Isaac Samuel Reggio
Considered “the Mendelssohn of Italy,” Isaac Samuel (Itsḥak Shemu’el) Reggio (also known as the Yashar) was a rabbi and philosopher. Born in Gorizia, near the Austro-Hungarian border, he mastered languages (including Hebrew) and studied mathematics. In 1819, inspired by Mendelssohn, he wrote an Italian translation of the Pentateuch with a Hebrew commentary. Mendelssohn’s influence on Reggio can be felt, as well, in the latter’s Ha-torah ve-ha-filosofyah (1827), which seeks to reconcile divine law and philosophy. He opened a rabbinical seminary in Padua in 1829. In 1846, following his father’s death, he took over as the rabbi of Gorizia.