A.V (Abraham Vita Chai) Morpurgo & A. Luzzatto. Tephilah Le’Atzirath HaMageifah - Preghiere che si Recitano dagl' Israeliti di Trieste durante l'invasione del Cholera Asiatico.

(PANDEMIC).

Lloyd Austriaco

Trieste

1855

Text in Hebrew and Italian. Including a prayer written by Shabtai Elchanan (Sabbato Graziadio) Treves for the halt of an earlier epidemic in 1836.

Vinograd, Trieste 25.

“Prayer for the Halt of the Epidemic. Recited by the Jews of Trieste during the Invasion of Asian Cholera.” This relates to the Third Cholera Pandemic (1852- 60) which spread across the globe and killed some 1.5 million people. The year 1855 was apparently a particularly bad one for Jewish cholera victims in Italy, which included important Jewish leaders in Trieste, as evidenced by this rare prayer pamphlet beseeching God to end to the pandemic. It was during the course of this particular pandemic that both R. Akiva Eiger and R. Yisrael Salanter took radical Halachic steps to demonstrate the importance of preserving life by insisting on social distancing even if that would hinder communal prayer services. A Halachic position that has significant influence amidst the current Coronavirus pandemic.