ITALIA JUDAICA. Atti del I Convegno internazionale. Bari 18-22 ...

no early loeaI figure who is a counterpart or counterweight to Rashi or R. Isaac
AHasi, in the sense of being intrinsically important as \Veli as representative.
Italy is alternately centrifugaI and centripetal but lacking internaI cohesiveness
and continuity. No\v, to be sure, the towering figure R. Isaiah of Trani, for
example, does quote R. Natan of Rome, R. Solomon ben ha-Yatom, R. Isaac
ben Malkizedek, and R. Barukh ben Samuel of Aleppo (and in one respolZsum
cites also R. Hillel ben Eliaim of Greece) 17, as he himself is quoted frequently
by R. Zedekiah b. Abrabam in the Shibbolei ha-Leqet; this is noteworthy and
as such suggests a chain of tradition, but it is also rare and hence does not con
stitute nativism or regionalism.18 There is no evidence that he sees himself
as part of an accumulative, accretionary Itdian enterprise, endowed with spe
eial features, methods, traditions, loyalties, assumptions or inclinations. R.
Isaiah is clearly basing himself on R. I;!anan'el and Rif, on one hand, and Rashi
(the teacher par excellence) and the Tosafists on the other; he is more Ashke­
IZazi than Italian and perhaps should be classified as a Tosafist (even though
Prof. Drbach in the Ba'olei ha-Tosa/or has included his colleague R. Eli'ezer b.
Samuel of Verona, a student of Ri, as an Italian Tosafist while excluding R.
Isaiah himself, a student of R. Simllah of Speier). Maimonides, we may note,
does not appear too frequently on the pages of R. Isaiah. For him, in any event,
the entire halakhic enterprise is unified, transcending geographic boundaries ;
wide-ranging selectivity is perfectly appropriate and discriminating edecticism
is a virtue in rabbinic writing.
We may note pointedly by way of anticipation - and tbis needs to be
fully elaborated - that this remains the regnant attitude and reality in the fif­
teenth and sixteenth centuries, a period of Italian efflorescence and intensive
creativity. There are French, German, Spanish and Levantine influences.
CentraI and northern Italy are dotted with bustling, thriving centers in close
contac with Ottoman and East European Jewish commuruties. Rapidly shif­
ting geographic, demographic, ethnic, political, communal and cultural factors
militate against the crystallization of any nativism in such prominent figures
as R. Joseph KoIon, R. Jacob Landau CAgur), R. David Messer Leon, R. 'Az­
ri'el Dienna, R. Joshua Boaz (Shiltei Gibborim, in wbich, as is known, the
writings oE R. Isaiah the Younger are preserved), R. Me'ir of Padua, R. 'Azariah
Figa, R. Abraham Portaleone and many others on to R. Isaac Lampronti (Pahad
Yitzaq). This ethnic-haIakhic heterogeneity, of course, contrasts sharp­
Iy with the sturdy, sometimes aggressive, Ashkenazi sentiment and allegiance
which characterize centraI and Eastern Europe at this time, where Ashkenazi
origins are flaunted (ll::>lVN 'NllNll 'lN) and the normativeness of Ashkenazi
precedent is held aloEt.
390
Even in the early period, the relative paucity of Ashkenazi rabbinic li-
17 Teshuvo[ ha-Rid, 34.
1 8 The Ashkenazic element is predominant in the Shibbolei ha-Leqet.
terature from the tenth and eleventh centuries notwithstanding, asidei Ashkenaz
of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries happily Iooked upon themselves
as heirs of the earlier Ashkenazic tradition.
As far as I am able to establish, there is at no time Italian resistance
to Ashkenazi expansion and entrenchment or to cny other kind of intrusion.
Ashkenazi views are welcomed, recognized as indispensabIej witness the cases
of R. Isaiah and his predecessors. We may note in addition, for example,
that at a later period R. Jol;anan Alemanno's projected curriculum" lists R.
Isaac Alfasi, R. Isaiah the Younger of Trani and R. Asher ben Yel;i' el as the
three authoritative codiliers - and the first and the third appeal' (together with
Maimanides) in R. Joseph Karo's triumvirate oE authorities. This lack 01
resistance contrasts sharpIy and symbolically with events and attitudes in thir­
teenth century Provence - ha-Me'iri's time and piace. Toward the end of the
century Spanish students of Nal;manides were imperiousIy trying to impose
their customs and teaching on the Provençal communities. The Provençal lea­
ders reacted to this pretention to superiority with pride and determination,
with awareness of the antiquity, distinction and distinctiveness of their own
traditions. Their spokesman was R. Menal].em ha-Me'iri, whose Magen 'Avo! is
an eloquent defense of Provençal tradition and hence a barricade against Spanish
halakhic imperialism. Italy has apen borders. The Shibbolei ha-Lefo,e!
1s the greatest repository of the early teachings of Ashkenaz. There is no
Italian Magen ' Avot20
In sum, R. Menal).em ha-Me'iri's judrnent - and this is implicitly shared
by R. Moses af Coucy (Se/er Mizvo{ Gadol) before him and R. Menal;em ben
Zeral; (Zedah la-Derekh) or R. Jacob Landau CAgur) after him in the historical
prefaces to their codes - is as follows : while the beginnings of rabbinic culture
in Europe are shrouded in the silence, often obscurity, of oraI learning,
there comes a point when we are able to discern dear features of continuous
literaty creativity, consciousness of writing for anci influencing the entire nation,
and transmission and steady-sturdy patterns of study and writing. Italy - SidIy
(whether Muslim [until 1061] or Norman), the Byzantine southern region,
the papal states in the center, and the north under Lambard, Carolingian, Saxo­
nian, or Ottoman rule - was an exception. He, therefore limits his review to
northern Europe, southern France, and Spain.
If we now forget ha-Me'iri and the historically significant medieval self­
image and undertake to review this issue dispassionately, we would note
the dramatic developments in western Europe from about 1050 to 1200 - a
reai rabbinic renaissance : Rashi and the most creative generations of Tosafists;
R. Jonathan ha-Kohen, Rabad, R. Zerahyah ha-Levi, R. Meshullam, R. Moses
J9 See M. IDEL, Seder ha-Limmud shel R. Jo!;anan Alemanno, in Tarbiz, XLVIII (1979),
p. 304. B. Septimus notes that Luzzatto'-s Ma'amar has no Italian «heroes ».
20 Even though it should be noted that the T anya Rabbati is described as sefe!' minhag
'avo[; see n. 14 above.
391