Description

Missing Title page. Free Shipping
בינה לעתים עזריה פיגו. Binah Laitim by R. Azariah Figo. Bet Eked. Bina LeOtim
Important homiletics by R. Azariah Figo (Picho; 1579–1647), Italian rabbi and preacher, born in Venice. In his youth he devoted himself largely to secular studies, but later, regretting the time he had spent “loving the handmaiden” and “neglecting the mistress,” he applied himself wholly to rabbinic studies. At the age of 28, he was appointed rabbi of Pisa. He returned to Venice in 1627, and became preacher to the Sephardi community.

R. Figo leaned toward a strict interpretation of Jewish law. He opposed the establishment of a theater in the ghetto of Venice and criticized the members of his community for usury, flaunting their wealth, internecine wrangling, laxity in ritual observances, and sexual irregularities, R. Figo was active in redeeming Jewish captives, and defended the Marranos, declaring them to be Jews. His most important work is his Binah le-Ittim (Venice, 1648), a collection of sermons delivered in Venice. They are based on the festivals and fasts of the Jewish calendar, and also include sermons based on Avot on such topics as charity and education. Since its first publication it has been reprinted 50 times. Some of his responsa are found in the Devar Shemu’el (1702) of Samuel Aboab