Jacob Raphael ben Simhah Judah Saraval ( 1707 – 1782) was an Italian

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 ...

man of letters An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the world of culture, either ...

, and musician. Saraval was 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 ...

. Saraval was one of the rabbis of Venice who supported

Jacob Emden Jacob Emden, also known as the Yaʿavetz (June 4, 1697 – April 19, 1776), was a leading German rabbi and talmudist who championed traditional Judaism in the face of the growing influence of the Sabbatean movement. He was widely acclaimed for ...

in his dispute with

Jonathan Eybeschutz Jonathan Eybeschutz or Eybeshitz (; 1690–1764) was a Talmudist, halakhist, and kabbalist holding positions first as Dayan of Prague and later as rabbi of the "Three Communities": Altona, Hamburg, and Wandsbek. He is well known for his confl ...

. He communicated with the English scholar, Kennicott, on subjects of biblical

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

. In 1752 he was appointed rabbi of

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

and many documents in the communal archives bear his signature. During the 1760s and 1770s he traveled to Holland and England on behalf of his community. When the anti-Jewish lawyer, Giovanni Battista Benedetti of

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 ...

, published his ''Dissertazione della Religione e del Giuramento degli Ebrei'' at the beginning of the 1770s, Saraval rejoined with ''Lettera apologetica'' (Mantua, 1775). He was also known as a preacher, poet, and composer of ''piyyutim'' (liturgical poems), and engaged in various branches of secular culture—arts, literature, and music, in which fields he wrote many works. In addition, he translated from various languages. One of his translations, the libretto of

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

's oratorio ''

Esther Esther (; ), originally Hadassah (; ), is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. According to the biblical narrative, which is set in the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus falls in love with Esther and ma ...

'' (apparently done at the request of the Jews of England and Holland), is one of the first free verse translations from English to Hebrew without recourse to the traditional meters. The Hebrew text was set to music by

Cristiano Lidarti Cristiano Giuseppe Lidarti (born Christian Joseph Lidarti) (Vienna 23 February 1730 – Pisa(?) after 1793) was an Austrian composer, born in Vienna of Italian descent. Life Lidarti was a nephew of the Viennese Kapellmeister Giuseppe Bonno. While ...

in 1774.

References

*''Includes an extract from the ''

Encyclopaedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a multi-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, Jewish holida ...

'' (Jerusalem 1971).'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Saraval, Jacob Raphael 1700s births 1782 deaths 18th-century Republic of Venice rabbis 18th-century Italian translators People from Mantua Shelichei derabonan (rabbis)