Walter Hilliger, at The Blogs

Nov 16, 2024, 12:36 AM

Certamen Philosophicum by Isaac Orobio de Castro

Orobio de Castro, Isaac. Certamen Philosophicum: Philosophical Combat for Divine and Natural Truth. 2nd Revised Edition. Foreword and notes by Jean-Pierre Rothschild. Introduction and notes by Seymour Feldman. Prologue and translation by Walter Hilliger. Le Cercle Hilliger, 2024. ISBN 978-2-494509-39-9. Collection Veritas è terra orietur. ISSN 3003-8898. 172 pages.

This year marks a turning point in the history of the posthumous reception of Isaac Orobio de Castro’s work with the publication of the second revised edition of the first English translation of Certamen Philosophicum. This text of seventeenth-century Jewish...

Sep 2, 2023, 1:23 AM

Menasseh Ben Israel | De Creatione Problemata XXX

Menasseh Ben Israel self-published "Thirty Problems Concerning Creation" (De Creatione Problemata XXX) at his own expense, aiming to revive the classical creation doctrine and tackle philosophical and theological questions about the origin of the universe and faith. This edition...

Apr 26, 2023, 1:51 AM

The path of Almosnino and the virtues of Aristotle

Almosnino’s Path of Life and the classic virtues of Aristotle The Path of Lives, "Orakh Hayim", is the Sephardic summary of the mental law* compiled by Yosef Karo (1488-1575). The title comes from King David (around 1040 BCE - around...

Mar 31, 2023, 10:44 AM

The first Republic before the Roman Republic

Isaac Orobio (c. 1617 - 1687) was a medical professor and councilor to the King of France. He stated that the first Republic was the Israelitic Republic of the multitudes that left Egypt, eight centuries before the Roman Republic....

Jan 19, 2023, 7:59 AM

Classical philosophers’ approval by R. David Nieto

Today, 28 Tevet marks the 295th anniversary of the passing of R. David Nieto (1654–1728), a great Sephardic polymath who left us a list of classical authors who were not a concern in terms of triviality, obscenity, or rebellion. Hakham...

Jan 13, 2023, 7:37 AM

Maimonides’ most translated medieval work

20 Tevet marks the 818th commemorative anniversary of Maimonides ז"ל, author of the most translated medieval work, entitled "The Guide", which influenced scholasticism until the V Lateran Council. Leibniz, the last universal genius, summed it up himself: Translation of the...

Jan 6, 2023, 6:16 PM

Rabbi Aguilar’s Republic of Letters

“Es la ciencia luz del alma, adorno de las virtudes, columna de la religión, roca incontrastable,y finalmente medio por el cual los Hijos de Israel se han podido conservar tantos siglos con la gracia del Señor Bendito en medio de sus enemigos. Y aunque es verdad que esta ciencia siempre se ha apreciado por el pueblo de Dios como ha sido la meditación, y la contemplación de la santísima ley Sinaí, atender a otros estudio de letras humanas, no obstante, cuando no se opongan a la verdad tenemos obligación de asentarlos en nuestros corazones, antes bien siguen de hermosear (no a la Ley que no necesita de ello) si no al estilo y tanto de ella en las academias, y juntas de sus profesores, bien pueden aún los más escrupulosos usar algunos ratos de tiempo a estas ejercicios para hacerse más universalmente a las dificultades que les comunicasen; y cuando no fuesen de otra cosa más que para conocer las falacias y argumento sofísticos.”

Today, Thursday, 14th of Kislev 5783 is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Aguilar ז"ל , the anniversary of his passing. In eulogy to Rabbi Moses Raphael de Aguilar (1615 - 1679), the most outstanding Sephardi educator of classical European culture. He introduced...

Oct 25, 2022, 12:05 AM

An original print of Orobio rescued by Leibniz

Original print of Orobio’s Certamen Philosophicum, 1703 (Philosophical Case in Defense of Divine and Natural Truth, translated by Walter Hilliger 2020) was rescued by Leibniz in Hanover ( T-A 6193, 2, page 17).

The modernist anti-religious Enlightenment that exalted Spinoza as an “innocent martyr” of free-thinking, or Newton, as a “prophet“of materialism, canceled in the pantheon of history Isaac Orobio’s reputation. Isaac Orobio, the first Anti-Modern, was marginalized for advocating on behalf of...

Jul 21, 2022, 7:02 AM

On Resurrection | Menasseh Ben Israel

The skull with the crossed bones on the Matzevah is a Sephardic symbol of the Resurrection of the dead, the 13th Maimonidean principle of faith. This stone belongs to the Jewish community of Hamburg. Photo credit: Jewish Community of Hamburg, thanks to Rabbi Levi Prujanski.

The translation is freely available on Sefaria.org Translator's Introduction Death swallowed up forever | בלע המות לנצח (Isaiah 25:8) The modern definition of death used by medical practitioners to declare a person dead is a very useful convention for official registers...

Dec 14, 2021, 8:22 PM

The first Anti-Modern: Isaac Orobio (1617-1687)

A few years ago, I read the writings of the evil Spinoza and I easily noticed that he prepared not only a path to atheism, also that he began to make a name for himself. Nevertheless, I thought that...

About Me

Walter Hilliger is a French Caribbean writer, translator, and publisher of manuscript writings and facsimiles of Sephardic authors of the Grand Siècle, notably Isaac Orobio (1617 - 1787), R. David Nieto (1654 - 1728), Menasseh Ben Israel (1604-1657), R. Moses Raphael d'Aguilar (1615 - 1679) and others. He transcribed, restored, and digitized millions of words generating thousands of translated pages into current Spanish, English, and French. https://www.exegetes.org/en

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