Saul Levi Morteira or Mortera ( 1596 – 10 February 1660) was a Dutch rabbi of

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

descent.

Life

In a Spanish poem Daniel Levi de Barrios speaks of him as being a native of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

("''de Alemania natural''"). From the age of thirteen, Morteira accompanied Elijah Montalto to Paris and served as his secretary at the Louvre until 1616, when Montalto died and Morteira escorted the body of the physician from France to Amsterdam. The

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

Congregation Beth Jaacob (House of Jacob) in Amsterdam elected him

hakham ''Hakham'' (or ''chakam(i), haham(i), hacham(i)''; he, חכם ', "wise") is a term in Judaism, meaning a wise or skillful man; it often refers to someone who is a great Torah scholar. It can also refer to any cultured and learned person: "He ...

in succession to Moses ben Aroyo. Morteira was the founder of the congregational school Keter Torah, in the highest class of which he taught

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

and

Jewish philosophy Jewish philosophy () includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until modern ''Haskalah'' (Jewish Enlightenment) and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to reconcile ...

. He had also to preach three times a month, and received an annual remuneration of 600 guilders and 100 baskets of turf. Among his most distinguished pupils were

Baruch Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, b ...

, Moses Zacuto and

Abraham Cohen Pimentel Abraham Cohen Pimentel (died March 21, 1697) was a rabbi of Amsterdam. He was a student of Saul Levi Morteira, and he also served as hakham of the synagogue in Hamburg and was initially a signator to a letter of approbation for Sabbatai Zevi Sa ...

. Morteira and Isaac da Fonseca Aboab (

Manasseh ben Israel Manoel Dias Soeiro (1604 – 20 November 1657), better known by his Hebrew name Menasseh ben Israel (), also known as Menasheh ben Yossef ben Yisrael, also known with the Hebrew acronym, MB"Y or MBI, was a Portuguese rabbi, kabbalist, wri ...

was at that time in England) were the members of the

mahamad Ma'amad or Mahamad ( he, מעמד) was Council of Elders (or "the board of directors") of the communities of Sephardi Jews ( Spanish-Portuguese Jews) corresponding to ''qahal'' of the Ashkenazi Jews. Ma'amad was described as extremely conservative ...

, the political arm of the community, which pronounced on 27 July 1656 the decree of excommunication (" cherem") against Spinoza.

Works

Some of Morteira's pupils published ''Gibeat Shaul'' (Amsterdam, 1645), a collection of fifty sermons on the

Pentateuch The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the sa ...

, selected from 500 derashot written by Morteira. Morteira wrote in Spanish ''Tractado de la Verdad de la Ley'' (translated into

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Isaac Gomez de Gosa Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was th ...

under the title ''Torat Moshch'', in 66 chapters), apologetics of

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

and attacks against

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. This work (excerpts from which are given in

Jacques Basnage Jacques Basnage De Beauval (8 August 165322 December 1723) was a celebrated French Protestant divine, preacher, linguist, writer and man of affairs. He wrote a ''History of the Reformed Churches'' and on ''Jewish Antiquities''. Biography Jacques ...

, ''Histoire de la Religion des Juifs'') and other writings of Morteira, on immortality, revelation, etc., are still in manuscript. Morteira's polemical sermons in Hebrew against the Catholic Church were published, but his Portuguese writings against Calvinism remained unpublished.''

Hebrew Union College Annual The ''Hebrew Union College Annual'' (HUCA) is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of Jewish studies. It was established in 1924 and is published by the Hebrew Union College. The editors-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also kn ...

'' Volumes 70-71 David Philipson - 2001 "Only later, in his unpublished Portuguese polemical work on the eternity of the Torah, did Morteira take up the cudgels against Calvin himself.9 Why was it important to polemicize against a form of Christianity that the members of his ."

References

Bibliography

* Herman Prins Salomon: “O haham Saul Levi Mortera e a vaca vermelha” (Pará Adumá), pp. 83–104 Its bibliography: * Auerbach, Berthold, ''Spinozas Werke'', vol. i, pp. xxiv. et seq., Stuttgart, 1871; * Azulai, C.J.D., ''Shem ha-Gedolim'', ii.17, Warsaw, 1876; *

Isaac Benjacob Isaac ben Jacob Benjacob (January 10, 1801, Ramygala – July 2, 1863, Vilnius) was a Lithuanian Jewish Maskil, best known as a bibliographer, author, and publisher. His 17-volume Hebrew Bible included Rashi, Mendelssohn, as well as his own '' ...

, ''Oẓar ha-Sefarim'', p. 93; * Freudenthal, Jacob, ''Die Lebensgeschichte Spinozas'', pp. 4–11, 113–114, et passim, Leipzig, 1899; *—, ''Spinoza, Sein Leben'', 1904, i; * Fürst, Julius, ''Bibliotheca Judaica'' ii.391; * Grätz, Heinrich, ''Geschichte der Juden'' ix.503; x.9-11, 169, 175, ib. 1868; * Kayserling, Meyer, ''Geschichte der Juden in Portugal'', pp. 275, 310, ib. 1867 (availabl
here
; * Steinschneider, Moritz, ''Catalogus Librorum Hebræorum in Bibliotheca Bodleiana'' cols. 2508–2509; * Wolf, Johann Christoph, ''Bibliotheca Hebræa''.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morteira, Saul Levi 1590s births 1660 deaths 17th-century Dutch rabbis Dutch Sephardi Jews 17th-century Republic of Venice rabbis Jewish apologists Sephardi rabbis People associated with Baruch Spinoza