Yehudah Aryeh was born in Venice to a prominent Jewish family that had migrated there after being expelled from France. His grandfather Mordecai was a distinguished physician who rose to the rank of Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and his father Isaac gave him a complete education that even included singing and dancing lessons. He was a very precocious child. He translated the first canto of Ariosto's “Orlando Furioso” into Hebrew at the age of twelve and wrote a memorable dialogue against gambling at the age of fourteen. As a child, he was familiar with the classics and knowledgeable in mathematics, philosophy, and natural history. When he was about twenty, however, his father became suddenly impoverished, and he had to start working to support his family. He exercised not less than twenty-six different professions, but his ability as orator brought him rapidly to the attention of the most exclusive Venetian circles. Ironically, however, he developed an insane passion for gambling that swallowed up all his income. In addition, he suffered an appalling series of family disasters. Of his three sons, Mordecai died during alchemy experiments, Zebulon was killed in a brawl, and Isaac emigrated to Brazil and was never thereafter heard from. Of his two daughters, one died, while the other lost her husband, becoming dependent upon Leone for support. Finally, his wife Rachel became insane, and remained so until her death. Amid all these trials Leon continued to study, write books, and compose poems. He wrote extensively against Jewish traditionalism, an autobiography, and a dissertation against the Cabala that is considered by many his masterpiece. He also continued to gamble until his death. On his tombstone in the Antico Cimitero Ebraico di San Nicolò del Lido, the epitaph is still readable. “Four yards of ground in this graveyard, by purchase by kerchief, were from eternity transferred from above to Judah Aryeh of Modena. In these he hid himself and disappeared.”
Copyright © Alastair Fontana 2013
Rembrandt van Rijn, Laughing Man, 1629
