MODENA, LEONE. - Rabbi, b. in Venice on 23 April 1571, d. there on 21 March 1648. Highly gifted for poetry, he did translation work and original works; he also acquired a good knowledge in the field of mathematics, philosophy and natural history. Although the author of a pamphlet against gambling, he nevertheless did not resist that passion; because of it in 1631 he was struck by excommunication, which was later lifted.

His most important works are: Bèth Jèhùdhàh (also known as Hab-bòneh), in which he manifests his anti-Talmudic tendencies by asserting that rabbis have the right to modify the constitutions of the Talmud at any time. He launched an attack against traditional Judaism in Qál sàbàl, which he himself disavowed in Sa'ághath 'árjèh. Both works were published in 1852 under the title Bèhlnàth haq-qabbàlàh. Regarding both, but especially the latter, the doubt later arose whether they were really due to M. An attack on the Qabbàlàh (v. CABALA) is found in 'Arl nùhèm. Other minor works are of doubtful authenticity.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: S. Stern, Der Kampf des Rabbiner's gegen den Talmud, Breslau 1902, passim; J. Broydé, Leon of M., in Jess. Enc., VIII, coll. 5-7; J. Ponne, Léon M. et le cercle de la Poste à Amsterdam, in Hebrew union college annual, 21 (1948), pp. 1-28.

Eugenio Zolli

@incollection{ec8_modena_leone, author = {Zolli, Eugenio}, title = {Modena, leone}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {1169}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/modena-leone} }

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Modena, Leone

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