Sepher Teshuvoth [responsa].

FANO, MENACHEM AZARIAH DA.

Daniel Zanetti

Venice

(1600)

FIRST EDITION. With the rare final three leaves containing corrections and index.

Vinograd, Venice 913.

R. Menachem Azariah (1548-1620), of a well-to-do banking family in Bologna, Italy, was first a follower of the Cordoveran system of kabbalah but afterward, under the influence of R. Israel Sarug, switched his allegiance to the Lurianic school. The propagation of Safedan kabbalah in Europe was largely due to his prolific efforts. As is evident from this work he was also proficient in Halachah. See Robert Bonfil, “New Information on Rabbi Menahem Azariah da Fano and his Age” in: Studies in the History of Jewish Society in the Middle Ages and in the Modern Period [Jacob Katz Festschrift] (1980), pp. 98-135; idem, “Halakhah, Kabbalah and Society: Some Insights into Rabbi Menahem Azariah da Fano’s inner world” in: Twersky and Septimus eds., Jewish Thought in the Seventeenth Century (Cambridge, 1987).