DE ROSSI, AZARIA. - One of the most learned rabbis of the sixteenth century, born in Mantova about 1514, died in Ferrara in 1578. He lived in the principal cities of northern Italy. His wide-ranging learning embraced, besides Jewish writers, classical and Christian literature, especially Italian literature.
His great work entitled Mé'ôr 'enajim (“Splendour of the Eyes”; Mantova 1574), encyclopaedic in character, is, despite its imperfections and errors, a bold and conscientious historical-critical work. The book comprises three parts, respectively entitled: Qál 'Eláhim (“The Voice of God”), a description of the earthquake at Ferrara in 1571 and an inquiry into its causes; Hadhrath Zāqénim (“The Glory of the Old”), a Hebrew translation of the letter of (pseudo-)Aristea (v.) on the origin of the Greek version of the Bible; 'Imrē bīnah (“Words of Understanding”). This last part, the most interesting in the book, is a broad collection of studies and essays on the most diverse questions, concerning the Bible, Jewish history, chronology, etc.