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David Castelli
1836–1901
An Italian Jewish scholar and teacher, he helped bring modern biblical criticism into Italy while writing clearly about Jewish history, law, and literature. His work connected traditional learning with the newer scholarly methods of the nineteenth century.
1 Audiobook
La legge del popolo Ebreo
by David Castelli
About the author
Born in Livorno on December 30, 1836, he was educated at the city’s rabbinical college and began his career teaching Hebrew and Italian in Jewish schools. He later worked with the Jewish community in Pisa before moving to Florence, where from 1876 until his death in 1901 he held the chair of Hebrew at the Istituto di Studi Superiori.
He is remembered as one of the first scholars to introduce the historical-critical approach to biblical study in Italy. Alongside his teaching, he translated parts of the Hebrew Bible into Italian, including Job, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs, and wrote on Jewish history, law, and rabbinic literature.
His books include Leggende Talmudiche, Della poesia biblica, La profezia nella Bibbia, Storia degli Israeliti dalle origini fino alla Monarchia, and Gli Ebrei. Taken together, his writing shows a lifelong effort to study Judaism with both deep learning and intellectual independence.