Mordechai nathan hebrew latin concordance

Isaac Nathan ben Kalonymus was a French Jewish philosopher and controversialist. He lived at

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

, perhaps at

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

also, and in other places, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. He belonged to the well-known Nathan family, which claimed its descent from David; he was probably the grandson of the translator Maestro Bongodas Judah Nathan. According to the statement of Isaac himself, in the introduction to his concordance (see below), he was completely ignorant of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

until his fifteenth year, his studies having been restricted to the

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 to religious philosophy. Later he took up other branches of learning, and owing to his frequent association with Christians and to the numerous anti-Jewish writings of Jewish

apostate Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that ...

s that appeared at that time, he turned his attention to religious controversy.

Works

Isaac Nathan ben Kalonymus was the author of the following Jewish apologetic works (some are still extant, and some are known only through citations): * ''Tokaḥat Mat'eh'', against

Joshua Lorki Joshua ben Joseph ibn Vives al-Lorqui (of Lorca) ( fl. 1400) was a Spanish-Jewish physician who lived at Alcañiz. In 1408, at the command of the rich and influential Benveniste ben Solomon ben Labi, he wrote a work in Arabic on the value and eff ...

(Geronimo de Santa Fé after baptism) * ''Mibẓar Yiẓḥaḳ'', counter-missionary anti-Christian polemics * ''Me'ah Debarim'', for the instruction of youth, twenty-one essays on various topics, the Biblical names of God forming one, another being on the

Masorah Masorah or Mesorah ( he, מסורה) refers either to the transmission of Jewish religious tradition, or to the tradition itself, and may refer to: * The Hebrew vowel points also known as niqqud. * Masoretic Text, the authoritative text of the Tan ...

* ''Me'ammeẓ Koaḥ'', on virtue and vice, in three partsNeubauer, ''Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS.'' No. 2232 * ''Meïr Netib'', a Hebrew Biblical concordance upon which the author worked from 1437 to 1447 ** with a philosophico-exegetical introduction (''Petiḥat Meïr Netib'') containing a Jewish refutation of the arguments contained in the epistle of the fictitious Samuel of Morocco, who endeavored to demonstrate from the

Jewish Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''

Messiahship of Jesus (introduction to Nathan's concordance)

Concordance of the Hebrew Bible

The ''Meïr Netib'' was the first Bible concordance in Hebrew, and was distinguished from the similar

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

work of

Arlotus of Prato Arlotto of Prato (died 1286) was an Italian people, Italian Franciscan theologian. He became Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor at the end of his life. Arlotto is known also for the ''Quaestio de Aeternitate Mundi,'' and as a Biblical s ...

in that its vocabulary was arranged in the order of the roots. In the introduction the author says that his work aimed to facilitate the study of Biblical

exegesis Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (logic), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern usage, ...

and to prevent Jewish converts to Christianity from making, in their religious controversies, incorrect quotations from the Bible, as was often the case with Geronimo de Santa Fé. The "Meïr Netib," with its complete introduction, was first published at Venice (erroneously under the name of Mordecai Nathan) in 1523; in 1556 it was published at Basel by Antoine Reuchlin (printed by Henri Pierre), but with only a part of the introduction.

References

Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi (October 25, 1742 in Castelnuovo Nigra, Piedmont – March 23, 1831 in Parma) was an Italian Christian Hebraist. He studied in Ivrea and Turin. In October 1769, he was appointed professor of Oriental languages at the Uni ...

, ''Dizionario'', p. 77; *

I. S. Reggio Isaac Samuel Reggio (YaShaR) (Hebrew: , ) (15 August 1784 – 29 August 1855) was an Austro-Italian scholar and rabbi. He was born and died in Gorizia. Reggio studied Hebrew and rabbinics under his father, Abraham Vita, later rabbi of Gorizia, acq ...

, ''Iggerot'', i. 71; *

Moses Schorr Moses Schorr, Polish: Mojżesz Schorr (May 10, 1874 – July 8, 1941) was a rabbi, Polish historian, politician, Bible scholar, assyriologist and orientalist. Schorr was one of the top experts on the history of the Jews in Poland. He was the fi ...

, in '' He-Ḥaluẓ'', i. 29, note 6; *

Moritz Steinschneider Moritz Steinschneider (30 March 1816, Prostějov, Moravia, Austrian Empire – 24 January 1907, Berlin) was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist. He received his early instruction in Hebrew from his father, Jacob Steinschneider ( 1782; ...

, ''Cat. Bodl.'' col. 1141; *

Ernest Renan Joseph Ernest Renan (; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, expert of Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote influe ...

Adolf Neubauer Adolf Neubauer (11 March 1831 in Bittse, Hungary – 6 April 1907, London) was at the Bodleian Library and reader in Rabbinic Hebrew at Oxford University. Biography He was born in Bittse (Nagybiccse), Upper Hungary (now Bytča in Slovakia ...

, ''Les Ecrivains Juifs Français'', p. 582; *

Heinrich Grätz 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 ...

, ''Gesch.'' viii. 162; *

Henri Gross Heinrich Gross, writing also as Henri Gross (born Szenicz, Hungarian Kingdom, now Senica, Slovakia, 6 November 1835; died 1910), was a German rabbi. He was a pupil in rabbinical literature of Judah Aszod. After graduating from the Breslau semin ...

, in ''Monatsschrift'', xxix. 518 et seq.; *idem, ''Gallia Judaica'', p. 89; *

Zunz Zunz ( he, צוּנְץ, yi, צונץ) is a Yiddish surname: * (1874–1939), Belgian pharmacologist * Sir Gerhard Jack Zunz (1923–2018), British civil engineer * Leopold Zunz (Yom Tov Lipmann Tzuntz) (1794–1886), German Reform rabbi an ...

, ''G. S.'' iii. 190 *Louis Stouff. « Isaac Nathan et les siens. Une famille juive d’Arles des XIVe et XVe siècles », in ''La famille juive au Moyen-Age. Provence-Languedoc'', ctes du colloque bilingue sur la famille juive au Moyen-Age, France du Midi, XIVe-XVe siècles (Toronto, 27-28 mars 1985) numéro spécial de Provence historique, T. 37 fasc. 150, 1987, p. 499-512 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nathan Ben Kalonymus, Isaac 14th-century births 15th-century deaths 15th-century French people Jewish philosophers Jewish biblical scholars Provençal Jews 15th-century Jewish biblical scholars