Levi, Joshua Joseph ben David

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LEVI, JOSHUA JOSEPH BEN DAVID

LEVI, JOSHUA JOSEPH BEN DAVID (c. 1700), Venetian Hebrew poet. His elegies on the death of various contemporaries are all distinguished by their excellent style. Among those lamented are Moses *Zacuto, Abraham Ẓemaḥ (a lamentation for both in 24 octaves, 1692?), Samuel *Aboab (1694?), and Mose Merari. Joshua Joseph's best-known piece is Kos Tanḥumim (Venice, 1707), being an elegy on Mose Levi Muggia, part of which was republished by J. Schirmann in his anthology (1934). A prose introduction and a sonnet by Levi are printed in Samson *Morpurgo's Eẓ ha-Da'at (Venice, 1704, p. 37a–b).

bibliography:

A. Coen, Saggio di Eloquenza Ebrea, 1 (1827), 41–3; Ghirondi-Neppi, 171–3, no. 72; Steinschneider, Cat Bod, 1555; Schirmann, Italyah, 342–6; Davidson, Oẓar, 4 (1933), 392.

[Jefim (Hayyim) Schirmann]