Gennazano, Elijah Hayyim ben Benjamin of
GENNAZANO, ELIJAH HAYYIM BEN BENJAMIN OF
GENNAZANO, ELIJAH HAYYIM BEN BENJAMIN OF (second half of 15th century), writer and disciple of R. Benjamin of Montalcino. Gennazano wrote (1) Iggeret Ḥamudot, on the Kabbalah, dedicated to David b. Benjamin of Montalcino, whom he wished to instruct in Kabbalah (ed. A.W. Greenup, 1912); (2) a poem about women, in which Gennazano arbitrates between Abraham of Sarteano, who published a poem against women, and Avigdor of Fano who composed a poem in their defense (all three ed. by Neubauer in Israelitische Letterbode, 10 (1884–85), 97–105); (3) two anti-Christian parodies of the "Yigdal" hymn (A. Marx, in jqr, 9 (1918–19), 306–7 and Freidus Memorial Volume, 1 (1929), 276ff.); and (4) a polemic against Christianity, a compilation of the arguments he used in a disputation with the monk Francesco da Aquapendente in Orvieto (Ms.).
bibliography:
hb, 10 (1870), 104; 21 (1881), 21; D. Kaufmann, in: rej, 34 (1897), 309–11; I. Davidson, Parody in Jewish Literature (1907), 32.
[Umberto (Moses David) Cassuto]