Sefirotic Tree
Elijah Menaḥem Ḥalfan
1533
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Creator Bio
Elijah Menaḥem Ḥalfan
Elijah Menaḥem ben Abba Mari Ḥalfan was a kabbalist and humanist who lived in Venice. He worked as a physician and was educated in both philosophy and rabbinic literature. He was an associate of the Portuguese Jewish messianic pretender Solomon Molkho and is known for his openness to interacting with—and even teaching Hebrew to—Christian scholars.
Related Guide
Early Modern Italy: Where East and West Meet
1500–1750
Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and Marranos encountered each other in Italian cities, developing community structures that later influenced Jewish communal organization throughout the western world.
Related Guide
Early Modern Visual and Material Culture
1500–1750
Early modern Jewish visual culture flourished, with illuminated manuscripts, ornate synagogues, and portraiture alongside increasing non-Jewish interest in Jewish customs and greater Jewish self-representation.
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