This is the first book to offer a translation into English-as well as a critical study-of a Spanish treatise written around 1650 by Rabbi Saul Levi Morteira, whose most renowned congregant was Baruch Spinoza. Aimed at encouraging the practice of halachic Judaism among the Amsterdam-based descendants of conversos, Spanish and Portuguese Sephardic Jews who had been forced to convert to Christianity, the book stages a dialogue between two conversos that ultimately leads to a vision of a Jewish homeland-an outcome that Morteira thought was only possible through his program for rejudaisation.
- Cover
- Content
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- Ets Haim Library ms. EH/LM 48D38 [Fuks 206]: A ‘Monuments Men’ manuscript
- Morteira’s youth in the Venetian Ghetto
- The converso heritage of Morteira’s congregants in Amsterdam
- Crypto-Judaism
- Rejudaization
- Morteira’s role in rejudaization
- The Portuguese Nation
- Plot summary of Arguments against the Christian Religion in Amsterdam (ms. EH/LM 48D38 [Fuks 206])
- The Portuguese Nation in Arguments against the Christian Religion in Amsterdam
- Crypto-Judaism and rejudaization in Arguments
- Converso protagonists in Arguments: Historical precedents
- The influence of Lazarillo de Tormes on Arguments
- The influence of Spanish Golden Age theater on Arguments
- Arguments: Biblical sources
- Arguments: Eschatology, rejudaization and Baruch Spinoza
- Biographical notes on Miguel López and notes on his messianic images
- Translator’s notes on ms. EH/LM 48D38 [Fuks 206]
- Notes to introduction
- Arguments against the Christian Religion in Amsterdam
- Notes to Arguments
- Works Cited
- Index of direct and indirect biblical quotations in Arguments
- Index to Introduction
Text
Audio
Adobe DRM
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