Leon de Modena or in Hebrew name Yehudah Aryeh Mi-Modena (1571–1648) was a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

scholar born in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

to a family whose ancestors migrated to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

after an expulsion of Jews from France.

Life

He was a precocious child and grew up to be a respected rabbi in Venice. However, his reputation within traditional Judaism suffered for a number of reasons, including an unyielding criticism of emerging sects within Judaism, an addiction to gambling, and lack of stable character. As

Heinrich Graetz Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was amongst 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 (now Książ Wielko ...

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 amulets." One of his students was Azaria Piccio,Ruderman, D.B. & Idel, M. (2001). ''Jewish thought and scientific discovery in early Modern Europe''. Detroît: Wayne State University Press. with whom he would later be intellectually close.Ruderman, D. B. (1992)
Jewish preaching and the language of science: The sermons of Azariah Figo
In D. B. Ruderman (Ed.), ''Preachers of the Italian ghetto''. Berkeley: University of California. Though he failed to rise to real distinction, Leon of Modena earned a place in Jewish history in part by his criticism of the mystical approach to Judaism. One of his most effective works was his attack on the Kabbala (, first published in 1840). In it, he attempted to demonstrate that the "Bible of the Kabbalists" (the Zohar) 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 wrote an autobiography entitled literally "the 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 Brazil and returned to Venice only after his father's death. 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 (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

and

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. Philo's de ...

. It was widely read by Christians, rendered into various languages, and in 1650 was translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Edmund Chilmead Edmund Chilmead (1610 – 19 February 1654) was an English writer and translator, who produced both scholarly works and hack-writing. He is also known as a musician. Life He was born in 1610 at Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire. He studied at M ...

. At the time, the issue of whether Jews should be permitted to resettle in Britain was coming to the fore (See

Resettlement of the Jews in England The resettlement of the Jews in England was an informal arrangement during the Commonwealth of England in the mid-1650s, which allowed Jews to practise their faith openly. It forms a prominent part of the history of the Jews in England. It h ...

), and Leon of Modena's book did much to stimulate popular interest. He died in Venice. 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 sort of

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 chords, ...

in the synagogue at Ferrara, 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 ( he, סלומונה רוסי or שלמה מן האדומים) (Salamon, Schlomo; de' Rossi) (ca. 1570 – 1630) was an Italian Jewish violinist and composer. He was a transitional figure between the late Ita ...

; it is not clear whether he was also a composer. He wrote calling for radical religious reform. In his "Bet Yehudah," Leon went no further than to show his preference for religious reform; but he attacked traditional Judaism in a pseudonymous work entitled "Ḳol Sakal."

Writings

''Magen VaHerev'' (Hebrew מגן וחרב "Shield and Sword") is a polemic attack upon Christian dogmas. In Magen VaHerev Leon Modena takes to task Christians for their interpretations of Hebrew scriptures and refutes the claims of Jesus.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 Chazal or Ḥazal ( he, חז״ל), an acronym for the Hebrew "Ḥakhameinu Zikhronam Liv'rakha" (, "Our Sages, may their memory be blessed"), refers to all Jewish sages of the Mishna, Tosefta and Talmud eras, spanning from the times of the fina ...

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 Abraham Geiger (Hebrew: ''ʼAvrāhām Gayger''; 24 May 181023 October 1874) was a German rabbi and scholar, considered the founding father of Reform Judaism. Emphasizing Judaism's constant development along history and universalist traits, Geige ...

, Breslau, 1857) *''Tzemach Tzadiq'' (Ethical Treatise: a recent translation into English of this work is now available on the Web) *''Lev HaAryeh'' (Monograph on

Memory improvement Memory improvement is the act of enhancing one's memory. Memory deficits, age-related memory loss, and people's want to improve their own memory have led to research on how to best help people to improve their memory. Research has also worked to ...

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 m ...

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

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''
*''HaBoneh'', commentary on ''

Ein Yaakov ''Ein Yaakov'' () is a 16th-century compilation of all the Aggadic material in the Talmud together with commentaries.People of the Book People of the Book or Ahl al-kitāb ( ar, أهل الكتاب) is an Islamic term referring to those religions which Muslims regard as having been guided by previous revelations, generally in the form of a scripture. In the Quran they are ident ...

'' 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 Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed wit ...

. The book is based on stories told by docents at

Jewish Museum of Venice Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, 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'', 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 17th-century Republic of Venice rabbis 1571 births 1648 deaths Jewish apologists Jewish merchants Jewish skeptics Religious leaders from Modena