The Sukkot and Simhat Torah Anthology by Goodman Philip;

Author:Goodman, Philip; [Goodman, Philip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8276-1381-2
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Published: 2018-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

SIMHAT TORAH IN THE MEDIEVAL VENICE GHETTO

ERIC WERNER

We possess an enthusiastic report about that “Accademia Musicale” and its performances on Simhat Torah under the leadership of Leon da Modena. The writer is his former disciple, the apostate Giulio Morosini (alias Samuel Nachmias del Salonicco). He says: “I remember well that at the time of my successes in Venice during 1628 or thereabouts, if I am not mistaken, the Jews fled from Mantua because of the war, and some came to Venice. At that juncture Mantua flourished in many fields of study. Also the Jews applied themselves to music and to the playing of instruments. Upon their arrival in Venice, they organized an academy of music in the ghetto where I was living, and sang there twice a week in the evenings. It was chiefly certain leading personalities and the rich men of the ghetto who supported that institution. I also was to be found among those there assembled. My teacher, R. Leon da Modena, was the maestro di cappella.

“In that year, two rich and brilliant personalities were elected bridegrooms of the Law—one of whom was a member of the academy. With the help of the musicians, there had been arranged for our benefit two choirs in the Spanish Synagogue, which was beautifully decorated and adorned with silverware and jewels. On the two evenings, i.e., on the “Octave” [sic] of the feast Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah, these choirs sang figural music [that is, music in artistic settings] in the Hebrew language, also a part of Arvit, several psalms, and the Minhah: that is to say, also the afternoon service of the last holiday was solemnized by music. Thus, during some hours of the evening, a throng of noblemen and ladies gathered amid such great applause that many officers and policemen had to guard the gates to secure quiet and safe passage. Among the instruments, an organ also was brought into the synagogue; which is not permitted by the rabbis, because it is the instrument usually played in our churches….”

Elsewhere Morosini emphasizes the great part choral singing played on Simhat Torah. He reports that rhymed piyyutim with references to Jerusalem and the coming of Elijah and of the Messiah were sung, sometimes in Spanish or Turkish. In the center of the festivity are the hatan Torah and hatan Bereshit in whose praise are rendered hymns, encomia, and eulogies. Their names are celebrated in poems created ad hoc, and all the arts (above all, music) have to contribute to their glorification. When reading such reports, we need not be surprised that the strict Orthodox of Venice tolerated such secularistic activities. We learn that Simhat Torah was not considered a full holiday, inasmuch as the prohibition of work on that day was somewhat flexible. Already in the early sixteenth century, the rabbis had permitted dancing in the synagogue on that occasion.13

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