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Yehuda ben Eliezer (Leon) BRIEL (or Brielli) (1643-1722): Hassagoth al ha-berit ha-hadashah, or Hassagoth al-sippure ha-sheluhim ba-berit ha-hadashah. The treatise is sometimes entitled as "Pas yeda di-katva" /Dan. 5:5./ or in Latin as Animadversiones in Evangelia or Argumenta contra narrationes apostolorum. In some manuscripts the text is attributed to Briel's pupil, Yehoshua ben Tzion (Salvador) SEGRÉ (1709-1798) and entitled as the second part of his Asham talui (Asham talui B). In fact, Segré seems to have only collected and supplemented Briel's notes.

Edition

Two pages of the PARMA 2252 manuscript were edited by J. E. Rembaum. Rembaum failed to identify the author of the text, thus the text is labeled as anonymous. J.E. Rembaum, 'Medieval Jewish Criticism of the Christian Doctrine of Original Sin', AJS Review 7/8 (1982/83), 381-382.

Manuscripts

The text of the disputation is extant in eleven manuscripts:

1. Frankfurt a. Main, Universitätsbibliothek (FRANK UB Oct. 54, eighteenth-century Italian type handwriting), 170r-173v, defective = Asham talui B

   The item is digitized.

2. Jerusalem, National Library of Israel (JER NLI 102=8, eighteenth-century Italian cursive handwriting), 1r-67v, with additional notes of Yehoshua Segré = Hassagoth al ha-berit ha-hadashah
3. Moscow, Russian State Library, Günzburg Collection (MOS RSL 219, eighteenth-century Italian handwriting), 1r-32v = Hassagoth al-sippure ha-sheluhim ba-berit ha-hadashah
4. New York, Jewish Theological Seminary (NY JTS 2208, eighteenth-century Italian type handwriting), 1r-13v, defective = Asham talui B

   The item is digitized.

5. New York, Jewish Theological Seminary (NY JTS 2225, eighteenth-century Italian type handwriting), 1r-50v = Hassagoth al-sippure ha-sheluhim ba-berit ha-hadashah

   The item is digitized.

6. New York, Jewish Theological Seminary, (NY JTS 2232, eighteenth-century Italian type handwriting,), 1r-88r = Asham talui B or Pas yeda di-katva

   The item is digitized.

7. Oxford, Bodleian Library (OX 2407, eighteenth-century Italian type handwriting), 1r-67v = Asham talui B

   The item is digitized.

8. Paris, Alliance Israelite Universelle (PARIS AIU 442, eighteenth-century Italian type handwriting), 58r-92r = Hassagoth al-sippure ha-sheluhim ba-berit ha-hadashah
9. Parma, Bibliotheca Palatina (PARMA 2252, eighteenth-century Italian type handwriting), 1r-7v, defective = Hassagoth al ha-berit ha-hadashah

   The item is digitized.

10. Parma, Bibliotheca Palatina (PARMA 2253, eighteenth-century Italian type handwriting), 1r-13v, defective = Hassagoth al ha-berit ha-hadashah - the manuscript contains only the Gospel according to Matthew.

    The item is digitized.

11. Jerusalem, the manuscript is owned by a private dealer (Catalogue of IMHM Film no. PH 7059 /JER DEALER/, eighteenth-century Italian type handwriting = Asham talui B

Secondary Literature

• G. B. de Rossi, Bibliotheca Judaica Antichristiana (Parma, 1800), 21-22, 121-122..
• M.S. Ghirondi, Toledoth Gedole Yisrael u-Geone Italia (Trieste, 1853), 127, 129. n. 7.
• M. Mortara, 'Leone Brielli', Il Corriere Israelitico I. (Trieste, 1862), 161-166.
• M. Steinschneider, 'Letteratura guidaica italiana', Vessillo Israelitico 27 (1879), 271-272.
• I. Levi, 'Confutazione della sinagoga designata', Vessillo Israelitico 52 (1904) 530-533, 580-583 and 53 (1905), 4-6..
• H. Grätz, Geschichte der Juden von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart, 11 vols. (Leipzig, 1890-19083), 10:297, 329, 487, 488. and 502.
• Jewish Encyclopedia Online Edition: Brieli, Judah Leon ben Eliezer
• A. Marx, 'Bibiographische Miscellen', Zeitschrift für Hebräische Bibliographie VIII (1904), 92-93.
• A. Marx, 'The Polemical Manuscripts in the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary in America', in Studies in Jewish Bibliography and Related Subjects in Memory of Abraham Solomon Freidus (1867-1923) (New York, 1929), 258.
• S. Krauss, The Jewish-Christian Controversy: From the Earliest Time to 1789 (ed. W. Horbury; Tübingen, 1995), 107, 208-209.
• W. Horbury, 'Judah Briel and the Seventeenth-Century Jewish Anti-Christian Polemic in Italy', in W. Horbury, Jews and Christians in Contact and Controversy (Edinburgh, 1998), 285.
• Sh. Simonson, Toledot ha-Yehudim be-Dukkasut Mantovah, 2 vols. (Jerusalem, 1962-1964), 1:332. n. 427.
• J. Rosenthal, 'Anti-Christian Polemics from its Beginnings to the end of the Eighteenth Century', Areseth 2 (1960), p. 158. no. 117, and p. 166. no. 158, and p. 178. no. 225 (in Hebrew).
• M. Benayahu, 'The Works of Rabbi Yehoshua Segre', in Asufot 10 (1997), 319-320 (in Hebrew).
• B. Richler (ed), Hebrew Manuscripts in the Biblioteca Palatina in Parma (Jerusalem, 2001), 403.
• Y. Horowitz, 'Briel, Judah ben Eliezer', Encyclopaedia Judaica, 22. vols. (Jerusalem, 20072), 4:181.
• A. Salah, La République des lettres Rabbins, crivains et médecins juifs en Italie au XVIIIe siecle (Leiden, 2007), 99-103.
• P. Manusco, 'Gesuiti, lumi e rabbini. La controversia Brielli-Pinamonti a inizio Settecento,' in E. D'Antuono, I. Kajon and P. Ricci Sindoni (eds), Giacobbe e l'angelo - Figure ebraiche alle radici della modernita europea (Rome, 2012), 76.
• P. Mancuso, 'Evangelizzazione gesuitica e tattiche ebraiche di difesa a Mantova fra Sei e Settecento sotto il rabbinato di Yehudah Leon Brielli,' in Materia giudaica 19 (2014/1-2) 334.

© Karoly Daniel Dobos: Jewish-Christian Polemics in Early Modern Italy

Research that enabled the preparation of this bibliography was sponsored by the Anniversary Fund of the National Bank of Austria (Jubiläumsfonds der Österreichischen Nationalbank, project number: 16099: "Jüdisch-christiliche Polemik: Akkulturation und Modernisierung")

Jubilaeumsfonds

The webpage was created by Karoly Daniel Dobos