SARFATI

SARFATI (Ẓarefati, Sarfatti ), name frequently given to Jews originating from *France, e.g., abraham sarfati, who emigrated to Catalonia, author of Tamid ha-Shaḥar; Joseph ben moses sarfati, mathematician; and isaac ha-shaḤar who emigrated to the East. The most important family often bearing the additional surname of Sarfati was the *Trabot or Trabotti family, who probably originated from Trévoux (France) and came to Italy in the second half of the 15^th century. A *Sarfaty family were rabbis of Fez (Morocco) for several generations (16^th–18^th centuries).

samuel sarfati, called Gallo (d. c. 1519), a physician originating from Provence, settled in Rome in 1498. He represented the Jewish community at the coronation of Pope Julius ii (1503) and a year later became the personal physician to the pope, who confirmed the privileges granted him by Pope Alexander vi, including permission to attend Christian patients, exemption from wearing the Jewish *badge, and papal protection for him and his family. In 1515 he became physician of Giuliano de' Medici. Samuel's son joseph, called Josiphon, Giosifante, or Giuseppe Gallo (d. 1527), was a physician, philosopher, poet, and mathematician. An accomplished linguist, he had a good knowledge of Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Greek, and Latin. The pope extended to him the privileges that had been accorded to his father; these were confirmed by Pope Leo x and Pope Clement vii in 1524. Joseph translated into Hebrew the Spanish comedy Celestina. He survived remarkable adventures, assisted David *Reubeni, and died as the result of his sufferings during the sack of Rome. isaac sarfati was physician to Pope Clement vii (1523–34), who recon-firmed his right to the family's privileges. samuel sarfati (16^th century) was a printer in Rome. joseph sarfati (16^th century), a rabbi of Fez, converted to Christianity. Adopting the name of his godfather Pope Julius iii (1550–55), Andrea del Monte, he became a violent anti-Jewish preacher. One of his sermons was heard by Michel de *Montaigne. Sarfati was one of the instigators of the condemnation of the Talmud and its burning in Rome in 1553. jacob ben solomon sarfati (14^th century), a physician, was born in northern France. On the expulsion of the Jews, he moved to Avignon in the second half of the 14^th century.

He was the author of Mishkenot Ya'akov (extant in Ms.), a work divided into three books: Beit Ya'akov, allegorical interpretations of some passages of the Pentateuch; Yeshu'ot Ya'akov, a discourse on the plagues of Egypt; and Kehillat Ya'akov, a theological exposition of the laws given on Mount Sinai. In a supplement, Evel Rabbati, he describes the deaths of his three sons who perished in the course of three months during the plague of 1395. He also wrote a medical treatise on migraine.

bibliography:

U. Cassuto, Gli Ebrei a Firenze nell' Età del Rinascimento (1918); Hirschberg, Afrikah, 2 (1965), 156–8, 246–9.

[Renato Spiegel]