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Book by Rabbi Yitzchak Shmuel Reggio, as a sample of a planned five-volume book, with a translation of the Torah into Italian, with a new commentary on the simple meaning of the verses according to the rules of grammar, in the manner of Mendelssohn’s translation into German. At the beginning of the book before us is an introduction explaining the author’s reasoning when working on the book, as well as Derush Torah Min Hashamayim. A number of handwritten critical comments were added to the book.
In his introduction, the translator notes the importance of the translation into Italian, as previously stated by Rabbi Naftali Hertz Weisel, in helping the students in their studies, in clear wording, free of errors, while understanding the simple meaning of the verses and complying with our tradition, and in order to keep them away from gentile translation replete with foreign concepts. The handwritten glosses added to the book criticize the commentary and his novellae.
Background: Yash”r of Gorizia (Italy), Yitzchak Shmuel son of Rabbi Avraham Chai Reggio (1784-1855), one of the leaders of the Chochmat Yisrael movement. He studied Bible, Talmud and Hebrew with his father, spoke many other languages fluently and studied mathematics and science. In 1810 he was appointed as a professor. As a result of the Austrian regime’s decree in 1822 not to appoint Rabbis who are not experts in philosophy and sciences, Yash”r published a Kol Koreh for the establishment of a Rabbinical Seminary for the study of Torah and wisdom, a a result of which the seminary in Padua, headed by Rabbi Shmuel David Luzzatto, was founded. Yash”r worked to promote the ideas of the Enlightenment, and was criticized by German rabbis for his opinions.
