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Abrams, Harriet Abravauel

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

127

and when scarcely twenty years old wrote on the original foini of lie natural clcnicnts, on the most His povital religions (jucstions, on proplicc}', etc. I

also attracted attention while he was the service of King Alfonso . of Portugal as Ireastircr. and soon won the confidence of his master. Notwillistanding his high position and the great wealth he hail iidierilcd from his fat her, his lo VI' for hisallliclcd hrcthrcn wasunaliatcd. ANlieii Arzilla. in iMorocco. was taken by the iMoors, and the Jewish captives were sold as slaves, he contributed largely to the funds ueetled to manumit litical abilities

He entered

still yoMiifr.

Abravanel's importance, however, his changefid

and active

career.

lies

not only in

Although

his

works

can .scarcely he said to he of an absolutelj- original character, they contain so luuch iusti uctive material, and I'Xerted so wide an intluence, that they demand special attention. They may he divided into three i-lasses, referring to (1) exegesis, such as his commentary upon the entire Bible with the exception of the llagiograiiha C2) philo.sdpliy, dcalin.g with ]ihilosopliy in general and particularly with that of the Jewish religion; (3) apologetics, in defense of

the Jewish doctrine of the Messiah. Characteristic of Abravanel's exegetic writings is his accurate estimation of the historical standpoint in As Author the ancient annals of the Jewish peo-

and Exe-

pie.

gete.

iiad

All ]uecedrng Jewish cxegetes been too far removeil from the tumult of the great world to jiossess a ))roper estimate of the historical epochs and episcides described in Scripture. Abravanel, who had himself taken part in the politics of the great powers of the day, rightly perceived that mere eon.sideration of the literary elements of Scrii)ture was insullicient, and that the political and social lifeof the peii|ile nuisl also be taken into account. lie reeogni/ed also the value of jirefacing the individual books of the Bible with a general introduction concertung the character of each book, its date of composition, and the author's intention he may conse(|uently be considcreil as a pioneer of the modern The.se excellences science of Bible propa'deutics. of Abravanel's commentaries were especially ap]ireeiated by the Christian scholars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. No less than thirty Christian writers of this period amon.g them men of eminence, like the younger Bu.xtorf, Buddeus, Carpzov, and others occupied themselves with the do.sestudy of Abravanel's e.xegetical writings, which they condensed and translated, and thus introiliiced Possibly lo the world of Christian scholarship. somewhat of this appreciation of Abravanel by Christians wasdue to the hitler's tolerance toward the Christian cxegetes

—

AbraviUU'l Cuut uf Arms. (From

the Arctilvi-s of the AtiiNterdnui

rorliiji'ie**'

—

Congregitllon.)

for collections pirsunully arninged anil He also wrote to his liarneil throughout T'orlugal. anil wealthy friend .lehiil, of Pisji. in behalf of the Alfonso ... '1 ,flir the H. .41 .1 of ,» ... ..I... he was obliged tl IIV death .— captives 1 V*l[M by to reliiiquish his otlici'. having been accusi-il bv King John II. of connivance with the duke of I5rapanca. who had been executed on the charge of eonAbravanel. warned in lime, .saved himself spiniev. by a hasty flight lo Castile (148:!). Ilis large fortune was coniiscated liy royal decree. At Toledo, Ilis new home, he occui)ied himself at first with liiblical studies, and in the courseof si. months ])ri>iluced nn extensive eoimnentary on the books of Joshua, Hut shortly afterward he enJudges, and Samuel. Together tered the service of the house of Castile. with his friend, the intluentiid Don Abraham Senior, of Segovia, he undertook lo farm the revenues and lo supply provisions for the royal army, contriuts thcni.

I

» T

,-..

.

I

I

t

..

.

'

•

'

that he carried out to the entire salisfitction of (Jueen Isabella. During the Motirish war Abravanel advanced considenibic sums of money to the govern-

When

he banish ineiit of he Jews from Spain was decreed, he left nothing unilnne to induce tlie In vain did he otTer him kiiiL' to nviike the edict. 30,(Ml ducats (.*i(is..l(H), nominal value). With his brethren in faith he left Spain and went to Naples, where, soon after, he entered Ihc service of the king. For a short time he lived in peace undisturbi il but when the city was taken by the French, bereft

melil.

of

his possessiiins, Ferdinand, in ll!l."i, to all

I

I

lie

folhiweil the

young

king,

Messina; then went to Corfu;

Mix; settled in Monopoli, and lastly (irilllt) in Veiiici'. where his services weri' employeil in negotialing a conunercial Ireitly between I'orlugal and the enelian repulilic (Zurita. "Ilistoria del Hey Don Fernando el Ciili'ilico." v IM'.'.m M K.

and

ill

Augustine, Jerome, and Nicholas de Lyra

—

all of whom were by stuilied closely

him

and

quoted

without

prejudice, receiving praise or disa]i)irobalion as Ihe case demanded.

Abravanel's

Jew-

preileees.sors

in the realm of philoso-

ish

.1.

(Tr.

.11-

phv. whoever, by no

means received the same amoimt of tolerance

nt his Allialag. Pah|Uera. Ctcrsonides, .Narboid. and others, were roundly dentuinced by Abravanel as inlidels and misleading gtiides, for venturing to assume a comparatively lilieral stand point in

hands.

Men

like

religio-pliilosophical ([uestions. Although he wasthe last Jewish Aristotelian, Abravanel wases.sentially an <p|ionenl if philosophy, for his entire conception of Jinlaism. opposed lo thai of MainionPhi- ides and his school, was rooted in a i

As

losopher.

tirni

conviction of Ood's revcJalion in

history, and particularly in Ihc history Had Abnivanel not been of Ihe selected people. nusled by the " <!uide " of Maimoidiles. for whom he shared the traditional vcnenition, he inighl have