Yoḥanan Alemanno

Yoḥanan Alemanno was born in Mantua, Italy, to an Ashkenazic family. He was raised and educated in the home of Yeḥiel of Pisa, in Florence. Alemanno was well versed in Greek, Arabic, and Jewish philosophy, Latin literature, and Italian kabbalah. He taught Hebrew to Christian scholars in a number of Italian cities; the Renaissance philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was among his students. At the age of thirty-five, Alemanno settled in Mantua as a guest of the city’s ruler Ludovico III Gonzaga, before returning to the home of Yeḥiel de Pisa in 1488, where he remained until 1497. Alemanno’s Ḥaye ha-‘olamim (Eternal Life) considers how man can obtain immortality and communion with God. Alemanno wrote other works, including a philosophical commentary on the Song of Songs—Ḥeshek Shelomoh (Solomon’s Desire)—and an unfinished philosophical-kabbalistic commentary on the Pentateuch, none of which has been published in its entirety.