Isaac Samuel Reggio

1784–1855

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.

Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator

Primary Source

The Religious Instruction of Jewish Youth

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Text
Thus there are two kinds of truths, equally ascertained, and therefore equally admissible; the one proceeding from intellect and called rational truth, the other formed in the heart, and called moral…