Hearing the Ancient Temple in Early Modernity

Abstract

In 1612 the Mantuan physician Abraham Portaleone published his treatise Shilṭei ha-giborim (שלטי הגיבורים, Shields of the heroes), a volume directed at an insider Jewish readership. Among the topics that Portaleone covered were the theories and practices of music in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, which, he claimed, were nearly identical to those that he and his readers knew in seventeenth-century Mantua. Past scholars have evaluated Portaleone’s interpretations for their historical accuracy, debating whether he was aware of the anachronisms in his work. By contrast, this chapter argues that Portaleone’s approach was rooted in the Jewish hermeneutic techniques of midrash, which he deployed in order to reinterpret ancient texts and make them relevant to his own day. Portaleone’s midrashic approach activated two kinds of collectivity: synchronic and diachronic. In eliding ancient Jewish history with contemporary musical life, Portaleone reclaimed modern music as a component of the Jewish experience and affirmed Jews’ participation in music as a legitimate part of their heritage.