Joshua ben Joseph ibn Vives al-Lorqui (of Lorca

Lorca

Lorca is a municipality and town in the autonomous community of Murcia in southeastern Spain, 36 miles southwest of the city of Murcia. It had a population of 92,694 in 2010, up from the 2001 census total of 77,477. Lorca is the municipality with the second-largest surface area in Spain with...

) (fl.

Floruit

Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...

 1400) was a Spanish-Jewish physician who lived at Alcañiz

Alcañiz

Alcañiz is a town and municipality in the province of Teruel, in the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. The town is located on the banks of the river Guadalope. Alcañiz is the unofficial capital of the Lower Aragon historical region...

. In 1408, at the command of the rich and influential Benveniste ben Solomon ben Labi, he wrote a work in Arabic on the value and effects of various foodstuffs and of simple and composite medicaments. It was translated into Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

, under the title Gerem ha-Ma'alot, by Benveniste's son, Joseph Vidal

Joseph Vidal

Joseph ibn Vidal Labi was a prominent Spanish-Jewish scholar and orator, son of the philosopher Solomon ibn Labi. He lived at Saragossa, and was one of the 25 rabbis who by order of Pope Benedict XIII assisted at the disputation of Tortosa , where he distinguished himself by his oratorical...

.

This Joshua al-Lorqui is perhaps, as Philoxene Luzzatto points out, identical with the Joshua al-Lorqui who wrote an anti-Christian letter to his friend Solomon ha-Levi (Paul de Burgos), and who was also a physician in Alcañiz and was on friendly terms with Benveniste ben Labi, being present at Moses Benveniste's wedding. In the letter the writer expresses his astonishment at the fact that Paul de Burgos should have resolved to change his faith; he investigates the motives which could have led him to take such a step—ambition, mania for wealth and power, satisfaction of sensual desires, doubt of the truths of Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

. He then gives eight arguments against the truth of Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

, and in conclusion asks Paul if one who professes a certain religion is obliged to inquire into the truth of its doctrines.

This letter was addressed to Paul de Burgos at a time when the latter occupied a high position, was surrounded by luxury and a band of servants, and, as is supposed, had already been appointed tutor to the young king Juan II of Castile.

Family

Joshua Lorki's father, Joseph ben Joshua ibn Vives al-Lorqui, who died before 1372, was also a physician. He revised Tibbon's translation of Moses Maimonides' Millot Higgayon and dedicated the revision to his pupil Ezra ben Solomon ibn Gatigno. He wrote also the Sefer Yesodot.

His son, also Joseph ben Joshua ibn Vives al-Lorqui, was also a physician, and died before 1408. He translated from Arabic into Hebrew various books of the short canon

The Canon of Medicine

The Canon of Medicine is an encyclopedia of Galenic medicine in five books compiled by Ibn Sīnā and completed in 1025. It presents a clear and organized summary of all the medical knowledge of the time...

 of Avicenna

Avicenna

Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...

, and added to the translation a commentary which was used by ShemṬob Shaprut

Ibn Shaprut

Shem-Tob ben Isaac Shaprut of Tudela was a Spanish Jewish philosopher, physician, and polemicist. He is often confused with the physician Shem-Ṭob ben Isaac of Tortosa, who lived earlier...

.

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

• Steinschneider, Hebr. Uebers. p. 762;
• Eliakim Carmoly
  Eliakim Carmoly
  Eliakim Carmoly was a French-Jewish scholar. He was born at Soultz-Haut-Rhin, then in the French department of Haut-Rhin. His real name was Goschel David Behr ; the name Carmoly, borne by his family in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, was adopted by him when quite young...
  
  , Les Médecins Juifs, p. 118;
• Dibre Ḥakamim, p. 41, where the letter of Joshua al-Lorqui is reproduced;
• Oẓar Neḥmad, ii. 5, which gives the answer of Paul de Burgos;
• Heinrich Grätz, Gesch. viii. 90 et seq., 424 et seq.;
• see also Hieronymus de Santa Fé in Brüll's Jahrb. iv. 50 et seq.G

External links

• Jewish Encyclopedia article for Joshua Lorki, by Richard Gottheil and Meyer Kayserling
  Meyer Kayserling
  Meyer Kayserling was a German rabbi and historian.-Life:He was educated at Halberstadt, Nikolsburg , Prague, Würzburg, and Berlin. He devoted himself to history and philosophy...
  
  .
• Joshua Lorki in Colette Sirat (1990), A history of Jewish philosophy in the Middle Ages, Cambridge University Press