Chacham David Nieto

The Intellectual Struggles and the Historical Background in the London Community

Hakham David Nieto (1654–1728) represents one of the most fascinating and influential figures in the history of Jewish thought at the beginning of the modern era.^{[1, 2]} As a distinct polymath who worked as a rabbi, dayan (rabbinic judge), physician, philosopher, astronomer, mathematician and poet, Nieto succeeded in connecting the world of halakha and tradition with the scientific and intellectual revolution of eighteenth-century Europe.^{[1, 3, 4]} His work was characterized by a constant attempt to prove the complete harmony between the Jewish religion and empirical scientific inquiry, while uncompromisingly defending the legitimacy of the Oral Torah against threats from within and without.^{[2, 4]}

Nieto was born in Venice to a family of Spanish-Portuguese origin, which belonged to the community of former anusim (Conversos) who had fled the terror of the Inquisition in the Iberian Peninsula.^[4] His father, Pinchas (Phinehas) Nieto, raised him within the complex and dynamic Levantine ghetto of Venice.^[4] This rich cultural environment blended Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions and gave the young Nieto a comprehensive multilingual education in Hebrew, Spanish, Italian and Latin.^[4] Alongside his deep Torah studies, Nieto turned to academic studies at the University of Padua, one of the most advanced scientific centers in the Europe of those days, where he completed a degree in medicine after specializing in anatomy, philosophy and the natural sciences.^{[2, 4]} This unique combination of medical-scientific knowledge and halakhic scholarship made him one of the greatest polymaths of the Jewish people at that time, capable of bridging rabbinic tradition and up-to-date European science.^{[3, 4, 5]}

After completing his studies, Nieto served as dayan, preacher and physician in the community of Livorno in Italy, where he acquired a name as a scholar of great stature who maintained close ties with Christian intellectuals around astronomical and chronological questions.^{[2, 4]} In 1701 he was called to serve as Hakham and rabbi of the Portuguese congregation "Sha'ar HaShamayim" (Bevis Marks) in London, in place of Hakham Shlomo Ayllon.^{[3, 4, 6]} His arrival in London marked the beginning of a new era in this community, which had been re-established under the protection of Oliver Cromwell in 1656.^[4] The London community, composed mostly of anusim who had returned to open Judaism, needed a leader of stature who could shape its religious identity, impose halakhic authority on it and cope with the winds of skepticism and Deism that had begun to blow in the England of the Enlightenment era.^{[4, 7, 8]}

The community's board of trustees (the "Mahamad") set the new Hakham strict terms of employment, which included giving up active medical practice, a commitment to regular teaching of Scripture with Rashi's commentary and of Talmud, and delivering regular sermons every two weeks and on festivals.^[4] These terms were intended to ensure that Nieto would devote his full energy to strengthening the Torah foundation of the community, which was characterized by deep educational gaps; its members, who had grown up as Catholics and had been trained to read the biblical text literally, experienced a cultural and religious shock when they encountered the multilayered halakhic and Talmudic system.^{[4, 8]} Hakham Nieto filled a historically critical role in bridging these gaps by writing sophisticated theological and philosophical works, which gave rational and scientific legitimacy to the authority of the Sages.^{[2, 4, 8]}

Reconciling Reason and Halakha: The Philosophy of the Divine and of Nature

One of the stormiest stations in Hakham Nieto's career in London was the great controversy that arose following his sermon in the "Bevis Marks" synagogue on November 20, 1703, which was printed in 1704 as a work in Spanish under the title "Della Divina Providencia" ("On Divine Providence, or Universal Nature, or Naturing Nature").^{[2, 4]} In this sermon Nieto sought to confront one of the great spiritual dangers of his time, Deism, which was very widespread in England in those days under the influence of the new scientific discoveries.^{[2, 4]} Deist philosophy presented the universe as an automatic machine operating according to fixed laws of physics, and God as a "supreme clockmaker" who created the world and left it to operate by its own powers, without constant intervention or individual providence.^[4]

In order to topple this mechanistic view, Hakham Nieto declared in his sermon that God and nature are one and the same, and that nature is nothing other than God Himself.^{[4, 12]} He explained that the modern term "Nature" is a misleading concept that has no real foothold in the sources of Judaism, and in practice all the phenomena regarded as "natural," such as the falling of rain, the growth of grass and the motion of the heavenly bodies, are nothing but direct actions of divine providence, which governs every single detail of creation.^{[4, 5, 12]} To support his words Nieto relied on verses of Psalms, and especially on the verse "Who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow upon the mountains" (Psalms 147:8), which stresses that God Himself operates the forces of heaven and earth directly, without the mediation of autonomous laws of nature.^{[4, 12]}

The wording of the sermon aroused fierce opposition among a group of members of his congregation, headed by one of the community's parnassim (lay leaders), Joshua Zarfati.^[4] The opponents accused Hakham Nieto of Spinozism (pantheism or atheism in the terms of that period), that is, of the heretical identification of God with the physical matter of the universe and the abolition of the Creator's transcendence.^{[2, 3, 4]} Many scholars point out that some of the accusers were in fact secret Sabbateans, who exploited this opportunity to undermine the halakhic authority of the new rabbi who sharply opposed them.^[6] The controversy threatened to tear the community apart, descended into vilification and the imposition of bans, and even reached the point of a legal appeal to the Attorney General in England.^{[4, 12]}

To defend himself and his teaching, Nieto published an expanded edition of the work in the form of a dialogue between two figures, Reuben and Simeon, who clarify the principles of providence and of the relation between the Creator and the world.^{[4, 12]} In this work Nieto sharpened his fundamental philosophical distinction, based on the concepts:

• Natura Naturans (nature naturing / creating): the Divinity as the force that acts, directs and continually animates the universe. This is the correct definition of God according to Hakham Nieto, representing active divine providence.^{[2, 4]}
• Natura Naturata (nature natured / created): physical matter and corporeal creation itself, which are created things and are not God.^{[2, 4]} Nieto stressed that, unlike Spinoza, he had never identified God with created matter, but held the traditional theological position of a transcendent God who watches over His world immanently.^{[2, 4]}

Finally, in order to resolve the crisis of leadership, the community board turned in 1705 to the external arbitration of one of the greatest halakhic decisors of the generation, Hakham Tzvi Ashkenazi in Amsterdam.^{[2, 3, 4]} Hakham Tzvi studied the writings and issued a famous halakhic ruling (Responsa Hakham Tzvi, no. 18), in which he fully acquitted Hakham Nieto and praised him for his teaching.^{[2, 3, 4]} Hakham Tzvi determined that Nieto's words are consistent with the principles of traditional Jewish faith, and that the claim that everything is conducted by the direct providence of the Creator and that there is no independent "nature" is a foundation of the belief in God's unity.^{[1, 4]} This ruling restored Nieto's standing in London, silenced his opponents and established his unchallenged spiritual authority.^{[4, 12]} Later, as can be seen in the history of Jewish thought, Rabbi Moshe Avigdor Amiel noted that the idea that we know God from nature is one of the "agreed lies," since everything we call "nature" is nothing but a linguistic term intended "to make it understandable to the ear."^[1] The work aroused renewed interest in the twenty-first century and was translated into English for the first time by Walter Hilliger in 2018.^[6]

The Defense of the Oral Torah: The Book Matteh Dan (The Second Kuzari)

The most monumental and famous work of Hakham David Nieto is the book "Matteh Dan," also called "The Second Kuzari," which was printed in London in 1714 in Hebrew with a Spanish translation and notes.^{[2, 4, 9]} The work is shaped in a carefully crafted dialogue format, modeled on the structure of the book "The Kuzari" by Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi of the eleventh century, and presents a lively philosophical debate between the king of the Khazars and the Haver, the representative of faithful Judaism.^{[4, 9]} This literary and ideological choice was intended to appeal directly to the souls of the members of the Spanish-Portuguese community at that time, many of whose members experienced enormous difficulties in adapting to the multilayered halakhic and Talmudic system.^{[4, 8]} The scholarly literature makes clear that although the book presents a polemical front against the historical Karaites, its true target audience was those anusim who had returned to Judaism, as well as skeptical and radical figures such as Uriel Acosta and Baruch Spinoza, who challenged the very legitimacy of the Talmudic tradition.^{[1, 4, 6]}

Coping with the erosion of tradition among these communities was not unique to London; it reflected a broader pattern of migration of anusim who had to balance the rationalism of the Enlightenment era with ancestral tradition, challenges that recurred also in the first Sephardi communities established at that time on the American continent, in cities such as Newport, Rhode Island and Charleston, South Carolina.^[4] Hakham Nieto divided his work into five main debates, intended to establish the truth of the Oral Torah from a historical, philosophical, psychological and scientific point of view.^{[1, 5, 9]}

In order to establish the authority of the Sages, Nieto incorporated in his work extensive discussions in the fields of astronomy, geometry and Newtonian mechanics.^{[2, 4]} This combination constituted a sophisticated rhetorical move: instead of demanding blind faith alone from the members of his community, he proved that the sages of the Talmud mastered the exact sciences of their time, and thereby raised the prestige of the Sages in the eyes of the new enlightened men who tended to belittle tradition.^{[2, 4]} The work won enormous admiration throughout the generations and was printed in many editions, among them a prominent edition in the twentieth century (Mossad HaRav Kook, 1958) that included an introduction by Rabbi Yehuda Leib Maimon and a comprehensive biography by the historian Bezalel (Cecil) Roth.^{[2, 4]}

The Struggle against Sabbateanism and Doctrinal Deviation: The Book Esh Dat

An inseparable part of Hakham Nieto's work of leadership was the stubborn and uncompromising struggle against Sabbateanism and religious heresies that threatened the cohesion and orthodoxy of the Jewish world at the beginning of the eighteenth century.^{[2, 3, 4]} The struggle focused mainly on the figure of the wandering Sabbatean leader Nehemiah Hiya Hayon (c. 1668–1730), who spread throughout Europe a deviant kabbalistic theology based on the teaching of Shabbetai Tzvi and of Abraham Miguel Cardozo, exploiting the naivety of former anusim who did not possess complex theological tools for identifying heresy.^{[2, 4, 13]} Hayon tried to instill his ideas by relying on a distorted interpretation of classic works of Kabbalah, and even hurled accusations of heresy at authoritative kabbalists and philosophers, among them the Spanish-Dutch kabbalist Rabbi Abraham Cohen de Herrera.^[1]

In response to this danger, and following an explicit invitation from the "Mahamad" in London, which was worried about the penetration of these ideas into its community, Hakham Nieto composed and published in 1715 his polemical book "Esh Dat" ("Fire of the Law").^{[1, 2, 4]} The book was written mainly in Hebrew and accompanied by an added Spanish translation, and it is shaped in the form of two incisive theological debates against the sect of Shabbetai Tzvi and the teaching of Hayon.^{[1, 4, 14]} In this work Nieto acted in defense of the philosopher-kabbalist de Herrera and refuted the accusations of heresy that Hayon had hurled at him.^[1]

In order to confront the Sabbatean theology, which presented a certain dualism within the Godhead, Nieto used distinctly cosmological arguments to prove the eternity, absolute unity and incorporeality of God.^{[2, 4]} He presented Judaism as a religion based on rational and universal theistic principles shared also by Christianity and Islam, and thereby harnessed the rationalism of the Age of Enlightenment to topple anarchic Sabbatean mysticism.^[4] This move corresponded with the latitudinarian efforts of the Anglican Church in England at that time, which acted in a similar way to suppress "religious enthusiasm" and false messianism in favour of social order and religious reason.^[4] The book received enthusiastic approbations from the sages of the generation, among them Hakham Tzvi Ashkenazi, which helped strengthen Nieto's close ties with the rabbis of Italy (such as the Mantua community) and created a united Sephardi-Ashkenazi front of opposition to Sabbateanism.^[4]

Science, Astronomy and the Science of Chronology in the Service of Halakha and Apologetics

Hakham Nieto's distinct scientific talent found tangible expression in his research in the field of chronology and applied astronomy.^{[2, 4]} In Livorno, Italy, Nieto acquired great skill in conducting scientific and comparative debates with Christian scholars on questions of calendars and time reckoning.^[4] The fruits of this research were collected in his Italian work "Paschologia" (or "Pascalogia"), which was printed in Cologne in 1702 and dedicated to Cardinal Francesco Maria de' Medici with the aim of promoting mutual cultural and religious understanding.^{[2, 3, 4]}

In this book Nieto carried out a detailed historical and mathematical analysis of the errors that had accumulated in the calendars of the Greek Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church from the First Council of Nicaea (the year 325 CE) until the year 1692.^{[3, 4]} He proved astronomically the distortions that arose in the transition from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar with regard to fixing the date of the Christian festival of Easter, and set against them the extraordinary astronomical and mathematical precision of the Hebrew calendar, which combines the solar cycle with the lunar cycle with maximal precision.^{[2, 4]}

Upon his arrival in London, Nieto used the astronomical knowledge he had acquired to solve a serious practical halakhic problem.^[4] The Jews of the community, who were accustomed to the climate and the times of the Mediterranean countries, had difficulty determining the times of the beginning and end of the Sabbath at the northern latitudes of England, where the length of the day changes extremely between the seasons of the year and the twilight periods are especially long.^[4] Nieto was the first to calculate and determine scientifically the times of the beginning and end of the Sabbath for the latitude of England, and thereby prevented desecration of the Sabbath and halakhic confusion.^{[3, 4]}

In 1717 he published the multi-year calendar "Binah la-Ittim" (in Spanish: "Repertorio de los Ros-Hodes, Fiestas, y Ayunos"), which covered the years 1718 to 1800 and included detailed tables of new moons (moladot), solar and lunar eclipses, times of sunrise and sunset, and times of prayers.^{[2, 7]} This calendar served as the official and exclusive guide of the Jewish community in London until the nineteenth century.^{[2, 4]}

At the beginning of the calendar Nieto included a fascinating chronological appendix listing the years that had passed since the creation of the world, the Flood, the birth of Moses our teacher and the destruction of the Temples, and alongside them he noted precisely the number of years that had passed since the expulsion of the Jews from England, France, Spain and Portugal.^[7] The inclusion of these traumatic historical events in the calendar served as a powerful educational tool for building a shared historical memory for the former anusim, while stressing the continuity of the existence of the people of Israel despite the persecutions.^[7]

Hakham Nieto's scientific authority attracted the attention of Christian scholars and Hebraists at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.^[7] Among others, he was in contact with the well-known Hebraist John Covel, Master of Christ's College, Cambridge, who approached him with a proposal to cooperate in publishing further scientific and chronological works.^[7] Nieto also maintained ties with the well-known German bibliographer Johann Christoph Wolf, which attests to his respected standing in the European Republic of Letters.^{[2, 3]}

From a philosophical-epistemological standpoint, Nieto held an open approach to science; he saw scientific discoveries, including the possibility of life existing on other planets and the understanding that the stars are suns illuminating distant worlds, as an expression of divine providence and not a threat to it.^[4] Nevertheless, when the new science threatened to harm the plain meaning of Scripture in a way that could not be reconciled, as in the case of the heliocentric model, which clashed with the description of Joshua's miracle at Gibeon, Nieto preferred to set a clear limit, refused to adopt heliocentrism and chose to preserve the plain meaning of the verses, thereby exemplifying a selective and cautious synthesis between science and faith.^[4]

Apologetics and Interreligious Polemic: The Answer to the Archbishop of Cranganore

A further arena in which Hakham Nieto displayed his power as a gifted and courageous polemicist was the defense of the people of Israel and of the Torah against direct Christian theological attacks.^{[2, 3]} The most prominent case is connected with the traumatic event of the auto-da-fé held in Lisbon on September 6, 1705, in which Jewish anusim who had been caught observing the commandments in secret were burned at the stake.^{[10, 11]} On that occasion the Archbishop of Cranganore delivered a humiliating and cutting sermon addressed to the victims of the Inquisition condemned to death, in which he preached to them to abandon their wretched religion and presented a one-sided Christological interpretation of verses of the Hebrew Bible in order to prove the truth of Christianity.^{[2, 10, 11]}

Hakham David Nieto could not pass over in silence this offense to the honor of the slain of his people.^{[10, 11]} He composed a sharp, detailed and profound answer to this sermon, which was published anonymously under the pseudonym "Carlos Vero" and printed after his death in 1729 under the title "Respuesta al Sermon" ("Answer to the Sermon").^{[2, 6, 10, 11]} In this work Nieto dismantled the archbishop's arguments one by one, displayed extraordinary expertise in the biblical sources and showed that the Christian interpretations of verses of the Hebrew Bible are based on mistaken translations, on taking things out of context and on distorting the plain meaning of the verses.^[2]

Nieto established anew the justification of the Jews' readiness to give up their lives for the sanctification of God's name, and presented the Christian Inquisition not as an expression of divine grace but as a cruel and immoral mechanism contrary to the values of religion and humanity.^{[10, 11]} As part of establishing Jewish faith and refuting Christian claims, Nieto made a use unique and rare among Jewish theologians of the "consensus gentium" argument (the agreement of all nations).^{[2, 4]} He argued that the existence of basic principles shared by all the great human religions, such as the existence of God, the concept of reward and punishment and the immortality of the soul, proves the universal truth of these principles of faith, and puts the unique ecclesiastical claims of Christianity in an untenable light.^{[2, 4]} The work was later translated into English in 1845 by Moses Mocatta under the title "The Inquisition and Judaism," and became a classic asset of the literature of Jewish polemic and apologetics in Britain.^{[10, 11]}

Further Works, His Last Days and His Legacy

Hakham David Nieto composed a number of further works in Hebrew and Spanish, some of which remained in manuscript or were included in various collections. Among his prominent works one can count:

Los Triunfos de la Pobreza (The Triumphs of Poverty): a panegyric poem printed in 1709, which praises poverty and stresses the importance of withstanding life's trials out of faith.^[6] The work was translated into English for the first time in 2018 by Walter Hilliger.^[6]

• Sha'ar Dan: a first encyclopedia of its kind on the entire Babylonian Talmud, in which Nieto sought to organize all the concepts and entries of the Talmud in an alphabetical and methodical form.^[1] Apparently Nieto did not manage to complete this monumental work before his death.^[1]
• Responsa: Nieto answered many halakhic questions, and some of his responsa were included in the responsa collection "Peri Etz Chaim" of the sages of the famous "Etz Chaim" yeshiva in Amsterdam, with which he maintained continuous Torah ties.^[1]
• Occasional poetry: Nieto engaged in writing liturgical and occasional poetry, and some of his poems were included in the poetry collection "Kol Ugav."^[1]

Hakham David Nieto died in London on January 10, 1728 (28 Tevet 5488) and was buried in the old Jewish cemetery (the "Velho") at Mile End.^{[3, 6]} His son, Hakham Isaac Nieto, later inherited his place as Hakham of the community, but with the father's death the golden age of Torah-scientific leadership in London came to an end.^{[6, 7]} During the rest of the eighteenth century the community contended with trends of assimilation and demographic decline, which left the years of Nieto's tenure as exceptional and unforgettable.^[7]

The figure of Hakham Nieto won enormous admiration not only from his contemporaries such as Hakham Tzvi Ashkenazi, but also from the great figures of the following generations, among them the Chida (Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai), who praised his extraordinary wisdom and his books.^{[5, 6]} The legacy of Hakham Nieto has remained as a symbol of the harmonious combination of the world of halakha and Talmud with modern philosophy and science, a model that placed the defense of the Oral Torah on firm rational foundations and helped preserve the integrity of the tradition of Israel at the threshold of the modern era.^{[2, 4, 8]}