Lelio Della Torre

Born in the Piedmont in northern Italy, Lelio Della Torre was a prominent scholar in his day. In 1829 he helped found the Padua Rabbinical College, an important center of Italian Jewish education. Famed for his preaching, Della Torre taught homiletics. In addition to his sermons, Della Torre wrote nearly three hundred articles in Jewish publications alone, and also contributed to French, German, and Italian journals. For his efforts to integrate philosophical and theological studies, Della Torre was celebrated by both secular and religious intellectual organizations.