Trani
Trani a name common to some Jewish authors, of whom we mention the following:
1. ISAIAH DA, so-called after his native place Trani, a seaport town of Naples, and, by way of abbreviation, Ridi ריד, from the initials ר8 ישעיה דטראני i.e. R. Isaiah da Trani, flourished about A.D. 1232-70. He may be regarded as the founder of the school of Talmudical and traditional exegesis in Italy. He wrote not only numerous annotations on the Talmud, and theological decisions (פסקים) connected with traditional law, but also scholia (נמוקים) to the Bible, which are as follows: נמוקי החומש, Scholia on the Pentateuch (Leghorn, 1792): — קצור פרוש יהושע, Annotations on Joshua, published, with a Latin translation: by J. A. Steinmetz, under the title Esaiae Comment. in Josuama quens in Codiae VMS. Bibl. Senat. Lips. Descriptum et Versione at Notis Illustratum, Pracside J. G. Abicht Ercuditorsunm Examini subjecit (Lips. 1712): — Annotations on Judges and 1 Samuel, printed in the Rabbinical Bible's (q.v.). Besides these published commentaries, the following annotations of Trani are in MS. a commentary on Ezra, Cod. Opp.; a commentary on the Five Megilloth and Daniel, in the Angelica at Rome; commentaries on the minor prophets, Psalms, and Job, to be found in MS. in several European libraries. See Fürst, Bibl. Jud. 3, 438 sq.; De Rossi, Dizionario Storico (Germ. transl.), p. 318 sq.; Steinschneider, Catalogus Libr. Hebr. in Bibl. Bodl. col. 1389-92; Kitto, Cyclop. s.v.; Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden (Leips. 1873), 7:175; Jost, Gesch. d. Judenth. u. s. Sekten, 3, 33; Zunz, Zur Gesch. u. Literatur, p. 58.
2. MOSES DA, was born at Salonica in 1505. When a boy he went to Adrianople, and was educated in the house of his uncle. In the year 1521 he went to Safet to continue his studies, and four years later he received ordination, and in .1535 went to Jerusalem, where he died in 1585. His success in teaching was so great that he was styled "The Light of Israel," "The Senate of Mount Sinai and the Uprooter of Mountains," because he solved the difficulties in the law. He wrote, אלהי בית, on Jewish rites, ceremonies, prayers, morals, etc. (Venice, 1576): — ס8 קרית ספר, a body of Jewish laws, in which he distinguishes between the laws written by Moses, those which were transmitted by tradition, and those only founded on the decisions of the doctors: — a collection of decisions in 3 parts, and other works of minor import. See First, Bibl. Jud. 3, 441 sq.; De Rossi, Dizionario Storico (Germ. transl.), p. 319 sq.; Basnage, Histoire des Juifs (Taylor's transl.), p. 703; Adams, Hist. of the Jews, 2, 14; Jost, Gesch. d. Judenth. u.s. Sekten, 3, 129; Zunz, Zur Gesch. u. Literatur, p. 229, 230. (B. P.)
