Date: 1561 Country: Italy City: Riva di Trento
For four years in the middle of the sixteenth century (1558-1562), a Hebrew press was active in the northern Italian town of Riva del Garda (Riva di Trento). The press owed its unusual success to the cooperation of three men: Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo, who as the Bishop of Trent, who had jurisdiction over the town; Rabbi Joseph ben Nathan Ottolenghi, a learned Rosh Yeshiva from Cremona; and Jacob Marcaria, a dayyan and physician. The liberal Cardinal Madruzzo granted the privilege of printing Hebrew books to Joseph Ottolenghi, however, Jacob Marcaria was the actual printer. Marcaria was the guiding force behind the press and apparently served as the editor for almost all of the books, designing and drafting the title pages and writing prefaces for many of the works. For this Haggadah, the scholar-printer Marcaria wrote a seven page commentary to the Seder, which is printed at the beginning of the volume. This Haggadah also contains Isaac Abrabanel’s extraordinarily popular commentary, Zevah Pesach. Abrabanel’s elucidation of the Haggadah was first published during his lifetime in Constantinople in 1505. The second edition appeared in Venice, 1545. The third edition was produced in Cremona in 1557, and thereafter it was published in this Riva di Trento volume. It is very significant that all the Hebrew books printed in Riva di Trento were produced under the patronage of a Cardinal of the Church. In many of the publications, an image of the Cardinal’s coat-of-arms appears on the title page. In this Haggadah however, Madruzzo’s support is prominently noted in Hebrew on the title page. After the death of Jacob Marcaria in 1562, the activity of the Hebrew press in Riva di Trento ceased and Joseph ben Jacob Shalit, who had been Marcaria’s proofreader, took some of the unfinished works to Venice and had them printed there.
Collection ID: CAT_005
Date: 1749 Country: Greece City: Salonica
A comprehensive and impressive commentary on the Passover Haggadah as well as an explanation of the Laws for the night of Passover written by the Jerusalem born rabbi, Ezra ben Raphael Mordecai Malki.
Collection ID: CAT_015
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