Physical Description

First edition. lacking title, initial 3 ff., 200, [12] ff., 265:188 mm., old hands, usual light age and damp staining, nice margins, bound in later boards, rubbed

Detail Description

Important homiletics by R. Azariah Figo (Picho; 1579–1647), Italian rabbi and preacher, was born in Venice. In his youth he devoted himself largely to secular studies, but later, regretting the time he had spent “loving the handmaiden” and “neglecting the mistress,” he applied himself wholly to rabbinic studies. At the age of 28, he was appointed rabbi of Pisa. He returned to Venice in 1627, and became preacher to the Sephardi community. R. Figo leaned toward a strict interpretation of Jewish law. He opposed the establishment of a theater in the ghetto of Venice and criticized the members of his community for usury, flaunting their wealth, internecine wrangling, laxity in ritual observances, and sexual irregularities, R. Figo was active in redeeming Jewish captives, and defended the Marranos, declaring them to be Jews. His most important work is his Binah le-Ittim (Venice, 1648), a collection of sermons delivered in Venice. They are based on the festivals and fasts of the Jewish calendar, and also include sermons based on Avot on such topics as charity and education. Since its first publication it has been reprinted 50 times. Some of his responsa are found in the Devar Shemu'el (1702) of Samuel Aboab. He passed on in Rovigo.

Hebrew Description:

ספירת-דפים משובשת. בראש הספר הקדמות מאת המגיה, ר' יעקב ב"ר משה הלוי יוזביל, ור' משה ב"ר מרדכי זכות.

Bibliography:

Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000157429; EJ; Vinograd, Venice 1276