Nechmad Vena’im [on astronomy, geography, as well as a rejection of astrology in Jewish tradition]

GANS, DAVID

Israel b. Abraham

Jessnitz

1743

FIRST EDITION. Title within architectural arch. Numerous astronomical diagrams. Introduction in Latin (often lacking)

Vinograd, Jessnitz 49

Latin introduction by Christian Hebenstreit, Professor of Hebrew in Leipzig, drawing attention to the keen influence Gans received from the theories of the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, with whom Gans worked in Prague. See A. Neher, Jewish Thought and the Scientific Revolution of the Sixteenth Century: David Gans (1541-1613) and His Times (1986), pp. 58-91. Gans was a disciple of R. Judah Löw of Prague. Scientific cooperation between Jewish and non-Jewish savants was unique to the Rudolfine era. The MaHaRa”L himself is said to have been invited to the Hradschin Palace to meet with Emperor Rudolph II, a most enlightened ruler, but the subject of their conversation remains a mystery. Neher, pp. 6, 20, 24.