JEWISH CREATIVITY AT ITS BEST 🙂 

Rabbi Isaac Lampronti was born in Ferrara, Italy.  He studied Torah under the great Italian rabbis of his generation: Manoach Provençal and Isaac Chayim Cantarini. In addition, he studied philosophy and medicine at the University of Padua.  Padua was an important center for Hebrew studies by virtue of its rabbinical academies and the fact that Jews were drawn there from all over Europe to study in its university, which was open to Jews.

At the age of 22, he began to teach in the talmud torah of the Italian community. He introduced many improvements in the curriculum, insisting on the teaching of the humanities concurrently with the study of Torah. In 1718 he was ordained rabbi and in 1743 was appointed head of the Yeshivah – a position which gave him the status of senior rabbi of the city.

Rabbi Lampronti practiced as a physician. He was an outstanding doctor who gave his services for free to those of limited means.  He had a great reputation as physician, and his contemporaries generally added to his name the epithet “the famous physician.”

Rabbi Lampronti’s main reputation, however, rests on the fact that he wrote the first Jewish Encyclopedia Pachad Yitzchaq. Pachad Ytzchaq  is arranged alphabetically, each article including material from the Mishnah, the Talmud, the posekim, the rishonim, and the responsa literature.

In 1872, the city of Ferrara publicly honored the memory of Rabbi Lampronti. A stone tablet was placed on the house in which he had lived bearing the following inscription: “Abitò in questa casa Isacco Lampronti, nato nel MDCLXXIX., morto nel MDCCLVI. Medico Teologo tra i dotti celebratissimo. Onorò la patria. Riverenti alla scienza alcuni cittadini posero MDCCCLXXII.”

Attributing to God a human image, figure or condition is called: “anthropomorphism” and it is one of the most characteristic features of pagan religions. The pagan gods are born and die, have desires, fight with other gods, and have bodies. They are in a sense a reflection of those humans who conceive them.

The Tora, numerous times uses references to what seems to be God’s body,  like “haShem’s eyes watch over the land of Israel” but our tradition explains unequivocally that those are just figures of speech, metaphors, and should not be taken literally.

While other religions conceived their gods in the image of humans, our Tora says that humans were created in the image of God  (Bereshit 1:27). Let me explain this concept. God is the epitome of power, which means that He can do whatever He decides to do, without being pushed or constrained by any exterior impulses or even motives. This is why we call Him “Almighty”. Of all creatures of earth, only humans have the power of “freedom of choice”, choosing between right and wrong. Humans resemble God in that they are not driven by blind uncontrollable impulses, like animals. Like God, humans have the power of making moral choices.  The more we exercise this power the more we resemble God, and the less we exercise this power and let ourselves be driven by our impulses, the less we resemble God.

In the beautiful words of Rabbi Hayim Pereira-Mendes: “When the Torah says we are created in the image of God, it means not in a bodily but in a spiritual likeness. To be like God we must lead lives that are Godlike or Godly. We are like Him when we exercise loving-kindness, justice and righteousness and take delight in these things.” 

Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh (Leon) mi-Modena was born in Venice in 1571.

A prodigious child, he studied Bible, Hebrew language, poetry, letter writing, voice, music, dancing, Italian, and Latin. At the age of 13, he wrote a short book, sur me-ra’, on compulsive gambling and its destructive power.

Modena was commissioned to write for James I a description of Judaism, the Riti Ebraica, the first vernacular description of Judaism written by a Jew for a non-Jewish audience, first published inParis in 1637 and subsequently republished and translated many times.

From his ordination in 1609 until his death, Modena served as the chief Hebrew translator for the government and Cantor of the Italian synagogue.  He ordained candidates for the degree rabbi, including medical students in Padua. He approved the decisions of other rabbis, and authorized books for publication, with the result that by 1618 he was referred to as a gaon, and an excellent, well-known, honored and brilliant preacher. By 1627 Rabbi Modena signed his name first in order among the Venetian rabbis. In 1628 he was maestro di cappella for a Jewish academy of music, Accademia degli Impediti, which was popular both inside and outside the Venetian ghetto.

He also produced an autobiography, Chaye-Yehuda which was recently translated into English, documenting in poignant detail the turbulent life of his family in the Jewish ghetto of Venice. The book also contains accounts of Modena’s sorrow over his three sons: the death of the eldest from the poisonous fumes of his own alchemical laboratory, the brutal murder of the youngest, and the exile of the remaining son who traveled as far as South America.

Rabbi Modena died in 1648.

Click here to read the book sur me-ra’, a philosophical dialogue against gambling, written by Rabbi Modena at the age of 13. This is the version published in Vilna in 1896.

Magen va-hereb, where Rabbi Modena criticizes Christians interpretations of Hebrew scriptures, refuting their claims and dogmas.

She’elot u-Teshubot Ziqnei Yehuda, Collected Responsa on various ‘modern’ subjects.

Bet Lechem Yehuda, an anthology of statements of Talmudic Rabbis organized around ‘en ya’aqob.

Tzemach Tzadiq, an Ethical Treatise.

Leb ha-Aryeh,  a monograph on memory improvement and mnemonics, in which he greatly extols the use of memory techniques to remember the 613 commandments.

Pi ha-Aryeh, an Italian-Hebrew dictionary of all difficult words in the Tanakh

The words of the Shema Israel are so important that we say them three times a day, every day of our lives.

The first thing we are taught in the Shema is to love God.

To love God “with all our heart”   How can you make sure that you really love HaShem? When you are happy doing what is right in His eyes, and unhappy when you do what is wrong in His eyes.  On the contrary, if you feel obligated but unhappy to do what is right in His eyes, then you might “fear” God, but not “love” God.

To love God “with all our soul” means to love Him so sincerely that we will willingly give our life for Him.   Our ancestors risked their lives and were willing to be killed in order to remain Jewish. If so many of our ancestors gave up their lives for the sake of HaShem, should not we be willing to live our lives for the sake of HaShem?

Loving HaShem with “all our might” means: with all our possessions, our money, our time.  In this sense we should understand “to love God” as “to prioritize God” over our possessions, our money, our time.  The strength of our love for God is proved by the greatness of the sacrifices we are willing to make for Him.

J.B. 2021

To love means you should sacrifice for your loved one, what is more precious to you.

בכל לבבך With all your attention:

ובכל נפשך With all your time:

ובכל מאודך With all your possessions

  

The following lines are quotes from the  book ” The Jewish religion ethically presented” written by Rabbi Hayim (Henry) Pereira Mendes in New York, 1904.

“This commandment teaches us that there is only one God. He is our God and we do not believe that there are any other gods. Therefore to worship any being except the one and only God, is a sin. It is called idolatry”.

“Self-Conceit, to give way to violent outbursts of passion, etc., are declared by our sages to be tantamount to idolatry. For the former shows that self, and the latter that passion, is a greater power with us than God is”.

“If we believe in the one true God, we can prove it by not neglecting or disobeying Him for the sake of anything. Many neglect Him for the sake of business, or pleasure, which is as much as saying that business or pleasure is a greater power than God”.

The descendants of Abraham Abinu are called to be “a blessing to the nations of the earth, preserving for mankind the knowledge of God… Our ten Commandments are recognized as fundamental among all civilized nations. The wisdom of our Torah is recognized universally. The ideals of our Bible are the ideals of humanity. And our Psalms are read and sung in worship in countless cathedrals and churches- while they comfort and inspire countless hearts and homes.”

“We will continue to be a source of “blessing to all the families of the earth”… by showing through the lives we lead, the wisdom and beauty of our Torah, and the ethical value of our religion and its ceremonies; by our loyalty to the ideals of our Bible- and by our standing at all times for God and Justice. When Jewish life means honor, when Jewish homes mean love, and when Jewish citizenship means righteousness- then Jewish example becomes a source of blessing to “all the families of earth.”