Piazza, Moses Aaron Rachamim. Ma’aseh Oreg [compilation of sermons delivered in Livorno in the year 1790]

(ITALY)

Livorno

1790

Hebrew manuscipt in rabbinic letters. Title within architectural arch, with ornate monogram of author

Ma'aseh Oreg is divided according to the Torah portions of the week and extends as far as Parshat Yithro. (The paragraphs are numbered 1-340.) Besides preserving the author's own novellae, it serves as a rich collection of insights by contemporary rabbis, with whom the author was personally acquainted, or whose books he read. Moses Aaron Rachamim Piazza, who was wont to sign himself M.R.P.A. (“Healing”), distinguished himself as a Hebrew poet, producing an impressive bibliography: Orah ve-Simchah (1786), Laws, Customs and Poems for Purim; Derech Yesharah (1787), Instruction for Bar-Mitzvah Boys; Kol Rinah (1790), Songs upon the Dedication of the Synagogue of Livorno; Hallel ve-Zimrah (1790), Wedding Songs with Italian translation; Shir u-Shevachah (1796), Songs for the Wedding of Joseph Uziel; Sha'arei Parnasah Tovah (1800), Prayers for a Livelihood; Ranu le-Ya'akov (1802), Songs for the Wedding of Jacob Franco; Yashir Yisrael (1805), Prayer upon the Delivrance of Livorno from Plague; Lashon Marpeh (1805), Prayer against Illness