The Italia Judaica Jubilee Conference Brill’s Series in Jewish Studies Series Editor David S. Katz VOLUME 48 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/bsjs The Italia Judaica Jubilee Conference Edited by Shlomo Simonsohn Joseph Shatzmiller LEIDEn • BOSTON 2013 Proceedings of the Italia Judaica Jubilee Conference held at Tel Aviv University January 3–5, 2010, organised by the Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center of Tel Aviv University, in cooperation with the Fred W. Lessing Institute for European History and Civilization, the Cymbalista Jewish Heritage Center, the Faculty of Jewish Studies and the Golda and Israel Koschitzky Department of Jewish History at Bar-Ilan University, and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Italia Judaica Jubilee Conference (2010 : Tel Aviv University) The Italia Judaica Jubilee Conference / edited by Shlomo Simonsohn, Joseph Shatzmiller. p. cm. — (Brill’s series in Jewish studies ; v. 48) ISBN 978-90-04-24331-6 (hardback : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-90-04-24332-3 (e-book) 1. Jews—Italy—History—Congresses. 2. Italy—Ethnic relations—Congresses. I. Simonsohn, Shlomo, 1923– II. Shatzmiller, Joseph. III. Universitat Tel-Aviv. IV. Title. DS135.I8I883 2010 305.892’4045—dc23 2012036705 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 0926-2261 ISBN 978-90-04-24331-6 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-24332-3 (e-book) Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. 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CONTENTS List of Contributors ........................................................................................... ix List of Illustrations ............................................................................................. xi Opening Remarks .............................................................................................. 1 Shlomo Simonsohn, Simonetta Dela Setta The Escape from Vasto, Complaints of a 15th-Century Rabbi ............. 5 Dvora Bregman Fortune and Providence: A Paradigm in Isaac Abravanel’s Encounter with Renaissance Culture ..................................................... 13 Cedric Cohen Skalli Jews and the Grain, Oil and Wine Trades in 15th- and 16th-Century Apulia ..................................................................................... 21 Cesare Colafemmina Jewish Book Collection and Patronage in Renaissance Italy ............... 37 Andreina Contessa Joseph Ha-Cohen and His Negative Attitude Toward R. Meir Katzenellenbogen (Maharam Padova) ................................... 59 Abraham David Re-creating Creation in the Early Italian Yoẓer: Between Tradition and Innovation ......................................................... 69 Yehoshua Granat The Type of Community Minute Books—Some Preliminary Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 85 Yaakov Andrea Lattes Again on the Mobility of Italian Jews between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance .................................................................................... 97 Michele Luzzati vi contents Towards Jewish Emancipation in the Grand-Duchy of Tuscany: The Case of Pitigliano through the Emblematic Figure of David Consiglio .......................................................................................... 107 Davide Mano The Material Context of 15th-Century Hebrew Florentine Manuscripts: A Source of Information on Production, Ownership and Control of Hebrew Books in Their Christian Environment ............................................................................. 127 Nurit Pasternak Italy, the “Breadbasket” of Hebrew Manuscripts .................................. 137 Benjamin Richler Rhymes to Sing and Rhymes to Hang Up: Some Remarks on a Lampoon in Yiddish by Elye Bokher (Venice 1514) ............... 143 Claudia Rosenzweig A Matter of Quotation: Dante and the Literary Identity of Jews in Italy ................................................................................................. 167 Asher Salah From Sicily to Rome: The Cultural Route of Michele Zumat, Physician and Rabbi in the 16th Century ........................................... 199 Angela Scandaliato The Angevins of Naples and the Jews ...................................................... 213 Joseph Shatzmiller International Trade and Italian Jews at the Turn of the Middle Ages ................................................................................................. 223 Shlomo Simonsohn The Conservation of History: The Archives of the Jewish Communities in the Veneto ................................................................... 239 Ariel Viterbo The Jewish Presence in Sicily as Reflected in Medieval Sicilian Historiography ............................................................................................ 247 Nadia Zeldes contents vii Index of Names .................................................................................................. 261 Index of Geographical Terms ........................................................................ 264 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Dvora Bregman, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Cedric Cohen Skalli, Tel Aviv University Cesare Colafemmina, University of Bari Andreina Contessa, The Italian Jewish Museum, Jerusalem Abraham David, The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem Simonetta Dela Setta, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Tel Aviv Yehoshua Granat, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Yaakov Andrea Lattes, Bar-Ilan University Michele Luzzati, University of Pisa Davide Mano, Tel Aviv University Nurit Pasternak, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Benjamin Richler, The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem Claudia Rosenzweig, Bar-Ilan University Asher Salah, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Angela Scandaliato, Associazione Italiana per lo Studio del Giudaismo Joseph Shatzmiller, Duke University Shlomo Simonsohn, Tel Aviv University x list of contributors Ariel Viterbo, The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem Nadia Zeldes, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Andreina Contessa Figures 1. Rothschild Mahzor, New York, Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America Mic. 8892, Florence, c. 1492, fol. 6v ............................................................................................. 39 2. Paris, Mahzor, Bibliotheque nationale de France, Fondation Smith-Lesouef, MS 250, Ferrara (?) 1520, fol. 5 ................................ 41 3. Rothschild Mahzor, New York, Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America Mic. 8892, Florence, c. 1492, fol. 395v ........................................................................................................ 43 4. Hebrew Bible, Private Collection, written in 1489, illuminated in Ferrara in the early and mid-16th century, fol. 27 ..................... 46 5. Hebrew Bible, Private Collection, written in 1489, illuminated in Ferrara in the early and mid-16th century, fol. 124 ................... 47 6. Hebrew Bible, Private Collection, written in 1489, illuminated in Ferrara in the early and mid-16th century, fols. 1v–2 ............... 48 7. Tommaso di Vio Caietani, Commentary on St. Thomas Summa Theologiae, commissioned by Pope Leo X Medici in 1517. Rome, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and Corsiniana MS 40D. 23–40D.24; MS Corsiniana 1478–1478bis ............................................ 50 8. Book of Hours, Use of Rome, ‘The Hours of Dionora of Urbino’ (Eleonora Gonzaga della Rovere) Italy, Ferrara or Rome, London, British Library, MS Yates Thompson 7, fol. 14 c. 1510–1515 ................................................................................................... 51 9. Coat of arms, Imola Bible, Spain, 1451, and Ferrara early 16th century, Imola, Municipal Library MS 77, fol. 166v ............... 53 Abraham David Figures 1. Ms. Kaufmann (Budapest) 332, Joseph Ha-Cohen: Letters, Fol. 61v–62v: Joseph’s letter to R. Meir Katzenellenbogen, dated: 28 Iyyar 1543 (above pp. 62–63) ........................................................... 66 xii list of illustrations 2. Ms. Kaufmann (Budapest) 332, Joseph Ha-Cohen: Letters, Fol. 62v–63r: Joseph’s letter to R. Meir Katzenellenbogen, dated Tishrei 1544 (above p. 64) ....................................................................... 67 3. Ms. Kaufmann (Budapest) 332, Joseph Ha-Cohen: Letters, Fol. 64r–64v: Joseph’s letter to his father-in-law R. Abraham Ha-Cohen of Bologna, dated 30 July 1543 (above p. 63) ............... 68 Yaakov Andrea Lattes Figures 1. The Periodisation of Italian Minute Books ....................................... 88 2. Comparison with Registers of