Ḥayye ‘olam (Eternal Life)
Yeḥiel Nissim da Pisa
ca. 1570
Chapter 15. In Explanation of Bills of Exchange Called Cambii and of Maritime Insurance
We could have dispensed with the discussion of bills of exchange which are called in Italian cambii since they are not currently used by the Jewish people and since at the time of the codifiers and sages they were not utilized. Nevertheless, since it is possible…
Related Guide
Jews on the Move: Early Modern Jewish Migration
The geography of Jewish settlement shifted dramatically in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Related Guide
Early Modern Italy: Where East and West Meet
Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and Marranos encountered each other in Italian cities, developing community structures that later influenced Jewish communal organization throughout the western world.
Related Guide
Community, Congregation, and Self-Government
The early modern period witnessed flourishing Jewish self-governance across the diaspora, as economic utility to host nations enabled unprecedented communal autonomy.
Creator Bio
Yeḥiel Nissim da Pisa
Born in Florence, Yeḥiel Nissim da Pisa came from a family of bankers and scholars. He received a broad education and became known as a manuscript copyist. He lived in Pisa, where he hosted the traveler David Ha-Reuveni. Ḥayye ‘olam (Eternal Life) is an economic treatise on usury and interest, written in 1559. Besides this work, da Pisa wrote Minḥat kena’ot (The Zealous Portion), a philosophical work, and other short philosophical and kabbalistic works.
You may also like