This site is a tribute to Sephardic Rabbi Menahen Ben Elhanan Rizzolo Z"L, French - Italian Talmudist,also known in France as RABBI RIZZOLOT Z"L, died in Jerusalem after 1664.
Rabbi Menahen Ben Elhanan Rizzolo Z"L; born about the beginning of the seventeenth century; died after 1664 in Jerusalem. He was rabbi at Modena (1643) and Ferrara (1656) where he was rabbi and director of a yeshibah. He was a pupil of the celebrated cabalist Menahen Azaria di Fano. Azulai saw two of his manuscript works: (1) "Shelom ha-Bayit" (The Peace of the House), a commentary on Solomon ibn Aderet's "Torat ha-Bayit" and Aaron ha-Levi's "Bedeḳ ha-Bayit"; (2) and the famous "iddushim" (novellæ) on the treatise "Shabbat." Ghirondi had in his possession a manuscript of Rizzolo containing halakic decisions.A responsum by Rizzolo, which shows his wide range of Talmudic learning, has been published in Samuel Aboab's "Debar Shemuel" (Venice, 1708, No. 71).
Rizzolo enjoyed a more than ordinary reputation among his contemporaries; a gifted writer uttering the following opinion of him: "In the synagogues and schoolhouses of our time there is no one to equal him in wisdom and understanding, in counsel and courage, in knowledge and piety" (Abraham de Portoleone, "Shilṭe ha-Gibborim," p. 24d). Rizzolo was the author of the following works: (1) "Notes on Alfasi"; (2) Commentary on the Fifth and Sixth Orders of the Mishnah; (3) "Contributions to the Hermeneutics of the Talmud." They were never published.
Although he believed in the strict observance of all the Talmudic precepts, he advocated departures from the Law in certain cases, in order that religion might not become a burden to the people (letter , fol. 69g; letter ռ, fol. 73g and 66b); or when the welfare of individuals was endangered (letter ֚; fol. 103g). He wrote a commentary to Isaiah entitled "Tiḳḳun 'Olam" (Verona, 1651). He was renowned as a scholar, teacher, and pastor, and among his pupils was the physician and rabbi Isaac Ḥayyim Cantarin. His brother, Shabbethai b. Isaac Rizzolo (d. 1675), was a physician.
In France he was also known as Rabbi Rizzolot Z"L.
Bibliography:Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ii. 140;
Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledot Gedole Yisrael, p. 233;
Mortara, Indice Alfabetico, p. 11;
Benjacob, Oẓar ha-Sefarim, p. 180;
Samuel Aboab, Debar Shemuel, No. 79.L. G. I. Ber.
Bibliography: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, i. 134;
Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledot Gedole Yisrael, pp. 239, 295;
Mortara, Indice Alfabetico, p. 01;
Benjacob, Oᵧar ha-Sefarim, pp. 98, 123 (Nos. 187 and 206);
Fürst, Bibl: Jud. i. 157 (mentions other works of Rizzolo, but without giving the place where they are to be found in MS.);
Zunz, in Benjacob's edition of Dei Rossi's Meor 'Enayim, iii. 50.I. Ber.
Bibliography: Nation Master Encyclopedia
Bibliography: Jewish Biography
Bibliography: Jewish Links
Bibliography: Torah Gems
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