Nadene Goldfoot
*Rabbi Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, known also by abbreviation as Ramhal, was born in 1707 in the Jewish ghetto of Padua, Italy and educated there as well. His parents were Jacob Vita and Diamente Luzzatto. Padua had a Jewish community there since the mid 13th century. Loan-bankers had come from Rome and from Germany to live there in the 14th century. The Jews did business with university students. Some of the Jews were permitted to study medicine from the 14th century and in the 17th and 18th centuries. Padua was one of the few places in Europe where Jews , some of who came specially from Germany and Poland, were allowed to graduate as physicians. "From 1519 to 1619 about 80 Jews obtained degrees in medicine in Padua, and from 1619 to 1721, 149 Jews graduated as physicians. Numbers of Jews from Germany, Poland, and the Levant also came to study in Padua. Some pressure was exerted by Christian doctors and the ecclesiastical authorities, so that the senate prohibited Jewish doctors from practicing outside the ghetto, but this was not too strictly applied. Jewish medical students were allowed to wear the black beret of their colleagues, rather than the yellow one required of other Jews )."
Luzzatto lived in the ghetto. The first in the world was in Venice in 1517 where Jews were segregated. Actually, the Church Lateran Councils of 1179 and 1215 fobade Jews and Christians to live together in close contact. It was established in Italy first in 1602, and made the Jews easy victims of the plague of 1631.
Jews there had a narrow escape from massacre during the riots at the time of the siege of Buda part of the Ottoman Empire that was Hungary, where Jews were alleged to be aiding the Turks in 1684. The Siege of Buda (1686) was fought between the Holy League and the Ottoman Empire, as part of the follow-up campaign in Hungary after the Battle of Vienna. The Holy League took Buda after a long siege. By the 1700s, the Jewish community was so poor that it became bankrupt in 1761 which was after the rabbi had left.
He is known as a Kabbalist and poet. Luzzatto believed himself to be a reincarnation of and ascribed to himself the role of redeeming Israel. Kabbalah is the mystical religious stream in Judaism. Mysticism in general strives for a vital contact with the Divinity, and in Jewish mysticism, this desire for immediate awareness of and communion with G-d is basic. It seeks to explain the connection between G-d and creation, the existence of good and evil, and to show the road to spiritual perfection. It succeeded in appealing to the masses, becoming a popular religious movement in the 16th century. It showed up later in Hasidism. The use of Kabbalah shows up in the use of Divine or Holy Names, the permutation and combination of Hebrew letters, magical things like amulets used for healing the sick and also for hastening the advent of the Messiah.
Rabbi Luzzatto had gathered his friends around him who were into this esoteric thinking and practiced with them mystical austerities, apparently considering himself the forerunner of the Messiah or actually came to think of himself as the Messiah.
What is different about him is that he believed he was communicating with the spirits of the heroes of the Bible/Tanakh, who dictated to him secret doctrines; and these he told in turn to his disciples.
The Italian rabbinate was led by that of the rabbis of Venice, and they had to repair the damage done to Judaism by the claims of another rabbi thinking he was the Messiah, Shabbetai Tzevi, born in 1626 in Smyrna, a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia, who was also attracted to Kabbalah in his youth and was showing manic depressive traits that only grew worse as he aged. After learning about the bloody Chmielnicki massacres in Ukraine of 1648 and 1649, he was moved by a messianic spirit and a heavenly voice telling him that he would redeem Israel. Many became his followers.
The rabbis of Venice at first tried to persuade him to stop, then had to order him to stop. What he did was to move to Frankfort-on-Main in Germany and then to Amsterdam, Holland where he earned his living as a diamond polisher.
He was eventually banished to the citadel of Dulcigo in Albania, but was able to keep in touch with his admirers until his death in 1676, which they held would precede his return as Messiah and Redeemer. Gershon Scholem has investigated his history and movement.
By 1743 rabbi Moshe Luzzatto made aliyah to Palestine. There he died of the plague at Acre. At that time it was under the auspices of the Ottoman Empire. Dr. Vicken V. Kalbian writes, “Most visitors to Ottoman Jerusalem agreed that it was not a very healthy place to live. They referred to the rampant poverty, squalor, and lack of basic municipal services such as garbage collection… Besides malaria, citizens of Jerusalem experienced other common diseases such as typhoid, typhus, cholera, dysentery, and trachoma (the main cause of premature blindness), all of which could be attributed to lack of basic public health services under the Ottomans.” Luzzato's original synagogue in Akko was razed by the city's Bedouin ruler, Zahir al-Umar, in 1758, who built a mosque on top of it. In its place, the Jews of Akko received a small building north of the mosque which still functions as a synagogue and bears Luzzato's name.
When the French troops entered Padua on April 29, 1797, the Jews were temporarily emancipated; in August the central government decreed that Jews were free to reside wherever they wished. The ghetto was renamed Via Libera ("Liberty Way") and its gates taken down. Ah yes, Jews were locked in at night.
What he accomplished in his life was to write poetry including psalms in the biblical style, other works of poetry, a drama on the life of Samson, and 2 allegorical plays: Migdal Oz and La-Yesharim Tehillah, written under the influence of Guarini. Camillo Guarino Guarini was an Italian architect of the Piedmontese Baroque, active in Turin as well as Sicily, France, and Portugal. He was a Theatine priest, mathematician, and writer.
These works of Luzzatto were like the old literary tradition of Italian Jewry, but marked the beginning of a new era in Northern Europe and the inception there of modern Hebrew literature. For one thing, he had influenced immensely future Hebrew poetry. He also wrote articles on prosody (properties of syllables and larger units of speech, including linguistic functions such as intonation, tone, stress, and rhythm), grammar and an ethical work of extreme beauty called The Way of the Righteous, which became a classic and is still widely studied.
This rabbi, Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, has become a favorite of many of today's rabbis who have studied his writings, especially Rabbi Mendel Kessin who prefers "the learning methodology of the Ramchal, enabling one to significantly improve his understanding of Gemara, Mishna and Halacha. This learning methodology, based on several of the Ramchal’s Seforim, is an amazing tool to analyze, structure and synthesize any Limud"-or piece that you are learning. "It’s impossible to overstate the benefits of this efficient way of learning and remembering for our generation".
Rabbi Samuel David Luzzatto, known as Shadal, was born 100 years later in 1800 in Padua, Italy and was from 1829 a professor at the Padua Rabbinical College that existed from 1829 to 1871. From 1805 to 1814 Padua was part of Napoleon's kingdom of Italy; R. Isaac Raphael b. Elisha *Finzi took part in the Paris *Sanhedrin convened by the emperor. However, when the Austrians entered Padua in January 1814, the populace attacked the Jews, who were considered friends of the French. Having to appear satisfied with the change of regime, the Jews celebrated the entrance of the Austrians in the German synagogue. After the Treaty of Vienna (in 1815), when Padua again came under Austrian rule, the Jews were allowed to enjoy practically all rights, except that of serving in public office.
He was also a many-sided scholar. He also wrote about the Bible/Tanakh, Hebrew grammar, philology, Jewish liturgy, Hebrew poetry and Jewish philosophy. His writings stressed the supremacy of Jewish traditional culture over that of other nations and developed the distinction between Judaism, the source of good, and Hellenism, that fosters external grace and beauty.
He attacked Jewish authors such as Maimonides, Ibn Ezra, and Spinoza who he thought was influenced by Hellenism. He was against mysticism and opposed the Kabbalah as alien to the true Jewish spirit. He was against the new fight for civil rights of that day as he felt it was dangerous, sensing assimilation and annihilation. He stressed that Judaism, though a religion, involved national consciousness, loyalty to the Jewish tradition, and love of the Hebrew language. He also wrote poetry in Hebrew in the traditional Italian style. He died in 1865.
Both Luzzatto rabbis must be related, perhaps this is the grandson of the first.
In 1840 the Jewish population of Padua numbered 910. Full emancipation was obtained only in 1866, when Padua once more became part of the kingdom of Italy.
By 1881, the Jewish population had risen to 1,378; thereafter, however, the cultural and social life of the community deteriorated and by 1911 the number had decreased to 881. Because of discrimination affecting all Italian Jewry, the Jews of Padua either left for other Italian centers or emigrated to other countries, among them Ereẓ Israel; by 1938 their number had further declined to 586. The Jewish community of Padua numbered less than 200 by 1990 and only one of its former synagogue is still in use. It may be that many made aliyah to Israel after 1948.
Resource:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MORrXrbQHa4, tour of Safed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Chaim_Luzzatto
https://www.israel21c.org/pandemics-and-plagues-in-the-holy-land/
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/padua
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| Padua, Italy's Ghetto |
Jews there had a narrow escape from massacre during the riots at the time of the siege of Buda part of the Ottoman Empire that was Hungary, where Jews were alleged to be aiding the Turks in 1684. The Siege of Buda (1686) was fought between the Holy League and the Ottoman Empire, as part of the follow-up campaign in Hungary after the Battle of Vienna. The Holy League took Buda after a long siege. By the 1700s, the Jewish community was so poor that it became bankrupt in 1761 which was after the rabbi had left.
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| Safed (Tzfat) , Israel, ancient center of Kabbalah called the city of Kabbalah The tradition of the Kabbalah and red string was born in Tzfat. This was my home from 1981 to the end of 1985. The grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai -- the Talmudic-era rabbi who is recognized as the author of the Book of Zohar is here. |
Rabbi Luzzatto had gathered his friends around him who were into this esoteric thinking and practiced with them mystical austerities, apparently considering himself the forerunner of the Messiah or actually came to think of himself as the Messiah.
What is different about him is that he believed he was communicating with the spirits of the heroes of the Bible/Tanakh, who dictated to him secret doctrines; and these he told in turn to his disciples.
The Italian rabbinate was led by that of the rabbis of Venice, and they had to repair the damage done to Judaism by the claims of another rabbi thinking he was the Messiah, Shabbetai Tzevi, born in 1626 in Smyrna, a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia, who was also attracted to Kabbalah in his youth and was showing manic depressive traits that only grew worse as he aged. After learning about the bloody Chmielnicki massacres in Ukraine of 1648 and 1649, he was moved by a messianic spirit and a heavenly voice telling him that he would redeem Israel. Many became his followers.
The rabbis of Venice at first tried to persuade him to stop, then had to order him to stop. What he did was to move to Frankfort-on-Main in Germany and then to Amsterdam, Holland where he earned his living as a diamond polisher.
He was eventually banished to the citadel of Dulcigo in Albania, but was able to keep in touch with his admirers until his death in 1676, which they held would precede his return as Messiah and Redeemer. Gershon Scholem has investigated his history and movement.
By 1743 rabbi Moshe Luzzatto made aliyah to Palestine. There he died of the plague at Acre. At that time it was under the auspices of the Ottoman Empire. Dr. Vicken V. Kalbian writes, “Most visitors to Ottoman Jerusalem agreed that it was not a very healthy place to live. They referred to the rampant poverty, squalor, and lack of basic municipal services such as garbage collection… Besides malaria, citizens of Jerusalem experienced other common diseases such as typhoid, typhus, cholera, dysentery, and trachoma (the main cause of premature blindness), all of which could be attributed to lack of basic public health services under the Ottomans.” Luzzato's original synagogue in Akko was razed by the city's Bedouin ruler, Zahir al-Umar, in 1758, who built a mosque on top of it. In its place, the Jews of Akko received a small building north of the mosque which still functions as a synagogue and bears Luzzato's name.
When the French troops entered Padua on April 29, 1797, the Jews were temporarily emancipated; in August the central government decreed that Jews were free to reside wherever they wished. The ghetto was renamed Via Libera ("Liberty Way") and its gates taken down. Ah yes, Jews were locked in at night.
What he accomplished in his life was to write poetry including psalms in the biblical style, other works of poetry, a drama on the life of Samson, and 2 allegorical plays: Migdal Oz and La-Yesharim Tehillah, written under the influence of Guarini. Camillo Guarino Guarini was an Italian architect of the Piedmontese Baroque, active in Turin as well as Sicily, France, and Portugal. He was a Theatine priest, mathematician, and writer.
These works of Luzzatto were like the old literary tradition of Italian Jewry, but marked the beginning of a new era in Northern Europe and the inception there of modern Hebrew literature. For one thing, he had influenced immensely future Hebrew poetry. He also wrote articles on prosody (properties of syllables and larger units of speech, including linguistic functions such as intonation, tone, stress, and rhythm), grammar and an ethical work of extreme beauty called The Way of the Righteous, which became a classic and is still widely studied.
This rabbi, Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, has become a favorite of many of today's rabbis who have studied his writings, especially Rabbi Mendel Kessin who prefers "the learning methodology of the Ramchal, enabling one to significantly improve his understanding of Gemara, Mishna and Halacha. This learning methodology, based on several of the Ramchal’s Seforim, is an amazing tool to analyze, structure and synthesize any Limud"-or piece that you are learning. "It’s impossible to overstate the benefits of this efficient way of learning and remembering for our generation".
Rabbi Samuel David Luzzatto, known as Shadal, was born 100 years later in 1800 in Padua, Italy and was from 1829 a professor at the Padua Rabbinical College that existed from 1829 to 1871. From 1805 to 1814 Padua was part of Napoleon's kingdom of Italy; R. Isaac Raphael b. Elisha *Finzi took part in the Paris *Sanhedrin convened by the emperor. However, when the Austrians entered Padua in January 1814, the populace attacked the Jews, who were considered friends of the French. Having to appear satisfied with the change of regime, the Jews celebrated the entrance of the Austrians in the German synagogue. After the Treaty of Vienna (in 1815), when Padua again came under Austrian rule, the Jews were allowed to enjoy practically all rights, except that of serving in public office.
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| 1780 Italian Jewish Wedding |
He attacked Jewish authors such as Maimonides, Ibn Ezra, and Spinoza who he thought was influenced by Hellenism. He was against mysticism and opposed the Kabbalah as alien to the true Jewish spirit. He was against the new fight for civil rights of that day as he felt it was dangerous, sensing assimilation and annihilation. He stressed that Judaism, though a religion, involved national consciousness, loyalty to the Jewish tradition, and love of the Hebrew language. He also wrote poetry in Hebrew in the traditional Italian style. He died in 1865.
Both Luzzatto rabbis must be related, perhaps this is the grandson of the first.
In 1840 the Jewish population of Padua numbered 910. Full emancipation was obtained only in 1866, when Padua once more became part of the kingdom of Italy.
 |
| The ark and Bimah in Padua synagogue |
Resource:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MORrXrbQHa4, tour of Safed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Chaim_Luzzatto
https://www.israel21c.org/pandemics-and-plagues-in-the-holy-land/
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/padua
