Leon Modena was born in
Venice, of a notable French family which had migrated to Italy after the
expulsion of the Jews from France. He was an intelligent child and a respected
rabbi in Venice. However, his reputation within traditional Judaism suffered for several reasons, including an unyielding criticism of emerging sects within Judaism, an addiction to gambling, and a lack of stable character. As
Heinrich Graetz points out, this last factor prevented his gifts from maturing: "He pursued all sorts of occupations to support himself, viz. those of preacher, teacher of Jews and Christians, reader of prayers, interpreter, writer, proof-reader, bookseller, broker, merchant, rabbi, musician, matchmaker and manufacturer of
amulets." One of his students was
Azaria Piccio, "one of the last great talmudists produced by Italian Jewry", with whom he would later be intellectually close. Leon of Modena earned a place in Jewish history in part by his criticism of the mystical approach to Judaism. One of his most effective works was his attack on
Kabbalah, the
Ari Nohem, first published in 1840. In it, he attempted to demonstrate that the "Bible of the Kabbalists" (the
Zohar) was a modern composition. He also wrote that the name "" (the wisdom of Kabbalah) is misleading since it is neither "wisdom" nor a Kabbalah (a tradition going back to Moses) but a mere fabrication. He became best known, however, as the interpreter of Judaism to the Christian world. He was also the author of
anti-Catholic apologia. He wrote an autobiography entitled "Life of Judah". In this highly candid and sometimes emotional work, he admitted to being a compulsive gambler. He mourned his children, two of whom died in his lifetime - one died early from exposure to fumes from his lab experiments with
alchemy; a second son Zvulun, he of the angelic voice, was murdered in front of his father in a criminal gang killing; a third son was a ne'er-do-well who traveled to the
Empire of Brazil and returned to Venice only after his father's death. Leon's 1626 book
Tzori la-nefesh u-marpeh la-etsem (Balm for the Soul and Cure for the Bone), written for Venice's
Ashkenazi burial society, was one of the first such texts written for laypeople who cared for the sick and dying. He wrote that he intended to set out a Jewish method for ritualizing death so that the Jewish community would not "do less than the people around us [i.e., Christians] by not taking care that when someone is on his deathbed he should meet his Maker in a state of supplication and confession of his sins and transgressions." It was
Richard Simon translated it from original Italien for presentation to
Boussuet and the
Port-Royal. In 1650 it was translated into English by
Edmund Chilmead:
The history of the rites, customes, and manner of life, of the present Jews, throughout the world. At the time the Jewish question, the issue of
whether Jews should be permitted to resettle in Britain, was coming to the fore in London, and Leon of Modena’s book did much to stimulate popular interest. Among his deepest interests was music. He served as
cantor at the synagogue in the
Venetian Ghetto for more than forty years. Earlier, he is believed to have introduced some
polyphony in the synagogue at
Ferrara, and wrote two essays on music justifying polyphonic practice in services and celebrations. Modena was certainly a musician and a friend of
Salamone Rossi; it is not clear whether he was also a composer. He called for religious reform in the
Beit Yehuda and other works. According to some 19th-century scholars, he attacked traditional Judaism in a pseudonymous work entitled
Qol Sakal; however, this book was not his. ==Writings==