The Life and Works of Italy’s Great Kabbalist and Philanthropist

Rabbi Menachem Azaryah of Fano (1548-1620)

The Life and Works of Italy’s Great Kabbalist and Philanthropist

Rabbi Menachem Azaryah of Fano, Italy, prominently known as the Ramah m’Fano (often pronounced Ramah m’Pano), was born into a prominent rabbinic family in 1548. He married the daughter of Rabbi Yitzchak of Mantua and in his youth, he studied under Rabbi Yishmael Chaninah in Ferrara.

Rabbi Dovid Conforte records the following about Rabbi Menachem Azaryah in his Koreh ha-Doros:

“Also in that generation in Italy was ha-Ramah, who is the rabbi, Rebbi Menachem Azaryah of Fano; he is also called Rabbi Menachem Emanuel. He was a man of great wealth combined with Torah [knowledge] and financial success…Rabbi Yedidyah Karo, a grandson of Rabbi Yosef Karo, told me that the Ramah m’Fano was an exceedingly pious person and a Kabbalist whose countenance was likened to that of an angel of Hashem.”

Indeed, Ramah m’Fano used his great wealth to support Torah scholars, purchase manuscripts, publish sefarim, and support the poor.

As Rabbi Dovid Conforte records in his Koreh ha-Doros, in 1574, the elderly Rabbi Yosef Karo entrusted Ramah m’Fano with printing his Kesef Mishnah in Venice. Aside for assuming the responsibility of printing the Kesef Mishnah, the Ramah m’Fano shouldered the printing costs of this most essential commentary on the Rambam’s Mishnah Torah.

In the very same year, Ramah m’Fano joined the leading rabbis of Italy to proclaim a cherem on Azaryah dei Rossi’s work of heresy, Meor Einayim.

Ramah m’Fano spent the majority of his life in Mantua, the city where his father-in-law resided. He passed away there in 1620.

{A Prominent Kabbalist

As the Chida records in his Sheim ha-Gedolim, Ramah m’Fano was a student of the renowned Kabbalist Rabbi Yisrael Saruk (or Sarug), who in turn was one of the prominent students of the Arizal. Ramah m’Fanowas also a devoted student of the writings of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, and spent a great deal of money to procure copies of his Kabbalistic works. The Chida also reports that Ramah m’Fano merited visitations from a heavenly maggid.

{Writings

Ramah m’Fano wrote prolifically and composed dozens of sefarim on the subject of Kabbalah. He is most well-known for his Asarah Ma’amaros, a collection of ten Kabbalistic treatises. He also compiled Alfasi Zuta, a condensed version of the Rif’s Sefer Halachos. One hundred and thirty of his responsa have also been published.

Ramah m’Fano lived for some time in Reggio Emilia (a city in northern Italy), where numerous pupils flocked to him from Italy and Germany, and he was held in great respect for his learning and character. n

Nosson Wiggins (@jewishhistorysheimhagedolim) is the author of two books on the subject of Jewish history, “The Tannaim & Amoraim” and “The Rishonim” (Judaica Press). He researches Jewish History at the Klau Library, HUC-JIR in his hometown of Cincinnati and leads tours of Klau’s Rare Book Room. He is a passionate enthusiast of Jewish history and when he’s not in the hospital working as a nurse, he can be found researching and writing posts for his Substack, “Jewish History—Sheim Hagedolim.”