“Everyone is Free to Decide to Investigate Every Kind of Discourse”
Simone Luzzatto’s Lettera Approbatoria to The Revealer of Secrets (1640?) by Samuel ha-Kohen da Pisa Lusitano
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Abstract
The development and coherence of Simone Luzzatto’s ideas in his Italian works, Discourse on the State of the Jews (1638) and Socrates, Or On Human Knowledge (1651), have received some scholarly attention. This research has revealed that scepticism plays a significant role in shaping his philosophical and political thought. In 1656, Luzzatto released his final surviving text, which was composed in Hebrew: a four-page “Letter of Approval” for Samuel ha-Kohen da Pisa Lusitano’s The Revealer of Secrets (1656), spanning pages 2a to 4b. Commencing with a talmudic discussion (b. B. Bat. 16a) in which Raba asserts that Job rejected the belief in the resurrection of the dead, Luzzatto revisits the question, seeking to absolve Job from a supposed sin that would brand him a heretic. This chapter analyses Luzzatto’s letter, exploring whether it employs the same sceptical strategies found in his Italian works, and if so, how he adapts them. In doing so, it aims to broaden the investigation into the development and coherence of Luzzatto’s thought, encompassing both the religious concerns at hand and the Hebrew-reading audience he intended to address.