Judah Moscato Sermons

Judah ben Joseph Moscato (c.1533-1590) was one of the most distinguished rabbis, authors, and preachers of the Italian-Jewish Renaissance. His collection of sermons, Sefer Nefuṣot Yehudah, belongs to the very centre of his important homiletic and philosophical oeuvre. Composed in Mantua and published in Venice in 1589, the collection of 52 sermons addresses the subject of the Jewish festivals, focusing on philosophy, mysticism, sciences, and rites. This volume concludes the translation of the sermons and includes monographic studies about Moscato’s library, philosophical significance with an added Appendix containing his poetical compositions.

Gianfranco Miletto is university lecturer at the University of Halle-Wittenberg. He has published on Biblical Philology and on the Jewish culture in Italy at the time of the Renaissance and Counter-Reformation. To his main publications belong: L’ Antico Testamento Ebraico nella tradizione babilonese: i frammenti della Genizah (Silvio Zamorani Editore, Torino 1992); . Die Heldenschilde des Abraham ben David Portaleone, 2 vols. (Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt a.M. 2003); Glauben und Wissen im Zeitalter der Reformation: Der salomonische Tempel bei Abraham ben David Portaleone (1542-1612) (Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2004); La biblioteca di Avraham Ben David Portaleone secondo l’inventario della sua eredità (Leo S. Olschki, Firenze, 2013).

Giuseppe Veltri is professor of Jewish Philosophy and Religion at University of Hamburg (Germany). He is chief-editor of European Journal of Jewish Studies (Brill) and of the series Studies in Jewish History and Culture (Brill: Leiden, Boston). Since 2009, he is the president of German Association of Jewish Studies and since November 2010 he is also professor (h.c.) of Religious Studies at the University of Leipzig. His fields of research are Jewish culture history, Jewish Philosophy in the Renaissance and early Modern Period, Magic, biblical tradition and translations. Among his publications are, Scritti politici e filosofici di Simone Luzzatto, Rabbino e Filosofo nella Venezia del Seicento, (Milan: Bompiani, 2013), Rabbi Judah Moscato and the Jewish Intellectual World of Mantua in 16th-17th Century, edited with Gianfranco Miletto (Boston, Leiden: Brill, 2012), and Renaissance Philosophy in Jewish Garb: Foundations and Challenges in Jewish Thought on the Eve of Modernity (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2009).