Sacred poetry, eternal felicity, and the redemption of Israel: Obadiah Sforno's commentary on psalms in the Berlin haskalah
The article explores the philosophical exegesis in Obadiah Sforno’s sixteenth-century Psalms commentary and its reception in Berlin of the late eighteenth century, where it was reprinted in the Haskalah’s biggest bestseller—an edition of Moses Mendelssohn’s Psalms translation with Hebrew commentary....
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2022
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| In: |
European journal of jewish studies
Year: 2022, Volume: 16, Issue: 2, Pages: 261-280 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Sefer Zemirot Yisra'el, Sefer Zemirot Yiśraʾel
/ Psalms
/ Sforno, ʿOvadyah ben Yaʿaḳov 1470-1550
/ Mendelssohn, Moses 1729-1786
/ Löwe, Joel 1760-1802
/ Salvation (motif)
/ Jews
/ Poetry
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| IxTheo Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion BH Judaism HB Old Testament NBK Soteriology TJ Modern history |
| Further subjects: | B
Psalms
B Redemption B Moses Mendelssohn B Haskalah B reception history of Bible exegesis and philosophy B salvation of the soul B Joel Bril (Löwe) B Obadiah Sforno |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The article explores the philosophical exegesis in Obadiah Sforno’s sixteenth-century Psalms commentary and its reception in Berlin of the late eighteenth century, where it was reprinted in the Haskalah’s biggest bestseller—an edition of Moses Mendelssohn’s Psalms translation with Hebrew commentary. While the inclusion of entire commentaries by earlier exegetes was unique among all Haskalah Bible editions, I argue that the choice to include Sforno’s commentary alongside Mendelssohn’s translation of Psalms, itself an expression of Mendelssohn’s political-theological defense of Judaism, was intended to buttress shared philosophical doctrines and concepts located by the two scholars in Psalms, notwithstanding temporal and cultural divergences: imitatio Dei, the salvation of the individual soul, and Israel’s eternity. |
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| ISSN: | 1872-471X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: European journal of jewish studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/1872471X-bja10044 |