Samuel David Luzzatto

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Samuel David Luzzatto - SchaDaL

Samuel David Luzzatto , also known by his acronym SchaDaL (born August 22, 1800 in Trieste , † September 30, 1865 in Padua ), was an Italian-Jewish scholar, poet and educator.

Life

Although the son of a Jewish turner was born, the highly gifted Luzzatto was accepted into the Talmud school in his place of birth at an early age and received lessons in the classical Talmudic and general education of his time. From 1810 he received German and French lessons from Mayer Randegger . Presumably for financial reasons, however, he had to leave school in 1813 and continued his studies of Bible interpretation and the Hebrew language as an autodidact. Because of his translations, his poetic and scientific talents made famous beyond Trieste, in 1821 he was commissioned to translate the Ashkenazi prayer book into Italian. During the following years he worked, among other things, as a private teacher.

In 1829 the “Collegio Rabbinico Italiano” was founded in Padua, one of the first rabbinical seminars . Luzzatto was appointed lecturer in theology and biblical studies, Hebrew grammar, and Jewish history. He worked in this capacity until his death. Through his education and his previous work, he was prepared for the assignment in Padua. He studied the Hebrew language, Aramaic and Jewish literature extensively. To do this, he and colleagues in Europe collected old manuscripts, which led to the rediscovery of medieval Jewish poetry. He was the first to publish poems by Yehuda ha-Levi , a selection of which appeared in Prague in 1864 ("Diwan"). His work as a translator and lecturer resulted in the establishment of Hebrew as a scientific language, which was further developed several times in the following years, but has given him importance to the present as an important person in Judaism in Italy.

His autobiography first appeared in Hebrew as a serial in the magazine Ha-Maggid 1858–1862, and in 1882 a German book edition appeared.

Samuel David Luzzatto came from the Luzzatto family , which produced several scholars.

Works (selection)

  • Oheb Ger ("He who loves the proselyte"), 1830, monograph on the Targum Onqelos (the title indicates the non-Jewish origin of Onqelos)
  • Prolegomeni ad una grammatica ragionata della lingua ebraica , Padova: Tipografia e fonderia Cartallier, 1836
  • Betulat Bat Jehuda , 1840 (via Jehuda Halevi)
  • Abne Zikkaron (“Memorial Stones ”), 1841, publication of Hebrew grave inscriptions from Toledo
  • (as editor) Edition of the Roman Machsor , 1856
  • Teologia Morale Israelitica , 1862
  • Jesode ha-Tora ("Foundations of the Torah"), 1865
  • Tal Orot ("Dew of Lights"), 1881 (anthology of Hebrew poetry of the Middle Ages)

English editions:

  • The Book of Genesis. A Commentary by ShaDal. Aronson, Northvale (NJ) 1998, ISBN 0-7657-9993-6 .
  • Prolegomena to a Grammar of the Hebrew Language. Translated, annotated, and with additional material by Aaron D. Rubin. Gorgias Press, Piscataway (NJ) 2005, ISBN 1-59333-334-X .

literature

See also:

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Luzzatto, Samuel David
ALTERNATIVE NAMES SchaDal
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian scholar and poet
DATE OF BIRTH August 22, 1800
PLACE OF BIRTH Trieste
DATE OF DEATH September 30, 1865
Place of death Padua