Recanati, Menahem Di

Recanati, Menahem Di, a Jewish writer, was born in Recanati (the ancient Recinetum) about 1290, and is the author of a commentary on the Pentateuch (על התורה פרוש), which is little else than a commentary on the Sohar. This commentary, which was first published by Jacob ben-Chajim in Bomberg's celebrated printing establishment (Venice, 1523; then again ibid. 1545; and in Lublin, 1595), has been translated into Latin by the famous Pico della Mirandola. He also wrote ס הדינים, a treatise forensic, moral, and ceremonial (Bononia, 1538): — — טעמי המצות, an exposition of the precepts of the law (Constantinople, 1544). Besides these works, he wrote a number of others, which are still unpublished. See Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. 3:135 sq.; De Rossi, Dizionario Storico (Germ. transl.), p. 275; Steinschneider, Catalogus Libr. Hebr. in Bibl. Bodlei. col. 1733-37.; Etheridge, Introd. to Hebr. Literature, p. 286; Ginsburg, Kabbalah, p. 118 sq.; Jost, Gesch. d. Judenth. u. s. Secten, 3:77. (B. P.)