Rivista Israelitica

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RIVISTA ISRAELITICA

RIVISTA ISRAELITICA , Italian-Jewish scholarly periodical published in Florence between 1904 and 1915. Rivista Israelitica: Periodico bimestrale per la scienza e la vita del Giudaismo ("Bi-Monthly for the Science and the Life of Judaism") was founded by Samuel Hirsch *Margulies. It appeared regularly until 1913, and in 1915 a double number marked its last issue. The journal provided a forum for the emerging research on the history and culture of Italian Jewry, which in 1913 was marked by the foundation of a Florence-based Società per la storia degli ebrei in Italia ("Society for the History of the Jews of Italy") edited by Umberto Cassuto. The Rivista Israelitica separated, for the first time in the history of the Italian Jewish press, a scientific approach to Judaism from more general educational goals, which S.H. Margulies pursued instead in La Settimana Israelitica (published in Siena between 1910 and 1915). The two journals eventually merged with Il Corriere Israelitico of Trieste, resulting in the weekly Israel (1916–64), from which later stemmed both Israel dei ragazzi (1918–38), a monthly for the youth and La Rassegna Mensile di Israel (1925– ). Many of the studies by the Italian and foreign contributors dealt with the history and culture of Italian Jewry. In 1904–06 an Italian translation of part of Abraham Berliner's Geschichte der Juden in Rom ("Storia degli Ebrei in Roma"; "History of the Jews of Rome") appeared in installments as an appendix. Contributors included: Moise Finzi (president of the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano and professor of statistics and political economy at the Istituto Tecnico of Florence), U. Cassuto, Elia Samuele Artom, Raffaele Ottolenghi, Samuele Colombo, G. Calò, G. Jaré, C. Castellani, Aldo Sorani, Edgardo Morpurgo, Giuseppe Levi, Israel Zoller and Aldo Cantone. The journal also attracted distinguished Jewish scholars from other countries. H.P. Chajes and I. Elbogen, who taught at the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano, contributed various studies.

[Tovia Preschel /

Francesco Spagnolo (2nd ed.)]