Sforno (family)

Sforno is the name of a prominent Jewish Italian family, many members of which distinguished themselves as rabbis and scholars. The most prominent of these were the following:

Hananeel ben Jacob Sforno

Scholar of Talmud. He lived at Bologna in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and was the brother of Obadiah Sforno, who mentions him in the introduction to his commentary on the Pentateuch. Obadiah also writes that Hananeel was a financier, and at one point, supported Obadiah financially. A ''responsum'' of Hananeel's was inserted by Shabbethai Baer in his ''Beer Eshek''.

Israel Sforno

Talmudist; lived at Viadano in the sixteenth century. A ''halakhic'' decision of his is quoted in a manuscript collection of 260 ''responsa'' of the Italian rabbis (No. 235).

Jacob ben Obadiah Sforno

Venetian scholar of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Shabbethai Bass, and, after him, Wolf, attributed to Jacob a work entitled ''Iggeret ha-Ṭe'amim'' (Venice, 1600), containing mystic explanations of the accents. The correctness of the ascription is, however, doubted by Steinschneider, who believes that this work is identical with one of the same title by Aaron Abraham ben Baruch.

Nissim Isaac ben Judah Sforno

A rabbi at Mantua in the sixteenth century. He was the author of an epistle on the ''Kuzari''. A ''responsum'' (legal ''novella'') of his is quoted in the above-mentioned collection.

Obadiah ben Israel Sforno

Venetian Talmudist of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He edited Menahem Azariah di Fano's ''Yemin Adonai Romemah'' (Venice, n.d.); and a ''responsum'' of his is inserted in Di Fano's collection of ''Responsa'' (Venice, n.d., p. 83).

Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno

Italian exegete, philosopher, and physician; born at Cesena about 1475; died at Bologna in 1550. See the main article on him, Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno.

Osheah ben Nissim Isaac Sforno

Rabbi at Mantua in the first half of the seventeenth century. A religious poem of his was inserted by Joseph Jedidiah Karmi in his ''Kenaf Renanim''.

Solomon Samuel ben Nissim Israel Sforno

Rabbi at Asti, later at Venice; died in 1617. Several ''responsa'' of his were inserted by Jacob Heilbronner in his ''Naḥalat Ya'aḳob'' (Padua, 1622). Solomon left in manuscript commentaries on ''Psalms'', ''Proverbs'', ''Job'', ''Daniel'', the ''Megillot'', ''Ezra'', ''Nehemiah'', and ''Chronicles''. He edited the ''Cuzari'' with the commentary of Judah Moscato (Venice, 1594). On his death a funeral sermon was pronounced by Leon of Modena, who lauded him in the highest terms.

See also

*Rabbi

References

*{{JewishEncyclopedia, url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=S&artid=513, article=Sforno

Jewish families
Jewish surnames