Artom, Elia Samuele
ARTOM, ELIA SAMUELE
ARTOM, ELIA SAMUELE (1887–1965), Italian rabbi and author. Born in Turin, Artom graduated from the Rabbinical College in Florence and served as rabbi in various communities, among them Tripoli (Libya, 1920–23) and Florence (1926–35), where he also taught at the university and at the Rabbinical College. He settled in Palestine in 1939, but from 1953 to 1965 he spent part of the year in Italy, teaching at the Rabbinical Schools of Turin and Rome. Among his many pupils was his son Emanuele (1916– ). Artom's son Reuven was killed in action during the Israel War of Independence in 1948. A close friendship bound Artom to the distinguished scholar Umberto (M.D.) *Cassuto, who was his brother-in-law. Artom's work includes numerous biblical studies, and he also wrote on literature, grammar, history, halakhah, and Jewish thought. Artom's major work is a Hebrew commentary, with introduction, to the Bible (edited by M.D. Cassuto, 1952–57) and a Hebrew translation, commentary, and introduction to the Apocrypha (1958–67). His bibliography is contained in a posthumously published essay on the spiritual problems of modern Israel (Ḥayyei Yisrael ha-Ḥadashim 1966).
bibliography:
Israel, 50 nos. 23–28 (1965); A. Segré, in: rmi, 31 (1965) 209–15, Torath Chajim, no. 53 (1970).
[Alfredo Mordechai Rabello]