Abraham Graziano

Abraham Joseph Solomon Graziano was born in Pesaro. He subsequently studied in Rome and Modena and was ordained in 1647. He first served as a member of the rabbinic court (bet din) in Modena and later became the city’s rabbi. His lenient halakhic rulings at times aroused opposition. Graziano signed his name Ish ger (“a strange man”), an acronym of the first letters of his name to denote that he was a stranger in Modena. Graziano was a collector of books and manuscripts, and his signature appears in numerous books found in Jewish libraries around the world. Most of Graziano’s halakhic rulings, including one in Italian, remain in manuscript or are cited in other contemporary works. Graziano also wrote numerous poems and an elegy for his brother, who died in 1648. Graziano recorded the letters of Samuel Isaac Norzi, Samuel Corcos, and Netanel Trabotto on the choral controversy in Senigallia.