Detailed
Description |
|
Page of verse to commemorate the miraculous events that occurred. The verse is preceded by an introductory paragraph which informs that it is verse for the night of Purim that occurred on 14 Kislev 524 (1764) when a fire broke out in a house near the synagogue and they were delivered. It was determined that every year thanks and praise should be given, charity dispensed, and these verse, written by Dr. Isaac Luzzatto, recited. A second conflagration broke out 3 Adar II, 1826 and again they were saved. Since they already had a special Purim both events were to be commemorated on 14 Kislev. The verse is in nine stanzas, each of six lines.
Isaac Luzzatto (1730–1803) was an Italian poet and physician. Born in San Daniele del Friuli (Italy), Isaac, like his brother Ephraim Luzzatto, graduated in medicine at Padua (1750). Upon the expulsion of the Jews from San Daniele, as from other rural localities in the Venetian Republic (September 1777), he alone was allowed to remain with his family and practice there. In the summer of 1779, Luzzatto traveled to Vienna and successfully petitioned Maria Theresa to authorize his fellow townsmen to continue living in the rural districts of Austria where they had established themselves. His Toledot Yizhak, a collection of poetry, was first published in 1944 by D. J. Eckert and M. Wilensky, with a biography and notes. It includes Hebrew poems, mostly sonnets, on religious and ethical themes, conundrums, and a parody of a mishnaic treatise satirizing the customs of his community (Mishnayyot San Daniele, or Massekhet Derekh Erez). Luzzatto also translated into Hebrew La LibertB, by the Italian poet Metastasio, at the latter's request. Isaac Luzzatto's second wife, Tamar, was a sister of Hezekiah, father of Samuel David Luzzatto.
Special Purims are instituted in accordance with the Talmudic injunction that one must recite a special thanksgiving benediction on returning to the place where one was once miraculously saved from danger (Ber. 54a), the custom evolved for Jewish communities or families to celebrate the anniversary of their escape from destruction by reciting special prayers and with a ritual similar to that of Purim. (See: A. Gumbiner's note to Sh. Ar., OH 686.) These special communal Purims are called Purim Katan ("minor Purim"), or Mo'ed Katan ("minor holiday") or Purim... (followed by the name of the community or the special event). In many cases special Purims were preceded by a fast comparable to the Fast of Esther. In addition, on the Purim Katan itself the story of the personal or communal salvation was often read from a scroll (megillah) in the course of a synagogue service in which special prayers of thanksgiving, in the style of piyyutim, were offered. Sometimes the Al ha-Nissim prayer and the Hallel were inserted into the ritual. The traditional Purim observances of enjoying a festive meal and giving charity to the poor were also applied to special Purims.(See Table: List of Special Purims.)
|
