The Destruction of the Rabbinic Academies in South Italy During the Thirteenth Century

Abstract

In 1942, Umberto Cassuto published an important study in Hebrew ‒ with the title Ḥurban ha-yešivoṯ be-Italia ha-deromiṯ ba-me’ah ha-y’’g ‒ dedicated to the tragic end of the Jewish presence in southern Italy due to the persecutions carried out in the Angevin period. These events dealt a serious blow to the local Jewish communities, ending their glorious cultural lore which originated with the transfer of the Morešet Ereṣ Yiśra’el at the end of the Palestinian Patriarchate, around 429 e.v. The study of Cassuto, however, appeared in Hebrew in a miscellany published in Jerusalem, and it was never translated in any modern languages, thus remaining inaccessible to many scholars. It is presented here in an English translation of the original text made by some of Cassuto’s descendants and edited by Mauro Perani, for the purpose of providing a wider audience to this fine though dated contribution of the Florentine scholar, who spent his later years in Israel, and was the author of many important studies that no researcher can afford to ignore.