Paḥad Yitsḥak (The Fear of Isaac)

Isaac Lampronti

First Half of the 18th Century

What is the pipe (kaneh) of the heart? Rabbah b. R. Isaac, in the name of Rav [said]: The fat on the walls of the lung. Amemar, in the name of R. Nahman [said]: There are three pipes: one leads to the heart, one leads to the lung, and one leads to the liver.1 [ . . . ]

[Rashi ad loc: There are three pipes—“The windpipe splits into three pipes after…

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Paḥad Yitsḥak, originally consisting of twenty volumes, was printed in part during the author’s lifetime (1750, 1753) and in part after his death. Considered the first halakhic encyclopedia, it is organized alphabetically, offering definitions and explanations of talmudic and rabbinic terms using Isaac Lampronti’s extensive scientific and medical knowledge.

 

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Creator Bio

Isaac Lampronti

1679–1756

Isaac Hezekiah Lampronti was a rabbi and physician. He studied medicine at the University of Padua while also acquiring a rabbinic education. From 1709, he taught at the Talmud Torah of Ferrara, employing his students as assistants in what would be his magnum opus: a halakhic encyclopedia entitled Paḥad Yitsḥak (The Fear of Isaac). Lampronti also published three issues of what may have been the first (short-lived) Hebrew periodical, Re’shit bikure ketsir Talmud Torah shel kehilah kedoshah Ferrara (First Fruits of the Harvest of the Talmud Torah of the Congregation of Ferrara), a collection of writings by his Talmud Torah students on halakhic questions. In 1738, he was elected rabbi of the Spanish congregation and in 1749 became head of the yeshiva. During this time, he also continued practicing medicine.

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