Review of Gad Freudenthal (Ed.), Studies on Gersonides: A Fourteenth-Century Jewish Philosopher-Scientist

As is well known, anniversaries of the birth or death of important figures of the past often provide rich occasions for new and comprehensive scholarly assessments. The 700th anniversary of the birth of Gersonides (R. Levi ben Gershom [1288-1344]) was just such an occasion. Two international conferences devoted to the life and times of this Jewish philosopher, astronomer, and biblical exegete, held in France in 1988, produced two fine anthologies of original and useful essays by scholars already known for their work on Gersonides and by several others in related fields. The first, edited by Gilbert Dahan, is entitled Gersonide en son temps (peeters, 1991); the second is the volume under review.