• Source: Moses da Rieti

Moses da Rieti (also known as Moshe ben Yitzḥak and Mosè di Gaio; 1388–1466) was an Italian-Jewish poet, philosopher, and physician. Born in Rieti, he composed works in Hebrew and Italian and has been called a Hebrew Dante. His major work, the transitionally post-medieval and philosophical Hebrew poem Miqdash me'at, includes an encyclopedia of sciences, a Jewish paradise fantasy, and a post-biblical history of Jewish literature.




Overview


Moses was born in Rieti in 1388 to Isaac (Gaio), probably a banker. He left Rieti to study medicine but returned in 1422 to practice medicine and banking there. He had at least three sons by his wife, Sella: Isaac (Gaio), the firstborn, Leone, and Bonaiuto, and all three followed him into the trade. He was rabbi in Rome from 1431 and filled various community roles around the Papal States throughout his life, also maintaining a yeshiva in Narni. Miqdash me‘at (Little Sanctuary), his major work, is a transitionally post-medieval and philosophical Hebrew poem explicitly inspired by the Divine Comedy in both plot and structure, and also includes an encyclopedia of sciences, a Jewish paradise fantasy, and a post-biblical history of Jewish literature. Miqdash me‘at makes explicit metaphor in its structure as an homage to the Temple of Jerusalem.

Rieti was influenced by Yehuda Romano. Rieti's style is complex and he speaks on behalf of the Jewish people, with Neoplatonism and Aristotelianism especially in the tradition of Maimonides, and follows the terza rima of Dante Alighieri, the first Hebrew poet to do so. Called a Hebrew Dante, he also authored a poetic dialogue between the Daughters of Zelophehad called Iggeret Ya‘ar ha-Levanon (Forest of Lebanon). Rieti's work exhibits a deep familiarity with the Tannaim, Geonim, and Amoraim, including contemporary philosophy in Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew. It is said he later abandoned philosophy for kabbalah. Deborah Ascarelli and Lazaro da Viterbo translated his hymns into Italian. He died in Rome in 1466.




Further reading


Rieti, Moses ben Isaac da (1989). Mosè da Rieti, Filosofia naturale ; e, Fatti de Dio: testo ineditodel secolo XV (in Italian). Brill Archive. ISBN 978-90-04-09087-3.
Rieti, Moses ben Isaac da (1851). מקדש מעט: ... [שיר דידקתי כתבנית השיר של דנטי] (in Hebrew). דפוס אלמנת י"פ זולינגער.
"Rieti, Moses ben Isaac da, 1388-1460? ריאיטי, משה - Hebrew and Judaica Manuscripts". hebrew.bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 28 September 2024.




Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography


Zunz, in Geiger's Jüd. Zeit. ii. 321–322;
Luzzatto, in Dukes' Ehrensäulen, p. 50;
Carmoly, in Jost's Annalen, i. 55, 63;
idem, in Orient, Lit. ii. 234;
Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1984;
idem, Hebr. Uebers. pp. 28, 76, 462, 660;
Berliner, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, ii. 121;
Güdemann, Gesch. ii. 127;
Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, ii. 68 et seq.




References



This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "MOSES BEN ISAAC (GAJO) OF RIETI". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

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