Posts by Walter Hilliger
15 posts
Classical philosophers' approval by R. David Nieto ז"ל28 Tevet marks the 295th anniversary of the passing of R. David Nieto (1654–1728), a great Sephardic polymath who left us a list of classical authors, who were not a concern in terms of triviality, obscenity, or rebellion.
1st Kislev 5783 on the occasion of the commemorative anniversary of Isaac Orobio ז"ל , classical Sephardic metaphysician, professor of medicine in Toulouse, King’s Counsellor to Louis XIV at Saint-Jean-de-Luz. We pay tribute to him with all our love for his work, in particular, the original print of Certamen Philosophicum (Philosophical Case in Defense of Divine and Natural Truth, Shehakol, 2020) ...
How do you translate from Judeo-Spanish the term "vallados" i.e. חומרות (khumrot)? Is there any equivalent term in Spanish or in English?
I am delighted to share ♫ Eskalerica de Oro ♫ 2:49 ♫ Abraham Avinou ♫ 9:56 ♫ La Mar de Leche ♫ 21:57 interpreted by Ester Acunis during our tribute to Menasseh Ben Israel. I’ve known Ester’s performances since the 2000’s workshop meetings at a nursing home for Shoah survivors, where she lifted up their spirits with songs, and I read books from the elders’ abandoned collection. Concerning the readi...
"Dux Neutrorum" Maimonides’ Latin translation of the Guide for the Perplexed, was the most influential Jewish work in the last millennia (Di Segni, 2019; Rubio 2006; Wohlman 1988, 1995, etc.) Its tradition was received by Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, and generations of Scholastics who produced manuscript copies for Latin readers and scholars who translated the Mishnah and other Jewish works in...
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-first-anti-modern-isaac-orobio-1617-1687/
This Sunday the commemoration of Menasseh Ben Israel (1604–1657) will continue on Zoom. Menasseh Ben Israel is the founder of the first classical Sephardi printing press and the Renaissance author of books in Hebrew, Latin, Spanish. Join us Sunday ! Shabbat Shalom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2159225446?pwd=K2VpWmJqSmxYNERZVmNVL3dxT3dXQT09Meeting ID: 215 922 5446Passcode: 1234
The Habura is hosting Isaac Orobio's Hillula.As his latest translator, I've been invited to present his thought of Renaissance philosophy. Join me to celebrate the Sephardic philosopher and to embrace the dictum, "Know how to answer an Epicurean." Thursday November 4, 2021, (UK, 20h30 / IL, 22h30 / US, 16h30pm / FR, 21h30).Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/5578737802Zoom room: 557 873 7802Password: 202...
R. Moses Raphael De Aguilar left dozens of manuscripts and self-published books. He run a successful private school for his students and intellectuals from around 1654 and corresponded with friends in France, the Republic of letters, notably with Isaac Orobio, whose contributions were recorded in many of his treatises. In 1659, he replaced Menasseh Ben Israel as the head of Ets Haim, the Talmud To...
Jose de Acosta, a Jesuit of Converso background (perhaps related to Uriel de Acosta, who earned a herem for his arguments against the immortality of the soul), wrote about Chinese atheism in his book, De la Historia Moral de Indias (Of the Moral History of Indies) published in 1590: "The Portuguese priests witnessed how the Mandarin Ministry officials or justice officials lashed Chinese members of...
I read this biography of Menasseh Ben Israel but I could not find any information about this group of poets and friends : ABRAHAM PINTO, HIMANUEL NEHEMIAH, DANIEL ABVDIENTE, DAVID SENIOR HENRIQUEZ, MOSEH PINTO, DR.RAFAEL LEVI, IONA ABRAVANEL. Do you know any biographical information related to them other than the poems to his work?
Dear Gentlemen and Dames of this respectful foundation. I would like to present three very brief points, which I believe to be of utmost importance to the general knowledge of this group:1. Neither R. Saul Levi Morteira nor R. Menasseh Ben Israel were Rabbinical teachers, or Master predecessors, of Spinoza’s philosophy.2. Spinoza was a "philosopher of indistinction and indifferenciation" in every ...
The Sephardic poet Yehuda Halevi (4840/1080 ~ 1141) wrote the verse: לבי במזרח ואנכי בסוף מערב"My heart is in the East / and I am at the end of the West." The English metaphysical poet John Donne (1572 - 1631) borrowed this metaphor in his poem Riding Westward (1613): "Hence is't, that I'm carryed towards the West, / this day, when my soul forme bends toward the East." Is this concept found in som...
Does anyone have any information on Isaac Sarave Reg. 1636?
As per Raif Melhado's suggestion I'm reposting this here: I always wondered what caused the reaction to expel Sephardic Jews from the French Islands (1683) and the 1st article of the Black Code (1685) considering that the French King, Louis XIV, was a sponsor of Sephardic Jews, Crypto-jews and New Christians or conversos. At its peak (1680), the French Empire was the second largest empire in the w...