Jacob Provençal

Jacob ben David Provençal (Jacob Provenzali) was a 15th-century rabbi and Talmudist from Marseille, where he was in maritime trade, and later moved to Naples and is recorded there as a rabbi in 1480. He is known for a 1490 letter to David Messer Leon in which he defended the value of secular sciences, Be-Debar Limmud ha-Ḥokmah, which was later cited and published in an anthology by Eliezer ben Solomon Ashkenazi.[1][2][3] In this letter he defends the compatibility of medicine, astrology, alchemy, agriculture, and metalwork with Judaism and the study of Torah, while he is negative on Aristotelianism.[4][5] He also wrote a letter of approbation for Jacob Landau's Sefer Agur, which appears in the 1526 edition. His commentary on Song of Songs was published in 1577.[1][2] Isaac Akrish annotated and corrected what is probably Jacob Provençal's Song of Songs commentary.[6]

Jewish Encyclopedia/Encyclopedia Judaica bibliographies

References

  1. 1 2 Gottheil, Richard; Kahn, S. (1906). "JACOB BEN DAVID PROVENÇAL". Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2026-07-27.
  2. 1 2 Horowitz, Yehoshua. "Provençal, Jacob ben David". Encyclopedia Judaica. Retrieved 2026-07-27 – via Encyclopedia.com.
  3. ↑ Gottheil, Richard; Broydé, Isaac (1906). "ASHKENAZI, ELIEZER B. SOLOMON". Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2026-07-27.
  4. ↑ Sirat, Colette (1990-11-30). A History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press. p. 410. ISBN 978-0-521-39727-8.
  5. ↑ Tirosh-Rothschild, Hava (2012-02-01). Between Worlds: The Life and Thought of Rabbi David ben Judah Messer Leon. State University of New York Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-4384-2222-0.
  6. ↑ "Akrish, Isaac ben Abraham". Encyclopedia Judaica. Retrieved 2026-07-27 – via Encyclopedia.com.

Further reading

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