Jehiel of Pisa (died February 10, 1492) was a philanthropist and scholar of

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

Biography

The wealth he had acquired in the banking business he spent liberally for charitable purposes. Himself a scholar, he extended his protection to Jewish learning.

Johanan Alemanno Yohanan Alemanno (born in Constantinople or in Mantua, c. 1435 – died after 1504) was an Italian Jewish rabbi, noted Kabbalist, humanist philosopher, and exegete, and teacher of the Hebrew language to Italian humanists including Pico della Mi ...

, the teacher of

Pico di Mirandola Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (24 February 1463 – 17 November 1494) was an Italian Renaissance nobleman and philosopher. He is famed for the events of 1486, when, at the age of 23, he proposed to defend 900 theses on religion, philosophy, ...

, seems to have lived for years in Jehiel's house. Jehiel was on intimate terms with

Don Isaac Abravanel Isaac ben Judah Abarbanel ( he, יצחק בן יהודה אברבנאל;‎ 1437–1508), commonly referred to as Abarbanel (), also spelled Abravanel, Avravanel, or Abrabanel, was a Portuguese Jewish statesman, philosopher, Bible commentat ...

, with whom he carried on a correspondence. In 1472 Abravanel induced Lopo de Almeida and the physician Joao Sezira, Alfonso's ambassadors to the pope, to pay Jehiel a visit. They carried costly presents to Jehiel's wife from Abravanel, and valuable manuscripts, among which were copies of Abravanel's own works, to Jehiel. The end of Jehiel's life was embittered by the apostasy of one of his daughters. On that occasion Abravanel wrote him a letter of consolation, in which he reminded him of the saying of the Rabbis ( M. Ḳ. 20b) that the result of education is not dependent upon the merits of the parents: thorns grow in every field among the ears of corn.

Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph (Hebrew: גדליה אבן יחיא בן יוסף; – 1587) was a 16th-century Italian Talmudist and Biblical chronologist chiefly known for his Biblical Chronology "Shalshelet HaḲabbalah". Biography Born in I ...

relates that most of Jehiel's fortune was spent in aiding the refugees of Spain. Jehiel's death was bewailed by the poets and writers of his time, such as

Eliezer Ezra Eliezer (, "Help/Court of El") was the name of at least three different individuals in the Bible. Eliezer of Damascus Eliezer of Damascus () was, according to the Targums, the son of Nimrod. Eliezer was head of the patriarch Abraham's househo ...

of Volterra,

Solomon of Camerino Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah ( Hebrew: , Modern: , Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yah"), was a monarch of ancient Israel and the son and succes ...

, and the astronomer

Abba Mari Ḥalfon ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group ...

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

*Oẓar Neḥmad, ed. Blumenfeld, ii. 65 et seq.; *

Grätz, Gesch. Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective. Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (now Książ Wielkopo ...

viii. 239; *

D. Kaufmann David Kaufmann (7 June 1852 – 6 July 1899) (Hebrew: דוד קויפמן) was a Jewish-Austrian scholar born at Kojetín, Moravia (now in the Czech Republic). From 1861 to 1867 he attended the gymnasium at Kroměříž, Moravia, where he studie ...

, in R. E. J. xxvi. 84.

References

* 1492 deaths Philosophers of Judaism People from Pisa 15th-century Italian rabbis Year of birth unknown {{judaism-philo-bio-stub