Hans, David

David Hans was born in 1541 in Lippstadt in Westphalia . He studied the Talmud and science in Bonn , Frankfurt , Cracow , in particular, with the famous rabbi Moshe Isserles . At one time he lived in Northeim , where he studied Euclid . Since 1564 he has been living permanently in Prague.

There he begins to write the popular course of universal history for the Jews, " Heb. Zemah David "(" Sprout of David "). The book went out of print in 1592 and turned out to be the only book fully printed during the author's lifetime. Covers the history of mankind from the beginnings of the biblical Nimrod to the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II . From this book, the Jews were finally truly able to get to know the story. The book gained great popularity and was published as the second edition in Frankfurt , where events are described up to 1592 . Subsequently, translations appeared, sometimes incomplete, in Yiddish , Latin , German .

In Prague, Hans worked intensively in astronomy, not as a student, but as a full-fledged collaborator of Tycho Brahe and Kepler . He also corresponded with the astronomer Regiomontan . Hans decided to write a book “ Heb. Magen David ”(“ Shield of David ”), where astronomy in Hebrew would be readily stated. The first manuscript was apparently ready in 1596 , it reached us, but Hans first printed an abridged version with the same name. Then an intermediate option appeared. The book was fully published in 1743 130 years after the death of the author in Jesenica under the name Hebrew. Nehmad veNaim (“Good and Pleasant”) (an allusion to the description of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil ) in the Book of Genesis ).

The remaining books of Hans did not reach the present, he wrote more about mathematics, geography, medicine, politics and astrology. Hans died in 1613 in Prague.

• Grave at the Old Jewish Cemetery
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  General form.

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  Tombstone, it depicts a magendavid by the name of the book of Hans and a goose within the meaning of a German surname.

See also: Tomb of David Hans in Prague (Jewish Encyclopedia)

• Hans, David. Overgrowth of David = Heb. צמח דוד ( Zemah David ). A popular course in world history. - 1st ed. - Prague, 1592.
• Hans, David. Shield of David = Heb. מגן דוד ( Magen David ). A brief popular account of astronomy, including the systems of Ptolemy , Copernicus , Tycho Brahe .. - 1st ed. - Moscow, 1612.
• Hans, David. Pleasant and good = Hebrew. נחמד ונעים ( Nekhmad Venaim ). A complete course of astronomy and calendar, including the systems of Ptolemy , Copernicus , Tycho Brahe .. - 1st ed. - Jesnitz, 1743.
• Other books by Hans were not published, part of the manuscripts disappeared,

• From the books of Hans
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  The title page of the book of David Hans "Nehmad veNaim", posthumous publication

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  Drawing from the book of David Hans "Magen David", in the fields on the right are given explanations of how to build an armillary sphere . The book was a revelation to many Jews, see, for example, the article on Solomon Maimon .

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  A drawing from the book of David Hans “Nekhmad veNaimd” in the spirit of geocentrism, explanations of all areas are given, about the most external author reports that there are doubts whether it exists. There was nothing on her, but she was responsible for the precession of the globe.

According to Hans, it is astronomy that is the highest wisdom that the verse speaks of: “This is your wisdom in the eyes of the nations” ( Deut. 1: 4 ), so he wrote two books: an easy book for students and people of ordinary professions, Magen David, from which people could extract knowledge, as well as a complete and complex treatise on the same topic. It was written on the cover that “my book (first) will help to acquire knowledge without a teacher even to a person who has never studied astronomy.” ^[1]

According to Hans, such knowledge also has a social role, as it will lead to greater respect for Jews from the peoples among whom Jews live. This applies not only to astronomy, but also to other knowledge, such as a story about which Hans also wrote a lot. “- People ask us about the ancient dynasties, and we put our hands on their mouths,” writes Hans. “Now, after my history book, you have something to say.” ^[2] Hans promises the same benefit from studying astronomical books.

An additional idea of ​​Hans is also to improve the Jewish opinion of non-Jews. He enthusiastically describes the navigators of Columbus , Vespucci , Drake , the wisdom of the monarchs who sent them to the sea, and even the courage of Christian soldiers who fought with the Turks. “The Christian from Mainz made a great invention” is about Gutenberg . He writes the same about scientists, primarily astronomers.

In astronomical writings, Hans described with great respect all three: Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Tycho Brahe. His enthusiasm for Copernicus borders on the praises ^[3] :

Seventy years ago there lived a man named Nikolai Copernicus, a scientific genius who far surpassed modern astronomers. They said about him that since the time of Ptolemy there was no equal to him. He studied the position and movement of the planets with great accuracy ..., decided, proclaimed and made every effort to show with exceptional elevation of mind that the spheres of stars are motionless, and the effect of their movement arises from the movement of the earth's sphere ... He devoted a great book to the proof, filled with deep and boundless wisdom. Many of the significant scientists of his time completely agreed with him .... The human mind is completely free to put forward any theory according to its logic, provided that it provides a reasonable explanation for the motion of celestial bodies ... ^[4]

Hans stressed the main achievement of Tycho Brahe, "who proved that the centers of the orbits of the planets are not in the Earth, but in the Sun." Hans sets forth three systems of the world, of particular interest is the presentation of the Tycho Brahe system - planets revolve around the Sun, and the Sun revolves around the Earth. Which system is correct? Hans does not give his opinion. The researchers offered several explanations why Hans did not choose a point of view in the book.

• Popularization of the material - indeed, until science has established what is right, the reader must know this.
• Hans was familiar with both Brahe and Kepler. Brahe was against the Copernican system, and Kepler, on the contrary, was a supporter of Copernicanism and made a great contribution to it. In this situation, it was difficult for Hans to choose.
• Perhaps Hans was influenced by the book Beer Agola (The Sister of Exile) by Maharal from Prague. There he cites the astronomical revolution as an example of the unreliability of scientific knowledge. The reader of Hans also faces this. ^[one]

Hans addresses the question of how astronomical systems are consistent with a famous place from the Talmud about a dispute with the sages of the Peoples of the World. The sages of the Talmud believe that moving stars glide over fixed spheres ^[5] and friction produces noise and dust. ^[6] The sages of the peoples of the World are more right than we, conclude the Sages of the Talmud. ^[5] . Maimonides, in the Guide of the Perplexed , also takes the side of the Wise Men of the World (Greeks) (3:14). But Hans testifies in Nekhmad veNaim, ch. 25 about an amazing thing - Tycho Brahe told him that in vain did the Sages of the Talmud acknowledge their wrong. He quietly proved by calculating the trajectories of comets that there are no solid skies. Therefore, celestial bodies are not keen on spheres, but move on their own, like birds in the sky, which shows the Talmudists are right! ^{[1] [3]} In reinforcement, Hans cites Abarbanel , who quotes a similar quote from Plotinus . It is interesting that Kepler believed that the Copernican system helps the Talmud, Kepler himself discovered that the orbits of the planets are not round, but elongated, like the Hebrew letter "kaf" in English. כ (“Somnium.” Quoted from Neer. ^[3] ).

• Hans, David // Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron . - SPb. , 1908-1913.
• Noah J. Efron and Menachem Fisch. Astronomical Exegesis: An Early Modern Jewish Interpretation of the Heavens Osiris, 2nd Series, Vol. 16, Science in Theistic Contexts: Cognitive Dimensions (2001), pp. 72–87
• André Neher. Copernicus in the Hebraic Literature from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1977), pp. 211–226
• David Hans ( Hebrew רבי דוד ב"ר שלמה גאנז ). Heb. Zemah David ("The Bush of David") = Heb. צמח דוד . - Warsaw, 1592. - T. 1.
• David Hans Heb. רבי דוד ב"ר שלמה גאנז . Heb. Nekhmad veNaim (“Good and Pleasant”) = Heb. נחמד ונעים . - Jesnitz, 1743 .-- T. 1.

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