Abstract
Shimi the Sceptical: Sceptical Voices in an Early Modern Jewish, Anti-Christian Polemical Drama by Matityahu Nissim Terni
Highlights
In the year 1782, on a sunny, early summer morning, the students of the Pesaro yeshiva, named Somech Noflim (סומך נופלים, “Supporter of the Fallen”) were running excitedly up and down in the courtyard, wedged between the surrounding houses
The sceptical figure, who had been present previously only hidden in the background of the texts, came forth from behind the scenes, and took a clearly identifiable shape, like Shimi, one of the protagonists of the polemical drama, written by the Italian playwright Matityahu Nissim Terni (1745– 1810), entitled Derech Emunah (“The Way of Faith”)
Expecting the impending holiday of Shavuot they were preparing a theatrical performance. It must have been a rare event in the life of an average yeshiva bocher! But the students learning in the Pesaro yeshiva had every chance to get used to watching theatre plays and making theatre, since one of their instructors in the yeshiva, Rabbi Matityahu Nissim (Donato) ben Jacob Israel Terni (1745 –c. 1810) was a prolific dramatist of his age
Summary
In the year 1782, on a sunny, early summer morning, the students of the Pesaro yeshiva, named Somech Noflim (סומך נופלים, “Supporter of the Fallen”) were running excitedly up and down in the courtyard, wedged between the surrounding houses. We have only very few pieces of information about this interesting personality of the age of the ghetto.2 He was born in 1745 in the Italian Adriatic seaport Ancona, belonging at that time to the Papal States. During his life he served as a rabbi and a posek (פוסק, “decisor”) in different Italian towns, like Firenze, Urbino, Senigallia, or the abovementioned Pesaro. His rabbinical responsa and his poems were eagerly copied by his contemporaries.
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