The Analysis Of The Contribution Of Italian Jewish Scholars To Renaissance During The 15-16^th Century

15-16^th century is the epoch of Italian Renaissance, in which Medieval Ages was going to the end and the new era was coming. During this period with hope, the European Jews were just in the unfavorable situation in which they were all being expelled from France, Spain, some states of German, and Portugal. Italy, however, became the merciful harbor of the Jews due to the special social environment: political fragmentation, the Pope's tolerance in the name of humanity and rationality, and the enlightened social climate. It provided favorable conditions for the rise of Italian Jewish scholars during the 15-16^th century. Almost all of them were highly educated in traditional Jewish sources as well as in Western philosophy, science, and literature. They were currently shaped by Italian social and cultural environment, and endowed with such some special characteristics as being versatile, mobile, and multi-cultural identities. As being a social group at that time, Italian Jewish scholars would not and never be excluded from the Italian Renaissance, but made a positive impact on the whole process of the Renaissance. They exchanged with Christian scholars, studied or taught in Italian universities, and translated the classical articles, copied, printed and disseminated the Hebrew texts. For all these, they offered the erudite Christian scholars an opportunity to exchange with new knowledge, and contribute a lot to enlarging European cultural insights, training large numbers of European thinkers as well as promoting the revival of Hebrew culture and the spread of the spirit of the Italian Renaissance. Meanwhile, more importantly, they were directly involved in the culture-creating activities, and enriched the treasury of Renaissance.