Early Historic Document: Psak Din from Leading Rabbis of Italy Regarding the Dispute between the Mantua and Casale ...

Early Historic Document: Psak Din from Leading Rabbis of Italy Regarding the Dispute between the Mantua and Casale Communities

Copy of a rabbinical court ruling from the leading rabbis of Venice, Modena and Padua regarding the huge dispute between the Mantua and Casale communities with affirmations of the copies signed by Casale's rabbis. It appears that the disagreement between the communities was regarding taxes to be paid to the duke - about which beit din would arbitrate between the different opinions and issue a ruling. Casale, 1635.

The disagreement between the Mantua community and the Casale Monferrato community, the second-largest among the communities subordinate to the rule of the House of Gonzaga, arose mainly over the arrangements of the special tax that was imposed on the two communities from 1619 onward. The tax was called the archiari tax, that is, the duke's personal guard. It was essentially just another aspect of the dukes' extortion from their Jewish subjects. Since both communities were obligated to pay the tax jointly, this led to differences of opinion in the manner of dividing the tax (for more on this, refer to: Sh. Simonson, Toldot HaYehudim B'Duchasat Mantua Part I, pp. 321-325).

The letter-for-letter copy of the manuscript from the original is affirmed by the scribes of the Casale beit din: R' Baruch Mordechai b"r Yonah Todrus and R' Shimon Segal.

With a confirmation of their signatures handwritten by the rabbis of Casale: the gaon Rabbi Simachah b"r Yitzchak Katzigen, the gaon Rabbi Yosef b"r Shmuel Yarek and the gaon Rabbi Moshe b"r Yekutiel Kohen. (The signatures of the Casale rabbis are originals.)

Signed on the psak din (copies) are the leading rabbis of Italy of that generation:

Modena rabbis:

Rabbi Netanel Tarbot

Rabbi Meir b"r Moshe Mili

Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Poyti

Kabbalist Rabbi Aharon Berachiyah of Modena (author of Ma'avar Yabok)

Rabbi David Diaena

Rabbi Yosef Baruch b"r Zecharyah Yedidyah of Urbino

Venice Rabbis:

The renowned sage Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh of Modena

Rabbi Simchah Luzzato

Rabbi Nechemiah Sorwal

Padua rabbis:

Rabbi Avraham b"r Eliyahu Ketlani (author of Sefer Olam Hafuch)

Rabbi Shlomo of Marene (author of Sefer Tikkun Olam)

Rabbi Raphael b"r Shmuel Kurkus

The physician Rabbi David Chaim b"r Shimon Luria

Large sheet of paper divided into [3] written pages, 17x27 cm each. Light, high-quality Italian paper.

Very fine condition. Isolated aging stains. Two tiny perforations.