2004
Volume 48, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 1781-7838
  • E-ISSN: 1783-1792

Abstract

Abstract

The University of Padua Medical School is known to be the first institution to officially allow Jews to matriculate, beginning in the early fifteenth century. It remained the only university to do so until around the mid-seventeenth century, when medical schools in the Netherlands first began accepting Jewish students as well. In this essay we focus on one student from this Dutch historical chapter, David de Haro, rescuing him from obscurity and identifying him as likely the first Jewish medical graduate of the famed University of Leiden. Marshalling a wide array of previously untapped archival material, we reconstruct part of his tragically short life. In addition to gaining insight into the experience of university life in this period, we catch a rare glimpse of the unique challenges faced by a young Jewish medical student in the Netherlands in the early seventeenth century.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.5117/SR2022.1.002.REIC
2022-08-01
2024-11-09
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/17817838/48/1/SR2022.1.002.REIC.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.5117/SR2022.1.002.REIC&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Album Studiosorum Academiae Lugduno Batavae 1575-1875. Den Haag: Martinus Nijhof, 1875.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Bacher, W. “La Bibliotheque d’Un Medicin Juif,” Revue des Etudes Juives40 (1900): 55-61.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Beltran, Miguel. The Influence of Abraham Cohen De Herrera’s Kabbalah on Spinoza’s Metaphysics. Leiden: Brill Academic Publications, 2016.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Berkel, Klaas van, et al. The Book of Nature in Early Modern and Modern History. Peeters Publishers, 2006.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Burgersdijck, Franco. Collegium physicum: disputationibus XXXII. absolutum; totam naturalem philosophiam compendiose proponens. Lugd. Batavorum: Ex officina Elziviriorum, 1637.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Bylebyl, J. “The School of Padua: Humanistic Medicine in the Sixteenth Century,” In Health, Medicine and Mortality in the Sixteenth Century, edited by C.Webster, 335. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Catalogvs librorvm medicorum, philosophicorum, et Hebraicorum, sapientissimi, atque eruditissimi viri. Amsterdam: Jan Fredricksz Stam, 1637.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Carpi, D. “Jews who received medical degrees from the University of Padua in the 16th and early 17th centuries.” (Hebrew) In Scritti in Memoria di Nathan Cassuto, edited by DanielCarpi, AugustoSegre, and RenzoToaff, 62-91. Jerusalem: Qedem-Yad le-Yaqirenu, 1986.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Ceseracciu, E. V. “Ebrei laureate a Padova nel cinquecento,” Quaderni per la Storia dell’Università di Padova13 (1980): 151-168.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Ciscato, A. Gli Ebrei in Padova (1300-1800). Bologna: Arnaldo Forni Editore, 1901.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Collins, Kenneth. “Jewish Medical Students and Graduates at the Universities of Padua and Leiden: 1617-1740.”Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal4:1 (January2013): 1-8.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Collins, Kenneth. Go and Learn: The International Story of the Jews and Medicine in Scotland 1739–1945. Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1988.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Collins, Kenneth and SamuelKottek, editors. Ma’ase Tuviya (Venice, 1708): Tuviya Cohen on Medicine and Science. Jerusalem: Muriel and Philip Berman Medical Library of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2021.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Corazzol, Giacomo“La Biblioteca di Lewi ben Eliyyahu Nomico (XV sec.): sulla penetrazione della cultura medica sefardita a Candia,” In Corazzol, Giacomo. Gli ebrei a Candia nei secoli XIV-XVI: l’impatto dell’immigrazione sulla cultura della comunità locale. PhD diss., University of Bologna, 2015.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Dubnow, S. “Jewish Students at the University of Padua.” (Hebrew) Sefer Hashanah: American Hebrew Yearbook (1931): 216-219.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Efron, John. Medicine and the German Jews. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Esso, Isaac van. “Het Aandeel der Joodsche Artsen in De Natuurwetenschappen in De Nederlanden,” In Geschiedenis der Joden in Nederland (Volume 1), edited by H.Brugmans and A.Frank, 643-679. Amsterdam: Holkema & Warendorf, 1940.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Esso, Isaac van. “Survey on Jewish Physicians in the Netherlands,” (Hebrew) Koroth2:5-6 (October, 1959): 201-208.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. French, Roger. “Harvey in Holland: Circulation and the Calvinists.” In The Medical Revolution of the Seventeenth Century, edited by RogerFrench and AndrewWear, 54-58. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Harskamp, Jaap. Disertatio Medica Inauguralis… Leyden Medical Dissertations in the British Library 1593-1746 (Catalogue of a Sloane-inspired Collection). London: Wellcome Institute for the History of medicine, 1997.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Friedenthal, Meelis et al. Early Modern Disputations and Dissertations in Interdisciplinary and European Context. Leiden: Brill Academic Publications, 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Frijhoff, Willem. La Société Néerlandaise et ses Gradués 1575-1814: une recherche sérielle sur le statut des intellectuels à partir des registres universitaires. Amsterdam: Holland University Press, 1981.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Goiten, S. D. “The Medical Profession in Light of the Cairo Geniza Documents.”Hebrew Union College Annual34 (1963): 185-186.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Heller, Marvin. The Seventeenth Century Hebrew Book (2 vols.): An Abridged Thesaurus. Leiden: Brill Academic Publications, 2010.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Hes, Hindle S. Jewish Physicians in the Netherlands. Assen: Van Gorcum, 1980.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Kaplan, Yosef. “Jewish Students at Leiden University in the Seventeenth Century,” (Hebrew). In Studies on the History of Dutch Jewry Vol. 2, edited by JozephMichman, 65-75. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1979.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Friedenwald, Harry. Jews and Medicine. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1944.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Friedenwald, Harry. Jewish Luminaries in Medical History. Ktav Publishing House, 1946.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Kaplan, Yosef. An Alternative Path to Modernity: The Sephardi Diaspora in Western Europe. Leiden: Brill Academic Publications, 2000.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Kayserling, Meyer. Biblioteca Espanola Portugueza Judaica. Strasbourg: Charles J. Trubner, 1890.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Koen, E. M. and RuthLehmann. “Notorial Records Relating to the Amsterdam Portuguese Jews Before 1639.”Studia Rosenthaliana32:2 (1998): 215.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Komorowski, Manfred. Bio-bibliographisches Verzeichnis jüdischer Doktoren im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert. Munchen: K. G. Saur Verlag, 1991.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Koren, Nathan. Jewish Physicians: A Biographical Index. Jerusalem: Israel Universities Press, 1973.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Krabbenhoft, Kenneth, translator. Abraham Cohen De Herrera: Gate of Heaven. Leiden: Brill Academic Publications, 2002.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Levi, Israel. “L’Inventaire du Mobilier et De la Bibliotheque d’Un Medicine Juif De Majorque au VIV Siecle.” Revue des Etudes Juives39 (1899): 242-26.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Massil, Stephen. “Joseph Hart Myers MD (1758–1823): First Jewish Graduate.”University of Edinburgh Journal, 45:2 (2011): 22.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Massry, S. G. et al. “Jewish Medicine and the University of Padua: Contribution of the Padua Graduate Toviah Cohen to Nephrology.”American Journal of Nephrology19:2 (1999): 213-221.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Miletto, Gianfranco. “The Library of Abraham ben David Portaleone: A Newly Discovered Document,”European Journal of Jewish Studies7:1 (2013): 93-100.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Modena, Abdelkader and EdgardoMorpurgo, Medici E Chirurghi Ebrei Dottorati E Licenziati Nell Universita Di Padova dal 1617 al 1816. Bologna: Forni Editore, 1967.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Molhuysen, Philip Christiaan. Bronnen tot De geschiedenis der Leidsche Universiteit 1574-1811. s-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1916-1923.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Ommen, Kasper van. IO. Grolieri & Amicorum: A Stroll through Leiden’s Book History. Leiden: Leiden University Library, 2010.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Polack, Philip. editor and translator, Rehuel Jessurun Dialogo Dos Montes. London: Tamesis Books, 1975.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Poppa, Francesca di. “God Acts from the Laws of His Nature Alone”: From the Nihil ex Nihilo Axiom to Causation as Expression in Spinoza’s Metaphysics. PhD diss., University of Pittsburgh, 2006.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Reichman, Edward. “The Valmadonna Trust Broadside Collection and a Virtual Reunion of the Jewish Medical Students of Padua.”Verapo Yerapei: Journal of Torah and Medicine of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Synagogue7 (2017): 55-76.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Reichman, Edward. “What Became of Tychsen? The Non-Jewish ‘Rabbi’ and his ‘Congregation’ of Jewish Medical Students.”Seforim Blog, November1, 2020, https://seforimblog.com/2020/11/what-became-of-tychsen-the-non-jewish-rabbi-and-his-congregation-of-jewish-medical-students/.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Reichman, Edward. “The ‘Doctored’ Medical Diploma of Samuel, the Son of Menasseh ben Israel: Forgery of ‘For Jewry’.”Seforim Blog, March23, 2021, https://seforimblog.com/2021/03/the-doctored-medical-diploma-of-samuel-the-son-of-menasseh-ben-israel-forgery-or-for-jewry/.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Reichman, Edward. “Samuel Vita Della Volta (1772-1853): An Underappreciated Bibliophile and his Medical ‘Diploma’tic Journey.”Seforim Blog, November5, 2021, https://seforimblog.com/2021/11/dr-samuel-vita-della-volta-1772-1853-an-underappreciated-bibliophile-and-his-medical-diplomatic-journey/.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Reichman, Edward. “The Mystery of the Medical Training of the Many Isaac Wallichs: Amsterdam (1675), Leiden (1675), Padua (1683) and Halle (1703).”Hakirah31 (Winter 2022): 313-330.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Roth, Cecil. “The Medieval University and the Jew.”Menora Journal9:2 (1930): 128-141.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Roth, Cecil. A Life of Menasseh Ben Israel: Rabbi, Printer, and Diplomat. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1945.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Roth, Cecil. “The Qualification of Jewish Physicians in the Middle Ages.”Speculum28 (1953): 834-843.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Ruderman, David B. “The Impact of Science on Jewish Culture and Society in Venice (with Special Reference to Jewish Graduates of Padua’s Medical School).” In David B.Ruderman, Jewish Thought and Scientific Discovery in Early Modern Europe, 519-553. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Schwartz, D. “Towards the Study of the Sources of R. Meir Aldabi’s Shevilei Emunah,” (Hebrew) Sinai114 (1994): 72–77.
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Shasha, S. M. and S. G.Massry.“The Medical School of Padua and its Jewish Graduates.” (Hebrew) Harefuah141:4 (April2002): 388-394.
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Shatzky, Jacob. “On Jewish Medical Students of Padua.”Journal of the History of Medicine5 (1950): 444-447.
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Soave, Moise. “Medici Ebrei Laureati nell’Universita di Padova nel 166 e 1700.” Il Vessillo IsraeliticoXXIV (1867): 189-192.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Stemvers, F. A. “Promoties van Amsterdamse Joodse artsen aan Nederlandse Universiteiten Gedurende De 17e en 18e eeuw.” Aere Perennius34 (October, 1979): 70-77.
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Tamani, Giuliano. “Gli Studi Ebraica a Padova nei Secoli XVII-XX.” Quaderni per la storia dell’Università di Padova9-10 (1976-1977): 215-228.
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Warchal, Jan. “Zydzi Polscy na Uniwersytecie Padewskim.” Kwartalnik Zydow w PolsceIII (1913): 37-72.
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Wilde, Anna E. de. “Sales Catalogues of Jewish-Owned Private Libraries in the Dutch Republic during the Long Eighteenth Century: A Preliminary Overview.” In Book Trade Catalogues in Early Modern Europe, edited by Arthur derWeduwen, et al., 212-248. Leiden: Brill Academic Publications, 2021.
    [Google Scholar]
  61. Wilk, David. “Markus Moses’ Doctoral Dissertation or Who Remembers Butzow.”Koroth9:3–4 (1986): 408–426.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.5117/SR2022.1.002.REIC
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error