Moshe Provençal

Provençal's surname suggests that his family hailed from Provence. In the aftermath of Provence's incorporation into France in the 1480s, the local Jewish population was expelled between 1498 and 1501.{{cite book |first=Norman |last=Roth |title=Medieval Jewish Civilization: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn= 978-1-136-77155-2|page=537 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8edQAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA537 }} Like much of the exiled Jewish population,{{cite book |first=Judith R. |last=Baskin |first2=Kenneth |last2=Seeskin |title=The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn= 978-0-521-86960-7|page=142 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QNYdng4YpNgC&pg=PA142 }} it is likely that Provençal's family fled from Provence to Italy in the years shortly before his birth.

Provençal was born in Casale Monferrato in north-west Italy.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}} In 1535, he composed a poetic guide to the rules of Hebrew grammar entitled B'shem Kadmon, which was later published in Venice by the author's grandchildren in October or November 1596.{{cite web | url=https://tablet.otzar.org/en/book/book.php?book=146935 |script-title=he:בשם קדמון/ פרובנצאלו, משה בן אברהם | trans-title=In the name of Kadmon / Provencallo, Moshe Ben Abraham | language=he | access-date=2019-09-17}} By 1550, he was Chief Rabbi of Mantua, in the North-Italian Duchy of Mantua.{{Jewish Encyclopedia |no-prescript=1 |title=Amico, Joseph |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1397-amico-joseph }}

During the infamous Tamari-Venturozzo divorce scandal of 1564, the Italian rabbinate was split over the validity of Samuel Venturozzo's bill of divorce. The halakhic debate quickly descended into a fierce and raging legal feud which eventually came to include halakhic giants from Safed and Thessaloniki. Provençal spearheaded the rabbinic group arguing that Venturozzo's bill of divorce was invalid.{{cite web | title=View Auction Listing – Hatzaha al Ohdot ha-Get | website=virtualjudaica.com | date=2011-07-17 | url=http://www.virtualjudaica.com/Item/7547/Hatzaha_al_Ohdot_ha-Get | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717213953/http://www.virtualjudaica.com/Item/7547/Hatzaha_al_Ohdot_ha-Get | archive-date=2011-07-17 | url-status=dead | language=he | access-date=2019-09-17}} In 1566, Provençal published a pamphlet making his case and arguing that the opposing rabbis did not follow proper judicial protocol.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hebrewbooks.org/20567|title=Sefer Detail: ביאור זה יצא ראשונה -- פרובנצלו, משה בן אברהם, 1503–1575|website=hebrewbooks.org}} By 1574, the debate was resolved, and the Italian rabbinate was reconciled. Provençal died on 30 July 1576.{{cite book |first=Ephraim |last=Frisch |title=Hebrew Union College Annual |volume=77 |issue=438 |publisher=Students of the Hebrew Union College |year=1904 |page=360 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QoErAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA360 }}

Provençal's responsa, known as She'elot u'Teshuvot Rabbeinu Moshe Provençal (first printed: 2 vols., Jerusalem, 1989–98), have often been studied and quoted by later rabbinical authorities.

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Category:Rabbinic legal texts and responsa

Category:1503 births

Category:1576 deaths

Category:16th-century Italian rabbis

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