Considerazioni introduttive allo studio del Ḥanok la-Na‘ar del rabbino e cabbalista lughese Yiṣḥaq Berekyah da Fano (II)

Among the abundant documentary heritage drawn up by the Jews in Lugo di Romagna in the three centuries ranging from the seventeenth to the nineteenth, one finds the unpublished manuscript Cod. Parm. 3480 from the Biblioteca Palatina of Parma. It contains a copy of the Hanok la-Na‘ar by Rabbi Yiṣhaq Berekyah da Fano (II) (1582-1651), son-in-law and disciple of the cabbalist Menahem ‘Azaryah da Fano (1548-1620). A preliminary paleographic investigation showed a similarity between its script and the one in which were compiled the very first pages of the Pinqas ha-Niftarim or Book of the Dead of the Jewish community of Lugo, written between the years 1658-1825 (Ms. New York, JTS 3960), containing in those front pages the statutes of the Mercy Society. Moreover, the transcription of the Hebrew text and the Italian translation of the introduction (ff. 1r-16r) composed by the son Yehudah Arié, further shed light on the cultural background and interests in the Jewish community of Lugo during the seventeenth century.