- Yohanan Alemanno
Yohanan Alemanno [ Yohanan ben Isaac Alemanno, Yochanan Alemanno, Johanan Alemanno, Johann Alemanno, Johanan Allemanno, Yohanan Isaac Allemanno, Aliman, Alemannos] (born in
Constantinople , c. 1435 – died after 1504) was an Italian Jewish humanist philosopher and exegete, and teacher of theHebrew language to Italian humanists includingPico della Mirandola . He taught that theKabbalah was divine magic. [Colette Sirat, "A History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages" (1985), p.410.] [He "brought together in his thinking Averroist, Kabbalistic, Neoplatonic and Renaissance humanist themes." [http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/J066] "Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy ", article "Jewish Philosophy".] [ [http://www.chez.com/jec2/alexpise.htm] : "The wise of Israel speak of a world which is not that of the philosophers: the world of the sefiroth is superior to that of the corruptible entities, as well as to the world of circular movements and that of the angels."]He was a pupil of Judah Messer Leon, [Daniel H. Frank and Oliver Leaman (eds.), "History of Jewish Philosophy"(1997), p.515.] but departed from the
Aristotelian sympathies of his teacher in the direction ofneoplatonic thought. [Frank & Leaman p.428: "Thinkers likeJacob Anatoli ,Isaac Pollegar , and Yochanan Alemanno continued the Platonic-Farabian -Maimonidean emphasis on the prophet's political mission [...] ".]Works
His works include "Hay ha-Olamim" [ [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-8414883_ITM] : "Like Judah's Dialoghi, Alemanno's dialogue Hay ha-'olamim, composed in late-fifteenth-century Florence, was in conversation with the neoplatonic thought of Ficino and Pico. Like Judah, Alemanno was also concerned with the relationship between imagination and intellect, and the role of poetics and rhetoric as disciplines necessary for the attainment of human felicity."] , "Sefer sha`ar ha-heshek" and a "Cheshek Shlomo" [The Desire of Solomon; also the title of a later work.] [Further titles from [http://www.virtualpublications.ca/html/creationprofiles/biodictionary/rabbinsa.html] are "’Einei hah’éda", "Sefer likutim". That source states that he originally came from Constantinople. (In French, under Aliman.)] He cites
Judah ben Nissim Ibn Malkah [Sirat p. 262.] .Allemanno's writings show versatility. In his chief work, "Ḥesheḳ Shelomoh" (The Delight of Solomon), he evinces philosophic acumen as well as a wide acquaintance with both the Arabic and the Greek philosophers. The introduction to this work is a discourse on the artistic and intellectual attainments of the human race, all of which are combined in
King Solomon , whom the author places abovePlato and his fellows (compare "Sha'ar ha-ḤesheḲ," pp. 3-7). Excerpts from the introduction were published, with additions byJacob Baruch ben Moses Ḥayyim , atLeghorn in 1790.Allemanno also wrote:
*"'Ene ha-'Edah" (The Eyes of the Congregation), a cabalistic commentary on the
Torah (compareGedaliah ibn Yaḥya 's "Shalshelet ha-ḳ;ab-balah," ed. Warsaw, 1889, p. 86)
*"Ḥayye Olam" (Eternal Life), a treatise on immortality
*"LiḲḲutim Collectanea," a volume of about two hundred pages, containing stray thoughts, aphorisms, noteworthy quotations from rare authors, and exegetical remarks.References
*"Ḥay ha-ʻolamim = L'immortale" by Yoḥanan Aliman (1995) Fabrizio Lelli
Jewish Encyclopedia references
*JewishEncyclopedia
*Reggio, "Bikkure ha-'Ittim," ix.13;
*idem, "Kerem Ḥemed," ii.44;
*Moritz Steinschneider , "Cat. Bodl." col. 1397;
*Wolf, "Bibl. Hebr." i.470;
*Heinrich Grätz , "Gesch. d. Juden," 2nd ed., viii.242, note.External links
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1259&letter=A Source]
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