Yohanan Alemanno (born in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

or in Mantua, c. 1435 – died after 1504) was an Italian Jewish rabbi, noted Kabbalist, humanist philosopher, and exegete, and teacher of the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language unti ...

to Italian humanists including

Pico della Mirandola Giovanni Pico dei conti della Mirandola e della Concordia ( ; ; ; 24 February 146317 November 1494), known as Pico della Mirandola, was an Italian Renaissance nobleman and philosopher. He is famed for the events of 1486, when, at the age of 23, ...

. He taught that the

Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...

was divine magic. He was a pupil of

Judah Messer Leon Judah ben Jehiel, (, 1420 to 1425 – c. 1498), more usually called Judah Messer Leon (), was an Italian Jews, Italian rabbi, teacher, physician, and philosopher. Through his works, assimilating and embodying the intellectual approach of the bes ...

, but departed from the Aristotelian sympathies of his teacher in the direction of

neoplatonic Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...

thought.

Works

His works include ''Hay ha-Olamim'', ''Sefer sha`ar ha-heshek'' and a ''Cheshek Shlomo''. He cites Judah ben Nissim Ibn Malkah.Sirat p. 262. Alemanno's writings show versatility. In his chief work, "Ḥesheḳ Shelomoh" (The Delight of Solomon), he evinces philosophic acumen as well as a wide acquaintance with both the Arabic and the Greek philosophers. The introduction to this work is a discourse on the artistic and intellectual attainments of the human race, all of which are combined in

King Solomon King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by f ...

, whom the author places above

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

and his fellows (compare "Sha'ar ha-ḤesheḲ," pp. 3–7). Excerpts from the introduction were published, with additions by

Jacob Baruch ben Moses Ḥayyim Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...

, at

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

in 1790. In the introduction to this work, Alemanno lists all the known writings of King Solomon; however,

Senior Sachs Senior Sachs (; 17 June 1816 – 18 November 1892), also known as the ''Or shani'' (), was a Russian Empire, Russo-France, French Hebrew language, Hebrew writer and scholar. Biography Early life and education Senior Sachs was born to a Jews, ...

researched and uncovered that twenty-one philosophical works on the list were written by

Solomon ibn Gabirol Solomon ibn Gabirol or Solomon ben Judah (, ; , ) was an 11th-century Jews, Jewish poet and Jewish philosopher, philosopher in the Neoplatonism, Neo-Platonic tradition in Al-Andalus. He published over a hundred poems, as well as works of biblical ...

, whose signature, "Solomon of Malaqa" was mis-interpreted. Alemanno also wrote: *"'Ene ha-'Edah" (The Eyes of the Congregation), a cabalistic commentary on the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

(compare

Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph (; – 1587) was a 16th-century Italian Talmudist of the prominent Yahya family chiefly known for his chronology of the Bible and Jewish history up to his own time, ''The Chain of Oral Tradition'' (). Biography Bor ...

's "Shalshelet ha-ḳ;ab-balah," ed. Warsaw, 1889, p. 86) *"Ḥayye Olam" (Eternal Life), a treatise on immortality *"LiḲḲutim Collectanea," a volume of about two hundred pages, containing stray thoughts, aphorisms, noteworthy quotations from rare authors, and exegetical remarks.

References

*''Ḥay ha-ʻolamim = L'immortale'' by Yoḥanan Aliman (1995) Fabrizio Lelli

Jewish Encyclopedia references

* *Reggio, '' Bikkure ha-'Ittim,'' ix.13; *idem, ''Kerem Ḥemed,'' ii.44; *

Moritz Steinschneider Moritz Steinschneider (; 30 March 1816 – 24 January 1907) was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist, and an important figure in Jewish studies and Jewish history. He is credited as having invented the term ''antisemitism.'' Education Mo ...

, ''Cat. Bodl.'' col. 1397; *Wolf, ''Bibl. Hebr.'' i.470; *

Heinrich Grätz Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was a German exegete and one of the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective. Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (no ...

, ''Gesch. d. Juden,'' 2nd ed., viii.242, note.

External links

Alemanno, Johanan Ben Isaac
The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' (2007) entry. {{DEFAULTSORT:Allemanno, Johanan 15th-century Italian philosophers 1430s births Rabbis from Istanbul 16th-century deaths 15th-century Italian rabbis Medieval Jewish philosophers Neoplatonists Kabbalists