{"id":2602,"date":"2016-03-13T00:27:22","date_gmt":"2016-03-13T00:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/primolevicenter.org\/printed-matter\/?p=2602"},"modified":"2016-04-24T23:59:50","modified_gmt":"2016-04-24T23:59:50","slug":"the-city-and-the-ghetto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/primolevicenter.org\/printed-matter\/the-city-and-the-ghetto\/","title":{"rendered":"The City and the Ghetto"},"content":{"rendered":"

The City, the Ghetto and Two Books. Venice and Jewish Early Modernity<\/h4>\n
\nCristiana Facchini, Quest<\/em><\/a>\r\n\t \t\t
This article is published in\u00a0Modernity and the Cities of the Jews, eds. Cristiana Facchini,\u00a0Quest. Issues in Contemporary Jewish History. Journal of Fondazione CDEC<\/i>, n.2 October 2011<\/a><\/p>\n

Cristiana Facchini\u00a0<\/strong>is Associate Professor at the Alma Mater Studiorum \u2013 University of Bologna. She teaches History of Religions, Jewish History and History of Western Christianity. Her scholarly research focuses on Judaism and modernity (David Castelli. Ebraismo e scienze delle religioni tra Otto e Novecento<\/em>, Morcelliana: Brescia, 2005); on cultural Jewish history in the early modern period, and on Catholic Antisemitism. She recently edited a collection of\u00a0 articles on Italian Catholic Antisemitism (Antisemitismo e chiesa cattolica in Italia (xix-xx secc.).\u00a0<\/em>Ricerche in corso e riflessioni storiografiche<\/em>, ed. by Cristiana Facchini,\u00a0Storicamente<\/em>\u00a0(online journal), 7\/2011. She is finishing a book on Isaac Kohen Cantarini and Baroque Jewish culture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The most Serene Republic and the ghetto<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cAnd amongst the cities of Europe, Rome and Venice are the most frequented for the pleasures and delights they minister to all the beholders of them. Rome for the exceeding wonderful relics of her ancient greatness, and Venice for the gloriousness of her present and magnificent estate.\u201d (Giovanni Botero)<\/p>\n

In the midst of the seventeenth century, when the emersion of the absolutist monarchy was becoming a self-evident political reality, the republic of Venice proudly stood a remnant of an ancient and glorious republican past. Both a port city and the capital of a splendid maritime empire, Venice attracted a lot of interest, and despite the slow demise of its economic might, it was destined to be transformed into an everlasting myth.1<\/a><\/p>\n

Urban scholars have pointed out that Venice had developed features which at a very early stage would become a trademark for ideal city planning. The port city which arose around the Doge\u2019s\u00a0Palazzo<\/em>\u00a0was composed of settlements originating on the islands. These separate units were organized around the parish, and soon evolved into autonomous polities which were provided with all the main social and political organs \u2013 church, market, charity venues, representative political bodies and government members \u2013 resembling the structure of the city\u2019s government. Every autonomous area was connected by bridges and alleys which in turn integrated each of the individual units into the wider social and economic fabric of the city. \u201cThe integration within these parishes was a foundation stone of Venice social stability. The preservation of neighborhood spirit after Venice grew more densely-populated is one reason for considering Venice a model of city planning,\u201d states Lane,2<\/a>\u00a0following the suggestion of Lewis Mumford who had emphasized the role of Venice as an example of an ideal city.3<\/a><\/p>\n

Though much of that vision might sound utopian, not to say even mistaken or outdated, scholars tend to acknowledge the fact that the peculiar geography and ecological structure of the environment determined much of the urban structure and successful development of Venice. As the city developed into a maritime empire, the social and demographic structure diversified. The pertinent role attributed to trade and the mercantile character of the leading aristocracy had a significant impact on the social structure of the city and its culture. Like many other great Renaissance and late Renaissance mercantile cities, Venice was inhabited by a number of different groups. From specialized workers to merchants, Venice\u2019s urban texture was a mosaic made up of a highly diversified population. Waves of immigrants fleeing from the eastern territories flocked to the city before and after the fall of Constantinople, contributing to the creation of a \u201cseagoing proletariat.\u201d4<\/a>\u00a0The area belonging to the Greeks, which developed around the Arsenal, was home to specialized workers, and later became a safe haven for members of the Hellenic nation, which also comprised of scholars and other professionals. The permission for the establishment of a church according to their ethnic and religious tradition was finally accorded and inaugurated in 1565 with the approbation of the Holy See, even though in Rome this wide presence of members of the Greek Orthodox church was perceived as a threat.5<\/a><\/p>\n

Calabi has devoted insightful research to the development of urban areas which were once inhabited by what we would call nowadays religious or ethnic \u201cminorities\u201d, some of which were foreign merchants.6<\/a>\u00a0The\u00a0fondaco<\/em>\u00a0of Tedeschi (the German Quarter), inhabited by the merchants who arrived from the north of Europe and were deemed pivotal for their trading networks and their merchandise, was established around the area of the Rialto market. Though the Germans lived in many different areas, the\u00a0fondaco<\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>which was rebuilt after the fire of 1505, became one of the most important \u201cethnic enclaves\u201d of the port city.7<\/a>\u00a0Venice was inhabited by Armenians, Slavs, Albanians, Turks, Persians and merchants from other Italian or European lands.8<\/a>\u00a0Each area or neighborhood revolved around a few structural principles: religious institutions, ethnic affiliation (defined both by language and geographical provenance) and socio-economic functions. The \u201cethnic enclave\u201d contributed to the cultural life of the city: Greeks, Germans and Armenians often owned printing enterprises, had their own scholars,\u00a0literati<\/em>\u00a0and artists, contributing in many different ways to the well-being of the city.<\/p>\n

Like many European cities, Venice is able to recount a special story with regards to its Jewry.9<\/a>\u00a0Home to the first \u201cghetto\u201d \u2013 a name derived from a Venetian word relating to the area of the\u00a0fonderia<\/em>\u00a0where copper was thrown and melted (gittata<\/em>\u00a0and therefore\u00a0geto<\/em>\u00a0in Venetian) \u2013 Venice stands as the first city on the Italian peninsula to create a compulsory residential area for its Jewry.10<\/a><\/p>\n

The establishment of the ghetto was the outcome of two cultural traits of Christian society. Scholars acknowledge that a compulsory area allotted to the Jews followed the structure and development of the city where foreigners from various provenances, largely specialized in their functions and religiously or ethnically homogenous, as stated above, were gathered in separate quarters or islands. The establishment of the ghetto was, therefore, the coherent and logical outcome of the city planning process.11<\/a>\u00a0Jews \u2013 at least in Venice \u2013 similarly to Greeks, Albanians and Turks were positioned on the margins of the city, away from the centre, according to the logic of \u201cspatial marginality.\u201d12<\/a>\u00a0\u201cSpatial marginality\u201d was implemented in order to control and discipline religious, cultural and ethnic diversity. Nevertheless, Jews were not merchants (or members of a trading nation) \u2013 even though they performed economic services, such as money-lending and the trade of used or second hands goods \u2013\u00a0 and religion played a major role in the process of social and urban marginalization. The same fate occurred to the Turks, who would only be permitted an independent\u00a0fondaco<\/em>\u00a0in 1621, but never succeeded in receiving permission for a public space for worship.13<\/a>\u00a0Protestants were seemingly deemed a political threat and were treated accordingly: worship could be performed only in private dwellings. In contrast to Protestants and Muslims, Jews were allowed a public space for their religious service, as we shall see below.<\/p>\n

At the outset of the seventeenth-century the Jewish community of Venice had increased and developed into a relatively important settlement \u2013 an \u201cestate of outcasts,\u201d as Brian Pullan properly defined it \u2013 whose legacy played an important role both in the cultural debate of early modernity and the economic fabric of the city.14<\/a>\u00a0From 1516, when the ghetto was first established, to the end of the century, political and religious events provoked new challenges to western European Jews. As Protestant reform spread across Europe, gaining states and cities in its path, Catholic policy against the Jews was to be reformulated. The Protestant threat was not only spreading throughout many Italian states, but it contributed to the drastic change to the urban religious landscape around Europe, either radically transforming the social and institutional fabric of a city or dividing it into a religious battlefield.15<\/a>\u00a0Even if Catholic zeal might have predated the Reformation, as witnessed in Spanish state-building, its outbreak readdressed a number of religious questions which while aimed at \u201cheretics\u201d would definitely also target the new Christians (or\u00a0Conversos<\/em>) of Iberian descent which had fled from their country during the first decades of the sixteenth century.16<\/a>\u00a0Because religious zeal and persecution increased within Spanish domains, recurrent waves of\u00a0Conversos<\/em>\u00a0fled from the Iberian Peninsula and Flanders heading toward more secure shores.17<\/a>\u00a0The Jewish community of Amsterdam was founded by former\u00a0Conversos<\/em>\u00a0which returned to Judaism, whereas many Iberian\u00a0Conversos<\/em>\u00a0(or new Christians) converted to Judaism within the cities of the Turkish Empire.18<\/a><\/p>\n

Catholic politics directed at the Iberian new Christians and Jews was for the most part controversial and ambivalent. Both Popes Paul III and Julius III \u2013 together with the Grand Duke of Tuscany and Ercole II of Este Duke of Ferrara \u2013 had expressed their will to invite the Iberian Christian converts and Jews to settle in Italian cities, granting them full protection from religious persecution, especially from the Inquisition tribunals which had been introduced in every Italian state in order to avert Protestant \u2018heresy\u2019.19<\/a>\u00a0The first charters were so liberal that they also included the Turks and other \u201cinfidels\u201d in so far as these groups, specialized in economic tasks, would foster trade and thereby improve the economy.20<\/a>\u00a0As a result of such a liberal policy, the Iberian Jews and the new Christians flocked to many Italian cities: of which Livorno, Ferrara, Ancona and Pesaro are amongst the most significant.21<\/a><\/p>\n

The sudden decision of Pope Paul IV to reverse the liberal policy of his predecessors and align himself with the more zealous Spanish ally was inaugurated in 1555, when the papal bull\u00a0Cum nimis absurdum<\/em>\u00a0was issued. As the Pope and the Spanish crown increased their means of control over religious beliefs and practices in order to contain religious dissent,22<\/a>\u00a0the official policy on urban and religious segregation came into place and was slowly implemented in many Italian states until the eighteenth century.23<\/a>\u00a0Moreover, privileges granted for sheer economic reasons to\u00a0Conversos<\/em>\u00a0or Jews who had once been Christians were to be quickly revoked, causing the Iberian Jews and\u00a0Conversos<\/em>\u00a0to seek new safe havens. When the privileges granted to the Iberian Jews began to be withdrawn in other Italian cities, Venice decided to welcome them and issued a few charters which granted a number of privileges.24<\/a>\u00a0At the outset of the seventeenth century, the Venetian Jewish population had visibly increased. The ghetto had expanded and its social and cultural structure had metamorphosed into a microcosm of different Jewish sub-cultures. The older layer comprised of Ashkenazi Jews and the Italian descendents specialized in money lending and small enterprises; a second layer was composed of Levantine Jews who had been subjects of the Turkish empire and had converted to Judaism in the Muslim land; and ultimately a layer of a more recent migrated population originating from Spain and Portugal, from northern Europe and other Italian states which negotiated a charter at the end of sixteenth century, and were legally recognized as Ponentini Jews.25<\/a>\u00a0Amongst this new immigration wave of Iberian descendents, a small number were and remained Christian converts.26<\/a>
\n<\/a>[BACK]\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>A city and two books<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Venice \u2013 like Amsterdam \u2013 had many benefits to offer to Jews. Besides the traditional occupations, there were opportunities for business and trade, the chance to attend one of the few universities open to Jews in the nearby city of Padua and partake of the thriving printing enterprise which made the city unique.27<\/a>\u00a0Undeniably, in the seventeenth-century, the Inquisition tribunal provoked a cultural impoverishment as its control over books and human lives increased, even if in Venice it was less intrusive than elsewhere, partly due to the fact that its structure was not wholly under Rome\u2019s control.28<\/a><\/p>\n

The cultural creativity of Venice during the first half of the seventeenth-century reverberated through the walls of the ghetto, inhabited by a multitude of different personalities and crossed by a number of different activities. It is precisely at the intersection between the city and the ghetto that two of the most important books on Judaism were created, written and published.\u00a0Historia de\u2019 riti Hebraici<\/em>\u00a0written by the renowned polymath, rabbi Leon Modena (1571\u20131648), and the\u00a0Discorso circa il stato de gl\u2019Hebrei<\/em>, composed by his younger colleague, rabbi and philosopher Simone (Simcha) Luzzatto (1583-1663), were both printed in Venice in 1638.<\/p>\n

Leon Modena has been deemed one of the most controversial, misunderstood yet significant, rabbis of the early seventeenth century.29<\/a>\u00a0He was a polymath and a religious leader who wrote extensively in Italian and Hebrew. His extensive works covered all possible literary genres and answered the multifarious needs of a religious community. Although some scholars have pointed out his marginality, he played a pivotal role not only in Venice, but also for the Jewish community of Amsterdam.30<\/a>\u00a0Moreover, Modena\u2019s works highlight noteworthy features of religious modernity: his critique of Kabbalah, his autobiographical journal and his innovative polemical work against Christianity, to mention but a few, all indicate the achievements of one of the most brilliant Jewish scholars of the period and the wide range of his interests.31<\/a><\/p>\n

Simone Luzzatto his younger fellow and colleague, was a renowned scientist whose works were highly praised amongst scholars of the time. His fame relied on his oral teachings, if we believe what Isaac Cantarini reported in one of the letters he sent to the Christian hebraist C. T. Unger.32<\/a>\u00a0Indeed, his immense erudition in natural science (especially astronomy) was praised by a number of Jewish scholars: amongst them was Joseph Shlomo Delmedigo who had studied in Padua with Galileo and Jacob Frances, the famed opponent of Sabbatai Sevi.33<\/a><\/p>\n

Contrary to Modena, Luzzatto\u2019s printed works are few and very specific in genre, mostly written in Italian: the first and most notable was his\u00a0Discorso circa il stato de\u2019 gl\u2019Hebrei\u00a0<\/em>which\u00a0<\/em>has been thoroughly analysed by various scholars in Jewish history.34<\/a>\u00a0His second work,\u00a0Socrate<\/em>, is a fascinating and yet cryptic philosophical work, the content of which has been described as mainly influenced by skeptical strains of thought.35<\/a>\u00a0His Hebrew works were written mainly in the form of legal\u00a0responsa<\/em>.36<\/a><\/p>\n

Given the length and scope of this article, I would like to explore the intimate connection between the city of Venice, the ghetto and its Jewish culture and how certain special traits of Venice\u2019s early modernity defined the content of these very important Jewish works. Leone Modena and Simone Luzzatto both contributed to a new concept of the collective identity of Jews and their role within Christian society during times of religious strife and fragmentation. In order to shed some light on these questions we might follow the book whose redaction historians know in great detail:\u00a0Historia de\u2019 riti Hebraici<\/em>.37<\/a>
\n[BACK]\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/a><\/a>The rabbi and the ambassador<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cWhen the Torah portions Tazria and Metzora were read in 5389 (April 28, 1629) I preached in the synagogue of the Sephardim, may God their Rock protect them and grant them long life. In attendance were the brother of the king of France, who was accompanied by some French noblemen and by five of the most important Christian preachers who gave sermons that Pentecost. God put such learned words into my mouth that all were pleased, including many other Christians who were present.\u201d38<\/a><\/p>\n

In a fit of self-praise, while highlighting and praising his own skillful abilities as a preacher, Leon Modena recorded the visit of Gaston, Duc d\u2019Orleans, brother of King Louis XIII, his entourage of Christian nobility and preachers. A few years later, his sermons would be also attended by Henri Duc de Rohan, an eminent Huguenot refugee who was spending his exile in Venice as a commander in chief for the Venetian Army.39<\/a>\u00a0 Obviously, sermons were not only an important moment of ritual for Jews, but a sort of religious performance which attracted Christians from different creeds. Christian princes and nobility enjoyed attending the sermons in the synagogues of Western Europe. A short time later however, in a different yet closely related setting, the Prince of Orange, Frederick Henri, and the Queen of England, Henrietta Maria, visited the marvelous Sephardic synagogue in Amsterdam, where Manasseh ben Israel gave a moving sermon especially for the occasion.40<\/a><\/p>\n

Visiting the Venetian ghetto, in the early seventeenth-century, was a cultural experience many travellers could not miss. Starting from the end of sixteenth century, Christian travellers and scholars would seek Jewish ritual in every city they visited. The most famous depiction is provided in the beautiful travelogue by Michel de Montaigne who, contrary to many others, was not pleased with his Venetian stay. In his oft-quoted\u00a0Journal de voyage<\/em>\u00a0Montaigne described with accuracy and relative neutrality certain Jewish rituals: a circumcision, a Shabbat service, and conversionary sermons in Rome.41<\/a>\u00a0Montaigne paid equal attention to Christian rituals as well: as a Catholic he was easily permitted to visit and attend all Roman religious performances which constituted an obvious source of interest and pleasure to him.<\/p>\n

The most quoted account with regards to the Venetian Jewish ghetto was penned by Thomas Coryat, an English Protestant traveller who published a book in 1611 devoted to his European tour.42<\/a>\u00a0The\u00a0Crudities<\/em>\u00a0was not only one of the most important books in English travel literature, but also a disguised form of critique on English polity in the background of the description of the Venetian political system.43<\/a>\u00a0Though the travelogue highlights his European tour through Switzerland, France, Savoy and certain Italian cities, most of it dwells on the details of Venice, its architecture, its social and political institutions, not to mention its religious orders and culture. Coryat\u2019s encounter with the Jews is recorded throughout his journey, but he extensively describes the Venetian ghetto, portraying its synagogues, inhabitants, the annual liturgical service, the beautiful women in magnificent dresses and ultimately a famous encounter with a rabbi with whom the Protestant traveller entertained a theological discussion.\u00a0Crudities<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 like many other travelogues \u2013 blends together keen observations based on facts, precise details and fictitious tales, founded on stereotypical images produced by the culture at the time; yet it highlights why Jewish rituals were deemed interesting and significant for certain Europeans.44<\/a><\/p>\n

Modena\u2019s private journal and his correspondence with Christian Hebraists\u00a0 implies that the first draft of\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0was penned on the behest of an English nobleman who aimed to present it to King James I.45<\/a>\u00a0As Cecil Roth argued, the nobleman was likely to be Sir Henry Wotton who was the ambassador for Venice representing the English king, James I, and who lived next to the ghetto. Roth also intimated that the rabbi described in Coryat\u2019s travelogue was Leon Modena, and this notion has been widely accepted and repeated by many scholars afterwards.<\/p>\n

Moreover, during his stay in Venice in the spring of 1608, Coryat described in detail the people who were attending the English embassy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere againe I wil once more speake of our most worthy Ambassador Sr Henry Wotton, honoris causa, because his house was in the same street (when I was in Venice) where the Jewish Ghetto is, even in the streete called St. Hieronimo, and but a little from it. Certainly he hath greatly graced and honoured his country by that most honourable port that he hath maintayned in this noble City, by his generose carriage and most elegant and gracious behaviour amongst the greatest Senators and Clarissimoes, which like the true adamant, had that attractive vertue to winne him their love and grace in the highest measure. And the rather I am induced to make mention of him, because I received many great favours at his hands in Venice, for the which (I must confesse) I am most deservedly ingaged unto him in all due observance and obsequious respects while I live. Also those rare vertues of the minde wherewith God hath abundantly inriched him, his singular learning and exquisite knowledge in the Greeke and Latin, and the famousest languages of Christendome, which are excellently beautified with a plausible volubility of speech, have purchased him the inward friendship of all the Christian Ambassadors resident in the City; and finally his zealous conversation, (which is the principall thing of all) piety, and integrity of life, and his true worship of God in the middest of Popery, superstition, and idolatry (for he hath service and sermons in his house after the Protestant manner, which I thinke was never before permitted in Venice, that solid Divine and worthy Schollar Mr. William Bedel being his Preacher at the time of my being in Venice) will be very forcible motives (I doubt not) to winne many soules to Jesus Christ, and to draw divers of the famous Papists of the City to the true reformed religion, and profession of the Gospell.\u201d46<\/a><\/p>\n

The information provided in this abstract is rich in detail: above all, it stresses how, even in Venice, the embassy pertaining to a Protestant country was topographically situated near to the ghetto. This proximity might not be coincidental and it bears the logic of \u201cspatial marginalization\u201d as mentioned above: Jews and Protestants had been perceived as outside the Catholic fold and therefore placed, in the city, as contiguous. Second, it clearly states that Protestant worship, which was not allowed in Venice as in many Catholic cities, was performed in private usually in the house of the ambassador, Henry Wotton, whose erudition in ancient languages was highly praised by Coryat. The official preacher of this unofficial religious service was the \u201csolid Divine and worthy Scholar\u201d William Bedell,47<\/a>\u00a0an Anglican with Puritanical leanings and chaplain for the embassy, someone who mingled with Jews and befriended Paolo Sarpi and Fulgenzio Micanzio. In 1608 Bedell wrote to an English correspondent, stating that Jewish sermons were much more refined and theologically more sound than those found in Catholic preaching. He later recalled, with great nostalgia, his time in Venice, where he had had the most interesting theological discussions with Jews from the ghetto.48<\/a>\u00a0It is noteworthy to say that the English embassy was also close to the monastery of the Serviti Friars, where the most famous Venetian monk and opponent of the Holy See, fr\u00e0 Paolo Sarpi, lived.49<\/a>\u00a0Gaetano Cozzi suggested that Sarpi\u2019s \u201cgolden volume\u201d on the origins of Christianity \u2013\u00a0Trattato delle materie beneficiarie<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 might have been influenced by the dialogues he had had with Venetian Jews.50<\/a><\/p>\n

These historical notes form a reminder that the\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0was written under the influence of both cultural and religious constraints, during a time when Venice went through a radical clash against Rome. In the short period of the\u00a0Interdetto<\/em>\u00a0Venice became the meeting point of Protestant scholars: Anglicans were seeking Hebrew teachers and Bible advisors. It was during this time that the King James version of the Bible was to be finalized and Giovanni Diodati, the great Calvinist translator of the Bible into Italian also happened to be present whilst endeavoring to influence and implement a rapprochement between the\u00a0Serenissima<\/em>\u00a0and the protestant countries.51<\/a>\u00a0It is worth noting that Diodati, who was in Venice during 1605 and 1608, was in cohorts with Wotton, Bedell, Sarpi and other Philo-protestant members of the Venetian elite. Modena\u2019s protestant connection is strengthened by other relationships which were to developed during this period too. For example, the scholarly friendship with Andreas Colvius, a Dutch protestant who resided in Venice from 1620 to 1627 together with the Dutch ambassador, Johan Berck, whose works appear to have been influenced by Sarpi.52<\/a><\/p>\n

Modena was very proud of his Christian friends and acquaintances. His recurrent remarks about his intellectual ties with Christian scholars are reiterated topics within his own private writings. Moreover, during the course of his life he devoted some of his time to teaching Hebrew, the Bible, Rabbinics and Kabbalah to the Christians, and his fame increased over the years. Jean Plantavit de la Pause, a renowned Catholic Hebraist whom Modena had taught Hebrew in Florence, offered him a position in Paris as a lecturer in Hebrew.53<\/a><\/p>\n

There is, though, an ironic flavor to the story. The book Modena devoted to Jewish rituals and ceremonies stands unequivocally at the centre of his learned encounter. It was composed under Protestant influences and meant for a Protestant readership. Nevertheless, it was published in Paris in 1637 sponsored by the Catholic Orientalist Jacques Gaffarel (1601-1681). Gaffarel, who wrote a quite critical premise to the book, and who had met Modena during his travels to Italy while seeking oriental manuscripts on behalf of Cardinal Richielieu.54<\/a>\u00a0In 1637, few years after their meeting, Modena penned a missive where he described a moment of great turmoil for the Jews and profound distress for himself:<\/p>\n

\u201cAfterwards, on the 7th of Adar 5397 (March 1637) sentence was handed down on all those terrified Jews, and they were ordered to be banished forever \u2026.55<\/a>\u00a0About two years earlier I had given a certain Frenchmen who knew the Holy tongue, M. Giacomo Gaffarel, a certain book to read. I had written it more than twenty years earlier at the request of an English nobleman, who intended to give it to the king of England. In it I relate all the laws, doctrines and customs of the Jews at the present time in their dispersion. When I wrote it I was not careful about not writing things contrary to the Inquisition, because it was only in manuscript and was meant to be read by people who were not of the Pope\u2019s sect.56<\/a>\u00a0After reading it, that Frenchman asked me to leave it with him and he would print it in France. I agreed, but did not think of editing out the things that the Inquisition in Italy might find unacceptable in a printed book. Two years later, after I had given up hope that the Frenchman might print it, on the second day of Passover 5397 (April 10, 1637), someone brought me a letter from him, in which he told me that he had printed the book in Paris. He did not divulge to whom he had made the dedication or whether he had changed anything in the book, or the like.<\/p>\n

My heart immediately began pounding, and I went to look at a copy of it that I still had from the time I had written it. I saw four or five things of importance of which it is forbidden to speak, much less to write and needless to say to print, against the will of the Inquisition. Heartbroken, I shouted and tore at my beard until I almost lost my breath. I said to myself, \u2018When this book is seen in Rome, it will become a stumbling block for all the Jews and for me, in particular\u2019. They will say, \u2018How insolent are they to print in the vernacular, informing the Christians not only of their laws, but also of some matters contrary to our religion and belief.\u2019\u201d57<\/a><\/p>\n

If it can be said that Modena was accurate, Gaffarel met him approximately around 1634-35, therefore the first written account of the book must have been written as early as 1612-13.58<\/a>\u00a0Jacques Gaffarel who belonged to an influential group of Christian scholars was actively involved with Jewish mysticism, following the path of Count Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Christian Kabbalists conceived the Jewish esoteric lore as an ancient religious source helping them shed light on Christian dogmas and beliefs. Christian Kabbalists strove to incorporate some of the teachings of the Kabbalah into the body of certain Christian doctrines. These were inspired by a utopian vision, which proved ultimately to be an elaborate concept of universal Christianity while, eventually, upholding the conversion of Jews. Gaffarel belonged to this assorted group of utopian Catholics who aimed, amongst other things, to find a viable solution to the religious divide in Europe.59<\/a>\u00a0Gaffarel penned a Kabbalistic work which was printed in 1625,60<\/a>\u00a0and another called,\u00a0Curiositez inouyes sur la sculpture talismanique des Persans, horoscope des Patriarches et lecture des estoiles<\/em>, published in 1629 which was widely circulated in Europe gaining him both fame and contempt.61<\/a>\u00a0Even though it encountered Catholic censorship, this latter work, devoted to astrology, talismans, alphabets and the interpretation of nature, along with insight into ancient biblical and oriental religions, was translated into English by Edmund Chilmead who happened to be the first translator of the\u00a0Riti<\/em>.62<\/a><\/p>\n

The Venetian ghetto was an ideal place for cultural exchange. A practical Kabbalah, based on a vast production, circulation and consumption of pamphlets on magic, amulets and horoscopes met the curiosity and need of both Christian and Jewish societies. Therefore the ghetto became a providential urban spot where Christians mingled with Jews in search of objects such as amulets, booklets, horoscopes or magical spells\u00a0 in order to be able to cope with the unpredictability and harshness of daily life.63<\/a>\u00a0Modena himself was not alien to these practices: he manufactured and sold amulets and strongly relied upon personal horoscopes. One of his sons, Mordecai, died, possibly poisoned by the fumes he inhaled during an alchemic experiments he conducted, when in cohorts with a priest, he tried to craft silver.64<\/a>\u00a0Modena\u2019s grandson, Isaac min Haleviim, (or Isaac Levi) to whom Modena left part of his collection of manuscripts as a bequest, was depicted within archival sources, as a major charlatan, and a king of the ghetto providing practical Kabbalah to be quickly used and consumed.65<\/a>\u00a0Even the story revolving around Sara Copia Sullam, the famed poetess from the ghetto highlights an intimacy with magic.66<\/a>\u00a0Kabbalah and magic appeared to permeate Jewish life within the ghetto, and more broadly, life in Venice.67<\/a><\/p>\n

Obviously Gaffarel reached the Venetian ghetto with high expectations: during his stay in Italy, one of his main tasks was to collect the manuscripts of Count Pico della Mirandola\u2019s translations of Jewish texts. In the ghetto, he could find Kabbalistic manuscripts of any sort, buy amulets and tracts with mysterious symbolisms or any astrological works that could enlighten his knowledge on the mysteries of nature. Gaffarel left Venice with one copy of the\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0and a few other valuable oriental manuscripts which he allegedly purchased and illegally smuggled out of the lagoon city.68<\/a>\u00a0The Catholic Orientalist probably also encountered Luzzatto together with Modena: no clear evidence has been recovered, but the treatment of the Kabbalah represented in their works, suggest more than an amicable exchange of thought.
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<\/a><\/a><\/a>An ethnography of Judaism?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It remains unclear why Modena decided to reprint his work on Jewish ceremonies in Venice after supervision by the Inquisition. According to the letter he sent to an English correspondent he had implied his endeavor in overcoming Catholic censorship,69<\/a>\u00a0but then fraught at the possibility that his book might be deemed offensive by the Catholic Church (in Rome) and terrorized by local scandal which shocked Venice in 1636, he voluntarily submitted one copy of the\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0into the hands of the Inquisition.70<\/a>\u00a0The text was revised and reprinted in 1638. Modena convincingly presents this explanation in his autobiography.<\/p>\n

The other reason which might explain his anxiety could be that, that same year Luzzatto\u2019s\u00a0Discorso\u00a0<\/em>was printed.\u00a0 Maybe Modena fancied that the younger rabbi had plagiarized him. Personal rivalry and the quest for fame might have influenced his decision.71<\/a><\/p>\n

Riti<\/em>\u00a0is a very concise, short and yet compact manual on Jewish rituals which is designed to describe \u201cthe life, customs and beliefs of the Jews at that time.\u201d72<\/a>\u00a0The tract is comprised of five sections, according to the number of the books on the Torah,73<\/a>\u00a0and divided into 54 chapters of varying lengths, based on the weekly division of the Torah (parashot<\/em>).74<\/a>\u00a0The organization of topics is not clearly defined and is rather haphazard, compared to those of other legal\u00a0compendia<\/em>, but the information provided is extremely detailed.75<\/a><\/p>\n

Modena tried to convey an \u201cethnography\u201d of Judaism from an \u201cemic perspective\u201d: even though much of the information is derivative from textual evidence (being therefore prescriptive) there is a number of details which are taken from historical data. Modena provided many examples of Jewish practices which have been supported by historical documentation: preaching, synagogue practices, mourning rituals, charities, Jewish languages, poetry, and many other historical details which contribute to the creation of a precise picture of Italian Judaism.76<\/a>\u00a0His masterpiece on ritual was both an attempt to convey an image of Judaism in his lifetime and to promote an ideal vision of the Jewish religion.<\/p>\n

Modena was cautious and introduced himself as a \u201cneutral writer\u201d who had endeavored to \u201cforget he was a Jew.\u201d77<\/a>\u00a0Likewise, Luzzatto applied the concept of \u201cdistance\u201d as if he were an outside observer: in his own words, the observer had to \u201cabstain from any affection or passion\u201d in order to not be emotionally involved in the rendering of his own culture.78<\/a>\u00a0Neutrality, unbiased description and detachment \u2013 applauded by both authors \u2013 might have been modelled on the rhetorical style of ancient texts such as Josephus who incorporated the idea of neutral witness from Thucydides.<\/p>\n

Later on, Modena recalled in one of his letters to an Italian Christian Hebraist, that\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0was written in order to refute the renowned German work on Jewish rituals published in 1603 by the prominent Swiss Protestant Hebraist Johannes Buxtorf under the title\u00a0Die Judenschul<\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>the Latin translation of which was published a year later.79<\/a>\u00a0The comparison between the two tracts raise a quantity of related questions, and it is undeniable that Modena\u2019s effort to assert Judaism\u2019s rational and biblical character is one of the main aims of the tract \u2013 as Mark Cohen aptly underlined.80<\/a><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Modena\u2019s portrayal of Jewish rituals is more than an apologetic work aimed at aggressive Christian scholars and its scope is much broader than openly admitted. Modena\u2019s Biblicism was emphasized in order to avert Catholic censorship and rabbinic sources are not openly cited but alluded to. Critical editions of the text have revealed a layer of rabbinical sources which are generically referred to within the syntagmatic phrasing \u201ci rabbini dicono.\u201d Stroumsa suggested that the\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0might be an abridged version of\u00a0Shulkan arukh<\/em>.81<\/a><\/p>\n

Leon Modena\u2019s scholarly endeavor should be interpreted as the product of a committed religious leader: his writings are frequently marked by the immediacies of the daily problems he confronted and conveyed his ability to decrypt the many challenges which Judaism was facing. His attention to Jewish ritual is constantly apparent in his works, and despite the reasons which may have led to him to the redaction of the\u00a0Riti<\/em>, I believe that the question of relevancy of rituals in Judaism was one of his main concerns. The emphasis on rituals can be also detected in many other of his texts, most of which are in Hebrew: if rituals are extensively dealt with in his\u00a0responsa<\/em>, lengthy treatment of rituality is detectable in his polemical tract against Christianity (Magen wa-herev<\/em>) and in\u00a0Kol sakhal<\/em>, an anti-rabbinical treatise that has recently been attributed to him.82<\/a><\/p>\n

Why is Modena\u2019s treatment of ritual so important and extensively found within his works? One can only make suggestions hypothetically, which then require further investigation.<\/p>\n

Modena was preoccupied by the challenges religion faced during his time. Judaism was endangered, not solely by conversion efforts by Christian which were renewed from time to time, but also by internal Jewish conflict over the interpretation of dogmas, rituals and beliefs. This partly explains Modena\u2019s involvement with the Jewish controversies in Amsterdam and Hamburg and his attempts to curtail Jewish \u201cheretical\u201d leanings. Ritual, more so than that of dogmas and beliefs, stood as a connecting thread which united all Jews in the diaspora. A portrayal of Jewish rituals and ceremonies which is as strongly rooted in the Bible would more likely convince Jews, especially those coming from Marrano or new Christian experiences, of Judaism and its unity with a biblical heritage to the detriment of Christianity. Iberian Conversos would therefore proudly embrace it.<\/p>\n

As far as beliefs were concerned, their relevance was not classed as pivotal. Modena wrote extensively on beliefs, as his tract on the immortality of the soul or his anti-kabbalistic treatises indicate, and accordingly devoted the fifth part of the\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0to \u2018ideas\u2019 and \u2018beliefs\u2019. In this section of the\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0Modena briefly described Jewish \u201csects\u201d \u2013 \u201cKaraim and other heretics\u201d \u2013 and beliefs such as trust in Paradise, Hell and Purgatory, as being considered sufficiently orthodox for the Catholic Church. In the French edition he had also listed the 13 articles of faith according to the Maimonidean tradition,83<\/a>\u00a0to which he added, amongst other things, the belief in metempsychosis which had become very popular amongst Kabbalists.84<\/a>\u00a0The 13 articles of faith and the reference to metempsychosis would incur an angry response from the Catholic Church therefore he quickly proceeded to expunge these questions from the Venetian edition.85<\/a><\/p>\n

Somehow, the downplaying of beliefs in relation to rituals might hint at Modena\u2019s effort to reduce conflicting polemics engendered by theological discussions over dogmas which were the core of Christian-Jewish debate. Likewise it attempted to simplify the process of a return to Judaism for Iberian new Christians, relieving some of their anxieties about the alleged inconsistencies between rabbinical law and the Bible.86<\/a>\u00a0Therefore, the attempt to portray Judaism as a biblical, rational and reasonable religion met the needs of the Jewish community as a whole while at the same time opposed Christian criticism of rabbinic legal tradition.87<\/a><\/p>\n

In addition, by comparative terms, a collective representation of Judaism in rituals emphasized the unity of Judaism against the fragmentation of post-reformation Christianity, which Modena seems to suggest when describing Jewish sects or heretics.88<\/a>\u00a0The reality, of course, was much more complicated: seventeenth century Judaism was torn by religious dissent, and did not resemble the normative model illustrated by Modena. Indeed, beliefs were deemed to be much more important than Modena was willing to acknowledge, with the spread of Messianism or the wide adherence to Kabbalistic teachings.
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<\/a><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a>Luzzatto and his\u00a0Discorso<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 a place for the Jews in Christian society<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I would suggest that, with a different approach, Luzzatto\u2019s\u00a0Discorso\u00a0<\/em>was aimed at solving a similar problem. The\u00a0Discorso<\/em>\u00a0is a refined and sophisticated text, and the first request for toleration that was based on utilitarian and mercantile conceptions.89<\/a>\u00a0Divided into 18 chapters called the \u201cconsiderazioni<\/em>\u201d, the\u00a0Discorso<\/em>\u00a0comprises two separate sections: the first, covers the chapters from 1 to 10 and the second covers the chapters from 11 to 18.90<\/a>\u00a0The first part is economic in scope and deals extensively with issues such as trade, money-lending, collective wealth and the role of the Jews in the city of Venice. It has been suggested that the text was written as a response to the crisis which broke out in 1636, as also cited in Modena\u2019s journal, when the Venetian Jewish community was seriously under the threat of expulsion.91<\/a>\u00a0The recent discovery of a manuscript which contains chapters of the first part supports the idea that the\u00a0Discorso<\/em>\u00a0is the outcome of a combination of two separate works, patched together and published in 1638.92<\/a><\/p>\n

In trying to put across a possible solution to an ongoing\u00a0 question, that being the role of Jews within Christian society, Luzzatto composed his treatise as a disguised conversation with Machiavelli and Giovanni Botero.93<\/a>\u00a0Riccardo Bachi was one of the first to attentively read the\u00a0Discorso\u00a0<\/em>and understand the importance of Botero\u2019s tract on the wealth of cities,\u00a0Delle cause della grandezza e magnificenza delle citt\u00e0<\/em>, published in 1588.94<\/a>\u00a0Botero, whose works and loyalties were solely addressed for the Spanish monarchy, stated and wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if the places where men are driven of necessity to fly have in them besides their safety any commodity of importance, it will be an easy thing for them to increase, both with people, and with riches, and with buildings. In this matter the cities of Levant and Barbary became great through the multitude of Jews that Ferdinand the king of Spain and Emmanuel the king of Portugal cast out of their kingdoms, as in particular Salonica and Rodhes.\u201d95<\/a><\/p>\n

Drawing from historical experience, as mentioned above, and following the suggestion placed by Botero\u2019s, Luzzatto exploited the city of Venice \u2013 from its corporate hierarchical order to its trading and mercantile position \u2013 in order to find a plausible theory for Jewish tolerance. In a remarkable passage at end of the book (consideration<\/em>\u00a017) Luzzatto maintained that of all cities, port cities were the most ideal for the Jews, especially those which had a relatively large population, a conspicuous presence of foreigners and a well established trading network with foreign countries.96<\/a><\/p>\n

This theory of economic usefulness has been thoroughly analyzed, and at its core stands a Catholic political theory of\u00a0raison d\u2019\u00e9tat<\/em>. Nevertheless, one should stress once more the originality of Luzzatto\u2019s arguments. Luzzatto\u2019s concept of the extraordinary abilities which the Jews possessed in their aptitudes for producing wealth for the city were based on historical evidence, as he himself underlines when he mentioned the case of Livorno.97<\/a>\u00a0Trading nations, and\u00a0Sephardic<\/em>\u00a0Jews being amongst them, were deemed strategically pivotal in the rise of capitalism.98<\/a>\u00a0Nevertheless\u00a0Sephardim<\/em>\u00a0with wide and powerful trading networks were just a segment of Jewish society, and moreover, some of them remained new Christians or crossed religious boundaries more than once during their lifetime. The striking ability of Luzzatto\u2019s arguments lay in the successful attempt to present a general theory based on the assumption that the trading qualities of a minority amongst the Jews stood as a collective feature. Therefore Luzzatto transformed the increasing weakening status of the Jews within the Christian realm into a more stable status, equaling the Jews to that of foreign merchants. A second remarkable tenet in this theory was based on the conception that of all the trading nations, Jews were the best, precisely because of their collective weakness, namely their being stateless and therefore without any political protection. It proves to be striking argument and, somehow, not entirely true. Levantine Jews were often under the protection of the Turks and few new Christians continued to pledge loyalty to Spain and Portugal.99<\/a><\/p>\n

But in addition: when arguing over the lack of a sovereign polity capable enough to protect the Jews, Luzzatto stressed how this political weakness transformed Jews into humble and loyal subjects.100<\/a>\u00a0John Toland, influenced by Luzzatto\u2019s\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, subscribed to similar beliefs when pleading for the naturalization of Jews at the beginning of the eighteenth-century.\u00a0101<\/a><\/p>\n

At the same time, this argument openly challenged Christian theology on the issue of supersession, much of which had relied on the idea that Jews had been punished by God with the loss of political sovereignity. The belief that exile was the outcome of a divine punishment was also a Jewish theological notion, partly based on the logic of certain Biblical books, especially Deuteronomy. The exile,\u00a0galut<\/em>, was at that time usually negatively perceived and contributed to the reinforcement of messianic beliefs.102<\/a>\u00a0Within this theological background the\u00a0Discorso<\/em>\u00a0formed an original, challenging and bold attack on Christian and Jewish conceptions of exile and punishment and a positive re-evaluation, perhaps the first to be formulated, on the concept of exile within the language of modern political theory.<\/p>\n

Moreover, in consideration 4, Luzzatto dealt extensively on the positive results engendered under duress and need. Within an ironic pun, he wondered why the Romans, who worshipped a number of gods \u2013 the protectors of Art and Invention, not to mention the personified Fortune, never established a worship of Need, under whose discipline Jews learned their way of life and their abilities within trade.103<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto seemed to hint at a theory of Jews being \u201cmercurians\u201d \u2013 mobile middlemen, competitive, flexible because of their strength developed under unfavorable social and political conditions.104<\/a><\/p>\n

The reconfiguration of this notion on exile can be detected in many of the chapters and is rhetorically connected with Luzzatto\u2019s attempt to define the collective character of the Jews. With this in mind, the first section of the work focused on many interesting issues producing relevant questions for future works, for example, a critique on the idea of a \u201ccollective guilt\u201d or an outline on the theory of Biblical tolerance, to mention but a few.105<\/a><\/p>\n

The second section of the tract, from considerations 11 to 18, dwells more extensively on cultural issues and appears to address a general problem, namely the role of Jews within Christian states and their collective identity, history and current condition.106<\/a>\u00a0This section is not wholly coherent and one might suggest that the different chapters (much lengthier than the preceding ones) though\u00a0 assembled, had been written during different periods. The second part of the tract covers a wide number of issues, some of which deal with pre-modern anti-Jewish hostility. Considerations 12 and 15, for example, present a detailed confutation of seventeenth-century anti-Semitism which goes beyond religious polemics, fronting a more differentiated and subtle discourse against the Jews.<\/p>\n

As Luzzatto states on the front page of his work, the\u00a0Discorso<\/em>\u00a0refers to a lost tract which he had allegedly written under the title \u201cTrattato dell\u2019openioni e Dogmi de gl\u2019Hebrei dall\u2019Universal non dissonanti, e de riti loro pi\u00f9 principali.\u201d107<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto\u2019s technical term used to introduce a collective portrayal of the Jews is \u201cuniversale\u201d. In order to describe Jews \u201cuniversally\u201d it is necessary to take into consideration a number of common features applicable to them all, despite their dispersion, diversity in language, local customs, geography and professions.108<\/a><\/p>\n

In chapter 16 Luzzatto offers his idea of Judaism. Rhetorically crafted as a historical outline of Judaism, this chapter discusses at length the collective cultural features of the Jews, endeavoring to answer the more general questions of birth, greatness and fall of the nations. It is interesting to note that Luzzatto presented a theory on nationhood which will be later resumed by nineteenth-century intellectuals, focusing on the relationship between nation and culture.109<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto emphasized that the memory of the ancient nations is communicated by means of culture and war. The Greeks contribution to the culture of humankind was based on their knowledge of sciences and arts, whereas Romans gained posterity with their political systems and skillful warfare.110<\/a>\u00a0If a nation is defined by its antiquity, the Jews thereby, who are the remnants of Biblical Hebrews, have to be judged on the background of their ancient military might, their history and their political system. Ancient Hebrews were protected by Divine providence and were endowed with both capabilities \u2013 they were warriors, who heroically fought for their freedom against the Roman empire,111<\/a>\u00a0and they created a culture in the guise of the philosophical and religious doctrines which were described by Eusebius, in his\u00a0Preparatio evangelica<\/em>. Jews therefore held all the great qualities of the ancient nations. Contrary to Greeks and Romans or other ancient nations which have either disappeared or metamorphosed, Jews have survived the test of time, whilst either in captivity or exile, having preserved their essence. When the nation was shattered into small fragments, and spread all over the universe, those fragments retained the essence of its ancient identity.112<\/a><\/p>\n

If the biblical period was praised by most scholars, a positive cultural representation of a post\u2013biblical period was more complicated to present. Luzzatto\u2019s attempt in chapter 16 is therefore addressed in order to provide a positive image of rabbinical Judaism, a task he shared with Modena\u2019s representation of Judaims in the\u00a0Riti<\/em>. This effort may be well received as an original and articulate attempt to counter aggressive Christian scholars on Rabbinics, both Catholic and Protestant, whose aim was to despise and belittle Judaism in an attempt to finally convert the Jews.<\/p>\n

Luzzatto, in contrast to Modena, who chose a normative model dependant on traditional legal codes, framed his description of post-biblical Judaism on Flavius Josephus\u2019 works. Posing as a modern Josephus, he stated that post-biblical Judaism consists of three main schools of thought, strictly related to the interpretation of the Bible, to which Luzzatto adds a fourth one, the Karaites.113<\/a>\u00a0The Bible is placed at the centre of his dissertation, being the primary source of Jewish practices and philosophical speculation, exactly in the same way Modena had positioned the Bible in his\u00a0Riti<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The first group consists of \u201crabbis and Talmudists\u201d; the second one is composed by theologians who lean toward philosophical reasoning, and the third one is constituted by Kabbalists who explore the hidden meaning of the Sacred script.114<\/a>\u00a0Rabbis are, according to Luzzatto, those who have preserved Judaism in all its collective guises at all times and in all places (\u201cl\u2019universale degli Hebrei\u201d) because they were responsible for the implementation of Jewish rituals and ceremonies. Though this line of argument may resemble Modena\u2019s representation of Jewish rituals and ceremonies, Luzzatto stressed how rabbinical interpretations might shed light on arguments which were of great importance during the late Renaissance period, for example, time reckoning and the computation of the calendar.115<\/a><\/p>\n

The second group of interpreters of the Bible included the philosophers who tried to read the Sacred Script through means of reason. The philosophical interpretation of the Bible, as perceived by Luzzatto, would become extremely important in the late eighteenth century. Luzzatto tied the history of this cultural undercurrent to both Philo of Alexandria and Josephus Flavius: the first, Philo of Alexandria, contributed to the development of Christian biblical exegesis (through Origens) and was soon lost within Jewish tradition. The second interpretative tradition, represented by Josephus Flavius\u2019\u00a0Antiquitates,\u00a0<\/em>provides with an important interpretation of obscure biblical passages.116<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto emphasized the cultural encounter between the Jews and the Gentiles in ancient times, when mentioning works which were composed in either Greek or Arabic. He provided examples from the great scholars who had contributed to the history of philosophical thought and who had lived under Muslim domain, for example, Saadia Gaon and Maimonides, whose works were later translated into Latin.117<\/a>\u00a0Egypt, according to Luzzato, gave birth to the most important Jewish leaders and scholars: Moses, the prophet and lawgiver, Philo of Alexandria and Maimonides, stressing the role and relevance of the culture of the diaspora. Furthermore he underlines the relevance of authors such as Levi ben Gershon, commentator of Aristotle and Averroes, Hasday Crescas, a critic of Aristotle, Yoseph Albo and Ibn Ezra, all of whom contributed to the definition of the articles of faith and dogmas of Judaism.118<\/a>\u00a0The section devoted to the second group of interpreters of the Bible discusses concisely yet profoundly,\u00a0 a number of very significant issues concerning the relationship between religious philosophy and Jewish law as it developed over time. In one striking passage Luzzatto maintained that Jewish law was flexible, because it was shaped according to the culture and conditions of the times.119<\/a>\u00a0Elsewhere, in chapter 15, dealing with the content of the Bible, Luzzatto hinted at the same question when suggesting that the Bible was written under the influence of cultural conditions during a particular time and place (\u201csupponendo ch\u2019abbiano scritto come conveniva al stato e conditione di quelle genti ne quali erano dispersi\u201d).120<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto\u2019s remarks with regards to the Bible and Jewish law portray a strong sense of what is immutable and therefore \u201cuniversally\u201d valid at all times and in all places, and what is ephemeral and what is mutable. This argument must be viewed in the context of the seventeenth-century debate over the interpretation of the Bible: it resembled much of Galileo\u2019s biblical hermeneutics as it was developed in his\u00a0Lettera a Cristina di Lorena<\/em>,121<\/a>\u00a0and was further elaborated by Spinoza in his\u00a0Tractatus theologico-politicus.<\/em>122<\/a><\/p>\n

Luzzatto then described the third school of biblical interpreters, composed by the Kabbalists, whose doctrine was \u2013 according to his rendition \u2013 mainly spread in the Levant and Poland. He stressed that Kabbalistic teachings were \u201cnot compulsory,\u201d because they did not require the approval by the whole nation.123<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto\u2019s account of the Kabbalah appears as a first attempt at sketching a short historical outline of the esoteric Jewish tradition for a more general readership. This section of the chapter is lenghtier than the others, and should be compared to Leon Modena\u2019s treatise on the Kabbalah (Ari nohem<\/em>, whose final composition dates at 1639).124<\/a>\u00a0In order to describe the Kabbalah to his audience, Luzzatto underlined the literal meaning of the term \u2013 Kabbalah. The term itself portrays both the act of \u201creception\u201d and the relationship between master and disciple.125<\/a>\u00a0The Kabbalists \u2013 he maintains \u2013 received a special wisdom regarding the hidden interpretation of the Holy Script (\u201ccos\u00ec ad essi per la misteriosa espositione della Scrittura.\u201d)126<\/a>\u00a0Kabbalistic teachings are divided into a \u201cpractical doctrine,\u201d associated with the permutation of the letters, the computation of its numerical meaning, mainly applicable to the names of God. A second doctrine, more theoretical and scientific (\u201cscientifica\u201d) is based on speculation of the nexus between the natural and the divine realms. The natural realm is connected to that of the divine by channels. The supernal world therefore infuses its energy to the natural world thanks to ten principles which in turn resemble the principles of the Pitagorean tradition.127<\/a><\/p>\n

In my opinion Luzzatto was one of the first Jewish scholars who described the Kabbalah by utilizing a comparite approach, and following certain Christian traditions, he was able to highlight the similarities between Kabbalah and Platonism.128<\/a>\u00a0Moreover, he was one of the first to establish a nexus between the esoteric doctrines of the Kabbalah and early Christian heretical groups, such as Gnostics and Valentinians.129<\/a><\/p>\n

By describing the system of the Kabbalists, Luzzatto dwells upon the belief of the transmigration of souls, which he attributed to the Pythagorean tradition. Even if only briefly mentioned, it is worth noting that Modena referred to the same belief in his first version of the\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0published in 1637, as mentioned above.130<\/a><\/p>\n

The section devoted to the Kabbalah merits a more detailed analysis and calls for historical reconstruction which would take into consideration the standpoint of the Christians and Jews alike, noting their differences and their overlaps. There are at least two questions worth discussing within this framework: first of all, Luzzatto seemed to oppose Modena\u2019s criticism of the Kabbalah preferring instead to offer a different interpretation based upon the similarities between the Kabbalah and neo-platonic philosophical tradition, as first elaborated on by certain Christian scholars. This stance may have answered a profound cultural need which was meant to sustain and endorse the study of natural philosophy.131<\/a><\/p>\n

The beliefs of the Kabbalah often overlapped (coincided) with magic, especially during the Renaissance period, and provoked strong criticism from ecclesiastical institutions which had been, since its inception, attentive and skeptical about this body of doctrine, as it became referred to within the Christian fold.132<\/a>\u00a0The presence of Gaffarel in Venice certainly indicated how the fascination of Pico\u2019s cultural enterprise reverberated into the seventeenth-century, notwithstanding the censorship around his works, which were mainly published outside the Italian territories. This specific case-study of Venice also sheds some light on the reception of certain themes revolving around Giovanni Pico della Mirandola\u2019s literary heritage amongst the Italian Jewry, a topic which requires further exploration.133<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally the chapter ends with a short description of the \u201cfourth class\u201d of the Jewish interpreters of the Scripture, the Karaites who are, according to him and Modena, the descendants of old Sadducees.134<\/a>\u00a0At the beginning of eighteenth-century, Christian Hebraists, who were at that time collecting manuscripts and bibliographical information about the history of Judaism, claimed, on the basis of correspondences they had had with Jews in Italy, that Modena and Luzzatto had written an essay on the Karaites.135<\/a>\u00a0There is enough internal evidence to demonstrate that the Venetian rabbis collaborated, maybe they had discussed on a book relating to Jewish rituals and beliefs, arguing over heated topics such as the question of Karaims or the role of the Kabbalah, as observed in this short analysis. Luzzatto\u2019s characterization of the Karaites as interpreters of the Bible is very concise: the Karaites dwelled in some of the cities of the Levant and bore similarities to ancient Sadducees. By contrast, they believed in the immortality of the soul, its spiritual character, and the existence of angels as spiritual beings.136<\/a><\/p>\n

The conclusion of chapter 16 suggests that, according to Luzzatto, rabbinic Judaism\u2019s appraisal of culture disguised as speculation on matters of natural philosophy, astronomy and natural science (\u201cscientia\u201d) was still in practice and served religious goals in attempting to reach a better understanding of the Godhead. Contrary to Leone Modena, who definitely portrayed a situation of cultural decay amongst the Jews during his time, Luzzatto revealed a more positive attitude, one of self awareness which believed that access to philosophy and natural sciences were endangered because of Jewish religious isolationist trends. Nevertheless, his attempt to positively portray the different groups of Jewish scholars within the culture of his time, discloses his endeavor to maintain that the Jews were, even in exile and politically subjected to Christian polities, capable of producing and pursuing culture under duress.
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<\/a><\/a><\/a>Liminality and creativity<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cTake a view of the Royal Exchange in London, a place more venerable than many courts of justice, where the representatives of all nations meet for the benefit of mankind. There the Jew, the Mahometan, and the Christian transact together, as though they all professed the same religion, and give the name of infidel to none but bankrupts. There the Presbyterian confides in the Anabaptist, and the Churchman depends on the Quaker’s word. At the breaking up of this pacific and free assembly, some withdraw to the synagogue, and others to take a glass. This man goes and is baptized in a great tub, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: that man has his son’s foreskin cut off, whilst a set of Hebrew words (quite unintelligible to him) are mumbled over his child. Others retire to their churches, and there wait for the inspiration of heaven with their hats on, and all are satisfied\u201d (Voltaire, \u201cOn the Presbyterians\u201d)<\/p>\n

It is more than appropriate to conclude this article with a famous quotation by Voltaire on religious tolerance. Voltaire\u2019s remarks are of a different kind and, though somehow they still relate to the image of Venice, the French philosopher stresses the economic element of tolerance. Voltaire\u2019s image of cultural religious toleration seemingly plays no role; religious tolerance seems, in this excerpt, to be a matter left to economy. Furthermore, Voltaire suggests that diversity in religion fosters economy and tolerance with virtuous reciprocal feedback: \u201cIf one religion only were allowed in England, the Government would very possibly become arbitrary; if there were but two, the people would cut one another’s throats; but as there are such a multitude, they all live happy and in peace.\u201d137<\/a><\/p>\n

If we look back at the end of the sixteenth-century, we intersect another French advocate of religious toleration who endorsed Venice\u2019s myth as a city of tolerance. Bodin\u2019s\u00a0Heptaplomeres<\/em>, was composed around 1588, and portrays a dialogue amongst seven fictional characters representing different religious and philosophical traditions. Solomon, the character who symbolically voices Judaism, is a portrayal of a hidden wisdom grounded in the esoteric understanding of the biblical mysteries.138<\/a>\u00a0Moreover, there are clues that the\u00a0Heptaplomeres<\/em>\u00a0might also be related to the world of Venice, which we have tried to rediscover here and which may have in addition exerted a certain influence on our protagonists, from Sarpi to Luzzatto, from Modena to the Protestant and Catholic foreigners who roamed the Venetian ghetto.<\/p>\n

Therefore, it is noteworthy to stress that by describing a new form of Judaism, both the\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0Discorso<\/em>\u00a0represented early attempts to offer a plea for the toleration of Jews within European Christian society. With regards to Luzzatto\u2019s\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, scholars have primarily focused on a concept of economic usefulness when referring to Jewish integration into Christian society. Given that the concept of usefulness became pivotal in discussions of the rise of modern science, it is then no surprise that Luzzatto\u2019s theory reached such a wide audience. Nevertheless, other theories of toleration in Luzzatto\u2019s\u00a0Discorso\u00a0<\/em>can be traced, and are by no means less significant.<\/p>\n

I shall briefly point to his attempt at defining a theory of religious toleration based on structural principles within the Christian state, for example Christian mercy (\u201ccarit\u00e0\u201d).139<\/a>\u00a0This line of reasoning is the least explored and probably the most complicated argument to offer as a plausible theory in religious toleration. Furthermore, in consideration 15, Luzzatto seems to suggest a theory of Jewish tolerance based on its interpretation of the Bible. It is of the utmost importance because it addressed issues of political and religious dissent which had been discussed in certain European countries.140<\/a>\u00a0Finally, Luzzatto presented a theory on toleration based on an internal historical Jewish perspective, demonstrating that Jews were still capable of producing culture, as stressed above.<\/p>\n

In as far as it goes with reference to Leone Modena\u2019s the\u00a0Riti<\/em>, he offered a theory of toleration mainly based on the concept of Judaism as a biblical religion. Even if his work seemed to suggest more criticism aimed at the cultural position of Judaism during his time, it also expressed a portrayal of Judaism as a rational and sober religion, an idea which came to play an important role during the course of the eighteenth century. From the perspective of the sciences of religion, the\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0is one of the first treatises to present Judaism using a phenomenological approach meant to reconstruct religious practices from the perspective of an insider. There is no space for further development on this perspective, but this aspect might explain its immensely successful reception of the book amongst a non-Jewish readership, both Catholic and Protestant.141<\/a><\/p>\n

The special encounters which took place in and around the ghetto during those critical yet fascinating years in the Most Serene Republic of Venice, highlighted a cultural and religious framework which was able to foster responses to the problems of the time, and in particular on the issue of religious tolerance.<\/p>\n

The fragmentation of Christianity, torn by its dogmatic battles and its intolerant zeal, the distress and peregrinations of the Iberian Jews and new Christians contributed to the creation of a new context surmounted by conflict and quandary. Nevertheless, Venice as a city and as a myth along with the liminality of the ghetto and its protagonists \u2013 Jews, Protestants and Catholics alike \u2013 proved capable of offering a space for confrontation where, beyond control and discipline, books, manuscripts, ideas, more or less hidden and prohibited elsewhere, were circulated and discussed, leaving a lasting mark in European culture.
\n[BACK]\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Notes<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
[1]<\/a>\u00a0Edward Muir,\u00a0Civic Ritual in Renaissance<\/em>\u00a0Venice<\/em>, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981), 13-61;\u00a0Venice Reconsidered: The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State, 1297\u20131797<\/em>, eds. John Martin, Dennis Romano, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[2]<\/a>\u00a0Frederic C. Lane,\u00a0Venice. A Maritime Republic<\/em>, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973), 12 (quoting Mumford).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[3]<\/a>\u00a0On the ideal image of Venice as was envisioned by Mumford see: Lewis Mumford,\u00a0The City in History<\/em>, (Harcourt: Brace and Janovich, 1961). I quote from the Italian edition:\u00a0La citt\u00e0 nella storia. Dal chiostro al Barocco<\/em>, (Milan: Bompiani 2002), 407.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[4]<\/a>\u00a0Elisabeth Crouzet Pavan,\u00a0Venice Triumphant: the Horizon of a Myth,<\/em>\u00a0(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), 146.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[5]<\/a>\u00a0Donatella Calabi, \u201cGli stranieri nella capitale della repubblica Veneta nella prima et\u00e0 moderna\u201d,\u00a0M\u00e9langes de l’Ecole Fran\u00e7aise de Rome. Italie et M\u00e9diterran\u00e9e<\/em>\u00a0111\/2 (1999): 721-732, esp. 723-724; H. Porfyriou, \u201cI greci a Venezia e a Roma\u201d, in\u00a0La citt\u00e0 italiana e i luoghi degli stranieri, XV-XVIII secolo<\/em>, eds. Donatella Calabi, Paola Lanaro, (Rome-Bari: Laterza 1998). For a negative perception of Greeks in Venice see: William Bouwsma,\u00a0Venice and the Defence of Republican Liberty. Renaissance Values in the Age of Counter-Reformation<\/em>, (Berkeley \u2013 Los Angeles: University of California Press), 259.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[6]<\/a>\u00a0Donatella Calabi, \u201cForeigners and the City: an Historiographical Exploration for the Early Modern Period\u201d,\u00a0Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.\u00a0<\/em>Working Papers<\/em>\u00a015 (2006): 1-41;\u00a0Les \u00e9trangers dans la ville: minorit\u00e9s et espace urbain du bas Moyen \u00c2ge a l’\u00e9poque moderne<\/em>, eds. Jacques Bottin, Donatella Calabi, (Paris: Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l\u2019Homme, 1999);\u00a0Cities and Cultural Exchange in Europe, 1400-1700<\/em>, eds. Donatella Calabi, Stephen Turk Christensen, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[7]<\/a>\u00a0The term\u00a0fondaco<\/em>\u00a0derives from the Arab word\u00a0funduq<\/em>, and defines a structure that worked both as a warehouse and as an hospice for merchants. See: Calabi, \u201cForeigners and the City\u201d, 12; Idem, \u201cGli stranieri nella capitale della Repubblica Veneta\u201d, 725-726; Crouzet Pavan,\u00a0Venice Triumphant<\/em>, 163.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[8]<\/a>\u00a0For oriental minorities in Venice see: Brunehilde Imhaus,\u00a0Le minoranze orientali a Venezia (1300-1510)<\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>(Venice: Il Veltro, 1997).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[9]<\/a>\u00a0Literature on the Jews of Venice is relatively vast and very specialized. The main references are: Cecil Roth,\u00a0The Jews of Venice<\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>(Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1930); Riccardo Calimani,\u00a0Storia del ghetto di Venezia<\/em>, 1st<\/sup>\u00a0ed. (Milano: Mondadori, 1995);\u00a0Gli ebrei a Venezia<\/em>, ed. Gaetano Cozzi, (Milan: Edizioni Comunit\u00e0, 1987);\u00a0The Jews of Early Modern Venice<\/em>, eds. Robert C. Davis, \u00a0Benjamin Ravid, (Baltimore-London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001);\u00a0\u201cInterstizi.\u201d Culture ebraico-cristiane a Venezia e nei suoi domini dal medioevo all\u2019et\u00e0 moderna<\/em>, eds. Uwe Israel, Robert J\u00fctte, Reinhold C. Mueller, (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2010).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[10]<\/a>\u00a0This article will not deal with the question of the rise and meaning of Italian \u201cghettoes\u201d in the sixteenth century. For an introduction to the history of the Venitian ghetto see:\u00a0La citt\u00e0 degli Ebrei<\/em>, eds. Ennio Concina, Ugo Camerino, Donatella Calabi, (Venice: Albrizzi, 1991). For an historical outline, see: Benjamin Ravid, \u201cExcursus 1: the Venitian Ghetto in Historical Perspective\u201d, in\u00a0The Autobiography of a Seventeenth Century Venitian Rabbi. Leon Modena\u2019s Life of Judah<\/em>, ed. Mark R. Cohen, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988 henceforth quoted as\u00a0Life of Judah<\/em>), 279-283; for a general outline on Jewish quarters and ghettoes see: Donatella Calabi, \u201cLes quartier juifs en Italie entre 15e et 17e si\u00e8cles. Quelques hypoth\u00e8se de travail\u201d,\u00a0Annales HSS<\/em>\u00a0(juillet-ao\u00fbt 1997): 777-797. On papal policy regarding the segregation of the Jews, see: Kenneth Stow,\u00a0Catholic Thought and Papal Jewry Policy, 1555-1593<\/em>, (New York: The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1977); Renata Segre, \u201cLa controriforma: espulsioni, conversioni, isolamento\u201d, in\u00a0Gli ebrei in Italia<\/em>, 1, ed. Corrado Vivanti,\u00a0Storia d\u2019Italia<\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>Annali 11, (Turin: Einaudi, 2006), 709-778.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[11]<\/a>\u00a0Calabi, \u201cGli stranieri nella capitale della Repubblica Veneta\u201d, 731; Idem, \u201cLes quartier juifs en Italie.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[12]<\/a>\u00a0Calabi, \u201cGli stranieri nella capitale della Repubblica Veneta\u201d, 729.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[13]<\/a>\u00a0Brian Pullan,\u00a0The Jews of Europe and the Inquisition of Venice, 1550-1670<\/em>, (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1983), 154-156.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[14]<\/a>\u00a0Ibid., 146.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[15]<\/a>\u00a0France is a good example of the war of religion. See Natalie Zemon Davis,\u00a0Society and Culture in Early Modern France: Eight Essays,\u00a0<\/em>(Stanford, Ca.: Stanford University Press, 1975).\u00a0<\/em>Religious practices survived even when certain groups became religious minorities. For the Dutch case see: Kristine Kooi, \u201cPopish Impudence: the Perseverance of the Roman Catholic Faithful in Calvinist Holland, 1572-1620\u201d,\u00a0Sixteenth Century Journal<\/em>\u00a026\/1 (1995): 75-85; C. Scott Dixon, \u201cUrban Order and Religious Coexistence in the German Imperial City: Augsburg and Donauwoerth, 1548-1608\u201d,\u00a0Central European History<\/em>\u00a040 (2007): 1-33.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[16]<\/a>\u00a0Conversos<\/em>,\u00a0Marranos<\/em>, or cripto-Jews are terms that define Jews from the Iberian peninsula who had been forced to convert to Christianity. Many of them were persecuted by the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition as heretics professing hidden forms of Judaism. Some of them were committed Christians, some converted to Judaism or were asked to convert to Judaism (as in Venice, for example); some of them kept double religious identities. The term \u201cSephardim<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/em>generically defines Jews (and sometimes conversos) of Iberian descent. For introductory remarks see: Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi,\u00a0From Spanish Court to Italian Ghetto.<\/em>\u00a0Isaac Cardoso: A Study in Seventeenth-Century Marranism and Jewish Apologetics<\/em>, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1971);\u00a0Jews and Conversos<\/em>, ed. Yosef Kaplan, (Jerusalem, World Union of Jewish Studies, 1985); Idem,\u00a0From Christianity to Judaism. The Story of Isaac Orobio de Castro<\/em>, Engl. trans. (Oxford: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2004); Francesca Trivellato,\u00a0The Familiarity of Strangers<\/em>.\u00a0The Sephardic Diaspora, Livorno, and Cross-Cultural Trade in the Early Modern Period<\/em>, (New Haven \u2013 London: Yale University Press, 2009), 204 note 3.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[17]<\/a>\u00a0On the\u00a0conversos\u00a0<\/em>diaspora see: Jonathan Israel,\u00a0Diasporas within a Diaspora: Jews, Crypto-Jews, and the World of Maritime Empires (1540-1740)<\/em>, (Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2002).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[18]<\/a>\u00a0Miriam Bodian,\u00a0Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation. Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam<\/em>, (Bloomington-Indianapolid: Indiana University Press, 1999); Steven Nadler,\u00a0Spinoza. A Life<\/em>, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), chap. 1.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[19]<\/a>\u00a0L\u2019inquisizione e gli ebrei in Italia<\/em>, ed. Michele Luzzati, (Rome-Bari, Laterza, 1994).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[20]<\/a>\u00a0Pullan,\u00a0The Jews of Europe<\/em>; Benjamin Ravid, \u201cVenice, Rome, and the Reversion of New Christian to Judaism: a Study in\u00a0ragione di stato<\/em>\u201d, in\u00a0L\u2019identit\u00e0 dissimulata. Giudaizzanti iberici nell\u2019Europa cristiana dell\u2019et\u00e0 moderna<\/em>, ed. Pier Cesare Ioly Zorattini, (Florence: Olschki, 2000), 151-310.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[21]<\/a>\u00a0On Livorno see the article by Francesca Bregoli in this issue. For Ferrara, see: Renata Segre, \u201cLa formazione di una comunit\u00e0 marrana: i portoghesi a Ferrara\u201d, in\u00a0Gli ebrei in Italia<\/em>, 1, 781-841; Aron di Leone Leone,\u00a0La nazione ebraica spagnola e portoghese di Ferrara (1492-1559)<\/em>, (Florence: Olschki, 2011).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[22]<\/a>\u00a0The literature over Protestants in Italy is vast. See Delio Cantimori,\u00a0Eretici italiani del Cinquecento<\/em>, rev. ed. (Turin: Einaudi, 1962); Massimo Firpo,\u00a0Riforma protestante ed eresie nell\u2019Italia del Cinquecento.\u00a0<\/em>Un profilo storico<\/em>, 8th ed. (Rome-Bari: Laterza, 2008).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[23]<\/a>\u00a0The ghettoes of Piedmont were all established in the eighteenth century. See: Attilio Milano,\u00a0Storia degli ebrei \u00a0in Italia<\/em>, (Turin: Einaudi, 1961), 286-337.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[24]<\/a>\u00a0Benjamin Ravid, \u201cThe Venitian Government and the Jews\u201d, in\u00a0The Jews of Early Modern Venice<\/em>, 5-30.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[25]<\/a>\u00a0Pullan,\u00a0The Jews of Europe<\/em>, 149-152.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[26]<\/a>\u00a0Federica Ruspio, \u201cUna comunit\u00e0 di marrani a Venezia\u201d,\u00a0Zakhor<\/em>\u00a05 (2002): 53-85; Idem,\u00a0La nazione portoghese: ebrei ponentini e nuovi cristiani a Venezia<\/em>, (Turin: Zamorani, 2007); Idem, \u201cLa nazione portoghese a Venezia (secc. XVI-XVII secc.)\u201d, in\u00a0\u201cInterstizi\u201d<\/em>, 371-404.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[27]<\/a>\u00a0On the relevance of the Studio of Padua for Venice see: David Ruderman,\u00a0Jewish Though and Scientific Discovery in Early Modern Europe<\/em>, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995), chap. 3.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[28]<\/a>\u00a0Adriano Prosperi,\u00a0Tribunali della coscienza: inquisitori, confessori, missionari<\/em>, 2nd<\/sup>\u00a0ed. (Turin: Einaudi, 2009); for censorship on books: Paul Grendler,\u00a0The Roman Inquisition and the Venetian Press, 1540-1605<\/em>, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977); for the Inquisition and Jews in Venice see: Pier Cesare Ioly Zorattini, \u201cJews, Crypto-Jews, and the Inquisition\u201d, in\u00a0The Jews of Venice<\/em>, 97-116; Idem,\u00a0Processi del S. Uffizio di Venezia contro ebrei e giudaizzanti<\/em>, 14 vols. (Florence: Olschki, 1980-99).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[29]<\/a>\u00a0The Lion Shall Roar. Leone Modena and his World<\/em>, ed. David Malkiel, (Jerusalem: The Hebrew University Magnes Press and Ben Zvi, 2003).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[30]<\/a>\u00a0See: Nadler,\u00a0Baruch Spinoza<\/em>, passim.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[31]<\/a>\u00a0Modena wrote extensively on many relevant Jewish topics related to Judaism. For a biographical account see: Howard Adelman,\u00a0Failure and<\/em>\u00a0Success\u00a0<\/em>in the Seventeenth Century Ghetto of Venice: the Life and Thought of Leon Modena, 1571-1648<\/em>, PhD Dissertation, (Brandeis University, 1985).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[32]<\/a>\u00a0See the correspondence betwenn Isaac Cantarini and Christoph Theophil Unger in\u00a0Otsar nehmad<\/em>, 3, (Vienna: 1860), 137 (Heb).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[33]<\/a>\u00a0Sefer elim<\/em>\u00a0was published in Amsterdam by Menasseh ben Israel. See Isaac Barzilay,\u00a0Yoseph Shlomo Delmedigo (Yashar of Candia): his Life, Works and Times<\/em>, (Leiden: Brill 1974), 42 and note 4; Ruderman,\u00a0Jewish Though<\/em>, chap. 4. Benjamin Ravid, \u201cBiblical Exegesis \u00e0 la Mercantilism and Raison d\u2019Etat in Seventeenth Century Venice: the Discorso of Simone Luzzatto\u201d, in\u00a0Bringing the Hidden to Light: the Process of Interpretation. Studies in Honor of Stephen A. Geller<\/em>, eds. Kathryn F. Kravitz, Diane M. Sharon, (Ann Arbor: Eisenbrauns, 2007), 169-186, 169, 170. On Jacob Frances see: Gershom Scholem,\u00a0Sabbatai\u00a0<\/em>S<\/em>evi. The Mystical Messiah, 1626-1676<\/em>, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973), 516-518.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[34]<\/a>\u00a0For the purpose of this article I will always refer to: Simone Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso circa il stato de gl\u2019Hebrei, et in particolar dimoranti nell\u2019inclita citt\u00e0 di Venetia<\/em>, facsimile dell\u2019edizione veneziana del 1638, (Bologna:\u00a0 Saletta, 1976). Henceforth quoted as\u00a0Discorso<\/em>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[35]<\/a>\u00a0Simone Luzzatto,\u00a0Socrate, ouero dell\u2019humano sapere<\/em>, (Venice: Tomasini, 1651); on this text see: Ruderman,\u00a0Jewish Thought<\/em>, chap. 5; Ariel Viterbo, \u201cSocrate nel ghetto: lo scetticismo mascherato di Simone Luzzatto\u201d,\u00a0Studi veneziani<\/em>\u00a038 (1999): 79-128.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[36]<\/a>\u00a0His works were first mentioned in: Jo. Christ. Wolf,\u00a0Bibliothecae hebreae<\/em>, 3,\u00a0 (Hamburg \u2013 Leipzig: Theod. Christoph. Felgineri, 1727), 1150-1152.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[37]<\/a>\u00a0For the redaction of this article I do refer to the Paris edition:\u00a0Historia de gli riti hebraici: dove si d\u00e0 breve e total relatione di tutta la vita, costumi, \u00e8 riti e osserbanze de gl\u2019Hebrei di questi tempi<\/em>, di Leon Modena, Rabi Hebreo di Venetia (Paris: 1637); and the Venitian edition of (1638):\u00a0Historia de riti hebraici, vita et osservanza de gl\u2019Hebrei di questi tempi<\/em>, di Leon Modena Rabi Hebreo da Venetia, (Venice: Calleoni, 1638). I did use the 1678 edition (Venice: Benedetto Miloco, 1678). Henceforth quoted as\u00a0Riti<\/em>. The 1638 version was reprinted many times: Venice 1669, 1673, 1678, 1694, 1714, Modena, 1728, Rome 1932-33, Bologna, 1979. A German translation of the\u00a0Riti<\/em>, based on the two editions and the Venitian manuscript has been recently published: Leon Modena,\u00a0Juedische Riten, sitten un gebr\u00e4uche<\/em>, ed. and transl. by Rafael Arnold, (Wiesbaden: Marixverlag, 2007); for the French edition see: Richard Simon,\u00a0Les juifs pr\u00e9sent\u00e9s aux chr\u00e9tiens.\u00a0<\/em>C\u00e9r\u00e9monie et coutumes qui s\u2019observent aujourd\u2019hui parmi les Juifs par L\u00e9on Mod\u00e8ne\u00a0<\/em>traduit par Richard Simon, suivi de\u00a0Comparaison des c\u00e8r\u00e8monies des Juifs et de la discipline de l\u2019\u00e9glise<\/em>, eds. Jacques Le Brun, Guy G. Stroumsa, (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1998). The title of the first manuscript copy reads\u00a0Vita, riti e costumi de gl\u2019Hebrei \u2013 in brevissimo compendio ma amplamento raccolti et descritti<\/em>. This copy was presented in September 1628 to William Boswell and is now at St. John\u2019s College Library in Cambridge. See: Howard Adelman, \u201cLeon Modena: the Autobiography and the Man\u201d, in\u00a0Life of Judah<\/em>, 28-29; Jacques Le Brun,\u00a0Ceremonies<\/em>, XXI; P. van Roode, \u201cConception of Judaism as a Religion in the Seventeenth Century Dutch Republic\u201d, in\u00a0Christianity and Judaism<\/em>, ed. Diana Wood, (Cambridge: Ecclesiastical History Society by Blackwell Publishers, 1992), 307.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[38]<\/a>\u00a0Leon Modena,\u00a0Life of Judah<\/em>, 131.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[39]<\/a>\u00a0Howard Adelman, Benjamin Ravid, \u201cHistorical Notes\u201d, in\u00a0Life of Judah<\/em>, folio 21b, 242.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[40]<\/a>\u00a0The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century: the Golden Age<\/em>, eds. Marten Roy Prak, Diane Webb, engl. transl. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 219; Yosef Kaplan,\u00a0An Alternative Path to Modernity. The Sephardi Diaspora in Western Europe<\/em>, (Leiden: Brill 2000), 32-33.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[41]<\/a>\u00a0I generally refer to the Italian edition: Michel Montaigne,\u00a0Viaggio in Italia<\/em>, (Rome-Bari, Laterza, 1991).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[42]<\/a>\u00a0Thomas Coryat,\u00a0Coryat\u2019s Crudities<\/em>, (1611). I refer to the following edition (Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, 1905). This book is often quoted, but information recorded must be taken with caution. See: Peter Burke,\u00a0The Historical Anthropology of the Early Modern Italy. Essays on Perception and Communication<\/em>, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 15-24. On travelers and the ghetto see: Abraham Melamed, \u201cEnglish Travellers and Venitian Jewish Scholars \u2013 The Case of Simone Luzzatto and James Harrington\u201d, in\u00a0Gli ebrei e Venezia<\/em>, 507-525; Benjamin Ravid, \u201cChristian Travelers and the Ghetto of Venice: some Preliminary Observations\u201d, in\u00a0Between History and Literature: Studies in Honor of Isaac Barzilay<\/em>, ed. Stanley Nash, (Bnei Brak, 1997), 111-150.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[43]<\/a>\u00a0See, Andrew Hadfield,\u00a0Literature Travel and Colonial Writing in the English Renaissance 1545-1625<\/em>, Oxford 1998, pp. 58-68.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[44]<\/a>\u00a0Coryat\u2019s travelogue is rich with description of religious rituals and practices, not to mention conversations with famed scholars, like Casaubon. At the same time, he is a strongly opinionated observer, very often quite flawed, as when describing Greek biblical scholarship in Venice.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[45]<\/a>\u00a0Cecil Roth, \u201cLeone da Modena and the Christian Hebraists\u201d, in\u00a0Jewish Studies in Memory of Israel Abrahams<\/em>, (New York: Press of the Jewish Institute of Religion, 1927), 384-401; Idem, \u201cLeone da Modena and England\u201d,\u00a0Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England<\/em>\u00a011 (1929): 206-27; Idem, \u201cLeone da Modena and his English Correspondents\u201d,\u00a0Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England<\/em>\u00a017 (1951-52): 39-43; Howard Adelman, \u201cRabbi Leon Modena and the Christian Kabbalists\u201d, in\u00a0Renaissance Rereadings<\/em>, ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988), 271-286.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[46]<\/a>\u00a0Coryat,\u00a0Coryat\u2019s Crudities<\/em>, 1, 379.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[47]<\/a>\u00a0William Bedell (1577-1644) became a Protestant bishop in Ireland and a translator the Bible into Gaelic. See: Adelman, \u201cLeon Modena: the Autobiography and the Man\u201d, in\u00a0Life of Judah<\/em>, 25-26. Roth, \u201cLeone da Modena and his English Correspondents\u201d, 41. See also:\u00a0A<\/em>\u00a0True Relation of the Life and Death of the Right Reverend Father in God William Bedell, Lord Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland,\u00a0<\/em>ed. by Thomas Wharton Jones, (Camden Society, 1872), online text (http:\/\/ebooks.library.cornell.edu\/c\/cdl\/);\u00a0Two Biographies of William Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore: with a Selection of his Letters and an Unpublished Treatise<\/em>, ed. E.S. Shuckburgh, (Cambridge: The University Press, 1902).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[48]<\/a>\u00a0See: Cozzi, \u201cSociet\u00e0 veneziana, societ\u00e0 ebraica\u201d, in\u00a0Gli ebrei e Venezia<\/em>, 348.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[49]<\/a>\u00a0It is also mentioned in Coryat\u2019s book. On Paolo Sarpi and his relationship with Jews of the ghetto much has been hinted at. See: Adelman, \u201cLeon Modena: the Autobiography and the Man\u201d, in\u00a0Life of Judah<\/em>, 26; Talya Fishman,\u00a0Shaking the Pillars of Exile: \u2018Voice of a Fool\u2019 and Early Jewish Critique of Rabbinic Culture<\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), 17-21.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[50]<\/a>\u00a0The definition is given by Edward Gibbon. See: Cozzi, \u201cSociet\u00e0 veneziana, societ\u00e0 ebraica\u201d, in\u00a0Gli ebrei a Venezia<\/em>, 347-348. For the English version of the book:\u00a0Treatise of Beneficiary Matters: or a History of Ecclesiastical Benefices and Revenues<\/em>, by Father Paul, of the Order of the Servites, and Consulter of State to the Republick of Venice, translated from the most Correct Copy in Italian extant, printed at Mirandola, 1676 (London \u2013 Westiminster, 1727).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[51]<\/a>\u00a0Giovanni Diodati (1576-1649) was born in Geneve in a family of Protestants from Lucca (Tuscany). His translation of the Bible in Italian was published in 1607 and it is deemed as important as the English version of the King James Bible. For a biography of Diodati see: Maria Betts,\u00a0Life of Giovanni Diodati: Genevese Theologian<\/em>, (London: Charles J. Thynne, 1905); William A. McComish,\u00a0The Epigones: A Study of the Theology of the Genevan Academy at the Time of the Synod of Dort, with Special Reference to Giovanni Diodati<\/em>, (Allison Park, PA: Pickwith, 1989).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[52]<\/a>\u00a0Adelman, Ravid, \u201cHistorical Notes\u201d, in\u00a0Life of Judah<\/em>, folio 20b, 240. For information about Colvius see: Fran\u00e7ois Secret, \u201cNotes sur les h\u00e9braisants chr\u00e9tiens, I: L\u00e9on Mod\u00e8ne et Gisbert Voetius\u201d,\u00a0Revue des \u00e9tudes juives<\/em>\u00a0124 (1965): 157-177, 157-159. For Colvius\u2019 relationship with Sarpi see: Vittorio Frajese, \u201cLa selva Arcana Papatus di propriet\u00e0 di Andreas Colvius: per la storia della fortuna di Paolo Sarpi\u201d,\u00a0Dimensione e problemi della ricerca storica<\/em>\u00a0I (1992), 37-60.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[53]<\/a>\u00a0Leon Modena,\u00a0Life of Judah<\/em>, 174 and Adelman, Ravid, \u201cHistorical Notes\u201d, in\u00a0Life of Judah<\/em>, folios 35b-36a, 267-268.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[54]<\/a>\u00a0See Guy Stroumsa,\u00a0A New Science. The Discovery of Religion in the Age of Reason<\/em>, (Cambridge – London: Harvard University Press, 2010), 62-76, 69.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[55]<\/a>\u00a0On this event see: Gaetano Cozzi,\u00a0Giustizia contaminata<\/em>, (Venice: Marsilio, 1996).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[56]<\/a>\u00a0For Modena\u2019a attitude to the printing press, see: Jaacob Dweck,\u00a0The Scandal of Kabbalah. Leon Modena, Jewish Mysticism, Early Modern Venice<\/em>, (Princeton \u2013 Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2011), chap. 1.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[57]<\/a>\u00a0Adelman, Ravid, \u201cHistorical Notes\u201d, in\u00a0Life of Judah<\/em>, folio 25b, 146-147.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[58]<\/a>\u00a0Natalie Zemon Davis, \u201cFame and Secrecy: Leon Modena\u2019s Life as an Early Modern Autobiography\u201d, in\u00a0Life of Judah<\/em>, 63 note 38. Other scholars offered 1633 as the year of Gaffarel stay in Venice.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[59]<\/a>\u00a0French Catholicism was distressed by religious strife and conflict. It is no surprise that theorical and theological attempts to find a viable theory of religious tolerance were pursued in this context. See: Massimo Firpo,\u00a0Il problema della tolleranza religiosa nell’et\u00e0 moderna.\u00a0<\/em>Dalla Riforma protestante a Locke<\/em>, (Turin, Loescher: 1978); Peretz Zagorin,\u00a0How the Idea of Religious Toleration came to the West<\/em>, (Princeton \u2013 Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2003).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[60]<\/a>\u00a0Abdita divinae Cabalae mysteria<\/em>, (Paris: Blageart, 1625); for the French translation, see:\u00a0Profonde myst\u00e8re de la cabale divine<\/em>, (Paris: Beaudelot, 1912) and (Milan: Sebastiani, 1975). On this work see, Saverio Campanini, \u201cEine sp\u00e4te Apologie der Kabbala. Die Abdita divinae Cabalae Mysteria des Jacques Gaffarel\u201c, in\u00a0Topik und Tradition. Prozesse der Neuordnung von Wissens\u00fcberlieferungen des 13. bis 17.\u00a0<\/em>Jahrhunderts<\/em>, eds. Thomas Frank, Ursula Kocher, Ulriche Tarnow, (G\u00f6ttingen: V&R unipress, 2007), 325-351. On Gaffarel and Modena see: Dweck,\u00a0The Scandal of Kabbalah<\/em>, 157-160.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[61]<\/a>\u00a0(Paris: Herv\u00e8 du Mesnil, 1629). His other works might be very interesting in order to grasp the circulation of religious ideas:\u00a0Codicum Cabalisticorum manuscriptorum \u2026<\/em>, (Paris: H. Blageart, 1651);\u00a0Iacobi Gaffarelli theologi …<\/em>, (Paris: Carolum du Mesnil, 1645);\u00a0In obitum illustrissimae nobilissimaeque dominae d. Annae Lescalopier\u00a0<\/em>\u2026, (Venice: Pinelliana, 1633);\u00a0Nihil, fere nihil, minus nihilo \u2026<\/em>, (Venice: Pinelliana, 1634).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[62]<\/a>\u00a0Both published in 1650. Jacques Gaffarel,\u00a0Unheard-of Curiosities Concerning the Talismanical Sculpture of the Persians<\/em>\u00a0(London: G.D. for H. Moseley, 1650); Leon\u00a0<\/em>Modena,\u00a0The History of the Rites, Customes, and Manner of Life, of the Present Jews, throughout the World<\/em>, (London: J. Martin \u2013 J. Ridley, 1650).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[63]<\/a>\u00a0Federico Barbierato,\u00a0Nella stanza dei circoli. Chiave di Salomone e libri di magia a Venezia nei secoli XVII e XVIII<\/em>, (Milan: Sylvestre Bonnard, 2009), chap. 6.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[64]<\/a>\u00a0Leon Modena,\u00a0Life of Judah<\/em>, 108. For an assessment on magic and Judaism in the early modern period see: David Ruderman,\u00a0Kabbalah, Magic, and Science: the Cultural Universe of a Sixteenth-Century Jewish Physician<\/em>, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988); Moshe Idel, \u201cJewish Magic from the Renaissance Period to Early Hasidism\u201d, in\u00a0Religion, Science and Magic<\/em>, eds. Jacob Neusner, Ernest S. Frerichs, Paul Virgil McCracken Flesher, (New York \u2013 Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), 82-117.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[65]<\/a>\u00a0Barbierato,\u00a0Nella stanza<\/em>, 311.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[66]<\/a>\u00a0Alberto Fortis,\u00a0La bella ebrea.\u00a0<\/em>Sara Copio Sullam, poetessa nel ghetto di Venezia del \u2018600<\/em>, (Turin: Zamorani, 2003) and bibliographical references there; for the English translation of her works:\u00a0<\/em>Sara Copia Sullam,\u00a0Jewish Poet and Intellectual in Seventeenth-Century Venice<\/em>, ed. and transl. \u00a0Don Harr\u00e0n, (Chicago \u2013 London: The University of Chicago Press, 2009).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[67]<\/a>\u00a0Guido Ruggiero,\u00a0Binding Passions. Tales of Magic, Marriage and Power at the End of Renaissance<\/em>, (Oxford \u2013 New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[68]<\/a>\u00a0According to Barbierato, Gaffarel stole three pichian manuscripts from the library of the monastery of S. Antonio di Castello. See: Barbierato,\u00a0Nella stanza<\/em>, 312. He quotes Antonella Barzazi,\u00a0Ordini religiosi e biblioteche a Venezia tra Cinque e Seicento<\/em>\u00a0(Bologna: Il Mulino 1995), 216-217.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[69]<\/a>\u00a0The letter was adressed to William Boswell. See: Adelman, Ravid, \u201cHistorical Notes\u201d, in\u00a0Life of Judah<\/em>, folio 25a, 256; Roth, \u201cLeone da Modena\u201d, 40-41.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[70]<\/a>\u00a0See Cecil Roth, \u201cL\u00e9on de M\u00f2dene, ses\u00a0Riti ebraici\u00a0<\/em>et le Saint Office \u00e0 Venise\u201d,\u00a0Revue des \u00e9tudes juives\u00a0<\/em>87 (1929), 83-88; Adelman, Ravid, \u201cHistorical Notes, in\u00a0Life of Judah<\/em>, folio 25b, 257. They all refer to the archival material: \u201cRelatione de tutti riti, costumi et vita degl\u2019Hebrei\u201d, ASV, Santo Uffizio, busta 94, Aprile-Maggio 1637; busta 157, lettera L.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[71]<\/a>\u00a0Benjamin Ravid,\u00a0Economics and Tolerationin Seventeenth Century Venice. The Background and Context of the Discorso of Simone Luzzatto<\/em>, (Jerusalem: American Academy for Jewish Research, 1978), 17; Giuseppe Veltri,\u00a0Renaissance Philosophy in Jewish Garb<\/em>, (Leiden \u2013 Boston, Brill, 2009), 219-220.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[72]<\/a>\u00a0Leon Modena, \u201cProemio\u201d,\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0(1678): \u201cmi fosse comandato pi\u00f9 volte dargli in iscritto una breve, et vera relatione, della vita, costumi, et osservationi de gl\u2019Hebrei di questi tempi, il che havendo gi\u00e0 pi\u00f9 anni fatto, e datola ad alcuni, hora altri m\u2019hanno sollecitato, ampliata, e regolata, darla in luce, \u00e0 commune sodisfatione.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[73]<\/a>\u00a0Modena, \u201cProemio\u201d,\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0(1678).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[74]<\/a>\u00a0Mark R. Cohen, \u201cLeone da Modena\u2019s\u00a0Riti<\/em>: A Seventeenth-Century Plea for Social Toleration of the Jews\u201d,\u00a0Jewish Social Studies<\/em>\u00a034\/4 (1972): 287-321, 296.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[75]<\/a>\u00a0Ibidem, 296. Modena would integrate material from medieval legal codes, such as\u00a0Tur<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0Shulhan Arukh<\/em>, but their structure did not provide a model.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[76]<\/a>\u00a0For the notion of \u201cethnography\u201d on works devoted to Jewish rituals and written by Christians see the recent critical appraisal in: Veltri,\u00a0Renaissance Philosophy<\/em>, 175.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[77]<\/a>\u00a0Modena, \u201cProemio\u201d,\u00a0Riti\u00a0<\/em>(1678): \u201cNello scriver, in verit\u00e0, che mi sono scordato d\u2019esser Hebreo, figurandomi semplice, e neutrale relatore.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[78]<\/a>\u00a0\u201cMi sono proposto nell\u2019animo formare compendioso, ma verace racconto de suoi Ritti principali, et opinioni pi\u00f9 comuni\u00a0dall\u2019universale non dissonanti<\/em>, et discrepanti, nella quale applicazione ho procurato con ogni mio potere (bench\u00e8 io sia della istessa natione) astenermi da qualunque affetto, et passione che dal vero deviare mi potesse.\u201d Simone Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, 4r.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[79]<\/a>\u00a0Stephen G. Burnett,\u00a0From Christian Hebraism to Jewish Studies. Johannes Buxtorf (1546-1629) and Hebrew Learning in the Seventeenth Century<\/em>, (Leiden \u2013 New York \u2013 K\u00f6ln: Brill, 1996), chap. 3.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[80]<\/a>\u00a0Cohen, \u201cLeone da Modena\u2019s\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u201d, passim.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[81]<\/a>\u00a0Stroumsa,\u00a0A New Science<\/em>, 69.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[82]<\/a>\u00a0See: Fishman,\u00a0Shaking the Pillars of Exile<\/em>; for a diffent interpretation, see: Ellis Rivkin,\u00a0Leon da Modena and the Kol Sakhal<\/em>, (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1952).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[83]<\/a>\u00a0Leon Modena,\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0(1637), 204-217; Idem,\u00a0Les Juifs pr\u00e9sent\u00e9s aux Chr\u00e9tiens<\/em>, 109-139.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[84]<\/a>\u00a0On reincarnation and Judaism see: Brian Ogren,\u00a0Renaissance and Rebirth. Reincarnation in Early Modern Italian Kabbalah<\/em>, (Leiden \u2013 Boston: Brill, 2009); Jeffrey H. Chajes,\u00a0Between Worlds. Dybbuks, Exorcist, and Early Modern Judaism<\/em>, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[85]<\/a>\u00a0Cohen, \u201cLeone da Modena\u2019s\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u201d, 296 note 47;\u00a0Les Juifs pr\u00e9sent\u00e9s aux Chr\u00e9tiens<\/em>, 136-138, 267.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[86]<\/a>\u00a0Criticism of the belief of the immortality of the souls, deemed extremely dangerous by the Catholic Church, was widespread in Venice and Padua. See: Edward Muir,\u00a0The Culture War of the Late Renaissance. Skeptics, Libertines, and Opera<\/em>, (Cambridge \u2013 London: Harvard University Press, 2007); for the same problem in Amsterdam, see: Steven Nadler,\u00a0Spinoza\u2019s Heresy: Immortality and the Jewish Mind<\/em>, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[87]<\/a>\u00a0The first scholar to emphasize the similarity between Jewish rabbinical and Catholic apostolic tradition as normative was Richard Simon.\u00a0Les juifs pr\u00e9sent\u00e9s aux chr\u00e9tiens<\/em>, 145-146. A few remarks are to be found in: Cohen, \u201cLeone da Modena\u2019s\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u201d, 307. Luzzatto hints at the question in his\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, but only in passing (Discorso<\/em>, 90v).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[88]<\/a>\u00a0Cohen, \u201cLeone da Modena\u2019s\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u201d, 314; see: Modena,\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0(1637), 204; Ibidem, (1678), 111; Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, 84v-85r.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[89]<\/a>\u00a0On the historical and economic context behind the\u00a0Discorso<\/em>\u00a0see: Ravid,\u00a0Economics and Toleration in Seventeenth Century Venice<\/em>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[90]<\/a>\u00a0Benjamin Ravid, \u201cContra Judaeos in Seventeenth Century Italy: Two responses to the Discorso of Simone Luzzatto by Melchiorre Palontrotti and Giulio Morosini\u201d,\u00a0AJS\u00a0<\/em>7\/8 (1982-1983), 302; Giuseppe Veltri,\u00a0Renaissance Philosophy,<\/em>\u00a0202.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[91]<\/a>\u00a0For this interpretation see especially, Moshe Shulvass, \u201cIntroduction\u201d to the Hebrew translation of the\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, 22-23 as mentioned in Cohen, 312; Idem, \u201cA Story of the Misfortunes which afflicted the Jews in Italy\u201d, HUCA 22 (1949): 1-21 (Heb.); Ravid,\u00a0Economics and Tolerationin<\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>10; Veltri,\u00a0Renaissance Philosophy<\/em>, 205.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[92]<\/a>\u00a0Giuseppe Veltri, \u201cEconomic and Social Arguments and the Doctrine of\u00a0Antiperistasis<\/em>\u00a0in Simone Luzzatto\u2019s Political Thought: Venetian Reverberations of Francis Bacon\u2019s Philosophy?\u201d,\u00a0Fr\u00fchneuzeit info\u00a0<\/em>23 (2011): 23-33, 29 note 8; Giuseppe Veltri, Gianfranco Miletto, Guido Bartolucci, \u201cThe Testament of Simone Luzzatto (1583?-1663) and the Only Known Manuscript of the\u00a0Discorso\u00a0<\/em>(1638). Newly Discovered Manuscripts from the State Archive of Venice and the Library Marciana\u201d,\u00a0European Journal of Jewish Studies\u00a0<\/em>5 (2011), (in print).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[93]<\/a>\u00a0For the relationship between Machiavelli and the\u00a0Discorso<\/em>\u00a0see: Abraham Melamed, \u201cSimone Luzzatto on Tacitus. Apologetica and ragione di stato\u201d, in\u00a0Studies in Medieval Jewish History and Literature<\/em>, 2, ed. Isadore Twersky, \u00a0(Cambridge \u2013 London: Harvard University Press, 1984), 143-170; Vasileios Syros, \u201cSimone Luzzatto\u2019s Image of the Ideal Prince and the Italian Tradition of Reason of State\u201d, (paper presented at the Third Summer School in Comparative History on \u201cPolitical Religions: from Antiquity to Postmodernity\u201d, Jerusalem 2002, online article).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[94]<\/a>\u00a0Riccardo Bachi, \u201cLa dottrina sulla dinamica delle citt\u00e0 secondo Giovanni Botero e secondo Simone Luzzatto\u201d,\u00a0Atti dell’Accademia dei Lincei<\/em>, rend. d. classe di sc. mor., I (1946), 369-378; Idem,\u00a0Israele disperso e ricostruito<\/em>, (Rome: La Rassegna Mensile d\u2019Israel, 1952), 95-139.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[95]<\/a>\u00a0Giovanni Botero (1544-1617) was a Jesuit and a philosopher whose works exerted an enormous influence on Italian and European political thought. The founder of the term \u201cragion di stato\u201d, Botero was the anti-machiavelian thinker\u00a0par excellence<\/em>. For a brief, yet detailed biographical entry, see: Luigi Firpo, \u201cGiovanni Botero\u201d,\u00a0Dizionario biografico degli italiani<\/em>, (http:\/\/www.treccani.it\/enciclopedia\/giovanni-botero_(Dizionario-Biografico)\/). In this article I refer to: Giovanni Botero,\u00a0The Greatness of Cities. A Treatise Concerning the Causes of the Magnificency and Greatness of Cities<\/em>, now done into English by Robert Peterson, 1606. For the English version I used a kindle edition. Giovanni Botero,\u00a0The greatness of Cities<\/em>, loc. 62-69.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[96]<\/a>\u00a0\u201c\u2026 che le Citt\u00e0 che non hanno porto di mare, Popolatione numerosa, concorso di Forastieri, et Commissioni de negotij da tutte le parti del mondo, come ha la citt\u00e0 di Venetia, conviene alli Hebrei che in esse dimorano sostenersi in uno de tre modi\u201d; Simone Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, cons. 17, 86v.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[97]<\/a>\u00a0Ibidem, cons. 4, 18v.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[98]<\/a>\u00a0This the opinion of Israel,\u00a0Diaspora within a Diaspora<\/em>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[99]<\/a>\u00a0For Levantine Jews as Turkish subjects see: Pullan,\u00a0The Jews of Europe<\/em>, 150; for new Christians as Iberian subjects Ruspio,\u00a0La nazione portoghese<\/em>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[100]<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso,\u00a0<\/em>cons. 5.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[101]<\/a>\u00a0John Toland,\u00a0Reasons for Naturalizing the Jews in Great Britain and Ireland<\/em>, (London: J. Roberts, 1714), 12-13: \u201cAnother consideration that make the Jews preferable to several sort of People, is their having no country of their own to which they might retire after having got Estates here\u201d; and moreover: \u201cBut the Jews having no such Country to which they are ty\u2019d by inclination or interest of their own, will never likewise enter into any political engagement, which might be prejudicial to ours, as we have known \u2026 certain French refugees to have done, notwithstanding their protection\u201d. On the relationship between Toland and the\u00a0Discorso<\/em>\u00a0see: Isaac Barzilay, \u201cJohn Toland Borrowings from Simone Luzzatto \u2013 Luzzatto\u2019s Discourse on the Jews of Venice (1638) the Major Source of Toland\u2019s Writing on the Naturalization of the Jews in Great Britain and Ireland (1714)\u201d,\u00a0Jewish Social Studies\u00a0<\/em>31 (1969): 75-81; Jonathan Karp,\u00a0The Politics of Jewish Commerce, 1638-1848<\/em>, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, chap. 1 (kindle edition).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[102]<\/a>\u00a0On exile and messianism see: Scholem,\u00a0Sabbatai Sevi<\/em>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[103]<\/a>\u00a0\u201c\u2026 Et alcuna volta mi arrec\u00f2 meraviglia che li Romani conforme allo loro falsa superstitione di errigere altari, e Deificare gl\u2019inventori delle giovevoli professioni, e che infino la fortuna, stimata pure da loro cieca e temeraria, trov\u00f2 in Roma particolare adoratione, et apritura di molti sontuosi Tempij, al bisogno primo stimulatore e sferzatore all\u2019Imprese degne, e profittevoli inventioni, non si fosse giamai da essi instituito culto, ne verso di lui osservato alcun rito religioso\u201d; Simone Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, cons. 4, 19r. Karp traced a similar argument in Paolo Paruta (1540-1598). Karp,\u00a0The Politics of Jewisch Commerce<\/em>, loc. 382-385. A difference source is detected in: Veltri, \u201cEconomic and Social Arguments\u201d, 24.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[104]<\/a>\u00a0Yuri Slezkine,\u00a0The Jewish Century<\/em>, 2nd<\/sup>\u00a0ed. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009), chap.1; for criticism, see: Trivellato,\u00a0The Familiarity of Strangers<\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>11-12.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[105]<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, cons. 11. This theory was reworked by Isaac Viva (Isaac Cohen Cantarini). Isaac Viva (pseud.),\u00a0Vindex sanguinis<\/em>, sive Vindiciae secundum veritatem quibus Judaei ab Infanticidiis & victima humana, contra Jacobum Geusium, (Amsterdam: Adam Jongbloet, 1681), reprinted in Nuremberg. On this text see: Cristiana Facchini, \u201cIl Vindex sanguinis di Isaac Viva. Di una polemica sull\u2019accusa di omicidio rituale\u201d,\u00a0Annali di storia dell\u2019esegesi<\/em>\u00a016\/2 (1999): 359-378.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[106]<\/a>\u00a0When the question of toleration became a central issue, a theory of tolerance was in need, and Luzzatto was one of the first ones to present a Jewish perspective. His attempt shall be integrated into a history of tolerance in Western society.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[107]<\/a>\u00a0Title in the front page of the 1638 edition.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[108]<\/a>\u00a0The term is used is conveying the notion of \u201ccollective\u201d. Luzzatto,\u00a0<\/em>\u201cPrefatione di tutta l\u2019opera\u201d,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, 4r-6r and elsewhere.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[109]<\/a>\u00a0This argument was especially exploited in nineteenth century by the French orientalist and polymath Ernest Renan. See, for example: Ernest Renan,\u00a0De la part de peuple s\u00e9mitique dans l\u2019histoire de la civilisation<\/em>, (Paris: Michel L\u00e9vy Fr\u00e8res, 1862). On this issue, see: Cristiana Facchini,\u00a0David Castelli. Ebraismo e scienze delle religioni tra Otto e Novecento<\/em>, (Brescia: Morcelliana, 2005), chap. 4.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[110]<\/a>\u00a0\u201cLi Greci s\u2019immortalarono con l\u2019inuentione delle scientie, & arti pi\u00f9 nobili [\u2026]. Et li Romani con li trionfi, et Imperij\u201d; Simone Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, cons. 16, 73r.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[111]<\/a>\u00a0\u201c\u2026 solamente gl\u2019hebrei portione insensibile rispetto alla moltitudine e numerosit\u00e0 d\u2019altri popoli, presero l\u2019armi per rivendicare la loro libert\u00e0 e diffendere la loro religione\u201d; Ibidem, 73v.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[112]<\/a>\u00a0\u201cLa hebrea non li occorse simili mutationi, e cangiamenti, ma bene si spezz\u00f2 e fu divisa quasi in infinite portioni, distrata, e dispersa per tutto l\u2019universo, restandole in gran parte l\u2019identit\u00e0 della sua essenzialit\u00e0\u201d; Ibidem, cons. 16, 88v-89v, esp. 89r.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[113]<\/a>\u00a0\u201cE\u2019 da sapere che in tre classi principali si riducono li loro studij circa le Sacre Scritture\u201d; Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, cons. 16, 75v. See Josephus:\u00a0Bellum<\/em>, II, 8, 2-14 (119-166);\u00a0Antiquitates<\/em>, XIII, 8, 9 (171-173); XVIII, 1, 2-6 (11-25).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[114]<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, cons. 16, 75v.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[115]<\/a>\u00a0On the relevance of chronology and history, see: Anthony Grafton,\u00a0Joseph Scaliger. A Study in the History of Classical Scholarship<\/em>, 2,\u00a0Historical Chronology<\/em>, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993); Adam Sutcliff,\u00a0Judaism and Enlightenment<\/em>, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 61-67.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[116]<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, cons. 16, 78r.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[117]<\/a>\u00a0Ibidem, cons. 16, 78v-79r.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[118]<\/a>\u00a0Ibidem, cons. 16, 79v.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[119]<\/a>\u00a0Ibidem, cons. 16, 79v-80r.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[120]<\/a>\u00a0Ibidem, cons. 16, 53r.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[121]<\/a>\u00a0This issue has not been adequately addressed. There is a similar attitude in the\u00a0Riti<\/em>. The question is also discussed in the Catholic context, namely by Galilei in his\u00a0Letter to Cristina of Lorena<\/em>, where he suggests that the Bible has been written under determined historical circumstances and therefore cannot be taken at face value. See: Galileo Galilei,\u00a0Lettera a Cristina di Lorena sull’uso della Bibbia nelle argomentazioni scientifiche<\/em>, ed. Franco Motta, (Genoa: Marietti, 2000); Mauro Pesce,\u00a0L\u2019ermeneutica biblica di Galileo e le due strade della teologia cristiana<\/em>, (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2005); Alfredo Damanti,\u00a0Libertas philosophandi: teologia e filosofia nella lettera alla granduchessa Cristina di Lorena di Galileo Galilei<\/em>, (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2010).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[122]<\/a>\u00a0Spinoza will use a similar argument in his argue on a same line in order to separate what is religious from what is not religious. On Luzzatto and Spinoza see: Bernard Septimus, \u201cBiblical Religion and Political Rationality in Simone Luzzatto, Maimonides and Spinoza\u201d, in\u00a0Jewish Thought in the Seventeenth Century<\/em>, eds. Isadore Twersky, Bernard Septimus, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987), 399-433; Giuseppe Veltri, \u201cLa dimensione politica filosofica dei\u00a0caerimonalia hebraeorum<\/em>: Baruk Spinoza e Simone Luzzatto\u201d,\u00a0Materia giudaica\u00a0<\/em>13\/1-2 (2008), 81-89.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[123]<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, cons. 16,\u00a0 80r; Modena,\u00a0Riti\u00a0<\/em>(1678), 37.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[124]<\/a>\u00a0See: Dweck,\u00a0The scandal of Kabbalah<\/em>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[125]<\/a>\u00a0\u201cCabala significa propriamente recevimento, & ha relatione a colui ch\u2019apprende dal maestro, come la parola di traditione a quello ch\u2019insegna e infonde la dottrina\u201d; Simone Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, cons. 16, 80r.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[126]<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso,<\/em>\u00a0cons. 16, 80v.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[127]<\/a>\u00a0Ibidem, cons. 16, 81r. See also Dweck,\u00a0The Scandal of Kabbalah<\/em>, 140.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[128]<\/a>\u00a0Stroumsa claims that Richard Simon was the first one to highlight the relationship between Kabbalah and platonic teachings. See: Stroumsa,\u00a0A New Science<\/em>, 74; Dweck,\u00a0The Scandal of Kabbalah<\/em>, 139-141. On Kabbalah and platonism see: Moshe Idel, \u201cDiffering Conceptions of Kabbalah in the Early 17th<\/sup>\u00a0Century\u201d, in\u00a0Jewish Thought in Seventeenth Century<\/em>, 137-200.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[129]<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto quotes from the works of Epiphanius and Irenaeus, historian of the early church; Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, cons. 16, 83r. See also Richard Simon in his essay on comparative religion. Stroumsa,\u00a0A New Science,<\/em>\u00a074.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[130]<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, cons. 16, 84v; Modena,\u00a0Riti<\/em>\u00a0(1637), 215.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[131]<\/a>\u00a0See: David Ruderman,\u00a0Jewish Thought<\/em>, chap. 5.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[132]<\/a>\u00a0On Christian Kabbalah see: Fran\u00e7ois Secret,\u00a0Les kabbalistes chr\u00e9tiens de la Renaissance<\/em>, (Paris: Dunod, 1964) and (Milan: Arch\u00e8, 1985); Joseph Blau,\u00a0The Christian Interpretation of the Cabala in the Renaissance<\/em>, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1944).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[133]<\/a>\u00a0Pico\u2019s works are extensively quoted also in Isaac Cantarini\u2019s sermons and in Isaac Cardoso,\u00a0Philosophia libera<\/em>\u00a0(Venice: Bertanorum sumptibus, 1673). On this topic see my forthcoming book on Isaac Cantarini and my paper \u201cItalian Jewish Preaching. Images of the Baroque Body and Self\u201d delivered at the AAIS Conference, Pittsburgh (7-10 April 2011).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[134]<\/a>\u00a0On Karaites in the early modern period see: Shalom Rosenberg, \u201cEmunat hakhamim\u201d, in\u00a0Jewish Thought in Seventeenth Century<\/em>, 285-295; Marina Rustow, \u201cKaraites Real and Imagined: Three Cases of Jewish Heresy\u201d,\u00a0Past and Present\u00a0<\/em>197 (nov. 2007): 35-74; Stroumsa,\u00a0A New Science<\/em>, 73.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[135]<\/a>\u00a0Wolf,\u00a0Bibliotheca<\/em>, 3, 1150. The information is to be found in the correspondence between Yaacov Aboab, from Venice, and C. T. Unger.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[136]<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, cons. 16, 85r.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[137]<\/a>\u00a0Fran\u00e7ois-Marie Arouet Voltaire,\u00a0Letters On England<\/em>, Letter 6 (1734), (the Pennsylvania State University, Electronic Classics Series).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[138]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Jean Bodin,\u00a0Colloquium of the Seven about Secrets of the Sublime<\/em>, ed. and trans. Marion L. Kuntz, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[139]<\/a>\u00a0There is no space to develop this line of argument. Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, cons. 10; Ravid, \u201cContra Judeos in Seventeenth century Italy\u201d, 308; Idem,\u00a0Economics and Toleration<\/em>, 92-93.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[140]<\/a>\u00a0Luzzatto,\u00a0Discorso<\/em>, cons. 15. There are few issues that should be compared to Bodin\u2019s work in the text.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[141]<\/a>\u00a0The book had a wide European reception. See also:\u00a0The Book that Changed Europe. Picart & Bernard\u2019s Religious Ceremonies of the World<\/em>, eds. Lynn Hunt, Margaret C. Jacobs, Wijnand Mijnhardt, (Cambridge \u2013 London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010), chap. 7.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The City, the Ghetto and Two Books. 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