דון יצחק אברבנאל

Don Isaac Abarbanel lived in two worlds at once: the palaces of kings and the study hall. He was born in Lisbon to a distinguished family, and by his extraordinary financial talent served as treasurer to the king of Portugal, and later to the monarchs of Castile and the royal house of Naples. A man who held the treasuries of the kingdom in his hand, while his heart remained with his people.

The great and tragic moment of his life came in the year 1492, the decree of the Spanish Expulsion. Abarbanel, who was close to Ferdinand and Isabella, tried with all his strength to annul the decree, and even offered an immense sum. When he failed, he faced a choice: to remain in his honor and wealth, or to go into exile with hundreds of thousands of his brethren. He chose exile. A great minister who preferred the fate of his people over his palace.

In his exile, from Naples to Venice, he did not sink into despair but wrote. His commentary on the Torah and the Prophets differs from all his predecessors: he opens each section with many questions and resolves them, discusses the historical and political background, and grapples with the views of the Christians of his day. A commentator who is also a historian and a statesman.

Out of the pain of the expulsion he wrote three books on the redemption and the Messiah, 'Mayenei HaYeshua' and others, to strengthen the broken heart of the people and to say: the exile is not the end. Precisely the one who saw the destruction of Spanish Jewry carried the banner of hope.

Abarbanel teaches that one can stand at the summit of power and wealth and not lose one's soul, and that in the moment of testing, when the people are weighed against status, the choice of truth is to go into exile with the flock. His figure connects the great scholars of Torah with the history of the nation in its hardest hour.