Profiat Duran
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Profiat Duran (c. 1350 – c. 1415) (), full Hebrew name Isaac ben Moses haLevi) was a Jewish apologist/polemicist, philosopher, physician, grammarian, and controversialist in the 14th century. He was later sometimes referred to by the
sobriquet A sobriquet ( ) is a descriptive nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym in that it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name without the need for explanation; it may beco ...
Efodi () through association with his two grammars entitled ''Ephod''. After being forcibly converted to Christianity in 1391, he also appears in official records under his
Converso A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert" (), was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of their descendants. To safeguard the Old Christian popula ...
name Honoratus de Bonafide. After escaping Spain, he returned to practicing Judaism openly and wrote several works including polemics against Christianity and grammar.


Personal life

It is not known whether he was born at
Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...
, where he lived for some years, or in another Catalan town. In his youth he attended a
Talmudic The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewi ...
school in
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
for a short time, but instead of confining his studies to the Talmud, he took up philosophy and other sciences also, in spite of the interdiction of his teachers. Duran became a tutor in the Crescas family, and during the bloody riots of 1391 was forcibly baptized, becoming a
marrano ''Marranos'' is a term for Spanish and Portuguese Jews, as well as Navarrese jews, who converted to Christianity, either voluntarily or by Spanish or Portuguese royal coercion, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but who continued t ...
. After escaping Spain, he returned to practicing Judaism openly, and wrote a number of works including polemics against Christianity and grammar. He appears to have also attempted to reach Palestine, however it is unclear whether he made it. He died in 1414/1415 in Iberia, France, or the East.


Works


''Al Tehi Ka-Aboteka'' ("Be Not Like Thy Fathers")

Duran is the author of a famous satiric epistle called, after the repeatedly recurring phrase, ''Al Tehi Ka-Aboteka'' (''Be Not Like Your Fathers''). It was written about 1396, and was circulated by Don Meïr Alguades, to whom it had been sent. It is so ingeniously ambiguous that the Christians, who called it ''Alteca Boteca'', interpreted it in their favor; but, as soon as they recognized its satirical import they burned it publicly. This epistle, with a commentary by Joseph ibn Shem-Tov and an introduction by Isaac Akrish, was first printed at
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 ...
in 1554, and was republished in A. Geiger's ''Melo Chofnajim'', 1840, in the collection ''Ḳobeẓ Wikkuḥim,'' 1844, and in P. Heilpern's ''Eben Boḥan'', part 2, 1846. Geiger also translated most of it into German (''Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift,'' iv. 451). According to an account written at the top of one of the manuscripts of the epistle, Duran and his friend David Bonet Bonjourno made up a plan to emigrate to
Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
in order 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 ...
. The two friends set out on their journey, getting as far as Avignon, where they met up with another converso,
Paul of Burgos Paul of Burgos (Burgos,  1351 – 29 August 1435) was a Spanish Jew who converted to Christianity, and became an archbishop, lord chancellor, and exegete. He is known also as Pablo de Santa María. His original name was Solomon ha-Levi. ...
(who had become a believing Christian priest, and had achieved the rank of Bishop). Paul disrupted their plan by persuading Bonjourno to become a true Christian, and Duran was forced to return to Catalonia. In response to these events, Duran wrote ''Be Not Like Your Fathers''. Some scholars ( Frank Talmage, among others) have dismissed this fanciful account as implausible. However, there is a certain amount of corroborating evidence. The notarial ledgers of Perpignan show several transactions in 1393 and 1394 in which Duran (known officially by his Christian name Honoratus de Bonafe) moved assets across the border to France. Also, Paul of Burgos is documented to have been in
Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...
in 1394 for the conclave in which the
Antipope Clement VII Robert of Geneva (; 1342 – 16 September 1394) was elected to the papacy as Clement VII () by the cardinals who opposed Pope Urban VI and was the first antipope residing in Avignon, France. His election led to the Western Schism. The son of ...
was elected.


''Kelimmat ha-Goyim'' ("Shame of the Gentiles")

Connected with this epistle is the polemic ''Kelimmat ha-Goyim'' ("Shame of the Gentiles"), a criticism of Christian dogmas, written in 1397 at the request of Don
Hasdai Crescas Hasdai ben Abraham Crescas (; ; c. 1340 in Barcelona – 1410/11 in Zaragoza) was a Spanish-Jewish philosopher and a renowned halakhist (teacher of Jewish law). Along with Maimonides ("Rambam"), Gersonides ("Ralbag"), and Joseph Albo, he is k ...
, to whom it was dedicated. In it, Duran states the principle that the most convincing polemical technique is to argue within one's opponents own assumptions. Using the knowledge of Latin he gained from his medical studies and the indoctrination he received as a converso, he identifies what he sees as internal contradictions within the
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
, and discrepancies between its literal text and church dogma. The work can be seen as a precursor of modern
textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may rang ...
. In about 1397 Duran wrote an anti-Christian polemic, ''Kelimat ha-Goyim'' (“Shame of the Gentiles”) which some have seen as having discredited the
Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sen ...
and other
early Christian Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and be ...
writings. Although he did not accept the defence used by
Nachmanides Moses ben Nachman ( ''Mōše ben-Nāḥmān'', "Moses son of Nachman"; 1194–1270), commonly known as Nachmanides (; ''Nakhmanídēs''), and also referred to by the acronym Ramban (; ) and by the contemporary nickname Bonastruc ça Porta (; l ...
at the Disputation of Barcelona (1263) of "two Jesuses" in the Talmud. He argued that the old Spanish word for pigs, ''Marrano'' ee too: Marranos">Marranos">ee too: Marranos was derived from the Hebrew word for conversion, ''hamarah''.


''Hesheb ha-Efod'' ("The ephod's girdle")

In 1395 Duran compiled an almanac in twenty-nine sections entitled ''Ḥesheb ha-Efod'' ("The ephod's girdle"), and dedicated to Moses Zarzal, writer and physician to Henry III of Castile (1379–1406). That Duran was familiar with the philosophy of Aristotelianism#Islamic world, Aristotle as interpreted by Muslim philosophers, is apparent from his synoptic commentary on
Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...
' ''
The Guide for the Perplexed ''The Guide for the Perplexed'' (; ; ) is a work of Jewish theology by Maimonides. It seeks to reconcile Aristotelianism with Rabbinical Jewish theology by finding rational explanations for many events in the text. It was written in Judeo-Arabic ...
'', which was published at Sabbionetta in 1553, at
Jeßnitz Jeßnitz ( is a town and a former municipality in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the Nort ...
in 1742, and at
Zhovkva Zhovkva is a List of cities in Ukraine, city in Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast (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 ...
in 1860.


''Ma'aseh Efod'' ("The making of the ephod")

Duran's chief work, praised by both Christians and Jews, is his philosophical and critical
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
grammar, ''Ma'aseh Efod'' ("The making of the ephod"), containing an introduction and thirty-three chapters, and finished in 1403. He wrote it not only to instruct his contemporaries, who either knew nothing about grammar or had erroneous notions concerning it, but especially to refute mistakes promulgated by the later grammarians. He frequently cites the otherwise unknown Samuel Benveniste as an eminent grammarian. See the edition of J. Friedländer and J. Kohn (Vienna, 1865). In 1393 Duran wrote a dirge on Abraham ben Isaac ha-Levi of Gerona, probably a relative; three letters containing responsa, to his pupil Meïr Crescas; and two exegetical treatises on several chapters of II
Samuel Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...
, all of which have been edited as an appendix to the ''Ma'aseh Efod.'' In the introduction, he discusses music, contrasting two varieties, cantillation (''ta'amei ha-miqra'') and post-Biblical hymns (''piyyutim''). He states that while the latter appeals to the senses, the former appeals to the mind. He prefers cantillation, following his belief that 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 () ...
is perfect, and uses it for both liturgical reading and study.


Other works, lost works

At the request of some members of the Benveniste family, Duran wrote an explanation of a religious festival poem by
Abraham ibn Ezra Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra (, often abbreviated as ; ''Ibrāhim al-Mājid ibn Ezra''; also known as Abenezra or simply ibn Ezra, 1089 / 1092 – 27 January 1164 / 23 January 1167)''Jewish Encyclopedia''online; '' Chambers Biographical Dictionar ...
(printed in the collection ''Ta'am Zeḳenim'' of Eliezer Ashkenazi), as well as the solution of Ibn Ezra's well-known riddle on the quiescent letters of the Hebrew alphabet (quoted by Immanuel Benvenuto in his grammar ''Liwyat Ḥen,'' Mantua, 1557, without mentioning Duran), and several explanations relating to Ibn Ezra's commentary on the
Pentateuch 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 () o ...
. Duran was also a historian. In a lost work entitled ''Zikron ha-Shemadot'' he gave the history of Jewish martyrs since the destruction of the Temple.
Heinrich Graetz 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 ...
has shown that this work was used by Solomon Usque and Judah ibn Verga.


References

Its bibliography: *''Monatsschrift,'' iii.320 et seq.; *J. Friedländer and J. Kohn, ''Ma'aseh Efod,'' Introduction, pp. 2–12; *S. Gronemann, ''De Profiatii Durani Vita ac Studiis,'' Breslau, 1869; * Moritz Steinschneider, ''Cat. Bodl.'' cols. 2112 et seq.; * Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi- C. H. Hamberger, ''Historisches Wörterbuch,'' pp. 261 et seq.; * Henri Gross, ''Gallia Judaica,'' pp. 358 et seq., 472; * Heinrich Grätz, ''Gesch.'' viii.94, 403. {{DEFAULTSORT:Duran, Profiat 1350 births 1415 deaths Philosophers of Judaism Medieval Jewish philosophers Medieval Hebraists 14th-century philosophers Philosophers from Catalonia Conversos Jewish apologists Critics of Christianity