ABRABANEL (Abravanel). - One of the most powerful Jewish families of Spain, where it was already present in 1310. In 1492, when the Jews were expelled by Ferdinand II (V), the A. settled in Italy; they had great influence, even at court, in the kingdom of Naples (especially Isaac and, still more, his brother Jacob, d. 1528). In the duchy of Tuscany, first Samuel, son of Isaac, then Samuel's son Jacob, obtained much in favor of Jewish commerce from Cosimo I, whose wife Eleonora of Toledo had been educated by Benvenida, cousin and wife of Samuel. The family died out in Italy with Abraham (d. 1618). Special mention is due, in the field of ideas, to:
1. ISAAC (Isaac ben Jehudâh)
Philosopher and exegete, b. at Lisbon in 1437, d. at Venice in 1508.
A shrewd statesman, he was first treasurer of Alfonso V of Portugal; suspected of conspiracy, in 1483 he moved to Toledo. After 1492, he lived at the court of Ferdinand I and of Alfonso II of Naples. Having fled to Sicily because of the French invasion, after a stay at Corfu and in Apulia he settled at Venice. Most learned, he composed many works on Holy Scripture and commented on all the books of the Torâh and the Prophets. He deserved the high esteem for which the Jews surnamed him Hâhâm (wise) and Nasî (prince). His exegesis is literal, rich in grammatical and historical references, and successfully strives to show the connection between ideas. It is prolix because of frequent and minute theological digressions. Though not very original or profound, A. worthily closes the series of the great Jewish exegetes. He is very useful to students of Jewish exegesis because he cites all the opinions of his predecessors, examining them minutely.
The enthusiasm of his messianic faith not only drove him, in the trilogy that he called Mâgâh vehiât ("magnificans salutes," II Sam. 22, 51) - The fountains of salvation; The herald of salvation; The salvation of his Messiah -, to compare and comment on all the messianic texts of Scripture, the Talmûd and the Midraîm, but also led him to uphold fantastic optimistic theories about the imminent (for the year 1503) establishment of the messianic kingdom. Isaac often displays his anti-Christian animosity. He maintains the transcendence of Revelation and the objectivity of the prophetic visions; but in various points he follows the semi-rationalism of Maimonides.
His three sons too, Judah, Joseph and Samuel, were famous.
Bibliography6 works
2. JUDAH (Jehudâh), called LEONE EBREO
Firstborn son of Isaac A., physician, philosopher and poet, b. at Lisbon around 1465, d., it seems, between 1530 and 1532. After the expulsion of 1492, he emigrated to Naples, then dwelt at Genoa, then at Barletta, Naples, Rome, Venice. In the Elegy on destiny he lamented the separation from his one-year-old son, forcibly baptized. His principal work, Dialoghi d'amore, was composed at Genoa (1502), in Hebrew (lost) and in Italian; but the first known edition is that of Rome (1535), then Venice 1541, etc., edited by Mariano Lenzi.
It is a treatise (dialogues between Philo and Sophia) that disseminates the Platonic doctrines on the nature (I), the universality (II) and the origin (III) of love. The system, called "philographia," extends from man to the world and to God; in it love is a gnoseological, logical, ontological, cosmogonic and ethical principle. The work, perhaps suggested by Marsilio Ficino's Dialogo sopra l'amore and by the Platonizing Jew Johanan Alemanno, is original and profound. Its success and influence were great; it was soon translated into Latin, French and Spanish. Bembo imitated it in the Asolani. Various Spanish mystical writers, such as Luis de León, Malón de Chaide, Nieremberg, drew inspiration from it. Spinoza derived metaphysical and ethical motifs from it.
Bibliography9 works
Antonino Romeo