Dr. Seth Pancoast wrote: "Newton was led to the discovery of physical laws (the forces of attraction and rejection) through the study of Kabbalah."
A Latin translation of The Zohar Kabbala Denudata was found in Newton's library and is now kept at Trinity College in Cambridge. In The Religion of Isaac Newton, Frank E. Manuel wrote: "Newton was convinced that Moses knew all the scientific secrets."
An extensive literature is devoted to Newton's religious views. Interest in this side of Newton's personality is usually explained by the need to better understand his main - scientific activity (see Cohen, 1960). However, one of the largest modern researchers of Newton, Popkin, puts the question the other way around - why did such a great theologian as Newton needed physical and mathematical research? Placing theology at the center of Newton's interests is confirmed, for example, by the volume of theological works, which, according to Popkin, is half of everything Newton wrote (Popkin 1988).
The degree of Newton's acquaintance with the Jewish tradition itself is assessed in different ways. If some works only mention his acquaintance with the works of Jewish philosophers, in particular Maimonides (see Dmitriev, 1991), then the greatest connoisseur of Newton's manuscripts, Lord Keynes, calls him “the Jewish monotheist of the Maimonides school” (after McLachlan 1950). In any case, a huge part of Newton's legacy is devoted to the interpretation of the Bible, and in his interpretations, Newton actively refers to the Jewish tradition of interpretation proper (including the Talmud).
The analysis of Newton's "unscientific" interests is made difficult by the fact that Newton's works have not been published in full until now. There is not even a general description of all the surviving manuscripts. Starting from Newton himself (who left the corresponding works only in manuscripts), the reluctance to publish his theological works, obviously, cannot be considered accidental.
Indeed, during his lifetime, publishing these works was simply dangerous, since Newton's views were at odds with the generally accepted and, probably, could be considered criminal. All his life Newton had to hide these views for fear of discovering closeness to Unitarianism - the movement of opponents of the Trinity dogma, officially banned in 1572. It is characteristic that the Jews were also called Unitarians during the Reformation.
It is possible that similar concerns prevented publication after Newton's death. In any case, it is known that immediately after Newton's death in 1727, all of his manuscript heritage was reviewed by Dr. Thomas Pellet, specially appointed to prepare the manuscripts for printing. However, 84 out of 85 viewing items have a not fit to be printed. Tho. Pelet.
Soon after Newton's death, two of his previously unpublished books on the analysis of the Bible text were published (Newton, 1728 and 1733). After that, publications ceased, despite the numerous attempts of Newton's relatives - the request for publication, expressed in the will of Newton's niece, remained unfulfilled. Only one more manuscript was included in the five-volume (so-called "complete") collection of Newton's works, published in 1777.
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And yet the disdain for Newton's "unscientific" manuscripts, which lasted until the middle of this century, was clearly caused not by everyday fears, but by the discrepancy between the prevailing concept of Newton's figure and his true interests. The same disregard for the true Newton was shown not only by publishers, but also by scientific libraries, which constantly “did not find” a place for his unpublished legacy.
After repeated refusals of scientific libraries to accept the manuscripts for safekeeping, as well as after returning some of the already stored manuscripts from the Cambridge library, Newton's relatives sold the remaining manuscripts in 1936 at Sotheby's.
Most of the collection was acquired by two researchers.
Biblical scholar Professor AS Yahuda, who acquired some of the manuscripts, tried to donate them to the libraries of several prominent American universities, but his proposals were rejected - despite Einstein's intervention - for "lack of space" (see Popkin, 1988). Subsequently, according to Yaguda's will, this collection was transferred to the National Library of Israel.
Excerpts from the collection of Lord Keynes, acquired at the same auction and then transferred to the University of Cambridge Library, were published in 1950 (the history of the manuscripts is summarized in the introduction to this edition - see McLachlan, 1950).
In order to present the true picture of Newton's inner world now, one must have an idea of the interests and hobbies of the scientific community of his day. The fact is that the Jewish tradition occupied a very significant place at that time. Hebrew was studied in universities, and from the 16th century on, its study - along with the study of Latin and Greek - became part of the so-called trilingual colledges that spread throughout Europe (Kukenheim, 1951). A "universal" grammar is published - the grammar of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew (Helvicus, 1619).
A particular rise in interest in the Jewish tradition was caused by the Reformation movement, which turned, in particular, to biblical primary sources. The study of the Jewish tradition is becoming an important component of the "new education". The growing interest in the study of nature, attempts to reveal the hidden reasons for the existence of the Universe turned out to be associated with the Jewish mystical teaching - Kabbalah, whose tradition included the search for connections between the elements of world unity.
The ideas of Kabbalah occupy a significant place in the new enlightenment (see Yates, 1980, Ruderman, 1988). The summarization and systematization of knowledge, characteristic of the new education, develop against the background of ideas about the correspondence between the Divine signs manifested in nature and the signs of the Divine text - Holy Scripture. Kabbalah was seen as the source of a scientific approach to understanding the hidden meaning, the key to future harmony, to the restoration of the lost ancient unity (see Ruderman, 1988).
Christian Kabbalah emerges. Christian Kabbalists develop a synthetic approach to the study of nature, man, and the Biblical text that is characteristic of theoretical Kabbalah (see Idel, 1989).
By the 17th century, the fascination with Christian Kabbalah was moving from Italy and France (where the Counter-Reformation won) to Germany and England. The utopia of Francis Bacon "New Atlantis" is imbued with kabbalistic ideas, Agrippa's cabalistic works are published in England, the Rosicrucian order is operating, calling for a universal reformation through kabbalah. It is known that Newton had a copy of the Rosicrucian edition (Manuel, 1974).
In 1655 - 1657 In England, there is a Dutch rabbi, Menashe ben Yisrael, close to Spinoza, who fought for the return of the Jews to England (from which they were expelled in 1290). Menashe's book The Hope of Israel, in which the return of Jews to England was associated with the possibility of the coming of the Messiah, was translated into English in 1652 (see Menasseh, 1987).
The expectation of the coming of the Messiah, the expectation of the "millennium" - the golden millennium - these sentiments reigned among English scientists. During the English Revolution, interpretations of Scripture were very popular, especially the prophecies of the book of Daniel, which predicted "a kingdom that will never break down" (Dan. 2:44). These interpretations were based on a combination of the traditions of Kabbalah and the rational approach, as well as on the application of precise mathematical concepts. Calculations based on prophecy were the focus of Newton's teacher, mathematician John Barrow, who was a student of Joseph Mede, the author of a famous treatise that interprets Bible prophecy. Newton himself subsequently relied on Mead's work (see Webster, 1982).
In connection with the expected onset of universal harmony, the need for a language common to all mankind was discussed. Hebrew was also considered as a candidate for the role of a perfect language, “it reflects the essence of things better than other languages” (Knowlson, 1975, p. 12). By the middle of the 17th century, a language design movement was developing in England aimed at creating a single, universal language, but the influence of Hebrew was felt in many projects. In particular, it was noted that it can be taken as a model as a language containing the minimum number of roots (and, accordingly, actively reflecting the connections of "things" with the help of word formation developed due to the lack of roots).
All these sentiments were reflected in the work of Newton. He became familiar with the Hebrew language early enough - the first known notebook, which Newton kept before entering university, contains transcription notes that use the letters of the Hebrew alphabet (see the publication of these notes in Elliott, 1954).
The very first scientific work of Newton, written in 1661 (at the age of eighteen, in his first year of study at Cambridge), turns out to be a project of a universal language, first published only in 1957 (see Elliott, 1957, translated into Russian by Newton, 1986).
In this project, the influence of the Hebrew language is felt in many details. The examples use the characteristic Hebrew three-letter roots. The one-letter grammatical indicators clearly echo the idea of the Hebrew "service letters". Derivational models, the structure of subordinate clauses, the mechanism of negation resemble the linguistic formalisms of Hebrew.
It is indicative that the text of the project is preceded by a strange heading "The site of this is as a kiss", which, apparently, should be translated "It looks like a kiss." The fact is that in the Kabbalistic tradition, the kiss symbolized the merging of the soul with Gd. The fact of Newton's acquaintance with the collection of Latin translations of kabbalistic works "Kabbala denudata" is noted in Manuel 1974.
In the future, Newton does not return to the idea of creating a perfect language, but constantly turns to the analysis of biblical texts. However, such attention to the Bible, as well as Newton's attention to the Jewish tradition of its interpretation itself, does not at all seem to be evidence of Newton's belonging to any well-known religious movement. Newton has his own relationship with Gd, but, apparently, he shares the views of his contemporaries about the correspondence between the structure of the universe and the Holy Scriptures. At least the task of understanding the text of the Bible really was for Newton equal to the task of understanding the structure of the universe.
He usually quotes the text in translation, but often it is his own translation, which differs from the canonical one. In addition to studying the originals, Newton also draws on the rich Jewish tradition of commenting on sacred texts. In his own numerous interpretations of biblical texts, Newton constantly juxtaposes Jewish and Christian traditions, reproaching traditional translations for ignorance of Jewish tradition. Newton also reproaches Christian theologians for ignorance of the "rabbinical teaching". His Observations on Prophecy (Newton, 1733) is filled with references to the Talmud, as well as to the reliable encyclopedia of the time on Jewish issues, the synagoga Judaica by the famous Christian Hebraist Johann Buxtorf. Many references to rabbinic authorities, to Jewish commentators of the Bible, are contained in unpublished manuscripts,one of which is dedicated to the works of the famous Jewish philosopher Maimonides (cataloged by the I. Newton Collection in the National Library of Israel).
In terms of style, Newton's works on biblical themes are close rather not to theological, but to philological works, sometimes recalling the later works of the critical school. This is a detailed textual analysis with the fixation of passages related to different sources, with the establishment of the time of writing for individual details of the text. The reproaches for ignorance of tradition are also purely philological: Newton notes that the Text of the New Testament is often inadequately interpreted due to ignorance of the details of Jewish rites and that for its adequate understanding it is necessary to know the corresponding word usage. Thus, for example, Newton refers to the description of the Day of Atonement ceremonies to understand the word seal in the Apocalypse (Newton, 1733, p. 266).
The second chapter of "Observations" gives the impression of a modern philological work. It is devoted to the analysis of the language of the prophets. Newton calls this language figurative or symbolic (figurative and hieroglific), and explains the sources of images by an analogy established between the natural world (world natural) and the world of social life (world politic - Newton, 1733, p. 16). Several pages are occupied by Newton's long lists of similar correspondences - correspondences of metaphors and symbols to the phenomena of the "social world" they designate: the word fire means war, oven means slavery, evil is symbolized by stained clothing, and judgment is represented by scales, etc.
A similar search for hidden symbols was also characteristic of kabbalistic circles at that time (Sharot, 1982), and it is often difficult to draw a clear line between the mystical vision introduced and the symbolism that really permeates the text of the Bible.
However, judging by the detailed explanations, references to the naturalness of the association, analogies with ordinary language cited by Newton in one of the manuscripts on the language of the prophets (Jahuda MS 1, National Library of Israel), Newton's point of view seems to be quite rationalistic.
To understand the text of Scripture, an approach is essential, possibly also gleaned by Newton in the Jewish tradition of commenting, according to which the observed correspondences are not accidental. And all Scripture is permeated with a single poetic - in Newton's words "mystical" - system, presents a single poetic context. This concept is quite clearly expressed in the work of Newton, specially devoted to the analysis of the language of the prophets, the first chapter of which was published in 1950: “John did not write in one language, Daniel in another, and Isaiah in a third, they all wrote in the same mystical language … as clear and definite in designations as the common language of any nation”(Newton, 1950, p. 119).
It is interesting that, like some modern scholars, Newton compares biblical images with images of Egyptian and other Eastern poetry - just like “critics who use the same root in other Eastern languages to understand Hebrew” (ibid., P. 120). Somewhat below, Newton clarifies that it is precisely the symbolism inherent in the language of the prophets that is close to "Egyptian priests and Eastern sages."
As already mentioned, Newton severely criticizes the Christian tradition for its neglect of the Jewish tradition, but he is quite “picky” towards the Jews, certainly not solidarizing with them, but reproaching them, like Christians, for departing from the true faith. By distortions of faith, judging by the examples, we mean idolatry, for which the Jewish prophets so often reproached their people. In one place Newton explains that John called the Gnostics the Antichrists, and the Gnostics are “a sort of people who have absorbed the metaphysical philosophy of the Gentiles and Kabbalistic Jews” (Newton, 1733, p. 255).
According to Popkin's definition, Newton combined the approach of a modern biblical scholar with the firm conviction that “with proper reading of the text of Scripture, he can unravel God's purpose” (Popkin, 1990, p. 103). Probably, belief in his own ability to unravel the Divine Providence accompanied Newton in all his studies, including his attitude to the Jewish tradition.
