Discourse on the State of the Jews by Simone Luzzatto, Giusep... - 9783110487336

Discourse on the State of the JewsBilingual Edition\nAuthor(s): Simone Luzzatto, Giuseppe Veltri, Anna Lissa\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: De Gruyter, Germany\nImprint: De Gruyter\nISBN-13: 9783110487336, 978-3110487336\nSynopsis\nIn 1638, a small book of no more than 92 pages in octavo was published appresso Gioanne Calleoni under the title Discourse on the State of the Jews and in particular those dwelling in the illustrious city of Venice. It was dedicated to the Doge of Venice and his counsellors, who are labelled lovers of Truth. The author of the book was a certain Simone (Sim?a) Luzzatto, a native of Venice, where he lived and died, serving as rabbi for over fifty years during the course of the seventeenth century.\nLuzzattos political thesis is simple and, at the same time, temerarious, if not revolutionary: Venice can put an end to its political decline, he argues, by offering the Jews a monopoly on overseas commercial activity. This plan is highly recommendable because the .