Aaron Margalita or Margalitha (c.1663–c.1725) was a Polish Jewish Rabbi who later converted to Christianity.

Life

Aaron Margalita was born at

Zolkiev Zhovkva is a city in Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast (region) of western Ukraine. Zhovkva hosts the administration of Zhovkva urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Its population is approximately History A village named ''Vynnyky'' was men ...

in 1663''

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on the ...

''
jewishencyclopedia.com
"Polish convert to Christianity; born 1663 at Zolkiev. He was a learned rabbi. He traveled as a maggid in Poland and Germany, preaching in the synagogues. In Holland Margalita remained in Leyden for seven years teaching rabbinics. He thus became intimate with Trigland, through whose influence he was converted to the Reformed Church, as Margalita himself relates in his work "Oblatio Aaronis seu Tractatus de Passionibus Christi," Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 1706." or 1665.

John Lauris Blake John Lauris Blake (December 21, 1788 – July 6, 1857) was an American clergyman and bestselling author. He is best known as the author of the '' General Biographical Dictionary''. Life John Lauris Blake was born on 21 December 1788 in Northwood ...

, '' General Biographical Dictionary''
p.9
"Aaron, Margalitha, a Polish rabbi, born 1665, and died about 1725. He became a convert to Calvinism, and afterwards went over to the Lutherans, wrote many learned works, was Professor of Jewish Antiquities at the Universities of Frankfort and Berlin, but died in prison, hated by his own nation for his apostasy, and deserted by those whose doctrines he had embraced." Becoming a rabbi, he travelled as a

maggid A maggid (), also spelled as magid, is a traditional Jewish religious itinerant preacher, skilled as a narrator of Torah and religious stories. A chaplain of the more scholarly sort is called a ''Darshan (Judaism), darshan'' (). The title of ''m ...

in Poland and Germany, preaching in the local synagogues, and taught

rabbinics Rabbinic Judaism (), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, Rabbanite Judaism, or Talmudic Judaism, is rooted in the many forms of Judaism that coexisted and together formed Second Temple Judaism in the land of Israel, giving birth to classical rabb ...

for seven years at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

. His friend Jacobus Trigland converted him to Calvinism, as Margalita explained in his ''Oblatio Aaronis seu Tractatus de Passionibus Christi'' (Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 1706). Travelling to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, he denounced the

Haggadah The Haggadah (, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a foundational Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table fulfills the mitzvah incumbent on every Jew to reco ...

as containing blasphemies against Christianity, causing

Frederick I of Prussia Frederick I (; 11 July 1657 – 25 February 1713), of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was (as Frederick III) List of margraves and electors of Brandenburg, Elector of Brandenburg (1688–1713) and Duke of Prussia in personal union (Brandenburg–Pr ...

to suspend temporarily the sales of a recently published edition of the Midrash Rabbah, until a theological investigation had officially pronounced it harmless. With Frederick's patronage, Margalita became Professor of rabbinic Hebrew at the University of Frankfurt. He is said to have become a Lutheran at

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

around 1712, but to have later been imprisoned in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

for wanting to return to

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

. He "died in prison, hated by his own nation for his apostasy, and deserted by those whose doctrines he had embraced". He died around 1725.

References

External links

jewishencyclopedia.com

studylight.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Margalita, Aaron 1660s births 1720s deaths 17th-century converts to Judaism 18th-century converts to Judaism Converts to Calvinism Converts to Lutheranism Prisoners who died in Danish detention People from Zhovkva Polish Calvinist and Reformed Christians 17th-century Polish rabbis 18th-century Polish rabbis Converts to Judaism from Lutheranism