Igroth Yasha"r [exegetic, historical and philosophic notes in the form of letters to friends]

REGGIO, ISAAC SAMUEL

Anton Schmid

Vienna

1834

Volume I (only). Scattered learned marginalia

Vinograd, Vienna 753: Friedberg A-434

Reggio (1784-1855) was an important figure in the Haskalah Movement. His letters betray thorough conversance with the works of Italian Renaissance figures, such as Abraham Jagel and Leon da Modena - as well as with the works of contemporary German and Austrian maskilim, such as Mendelssohn and S.J. Rapaport (Shi"r). His particular stripe of Haskalah is radical enough to allow for emendation of Biblical texts - thus placing him beyond the pale of strict Orthodoxy. He maintained a regular correspondence with Samuel David Luzzatto (Shada"l); it was Reggio who obtained for Luzzatto a professorship at the recently established rabbinical college of Padua, Collegio Rabbinico Italiano, which Reggio had been instrumental in founding. See EJ, Vol. XIV, col. 38; Vol. XI, col. 605. In 1836, a sequel volume of Igroth Yasha"r appeared in Vienna