Repack - Torah In Italiano

1. Introduction: What is the Torah? The Torah (תּוֹרָה), meaning “instruction” or “teaching,” refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. For Jews, it is the written foundation of divine law and covenant. For Christians, it is the Pentateuch. For Italian culture, it represents a bridge between ancient Hebrew, Latin Christendom, and modern Jewish identity.

This paper explores how the Torah has been translated into Italian, the key historical figures involved, the linguistic challenges, and its role within Italy’s Jewish community ( Comunità Ebraica Italiana ). Jews have lived in Italy since the 2nd century BCE (Roman Republic). Over centuries, they developed Judaeo-Italian ( Italkian ), a unique set of Judeo-Romance dialects mixing Hebrew, Aramaic, and local Italian vernaculars. For centuries, Torah study was conducted in Hebrew; translations were oral or informal for women and uneducated men. 3. Early Vernacular Translations (Pre-16th Century) Before the printing press, handwritten la‘azim (glosses) translated Torah verses into Judaeo-Italian. The most famous example is the Scopus Bible (14th century?) – a manuscript with Hebrew text and Judeo-Italian translation in Latin script. These were not intended for liturgical use but for study. 4. The First Complete Printed Italian Torah Translation (16th Century) Yehiel ben Yosef of Pisa (known as Guglielmo Raimondo Moncada , later Flavius Mithridates ) produced the first known translation of the Torah into Italian for a Christian audience (Pope Sixtus IV), but it was never widely printed. torah in italiano