Delmedigo, Yosef

Joseph Delmedigo was born in Crete in 1591 , in a family that gave a lot of learned people, received a good Jewish and general education, studied languages, including ancient Greek and Latin . At the age of 15 he entered the University of Padua , where he studied philosophy, mathematics, medicine, and especially astronomy with Galileo himself. In the book Eilim , Delmedigo excitedly recalled how Galileo allowed to make observations from his famous telescope and even called Galileo the title “Rabbi”, which is usually called the rabbis. ^[1] He was closely acquainted with Rabbi Leon de Modena of Venice .

Overcome by a thirst for knowledge, he led a wandering lifestyle, although he held rabbinical posts in Hamburg and Amsterdam . He traveled to Cairo , Constantinople , Vilna , Frankfurt . He studied where he could with Jews, Karaites, Muslims, Christians ^[2] . In Constantinople taught at the river. Yaakov Ibn Nahmias Kabbalah , which he agreed with Plato . Later, in Iasi, he studied Kabbalah under the leadership of the river. Shlomo Ibn Arabi. In Lithuania, he practiced as a doctor, performed in the synagogues as a preacher. Karaites from Trakai were especially attracted to him. The Karaite scholar Nathan bin Zerah asked Delmedigo 12 general and seventy private questions. Delmedigo in response wrote his most famous book, Eilim , which consists of many parts on various topics. The title of the book is an allusion to the verse of the Torah: “And they came to Eilim ...” ( Exodus 15:27 ), because there were 12 tribes and seventy palm trees. Some parts of the book are designated as works of other people. In this essay, he fully supported the Copernican system, "only fools cannot understand the arguments in favor of it." Discussed the theory of music. On many other issues, especially Kabbalah, he expressed inconsistent views, possibly fearing accusations of heresy. ^[3] .

In 1620 he left the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, stayed in Hamburg , where he gave speeches in the Sephardic synagogue. There, at the request of the community, he wrote a Hebrew book . מצרף לכסף ( Purifying Silver ), where he proved the truth of Kabbalah, in particular he objected to the book of his grandfather, who did not consider Kabbalah authentic. In 1629 he moved to Amsterdam, and there he also accepted a rabbinical post, but quickly returned to German countries, became a doctor in Frankfurt . He moved to Prague in 1648 , where he stayed until his death in 1655 .

Delmedigo is also known as Heb. Yashar from Kandia ”, where“ Yashar ”is the Hebrew abbreviation for the words Yosef Shlomo Hebrew. Rofe (doctor). Indeed, he was known as a doctor, and was in Vilna the personal doctor of Prince Radziwill . Of all the books written by Delmedigo, the most famous are two: Eilim and Taalumot Hochma in defense of Kabbalah.

• Delmedigo, Joseph Solomon. Eilim. - 1st ed. - Amsterdam, 1629.

• Delmedigo, Joseph Solomon // Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron . - SPb. , 1908-1913.
• Yosef Shlomo Delmedigo - article from the Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia

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