How To Scare People Into Going to Shul in Seventeenth Century Venice

The following is a letter written by Rabbi Leon Da Modena, the Chief Rabbi of Venice, to the the Jewish community of Capodistria. Apparently the community was having trouble with membership attendance (more specifically: completing the ‘ten men quorum’ for Synagogue prayers) and thus turned to the esteemed Da Modena for help. In this letter, written in flowery Hebrew, Da Modena is decidedly stern; he decrees that all male members of the community must attend synagogue services, twice daily (presumably mincha and maariv(arvit) were conducted one right after the other, as was-- and still is quite common), under penalty of ‘nachash’, an acronym which stands for נידוי חרם שמתא loosely meaning complete excommunication. Modena added ‘AND all the curses mentioned in the torah’ for good measure. I was struck by some phrases and their similarity to a similar missive penned by Abraham Firkovich in the 19th century for the Samaritan community in Nablus/Sichem, that experienced similar problems. I was particularly intrigued by Da Modena's directive to appoint overseers to make sure that an attendee does not leave the Synagogue, if there are less than ten in the room. His ordinance that nobody engage in commerce before morning prayers, that nobody miss Synagogue unless one has a valid excuse (illness etc.). Compare Firkovich's 'contract' with the Samaritans after the jump.

First Da Modena:

לקא”וו די איסטריא שילכו לב”ה

לא נפלא היא ולא רחוקה מלבות כל בני ישראל היות העולם מתקיים על העבודה שבלב זו תפלה ומה גם בהיותה בקהל ועדה אין פחות מעשרה כי תפילת ציבור אינה חוזרת ריקם וכל מי שיש לו ב”ה בעירו ואינו נכנס להתפלל  נקרא שכן רע (ברכות ח עא) וקדוש לא יאמר לו, אשר לזאת הוגד לנו כי בעיר קאו”ו די איסטריאה יש ויש שתי בתי כנסיות בנויות כזוייות מחוטבטת להתפלל אל ה’ אחד בבית הישיש הנעלה כהר’ נפתלי יצ”ו ואחת בבית המעולה כמר’ מנחם מרקריאה יצ”ו ופעמים רבות כל איש מאנשי המקום לדרכו פנו לעסקיהם או כי עצלה תפיל תרדמה או למה שיהיה ואינם נמנים יחד להתפלל בעשרה ובטל התמיד ותהי זאת לפוקה ולמכשול ולמזכיר עון. ועל כן בזכרנו את ציון החרבה והשוממה וכי אין לנו כהיום הזה לא זבח ולא מנחה אלא מקדש מעט אלו בתי כנסיות (מגלה כט עא) וכמה גדול עונש המבטל תפלת הרבים ראה ראיתי לחזק את בדק הבית בית תפלה יקרא והנה אנחנו הבאים על החתום לכבוד ה’ להועיל לנפשותיהם של האנשים האלה אשר נקבו בשמות והנלוים אליהם גוזרים בגזירת נח”ש וכל אלות וקללות הכתובות בספר התורה ע”ד המקום ב”ה והרבים על כ”מ הירץ וכ”מ מנחם הנ”ל הם ובניהם ובני בניהם שכיניהם ותושביהם והגרים עמם והנלוים בבתיהם להיות זריזים וזהירים לילך כלם בקר וערב פעמים בכל יום ויום לבית הכנסת בשעה הראויה בבית אחד מאיזה שיהיה ולעמוד שם ולהתפלל תפלתם בהזמנים הנ”ל ובעלי בתים הנזכרים יחוייבו להשגיח לזרזם ולצוותם ואחד מהם לא ימנע מלבוא בשום אופן אם לא לאונס חולי ח”ו אם ד”א ניכר ומפורסם, ובחומר החומרא הנ”ל אנחנו גוזרים על כל אנשי העיר הנ”ל שלא יוכל שום אחד להתחיל ולהטפל בשום עסק מתן הבוקר אור טרם לכתו להתפלל שחרית וכן סמוך למנחה ישתדל כל אחד לפנות מעסקיו ללכת לב”ה ולא יקדימו ויכניעו הנפסד לקויים והיקר לזולל רק כאשר יהיה ידוע ודאי לאיש אחר כי כבר יש בבית הכנסת מנין עשרה בלתו או שיתחילו להתפלל כבר אז יהיה הרשות בידו להתעכב קצת אם יהיה מטופל באיזה דבר עסק אך יחשוב הפסד מצוה כנגד שכרה וכן יבואר כי כאשר ימצא מנין עשרה בבית אחד מהבע”ת הנז’ יוכל להתפלל בב”ה שלו גם אם יהיה החדש מגיע לחברו ולא יחוייב לצאת עם בעל ב”ב אל בית כנסת האחר--וסוף דבר כל מעשיהם יהיו לשם שמים להודות לו ולברך בשמו. וכל זה גזרנו עליהם במעמד שניהם לפנינו דהיינו הנעלה כמו”ה זלמן….והישיש אביו כ”מ הירץ והמעולה כ”מ מנחם הנ”ל בעצמו ונדרו לשמור ולעשות כל המצוה הזאת לשמוע אל הרנה ואל התפלה כי כן יברכו מפי עליון ומפינו ברכות שמים וארץ

ויניציאה מה טובו אהליך יעקב (פרשת בלר) למב”י השנ”ט

כתבי הרב יהודה אריה ממודינא (Blau, Budapest 1905) pp. 5,6

Cf.

By the Mt. Sinai covenant and the decrees of Mount Horeb, we, the Israelites, the inhabitants of the town of Nablus in the gathering of the leaders of the community are making a covenant and appending our signets to this document of regulation in order to fulfill  those conditions which are clarified in the Arabic language. It is the eve of the blessed Tuesday, the 28^th day of the 12^th month of the year 1280 n (4-5 june 1864 a.d.) in the presence of his excellency, the Chief Rabbi (!) of our respected brethren, rabbi אלחכם Abraham Firkovich, in the town of Nablus while meeting his excellency and in the footsteps of negotiation and listening to his magnificent spiritual counsel all we who append our names and signets below have agreed to come the House of God (Synagogue) itended for prayers in order to perform the ritual prayer twice a day in the evening and in the morning in accordance with our duty and the practice of our fathers of long standing. And we will not be restrained from doing so without a clear excuse .And for this agreement of ours we have composed this as notification of what we have agreed upon in the presence  of his excellency referred to on the date mentioned above.  We ask God to give us success (in achieving) what he chooses and wishes and may God’s peace rest upon Moses b Amram.

It is well and if one or 2 persons of the community come (to the Synagogue) then it will not be necessary for the priest to pray unless an assembly of ten persons at least (is present). With less than ten he (the priest), ought not to perform public prayers, and upon this agreement was reached. 

See more here

Note:

1. I deliberately refer to the house of worship in question with the ashkenazic term ‘shul’ because the community, Modena addressed in this letter, was apparently composed of Ashkenazim (judging by the surnames mentioned in the letter). It is called ‘kehila kedosha Capo di Istria’.Also known as ‘koper’, it is now a city in southwestern Slovenia, with the other Slovenian coastal towns Ankaran, Izola, Piran, and Portorož, situated along the country's 47-kilometre (29-mile) coastline, in the Istrian Region, approximately five kilometres (3.1 miles) from its border with Italy. It was part of the Republic of Venice at that time

Rabbi Leone Da Modena and His Unlikely Grandson

I posted about this very colorful and enigmatic (perhaps even troubled) personality many times before.

While Da Modena's life and work has been extensively covered by such illustrious scholars as Talya Fischman and Howard Adelman (and also recently by Yakobh Dweck), the same is not true for his son-in-law and grandson.

Da Modena was a vociferous opponent of Kaballah and famously wrote  his anti-Kabbalistic treatise Ari Noham creating a firestorm in his day.

He ostensibly opposed all superstition and mysticism yet he engaged in quite a bit of the former himself (such as writing amulets for his personal use).

Da Modena was a tortured soul and it is likely that he was a manic depressive.

What i find most interesting though is his relationship with his son-in-law Jacob b. Kalonymous Halevi and his grandson Isaac Min Haleviim.

Da Modena did not experience much joy from his family, as he famously laments in his memoir. Several of them died (one was murdered by rival mobsters) childless in his lifetime. One son: Isaac was a drifter and a gambler. Perhaps discouraged by the constant stream of bad fortune striking the Da Modena family left Venice for the New World, leaving a wife and child behind, and only returned to get his piece of the inheritance (which he took by force and intimidation).

There was one however one ray of joy in Modena's life and ironically it came from the man who would marry his beloved daughter Diana. His name was Jacob ben Kalonymous (Kalonymous is also referred to as Calman di Padovani in some sources). He was a trained Kabbalist, well versed in Kabbalah. He received his education at the academy of Rabbi Ezra of Fano (the teacher of the Rema, Menachem Azaryah of Fano who Da Modena highly respected). Interestingly enough, Jacob pursued other extra-curricula activities such as dancing. In a later description of the man his profession is given as 'dancer', that is a dance teacher (Da Modena himself was intimately familiar with the arts and wrote many plays of a secular nature)

How he came to know and take his daughter's hand in marriage is unknown. It is likely that the young miss was rebellious and, as is so often the case, sought out someone very much NOT like her father.

Da Modena was of course not too thrilled with the marriage at first but soon came to appreciate the good nature and spirit of young Jacob engendering a warm and abiding friendship between the two. A touching testimony of the relationship between the two is found in Modena's writings:

 וכך היה לי ממש עם חתני, חתן דמים למעלות, כמהר"ר יעקב מן הלווים זצ"ל, נבון דעת וכולל בלימודים, אוי ואבוי על שברי כי לקחו אלוהים מאתי במיטב שנותיו, אשר גם אתה ידעת את האיש ואת שיחו בקבלה הזאת, כי מנעוריו גדל בה, ולמד אותה מפי הוותיק כמה"ו עזרא מפאנו ז"ל, שהיה רבו של הגאון הרמ"ע, כדברו בהקדמתו לפלח הרימון, ואצלך חבור חתני הנזכר הנקרא נחלת יעקב - קיצור לחלק הפרדס, וכללי החכמה ההיא בלשון זהב והאדרת, אין ערוך אליו, המהולל בתושבחות מאתך על יופיו וטובו: כי גם אני והוא תמיד כל היום היינו מתווכחים על זה, ברזל בברזל יחד, והתשובות אשר ראית כתובים בהקדמתו לחבור הנזכר, מתשדל וטורח להשיב, למטיל ספק בקבלה ובמחבר ספר הזוהר ויסודה ומכונה, היו נכונים לי ולדברי, אשר פעם הקשיתי לשאול ולדבר נגדו, ואף הוא היה מתכווין לפייסני בהם, ולהכניסני במסורת ברית הכרוכים אחריה, ולא שמיע לי, כלומר לא סבירא לי, ובכל זאת לדרכי הייתי מהלך ולא נתתי חכי לחטוא נגדם, ורק היה זה דברי כדברי אותו פילוסוף, חכמתכם האלוהות איני כופר בה, אבל אין דעתי נוחה הימנה עד היום הזה: כי בהתחש לי הלכה זו עמך, נלווה אפי עליהם, ונספחו לי זעם וקצף, מה שהיה כבר הוא, כל ימי כאש עצור בעצמותי, בראותי מתוך ספריהם וכשמעי מפיהם כי נמנו וגמרו ויחלטו הממני, כי זולתם מחכמינו לא ידעו ולא יבינו בחשיכה יתהלכו, וכל ישראל אין להם חלק לעולם הבא, רק אשר זרח עליהם אור, זה דרכם שכל למו.

In this eulogy for his son-in-law (in the preface to his Ari Nohem), Da Modena displays both his charitable side (disagreeing with his son-in-law without being disagreeable) and ingeniously adapts biblical verses in order to convey entirely new meanings while retaining an echo of the original (a classic Modena trademark). In describing Jacob Halevi. Modena changed the words in Exodus 4:36 "hatan damim la-mulot" (a bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision) to "hatan tamim lema'alot" (a son-in-law of perfect virtues).

Tragically, Jacob died young and it seemed that bad fortune would forever be the lot of Da Modena's progeny. However he left a precocious child, a lad by the name of Isaac. Isaac was the apple of his grandfather's eye (albeit not seeing eye-to-eye as it were). Isaac followed in his father's footsteps and immersed himself in Kabbalah. He gained some prominence in Venice and in the world of his Kabbalistic peers. His writings include an autobiography of sorts (writing it perhaps as an affectionate nod to his grandfather)  and glosses on the writings of one of the famous Kabbalist Rabbi Moses Cordeovero.

Isaac himself married Esther, the daughter of Judah Monte Scudolo who bore him three children: Sarah, Judah Aryeh (named after his beloved grandfather) and Jacob (named after his father).

NOTES:

1. For Venetian inquisitional material on "Isacco Levi," (our Isaac) from 1658, see: Pier Cesare Ioly Zorattini, ed. Processi del S. Uffizio di Venezia contro ebrei  e Guidaizzanti (1642-1681), 11 (Firenza: Olschki, 1993), pp. 7-14 and 107-1 23 0A 

Many thanks to Prof. Howard Adelman for referring me to this information.

Dr Adelman adds:

He was one of Leon Modena's many grandchildren - see the family tree in Cohen's edition of Hayyei Yehudah.  To this can be added a Leon, the son of Moses Saltero Fano, and he had a son, Leon, making him one of Leon Modena's great-grand sons. This Leon is listed in Asher Selah's compendium of 18th c

entury Italian rabbis and doctors, no. 364.  Isaac min Haleviim, whose father Jacob ben Kalonymos Halevi was a kabbalist and Leon Moden's interlocutoron matters kabbalistic, does not leave much of a kabbalistic footprint. He
dealt with occult books and became an anti-Shabbatean when the movement came to Venice (see Gershom Scholem). Isaac min Haleviim was also a poet, publisher, preacher, among other things, as well has his grandfather's scribe.

2. Daniel Carpi's edited edition of Medabber Tahpuchoth by Itzhak Min-Haleviyyim, published by the Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies, Tel-Aviv University 1985. The late Prof. Carpi also edited  Chayye' Yehuda, the autobiography of Yehuda Aryeh Modina (1985). Both in Hebrew

3. See also Jacob Dweck's  The Scandal of Kabbalah, and the book review here 

More on Rabbi Da Modena and gilgul - follow up on previous post

Yesterday, I came across a book in Hebrew entitled Or Hachayim, which is a listing of Rabbinical biographies organized in alphabetical order and written by one R’ Chaim (ben Yosef) Michel (1792-1846) . R’ Michel was a Habmburg-born wealthy merchant who spent his leisurely time -and beyond- authoring works of Jewish and scholarly interest. He was friendly -and often corresponded- with the Wissenschaft scholars of his day such as Zunz, Shir and Shadal.

In the bibliography for the entry 'Yehuda Aryeh Mimodena' [1] he lists the latter's seforim, among which is a work entitled Ben David against the popular belief in gilgul (the book is also mentioned in his seminal anti-kabbalistic work Ari Nohem). Under the entry Chayei Yehuda -the book in question- he writes, (translation mine):

And know that in the manuscript that I have before me, there is absolutely no mention of the story brought down by the Chida (pictured) in Shem Hagedolim about the sick infant who said 'Shema Yisrael'. It is also not found in the manuscript version of Rabbi Uri Chai Sarval. Therefore Yashar is certainly correct in his assertion that that particular manuscript which Chida saw, was undoubtedly written by on of his (Da Modena’s) disciples who was partial to belief in Kabballah and he added it to the manuscript to show that in his later days Da Modena recanted. [2]

Notes:

[1]. in the margins, he points out that the proper way to write the name is ‘mimodena’ and not 'da modena', as the Rabbi himself wrote “I sign my name Leone Modena Da Venezia and not Da Modena”, See Graetz, B.X.S. 141 (p. 439 (אור החיים, הוצאת מוסד הרב קוק, תשכ"ה

[2]. Ibid, p. 443

Did Rabbi Da Modena believe in gilgul?

The Jewish belief in gilgul (literally, reincarnation of the soul) is one fraught with controversy. While it has since become accepted as a basic tenet of Orthodox Judaism, such was not always the case. Among the more famous opponents of this belief is the famed Rabbi Saadiah Gaon, [1] Rabbi Hasdai Crescas and Rabbi Shalom Strashun (Rashash) [2]. R' Saadiah assailed it strongly and claimed it originated from eastern paganism. A lesser famous but equally fierce opponent of gilgul was -one of my favorite Jewish historical figures- Rabbi Leone Da Modena (see my previous posts on him here and here ). However, there is an interesting twist to this. In the book Shem Hagedolim of Rabbi Chayyim Yosef David Azulai (known as the CHIDA) under the entry of Rabbi Yehuda Arye Mimodena, he relates an strange and interesting story. The Chida (pictured) writes (translation mine):

I have seen the latter’s autobiography, 'Chayei Yehuda' (The Life of Judah) in manuscript where he writes that everything he endured in his life was for the best. The Rabbi writes that in his early days he did not believe in Gilgul, then something occurred which made him change his beliefs. His (Da Modena's) neighbor gave birth to a son and within a month the infant took violently ill. When the child reached six months, it was clearly apparent that he at death's door, so the neighbor called him (Da-Modena) to the infant’s bedside to recite Psalms and read from the Torah -as was the custom in Italy at the time. As he was reciting some verses, the child opened his eyes wide and shouted “Shema Yisrael” and his soul left his body. Henceforth, the Rabbi changed his view on gilgul, for his own eyes saw a six month old sickly infant recite the words of the shema like an adult! [3].

This story seems quite strange, not to mention very uncharachteristic of R' Da Modena for obvious reasons. I have read the English translation of Da Modena's fascinating autobiography and I do not recall coming across this story anywhere (though I still have not had the opportunity to read the original Hebrew version). Furthermore, I find it interesting that R' Azulai -the great Kabbalist and proponent of Hassidim- lists him in his Gedolim compendium and refers to him with honorific terms, considering R' Da Modena's radical views regarding Kabballah and Zohar which -as far as we know- he never deviated from.

Notes:

[1]. See his Ha-Emunot V'Deyot 6:3

[2]. See here page 11 for interesting biographical informantion.

[3].שם הגדולים, עג