Thread by @tamar_marvin

Over the 14th century, most Jews were expelled from most of the region we now call France. The Jews of the southern third of France (Occitania) had a unique culture that they took with them to their new homes, mostly in Catalunya, Comtat Venaissin, and the Italian peninsula.

Today I'm hanging out with the Provençal/Provenzale (פרובנצלו, פרובינצלי) family of early modern Italy, descendants of displaced southern French Jews, as their surname attests. They're a fascinating bunch. Want to hear about them?

A probable father of the family is one R' Yaakov b. David Provençal, originally of Marseille, who lived in the 15th century and made his way to Naples, where he is attested c. 1480. From Naples he wrote to Messer David b. Yehudah Leon extolling worldly knowledge, esp medicine.

In the next generation-ish after Yaakov Provençal we see two brothers of the family become illustrious rabbis in Mantua, Moshe and David b. Avraham. Both were involved in major questions of their time, promoted Talmud and secular learning & authored works now lost or unpublished.

Moshe Provençal (1503-1575) made Mantua a center of Talmud study & fielded she'elot from all over Italy. He wrote a treatise on parallel lines (the Theorem of Apollonius), hassagot to Azariah dei Rossi's Me'or Einayim & gave approbation to publish the Mantua 1558-60 ed of Zohar.

Moshe Provençal was also a controversial figure, targeted by Italian rabbis as well as the Catholic Counter-Reformation for his innovations but most notably banned for his role in the acrimonious divorce case of Tamari-Venturozzo, 1564 about the validity of a high-profile get.

Moshe Provençal's younger brother David (b. 1506) wrote a Torah commentary (lost) & works on Hebrew grammar (mss) & philosophy (lost). After the Talmud was burned in Rome & other Italian cities in 1553, David wanted to preserve Jewish knowledge by establishing a Jewish university

The Jewish university of Mantua's curriculum was to include Mikra, Talmud, philosophy, Hebrew grammar & poetry, Latin & Italian, medicine & astronomy. David Provençal's letters on behalf of this project were published in Ha-Levanon, the first Hebrew newspaper of the Old Yishuv.

Let's just pause to appreciate that this is how stuff goes down in the 19th century: Hebrew periodicals publishing scads of medieval and early modern manuscript materials. Ha-Levanon, July 1868:
nli.org.il/en/newspapers/… 418
nli.org.il/en/newspapers/… 434
nli.org.il/en/newspapers/… 450

We're not done with our Provençal family yet. David b. Avraham has a son, Avraham b. David, a teacher of Azariah dei Rossi. He earned a PhD & MD, served as rabbi in Mantua & Ferrara & helped his father with his Jewish university project. Was known as a Talmudist, also knew Latin.

Sometime later, one Eliezer b. Avraham Provençal (c. 17th cen) is keeping alive the hunger of the medieval Provence community for philosophy. He owns Yaakov Anatoli's translation of Ibn Rushd's Middle Commentary on the Logica & his ancestor Moshe's responsa & works on grammar.

What does the story of this forgotten family & its mostly lost works tell? It shows how connected we are to communities dispersed long ago. From medieval Provence to early modern Italy to the Old Yishuv, Jewish love of Torah & interest in science/philosophy is handed down to us.