Judah ben Menahem of Rome
JUDAH BEN MENAHEM OF ROME
JUDAH BEN MENAHEM OF ROME (early 12th century), liturgical poet. Judah, whose son Menahem was the head of the Talmud academy in Rome, is one of the major Italian paytanim. His poems must have been fairly popular in the Middle Ages, since they have come down in a number of manuscripts of the Roman ritual. At present, 15 of Judah's poems are known, of which only six have appeared in print: the Yoẓerot for *Shabbat ha-Gadol, Shabbat Naḥamu, Simḥat Torah, and Shavuot; the ofan for the last; and a poem for Purim. He was perhaps the compiler of Seder Ḥibbur Berakhot, the oldest work on the Roman rite.
bibliography:
Landshuth, Ammudei, 68f.; Zunz, in: zhb, 19 (1916), 132f.; Luzzatto, in: Mahzor Italyani, 1 (1857), 23, 25, 27, introd.; Schirmann, 76f.; Davidson, in: jqr, 21 (1931), 244–6; Davidson, Oẓar, 4 (1933), 391f. add. bibliography: E. Fleischer, Hebrew Liturgical Poetry in the Middle Ages (1975), 445 (Heb.).
[Jefim (Hayyim) Schirmann]