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Enemies, Neighbours, and Friends: Jews and Christians in Renaissance Italy 

THE CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY 
JEWISH STUDIES PROJECT 
cordially invites you to a lecture by 

Giulio Busi 
Professor, Freie Universität of Berlin 
Director, Institute of Jewish Studies 

Tuesday, January 30 at 6 p.m. 
Gellner Room, Monument Building 

Direct contacts between Christian and Jewish erudites existed in Italy

already during the Middle Ages, but it was in the 15th century that the

stress increasingly shifted from bookish sources to personal

acquaintances. This mirroring of two cultures was an asymmetrical one,

since Christians could rely on their majority status while Jews were

confined to their minority role, being often hardly tolerated when not

openly discriminated against. 

Notwithstanding the situation, the novelty of the Renaissance had

mainly an anthropological character. The Jewish lore portrayed in Italian

books and pieces of art came mainly from personal relationships. In

many cases, these contacts were tainted by religious polemics but in

some instances sincere friendship also had its lot.  The more and more

frequent contacts can also be explained with the fact that new 

actors started to play on the cultural stage. In fact, during the 15th

century, Jewish traditions were not any more exclusive heritage of the

Christian clergy, mainly interested in converting the Jews. A new kind of

secular humanist took akin interest in Hebrew books and started to ask

questions to its Jewish acquaintances. 

Giulio Busi is Professor at the Freie Universität of Berlin, and director of

the Institute of Jewish Studies.  His primary focus is Jewish mysticism, its

historical development, its literary values and aesthetic implications. He

is the author of nearly one hundred publications, including works on

Kabbalah and Jewish symbols, critical editions of Jewish texts, studies

on Jewish travelers, bibliographic examinations and studies on the

relations between Jewish and Christian culture during the Renaissance.

He conceived and curated an international exhibition of the ancient

collection of kabbalistic manuscripts of the Jewish community of Mantua

("Mantova e la qabbalah," Berlin 2000, Mantua 2001, New York 2002).

He contributes to the cultural supplement of "Il Sole 24Ore." He is the

general editor of the series "The Kabbalistic Library of Giovanni Pico

della Mirandola" (www.mithridates.org).   Among his recent publications:

Mistica ebraica (with Elena Loewenthal; Einaudi, Turin 1995); La

qabbalah (Laterza, Rome-Bari 1998), Simboli del pensiero ebraico

(Einaudi, Turin 1999), Catalogue of the Kabbalistic Manuscripts in the

Library of the Jewish Community of Mantua (Cadmo, Fiesole 2001),

Mantova e la qabbalah. Mantua and the Kabbalah (Skira, Geneva - Milan

2001), Lontano da Gerusalemme (Einaudi, Turin 2003), The Great

Parchment. Flavius Mithridates' Latin Translation, the Hebrew Text, and

an English Version, Nino Aragno, Turin 2004), Qabbalah visiva (Einaudi,

Turin 2005).