Isaac Nathan ben Kalonymus was a French Jewish philosopher and controversialist. He lived at Arles, perhaps at Avignon also, and in other places in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
He belonged to the well-known Nathan family, which claimed its descent from David; he was probably the grandson of the translator Maestro Bongodas Judah Nathan. According to the statement of Isaac himself, in the introduction to his concordance (see below), he was completely ignorant of the Bible until his fifteenth year, his studies having been restricted to the Talmud and to religious philosophy.
Later he took up other branches of learning, and owing to his frequent association with Christians and to the numerous anti-Jewish writings of Jewish apostates that appeared at that time, he turned his attention to religious controversy.
Isaac Nathan ben Kalonymus was the author of the following Jewish apologetic works (some are still extant, and some are known only through citations):
The Meïr Netib was the first Bible concordance in Hebrew, and was distinguished from the similar Latin work of Arlotus of Prato in that its vocabulary was arranged in the order of the roots. In the introduction the author says that his work aimed to facilitate the study of Biblical exegesis and to prevent Jewish converts to Christianity from making, in their religious controversies, incorrect quotations from the Bible, as was often the case with Geronimo de Santa Fé. The "Meïr Netib," with its complete introduction, was first published at Venice (erroneously under the name of Mordecai Nathan) in 1523; in 1556 it was published at Basel by Antoine Reuchlin (printed by Henri Pierre), but with only a part of the introduction.
Eleazar of Worms, or Eleazar ben Judah ben Kalonymus, also sometimes known today as Eleazar Rokeach from the title of his Book of the Perfumer —where the numerical value of "Perfumer" is equal to Eleazar, was a leading Talmudist and Kabbalist, and the last major member of the Hasidei Ashkenaz, a group of German Jewish pietists.
Isaac Israeli ben Joseph or Yitzhak ben Yosef was a Spanish-Jewish astronomer/astrologer who flourished at Toledo in the first half of the fourteenth century.
Isaiah di Trani ben Mali (the Elder) (c. 1180 – c. 1250) (Hebrew: ישעיה בן מאלי הזקן דטראני), better known as the RID, was a prominent Italian Talmudist.
Joseph ben Meir Teomim was a Galician rabbi, best known as author of Pri Megadim, by which title he is also referenced. He was one of the foremost Torah Scholars of his time, a "thorough student of rabbinical literature, and... not unlearned in the secular sciences".
Alfandari was a family of eastern rabbis prominent in the 17th and 18th centuries, found in Smyrna, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. The name may be derived from a Spanish locality, perhaps from Alfambra. The following is a list of the chief members of the family:
Joseph ben Solomon Ṭaiṭazaḳ, also referred to by the acronym MahaRITaTS, was a talmudic authority and kabalist who lived at Salonica in the 15th and 16th centuries. He was a member of the Taitazak family.
Miles of Marseille was a Provençal-Jewish physician and philosopher of the Middle Ages. He was born at Marseille around 1294. In some manuscripts he is designated by the name "Bongodos," the Provençal language equivalent of "ben Judah."
Jedidiah Solomon ben Abraham Norzi (1560–1626) was a Rabbi and exegete, best known for his work Minchat Shai.
Arlotto of Prato was an Italian Franciscan theologian. He became Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor at the end of his life.
Abraham ben David Caslari was a Catalan-Jewish physician. He lived at Besalú, Catalonia, in the first half of the fourteenth century. Caslari was considered one of the most skillful physicians of his time. He was the teacher of Moses Narboni of Perpignan, and one of the ten notables to whom, in 1323, Kalonymus ben Kalonymus of Arles addressed his treatise on morals, entitled, Eben Bochan (Touchstone).
Joseph ben Abba Meir ben Joseph ben Jacob Ibn Kaspi, also known as Yosef Caspi, was a Provençal exegete, grammarian, and philosopher, apparently influenced by Averroës.
Shem-Ṭob ben Isaac of Tortosa was a Provençal rabbi and physician.
Kalonymus ben Todros was a hakham of Provence who flourished at Narbonne in the second half of the twelfth century. He bore the title Nasi and was the leader of the community when Benjamin of Tudela visited Narbonne in 1165. He and his cousin Levi ben Moses were joint leaders at a later time.
Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils was a French rabbi, Talmudist, Bible commentator, and payyetan of the mid-eleventh century. He is also known by the Hebrew name Yosef Tov Elem, a Hebrew translation from the French name "Bonfils."
Nathan Judah ben Solomon was a Provençal Jewish physician and scholar of the fourteenth century. His Provençal names were En Bongodas and Bonjues and he was probably a native of Avignon, where lived many other members of the Nathan family. Judah, like all the other members of his family, added to his father's name the formula "of the race of Ben Jesse," which is probably an allusion to the house of David, from which several Provençal families claimed to be descended.
Kalonymos or Kalonymus is a prominent Jewish family who lived in Italy, mostly in Lucca and in Rome, which, after the settlement at Mainz and Speyer of several of its members, took during many generations a leading part in the development of Jewish learning in Germany. The family is according to many considered the foundation of Hachmei Provence and the Ashkenazi Hasidim.
Aaron ben Gershon Abu Al-Rabi of Catania was a Sicilian-Jewish scholar, cabalist, and astrologer of the 15th century.
Isaac ben Todros was a Spanish rabbi and Talmudist who lived toward the end of the thirteenth century.
HeḤalutz was a Hebrew magazine which appeared irregularly between 1852 and 1889. It was edited and published by Joshua Heschel Schorr as the realization of a plan mapped out by his friend and teacher Isaac Erter, who had died one year before the first volume appeared.
Joseph Gart was a Provençal Jewish liturgical poet and commentator, who likely lived at Aix in the fifteenth century.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Isidore Singer and Isaac Broydé (1901–1906). "Isaac Nathan ben Kalonymus". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls.