The Effervescence of Jewish Printing in Renaissance Italy

In the 16th century, Italy emerged as the leading center for the printing of Jewish books, often at Hebrew publishing houses owned and operated by Christians. But Jews soon established presses of their own, among them the brothers Foà of the northern Italian city of Sabbioneta. Eleanor Foa, a descendant of one of the brothers, writes:

[The Foàs] were lucky to have lived under the liberal rule of Vespasiano Gonzaga (1531–1591), the duke of Sabbioneta. An enlightened ruler, educated in Greek, Latin, history, Italian literature, the Talmud, and even Kabbalah, . . . Gonzaga wanted to make Sabbioneta a capital of the mind. He not only permitted the rise of the Foà printing house but also remained an enlightened protector of the Jews. In fact, . . . Gonzaga welcomed and respected Jews . . . at a time when other [Italian] cities created ghettos and forced Jewish printers to close.

They were also fortunate that Rabbi Tobia Foà, a man of exceptional culture and good deeds, established the press. According to David Amram, author of The Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy, “No Hebrew press of the century was more fortunate in the number and quality of its workmen.”

[A]lthough Jews helped finance Johannes Gutenberg’s 1450 invention—first used to print a Bible in 1455—they were not permitted to join German printing guilds. So German Jews took their knowledge to Italy where, as early as 1470 in Rome, Christian and Jewish publishing houses were established. [But] even in Italy, the privilege of printing books was never conferred upon a Jew. Only members of patrician houses could establish presses. This explains why Jews partnered with families like the Gonzagas. Even so, licenses to publish Hebrew books were granted and revoked at the whim of local rulers and the pope. In fact, only a short window of time existed during which the Church allowed Jewish printers to pursue their trade in Italy.

Read more at Jewish Book Council

More about: Books, Italian Jewry

 

What a Strategic Victory in Gaza Can and Can’t Achieve

On Tuesday, the Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant met in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Gallant says that he told the former that only “a decisive victory will bring this war to an end.” Shay Shabtai tries to outline what exactly this would entail, arguing that the IDF can and must attain a “strategic” victory, as opposed to merely a tactical or operational one. Yet even after a such a victory Israelis can’t expect to start beating their rifles into plowshares:

Strategic victory is the removal of the enemy’s ability to pose a military threat in the operational arena for many years to come. . . . This means the Israeli military will continue to fight guerrilla and terrorist operatives in the Strip alongside extensive activity by a local civilian government with an effective police force and international and regional economic and civil backing. This should lead in the coming years to the stabilization of the Gaza Strip without Hamas control over it.

In such a scenario, it will be possible to ensure relative quiet for a decade or more. However, it will not be possible to ensure quiet beyond that, since the absence of a fundamental change in the situation on the ground is likely to lead to a long-term erosion of security quiet and the re-creation of challenges to Israel. This is what happened in the West Bank after a decade of relative quiet, and in relatively stable Iraq after the withdrawal of the United States at the end of 2011.

Read more at BESA Center

More about: Gaza War 2023, Hamas, IDF