Isaac ben Jacob Min Ha-Leviyyim
ISAAC BEN JACOB MIN HA-LEVIYYIM
ISAAC BEN JACOB MIN HA-LEVIYYIM ("of the levites"; b. 1621), Italian rabbi. He was orphaned at an early age and was brought up in the house of his grandfather, Leone *Modena. He was a printer, proofreader, cantor, and preacher in his native Venice. He was the author of Ma'asei Ḥakhamim (Venice, 1647), talmudic aggadot based on Jacob ibn *Ḥabib's Ein Ya'akov, Leone da Modena's Beit Yehudah, with commentaries; Medabber Tahpukhot, memoirs (published by L. Blau); Yiẓḥak Meẓaḥek, an anthology of poems, apparently no longer extant (several of Isaac's poems have been printed in other works, e.g., Yom Tov Valvason's Hed Urim, Venice, 1662); extracts from Moses *Cordovero's Pardes Rimmonim (Salonika n.d., Venice, 1586); and Pesikta Rabbati, a collection of decisions (neither of the latter works is extant). Isaac also wrote introductions to numerous works by others, including his grandfather's Magen va-Ḥerev. He was one of those who took part in the inquiry against *Nathan of Gaza (see Samuel *Aboab, Devar Shemu'el, no. 375).
bibliography:
L. Blau (ed.), Leo Modenas Briefe und Schriftstuecke (1905), 74 (Ger. section), 165 (Heb. section); idem, in: hhy, 2 (1912), 168–71; 3 (1914), 45–54, 69–96; Scholem, Shabbetai Ẓevi, 2 (1957), 417–9; Leone (Judah Aryeh of) Modena, Ziknei Yehudah, ed. by S. Simonson (1956), 44 (introd.).
[Umberto (Moses David) Cassuto]