BASSANO

BASSANO (Bassan, Bassani), name of Italian family deriving from the town bassano . In the 17th and 18th centuries, it produced several rabbis and scholars, outstanding among whom are: mordecai bassani (c. 1632–1703), rabbi of Verona and ISAIAH BEN ISRAEL HEZEKIAH (d. 1739), rabbi in Cento, Padua, Ferrara, and Reggio Emilia. Many of his responsa are included in the second volume of Todat Shelamim by his son Israel (see below) and in the Paḥad Yiẓḥak of isaac lampronti and Shemesh Ẓedakah of samson morpurgo . His other responsa, glosses on the Talmud, a number of poems, notes on the gospels, sermons, and a book, Kur le-Zahav, comprising critical notes on solomon algazi 's Halikhot Eli, remain in manuscript. His pupils included Moses Ḥayyim Luzzatto . His son, ISRAEL BENJAMIN (1701–1790), one of the outstanding Italian Jewish poets of his day, published two collections of Hebrew poetry accompanied by Italian versions. He dedicated both to Francesco III of Este, duke of Modena (1750–53), calling the second Corona Estense. His Todat Shelamim (Venice, 1741, 1791) includes his own halakhic writings and responsa by his father. According to the Christian scholar G.B. De' Rossi , he was highly esteemed in Jewish circles. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: I. Sonne, in: Zion, 3 (1938), 160–9 (where Israel Benjamin Bassano's will is published); Baron, in: Sefer ha-Yovel… S. Krauss (1937), 217–54; C. Roth, in: JQR, 15 (1924/25), 430 (= Gleanings (1967), 203, 206–7); Ghirondi-Neppi, S.V. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Badini, Ricerche storiche 73 (1993), 27–80; M. Benayahu, Davar (June 9, 1978). (Cecil Roth)