ABOUT US

Since the establishment of the first legal deposit for publishers by the Royal Ordinance of 1537, the conditions for the preservation of books "once they are made available to the public" (art. L. 131-2 of the French Heritage Code) excluded from its scope the linguistic heritage of unpublished and clandestine manuscripts, as well as ancient works in regional or non-territorial languages, according to Article 2 of the CPCI (2003); this censhorship persisted before and after the French Revolution, with the Barère Decree of 1794 calling for the annihilation and extirpation of all forms of speech diverging from the standard conventionally accepted notions. The anticlerical and secular policies of the 19th and 20th centuries further restricted the access to Jewish and apologetic texts preserved in Zarphatic, Latin, Judeo-Spanish, and other languages now recognized as "languages of France" by the DGLF-LF (2002).

Our editorial mission as a depository organization, under Article 132-3 and subject to the conditions of Article L. 131 of the French Heritage Code, is the collection, the conservation and the establishment of a cultural patrimony, along with its dissemination to enable the consultation, the research, and the study of exegetes lost in the memory of men, fostering reconciliation of faith and raison.

For millennia, the guardians of the Mesorah | מסורה, known as exegetes, have shared their insights with each generation. The transmission began with the exile of Jeremiah (c. 650–c. 570 BCE), who received the tradition from Moses, preserved by the ancient Sages, and whose disciples' interpretations of sacred texts laid the groundwork for the conceptualizations of Plato (c. 428-347 BCE). Hence Numenius of Apamea complained, "What is Plato but Moses speaking Greek?" The first Cause (which is the final cause), his forms without matter, the soul, Divine Providence, free will, and divine attributes underwent further exploration with Aristotle (384-322 BC), encompassing metaphysics, virtues, categories, the four causes and the Prime Mover in cosmology. His ideas also contributed, through Rhetoric and Ethics, to the Pharisaic tradition; to the Aggadic approaches of Yohanan ben Zakkai (0-100 CE), Aristobulus of Alexandria (181-124 BCE), Philo Judaeus (20 BCE-50 CE); and to the narratives by Josephus (37 and 100 CE), whose notion of divine will or Providence were not at odds with the free will of humans in the causes of historical events. Plotinus (205–270 CE) resolved the Neoplatonic questions about the One, creation ex-nihilo of the universe and His indefinite or infinite potential that manifests reality. Amidst the decline of the Roman Empire, Boethius (480-524 CE) attested to the Consolation of Philosophy, which endured without disappearing within the confines of Byzantium until the School of Alexandria succumbed in 641. Then, the exegetes continued from Greek into Arabic, and back from Arabic into Latin and Hebrew. Saadia Gaon (882-942 CE) bridged the gap from the first millennium to the second, emphasizing empirical observation, the natural insights of understanding and logical necessity, while also reviving the tradition of divine attributes. Avicebron or Ibn Gabirol (1022-1070) elucidated the classical substances between the divine and the material world in Fons Vitae; and Isaac Alfasi (1013-1103) applied Aristotelian critical analysis, logical reasoning, and the method of contraries to legal interpretation. Bahya ibn Paquda (c. 1050–1120) reinterpreted the classical virtues in his Duties of the Heart | חובות הלבבות. Ibn Ezra (1089-1167) developed the tradition within European civilization, Joseph Kimhi (1105-1170) drew on Aristotle's comparative linguistics in his Compendium, and Abraham Ibn Daud (1110-1180) reconciled classical philosophy and religion. Maimonides (1135-1204) reached more languages than any other 12th-century author, translated by Yehuda Alharizi (1165-1225) and by Samuel ibn Tibbon (1150-1230), who left us מילת ההגיון | The Language of Logic. Gersonides (1288-1344) referenced Aristotle countless times. Joseph ibn Shem-Tov (1380 - 1480) realigned the Ethics and the final causes of a supreme good, summum bonum, according to the principles that Joseph Albo (1380–1444) exposed in his Book of Principles | ספר העקרים. Isaac Arama (1420-1494) wrote a philosophical commentary on the five books of Moses, עקידת יצחק | The Binding of Isaac, and about the correspondence between philosophy and theology. Sforno (1475 - 1550), in his Lumen Gentium, identified the soul with the intellect, the immateriality of Prime Matter, and corrected Aristotle's commentators on the possibility of an eternal creation, arguing that the Aristotelian final causes precede the material causes of a substance. Moses Almosnino (1515 - 1580) unified the final cause of the divine purpose towards Tikkun HaMiddot (Rectification of Character) with the Twelve virtues of Aristotle. Abraham Cohen de Herrera (1570-1635) summarized the concepts of scholastic theology, metaphysics, natural and moral philosophy; and Moses Raphael de Aguilar (1611 – 1679) sustained the rhetorical devices and syllogisms of Roman and Classical Greek literature. Menasseh ben Israel (1604-1657) retraced the doctrines of creation, the immortality of the soul and reincarnation. Isaac Orobio de Castro (1617 - 1687) was the first critic to challenge modern free-thinking and materialism (a position adopted later by Leibniz who referenced his Certamen Philosophicum). David Nieto (1654 - 1728) warned against the naturalistic neologism of the term Nature before it replaced the ancient concept of Divine Providence...

When comparing these authors to modern materialistic texts, as well as to contemporary deconstructions, their writings, editions, and translations are insufficient.

We are consecrated to preserving the continuity of the immaterial patrimony of exegetes by safeguarding their intangible assets that led to the foundational ideas of our civilization.

Towards the end of the 1620s, Menasseh ben Israel (1617 - 1687), a man of letters of Lisbon origin (according to his paternal lineage), born in France, La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) in 1604, founded our collection of the retrospective value "Veritas è Terra Orietur" ISSN: 3003-8898, which means in Latin "Truth will sprout from the earth" or אמת מארץ תצמח, alluding to the tradition of burying unusable sacred texts (due to erosion) to prevent them from being profaned. Since the 17th century, Manassé ensured the collaboration of Isaac Aboab (1605-1693), Saul Levi Morteira (1596 - 1660), Isaac Orobio (1615-1687), as well as several language specialists, such as Dionies Vos (1612 - 1633), Samuel Sorbière (1615-1670), Caspar van Baerle (1584 - 1648), all included in the collection, to popularize the classical texts of Jews and the wise men of the Nations, by producing translations into Low Latin, Iberian Hebrew, and Judeo-Spanish (before the formation of the Spanish Royal Academy, which recognized the existence of this Romance language and Ladino in 2018).

The objective remains unchanged since then: Among several volumes, the collection now includes the first translations into modern languages of the works of Manassé Ben Israël on Creation (1635) and on Resurrection (1636).

The first volume was made available under a Creative Commons open license in 2020 on Sefaria.org, in partnership with Shehakol Inc., which has been disseminating the English translations in the United States since 2018.

The translations of the collection continue to make the manuscripts and facsimiles of the classical elite accessible to anyone, vulgarized in modern languages, introduced and sometimes prefaced by a specialist.

Like Menasseh's, our priority remains the translation, editing, and publication of more works because critical editions would hardly add more value; without the contextualization that has denatured the universality of literature for more than 300 years, we keep the same convictions.

Le Cercle Hilliger is a declared association in Overseas France, officially recognized to serve the public interest. This recognition enables donors and benefactors to receive tax deductions for their contributions to the intangible heritage of neglected exegetes, whose works are discovered, restored, translated, and shared, thereby enriching our understanding of their millennial thought.

The editorial committee brings together students, librarians, classical languages professors, translators, and high-level leaders, increases public knowledge of neglected classical authors to resurrect their works for a wider audience.

• Business type: coopérative with the juridical form of a declared non-profit organization (Association déclarée FR9220)
• Activity: US SIC 1987 2731 Books-publishing/printing
• Waldek: W9G1010834
• RNA: 893382523
• Unique Entity ID (SAM.gov): NQR3MLLTYE76
• DUNS Number: 27-567-5741
• NCAGE: FC596
• ISBN Publisher Prefix: 978-2-494509
• ISSN Collection (International Standard Serial Number): 3003-8898