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Circular announcing the sale of additional parts of R. Isaac Hezekiah ben Samuel Lampronti’s monumental encyclopedia Pahad Yizhak. R. Lampronti personally wrote two editions of Pahad Yizhak, the first consisting of 120 and the second of 35 manuscript volumes. The first portion of the Pahad Yizhak (letters alef to mem) was published in Italy between 1750 and 1840, and the remainder in Germany between 1864 and 1887. Of the second edition, only two volumes appeared, containing the letters alef to het (1935–42). The publication of both editions together has been undertaken in recent years (letters alef-alef to alef-shin appeared, 1962–66). Pahad Yizhak is the most comprehensive and well-known encyclopedia in the field of halakhah. It is arranged alphabetically, each article including material from the Mishnah, the Talmud, the posekim, the rishonim, and the responsa literature. He pays special importance to the responsa literature of Italian rabbis, some of which was otherwise unknown, and quotes from it extensively. Some of the articles were apparently taken from the Petah ha-Ohel (Sulzbach, 1691) of Abraham of Przemysl. At times Lampronti also relied on quotations from various reference works without making a careful examination of the sources. Many of his own responsa, which are not included in the Pahad Yizhak, appear in the responsa collections of his contemporaries, such as the Shemesh Zedakah (Venice, 1743) of Samson Morpurgo. R. Lampronti's main reputation, however, rests on his monumental Pahad Yizhak. The circular is a single folded sheet, the first two pages text in Italian with some Hebrew, the third an order form and the last blank.
R. Isaac Hezekiah ben Samuel Lampronti (1679–1756), rabbi, physician, and educator. Lampronti was born in Ferrara and studied under the great Italian rabbis of his generation: R. Manoah Provencal in Lugo, R. Judah Briel in Mantua, and R. Isaac Hayyim Cantarini in Padua. In addition, he studied philosophy and medicine at the University of Padua. Returning to Ferrara at the age of 22, he began to teach in the talmud torah of the Italian community and later also in the talmud torah of the Sephardi community. He introduced many improvements in the curriculum, insisting on the teaching of the humanities concurrently with the study of Torah. In 1718 he was ordained rabbi and in 1743 was appointed head of the yeshivah - a position which gave him the status of senior rabbi of the city. Lampronti was one of the supporters of R. Moses Hayyim Luzzatto in the controversy which broke out over him. During the whole of this period Lampronti continued to practice as a physician, acquiring a reputation as an outstanding doctor who gave his services free to those of limited means. In 1715 he began to publish collections of studies - in a form not unlike a periodical for halakhah and rabbinic literature - entitled Bikkurei Kezir Talmud Torah shel Kehillah Kedoshah Ferrara. Three issues appeared which included contributions by other rabbis, mainly his own disciples. |
