Isaac Abrabanel

Isaac Abravanel (also spelled Abarbanel) was born in Lisbon in 1437 and died in Venice in 1508. He belonged to one of the oldest and most distinguished Iberian Jewish families, whose ancestors had escaped the massacres in Castile in 1391. He is remembered as a theologian, a Bible commentator and a businessman who served several courts, and he was the father of the philosopher Leone Ebreo.

He was trained in rabbinic literature and in the Jewish philosophy of his day. His financial skill brought him to the Portuguese court, where he became treasurer under King Afonso V. When Afonso's patron fell from favour and King John II pursued the House of Braganza, to which Abravanel was related, he fled to Castile in 1483. There he partnered with the converso Abraham Senior and worked for the Catholic Monarchs, lending money to fund the war against Granada.

The expulsion of the Jews decreed in 1492 ended his position in Spain. He tried, without success, to persuade the monarchs to revoke the edict, and when he refused to convert he left the country, keeping part of his fortune. He then served the court of Naples, fled the French invasion of 1495, and lived in Sicily, Corfu, Monopoli and finally Venice, where he died.

His Bible commentaries differ from the usual ones because they weigh the social and political circumstances of the periods he studies. Before each chapter he lists questions or difficulties that he then resolves, which helped readers find their way through the text. He opposed extreme rationalism and allegorical reading, defended the literal sense and faith in the coming of the Messiah, and criticized the Christian interpretation of the prophecies. Even so, he borrowed tools from philosophy and Kabbalah. His exegetical work, gathered in his commentaries on the Torah and the Prophets, remains an important reference for the study of the Bible in Judaism.