Commentators:R. Ovadyah Sforno/0

R. Ovadyah Seforno – Intellectual Profile

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R. Ovadyah Seforno

Name	R. Ovadyah Seforno ר' עובדיה ספורנו
Dates	~1470-~1550
Location	Italy
Works	Commentaries on Torah and Nevi'im, Tehillim, Iyyov, Shir HaShirim, Kohelet, and Pirkei Avot, Ohr Ammim
Exegetical Characteristics	Humanist
Influenced by
Impacted on

Background¹

Life

• Name – R. Ovadyah b. R. Yaakov Seforno²
  • Hebrew name – ר' עובדיה בן ר' יעקב ספורנו‎³
  • Latin name – Sphurnus⁴
• Dates – c. 1470 – c. 1550
• Location – R. Ovadyah was born in the Italian city of Cesena, Romagna, later moved to Rome, and then to Bologna.
• Occupation – After studying traditional rabbinics in his hometown, R. Ovadyah moved to Rome to study medicine and other fields.⁵ Seforno was an expert in Hebrew grammar who was once commissioned to compose a book of Hebrew grammar, and to translate it to Latin. He became an important Halakhic authority who sent responsa to communities throughout Italy.⁶ R. Ovadyah made his living as a physician.⁷
• Family – R. Ovadyah had a brother Chananel,⁸ a son named Yaakov, and this son had a son named Chananel.⁹
• Teachers – Unknown
• Contemporaries – R. Meir Katzenellenbogen, R. Eliezer Ashkenazi
• Students –
• Notable events

Works

• Biblical commentaries – Torah,¹⁰ Shir HaShirim, Kohelet,¹¹ Yonah, Chavakkuk, Zekharyah,¹² Iyyov,¹³ Tehillim¹⁴
• Rabbinics – Commentary on Pirkei Avot
• Jewish thought – Ohr Ammim

Torah Commentary

Characteristics

• Verse by verse / Topical –
• Genre –
• Structure –
• Language –

Methods

• –

Themes

• –

Textual Issues

• Manuscripts –
• Printings –
• Textual layers –

Sources

Significant Influences

• Earlier Sources –
• Teachers –
• Foils –

Occasional Usage

Possible Relationship

Impact

Later exegetes

Supercommentaries

¹ The biographical information in this section is largely based on the introduction to the Mosad HaRav Kook edition of Seforno's Torah commentary, edited by Z. Gottlieb (ביאור על התורה לרבי עובדיה ספורנו, (Jerusalem, 1980); henceforth: Gottleib, Biur).

² The name Seforno seems to refer to a place name in Italy.

³ His last name also appears as: ספורני, איש ספורני, מסופרנו, דספורנו, איש שפורנו, איספורנו, זפרוני, די ספורניס, ספורנו מציזינא.

⁴ In the Latin translation of his work Ohr Ammim, he refers to himself as Sphurnus.

⁵ He received a doctorate in medicine in Ferrara on April 27, 1501. In Rome, he earned a living by tutoring gentiles, including the well-known Hebrew scholar and humanist Johann Reichlin. Whom he tutored in Hebrew grammar and other Jewish studies.

⁶ In 1520, he was asked to rule on a controversial case of marriage.

⁷ See below for medical references in his commentary. While in Rome for approximately 30 years, R. Ovadyah had difficulty making a living and did not achieve renown as a physician. After moving to Bologna, where his brother lived, his medical reputation grew to the point where he was considered an expert physician.

⁸ According to Seforno's introduction to his commentary, it was Chananel who encouraged him to write the commentary.

⁹ This grandson was responsible for submitting R. Ovadyah's Torah commentary for publication.

¹⁰ See below.

¹¹ Printed together with the Venice edition of Seforno's Torah commentary. Seforno dedicated and sent the commentary on Kohelet to King Henry II of France, who was a personal acquaintance. There are no extant manuscripts of the Shir HaShirim commentary.

¹² These commentaries seem to consist of an initial draft that was to serve as the basis for a more complete version. They were printed in the book Likkutei Shoshanim by R. David Ibn Chin in Venice, 1602, and subsequently in Kehilat Moshe (Amsterdam 1724/7). There are also extant manuscripts.

¹³ A philosophical commentary intended to refute Christian views and demonstrate the Torah view of divine providence and reward and punishment (see the author's introduction). This commentary was composed when Seforno was in Rome. See Epistles 4 and 5 in Z. Gottlieb, ed., "כתבי רבי עובדיה ספורנו"(Jerusalem, 1980).

¹⁴ A verse by verse commentary based largely on the Targum and Midrash Shocher Tov, along with other commentators. The author composed two introductions – one short and one long. The long introduction attempts to explain the structure of the entire book of Tehillim (see below regarding Seforno's emphasis on organization and structure). In the short introduction, Seforno speaks of the eternal spiritual bliss destined for the Jewish nation. Each psalm is given a heading that encapsulates the content of that particular psalm.