Isaac Samuel Reggio
Encyclopedia
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
born at Gorizia
Gorizia
Gorizia is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and it is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. Since 1947, a twin...
. Reggio studied Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
and rabbinics under his father, Abraham Vita, later rabbi of Gorizia, acquiring at the same time in the gymnasium a knowledge of secular science and languages. Reggio's father, one of the liberal rabbis who supported Hartwig Wessely, paid special attention to the religious instruction of his son, who displayed unusual aptitude in Hebrew, and at the age of fourteen wrote a metrical dirge on the death of Moses Ḥefeẓ, rabbi of Gorizia.
Skills
Besides ItalianItalian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, his mother tongue, Reggio knew French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and Latin, and he studied several Semitic languages
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
in addition to Hebrew. He possessed a phenomenally clear, if not profound, intellect, and as mathematics offered the widest field for his analytical talent, it was at first his favorite study. In 1802 he published in the Neuwieder Zeitung the solution of a difficult mathematical problem, which gave him reputation as a mathematician (comp. Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1837, p. 228). He discovered also a new demonstration of the Pythagorean theorem
Pythagorean theorem
In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem or Pythagoras' theorem is a relation in Euclidean geometry among the three sides of a right triangle...
, which was praised by Cauchy, the well-known French mathematician.
Founds the Rabbinic Seminary of Padua
A year later (1803) Reggio went to TriesteTrieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
, where for three years he was a tutor in the house of a wealthy family. There he made a friend of Mordecai Isaac de Cologna, at whose death (1824) Reggio wrote a funeral oration in Italian. He returned to Gorizia
Gorizia
Gorizia is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and it is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. Since 1947, a twin...
in 1807, where one year later he married the daughter of a wealthy man and settled down to a life of independent study. When the province of Illyria
Illyria
In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by the Illyrians....
(1810) became a French dependency, Reggio was appointed by the French governor professor of belles-lettres, geography, and history, and chancellor of the lycée of Gorizia. But three years later Illyria became again an Austrian
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
province, and the Austrian anti-Jewish laws compelled Reggio to resign.
He then devoted himself exclusively to Jewish literature and cognate subjects; he studied even the Kabbalah
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
, but the more he studied it the greater grew his aversion to its mystical and illogical doctrines. Taking Moses Mendelssohn
Moses Mendelssohn
Moses Mendelssohn was a German Jewish philosopher to whose ideas the renaissance of European Jews, Haskalah is indebted...
and Hartwig Wessely as guides, he next made his name celebrated in connection with religious philosophy, and, indeed, became to the Italian Jews what Mendelssohn was to his German co-religionists. In 1822 an imperial decree having been issued that no one might be appointed rabbi who had not graduated in philosophy, Reggio published at Venice an appeal, in Italian, for the establishment of a rabbinical seminary, arguing that just as the emperor did not desire rabbis devoid of philosophical training, neither did the Jews desire rabbis who had had no rabbinical education. This appeal resulted in the establishment of a rabbinical college at Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
, for which Reggio drew up the statutes and the educational program.
Following the example of Mendelssohn, Reggio endeavored to extend the knowledge of Hebrew among the Jewish masses by translating the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
into Italian language
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and writing a commentary thereon. His simple but clear and attractive style made a deep impression not only on the Italian but even on the German Jews. Although he believed that in the main the text of the Bible has been well guarded against corruption, yet he admitted that involuntary scribal errors had slipped in and that it would be no sin to correct them (Iggerot Yashar, Letter V.). The reproaches of Meïr Randegger
Meir Randegger
Meir Randegger was Jewish-Austrian educationist born at Randegg. He was educated at home, at Lengau , at Fürth , and at Presburg, after which he accepted a position as instructor in Vienna. Later he removed to Triest, where he opened a private school...
(d. 1853) concerning his Biblical corrections Reggio answered by stating that every one was permitted to interpret the text according to his understanding, provided such interpretations were not in opposition to the principles of the Jewish religion (ib. Letter XXX.).
An opponent of casuistry
Casuistry
In applied ethics, casuistry is case-based reasoning. Casuistry is used in juridical and ethical discussions of law and ethics, and often is a critique of principle- or rule-based reasoning...
, Reggio rejected haggadic Biblical interpretations and the pilpul
Pilpul
Pilpul refers to a method of studying the Talmud through intense textual analysis in attempts to either explain conceptual differences between various halakhic rulings or to reconcile any apparent contradictions presented from various readings of different texts.Pilpul has entered English as a...
istic study of the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
. He was persecuted by many German rabbis on account of his liberal views; even his father did not wholly approve of his methods. Nevertheless, in 1846, after his father's death, the community of Göritz insisted upon his accepting the rabbinical office; he agreed, but declined to receive the salary attached to it. After occupying the position for ten years he resigned.
His Works
Reggio was a voluminous writer. He published:- Ma'amar Torah min ha-Shamayim (Vienna, 1818), on the divine authority of the Jewish law, an introduction to his Italian translation of the Pentateuch
- Sefer Torat Elohim (ib. 1821), the Pentateuch, with an Italian languageItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
translation and a Hebrew commentary - Ha-Torah weha-Pilusufiah (ib. 1827)
- Beḥinat ha-Dat 'im Perush we-He'arot (ib. 1833), an edition of Elijah Delmedigo's Beḥinat ha-Dat, with a commentary and notes
- Iggerot Yashar (ib. 1834-36), a collection of exegetical, philosophical, and historical treatises in the form of letters to a friend
- Ma'amar ha-Tiglaḥat (ib. 1835), a decision ("pesaḳ") permitting the shaving of the beard on semi-holy days ("ḥol ha-mo'ed"; this work called forth two protests, one by Jacob Ezekiel ha-Levi, entitled Tisporet Lulyanit, Berlin, 1839, and one by Reggio's father, entitled Tiglaḥat ha-Ma'amar, Leghorn, 1844)
- Mafteaḥ el Megillat Ester (Vienna, 1841)
- Mazkeret Yashar (ib. 1849), a bibliographical sketch (presented to his friends in his sixty-fifth year) in which he enumerates 103 works
- Beḥinat ha-Ḳabbalah (Göritz, 1852)
- Yalḳuṭ Yashar (ib. 1854), collectanea, including a defense by Reggio of the opinion which attributes Isa. xl.-lxvi, to an author who lived after the Captivity.
He wrote also a metrical Italian translation of the Book of Isaiah
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
(Udine, 1831), and translated into Italian prose the books of Joshua
Book of Joshua
The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament. Its 24 chapters tell of the entry of the Israelites into Canaan, their conquest and division of the land under the leadership of Joshua, and of serving God in the land....
, Ruth
Book of Ruth
The Book of Ruth is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, or Old Testament. In the Jewish canon the Book of Ruth is included in the third division, or the Writings . In the Christian canon the Book of Ruth is placed between Judges and 1 Samuel...
, and Lamentations
Book of Lamentations
The Book of Lamentations ) is a poetic book of the Hebrew Bible composed by the Jewish prophet Jeremiah. It mourns the destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple in the 6th Century BCE....
, the treatise Pirḳe Abot, and M. Mendelssohn's correspondence with Lavater on religion. In the notes to Elijah Delmedigo's Beḥinat ha-Dat Reggio often supplements or criticizes this work; he, moreover, refutes Aaron Chorin
Aaron Chorin
Áron Chorin was a Hungarian rabbi and pioneer of religious reform. He favored the use of the organ and of prayers in the vernacular, and was instrumental in founding schools along modern lines. Chorin was thus regarded as a leader of the newer Judaism...
in notes 8, 15-19, and attacks the Kabbalah
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
in notes 9-13. It may be noticed that thirteen years previously Moses Kunitzer printed, in his Sefer ha-Meẓaref, Reggio's letter in defense of the Kabbalah.
Reggio was an indefatigable contributor to most of the Jewish journals of his time and an able apologist. He was also the editor of Bikkure 'Ittim ha-Ḥadashim, the Hebrew part of Busch's Jahrbücher (Vienna, 1845), and Meged Geresh Yeraḥim, a supplement to the Central-Organ für Jüdische Interessen (ib. 1849). It may be added that Reggio was a painter of considerable ability. There are more than two hundred drawings and paintings by him, including portraits of many Jewish celebrities, and a map drawn by him is preserved in the library of Triest. In 1812 he inscribed the whole Book of Esther
Book of Esther
The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...
on a small piece of parchment one and a half handbreadths long. He left also a great number of unpublished writings, among which are sermons and poems in Hebrew and Italian.
His Philosophy
Reggio's most important works are Ha-Torah weha-Pilusufiah, Mafteaḥ el Megillat Ester, and Beḥinat ha-Ḳabbalah. The first, a religious-philosophical essay in four sections ("ma'amarim"), was written as an answer to the rabbis of the old school who protested against the establishment of the rabbinical college at PaduaPadua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
. It should be explained that Reggio applies the term "philosophy" to all studies outside the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
and rabbinics. Reggio not only endeavors to reconcile the Jewish religion with modern science, but attempts to prove that they are indispensable to each other. One chapter, entitled "Ha-'Olam weha-Adam," was republished by Martinet
Martinet
The martinet is a punitive device traditionally used in France and other parts of Europe. The word also has other usages . It is also a term for a type of hammer in French, a diminutive of marteau , "hammer".-Object:...
in his Tif'eret Yisrael (Bamberg, 1837). Another chapter, in which was discussed whether the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
is in opposition to the Kabala
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
, was stricken out by the censor. Later this chapter was plagiarized by S. M. Rosenthal, who published it in Fürst's edition of Leon of Modena
Leon of Modena
Leon Modena or Yehudah Aryeh Mi-modena was a Jewish scholar born in Venice of a notable French family that had migrated to Italy after an expulsion of Jews from France.-Life:...
's Ari Nohem (pp. 92-97, Leipsic, 1840).
The Mafteaḥ el Megillat Ester is an introduction to the Book of Esther
Book of Esther
The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...
, and deserves special notice in consideration of its originality. Having concluded that the Persian king in that book was Darius Hystaspes, Reggio shows that the main object of the writer was to prove that Darius was the first to establish the post. Analyzing the text carefully, Reggio maintains that Mordecai
Mordecai
Mordecai or Mordechai is one of the main personalities in the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. He was the son of Jair, of the tribe of Benjamin.-Biblical account:...
was by no means such a great man as the Rabbis declare him to have been, but that, on the contrary, he was an ordinary Jew; for he not only gave no religious education to his adopted daughter Esther, but he even commanded her to deny her race and religion. His refusal to bow before Haman
Haman (Bible)
Haman is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who, according to Old Testament tradition, was a 5th Century BC noble and vizier of the Persian empire under King Ahasuerus, traditionally identified as Artaxerxes II...
was unnecessary, as such an act would not have violated any Jewish religious law. Even when he was informed of the imminence of the danger to his co-religionists consequent upon his senseless refusal, he did not resort to prayer and fasting; it was Esther who did that. His inhumanity is evidenced by his command to slaughter women and children (Esth. viii. 11). Afterward, when Mordecai attained great power, he did nothing to better the lot of his brethren in Jerusalem (comp. Neh. ix. 36-37). This view of Reggio's provoked a protest from Isaac Bär Lewinsohn (Bikkure Ribal, p. 115, Warsaw, 1889), and was violently criticized by Mendelson (Orient, Lit. viii. 314 et seq.).
The Beḥinat ha-Ḳabbalah is an edition of Leon of Modena
Leon of Modena
Leon Modena or Yehudah Aryeh Mi-modena was a Jewish scholar born in Venice of a notable French family that had migrated to Italy after an expulsion of Jews from France.-Life:...
's two pamphlets Ḳol Sakal and Sha'agat Aryeh; these Reggio provided with a preface, and with one hundred critical notes forming the second part of the work. In the preface Reggio outlined Leon of Modena's biography. The notes are independent treatises reviewing Modena's works chapter by chapter, now supplementing, now refuting his views. Reggio's main point is that most of the Talmudic ordinances were not intended for perpetual observance; they were practiced only by the rigorous Pharisees
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
. It was not until much later, he declares, that the casuists ("poseḳim") established such ordinances as a part of the Law. Consequently, Modena was, in many cases wrong in attacking the Talmudists. Reggio's theory has been refuted by Simon Stern in the preface to his German translation of Modena's works published under the title Der Kampf des Rabbiners Gegen den Talmud im XVII. Jahrhundert.
Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
- S. Cahen. in Arch. Isr. xvi. 666;
- Isaac H. Castiglioni, in Oẓar ha-Sifrut, iv. 82 et seq.;
- J. Derenbourg, in Geiger's Wiss. Zeit. Jüd. Theol. ii. 331 et seq.;
- Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, pp. 659 et seq.;
- Fürst, Bibl. Jud. iii. 139 et seq.;
- A. Geiger, Leon da Modena, pp. 57 et seq.;
- Goldenthal, in Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1839, Supplement, No. 35, p. 159;
- N. Hurwitz, in Ha-MeliẓHa-MelizHa-Meliẓ was the first Hebrew newspaper in Russia. It was founded by Alexander Zederbaum, in Odessa, in 1860, as a weekly, and was transferred to St. Petersburg in 1871....
, iii. 140, 158, 174; - JostIsaak Markus JostIsaak Marcus Jost was a Jewish historical writer.He studied at the universities of Göttingen and Berlin. In Berlin he began to teach, and in 1835 received the appointment of upper master in the Jewish commercial school at Frankfort-on-the-Main...
, Annalen, 1841, p. 240; - Mazkeret Yashar;
- H. S. Morais, Eminent Israelites, pp. 296 et seq.;
- Oẓar Neḥmad, i. 5, 11, et passim;
- I. H. Weiss, Zikronotai, pp. 153 et seq., Warsaw, 1895;
- William ZeitlinWilliam ZeitlinWilliam Zeitlin was a Russian scholar and bibliographer born at Homel, government of Moghilef, about the middle of the 19th century...
, Bibl. Post-Mendels. pp. 296 et seq.
External links
- Jewish Encyclopedia article for Isaac Samuel Reggio, by Isidore SingerIsidore SingerIsidore Singer was an editor of the Jewish Encyclopedia and founder of the American League for the Rights of Man.-Biography:...
and Max SeligsohnMax SeligsohnMax Seligsohn was a Russian-American Orientalist.Having received his rabbinical training at Slutsk, government of Minsk, he went in 1888 to New York, where he studied modern languages till 1894, in which year he went to Paris to study Oriental languages, especially Semitic studies Max Seligsohn...