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'Like Iron To A Magnet': Moses Hayim Luzzatto's Quest For Providence, David Sclar
'Like Iron To A Magnet': Moses Hayim Luzzatto's Quest For Providence, David Sclar
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
This dissertation is a biographical study of Moses Hayim Luzzatto (1707-1746 or 1747). It presents the social and religious context in which Luzzatto was variously celebrated as the leader of a kabbalistic-messianic confraternity in Padua, condemned as a deviant threat by rabbis in Venice and central and eastern Europe, and accepted by the Portuguese Jewish community after relocating to Amsterdam. Using unpublished archival documents and manuscripts, as well as rare printed books, I seek to reconcile the seemingly incompatible aspects of Luzzatto as 'heretic' and 'hero.'
Chapter one sets the tone for the dissertation by analyzing the original version of …