Leon of Modena (, 1571–1648) was a Jewish scholar born in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

to a family whose ancestors migrated to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

after an expulsion of Jews from France.

Life

He was an intelligent child and a respected

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

in Venice. However, his reputation within traditional Judaism suffered for several reasons, including an unyielding criticism of emerging sects within Judaism, an addiction to gambling, and a lack of stable character. As

Heinrich Graetz Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was a German exegete and one of the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective. Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (no ...

points out, this last factor prevented his gifts from maturing: "He pursued all sorts of occupations to support himself, viz. those of preacher, teacher of Jews and Christians, reader of prayers, interpreter, writer, proof-reader, bookseller, broker, merchant, rabbi, musician, matchmaker and manufacturer of

amulet An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word , which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects a perso ...

s." One of his students was Azaria Piccio, with whom he would later be intellectually close. Leon of Modena earned a place in Jewish history in part by his

criticism Criticism is the construction of a judgement about the negative or positive qualities of someone or something. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response. , ''the act of giving your opinion or judgment about the ...

of the mystical approach to Judaism. One of his most effective works was his attack on

Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...

, the ''Ari Nohem'', first published in 1840. In it, he attempted to demonstrate that the "Bible of the Kabbalists" (the ''

Zohar The ''Zohar'' (, ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material o ...

'') was a modern composition. He also writes that the name "" (the wisdom of Kabbalah) is misleading since it is neither "wisdom" nor a Kabbalah (a tradition going back to Moses) but a mere fabrication. He became best known, however, as the interpreter of Judaism to the Christian world. He is also the author of anti-Catholic apologia. He wrote an autobiography entitled "Life of Judah". In this highly candid and sometimes emotional work, he admitted to being a compulsive gambler. He also mourned his children (two of whom died in his lifetime - one from natural causes and one killed by gangsters). Another son was a ne'er-do-well who traveled to the

Empire of Brazil The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and Uruguay until the latter achieved independence in 1828. The empire's government was a Representative democracy, representative Par ...

and returned to Venice only after his father's death. Leon's 1626 book ''Tzori la-nefesh u-marpeh la-etsem'' (Balm for the Soul and Cure for the Bone), written for Venice's

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

burial society A burial society is a type of benefit/ friendly society. These groups historically existed in England and elsewhere, and were constituted for the purpose of providing by voluntary subscriptions for the funeral expenses of the husband, wife or chi ...

, was one of the first such texts written for laypeople who cared for the sick and dying. He wrote that he intended to set out a Jewish method for ritualizing death so that the Jewish community would not "do less than the people around us .e., Christiansby not taking care that when someone is on his deathbed he should meet his Maker in a state of supplication and confession of his sins and transgressions." At the behest of an English nobleman, Leon prepared an account of Jewish customs and rituals, (1637). This book was the first Jewish text addressed to non-Jewish readers since the days of

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

and

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called , was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian J ...

. It was widely read by Christians, rendered into various languages, and in 1650 was translated into English by Edmund Chilmead. At the time, the issue of whether Jews should be permitted to resettle in Britain was coming to the fore, and Leon of Modena's book did much to stimulate popular interest. He died in Venice in 1648. Among his deepest interests was music. He served as cantor at the synagogue in Venice for more than forty years. Earlier, he is believed to have introduced some

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chord ...

in the synagogue at

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

, and wrote two essays on music justifying polyphonic practice in services and celebrations. Modena was certainly a musician and a friend of

Salamone Rossi Salamone Rossi or Salomone Rossi () (Salamon, Schlomo; de' Rossi) (ca. 1570 – 1630) was an Italian Jewish violinist and composer. He was a transitional figure between the late Italian Renaissance period and early Baroque. Life As a young ...

; it is not clear whether he was also a composer. He called for religious reform in the ''Beit Yehuda'' and other works. According to some 19th-century scholars, he attacked traditional Judaism in a pseudonymous work entitled ''Qol Sakal''; however, this book was not his.

Writings

''Magen VaHerev'' ( "Shield and Sword") is a polemic attack upon Christian dogmas. In Magen VaHerev, Leon Modena takes Christians to task for their interpretations of Hebrew scriptures and refutes the claims of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

.A translation of the Magen wa-hereb by Leon Modena, 1571-1648 translated Allen Howard Podet (2001). His written works include: *''She'elot uTeshuvot Ziqnei Yehudah'' (Collected Responsa, Mossad HaRav Kook ed. Shelomo Simonson, 195

*''Beit Lechem Yehudah'' (Anthology of statements of Hazal organized by topic, Venice, 162

and Prague, 170

*''Diwan'' (Collected Poems, JTS Publications, ed. Shimon Bernstein, 193

*''Ari Nohem'

(See above) *''Kitvei Y. A. Modena'' (Letters and musings, ed. Yehuda Blau, Budapest, 1906) *''Magen VeTzinah'' (Responsa, ed. A. Geiger, Breslau, 1857) *''Tzemach Tzadiq'

(A Righteous Sprout: An ethical treatise inspired by Fiore di virtù) Translated into English by Ralph Anzarout

*''Lev HaAryeh'' (Monograph on Memory improvement and Mnemonics, in which he greatly extols the use of the

method of loci The method of loci is a strategy for memory enhancement, which uses visualizations of familiar spatial environments in order to enhance the recall of information. The method of loci is also known as the memory journey, memory palace, journey ...

br>
*''Sur MeRa'' (A philosophical dialogue on gambling, written at the age of 13, Amsterdam 169

Vilna 189

*''Historia de' riti hebraici'' (See above, translated into Hebrew by Shelomo Rabin, Vienna, 186

*''Pi HaAryeh'' (Italian-Hebrew dictionary of all difficult words in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''
*''HaBoneh'', commentary on '' Ein Yaakov''; pub. Venice 1635, and reprinted with ''Ein Yaakov'' itself since 1684. *Chaye Yehuda

(See above) *''Tzori la-nefesh u-marpeh la-etsem'' (Balm for the Soul and Cure for the Bone), Venice, 1626

Appearances in popular culture

Leon of Modena is the basis of the character Judah Aryeh in the novel '' People of the Book (novel), People of the Book'' by Geraldine Brooks. Leon of Modena is depicted in a children’s book called ''The Painter and the Rabbi,'' it depicts an alleged relationship Leon had with the noted painter

Tintoretto Jacopo Robusti (late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594), best known as Tintoretto ( ; , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized th ...

. The book is based on stories told by docents at Jewish Museum of Venice, although there is no proof of said relationship, there is certainly mythology about it. Published by Kalaniot Books, 2021, written by Shoshana Weiss and illustrated by Jennifer Kirkham.

References

Bibliography

* H. Graetz, ''History of the Jews'' (Eng. trans.), vol. v. ch. iii * ''

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on the ...

'', viii. 6 * Geiger, ''Leon de Modena'' * ''The Autobiography of a Seventeenth-Century Venetian Rabbi: Leon Modena's Life of Judah''. Trans. and ed. Mark R. Cohen. Princeton, 1988. * Yaacob Dweck, ''The Scandal of Kabbalah: Leon Modena, Jewish Mysticism, Early Modern Venice''. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2011. * Tohar Vered. "The Hebrew moral book 'Zemach Zadick': Between two worlds", in: Religious Stories in Transformation: Conflict, Revision and Reception, Houtman Alberdina, Kadari Tamar, Poorthius Marcel and Tohar Vered (eds.). Leiden: Brill 2016, pp. 353–375.

External links

* * * {{Authority control 16th-century Republic of Venice rabbis 17th-century Republic of Venice rabbis 1571 births 1648 deaths Writers from Modena Jewish apologists Republic of Venice merchants Jewish merchants Hazzans Jewish skeptics Religious leaders from Modena