DAVID GANS ON THE GREGORIAN REFORM, MODERN ASTRONOMY, AND THE JEWISH CALENDAR
DAVID GANS ON THE GREGORIAN REFORM, MODERN ASTRONOMY, AND THE JEWISH CALENDAR

Summary/Abstract: If we are to identify a uniting thread, or a common denominator, in David Gans’ diverse works, this must be an interest in the measurement of time. David Gans (1541–1613) was a leading Jewish historiographer and astronomer of the early modern period. Born in Lippstadt, he received a rabbinic education in Cracow under R. Moses Isserles, and in Prague, where he spent most of his life, under R. Loew ben Betzalel (the Maharal); but he also immersed himself in the study of history, mathematics, and astronomy. Both his major works, Tzemah David (a Jewish and world chronography) and Nehmad ve-naim (a handbook of astronomy), assume in very different ways a range of notions about chronology, calendars, and the flow of time. Gans also wrote a specific treatise on the Jewish calendar, entitled Maor ha-katon (‘the smaller luminary’, i.e. the moon – Gen. 1:16); but unfortunately this work is lost. Nevertheless, a sufficient number of references are made to calendar and chronology in the works that are extant to convey his views on the Jewish calendar and, in particular, the Jewish calendar’s significance for the study of astronomy and its relationship with its Christian counterpart.

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