Jacob Ṣemaḥ, Humanist

Jacob Ṣemaḥ (ca. 1578–1667), an erudite physician-kabbalist, was raised amongst the conversos of Viana de Caminha in northwest Portugal. He fled the country in his mid-thirties to live openly as a Jew, arriving first in Salonica. Ṣemaḥ was responsible for the consolidation of the Lurianic literary c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of jewish studies
Main Author: Chajes, J. H. 1965- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2022
In: European journal of jewish studies
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Tsemaḥ, Yaʿaḳov ben Ḥayim ca. -nach 1665 / Portugal / Education / Cabala / Knowledge communication / Humanist
RelBib Classification:AF Geography of religion
AG Religious life; material religion
BH Judaism
KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history
KBH Iberian Peninsula
Further subjects:B Jacob Ṣemaḥ
B Lurianic Kabbalah
B converso
B Humanism
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Summary:Jacob Ṣemaḥ (ca. 1578–1667), an erudite physician-kabbalist, was raised amongst the conversos of Viana de Caminha in northwest Portugal. He fled the country in his mid-thirties to live openly as a Jew, arriving first in Salonica. Ṣemaḥ was responsible for the consolidation of the Lurianic literary corpus in the second third of the seventeenth century. His contribution, I argue, should be situated in the broader context of a scholarly curriculum vitae that began decades before his flight from Portugal, as Ṣemaḥ embraced Jewish life as a humanist. Coupled with his natural gifts and genius, Ṣemaḥ’s humanist education served him remarkably well in his new life. The interesting question is therefore not “how might he have learned Torah in Portugal” but “how did his Portuguese educational background affect—indeed, effect may be the more apt term—his Jewish scholarship?”
ISSN:1872-471X
Contains:Enthalten in: European journal of jewish studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/1872471X-bja10032