David de Pomis, Italian Rabbi, Physician Philosopher and Philologist

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

The Four Aristocratic Italian Jewish Families

According to an ancient tradition of the Jews of Italy, when Titus conquered Yerushalayim and  destroyed the Beis HaMikdash he took with him in chains to Rome, members of four aristocratic Jewish families,  They were “Min Haadumim” (of the Red) “Min HaTapuchim” (of the apples) “Min Hazekenim” (of the aged) and “Min HaAnavim” (of the Humble).

Descendants of these families have displayed their great Yichus in their Italian names: De Rossi for “Min Haadumim,” De Pomis for “Min HaTapuchim”, De Vechhi or Degli Adolescentoli for “Min HaZekeinim” and Degli Piatelli, Degli Mansi or Umano for “Min Ha’anavim.”

Scions of these families included the thirteenth century Talmudist Zedekiah ben Abraham Anav, mechaber of Shibolei HaLeket and the author of Meorei Einayim,  sixteenth century  Azariah de Rossi.

The Venice Jewish Community is commemorating this spring, the five hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the Ghetto in Venice in 1516. In honor of this commemoration, I would like to discuss, a scion of the De Pomis family , Talmid Chochom, doctor,  philosopher and philologist, David de Pomis (1525-1593)  who, who was the official medical adviser to the City of Venice and was a favorite of the powerful Venetian Proveditor Alvise Grimani.

De Pomis Family Flees Spoleto

David the son of Rabbi Yitzchok de Pomis was born into a very wealthy family in the ancient city of Spoleto, Umbria about 75 miles north of Rome.

In 1527 when David was only two year old, Rome was sacked by German Lutheran and Spanish Catholic troops sent by Charles the Holy Roman Emperor, marking the end of the Roman Renaissance. David’s father,fearing  the troops would attack Spoleta, sent all the family’s possessions to the neighboring town of Camerino. The de Pomis family convoy was attacked on the way and all of the family’s goods were confiscated.

David’s Education

The now impoverished De Pomis family  relocated first to Bevegna and eventually to Todi  where David learned Torah under his father’s tutelage and was taught medicine by his uncle Yechiel (Vitale) Alatino, who served as physician to Pope Julius III.

It was customary at the time to first study medicine under an apprentice and then attend a medical school to obtain the license.

David graduated in 1551, as Artium et Medicinae, Doctor at the University of Perugia and later settled at Magliano, about thirty miles from Rome, where he served as the Rov while at the same time practiced  medicine in order to support himself.

Papal Bulls Restricting Jews

In 1555 anti-Jewish laws were enacted by the Counter-Reformation . Pope Paul IV  issued a bull shortly after his inauguration that restricted the Jews severely. He was the one who had been mainly responsible for the burning of the Talmud two years earlier. In his Bull Cum Nimis Absurdum of July 14, 1555, which takes its name from its first words: “Since it is absurd and utterly inconvenient that the Jews, who through their own fault were condemned by G-d to eternal slavery….” Pope Paul IV decreed that in every town the Jews were to gather together in one street or one quarter, which was to be locked at night (the ghetto), [almost 40 years after the institution of the ghetto in Venice, the ghetto of Rome was instituted] and all synagogues except one were to close. Jews were to sell all their houses and property,  confine themselves to trading in rags, and avoid all contact with Christians. They were forbidden to employ Christian wet nurses or domestic servants, and were ordered to wear the Jewish badge on their clothes

As a result, thirty year old David de Pomis  was deprived both of the rabbinate and his livelihood and was forced to relocate.

Fortunately, Nicholas IV , of the princely noble Orsini family, was very favorable to the presence of Jews in his Tuscany territory. The beautiful medieval town of Pitigliano till today is called the Jerusalem of Italy because so many Jews settled there since the sixteenth century.

David de Pomis became the private physician of Nicholos Orsini and maintained a very good relationship with him. When David’s wife passed away in 1556, Nicholas Orsini gave David land to bury her and it became the first Jewish cemetery to be  established in Patigliano.

After having served five years as physician for Duke Nicholas  Orsini  , De Pomis treated members  of the ruling Sforza family for three years until 1563.

Under Pope  Pius IV (1559–65) the oppression abated.  Dr. David de Pomis secured an audience with the Pope and delivered in front of him and his attendant Cardinals a brilliant oration in Latin stressing the advantage of hiring Jews  for which they  empowered him to practice medicine at Chiusi not only among Jews but Christians as well

This concession was revoked by Pius V (1565–72). The Bull Hebraeorum Gens (“The Jewish Race”) 1569, of Saint Pius V, which expelled Jews from some of the Papal states, began with these words:

“The Jewish people fell from the heights because of their faithlessness and condemned their Redeemer to a shameful death. Their godlessness has assumed such forms that, for the salvation of our own people, it becomes necessary to prevent their disease. Besides usury, through which Jews everywhere have sucked dry the property of impoverished Christians, they are accomplices of thieves and robbers; and the most damaging aspect of the matter is that they allure the unsuspecting through magical incantations, superstition, and witchcraft to the Synagogue of Satan and boast of being able to predict the future. ……..On account of these and other serious matters, and because of the gravity of their crimes which increase day to day more and more, We order that, within 90 days, all Jews in our entire earthly realm of justice — in all towns, districts, and places — must depart these regions.”

Because David de Pomis could not remain in the Papal States, he fled to Venice.

Literary output of David de Pomis

 

During this time David de Pomis was working on several different literary projects. He translated Sefer Koheles into Italian and added explanatory notes which was published in Venice in 1571. He published an appendix to this sefer the following year. He also translated the seforim of Iyov and Daniel but never had them published.

During the time of the great plague in 1572 he worked diligently to rid Venice of the pest and composed a treatise about it. Entitled” Brevi Discorsi et Eficacissimi Ricordi per Liberare Ogni Città Oppressa dal Mal Contagioso” (Brief discourses and recorded results to liberate every oppressed city from contagious diseases) it was published in Venice, in 1577. He also authored a medical work on gynecology.

Enarratio Brevis de Senum Affectibus Praecavendis Atque Curandis (1588), A Writ of the old men, and their affections ….. (etc.)  .. .was  dedicated to the doge and senate of Venice;  in it he  quotes a work of his on the divine character of the Venetian republic, which unfortunately has been lost: De Medico Hebraeo Enarratio Apologica (Venice, 1588).

In his booklet De Medico Hebraeo Enarratio Apologica  (in Defense of Jewish Physicians) Venice, 1588, David de Pomis refutes the charges brought against Jews and Jewish physicians in particular by a bull of 1581 by Gregory XIII (1572–85). He stresses that according to the Bible and Talmud a Jewish physician must aid the sick, and he cites numerous instances of Jewish doctors who had distinguished themselves by their work and their loyalty. Thus he allayed the fears of the Catholic Church that Jewish doctors were out to kill their gentile patients.

This booklet enabled David de Pomis once again to perform as a physician which he did until he passed away in 1593.

 

David de Pomis’ most famous book was his Tzemach Dovid , a trilingual dictionary in Hebrew, Latin, and Italian, (Venice 1587). In it  De Pomis  quoted Radak’s Sefer Hashorashim and made large use of R. Nathan’s Aruch. It is the first Hebrew Foreign language dictionary ever published.

The preface of the book contains a short autobiography of him and interspersed between the pages, he adds much interesting information. For example he writes about the rarity of the horn of a unicorn and how to distinguish it from one that is fake.

Pope Paul III was said to have paid 12,000 pieces of gold for one, it was such a rare commodity. In the West, it was believed to have magical properties and purify poisons.

David de Pomis writes:

“ There is very little of the true horn to be found, most of that which is sold as such being either stag’s horn, or elephant’s tusk. A true test by which one may know the genuine horn from the false: Place the horn in a vessel of any sort of material you like, and with it three or four large and live scorpions, keeping the vessel covered. If you find four hours later that the scorpions are dead or almost lifeless, the horn is a good one, and there is not enough money in the world to pay for it.”

In Sefer  Ezra 8:26 where the Pasuk talks about talents of silver and gold, David de David de Pomis  comments in his Tzemach David that there were two sorts of talents; common talents, which weighed sixty pounds, and the talent of the sanctuary, which weighed double of that.

 

The writings of Rabbi Dr. David de Pomis have earned him immortality. Until today, non-Jewish medical experts quote the writings of David de Pomis. Italian Talmidei Chachaimim benefit from his Tzemach Dovid  which contains an immense treasure trove of knowledge.

Yehi Zichro Baruch.