Four Jewish aristocratic families of Jerusalem were exiled to Rome when Titus conquered that city in 70 C.E and took the vessels of the Bais HaMikdash with him. Although there are many theories about where the Menorah, Shulchan of Lechem HaPanim and other Keilim disappeared to, the four Jewish aristocratic families from the tribe of Yehuda who lived in Italy thrived ,and their descendants contributed much to Jewish scholarship, culture and history.
The members of the four families served as Rabbonim, Poskim, Paytanim and Roshei Yeshiva. When the families reached Rome, together they established a shul which was called “Beit HaKnesset MeiHa’arba Roshim.” (Dei Quattro Capi).
Mention of the establishment of the shul by these four families can be found in the introduction to a manuscript of an Italian Machzor dated 5274 (or 1514 according to the Julian calendar as the Gregorian calendar had not yet been established).
In commemoration of these four illustrious Jewish Italian families- De Pomi — Min HaTapuchim, De Rossi – Min Haadumim, DeVechhi or Degli Adolescentoli — Min HaZekeinim and Degli Piatelli, Degli Mansi or Umano – Min HaAnavim, we bring you some of their most prominent descendants.
Nathan ben Yechiel of Rome (Min HaAnavim)
Nathan ben Yehiel of Rome known as the Aruch, (c. 1035 – 1106) was a Jewish Italian lexicographer who was descended from the Degli Mansi or the Min Ha’anavim family. Nathan’s father, R. Yehiel ben Abraham, aside from being an acknowledged Posek and Rosh Yeshiva was a Paytan, a liturgic poet, as well. Rabbi Yechiel ben Avraham’s family (Min HaAnavim) had established a Yeshiva in Rome two centuries earlier together with the Kalonymus family. When the Kalonymus family relocated to Germany, the Min HaAnavim family continued serving solely as the Roshei Yeshiva.
Nathan went to Sicily, where he learned under Rav Matzliach ibn al-Batzaq who had been a Talmid of Rav Hai Gaon, in Pumbedita. From there he traveled to Narbonne to study under the prominent exegete and aggadist Rav Moshe ha-Darshan. After the death of Rabbi Nathan’s father, which occurred about the year 1070, he and his two brothers, Daniel and Avraham took over the latter’s Yeshiva. The three brothers were called the Geonim of the house of Rav Yechiel
The three brothers were soon recognized as authorities on the Torah and numerous inquiries were addressed to them, including from Rashi, their younger contemporary in France, In the year 1088 Rabbi Nathan ben Yechiel built a Mikveh and about thirteen years later (September, 1101) he and his brothers erected a beautiful Shul in Rome.
Rav Nathan sought solace in scholarship and philanthropy since he was devastated when four of his five sons died of some strange illness. Only his youngest son Reuven survived to adulthood. Nathan bewails the loss of these sons in a poem that appears at the end of his magnum opus, the Aruch.
In March of 1101 Nathan completed the Aruch, a lexicon for the Talmud and Midrash where he explains words and passages in alphabetical order and included sources and variant readings. In addition to Hebrew, Aramaic and his native Italian, Rabbi Nathan knew Arabic, Persian, Greek, Latin and French. He was also learned in medicine, astronomy, mathematics and geometry, and was therefore able to explain the most difficult words and passages of the Talmud, Midrashim, etc
In the Aruch, Rav Nathan ben Yechiel cited hundreds of Seforim, many of which unfortunately, have not been preserved and we are aware of them only thanks to the Aruch.
Rabbi Nathan ben Yechiel repeatedly quotes Rabbi. Gershom of Mainz, He also used the writings of R. Chananel b. Chushiel and R. Nissim ben Jacob, both living at Kairwan. Rav Hai Gaon, figures very frequently in its pages
Copies of the Sefer were sent to Germany, France and Spain and it was widely used throughout the Torah world. By the following century the Sefer was quoted by two of Rashi’s grandsons, Rashbam and Rabbeinu Tam as well as the Rambam and Rav Elazar of Worms.
In 1477, the first known edition was printed.
Azariah Ben Moshe de Rossi (Min Haadumim)
An earthquake struck the Italian city of Ferrara on November 16 and 17, 1570. It destroyed half the city and permanently marked many of the buildings left standing.
A description of the earthquake, in “Kol Elokim,” was written by the Italian Jewish historian, scholar and physician, Bonaiuto De Rossi or Azariah ben Moshe Min Haadumim .
Born in Mantua in 1513, he lived in Bologna till 1569 when Pope Pius V expelled Jews from his Papal State. He and his family relocated to Ferrara where he was almost killed by the earthquake. Fortunately he and his wife were in his daughter’s room, the section of his house which had not been destroyed.
After leaving Ferrara with his family, he met in the countryside a Christian scholar who asked him if there was a Hebrew version of the Letter of Aristaeious. This famous letter written in Greek describes how Ptolemy had six Jewish scholars from each tribe, for a total of 72 Talmidei Chachomim sequestered individually in separate chambers in Alexandria to translate the Torah into Greek. Miraculously all the translations were identical. The Talmidei Chachomim had been threatened that if the 72 versions did not match, they would be killed
Azariah answered the scholar that this letter was not available in Hebrew translation; He decided then and there to translate it himself and he called the translation “Hadrat Zekenim.”
The most famous of Azariah De Rossi’s works is which is not to be confused with the same Sefer authored by the Chernobler Rebbe (Rabbi Menachem Nachum Twersky 1730-1787).
One part of the Sefer describes the Jewish community at the time of the Second Temple including the Bigdei Kehuna. It also records the story of the translation of the Septuagint, and portrays the origin of the Jewish colonies in Alexandria and Cyrene as well as chronicles the wars of Bar Kochba against the Romans. He incorporated his other writings into it as well.
In the Sefer, Azariah ben Moshe disputes the veracity of some of the Aggadic stories related in the Gemorrah, for example the one described in Gittin 56 B of how Titus died at the age of 42 because a Yattush (Hebrew for gnat or mosquito) entered his nose and then pecked at his brain for several years. After Titus died, they found the gnat was like a one year old pigeon…Abaye said ‘its mouth was of copper and its nails of iron.’
The Sefer became very controversial and was banned by many Rabbonim while others praised it. Among those who were against the Sefer were the Maharal of Prague and Rav Yosef Karo, while the Tosfos Yom Tov and later the Gaon of Vilna quoted him and supported his views.
David De Pomis (Min HaTapuchim)
David De Pomis (1525–1593) was the son of the very wealthy Rabbi Yitzchok de Pomis, of the city of Spoleto, 75 miles north of Rome. It was from his father that he learned Tanach and Gemorrah, David became not only a talmid chacham, but a physician, philosopher and philologist. He served as the official medical adviser to the City of Venice and was a favorite of the powerful Venetian official the Proveditor (overseer) Alvise Grimani.
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. The preface of the book contains a short autobiography of him.
He learned Torah under his father
He translated Sefer Koheles into Italian and added explanatory notes which were 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.
David graduated the University of Perugia in 1551 as Doctor of Arts and Medicine and later settled at Magliano, about 30 miles from Rome, where he served as the Rav while simultaneously practicing medicine in order to support himself.
In 1555 anti-Jewish laws were enacted by the Catholic 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 on Rosh Hashana in Rome in the Campo dei Fiori and in Bologna, Venice, Ferrara and Mantua. In his bull “Cum Nimis Absurdum” of July 14, 1555, he declared that 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 nurses or domestic servants, and were ordered to wear the Jewish badge on their clothing. As a result, 30-year-old David De Pomis was not only stripped of his rabbinical position and his livelihood but also was forced to relocate.
Fortunately, Nicholas IV of the noble Orsini family was well disposed toward the Jews in Tuscany, his territory. The beautiful medieval town of Pitigliano is called the Jerusalem of Italy until today because so many Jews settled there from the sixteenth century onward. David De Pomis became the private physician of Nicholas Orsini and maintained a very good relationship with him. When David’s wife passed away in 1556, Nicholas Orsini gave David land in which to bury her, and it became the first Jewish cemetery established in Pitigliano.
After having served five years as physician for Duke Nicholas Orsini , De Pomi 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,
Because David de Pomis could not remain in the Papal States, he fled to Venice. When he went to Venice he was permitted once again to practice medicine by Pius VI as a result of the following booklet he published:
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.
David de Pomis continued to perform as a physican in Venice until he passed away in 1593.
Shabbetai Elchanan ben Elisha Del Vecchio (Min HaZekenim)
Shabbetai Elchanan ben Elisha Min HaZekenim, was an eighteenth century Posek. He studied under his grandfather, Rabbi Solomon David Del Vecchio, who ordained him as rabbi. In 1727 he also received Semicha from the Rabbonim of Ferrara. He was a Rebbe in several Italian communities: Leghorn, Ancona, and Lugo from 1730 to 1739, at which time he was appointed rabbi of the town of Casale.
The Chida, Rav Chaim Dovid Azulai visited Casale on the fourteenth of Adar I in 5516 (1756). He states, “ I became extremely endeared of the Rav, the gvir, the Wonder of Our Generation, OMR, Del Vecchio, may the Merciful One guard him and grant him life!”
Rabbi Shabbetai Elchanan Min HaZekenim distinguished himself that he was the only one among his contemporaries in that 20 of his responsa were included in the Encyclopedia of the Talmud, known as Pacḥad Yiẓḥak by Yitzchak Lampronti. Del Vecchio used to sign his responsa as “Malkat Sheva” (“Queen of Sheba”; from Sh abbetai B en E lisha)..
Many of his writings are still in manuscript: Yeled Zekunim, a collection of questions sent to him by rabbis and emissaries with his responsa, some of which were published. . His halakhic works are Ir Miklat on the Mitzvohs; Ben Zekunim, Drashos on the Parsha, Chukas HaPesach, a commentary on the Haggadah of Pesach, Ta’am Zekeinim, Chiddushim and comments on the Shulchan Aruch, Penei Zekeinim, Chiddushim on Shas and the Rambam, Asifas Zekenim the rules and laws of Paskening, Yedos Hakli, a Perush on Sefer Kli Yakar on Nach, Mishpat ha-Morim and Da’at Zekenim.
His Beit Melachim Ubeit Chadarim discuss rules of the various Poskim.