DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN CABALA RENAISSANCE

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1 WHENCE GEMATRIA: THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN CABALA IN THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE How did gematria, a Jewish form of exegesis1 used primarily in an esoteric form of mysticism called Kabbalah, come to be found in a Renaissance Italian manuscript, used for the purpose of divining the next Pope?2 In order to answer that question, it is necessary to understand how and when Kabbalah was discovered and interpreted by the humanist scholars of the Renaissance, and how they adapted it to their own purposes. Kabbalah was transformed into Cabala, and the tools that had been used to contemplate the many names of God were turned towards less spiritual ends. Kabbalah is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between an eternal and mysterious Creator and the mortal and finite universe (His creation). Kabbalah seeks to define the nature of the universe and the human being, the nature and purpose of existence, and various other ontological questions. It also presents methods to aid understanding of these concepts and to thereby attain spiritual realization. 3 This arcane form of knowledge follows an oral tradition of hidden knowledge passed down to worthy successors. Before the time of Mithridates, Jews did not teach Kabbalah publicly; a single teacher would tutor a single qualified student. 4 One major aspect of Kabbalah is the idea of graduated stages of perception, represented by the ten sefirot, bringing the believer closer to an understanding of the divine. The sefirot are manifestations of different aspects of the Godhead. The word means "enumerations;" they represent the ten attributes through which God (who is referred to as Ein Sof - The Infinite) reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the chain of higher metaphysical realms. Following the Jewish tradition of orthopraxis5, Kabbalah continues the idea of as above, so below that human actions are reflections of celestial ones, but can also affect the heavens. While kabbalists, like other mystics, frequently sought mystical union with the divine, kabbalists also sought to reform the world. In this way the human being became an active agent influencing the universe. 6 1 Exegesis: critical explanation or interpretation of a (religious) text with the goal of discovering its significance or relevance. 2 See Appendix Illustrations 1and 2 from a Ranuzzi manuscript of Kabbalah. Encyclopaedia Judaica. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik, eds. 2nded. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 22 vols. 4 Lesley, A. Review of The Great Parchment, p Orthopraxy: derived from the Greek orthopraxia, meaning "correct action/activity;" an emphasis on ethical and liturgical conduct, as opposed to faith or grace etc. This contrasts with orthodoxy, which emphasizes correct belief and the use of rituals. 6 Rabin, S. Whither Kabbalah?, p. 44.

2 2 of 23 Jews have traditionally supported scholarship and close study of sacred texts (as will be explored later in this paper, via a discussion of the methodology of PaRDeS), but there are three hermeneutic7 techniques that are unique to Kabbalah: gematria, notarikon and temurah. Gematria: (numerology) In Hebrew, each letter has a number value the numbers in a given word or idea are added together to arrive at an ultimate number, which is then analyzed for symbolic value. As well, words or phrases with identical numerical values are assumed to bear some relation to each other. Two forms of gematria: the "revealed" form, which is prevalent in many hermeneutic methods found throughout Rabbinic literature, and the "mystical" form, a largely Kabbalistic practice.8 Gematria is a Kabbalistic way of showing how two ideas are related on a conceptual level; it is using numerology as basis to confirm (not create) the connection."9 Notarikon: (acronym) is a method of deriving a word by using each of its initial or final letters to stand for another word, forming a sentence or idea out of the words. Another variation uses the first and last letters (or the two middle letters of a word) to form another word. The word "notarikon" is borrowed from the Greek, which in turn was derived from the Latin word "notarius," meaning "short-hand writer."10 Temurah: (exchange) is one of the three ancient methods used by Kabbalists to rearrange words and sentences in the Bible, in the belief that by this method they can derive the esoteric substratum and deeper spiritual meaning of the words. Temurah may be used to change letters in certain words to create a new meaning for a Biblical statement. There are several forms of Temurah. In Atbash, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is replaced by the last, the second by the second to last, and so forth. In Albam, the first Hebrew letter is replaced by the twelfth, the second by the thirteenth, etc. In Avgad each letter is replaced by the following letter. One of the most used forms of Temurah is Aik Bekar, which begins by setting up a pattern like a tic-tac-toe board. Into each of the nine squares, three Hebrew letters are placed 7 Hermeneutics: a study or interpretation of written texts, including the entire framework of the interpretive process (including all forms of communication: written, verbal and nonverbal). 8 gematria. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. (accessed: December 03, 2011) 9 Prayer #6 - Hear O Israel The Dictionary of Jewish usage: a guide to the use of Jewish terms, By Sol Steinmetz, ISBN , 2005, [article "Notarikon"]

3 3 of 23 according to a predetermined system. A letter in any of the squares or chambers can be replaced by either of the other letters in same box.11 Italy of the fifteenth-century was primed to receive Kabbalistic wisdom. Several important humanist scholars and teachers, such as Marsilio Ficino, Desiderius Erasmus, Leonardo Bruni, Gianozzo Manetti, and Poggio Bracciolini had introduced important Greek and Roman texts. Ficino's Florentine Academy taught the works of Plato and Pythagoras. Epicurean works were circulating. A wholesale examination of knowledge and received attitudes was underway. The scholars widened the original humanistic definition of classical learning beyond the Greek and Roman sources beloved by Italian Renaissance humanists, to include ancient Hebrew, among other eastern sources. 12 The expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 led to an influx into Italy of scholars and texts which had previously been unavailable. Some of these scholars, such as Yohanan Alemanno, Ovadiah Sforno and Elijah del Medigo, were willing to teach Christians how to read Hebrew, and others were willing to make translations of Jewish works, including several seminal Kabbalistic works and important commentaries. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola is generally credited with being the first Christian writer to refer to Kabbalistic ideas, in his book Conclusiones philosophicae, cabalasticae et theologicae published in Rome in He presented 900 theses on the nature of the divine and how to approach it, drawn from various sources: some alchemical, hermetic, Neo-Platonic, Neo-Aristotelian, some based on Pythagorean magic, and the Kabbalah. He had also studied with the Jewish scholars Yohanan Alemanno and Elija del Medigo and had many seminal Kabbalistic texts translated into Latin for him by the converted Jew, Flavius Mithridates. Pico della Mirandola expanded on these ideas in his masterwork, Oratio de hominis dignitate (Oration on the Dignity of Man), often referred to as the Manifesto of the Renaissance. 13 His work presented his own interpretations and understandings of what he had read, but was not necessarily a complete picture of Kabbalistic literature of the time. Some modern scholars believe that his work reflects a limited and second-hand understanding of the Zohar, the fundamental basis of esoteric Kabbalah. In his [Flavius Mithridates] very massive project of translations [for Pico della Mirandola], which in my opinion reflect the kabbalistic literature extant and studied in Italy, and much less in Spain, we find no significant Zoharic passage. To the extent that the book was known or quoted, the clear intermediary source was Menahem Recanati s Commentary on the Torah Temurah. Llewellyn Encyclopedia (accessed December 3, 2011) 12 Melamed, A. Hebraic Aspects of the Renaissance, p (accessed December 4, 2011) 14 Idel, M. Kabbalah in Italy , p. 226.

4 4 of 23 Pico della Mirandola was unable to proceed with his original plan of defending his theses against all detractors, as he was convicted of heresy and only escaped punishment through intervention on his behalf by Lorenzo de Medici. He published his Apologia in 1489 as a further explanation of his ideas, and another work, a unique analysis of the seven days of creation focusing on number symbolism, the Heptaplus. Pico della Mirandola combined his understanding of Platonic ideals with established Christine doctrine and interest in the number symbolism that could be read into the Bible. Augustine [the Christian theologian] associated the divine geometer of the Timaeus [an important Socratic dialog from Plato] with the Christian God; the statement in the Apocryphal Book of Wisdom 11:20 'thou hast ordered all things in measure and number and weight' became the basis of the view that God had created the world by number. 15 Pico della Mirandola brought Kabbalah out into the open as a subject for study, and as an alternate avenue for understanding the divine that was available for the earnest and devout Christian. He truly created a Christian Kabbalah by showing how the principles of Kabbalah could be applied to and, in doing so, reinforce Christian dogma. 16 It is at this point that Kabbalah, in the sense of the Jewish form of exegetical understanding of the Torah, diverges from Cabala the Christian interpretation of the Bible using Kabbalistic techniques of analysis. One of the people Pico della Mirandola directly influenced was the German scholar and linguist, Johann Reuchlin. Reuchlin's understanding of Kabbalah was more deeply grounded than Mirandola's, due to his greater familiarity with Hebrew. However, his first major work on Kabbalah, De verbo mirifico of 1494 (On the Wonder-making Word) reflected a less complete understanding of Kabbalah than his more mature work, De arte cabalistica, published in In De Arte Cabalistica Reuchlin also expands on ideas expressed in his first work De Verbo Mirifico on the importance of a divine mathematics in understanding scripture. Here he supplies clear expositions of the very influential cabalistic exegetical techniques, dwelling, for instance, at length, on numerical symbolism (notarikon). 17 Reuchlin's attraction to the kabbalistic approach to numerology took place within a Christian context of the awareness of the symbolic significance of number. God was believed to have created the world on numerical principles and to have given the Bible an additional layer of meaning by filling it with symbolic numbers. The initiate into the mysteries of numerology could 'read' both God's books, the Book of Works (the universe) and the Book of Words (the Bible) Rivers, I. Numerology, p Wirszubski, C. Pico della Mirandola's encounter with Jewish Mysticism, p Beitchman, P. Alchemy of the Word, p Rivers, I. Numerology, p. 169.

5 5 of 23 These two major writers, Pico della Mirandola and Johann Reuchlin, were surrounded by a host of other Christian Hebraists, linguists, historians and religious scholars such as Johannes Buxtorf (and Buxtorf Jr.), Paul Ricci, Giulio Bartolocci, Flavius Mithridates, John Rittangel, and Johann Christoph Wolf. Some of these men published dictionaries and encyclopedias of Hebrew and Jewish thought, while others provided translations into Latin of important Kabbalistic works and developed a uniquely Christian Cabala. Why were these men drawn to the Kabbalah, aside from the appeal of exploring the previously unknown? First of all, there was a common belief that Hebrew was the original language of God, and as such, inherently powerful. The corollary was that the Jews were the original source of wisdom and truth (i.e., Plato and Pythagoras and other Greek sages received their knowledge from the Jews). Pico della Mirandola identified the beginnings of human knowledge with the Mosaic tradition, in particular the Mosis disciplina. This tendency culminated in his Heptaplus (1489), in which the Platonic tradition is described as close to the Hebraic truth (Hebraicum veritatem). 19 The growth of centers for learning that were outside of the confines of the Church was an important factor in the investigation of this avenue of thought. The rather common attempt by fifteenth-century Christian scholars to seek the truth of the Scripture in its original Hebrew text the so-called search for the Hebraica Veritas (Hebrew truth) was probably due also to the fact that most of those scholars did not belong to the clergy. 20 One major way that the Cabalists interpreted the Kabbalah in a different manner than the Jews was in the identification of the sefirot. The sefirot were understood by Jewish Kabbalists as dynamic expressions of the ineffable God, but the Christian Cabalists, through the influence of the idea of the Platonic forms, translated the sefirot into static definitions with fixed magical associations. They saw the top three sefirot (Keter the crown, Chokhmah wisdom, Binah - understanding) as a reflection of (and proof for) the Christian trinity. As well, the Jewish tradition of anthropomorphizing the sefirot as Adam Qadmon (Primal Man) was interpreted as Jesus; not the prophetic/apocalyptic vision of the Jewish Messiah to come, but as the immanent Christian Messiah who came and will return. This interpretation led to attempts from many of the Cabalistic proponents and converts from Judaism to interpret the Kabbalah in such a way as to justify Christianity and convert more Jews (by showing how their own traditions lead to Christ). These changes in understanding the secrets of 19 Melamed, A. Hebraic Aspects of the Renaissance, p Lelli, F. Intellectual Relationships of 15th Century Jewish and Christian Scholars, p. 150.

6 6 of 23 Kabbalah were not mere expressions of the faith of Christian intellectuals. In many cases they served as a tool in the mission of converting Jews to Christianity. 21 The systematic approach to exegesis practiced by the Jews (referred to with the acronym PaRDeS) would have had resonance with Renaissance Christians familiar with the four levels of Christian analogy used to analyze texts. PaRDeS is made up of Peshat, plain, the simple or direct meaning; Remez, hints, or the deep (allegoric: hidden or symbolic) meaning beyond just the literal sense; Derash, "inquire," the comparative (midrashic) meaning, as given through similar occurrences; and Sod, "secret," the mystical meaning, as given through inspiration or revelation.22 With regard to the Christian practice there were four categories of allegory used in the Middle Ages, which had originated with the Bible commentators of the early Christian era. The first is simply the literal interpretation of the events of the story for historical purposes with no underlying meaning. The second is called typological, which is connecting the events of the Old Testament with the New Testament; in particular drawing allegorical connections between the events of Christ's life with the stories of the Old Testament. The third is moral (or tropological), which is how one should act in the present, the "moral of the story". The fourth type of allegory is anagogical, dealing with the future events of Christian history, heaven, hell, the last judgment; it deals with prophecies. 23 In this way, there was an existing Christian tradition of looking beyond the literal meaning of the text, upon which the Jewish exegetical techniques could be grafted. The Cabalists detached Kabbalistic methods of interpretation from orthopraxis and focused strictly on their hermeneutical properties. This transformation of hermeneutics into a major concern rather than of secondary interest, as in most Jewish sources is central to Christian Kabbalah The early centrality to hermeneutics in Christian Kabbalah influenced not only a few forms of Christian theology but also European culture in general. 24 The Cabalists used gematria and other techniques to reinterpret important concepts from the Old Testament to foreshadow or justify Christian ideas (i.e., they 21 Idel, M. Kabbalah in Italy , p Pardes JewishEncyclopedia.com, accessed December 3, 2011, 23 Stephen A. Barney (1989). "Allegory". Dictionary of the Middle Ages. vol Idel, M. Kabbalah in Italy , p. 232.

7 7 of 23 inserted sh into the Tetragrammaton25 JHVH to form a Pentagrammaton JHshVH Jehovah to Yeshua God to Jesus). In essence, Jewish techniques of interpreting sacred works were lifted out of their socio-religious and historical context and used as an analytical tool by Christian scholars, to be applied to whatever took their fancy. All of the distinct traditions of Jewish Kabbalah that developed over several centuries in Spain, Provence, and Italy derived authority from the assumption that the Hebrew language of the Bible contained the unique, original power of divine revelation that was granted to the ancient Israelites. Renaissance Christian Cabala, in contrast, invoked the prestige of Jewish Kabbalah as an ancient esoteric discipline, but disconnected the translatable concepts, hermeneutic methods, and schemes of symbolic correspondence from their Hebrew associations. Cabala in Latin and the vernaculars applied these concepts and methods to quite different theological or magical purposes. 26 We return to the curious incident of the Ranuzzi manuscript of the Papal conclave, with its careful matching of letters to numbers (in Latin) and calculations to add up to the year It has been established that the Cabalists removed the Jewish techniques of analyzing words using number symbolism from the context of the study of deeper religious meaning, and had begun to apply them to other matters. Beitchman provides a contemporaneous example of a Christian writer using these methods for his own ends; Exemplifying the manner in which cabalistic styles of exegesis could be deployed as arguments in the religious controversies of the Renaissance [James] Brocard, who doubtless had a Protestant ax to grind, deploys the method of gematria, or assigning numerical equivalents to letters in the Hebrew alphabet, to decide that the names of certain popes are the equivalents of the names of the devil. 27 It is not difficult to see that the techniques of gematria, notarikon and temurah, divorced from their spiritual underpinnings, could be seen by Renaissance Italians as a form of magical divination, slightly exotic but generally safe for use without imperiling the soul. In his first thesis on magic Pico denied the efficacy of demonic magic, but in these later theses on magic that related to Kabbalah he claimed that natural magic had no power without Kabbalah. In this way he implied that Kabbalah made natural magic effective and guaranteed that it was not demonic. Unlike the other forms of ancient magic that Pico wrote about in the Conclusions, kabbalist magic was not pagan. In fact, Kabbalists magic 25 Tetragrammaton: from the Greek meaning the four letters which comprise the name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible. Since vowels in Hebrew are unwritten, the myriad possible pronunciations of the tetragrammaton are the subject of esoteric study, and thought to have deep mystical significance. 26 Lesley, A. Jews at the Time of the Renaissance, p Beitchman, P. Alchemy of the Word, p. 221.

8 8 of 23 stemmed from the divine word, and this shielded it against any demonic tendencies or influences. 28 It is not a far leap for the Papal conclave of 1655 to attempt a little harmless prognostication, using techniques deriving from what was perceived to be ancient divine magic; secret knowledge passed down from the Jews, redeemed through Christian grace. 28 Rabin, S. Whither Kabbalah, p. 46.

9 9 of 23 This bibliographic catalog is organized into three important groupings: foundational texts of the Kabbalah available in Italy during the Renaissance, the Jewish commentators and kabbalistic scholars who interpreted the texts, and the Christian Cabalists and Hebraic scholars who translated, interpreted and wrote about the Cabala. Authors are listed alphabetically in each category, with a listing of the major relevant works and bibliographic information. KABBALISTIC TEXTS Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia ( ) founder of the prophetic kabbalah," he combined Maimonidean philosophy with the linguistic techniques of Ashkenazi Hasidim. His writings and commentaries reflected the mentalist tradition of Neo-Aristotelianism, merged with religious language manipulation. His works were among the main sources drawn upon by Pico della Mirandola. 1. Sefer Yetzirah (Commentary on The Book of Formation/Creation) 2. Shaʼare zedek (Commentary on The Path of the Names) Notes: 15th century manuscript, written in at least two unidentified hands in Italian and Sephardic rabbinic scripts. Moses de Leon ( ) known in Hebrew as Moshe ben Shem-Tov. He was a Spanish rabbi and Kabbalist thought of as the composer or redactor of the Zohar. It is a matter of controversy if the Zohar is his own work, or that he committed traditions going back to Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai in writing. The Zohar is considered the foundational work of traditional Kabbalah, along with the Sefer Yetzirah and the Sefer ha-bahir. The Zohar was transmitted to the Cabalists of the Renaissance primarily through secondary sources, such as commentaries from Benjamin Recanati and Gikatilla. 3. Sefer ha-zohar (The Book of Splendor) Published: Meir ben Ephraim & Jacob mi-gazola, Manuta Notes: first standard edition of the Zohar. Yosef ben Avraham ibn Giqatilya ( ) AKA Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla/Gikatalia. He was a Jewish Kabbalist of note, the primary successor to Abraham Abulafia. Giqatilya's kabbalistic knowledge was considered so profound that he was supposed to be able to work miracles. He was occupied with mystic combinations and transpositions of letters and numbers, and as such, was greatly inspirational to Johann Reuchlin. His works in general represent a progressive development of philosophical insight into mysticism. 4. Sha'are Zedeq (Commentary on The Path of the Names) Notes: 15th c. Manuscript. Translated for Pico della Mirandola by Flavius Mithridates. 5. Sefer Sha'are Orah (The Gates of Light) Published: Jakob Kohen, Mantuba Sefer ginnat egoz (Garden of Nuts) Published: E liʻezer ben H ayyim & E liyya ben Seligman, Hanau

10 10 of 23 Yehudah ha-levi ( ) AKA Judah Halevi. He was a Spanish medieval Jewish physician, poet and philosopher who formed a synthesis of classical knowledge, transmitted through the Muslims, with Jewish mystical teachings. He wrote in both Arabic and Hebrew. Halevi was known for his beautiful poetry, both religious and secular, some of which is still used liturgically. 7. Sefer ha-kuzari (Book of the Khazars) Published: Gerson, Soncino Notes: Originally written in Arabic, compiled around Azriel ben Menahem ( ) AKA Azriel of Gerona. He was the most important Kabbalistic teacher in the town of Girona in the Catalan region of Spain. Through his commentary on established Kabbalistic works and his position that Divine Will was the first emanation, he was seen as the founder of "speculative kabbalah." He was a student of the great master of the Kabbalah, Isaac the Blind, and in turn was the teacher of Nahmanides. 8. Ezrat Adonai (commentary on 10 sefirot) Published: Notes: In Hebrew, written in at least two unidentified hands in Italian and Sephardic rabbinic scripts; with diagrams of the sefirot Nahmanides ( ) (Rabbi Moses ben Nahman) AKA RaMBaN, Spanish Kabbalist scholar from Gironia. The Sefer ha-bahir is generally credited to Rabbi Nehuniah ben ha-qanah, but Nahmanides is the first person to have referred to the work. More than the Zohar, Nahmanides commentaries were inspirational to Pico della Mirandola. 9. Sefer ha-bahir (The Book of Illumination) Published: 13th century. Notes: Vocalized Hebrew; Manuscript written paper in Oriental handwriting. JEWISH KABBALISTS, COMMENTATORS AND SCHOLARS Yohanan ben Yitzhaq Alemanno ( ) Jewish physician, philosopher, scholar from Mantua. He focused on an astro-magical interpretation of the Kabbalah and exploration of neoaristotelian principles. Alemanno tutored Pico della Mirandola in Hebrew. 10. Ḥesheḳ Shelomoh (The Delight of Solomon) Published:, Venice Notes: Hebrew. Elia del Medigo ( ) AKA Elijah Delmedigo from Candia in Crete. He was an important Jewish scholar and linguist who translated treatises of Averroes from Hebrew into Latin at the request of Pico della Mirandola. 11. Quaestio Auerrois in librum priorum (translation of Averroes) Published: Aldus Manutius, Venice Sefer Bechinat ha-dath (Investigation of Religion)

11 11 of 23 Published:, Basileae Notes: Hebrew commentary on the Sefer ha-bahir Maimonides ( ) (Moses ben-maimon) medieval Jewish philosopher - was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages. He was revered for his acumen and pronouncements on rabbinic law and Jewish ethics. He was not a Kabbalist, in fact he was against the idea of any speculative interpretations of Torah that could be used for divination or astrology, but his impact on Jewish thought of the era cannot be underestimated and many of his works were translated into Latin by the Cabalists and Christian Hebraists. 13. Moreh Nevukhim (Guide to the Perplexed) Published:, Cairo genizah Menahem ben Benjamin Recanati ( ) Italian rabbi, medieval Jewish commentator on the Torah. He professed a theosophical, theurgic kabbalistic system, wherein the sefirot constituted the essence of the divine. He stressed the impact of human ritual on the supernatural realm. Recanati s commentary on the Sefer ha-bahir and on aspects of the Zohar were the main exposure to these ideas for Pico della Mirandola and other Cabalists. 14. Perush'Al ha-torah (According to the Path of Truth) Published: Venice Perush ha-tefilot (Explanation of Verses of the Torah) Published: Spain - 14th c. Notes: Written in an unidentified hand in a rabbinic script. Gedaliah Ibn Yahya ben Joseph ( ) Italian talmudist, Kabbalist. He wrote about the history of the Jews and of the communities of people wherein they dwelled, but also about heavenly bodies, the nature of Creation, magic, the soul, and evil spirits. His work was very influential to Guillaume Postel. 16. Sefer Shalshelet ha-kabbalah (Chain of Tradition) Published: Nidpas be-vet Zoʼan di Garah, Vinitsiʼah Ovadiah ben Jacob Sforno ( ) Italian rabbi and scholar who taught Hebrew to Reuchlin, known for his reputation as a casuist and his Aristotelian views. 17. Be'ur 'al ha-torah (Commentary on the Torah) Published: be-vet Zuʼan Garipaz, Venetsiʼah CHRISTIAN CABALISTS, TRANSLATORS, HISTORIANS AND SCHOLARS Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa ( ) German occultist interested in magic, alchemy, theology, philosophy, the law, astrology and kabbalah. He lectured on Reuchlin's De verbo mirifico

12 12 of 23 while teaching at the University of Dole. Agrippa's work on occult philosophy circulated Europe in manuscript form for more than 20 years before it was finally published. 18. De Occulta Philosophia - Libre tres (Three Books Concerning Occult Philosophy) Published: Joannes Grapheus, Antwerpen Giulio Bartolocci ( ) Italian Cistercian who studied closely with the Jewish scholar Giovanni Battista, thereby learning Hebrew and rabbinic literature. He was a professor at the Collegium Neophytorum in Rome, and was appointed the Scriptor Hebraicus at the Vatican Library. 19. Bibliographica Magna Rabbinica / Kiriat Sefer (Bibliography in Latin & Hebrew of Hebrew Literature) Published: Sacrae congregationis de propaganda fide, Romae Jean Bodin ( ) French, a prominent jurist, monk, academic and political philosopher with interest in demonology and spiritual realms. He promulgated the idea of the Jewish origins of knowledge his works functioned as an intermediate stage between Kabbalah and the Christian quest for a deist common denominator. 20. Colloquium heptoplomeres de rerum sublimum arcanis abditis (Colloquium of the 7 about the sublime) Published: F.G. Baerensprung. Notes: written in 1588 and circulated in manuscript form - not collated and published until Poggio Bracciolini ( ) AKA Gian Francesco di Duccio Bracciolini. Italian scholar, translator, writer and humanist. He was renowned for his discovery and dissemination of Greek texts lying forgotten in German and French monasteries. He is known particularly for his publication of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura. 21. Cursus philosophiae moralis (The Course of Moral Philosophy) Published: Universita da Bologna, - 14th c. Notes: In Latin, handwritten manuscript. Jacopo Brocardo (b. 1563) AKA James Brocard/Iacobus Brocardus, Italian commentator and visionary Protestant convert, viewed as a heretic in Italy due to his attraction to the Huguenot movement, he traveled to England. This work was translated by James Sanford, who also did translations of Epictetus and Agrippa. 22. The Revelation of S. Ihon reueled, or, a paraphrase opening by conference of time and place such things as are both necessary, and profitable for the tyme present Published: Thomas Marshe, London Notes: "The Revelation of Saint John, Revealed" written in Latine by Iames Brocard, and Englished by Iames Sanford Gent. Johannes Buxtorf ( ) German Christian Hebraist and Orientalist. His learning is such that he was called the "Master of the Rabbis" by his peers. He taught Hebrew for 39 years at the university in Basel. His approach marks a turning-point in the study of Jewish literature by Christians.

13 13 of 23 He not only studied the Targum and the Talmud, but endeavored to understand Jewish history, and he was the first real bibliographer of Jewish works. 23. Bibliotheca Rabbinica (Rabbinical Library) Published: Ludovici König, Basileae Notes: Latin with some Hebrew. Pagination from right to left. 24. Epitome grammaticae Hebraeae (Summary of Hebrew Grammar) Published: Lud. Regis, Basileae Johannes Buxtorf II ( ) AKA Johannes Buxtorf the Younger, Protestant Christian Hebraist and translator, son of Johannes Buxtorf. He was involved with the sale and dissemination of books in Hebrew, and in receiving books from Jewish friends and translating them. He published revised editions of several of his father's works, as well as many notable translations of his own. 25. Doctor perplexorum (translation of Maimonides' Moreh Nevukhim) Published: Ludovici König, Basileae Lexicon chaldaicum, talmudicum et rabbinicum (Astrological Lexicon of the Talmud and Rabbinic Works) Published: Ludovici König, Basileae Liber Cosri (translation of Yehudah ha-levi's Kuzari) Published: Georg Decker, Bazel Tommaso Campanella ( ) AKA Giovanni Domenico Campanella. Born in Southern Italy, he joined the Dominican order at the age of fifteen and took the name fra' Tommaso in honor of Thomas Aquinas. He was a philosopher, astrologer, poet, theologian. He known for his heterodox religious views, for which he was imprisoned and tortured. He wrote his works in prison, including a defense of Galileo. He was eventually released and lived out the rest of his days at the court of the French king Louis XIII. 28. La città del Sole (City of the Sun) Published: Francof Marsilio Ficino ( ) Italian, an extremely pivotal humanist syncretic philosopher who made available the ideas of Neo-Platonism for the first time in Europe, via his translations of Plato from Greek to Latin. He also translated the works of the Neo-Platonists Porphyry, Plotinus, and Iamblicus. As well, he made translations of the Corpus Hermeticum of Hermes Trismegistos. Due to Ficino's scholarship, Cosimo de'medici chose him to lead the Florentine Academy, where Ficino was in contact with all of the major academic thinkers and writers of the Renaissance. His goal was the synthesis of Platonic thought with Christian theology. Through his students, Pico della Mirandola and Lorenzo de'medici among others, he was vastly influential in the development of European philosophy. 29. De vita libri tres (Three Books on Life) Published: Jo Bebelium, Basileae

14 14 of 23 Johan Kemper ( ) (AKA Moshe ben Aharon of Kraków) He was a Polish Sabbatean Jew who converted to Lutheran Christianity through his study of Kabbalah. He taught Rabbinic Hebrew at Uppsala University. His Cabalistic works express the thought that the Zohar contained proof for Christian doctrine of the trinity. 30. Phosphorus orthodoxae fidei veterum Cabbalistarum, seu, Testimonia de sacro sancta Trinitate et Messia Deo et homine : ex pervetusto libro Sohar deprompta Published: Apud S. Schoonwald, Amstelaedami Christian Knorr von Rosenroth ( ) German Hebraist who studied Kabbalah to find proofs for Christianity. He believed that the Adam Kadmon of the cabalists is Jesus, and the three highest sefirot represent the Trinity. Rosenroth intended to make a Latin translation of the Zohar and the Tiḳḳunim [a Kabbalistic text by Isaac Luria, explaining the esoteric active spiritual work of rectification of the world]. 31. Kabbala Denudata (Kabbalah Revealed) Published: Sulzbach : A. Lichtenthaler, Frankfort Gianozzo Manetti ( ) Florentine humanist, Latinist, translator of Greek & Hebrew. He held anti-jewish sentiments, but felt that the study of Hebrew was important for understanding the beginnings of Christianity. 32. De dignitate et excellentia hominis libri IV (On the dignity and excellence of man in 4 vols) Published: apud And. Cratandrum, Basileae Flavius Mithridates ( ) (AKA Guglielmo Raimondo Moncada) convert from Judaism (Samuel be Nissim Abulfaraj). He was an Italian humanist scholar who flourished at Rome in the second half of the 15th century. He is said to be from Sicily, and had a knowledge of Arabic. He instructed Pico della Mirandola in Aramaic. He is now best known as the translator for Pico della Mirandola of the Bibliotheca Cabalistica, a large compilation of kabbalistic literature. 33. Liber Redemptionis Published: 15th c. Notes: Manuscript - Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia - translated for Pico della Mirandola. 34. De Secretis Ligis Published: 15th c. Notes: Manuscript - Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia - translated for Pico della Mirandola. 35. Liber Conbinationum (Latin translations of kabbalistic works) Notes: Manuscript Liber Conbinationum. Expositio secretorum punctuationis. Summa brevis Cabale. Quaestiones super de decem Numerationibus. Liber Corona nominis boni. libellus de expositione nominis Tetragrammaton.libellus de expositione tredecim proprietatum. libellus de secretis legis manifestandis edicto a sancto doctore. liber de radicibus vel terminis Cabala. liber de secretis Orationum et benedicinum Cabale.liber de secretis legism.

15 15 of 23 Giovanni Pico della Mirandola ( ) Italian Renaissance polymath, designated the Phoenix of the Wits by his contemporaries. He focused on the formation of a syncretic blend of ideas from Christian mysticism, magic, Avicenna, Averroes, Orpheus, Hermes Trismegistus, Zoroaster, NeoAristotelianism, Neo-Platonism, Pythagorean number magic, and Kabbalah. He was a wildly enthusiastic proponent of the interchange of ideas in Europe at the time, and risked religious censure to promote dialog and reinterpretation of dogma. 36. Conclusiones philosophicae, cabalasticae et theologicae (900 Theses) Published: Benedicuts Hectoris Bononie[n]sis, De Hominis Dignitate (Oration on the Dignity of Man) Published: Bernardinus Venetus, de Vitalibus,, Venice Notes: Originally published in Omnia opera. 38. Apologia Published: Ioannes Knoblochus, Strassburg Heptaplus Published: Gulielmum de Fontaneto de Monteferrato, Venetiis Guillaume Postel ( ) French polymath, linguist, astronomer, Cabbalist, diplomat, professor, and advocate of religious universalism. He understood Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac and other Semitic languages, in addition to Greek and Latin. He believed that Platonic and Pythagorean thought were compliments to Cabala. 40. De originibus (On the Origins of the World) Published: Basileae Johann Reuchlin ( ) German humanist, scholar of Greek, Latin and Hebrew, known for the phrase, Nihil quod nostrum esse in philosophia quod non ante Iudaeorum fuerit (There is nothing in philosophy that was not developed by the Jews first). First exposed to Kabbalah by Pico della Mirandola, his aim was to show the affinity between Pythagorean philosophy and Kabbalah. Despite his struggles with the anti-jewish sentiments of the German Dominicans, he became one of the leading transmitters of Christian Cabala to the northern Renaissance. 41. De verbo mirifico (On the word-making wonders) Published: Colonie, ex officina Eucharij, De arte cabalistica (On the cabalistic arts) Published: Apud Thomam Anshelmum, Mense Martio, Hagenau Paulus Ricius ( ) AKA Paul Ricci/Paolo Riccio, an Italian Jew who converted to Christianity via Cabala. He was a scholar known for his translation of Gikatilla's Sha'are Orah (Gates

16 16 of 23 of Light). Through his understanding of Rabbinic traditions, he systematized the varied dogmas of the Christian Cabala into a coherent whole. 43. Portae Lucis (translation of Sha'are Orah) Published: Augustae Vindelicorum, Millerana De Coelesti Agricultura (Concerning the Agriculture of the Heavens) Published: Excusum Augustae Vindelicorum John Stephen Rittangel ( ) grandson of the celebrated Isaac Abravanel (AKA Abarbanel). Rittangel was a Portuguese Jewish convert who made a Latin translation of Sefer Yetzirah. 45. Liber Jezirah qui Abrahamo patriarchae adscribitur (translation of Book of Creation) Published: Johann & Jodocus Janssonius, Amstelodami Johann Christoph Wolf ( ) German Christian Hebraist, polymath and book collector. He studied and taught Oriental languages and cultures. Drawing from references in the Oppenheimer library, his research culminated in the publication of his reference work on Jewish authors and subjects such as the Jewish Bible, the Talmud, and Cabala 46. Bibliotheca Hebraea (The Library of the Hebrews) Published: Liebezeit, Hamburg Zorzi, Francesco ( ) AKA Franciscus Georgius was a Venetian Franciscan friar and Cabalist he used the ideas of Pico della Mirandola and Johann Reuchlin on number symbolism to establish a connection between Cabala and the Pythagoreans. 47. De Harmonia Mundi Totius (Concerning the Harmony of the Whole World) Published: Bernardini de Vitalibus, Venetiis

17 17 of 23 BIBLIOGRAPHY Barney, Stephen A. "Allegory". In Dictionary of the Middle Ages, edited by Joseph R. Strayer, Vol-1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, Beitchman, Philip. Alchemy of the Word: Cabala of the Renaissance. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, Berenbaum, Michael and Fred Skolnik, eds. Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2nded. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, Blau, Joseph L. The Christian Interpretation of the Cabala in the Renaissance. New York: Columbia University Press, Bolzoni, Lina. Giulio Camillo s Memory Theatre and the Kabbalah. In Hebraic Aspects of the Renaissance: Sources and Encounters, edited by Ilana Zinguer, Abraham Melamed, and Sur Shalev, Leiden: Brill, Dan, Joseph, ed. The Christian Kabbalah: Jewish mystical books and their Christian interpreters: a symposium. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard College Library, Frankiel, Tamar. Kabbalah: A brief introduction for Christians. Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, Idel, Moshe. Kabbalah in Italy New Haven and London: Yale University Press, Kristeller, Paul O. Renaissance Platonism. In Renaissance Thought and its Sources, edited by Michael Mooney, New York: Columbia University Press, Lelli, Fabrizio. Intellectual Relationships of Fifteenth-Century Jewish and Christian Scholars in Light of Contemporary Art. Cadernos de Estudos Sefarditas 6 (2006): Lesley, Arthur M. Jews at the Time of the Renaissance. Renaissance Quarterly 52 (1999): Lesley, Arthur M. The Great Parchment: Flavius Mithridates Latin Translation, the Hebrew Text, and an English Version by Giulio Busi, Simonetta M Bondoni, Saverio Campanini. Renaissance Quarterly 58 (2005): Melamed, Abraham. Hebraic Aspects of the Renaissance. In Hebraic Aspects of the Renaissance: Sources and Encounters, edited by Ilana Zinguer, Abraham Melamed, and Sur Shalev, 1-6. Leiden: Brill, Melamed, Abraham. The Revival of Christian Hebraism in Early Modern Europe. In Philosemistism in History, edited by Jonathan Kerp and Adam Sutcliffe, New York: Cambridge University Press, Rabin, Sheila J. Whither Kabbalah? Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola, Kabbalah, and the Disputations Against Judicial Astrology. In Hebraic Aspects of the Renaissance: Sources and Encounters, edited by Ilana Zinguer, Abraham Melamed, and Sur Shalev, Leiden: Brill, Rivers, Isabel. Numerology. In Classical and Christian Ideals in English Renaissance Poetry, London: Routledge, Scholem, Gershom G. Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism. New York: Schocken Books, Varner, William. The Christian Use of Jewish Numerology. The Master s Seminary Journal 8/1 (Spring 1997): Smith, William and Henry Wace, editors. A dictionary of Christian biography, literature, sects and doctrines; being a continuation of The Dictionary of the Bible. London: J. Murray, 1877, p. 362.

18 18 of 23 Wirszubski, Chaim. Pico della Mirandola's encounter with Jewish mysticism. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1989.

19 APPENDIX Papal Conclave of 1655 Ranuzzi Manuscript 1655 HRC Ph xxiv of 23

20 Title page of Recanati HRC BS 1225 R Reuchlin - De arte cabalistica - 20 of 23

21 21 of 23 HRC QBM 525 R Diagram of the sefirot from Christian Knorr von Rosenroth's Kabbalah Denutata of Jean Bodin - HRC BF 1520 B Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Omnia Opera - HRC QB 785 P Frontispiece of Pico della Mirandola 1519

22 22 of 23 Woodcut initial decoration for the Omnia Opera Table of Contents for the Omnia Opera

23 23 of 23 Title page for J. Buxtorf II Lexicon Chaldaicum HRC Q PJ5205 B Agrippa - De Incertitudine & Vanitate HRC 89.5Ag85d 1662