Menahem Azariah da Fano

Menahem Azariah da Fano
Menahem Azariah da Fano
Personal details
Born	1548 Fano, Papal States
Died	1620 (aged 71–72) Mantua, Duchy of Mantua

Menahem Azariah da Fano (also called Immanuel da Fano, and Rema MiPano) (1548 – 1620) was an Italian rabbi, Talmudist, and Kabbalist.

He was a disciple of Rabbi Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, to whose widow he offered 1,000 sequins for her husband's manuscripts. Even as a youth Fano had some reputation for learning, as is shown by the fact that Moses Cordovero (d. 1570) sent him a copy of his Pardes Rimmonim. Another one of Fano's teachers was Ishmael Ḥanina b. Mordecai of Valmontone.

Fano was a patron of learning. When Rabbi Joseph Caro, shortly before his death (1575), sent Kesef Mishneh, his commentary on Maimonides' Yad ha-Ḥazaḳah, to Mantua for publication, Fano, at the suggestion of Dei Rossi, assumed part of the expense and took charge of the edition.

According to a report of Immanuel Aboab, Fano lived for some time in Reggio Emilia. Numerous pupils flocked to him from Italy and Germany, and he was held in general respect for his learning and character.

One of Fano's sons was Isaac Berechiah; and the same name was borne also by Fano's son-in-law and pupil (mentioned in a letter of Israel Sforno to his son Obadiah ben Israel Sforno).

Fano's authority as a Talmudist is evident in a collection of responsa ("She'elot Teshubot me-Rabbi Menaḥem 'Azaryah," Dyhernfurth, 1788) containing 130 chapters on various subjects connected with religious law and ritual questions. They are distinguished by precision of style as well as by the author's independence of the later authorities. He even decides sometimes in opposition to Joseph Caro (e.g., No. 32), and holds changes in the ritual to be justifiable in certain cases (see, e.g., No. 25). In his love for precision and brevity Fano compiled a book of extracts from Alfasi's code, which itself is only a compendium of the Talmud. This book is preserved in manuscript. Azulai enumerates twenty-four cabalistic treatises by Fano, part being in manuscript. Ten of these are comprised in the work "'Asarah Ma'amarot"; five of them, under the title "Amarot Ṭehorot," were printed together with "Ḳol Yehudah," a philosophical commentary by Judah ben Simon (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1698; Mohilev, 1810).