Kotzk Podcast 093: The forgotten legacy of Philo of Alexandria

Hello, everybody.

Our show today is titled The Forgotten Legacy of Philo of Alexandria.

I've based myself on the research of Rabbi David Campbell.

And we're going to look at the often overlooked legacy and the deep influence of Philo Judeus of Alexandria.

And he's born in 20 BCE.

And he passes away in 50 CE.

Now, those of you interested in Jewish history, we know that the Tanayic period or the period of the Mishnah began, usually the dates given from the year 10 to the year 210.

That's the Mishnahic period.

So that means that Philo would have been born 30 years before the Mishnahic period.

officially began, and he would have overlapped it by, well, you can do the maths.

I'll leave it to you.

We can ask Ariel to do that very difficult maths.

But essentially, he's not really in the rabbinic period.

He is just at the beginning and prior to the rabbinic period.

But Philo is the leader of the largest Jewish community in the world.

in the first century.

So he's an important personality.

According to Campbell, Philo is one of history's most influential Jews.

And we'll see why in a moment.

Campbell explains to us that Philo laid solid foundations for the entire system of Western philosophy.

So his influence wasn't only on the Jewish community, but on the whole system of Western philosophy, including its religious, and including, as we will also see now, its Jewish branches.