MARLI, SAMUEL (Raphael) BEN MAẒLI'AḤ

MARLI, SAMUEL (Raphael) BEN MAẒLI'AḤ (d. 1617), Italian rabbi and author. One of the outstanding scholars of Italy, Samuel, like his father, served in a variety of offices in the Mantua community and was in charge until his death of collecting funds for Ereẓ Israel. In 1587 he was appointed rabbi of the community and was apparently also the head of a yeshivah. According to S.D. Luzzatto, his name means "of Arles." During the time Marli was rabbi, the Jews of Mantua were confined to a ghetto prepared for them at their own cost, and Marli was one of the members of the committee which dealt with matters affecting the ghetto. His signature is found on many of the community's documents and regulations. He was highly praised by the scholars of his time, and although he published no works, a few of his responsa and letters have been published in the works of his contemporaries and preserved in manuscript. Some of his piyyutim were published in the Ayyelet ha-Shaḥar and in the Siddur mi-Berakhah of Italian rite (Mantua, 1653), as well as later in Schirman's Mivḥar ha-Shirah ha-Ivrit be-Italyah. Marli prepared and may have published a special essay which is still in manuscript, "to demonstrate to the nations and princes that a Jew is not permitted to curse or to act wrongly toward any man." He is also mentioned among those who supplied Azariah dei Rossi with material for his Me'or Einayim, and was among the rabbis who forbade the use of the mikveh of Rovigo (Moses Porto in: Palgei Mayim, p. 55). Hananiah Eliakim Rieti composed a eulogy on his death.

bibliography:

Ghirondi-Neppi, 337; S. Simonsohn, Toledot ha-Yehudim be-Dukkasut Mantovah, 1 (1964), 649.

[Itzhak Alfassi]