LEVITA, ELIA

LEVITA, ELIA. - Hebrew grammarian, b. at Neustadt an der Aisch in 1469, d. at Venice on 28 January 1549. His Hebrew name was 'Ēljāhū ben 'Āšēr hal-Lēwī 'Aškēnažī (Germanic), also called Tishbite. He was a learned scholar of the Masorah and a lexicographer.

In 1496 he was resident in Venice, then in Padua; in both cities he taught Jews and Christians. He then went to Rome, where he was received by the general of the Augustinians, later known under the name of Cardinal Egidio da Viterbo, who occupied himself with Hebrew cabalistic studies. E. L. translated cabalistic writings for the cardinal, from whom he learned the Greek language. Following political events, E. L. returned in 1529 to Venice, where he became a proofreader in the printing house of Daniele Bomberg. In 1532 he was received into the house of the patriarch of Aquileia. In the years 1535-36 he had as his disciple and patron George de Selve, ambassador bishop of Lavaur. On the latter's proposal, Francis I offered E. L. the chair of Hebrew at the University of Paris, but he refused so as not to be the only Jew authorized to reside in Paris. He also renounced chairs that were offered to him in Catholic institutions. After a stay abroad, he returned to Venice for good.

On the Jewish side he was reproached for transmitting Hebrew knowledge to Christian priests, who would have used it for Christological purposes.

The works of E. L. concern grammar, the Masorah, and lexicography. He composed in Judeo-German the Italian novel Historia di Bruno d'Ancona.

BBL.: B. Suler, s. v. in Euc. Jud., X, coll. 888-93; U. Cassuto, Gli Ebrei a Firenze, Florence 1918, pp. 261-394.

Eugenio Zolli