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335 pages

English

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Winner of the 2002 Nauchman Sokol-Mollie Halberstadt Prize in Biblical/Rabbinic Scholarship presented by the Canadian Jewish Book Awards

Finalist, 2002 Scholarship Morris J. and Betty Kaplun Award presented by the National Jewish Book Council

Financier and courtier to the kings of Portugal, Spain, and Italy and Spanish Jewry's foremost representative at court at the time of its 1492 expulsion, Isaac Abarbanel was also Judaism's leading scholar at the turn of the sixteenth century. His work has had a profound influence on both his contemporaries and later thinkers, Jewish and Christian. Isaac Abarbanel's Stance Toward Tradition is the first full-length study of Abarbanel in half a century. The book considers a wide range of Abarbanel's writings, focusing for the first time on the dominant exegetical side of his intellectual achievements as reflected in biblical commentaries and messianic writings. Author Eric Lawee approaches Abarbanel's work from the perspective of his negotiations with texts and teachings bequeathed to him from the Jewish past. The work provides insight into the important spiritual and intellectual developments in late medieval and early modern Judaism while offering a portrait of a complex scholar whose stance before tradition combined conservatism with creativity and reverence with daring.
Acknowledgments

Bibliographic Notes / Abbreviations

Introduction

1. Life and Contexts

2. Works and Traditions

3. "To the Help of the Lord Against the Mighty": 'Ateret zeqenim

4. Rabbinic Legacy: Background and Parameters

5. The Rabbinic Hermeneutic: Midrash in the Biblical Commentaries

6. In Search of Classical Jewish Eschatology: Yeshu'ot meshiho

7. Historical Thinking, Critical Reading, and the Study of Classical Jewish Texts

8. Abarbanel and Tradition: Six Trends

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

Judaism

History of religions

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Publié par	State University of New York Press
Date de parution	01 février 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780791489888
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

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Isaac Abarbanel’s Stance Toward TraditionIsaac Abarbanel’s Stance
Toward Tradition
Defense, Dissent, and Dialogue
Eric Lawee
State University of New York PressPublication of this work was made possible by a generous grant from the Koret
Foundation.
Cover photo: carpet page from the “Lisbon Bible” (Lisbon, 1482). British Library, MS
OR. 2628, fol. 185r. Printed by permission of the British Library, London, England.
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
2001 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic
tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission
in writing of the publisher.
For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite
700, Albany, NY 12207
Production by Judith Block
Marketing by Michael Campochiaro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lawee, Eric.
Isaac Abarbanel’s stance toward tradition : defense, dissent, and dialogue / Eric
Lawee.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.
ISBN 0-7914-5125-9 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5126-7 (pb : alk. paper)
1. Abravanel, Isaac, 1437–1508—Teachings. 2. Bible. O.T.—Criticism,
interpretation, etc., Jewish. 3. Judaism—Doctrines. 4. Rabbinical literature—
History and criticism. 5. Tradition (Judaism) I. Title.
BM755 .A25 L29 2001
296 .092—dc21
00-054798
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1To my parents with love Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Bibliographic Notes / Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1. Life and Contexts 9
2. Works and Traditions 27
3. “To the Help of the Lord Against the Mighty”:
‘Ateret zeqenim 59
4. Rabbinic Legacy: Background and Parameters 83
5. The Rabbinic Hermeneutic: Midrash in the Biblical Commentaries 93
6. In Search of Classical Jewish Eschatology: Yeshu‘ot meshiho 127
7. Historical Thinking, Critical Reading, and the Study of Classical
Jewish Texts 169
8. Abarbanel and Tradition: Six Trends 203
Notes 217
Bibliography 287
Index 313
vii Acknowledgments
This book reflects many debts of gratitude that I am eager to repay publicly.
Aid from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
(SSHRC), Harvard’s Center for Jewish Studies, and the Memorial Foundation
for Jewish Studies made possible the doctoral dissertation out of which the
book grew. Further stages in the book’s gestation occurred during my tenures as
a Ray D. Wolfe Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto and as a
Research Associate at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. The book
has also benefited from a generous publication subvention from the Koret
Foundation as well as a research grant from York University’s Faculty of Arts.
To all of these sources of support I wish to express my sincerest appreciation.
Partial versions of Chapters 3, 5, and 7 appeared, respectively, in AJS Review
22 (1997), Hebrew Union College Annual 67 (1996), and Viator 26 (1995). I am
grateful to these journals for their permission to reprint.
In addition to generous material support, the book reflects liberal infusions
of assistance from the best and most benevolent of teachers. To my sorrow, my
mentor Isadore Twersky passed away before seeing this study in its final form.
Professor Twersky provided me with a broad vision of Jewish religious and
intellectual history early in my graduate career and lent to my dissertation his
vast erudition, discerning scholarly eye, and quiet but always appreciable
encouragement. His interest in my career and in my life beyond academe meant a
great deal. He lives on for me in innumerable ways, both as a model and as a
sustaining inspiration. May his memory be for a blessing.
My other Harvard mentor, Bernard Septimus, gave unstintingly of his time
and singular gifts as an interpreter of premodern Jewish thought and literature
to make this study far richer and more exacting than it otherwise would have
been. His modesty, despite his boundless learning and insight, makes elaborate
encomiums inappropriate. Suffice it to say that I owe to his judicious counsel
more specific formulations than I could hope to acknowledge without being
tedious, and a general scholarly debt that only mounts with time.
Though many other teachers and colleagues who spurred me along my
current path can only be acknowledged in aggregate, a few must be mentioned by
ixx Acknowledgments
name. First and foremost, Daniel J. Lasker has been a constant source of
intellectual insight, friendship, support, good will, sage advice (scholarly and
otherwise), offprints, and email. Menachem Kellner provided regular doses of
encouragement and good humor and helped to make my first connection with
SUNY Press. Elisheva Carlebach dispensed savvy consultations when bid to do
so. Beyond providing many a constructive observation regarding the
dissertation, James Kugel offered a consummate model of limpid scholarly prose that
has served as an ever beckoning ideal. In Israel, particulars of the book gained
from broad erudition kindly put at my disposal by Robert Bonfil, Yosef Hacker,
and Moshe Idel. In Toronto, Virginia Brown served as a cheerful and sagacious
mentor while Josiah Blackmore offered patient and affable tutoring in the
decipherment of medieval Portuguese documents. In Palo Alto, Arnie Eisen and
Steve Zipperstein broadened my intellectual horizons and Aron Rodrigue gave
the book’s first part the benefit of his keen editorial eye. All three offered warm
collegiality. New colleagues at York University, Michael Brown and Marty
Lockshin especially, have shaped the happy circumstances whence I send forth
this study to its final disposition.
Over the long period of this book’s evolution I have been strengthened not
only by magnanimous teachers and colleagues but also by dear family and
friends. My parents have been supremely devoted but never overbearing fonts
of love and aid. My siblings and their families have contributed greatly to the
(happily now local) support network. Aviezer, Noam, and Gavriella have
provided much joy, many a precious moment, and ample opportunity to learn of
the delights and apprehensions surrounding efforts to transmit and renew
tradition among the next generation.
Greatest among the provisioners of unflagging support and understanding
has been Mollie. Beyond serving as a most perceptive (and severe) external
reader, she remains a wonderful, multitalented partner in life. May she to
whom I owe the greatest debt find in this small achievement some recompense
for her immense, deeply appreciated investment in its author. Bibliographic Notes / Abbreviations
I. Editions of Abarbanel’s Works Cited
1. Commentaries on the Torah. Perush ‘al ha-torah. 3 vols. Jerusalem: Benei
Arabel, 1964.
2. Commentaries on the Former Prophets. Perush ‘al nevi’im rishonim.
Jerusalem: Torah va-da‘at, 1955.
3. Commentaries on the Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel). Perush
‘al nevi’im ’aharonim . Jerusalem: Benei Arabel, 1979.
4. Commentaries on the Minor Prophets (Amos, Hosea, etc.). Perush ‘al
nevi’im u-khetuvim. Tel Aviv: Sefarim Abarbanel, 1961.
5. ‘Ateret zeqenim. 1894. Photo-offset, Jerusalem: n.p., 1967.
6. Ma‘ayenei ha-yeshu‘ah. As in Perush ‘al nevi’im u-khetuvim.
7. Mashmia‘ yeshu‘ah. As in Perush.
8. Mif‘alot ’elohim. Ed. Berakhah Genut-Deror. Jerusalem: Reuven Mas,
1988.
9. Nahalat ’avot. As in Pirqei ’avot ‘im perush Moshe ben Maimon ve-‘im
perush nahalat ’avot. New York: n.p., 1953.
10. Perush ‘al moreh nevukhim. In Moreh nevukhim le-ha-rav Moshe ben Maimon
. . . be-ha‘ateqat ha-rav Shemu’el ibn Tibbon ‘im ’arba‘ah perushim. 1872.
Photo-offset, Jerusalem: n.p., 1960.
11. Rosh ’amanah. Ed. Menachem Kellner. Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University,
1993.
12. Shamayim hadashim . Rodelheim, 1828.¨
A13. Surot ha-yesodot. As at the back of ‘Ateret zeqenim.
A14. Ta‘anot lequhot mi- teva‘ ha-ketuvim. As at the end of Moreh nevukhim.
15. Yeshu‘ot meshiho . Konigsberg, 1861.¨
16. Zevah pesa h. As in Seder haggadah shel pesah. 1872. Reprint, Jerusalem:
Sefarim Toraniyim, 1985.
17. Abarbanel’s responses to Saul Hakohen, published under the title She’elot
le-he-hakham Sha’ul ha-Kohen sha’al me-’et . . . Y ishaq ’Abarbanel. Venice,
1574. (References to the first eight folios are to the actual as opposed to
xixii Bibliographic Notes / Abbreviations
printed pagination. Includes (pp. 21v–26r) Ma’amar qasar be-ve’ur seder
ha-moreh.
18. Abarbanel’s letter to Yehiel da Pisa of 1472. As in “Mikhtav me-ha-rav
don Yishaq ’Abarbanel.” ’