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Focusing on the figure of the rabbi, thisbook provides a vivid picture of Italian Jewry during the Renaissance. Theauthor discusses Jewish life of the period (c.1450-1600)in its social, institutional, and cultural aspects, placing them against thebackdrop of the wider Catholic environment to give an original interpretationof how Jewish cultural and religious life developed in the Renaissance context.Particular attention is given to changes in the status and functions of therabbis and to the relations between the rabbinate and the lay leadership. Ofspecial interest is the exploration of the cultural world of the rabbis and thebroader issue of intellectual developments at the time. Essentially a translation of Part I ofthe Hebrew edition, which won wide acclaim for its perspective, Rabbis and Jewish Communities in RenaissanceItaly has been carefully adapted for an English-speaking readership.Substantial excerpts from the appendices have been incorporated into the textso that the evidence necessary to support the arguments is easily accessible.