Gregory B. Kaplan is Professor of Spanish and an Affiliated Faculty Member of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee, USA.

‘This is an original study that sheds light on a relatively unknown chapter in Western history, revealing that Enlightenment thinkers such as Spinoza and Grotius found inspiration in, and likely cribbed their ideas from, the most unlikely of places: a rabbi and his interpretation of the Hebrew bible and the fate of the Jews in it. Kaplan shows how the rabbi of Amsterdam, Saul Levi Morteira, imagined a democratic ideal society as an alternative to the persecuting, monarchical Habsburg Empire.’ – Michelle M. Hamilton, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA

• Introduction: From Democracy to Democratic Zionism 1 Flawed Democracy, the Aristotelian Agricultural Democracy, and the Hebrew Republic 2 The Medieval Divine-Right Monarchy, an Anti-Hebrew Republic 3 The Divine-Right Spanish Monarchy and the Conversos 4 The Hebrew Republic as an Alternative to Habsburg Rule and the Emergence of Morteira, Barrios and Spinoza 5 The Hebrew Republic and Democratic Zionism in the Writings of Morteira 6 Morteira, Hobbes and the Democratic Zionism of Spinoza and Barrios 7 Democratic Zionism and Twenty-First Century Zionism; Appendix: Treatise on the Truth of the Law of Moses, Chapters One, Two, Ten and Eleven (Translation into English by Gregory B. Kaplan)

Gregory B. Kaplan is Professor of Spanish and an Affiliated Faculty Member of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee, USA.

‘This is an original study that sheds light on a relatively unknown chapter in Western history, revealing that Enlightenment thinkers such as Spinoza and Grotius found inspiration in, and likely cribbed their ideas from, the most unlikely of places: a rabbi and his interpretation of the Hebrew bible and the fate of the Jews in it. Kaplan shows how the rabbi of Amsterdam, Saul Levi Morteira, imagined a democratic ideal society as an alternative to the persecuting, monarchical Habsburg Empire.’ – Michelle M. Hamilton, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA

• Introduction: From Democracy to Democratic Zionism 1 Flawed Democracy, the Aristotelian Agricultural Democracy, and the Hebrew Republic 2 The Medieval Divine-Right Monarchy, an Anti-Hebrew Republic 3 The Divine-Right Spanish Monarchy and the Conversos 4 The Hebrew Republic as an Alternative to Habsburg Rule and the Emergence of Morteira, Barrios and Spinoza 5 The Hebrew Republic and Democratic Zionism in the Writings of Morteira 6 Morteira, Hobbes and the Democratic Zionism of Spinoza and Barrios 7 Democratic Zionism and Twenty-First Century Zionism; Appendix: Treatise on the Truth of the Law of Moses, Chapters One, Two, Ten and Eleven (Translation into English by Gregory B. Kaplan)

Gregory B. Kaplan is Professor of Spanish and an Affiliated Faculty Member of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee, USA.

‘This is an original study that sheds light on a relatively unknown chapter in Western history, revealing that Enlightenment thinkers such as Spinoza and Grotius found inspiration in, and likely cribbed their ideas from, the most unlikely of places: a rabbi and his interpretation of the Hebrew bible and the fate of the Jews in it. Kaplan shows how the rabbi of Amsterdam, Saul Levi Morteira, imagined a democratic ideal society as an alternative to the persecuting, monarchical Habsburg Empire.’ – Michelle M. Hamilton, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA

• Introduction: From Democracy to Democratic Zionism 1 Flawed Democracy, the Aristotelian Agricultural Democracy, and the Hebrew Republic 2 The Medieval Divine-Right Monarchy, an Anti-Hebrew Republic 3 The Divine-Right Spanish Monarchy and the Conversos 4 The Hebrew Republic as an Alternative to Habsburg Rule and the Emergence of Morteira, Barrios and Spinoza 5 The Hebrew Republic and Democratic Zionism in the Writings of Morteira 6 Morteira, Hobbes and the Democratic Zionism of Spinoza and Barrios 7 Democratic Zionism and Twenty-First Century Zionism; Appendix: Treatise on the Truth of the Law of Moses, Chapters One, Two, Ten and Eleven (Translation into English by Gregory B. Kaplan)