An Edition and Translation of Toffeh 'Arukh (Hell Arrayed) by Oses Zacuto (1620-1697)

FAIN: FEL-267562-20

Michela Andreatta
University of Rochester (Rochester, NY 14627-0001)

Research and writing the first English translation-edition of the 17th-century Hebrew poem Tofteh ‘Arukh (Hell Arrayed) by rabbi-scholar Moses Zacuto.

Written at the height of the Italian Counter Reformation, Tofteh ‘Arukh (Hell Arrayed) by rabbi-scholar Moses Zacuto (Amsterdam, c. 1620-Mantua, 1697) is a 925-line dramatic poem in Hebrew graphically depicting the hereafter of sinners according to Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. Despite its popularity among Jewish readership of the pre-modern era and being generally considered a milestone in the history of Hebrew literary culture, it has never been translated into English, nor has it been the subject of thorough scholarly investigation in English. Sitting at the intersection of textual studies and historical and literary criticism, the project intends to make Tofteh ‘Arukh accessible to the English reader by offering the first-ever complete annotated English translation of the original Hebrew text. The translation will be supplemented by introductory essays framing Zacuto’s work against the cultural ambience of early modern Jewish Italy in which it was produced, read, and circulated.

Media Coverage

Worshops and Conferences: Fear of Sin (Media Coverage)
Publication: University of Hamburg (Germany); official website
Date: 3/3/2024
Abstract: The German-Israeli Minerva School "Fear of Sin in Jewish Literature" was dedicated to discuss the cultural and historical significance of the function of negative emotions and the role that the fear of sin plays in medieval and early modern Jewish literature. Due to the lack of substantive studies on this topic, the Minerva School attempted to lay the theoretical and methodological foundations for mapping out the different categories, discuss the potential of new research questions, and share historical materials that deal with notion of fear and anxiety related to past as well as future wrongdoings. The German-Israeli Minerva School was held between June 27-29, 2022 at the Institute for Jewish Philosophy and Religion at the University of Hamburg, and it was organized jointly with the Department of Jewish Philosophy at Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan. The event was funded by the Minerva Stiftung of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science.
URL: https://www.musar.uni-hamburg.de/events/7-fear-of-sin.html

AJS Honors Its Authors 2023 (Media Coverage)
Publication: Association for Jewish Studies (AJS) website
Date: 3/3/2024
URL: https://www.associationforjewishstudies.org/ajs-honors-its-authors#2023

Associated Products

The Kabbalistic Telescope: Visions of the Natural World in Mystical Hebrew Poetry from Early Modern Italy (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: The Kabbalistic Telescope: Visions of the Natural World in Mystical Hebrew Poetry from Early Modern Italy
Author: Michela Andreatta
Abstract: By looking at the use of imagery borrowed from nature and the natural world, the paper investigates the impact of early modern natural philosophy on kabbalistic poetry by Italian Jews, thus showing how Kabbalah followers used nature as an interpretive prism through which in fact promote their mystical outlook.
Date: 12/15/2020
Conference Name: 52nd Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies (Dec. 13-17 2020) (online event))

Sin and Fear in Devotional Hebrew Poetry from Early Modern Italy (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Sin and Fear in Devotional Hebrew Poetry from Early Modern Italy
Abstract: Lecture on Tofteh 'Arukh by Moses Zacuto delivered at the Minerva Summer School “My Heart Stands in Fear of Your Word:” The Historical and Cultural Significance of the Fear of Sin in Jewish Literature. Institute for Jewish Philosophy and Religion, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
Author: Michela Andreatta
Date: 06/28/2022
Location: Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Primary URL: http://https://www.musar.uni-hamburg.de/dokumente/program-fear-of-sin.pdf
Secondary URL: http://https://www.minerva.mpg.de/18926/current-schools

Hell Arrayed (Tofteh ‘Arukh): A Seventeenth-Century Hebrew Poem on the Afterlife Punishment of the Wicked. Translated and Annotated, with Introductory Essays (Book)
Title: Hell Arrayed (Tofteh ‘Arukh): A Seventeenth-Century Hebrew Poem on the Afterlife Punishment of the Wicked. Translated and Annotated, with Introductory Essays
Author: Moses Zacuto
Editor: Michela Andreatta
Abstract: Written at the height of the Italian Counter Reformation, Tofteh ‘arukh (Hell Arrayed) by the Mantuan rabbi and scholar Moses Zacuto (c. 1610–97) is a 925-verse poem in Hebrew graphically depicting the hereafter of sinners according to the teachings of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. Initially circulated within Zacuto’s own devotional confraternity in Mantua, the poem was eventually printed in 1715 and was instantly transformed into an early modern ‘cult book’: explicated and annotated, later supplemented by a ‘paradisiacal’ sequel by a fellow poet, it went through several reprints and was even the object of public readings verging on theatrical performances. This translation, complete with introduction and notes, makes Tofteh ‘arukh accessible for the first time to English readers. It also opens a window on the composite cultural backdrop that shaped the composition and immediate reception of a towering work of pre-modern Jewish literature and one of the greatest examples of baroque poetry in Hebrew.
Year: 2023
Publisher: CRRS Publications, Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies, Victoria University in the University of Toronto
Type: Translation
ISBN: 9780772710727
Translator: Michela Andreatta
Copy sent to NEH?: No

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