Atereth Zekenim ["Crown of the Elders": philosophy]. Appended short essay by Abrabanel, "Tzuroth HaYesodoth” [medieval science]

ABRABANEL, DON ISAAC

Tobias Foa

Sabbioneta

1557

FIRST EDITION. Title within wreathed architectural columns with warriors standing at base; on f.40v. printer’s device (Yaari, Hebrew Printers' Marks 20-21). On front fly, Hebrew signature of former owner Ishmael Mondolfi of Florence

Vinograd, Sabbioneta 44

The departure point for this slim tract is the passage in Exodus 24:9-11 which treats of the mystical vision of the Seventy Elders of Israel. Maimonides contends - as did the Midrash - that the apprehension of these Elders was improper, and that they eventually received their just punishment at Taberah. (See Guide of the Perplexed I, 5). Don Isaac Abrabanel takes umbrage, writing this tract in defense of the Elders. Hence, the title "Crown of the Elders." See recent discussions in M. Kellner, Science in the Bet Midrash: Studies in Maimonides (2009), pp. 202-3; 313, n. 82; S. Regev, "The Vision of the Nobles of Israel in the Jewish Philosophy of the Middle Ages," Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought 4 (1984-85): 281-302