ עוץ... חכמים רשומים... מפי...”שמועה טובה שמענו זה לי עשר שנים בהיותך גבירי קרוב... דבר טוב על אדוני ספר לי גודל שבחיו...כמה"ר דוד ן יחייא אשר... בחבר שרידי ראשי עם היה בתוכם המחוכם החכם רבי אליעזר אל טנסי...לנו עומד בקור"פו באר' נוד היובשת בארץ ע"וץ מצאתיו שמה רופא מומחה במשא מלך ושרים...פגשתיו אחרי זאת .” .. ולתתך עליון על כל חכמי הדורות לשונו... משבח מעלותיך...אף הוא 11 Josef Hacker, ‘Some letters on the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Sicily’, E. Etkes & Y. Salmon eds., Studies in the History of Jewish Society in the Middle Ages and in the Modern Period, Jerusalem 1980 , pp. 70–71 (Hebrew); Abraham David, The Historical Work of Gedalya Ibn Yahya Author of “Shalshelet Hakabbalah”, PhD Dissertation, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 1976. 12 Eliyakim Carmoly, Sefer divrei ha-yamim livnei Yahya (Hebrew), Frankfuhrt/M 1850, pp. 17–23. 13 Yaari, Hebrew Printing at Constantinople, pp. 19, 61–64. 14 Mishle im perush sefer Mishle ha-nikra kav ve-naqi, Lisbon 1492. 15 Here is the text of the colophon: ”נשלמו אלה החיבורים המפוארים על ידי האחים המחוקקים חוקים ומשפטים צדיקים הגבורים וגם כר' יצחק קספוטה אשר.אשר בארץ המה ואדירים כר' דוד ור' שמואל המכונים ן' נחשמיאש [156] Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel’s First Edition Yehudah (the author of the Dialoghi d’Amore), wrote three introductory poems especially for this edition, we may say that the Nah ̣mias edition of three of Abravanel’s works reflects the religious and social preoccupations shared by the Jewish elite, and especially by the Iberian one. Actually, this Abravanel edition was the third book printed by the Nah ̣mias brothers after the Arba’ Turim printed in 13th December 149316 and the Torah, Haftarot, and Megilot with respectively Rashi’s, Kimh ̣i’s, and Ibn Ezra’s commentaries, printed in March or April 1505.17 The fourth printed book was the grammatical compendium of David Ibn Yah ̣ia himself, Lashon Limudim (10th September 1506).18 These first four editions were produced to serve clear religious and cultural needs: the study and preservation of halakha, the ritual reading (Torah, Haftarot, Megilot, Haggadah, Pirqei Avot) and the teaching of Hebrew reading and writing. The success of the Abravanel edition was spectacular during the 16th century. In 1545, Yehudah ben Yitsh ̣aq Halevi and Yeh ̣iel ben Yekutiel Hacohen Rapa, the two Jewish partners of the Venetian publisher Marco Antonio Giustinian, reprinted separately Rosh Amanah (20th March 1545) and Zevaḥ Pesaḥ (6th April 1545). Naḥalat Avot (14th July 1545) was reprinted along with Maimonides’ commentary of Pirqei Avot, this editorial decision revealing how highly Abravanel was considered by the two Jewish editors, and certainly by a great part of the Jewish Italian elite of the time.19 Vicenzo Conti, a publisher in Cremona, made a second reprint of Rosh Amanah (31st May 1557) and Zevaḥ Pesaḥ (June 1557) under the supervision of the editor Shmuel Fihem (Boehm).20 In Riva di Trento, the printer Christoforo Madruzzi and his Jewish associate, the physician and editor Ya’aqov ben David Marcaria, printed in 1561 an edition of the Haggadah of Passover with portions of Zevaḥ Pesaḥ.21 On 29th September 1592, the Lublin printer Kalonymus Yafe, temporally installed in Bistrowce, published a והיתה.העירו לבו לקרבה אל מלאכת הקדש ישלם השם פעלו ותהי שלמה כיד השם הטובה השלמתם ביום ט' לכסליו שנת רס"ו במדינת קונטאנטי' רבתי עיר ואם בישראל אשר היא תחת ."ממשלת סולטאן ביאזיט ירום הודו ברוך י"י לעולם אמן אמן 16 Offenberg, A Choice of Chorals, pp. 102–32. 17 Nigel, ‘A Tipographical Odyssey’; Yaari, Hebrew Printing at Constantinople, pp. 59–60. 18 Yaari, Ibidem, p. 61. 19 Friedberg, History of Hebrew Typography, pp. 67–69; Joshua Bloch, ‘Venetian Printers of Hebrew Books’, Charles Berlin ed., Hebrew Printing and Bibliography, New York, 1976, pp. 65–88, Meir Benayahu, Hebrew Printing at Cremona: Its History and Bibliography (Hebrew), Ramat Gan 1971. 20 Friedberg, History of Hebrew Typography, pp. 80–82. 21 Ibidem, pp. 82–83; Joshua Bloch, ‘Hebrew Printing in Riva Di Trento’, Hebrew Printing and Bibliography, pp. 93–110; Benayahu, Hebrew Printing at Cremona, pp. 105–118. [157] Cedric Cohen Skalli third reprint of Zevaḥ Pesah.22 This editorial success indicates that the three works of Abravanel were not only expressing the religious and cultural preoccupations of the late 15th century Jewish Iberian elite, but also those of the 16th century Italian Jewry, or at least of its elite. It is not coincidental that these three works, Rosh Amanah, Zevaḥ Pesaḥ, and Naḥalat Avot, were printed together by the Nah ̣mias brothers and in this particular order. Abravanel wrote them, one after the other, in that order. Rosh Amanah was written in Naples and completed in November 1494,23 whereas Zevaḥ Pesaḥ and Naḥalat Avot, which were completed in Monopoly in, respectively, April and June 1496,24 were conceived and partially written during Abravanel’s 1495 flight from Naples to Sicily, Corfu, and finally to Monopoly.25 After completing his commentary of the Former Prophets in September 1493, Abravanel began a new literary project which consisted in a series of commentaries of ritual texts (Haggadah of Passover, Pirqei Avot and Daniel) which are read each year for holidays or between holidays.26 This series of commentaries was preceded by a 22 23 Friedberg, History of Hebrew Typography in Poland, Tel Aviv 1950, p. 52, (Hebrew). See Abravanel’s colophon (Rosh Amanah, p. 156): ”והתהלה והשבח לדור ודור לאל יתעלה ויתברך אמן ואמן והיתה השלמתן בנאפוליש בסוף חודש ."מרחשון שנת קול רנה וישועה 24 See Abravanel’s colophon to Zevaḥ Pesaḥ (Yaari, Hebrew Printing at Constantinople, p. 61), and Naḥalat Avot (Naḥalat Avot, p. 418): ”והיתה השלמתו בעיר מונופולי ממחוז הפולייא אשר ממלכות נשפוליש ביום ארבעה עשר ערב.1 ”והיתה השלמת.2 ."חג הפסח שנת רנ"ו ליעקב שמחהץ תם ונשלם ברוך י"י לעולם אמן ואמן הפי' הזה בעיר מאנופ"ולי אשר במחוז הפ"וליא ממלכות נאפ"וליש אשר באנו להתגורר שם מפני והמלכות זה קבלנו ראשונה בסבר פנים.זלעפות הגרוש אשר נגזר על גלות ירושלים אשר בספרד והיה היום הזה אחד עשר יום מחרב הוא חדש. והוא אשר כלנו ואשר דמה לנו.יפות ונהפך לאויב ברוך יי' לעולם אמן. מהאלף הששי ליצירה.' שנת רנ"ו שמים כי עשה יי.תמוז קצין וראש לצרותינו ."ואמן 25 Benzion Netanyahu, Don Isaac Abravanel: Statesman and Philosopher, Ithaca 1988, pp. 67–81; Eric Lawee, Isaac Abarbanel’s Stance toward Tradition, Albany 2001, pp. 41–51. 26 Pirqei Avot was read and studied in Sephardic synagogues between Pesah ̣ and Shavuot, and passages of Daniel were also part of the normal curriculum of synagogue study generally during the period of consolation after the 9th of Av. See Naḥalat Avot, 373: .” ..לפי שנתפשט המנהג לקרוא מסכת אבות באותם השבתות שהם בין חג הפסח לחג השבועות...” It is important to recall here that Abravanel wrote his commentary on Daniel, Mayanei Ha-Yeshu’a, just after Naḥalat Avot (or maybe simultaneously) and completed it on 15th December 1496. Josef Hacker, ‘Patterns of the Intellectual Activity of Ottoman Jewry in the 16th and 17th Centuries’, Tarbiz 53 (1984), pp. 583–87 (Hebrew); see Abravanel’s colophons: Mayanei Ha-Yeshu’a, Ferrara 1551, 139a-b, Perush ’al neviim ve-ketuvim, Jerusalem 1960, p. 421. On Abravanel’s commentary of Daniel, see: C. Cohen Skalli, ‘Authorship in the Age of Early Jewish Print: Isaac Abravanel’s [158] Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel’s First Edition discussion of a central debate among 15th century Sephardic intellectuals — the question of the existence of principles in Judaism and their number. It seems clear that Abravanel’s intention was to present a series of “popular” commentaries which rely on ritual readings or well-institutionalized debates in order to reach a large readership among Sephardic exiles and Italian Jews and produce a strong effect on their minds. Such a literary project might have been connected to the Jewish printing activity in Naples. Many of the Jewish scholars in Naples at that time were involved in the editorial activity of the Gunzenhausen and Soncino printing shops, and it seems reasonable to believe that Abravanel also took interest in their work and considered the possibility of printing his own writings.27 The historical background of the Nah ̣mias edition being now roughly clarified, I would like to present one of the reasons for its success: the rhetorical intention which shapes the three works and the new conception of the book-agency and authorship expressed in them. Although the three works deal with very different topics, they all share the same concern with the ways of producing a change of view in the reader’s mind. They also intend to create a relation of admiration between the reader and the author which could be the basis for his claim to leadership. The introductory poems of Yehudah Abravanel clearly reflect the rhetorical trend of these three works and show that the scholars involved in the Nah ̣mias edition were aware of this trend and gave it a new and extended dimension through the print. This study will examine this rhetorical trend which links Rosh Amanah, Zevaḥ Pesaḥ, and Naḥalat Avot along with its reflection in Yehudah Abravanel’s introductory poems. The examination of rhetorical features of the text and of their reflection in the paratexts of the printed edition will shed new light on the articulation of the intentions of the author and the printers, and more generally on the articulation of writing and printing in Abravanel’s work and in its immediate reception. Rosh Amanah The first introductory poem of Yehudah Abravanel is printed enclosed in the border cut by Fernández de Córdoba (figure 4). It was meant to serve as the frontispiece Ma’ayanei Ha-Yeshu’a and the First Printed Edition in Ferrara 1551’, C. Goodblatt and H. Kreisel eds., Tradition, Heterodoxy and Religious Culture: Judaism and Christianity in the Early Modern Period (forthcoming). 27 Joshua Bloch, ‘Hebrew Printing in Naples’, Hebrew Printing and Bibliography, pp. 111–138; Giancarlo Lacerenza, ‘Lo spazio dell’Ebreo Insediamenti e cultura ebraica a Napoli (secoli XV-XVI)’, L. Barletta ed., Integrazione ed Emarginazione, Napoli 2002, pp. 357–427. [159] Cedric Cohen Skalli of Rosh Amanah; the same layout was used for Yehudah’s second and third introductory poems. In his first poem, Yehudah praises Rosh Amanah, playing with the different meanings of the Hebrew word amanah ( )אמנהwhich concludes every verse of his poem. :אשר היתה אצלו אזי אמנה :גביר יצחק אברבנאל אמנה :ואין לשוות אלי ירדן אמנה :ומה לך אל שניר חרמון אמנה :אמת פריו ועלהו אמנה 28 :לזאת אבי קראו ראש אמנה :יסודות דת לעדת אל נתונה :הדר הדור ורב אומן חקרה :ואיכה תערוך ספר לספרו :דרוש סיני דרוש הר אלהים :הלא זה גן ועץ חיים בתוכו :ובו שרשי וראשי האמונות The first verse refers to a covenant between God and his people which relies on a set of principles conceived long ago by God and conserved by Him as a plan (אמו־ )נה. The second verse, using the meaning of “artist” ()אומן, praises the intellectual and literary abilities of Don Yitsh ̣aq. The third, indeed, affirms the superiority of Abravanel above the other Jewish writers, comparing it to the superiority of the Jordan over the river Amanah of II Kings 5:12. The last three verses explain Abravanel’s play with words between the mountain Amanah and the faith, emunah ()אמונה. Rosh Amanah is presenting to the reader the principles of the Jewish faith which enable each Jew to enact his covenant with God. This minimal actualization of the covenant is made possible by the literary talent of a leader. The re-actualization of the covenant between the Jew and his God goes through the establishment of Abravanel’s leadership on his readership. Yehudah’s laudatory poem points at a central rhetorical feature of Rosh Amanah and of the two other works of the edition, namely, the parallel rebuilding of the faith of the reader and of the leadership of the author. In his own introduction, Abravanel presents the rhetorical intention of Rosh Amanah both as a means to answer the need of the people for principles and leadership and as a polemic against Crescas and Albo and a defense of Maimonides’ thirteen principles: And the people were as murmurers [Num 11:1], and the nation was perplexed after having fallen on the cedars the flame of the dispute... on the principles of the blessed Torah and their number... and I heard their cry [Ex 3:7]... I made up my mind to bring to the light his right [of Maimonides] with my pen and my words. I shall use all my wealth of thoughts to go down and 28 For a translation and explanation of Yehudah’s introductory poems, see Nahum Shloush, ‘Poésies hébraïques de Don Jehuda Abrabanel’, Revista de Estudos Hebraicos 1 (1927), pp. 192–230; Carl Gebhardt, ‘Regesten zur Lebensgeschichte Leone Ebreo’, Leone Ebreo, Dialoghi d’amore, Hebraïshe Gedischte, Heidelberg 1929, pp. 1–66. [160] Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel’s First Edition rescue him from his tormentors and oppressors [Crescas and Albo] for the sake of his humility...29 Abravanel presents the 15th century debate on the principles of Judaism as a lack of leadership and as the background of the actual confusion of the Sephardic exiles and of the weakening of their religious commitment. This defective social and psychological situation is what Rosh Amanah is trying to remedy. Abravanel’s defense of Maimonides’ thirteen principles, which determines the general rhetorical structure of Rosh Amanah, is intended to revive a general religious outlook within the Sephardic community, especially after the Expulsion, which challenged and jeopardized this religious outlook. My intention here is not to deal with the late-medieval problem of the principles in Jewish theology, which has been the focus of the monograph by Menahem Kellner.30 I will focus only on Abravanel’s rhetorical and political conception of the principles. Rosh Amanah is built like many of the discussions in his writings. It begins with a series of criticisms or problems raised by former scholars like Crescas and Albo, to which Abravanel adds his own ones concerning Maimonides’ thirteen principles. Then the discussion is devoted to the definition of a series of parameters ( )הקדמותaccording to which the criticisms and problems first raised will be solved, this being of course the third and last part of the discussion. More than a defense of Maimonides’ principles, this formal framework allows Abravanel to present a series of major doctrinal points which are supposed to create or to revive in the reader a general religious outlook. In the sixth chapter, in which he presents the first parameter of discussion, namely, the different definitions possible of principle, Abravanel expresses most clearly his rhetorical intention in Rosh Amanah. In the chapter, he rejects the ontological conception of the principles as founding principles of the Jewish theology and religion. Instead, he considers Maimonides’ thirteen principles as relative principles whose main function is religious and political: the distinction of Israel from the other peoples on the basis of their adherence to a minimal set of beliefs. ...those principles and foundations put forth by Maimonides are neither 29 Rosh Amanah, 40–42. א[ והאומה נבוכה אחרי אשר בארזים נפלה שלהבת ]מועד קטן,”ויהי העם כמתאוננים ]במדבר יא ...[ ז, ואת צעקתם שמעתי ]שמות ג... בשרשי התורה הברוכה ומספר פינותיה... [ המחלוקת:כה טז[ להוציא לאור משפטו ]של הרמב"ם[ בעטי וניבי אני אעביר כל,דברתי אני אל לבי ]קהלת א ח[ הלוחצים אותו למען, יט[ וארד להצילו מיד מצרים ]קרשקש ואלבו; שמות ג,טובי ]שמות לג ” ...[ ט,ענותו ]שמות ג 30 Menahem Kellner, Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought: From Maimonides to Abravanel, Oxford 1986. [161] Cedric Cohen Skalli principles of faith nor principles of religion simply. Rather, Mamonides intended them to be principles of Judaism such that he who believed in them would be included in that “Israel” about which the Mishnah said “all Israel have a share in the world to come” ... Even if one knows nothing else of all the Torah, the belief in these principles is sufficient to acquire spiritual perfection.31 In the eleventh chapter, Abravanel insists on the constraining effect of a minimal set of beliefs for the acceptance of the whole system of rules of Judaism. Relying on Albo, he distinguishes between form and matter in the Torah, the form being the “commandments of faith” ()מצוות אמוניות,32 the matter the practical commandments ()מצוות מעשיות.33 This way, he states the importance of a certain ideological framework to preserve the psychological commitment of each Jew to his religion, and thus the social coherence of the Jewish society. Let us now turn to Abravanel’s presentation of the psychological effect of principles: ...beliefs are actualized in a man’s heart and soul in the same way in which natural forms are actualized and fixed in their subject. Natural transformation necessarily depends upon prior preparation... relevant for the form which is being actualized... For the water to receive the form of air it must be heated... It is the same way with beliefs. It is necessary that they be preceded by... the study of arguments and speculations which bring one to them... There is no doubt that seeking these dispositions is a matter of will and choice... After these dispositions, however... are acquired, the form of the belief which follows from them is fixed in the heart and soul of the man... That belief will occur suddenly without choice and will...34 31 Principles of Faith, pp. 83–84. For the original text see Rosh Amanah, p. 68: אבל. שהעיקרים והיסודות ההם שזכר הרב הגדול אינם עיקרי האמונות ולא עיקרי דת בלבד...” ושעליהם אמרה המשנה,כיון בהם הרב שיהיו עיקרי היהדות כדי שהמאמין בהם יהיה מכלל ישראל ואף על פי שלא ידע דבר אחר מכל התורה כולה די לו..."”כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעולם הבא ” ...להשגת השלמות הרוחני באמונת העיקרים האלה 32 I am following Kellner’s translation, see Principles of Faith, p. 106. 33 See the text and Kellner’s explanation, Rosh Amanah, p. 85, n. 1. 34 Principles of Faith, pp. 108–09. For the original text, see Rosh Amanah, pp. 86–87: וכמו. שהאמונות יגיעות בלב האדם ונשפו כמו שיגיעו ויחולו הצורות הטבעיות בנושאיהם...” כאלו תאמר...שבהויה הטבעית יצטרכו בהכרח הכנות קודמות מתיחסות להגעת הצורה המגעת כי הנה יקדים אליהם. כך העניין באמונות...שהמים כדי שיקבלו צורת האויר צריך שיתחממו ואין ספק שבקשת ההכנות.... ההתלמדות בטענות והמופתים העיונים המביאים אליהם...בהכרח אמנם אחרי ההכנות האלה אשר תקנה הנפש בזמן הנה בהשתלמם...ההם הם מפועל הרצון והבחירה ואותה אמונה תחול פתאום ומבלי...תחול בעתה צורת האמונה הנמשכת מהם בלב האדם ונפשו ” ...בחירה ורצון [162] Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel’s First Edition The physical analogy must not conceal the clear rhetorical and political meaning of the argument. The rhetorical function of Abravanel’s defense of Maimonides’s thirteen principles is compared to the transformation of water into steam. This comparison refers to the therapeutic role of rhetoric, which is to bring the soul from a state of illness to a state of health, and in the Jewish case we are concerned with, to bring the souls of the Sephardic exiles from a state of skepticism towards Judaism to a state of re-adherence to it.35 The argument of Torah, principles, or commandments as a psychological cure recurs throughout Rosh Amanah.36 This ongoing reference to the humanistic topos of rhetoric as a medicine of the soul clearly expresses Abravanel’s awareness of the impact of rhetoric on the readers’ beliefs. Rosh Amanah is aimed at engaging the free will of its readers in order to instill in their souls a mass of beliefs sufficiently critical to secure their integration in the Jewish society and their adhesion to its religious and cultural framework. In writing Rosh Amanah, Abravanel acted as a Jewish leader. In other words, he aimed at strengthening the adherence of the people to their Judaism and at same time at rebuilding the leadership of his family and of the Jewish elite. Indeed, one has to remember that Rosh Amanah was written in Naples when the Abravanel family succeeded in entering the Neapolitan court and in taking over the leadership of the Neapolitan Jewry.37 The rhetorical intention of Rosh Amanah and the reason that it is the first text in the Nah ̣mias edition are now clear: Rosh Amanah is an introductory text which was meant to revive the reader’s adherence to Judaism, and to prepare him for the next two texts: Zevaḥ Pesaḥ and Naḥalat Avot. Zevaḥ Pesaḥ Yehudah’s introductory poem to Zevaḥ Pesaḥ insists on the link between literary talent and fame, the book being both a demonstration of talent and an agent of the fame of the author. יציץ שמו על כל כציץ על מצח יצחק מאת שער וגם כזה שח יחיה שנות עולם יחי עוד נצח יצחק אברבנאל אשר מצא כאב 35 On Abravanel’s use of humanistic consolatory rhetoric, see Eleazar Gutwirth, ‘Consolatio: Don Ishaq Abravanel and the Classical Tradition’, Medievalia et Humanistica 27 (2000), pp. 79–98; Cedric Cohen Skalli, The Humanistic Rhetoric of Don Isaac Abravanel: Rhetoric, History, and Tradition in Abravanel’s Letters and Introductions, Ph.D. dissertation, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 2005 (Hebrew). On humanistic consolatory rhetoric, see G. W. McClure, Sorrow and Consolation in Italian Humanism, Princeton 1990. 36 See Rosh Amanah, 56, 89, 95–99. 37 Lacerenza, ‘Lo spazio dell’Ebreo Insediamenti’. [163] Cedric Cohen Skalli גרני במטהו כהדוש קצח נמנע וחדל לעשות הפה צח עת אל בישראל במצרים רצח 38 לכן שמי כנה בזבח פסח הביא שאלות בסכום מאת ודש וימן תשובות עם פרישות הן ולא דקדק וקשר אמרות מגיד ישו הן אל בכור זבח ופסח על בכור The metaphor of the miter ( )ציץof the cohen gadol (line 1) suggests the agency of the book in spreading and building the fame of the author. The comparison of the hundred questions which open Abravanel’s commentary of the Haggadah to the “hundredfold” return of Ya’aqov’s sowing in Genesis 26:12 (line 2) insists on the effect of literary talent in terms of profit. A book is like a field which the talent of the author makes fruitful in its impact on readership. In line with Yehudah’s laudatory poem focusing on the author’s fame, an important feature of the composition of Zevaḥ Pesaḥ is its autobiographical introduction.39 This introduction is written according to a poetic structure of repetitions of the first word of every paragraph “ “כיand of the sound “ot” at its end. This way of writing was clearly intended for an aesthetic layout of the page (either for manuscript or for print) and for stressing the importance of such autopresentation of the author. Abravanel constructs the narrative of his life as a cyclic narrative of ups and downs which ends with a deep depression, alternating the story of his successes in Portugal, Spain, and Naples with the story of his three successive expulsions. At the end of the introduction, the commentary of the Haggadah of Passover, Zevaḥ Pesaḥ, appears as a consolation of the personal despair of Abravanel and of the “national” despair of the Sephardic exiles. This rhetorical structure, which is present in many of Abravanel’s autobiographical introductions, is meant to present the book as a salvation and the author as a savior, that is, as the perfect leader. In the following paragraph, Abravanel’s rhetorical conception of his work comes particularly to the fore: ... it is time to work for the Lord [Ps 119:126] by doing a commentary of the haggadot of Passover that encompasses the problems of Exile and its causes and of the ways of redemption and its wonders, including discussions on important new issues that our first sages did not deal with,... I named this tract ‘the sacrifice of Passover,’ because it is the sacrifices of God from a broken spirit [Ps 51:19], and a thanksgiving benediction to those who go through the wildernesses [Brakhot 54b].40 38 For a translation and explanation of Yehudah’s introductory poems, see Shloush, ‘Poésies Hébraïques’; Gebhardt, ‘Regesten zur Lebensgeschichte Leone Ebreo’. 39 On this introduction, see Cohen Skalli, The Humanistic Rhetoric of Don Isaac Abravanel, pp. 224–44. 40 Seder Haggadah shel Pesaḥ, 5. [164] Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel’s First Edition The name of Abravanel’s commentary of the Haggadah is closely linked to the Expulsion.41 Zevaḥ Pesaḥ, “the sacrifice of Passover”, recalled to the Spanish exiles that they escaped from the dangers of the Expulsion, just as the Israelites had done from the plague of the firstborns through the paschal sacrifice. Abravanel uses both Psalm 51:19 and Brakhot 54b to explain further the meaning of his title. Psalm 51:19 characterizes the book as the prayer of a despairing survivor of the Expulsion for the redemption of the exiles. The thanksgiving benediction of “those who go through the wildernesses” (Brakhot 54b) refers here to the curing effect of Zevaḥ Pesaḥ that intends to transform the despairing exile into an exile who sees himself from a different perspective as a survivor grateful to God for having saved him. The gap between these two images of the Spanish exiles or between these meanings of Zevaḥ Pesaḥ is what the rhetoric of Abravanel’s commentary was supposed to bridge, so that the reader changed his understanding of his situation. Abravanel’s commentary follows the rhetorical line of the Haggadah, especially the narrative one of the magid which begins with the disgrace of Israel ( )גנאיand ends with its praise ()שבח, insisting on the reversal of fortune experienced by the Israelites. While explaining other aspects of the Haggadah, Abravanel builds his commentary around the central motif of the divine transformation of the astrological order ()שידוד המערכת.42 This motif, which insists both on the divine transformation of the natural and historical order and on the manifestation of the special divine providence over Israel, is progressively exposed in Abravanel’s commentary of the magid and receives its full exposition, towards the end, in the commentary of the part of the Haggadah which explains the signification the sacrifice of Passover ( )זבח פסחand whose reading accompanies the ritual presentation of the plate with the substitute of the sacrifice of Passover. According to Abravanel, it is the central signification of the Passover and of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. If in Rosh Amanah the re-acquisition of a set of principles was transforming the Sephardic exiles into reborn Jews, in Zevaḥ Pesaḥ, the transformation of the astrological order is aimed at reversing the astrological inferiority of Israel with regard to Egypt into a providential superiority over Egypt and over all the nations, a point clearly related to the situation of the Sephardic exiles at the end of the 15th century. The rhetorical intention of Abravanel’s interpretation of the biblical Passover is to refill the ritual of Passover with an appealing meaning: the קכו[ פירוש בהגדות הפסח מקיף בעניני הגלות וסבותיו ובאופני,”עת לעשות לה' ]תהילים קיט ... חדשים לא שערום הראשונים, כולל פרשיות ודרושים בטעמים נכבדים,הגאולה ונפלאותיה , כי הוא זבחי אלהים מרוח נשברה ]תהילים נא,[ כז,אקרא שם המאמר הזה זבח פסח ]שמות יב ."[ בברכת הודאה להולכי מדברות ]ברכות נד\ב,[יט 41 Abraham Gross, ‘Gerush Sefarad vitsiratam ha-sifrutit shel ha-megorashim’ Pe’amim 75 (1998), pp. 75–93. 42 See Seder Haggadah shel Pesaḥ, pp. 37–40, 51, 101–105, 132–136. [165] Cedric Cohen Skalli revival of the belief in Israel’s past and future superiority over the nations, and the renunciation of the admiration for their success and power which were thought to be based on a combination of astrological influences. Abravanel’s reconstruction of the ritual of Passover begins with a description of the astrological situation before the departure of the Israelites from Egypt: The inferior bodies are influenced by the celestial ones... each nation has its special zodiac sign which influences it... and the one of Egypt is Ram... therefore the Egyptians were worshiping the Ram and its shape... Although the Israelites were also depraving themselves to worship the zodiac sign Ram... they did not abandon God, but they thought they would receive some advantage from its influence... the Bible says that God heard Israel’s moan... there were reasons in favor of their liberation... but God saw that they were worshiping the Ram... God defeated the reasons preventing Israel’s liberation... and sent Moses to inculcate the Israelites first with the true belief and teaching .... of God’s providence...43 The astrological situation before the miraculous departure of the Israelites from Egypt is a situation where the astrological correspondence between inferior and celestial beings is perfect. In this situation, Israel was submitted to the strong astral influence of the Ram and, for that reason, was developing a religious syncretism of Judaism and astrological rituals. This description is of course a metaphor for the dangers of Exile (and the recent Expulsion) which put the Jews in an ambiguous situation resulting from their admiration for the natural and astral sources of the power of the nations. The departure from Egypt, as reflected here by the figure of Moses, is presented as a providential treatment of the Israelites’ astrological fascination. Here begins the second part of the drama: God protected miraculously the land of Goshen where his people was staying, indeed since the celestial constellation was imposing slavery on the part of the Egyptians, God had to cancel the power of the zodiac sign Ram during the night of Passover... by striking the first of the zodiac signs 43 Ibidem, 133–134. להשפיע... מזל מיוחד... לכן היה לכל אומה...”הגופים השפלים מושפעים מהגרמים השמימיים ועם... ולכן היו המצריים עובדים אותו ומכבדים את צורתו... והיה מזל טלה השולט במצרים...עליה הנה לא עזבו את ה' אבל היו חושבים שיושפעו...היות בני ישראל גם הם זונים אחרי עבודת מזל טלה , שהיו סבות מניעות לגאולה... ואמר הכתוב ששמע אלהים את נאקתם...מהמזל ההוא טובות את הסיבות המונעות את... והשי"ת הכריע... ראה גלוליהם שהיו עובדים למזל טלה...ומצד אחר ר"ל... להשריש בהם ראשונה האמונה והתורה האמיתית... ולכן שלח לפניהם משה...הגאולה ."שהאמינו בהשגחתו [166] Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel’s First Edition it was necessary that all the firstborns whatever their kind would be struck because of being in the zone of exclusive influence of the Ram which was struck by the boundless power of God, in order that the Israelites could leave Egypt...44 According to Abravanel, the transformation of the astrological order is this: first the divine act of striking the zodiac sign Ram, which means to submit it to the divine will and to reverse its natural influence toward destroying all the firstborns whereas it was normally protecting them. The second transformation is the liberation of Israel from the astral influence of Ram. But this second transformation relies on the accomplishment by the Israelites of a ritual which complements the celestial revolution by a human revolution, or, to be more accurate, by a psychological revolution whose meaning is the substitution of the astrological belief by the Jewish belief in God’s special providence over Israel. The firstborns of Israel were also included in this plague according to the natural order... Therefore to rescue Israel from this plague, God ordered them that each household should take a lamb..., which is similar in shape to the zodiac sign Ram and influenced by it, and slaughter it... so that the Israelites will acknowledge by their acts God’s striking of the Ram... Therefore God commanded that by the 14th of the month, which is the time of maximal strength of the sign... they should spill its blood... This way, Israel will reject its worship and will acknowledge that there is no power of the celestial beings over the worldly ones unless God wants it... This act [the sacrifice of the lamb] was as a sign for the Israelites to indicate to themselves that they did not believe anymore in the Ram sign as before, and that they left Egypt under God’s providence and under the abolition of the astral power...45 Israel’s sacrifice of the lamb is a worldly mimesis of God’s celestial striking of the 44 Ibidem, 134. ”הנה הפליא ה' ארץ גושן אשר עמו יושב עליה אמנם בעבור שהיו המערכות העליונות מחייבות בלקוי בכור המזלות... לבטל כח המזל טלה בלילה ההוא... הוצרך הקב"ה,העבדות למצריים במצרים היה מחויב שכל הבכורות מאיזה מין שהם יהיו נלקים בהיותם במקום שלטונות המזל טלה שנלקה "...עמהם ע"י הכוח בלתי בעל תכלית השי"ת כדי שיצאו ממצרים 45 Ibidem, 134. לכן כדי להציל את...והנה היו בכורי ישראל גם הם נכללים במכה הזאת אם כפי הסדר הטבעי... ” שהוא הדומה והמושפע... יקחו איש שה לבית אבות...ישראל מאותה מכה צוה השי"ת להם כי שביום י"ד שהוא... ולכן צוה... כדי שיודו במעשיהם שמזל טלה נלקה...ממזל טלה וישחטו אותו אין כח בעליונים על תחתונים... כי... ובזה יבעטו ישראל בעבודתו ויכירו... ישפך את דמו...בגבורתו , שלא היו מאמינים עוד במזל טלה כמו בימים הראשונים... כי היה המעשה לאות להם... אלא ברצונו ” ...ושהם היו יוצאים ממצרים כיד אלהיהם הטובה בביטול כח המזל [167] Cedric Cohen Skalli Zodiac sign Ram. But beyond this correspondence between Israel and God, the Passover sacrifice is a ritual whose function is to support a psychological change or conversion of view within the souls of the ancient Israelites, but also within the souls of the readers of Zevaḥ Pesaḥ. Abravanel’s reconstruction of the Passover as a transformation of the astrological and psychological order has the same rhetorical intention as Rosh Amanah, which is to convert skeptical minds and cure them. God is striking the Ram to liberate the Israelites when, at the same time, Israel is sacrificing his belief in the astral influence to the belief in God’s providence: this cosmological scene is a powerful rhetorical instrument to counterbalance the effect of the Expulsion, which brought to the fore the inferiority of Israel. The ritual of the Passover sacrifice becomes, through Abravanel’s interpretation of it, a psychological victory of each Sephardic exile over the present power of the nations, a victory won through the representation of the cosmological implication of the miracle of Passover and the anticipation of its repetition during the Redemption.46 Zevaḥ Pesaḥ is not only the rhetorical continuity of Rosh Amanah, it is also its extension. This time Abravanel does not limit himself to the minimal knowledge necessary for a Jew, but he now reconstructs on the basis of the Haggadah a whole historical and cosmological outlook. Naḥalat Avot Yehudah wrote a longer introductory poem to the major work of the Nah ̣mias edition, Naḥalat Avot. It first focuses on the effect of Abravanel’s commentary on the reading of Pirqei Avot and on the reader’s mind and behavior; then it praises the virtues of the author. בינות כזויות מחוטבות צרות ונקצרות בצוק תיבות ברות מוארות ונרחבות תלמוד ותקנת מעלות רבות כלם מקושרים משולבות תתיר אגודות מוט וחרצובות יושבות עלי מלאת ונצבות בי עם פרי הדר ענף עבות יש לאלפים בי ולרבבות יפות מסודרות ונכתבות אל צמאוניך תלאובות יש לי להנחיל אוהבי טובות היו לחכמי לב סתומות בין ולמעני שבו מרווחות דורש תבונות שים לבבך לי הבט סגולות ניב חכמיך בי כל סתום קשין תפתח נעמו פרישותי ודברותי יין משומר בענביו יש צחות בתוך שיחות מצוחצחות חיים וחסד בי וכל מדות קח נא ידידי מי מקור דתי 46 Indeed, the last part of Zevaḥ Pesaḥ turns from the redemption of Egypt to the future redemption; see Seder Haggadah shel Pesaḥ, pp. 169, 176–177. [168] Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel’s First Edition רוחו מפתח סגור לבות בן אל בנו ישי מאור בבות תורה גדולה עם זכות אבות תמים במשאלות ובתשובות נגו מאוריו אור בלי עבות סוד מעשה ראשית ומרכבות מדע במושכלות ובנדיבות 47 לכן שמי שם נחלת אבות אכן אני מכתב לאיש מופת ביאור ליצחק בן יהודה בר ראש כל בני עבר ואל שם בו בין חיל ספריו הוא הכינני נר מערבי מספרד צץ אל חי בלבו שת יסודות חכמות ללמוד במסכתא דאבות כל הנחיל כבוד אבות אלי בנים Yehudah presents the effect of the commentary on the text of Pirqei Avot and on its reading in parallel to the psychological and educational impact of Naḥalat Avot on its readership (line 1–6). The text of Pirqei Avot and the Jewish readership are depicted as in state of confusion and loss of meaning. As the commentary will return the text to its readability and relevancy, so its teaching will rebuild the religious and intellectual outlook of the reader. The last eight verses are the most explicit praise of Don Yitsh ̣aq’s leadership of the three introductory poems. This might not be coincidental but rather the result from the progressive construction of the Nah ̣mias edition. Indeed, Naḥalat Avot, a comprehensive and lengthy extended commentary of the mishnaic treatise Pirqei Avot, is submitted to the reader after the minimal set of principles of Rosh Amanah, and after the reconstruction of the historical and cosmological framework of Judaism in Zevaḥ Pesaḥ. The first introductory poem mentions the name of Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel with honorific titles, the second insists on his fame, and the third presents him as the undisputed leader of the Jewish people, which unites intellectual virtues, economical wealth, and a noble genealogy. His literary talent in this last and major part of the edition is praised at length by Yehudah and is presented as a proof of his leadership capacity and as a sign of his divine election. Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel’s own introduction to Naḥalat Avot is written as a letter to his son Shmuel and presents the commentary both as the transmission of the father’s outlook to his son and as a sign of the fidelity of the Abravanel family to Judaism in a time of despair and dispersal. You have asked me earnestly [1 Sam 20:28] to explain you the book of the precious mishnaiot... let my father arise [Gn 27:31] and write this for a memorial in the book [Ex 17:14]... Behold, the Lord makes windows in heaven to pour upon your rod and staff [Ps 23:4], a writer staff [Jdg 5:14] and a staff of reed [2 Kgs 18:21], a bounteous rain [Ps 68:10] of grace and 47 For a translation and explanation of Yehudah’s introductory poems, see Shloush, ‘Poésies Hébraïques de Don Jehuda Abrabanel’; Gebhardt, ‘Regesten zur Lebensgeschichte Leone Ebreo’. [169] Cedric Cohen Skalli intelligence [Prov 3:4] and they shall build from you the waste places [Is 68:10].48 The form of the moral will in which Naḥalat Avot is first presented is expended to a new one, the teaching of a blessed and literary gifted leader to his people. The expected social and political effect of the work becomes the focus of Abravanel’s introduction, which transforms the book into an affirmation of personal and family leadership over the rest of the Jewish elite. After that I saw perfect so many men at the entrances of the gates [Prov 1:21] forsaking the pursuit of the eternal life and occupying themselves instead with the concerns of the transitory life [Shabat 10a]... No one seeks out of the book of the Lord [Is 34:16], crown of glory [Is 28:5], no one asks for wisdom and instruction [Prov 1:2]... Therefore I rose up [Song 5:5] to fix my understanding with a pen... to review the range of my thoughts. I trained the ways of my tongue for battle [Ps 144:1]... and my fingers for the war [Ps 144:1] of the Torah...49 According to Abravanel’s introduction, Naḥalat Avot is a book which attests to the continuity of Torah learning within the Abravanel family and so promotes its right to lead the Sephardic and Italian Jewry. Further in his introduction, Abravanel describes the chain of transmission from Moses to R. Yehudah Ha-Nasi, the compiler of the Mishnah, and concludes with the following remark: It results from this that from Joshua to our blessed Rabbi, the author of the Mishnah, there were four groups one after the other in the transmission of the tradition and the study of the divine Torah, and they were the elders, the prophets, the members of the Great Assembly and the sages of the Mishnah. In each group there were twelve generations or twelve receivers of the tradition, as if the divine wisdom wanted them to reach the number of the 48 Ibidem, p. 7. יקום אבי ]בראשית... כח[ לבאר לך על ספר המשניות היקרות,”שאול שאלת מעמדי ]שמואל א כ ב[ להמטיר על, והנה יי' עושה ארובות ]מלכים ב ז...[ יד, לא[ יכתוב זאת זכרון בספר ]שמות יז,כז כא[ גשם, יד[ ומשענת קנה ]מלכים ב יח, ד[ שבט סופר ]שופטים ה,שבטך ומשענתך ]תהילים כג ” ...[ יב, ד[ ובנו ממך חרבות ]ישעיה נח, י[ חן ושכל טוב ]משלי ג,נדבות ]תהילים סח 49 Ibidem, pp. 8–9. [ מז, כא[ לקמצים ]בראשית מא, יג[ בני עליה בפתחי שערים ]משלי א,”אחרי רואי ]בראשית טז [ טז, אין דורש מעל ספר יי' ]ישעיהו לד...[מניחים חיי עולם שבים ורצים בחיי שעה ]שבת י\ב על כן קמתי אני ]שיר השירים...[ ב, ה[ ואין מבקש חכמה ומוסר ]משלי א,עטרת צבי ]ישעיהו כח ...[ א, ודרכי לשוני ללמד ידי לקרב ]תהילים קמד. לשנן מיתרי מחשבותי... ה[ לכונן דעתי בעטי,ה .” .. א[ של תורה,אצבעותי למלחמתה ]תהילים קמד [170] Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel’s First Edition tribes of Israel... Know and learn that God foresees until the end of all the generations. He foresaw that the road of exile would be very long and the generation will become more and more indigent spiritually, being each time more distant from the original source, Moses our master... Therefore the divine providence provides from time to time a great man that will serve as a light to illuminate the generations coming after him as if the time [following after him] was a very long and very dark road and there would appear in it from time to time lights created to illuminate the road day and night.50 This conception of the providential leader who appears at decisive points in the history was surely not limited in Abravanel’s mind to antique Judaism. His own introduction, which presents Naḥalat Avot as the intellectual will of a leader to his son and to the present and following generations, clearly implies that Don Yitsh ̣aq had such a providential conception of himself. Indeed, Yehudah’s poem (lines 13, 16) refers to it, using the same metaphor of light as in the quoted fragment, and suggesting that the meaning of the name Abravanel is “son of God” (line 13). The second point which emphasizes the scholastic part of the introduction is the definition of Pirqei Avot and its commentary vis-à-vis the existing ethical philosophical literature. These sayings [Pirqei Avot] do not belong to the science of ethics; they do not rely like the sayings of the philosopher on pure intellect. Likewise they are not as such commandments received at Sinai, and they are not included in their number. They are not religious rules or restrictions that were made by men. They are moral maxims said in flowery phrases, which were taken and learned from the Torah and the Prophets. Therefore, they were attached to the receivers of the Torah, because they induced and learned them from the Torah. And since they are authorities in Torah and great sages, their sayings were conserved as such, and not as belonging to the ethics and to its rational inquiry.51 50 Ibidem, pp. 29–30. ”והיוצא מכל זה שמיהושע ועד רבנו הקדוש מחבר המשנה היו ד' כתות זו אחר זו במסורת הקבלה ושהיו בכת.ולמוד התורה האלהית שהם הזקנים והנביאים ואנשי כנסת הגדולה וחכמי המשנה אחת מהכתות האלה י"ב דורות או י"ב מקבלים כאילו ראתה החכמה האלהית להביאם בזה המנין ראה שהיה דרך. ותדע ותשכיל שהקב"ה צופה ומביט עד סוף כל הדורות...למספר שבטי ישראל והיו הדורות הולכים ומתדלדלים להיותם מרוחקים מן המבוע והמקור.הגלות רב וארוך מאד ולכן החכימה ההשגחה האלהית להמציא מזמן לזמן אדם גדול יהיה כנר...הראשון משה אדוננו להאיר לדורות הבאים אחריו כאלו היה השמך הזמן דרך ארוך חשוך מאד ויתראו בו מתחום ."לתחום נרות ואורים ברואים להאיר ללכת יומם ולילה 51 Ibidem, p. 34. שהמאמרים האלה ]פרקי אבות[ אינם מדעיים בחכמת המדות כפי השכל הפשוט בדברי...” [171] Cedric Cohen Skalli Pirqei Avot is defined as an intermediary genre between philosophical ethics and the traditional religious norms of Torah mi-Sinai. This genre combines the authority of tradition with the autonomy of thought, interpretation, and rhetoric. This intermediary genre defines not only the mishnaic treatise Pirqei Avot, but also Abravanel’s commentary of it. Indeed Naḥalat Avot, which uses different hermeneutical tools (philosophy, history, astrology, Jewish commentaries, rhetoric), offers to each reader a comprehensive Jewish outlook whose main rhetorical goal is to convince him of the superiority of Pirqei Avot, and Judaism in general, over all other ethical treatises.52 It is important to remember here that ethical treatises had a great vogue in 15th century humanism. Through this mixed commentary of Pirqei Avot, the reader will be persuaded to rebuild his outlook and to live his individual and social life according to the comprehensive Jewish wisdom proposed by Don Yitsh ̣aq. This normative Jewish conduct is of course the ideal final state to which the rhetoric of this Abravanel edition tries to bring the reader. The major rhetorical feature of Naḥalat Avot is its systematic attempt to present Pirqei Avot as a coherent work which was compiled out of many sayings of the Sages by R. Yehudah Ha-Nasi according to a clear and progressive scheme. Indeed, the first chapter deals with the foundations of Jewish doctrine, second with the necessary requirements for moral and religious perfection, the third with the ways to prevent oneself from sin, the fourth with the definition of human perfection and with resurrection, and the fifth with the ways for man to bring the divine creation to its perfection and accomplishment.53 This clear progressive structure of Pirqei Avot, which leads to the cosmological meaning of Jewish normative behavior, is revealed, if not created, by a series of extended discussions which Abravanel inserted throughout his commentary of the treatise. This combination of a sacred text with a complex and well-structured commentary produces a Jewish literary work which was intended to compete with the non-Jewish ethical treatises and to convince the reader to follow its Jewish conception of human perfection. Impressed and convinced by his own cosmological responsibility, the reader should assume his social and religious role within Jewish society. Among the extended discussions which recurrently structure Abravanel’s הפילוסופים ואינם גם כן המצות המקובלות מסיני כפי מה שהן ולכן לא נמנו במנינם ואינם תקנות .וסייגים שעשו אבל הם מוסרים נאמרים ביפוי המליצה נלקחים ונלמדים מדברי התורה והנביאים ולכן נסמכו אל מקבלי התורה מפני שהוציאו ולמדו אותם ממנה ומאשר הם בעלי תורה וגדולים ."בחכמתה נזכרו דבריהם לא כדרך חכמת המדות וחקירתם השכלית 52 53 See on this matter the encounter between Alexander the Great and Shimon Hatsadik and its influence on Aristotle, Ibidem, pp. 50–53. The sixth chapter is considered by Abravanel as a later adjunct due to the need of a text for the ritual reading of the sixth week between Passover and Shavuot. Ibidem, p. 373. [172] Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel’s First Edition commentary, the thirty-eight-page commentary of R. Aqiva’s sayings (Chapter 3: 13–16) is surely the most important one and the most complete if we consider the approaches used by the author.54 Although this discussion is worth a comprehensive study in itself, I would like to focus on the central rhetorical argument of this discussion, which follows, as I see it, the rhetorical line I have already described in the two former works. The discussion begins with R. Aqiva’s first saying, which insists on the role of restrictive norms ( )סייגיםto prevent men from sins. R. Aqiva’s second saying, “Favorite is man who was created in the image of God”,55 is related to the first, according to Abravanel, because the preventive norms ( )סייגיםwhich remove men from sins rely on the special dignity of man, freedom. Don Yitsh ̣aq develops a long discussion on the image of God ()צלם, in which he defines man as an image of all the archetypes which guided God’s creation of the universe, but also as an image of the world and of its different levels of reality. Man is presented as a microcosm between God and the world. Further, Abravanel comments R. Aqiva’s third saying, “Favorite is Israel who are called sons of God”.56 Abravanel’s cosmological interpretation of this saying stresses the difference between the nations whose destiny is under the influence of the stars (each nation being associated with one star), and Israel, whose destiny is determined directly by God. As man is favorite among all other beings because of his correspondence with God, so is Israel favorite among the nations, by being the elected subject to realize the divine finality of creation.57 Abravanel comments afterwards on a fourth saying of R. Aqiva, “Favorite is Israel to whom God gave the precious instrument”.58 To the election of Israel by God corresponds also God’s gift of the Torah, so that through its commandments, Israel will serve God and reach its own perfection, the union of man with God, which is the finality of God’s creation. This point is of course related to the first saying on the restrictive norms ()סייגים. The commandments and other preventive norms are the way for the Jews to reach human perfection. After having depicted the central cosmological role of Israel, Abravanel comments at length R. Aqiva’s famous saying, “Everything is predicted and the choice is given”.59 He devotes a long discussion to the possibility of God’s prediction and man’s free will, and concludes it with a depiction of man’s liberation from the astral influence: 54 55 56 57 58 59 Ibidem, pp. 163–201. "”חביב אדם שנברא בצלם. "”חביבין ישראל שנקראו בנים למקום. This is a central motif in Abravanel’s outlook. See Ateret Zeqenim "”חביבין ישראל שנתן להם כלי החמדה "”הכל צפוי והרשות נתונה. [173] Cedric Cohen Skalli The celestial beings operate in the inferior world... they move the elements by the time of their composition and dispose them in different dispositions... and according to that, each man will be determined in his actions by the hour of his birth... [Abravanel answers] the [astral] constellation forms the human disposition and the human intellect by its choice bring this disposition to its finality and realization... our Sages say who is born under the influence of Mars will be a murderer, a cook, a mohel (circumciser) or a physician... All this shows that the human soul can change the constellation and cancel the disposition resulting from it by inverting his complexion and his disposition from bad into good...60 Like the defense of Maimonides’ thirteen principles, like the ritual of Passover, the inversion of the astral dispositions of man is a rhetorical argument whose finality is to convince the Sephardic exiles, and all the Jews, of the possibility to reverse the negative influence of the Expulsion, and of Exile in general. The return to Judaism is the accomplishment of the liberation from the present power of the nations, if one follows the political and social line of Abravanel’s rhetoric. But such liberation, in the eyes of Abravanel and of the Jewish elite involved in the Nah ̣mias edition, was only made possible by a powerful rhetorical effort towards Sephardic Jews. No doubt it was Abravanel’s intention in this extended commentary of R. Aqiva’s sayings. Indeed, the argument for Israel’s cosmological superiority is not only a philosophical and theological statement; it has also a rhetorical dimension which comes fully to the fore with Abravanel’s insistence on man’s free will and man’s capacity to free himself from natural and historical conditions. The reading of such arguments was intended to produce a reversal of view, a psychological liberation from the feeling of inferiority into a renewed feeling of dignity and of cosmological meaning. This psychological liberation was for Abravanel the expected effect on the reader, and it gave meaning to the whole construction of Naḥalat Avot, which was intended to teach how to reach human perfection according to Judaism. Such teaching could only be effective after the psychological victory over the harsh conditions of Sephardic Jewry at the end of the 15th century. 60 Naḥalat Avot, pp. 190–192. ויניעו את היסודות בהרכבתם ויכינו אותם בהכנות...”הגרמים השמימיים פועלים בעולם השפל ... המערכה תתן את ההכנה... ולפי זה יהי כל אדם מוכרח במעשיו כפי שעת מולדתו...מתחלפות מאן דיתידל במאדים יהא אשד... אמרם ז"ל... התכלית וההשלמה...ושכל האדם בבחירתו תתן וכל זה ממה שיורה שהנפש האינושית תוכל לשנות את...דמא או טבחא או מהולא או אומנא "...המערכה ולבטל את ההכנה הנמשכת ממנה בשנותה את המזג והתכונה אל הצד המנגד בטוב [174] Yitsh ̣aq Abravanel’s First Edition Conclusions The Nah ̣mias edition of Rosh Amanah, Zevaḥ Pesaḥ, and Naḥalat Avot is the encounter of two related factors: a literary project of Abravanel which has its unity in a special rhetorical trend crossing the three works, and its positive reception and amplification by a group of leading Sephardic exiles which brought these works to print. One of the reasons for this printed edition during the lifetime of the author was surely their admiration for Abravanel’s leadership, but they saw also in this edition a powerful means to convince the exiles to follow the Jewish religious and cultural norms and so to preserve the social coherence of the Sephardic Diaspora, including of course their own leadership. The scholars who participated in one way or another in this edition formed a rather socially homogeneous group. They shared Abravanel’s cultural profile. There is no evidence at hand that could elucidate the circumstances of this edition and especially its of origin. Was it planned by Abravanel himself, or at least conceived as a possibility? or was it the initiative of a group of admirers of Don Yitsh ̣aq, including his elder son, Yehudah? The only certitude is that this Nah ̣mias edition of 1505 was not the encounter of two completely independent factors: a text and a new technique of reproduction. It was rather the encounter of three works which Abravanel wrote according to a clear conception of what should be their effect on the reader, with a group of printers and editors who saw in printing a way to reach a social and religious goal similar to Abravanel’s goal. Printed books should be considered also as the articulation of the intentions of writers and printers. The focus on this articulation may reveal, as it is the case in this first Abravanel edition, a continuous cultural process which begins with the author’s new awareness of the rhetorical impact of writing and continues with its reception and amplification by the printers for their own and new reasons. As the present study has attempted to show, Abravanel’s writings should be regarded as part of the revolution (or evolution) of Jewish print; and Jewish print should be viewed as a possible explanation for new literary features in Abravanel’s work, as well as in the work of other late 15th and 16th century scholars. [175]
