«Hokhmat ha-Nefesh: Soul and Dream, from Eleazar of Worms to Renaissance Italy»

This article examines the traditions of copying and reading a medieval Ashkenazi treatise, Hokhmat ha-Nefesh (»Wisdom of the Soul«) by Eleazar of Worms (1176–1238) in Renaissance Rome. It delves into a manuscript copied in 1515 by Jewish scholar Elias Levita (1469–1549), commissioned by Levita’s patron, Neoplatonist and Hermetic scholar Egidio da Viterbo (1469–1532). In addition to copying the text, Egidio had Jewish interpreters translate Hokhmat ha-Nefesh into vernacular Italian. The treatise discusses the heavenly nature of the soul, its connections with the angelic world, its prophetic abilities, and its fate and retribution in the afterlife. What role did this Ashkenazi text play in the early modern tradition? How can this text be seen as a testament to kabbalistic perspectives in Renaissance Italy? How did Egidio’s collaborators handle their scribal and translation tasks, and the relationship between the Hebrew original and the vernacular translation of Hokhmat ha-Nefesh? This essay addresses these questions.