Bible Encyclopedias
Lattes (Lattas)

• Atto Ecc. dell' Istituto Convitto Rabbinico in Padova, Venice, 1853;
• Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 6115.

Bonet de Lattes.

Elijah Lattes:

Economist and classical scholar; son of Abraham Lattes; born at Venice in 1843; educated at Turin (Doctor of Laws). He became professor of Greek and Roman antiquities in the scientific and literary academy of Milan, in which city he now (1904) lives in retirement. He is a member of many scientific societies and a commander of the Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus. Among his writings are: "Studii Storici sul Contratto d'Enfiteusi" (Turin, 1868); "Studii Critici e Statistici sul Credito Fondiario" (Milan, 1868); "La Libertà delle Banche a Venezia del Secolo al " (ib. 1869); "L'Ambasciate del Romani per le 12 Tavole" (ib. 1884). In memory of his father and of his brother Moses he established a fund to provide prizes for works in Jewish literature.

Elijah ben Isaac Lattes.

Immanuel b. Jacob Lattes:

Son of Bonet de Lattes; flourished about 1515-27; highly respected at the court of Leo X., where he received a large salary as physician and translator from the Latin. He had a number of sons, the best known of whom is Isaac Joshua b. Immanuel, who rendered great services in connection with the printing of the Zohar. A portrait of his other son, Elijah de Lattes Ebreo, has been preserved on a medal of 1552 ("Monatsschrift," 38:239). His brothers Samuel, Moses, and Jacob were prominent and learned members of the Roman community about 1570. Samuel's sons Moses, Menahem, and Solomon were at Rome about 1585; Jacob's sons Immanuel, Mordecai, and Menahem are mentioned in the archives of the community of Rome as late as 1600. Aside from this direct line descending from the famous Bonet, a large number of persons by the name of Lates lived at Rome during and after the Middle Ages. Among the rabbis of Rome may be mentioned Raphael de Latas (c. 1670), who was in personal intercourse with Bartolocci and corresponded with Samuel Aboab of Venice. In the succeeding centuries there appear to have been many members of the family of Lattes in Piedmont, especially at Chieri. Isaac b. Joshua, author of a commentary to the Midrash (Chieri, 1629; Steinschneider, "Cat. Bodl." col. 2862), was rabbi at Chieri about 1630.

Isaac ben Jacob Lattes:

Lived in Provence; wrote, in 1340, "Toledot Yiẓḥaḳ," in which he gives valuable information concerning other Provençal authors and discusses the history of tradition. This work is known also by the name "Sha'are Ẓiyyon" (ed. Buber, Yaroslav, 1885). He wrote also "Ḳiryat Sefer," a commentary on the Pentateuch (Benjacob, "Oẓar ha-Sefarim"; Zunz, "Z. G." p. 479; Buber, in the preface to "Sha'are Ẓiyyon").

Isaac Joshua ben Immanuel Lattes.

Isaac ben Judah Lattes:

French Talmudist and physician; lived in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. He visited Perpignan in 1303, and later settled there as a physician. Aside from his medical practise, he was engaged in Talmudic, astronomic, and other scientific studies, and is said to have written works thereon. He can not have gone deeply into natural science, however; for, like many of his contemporaries who believed in the marvelous powers of amulets, Isaac, when his art as a physician failed him, also employed a talisman, one of stone on which a lion was engraved. He thereby occasioned a great controversy between Abba Mari of Perpignan and Solomon ben Adret, in the course of which Isaac, who claimed to be an advocate of science within Judaism, incurred the most bitter reproaches of Abba Mari.

Isaac figured in another controversy between Abba Mari and Solomon ben Adret, which was much more important and far-reaching. Abba Mari requested Solomon ben Adret to forbid, under pain of excommunication, free investigation and the pursuit of scientific studies, to which the latter, after much hesitation, consented. But as soon as the affair became known, the most prominent members of the community of Perpignan objected. Abba Mari, disappointed in his expectations, drew up a petition signed by several members, to prove to Adret that he did not stand alone in his opinion. Among the signatures was that of Isaac, proving that he sided with Abba Mari. This did not prevent him, however, from likewise signing the letter that the rationalists addressed to Solomon ben Adret to induce him to change his mind. It is difficult to understand what caused Isaac to act in this inconsistent manner, which justly exasperated Abba Mari.

Jacob b. Immanuel Lattes.

See BONET DE LATES.

Jacob ben Isaac Lattes:

Talmudist; father of Isaac ben Jacob Lattes; lived about 1340 (Zunz, "Z. G." p. 479).

Joseph Lattes:

Italian rabbi; born at Turin 1811; died at Reggio 1880. He received the rabbinical diploma at the age of nineteen, and was successively rabbi at Moncalvo, Chieri, and (from 1857) Reggio. Especially devoted to the cause of education, he was sent as a provincial delegate to the congress of teachers held at Turin in 1874; his active participation in its deliberations won for him the title of "Cavaliere." He was an advocate of cremation, but there being no crematory at Reggio he left orders for his body to be buried in quicklime ("Il Vessillo Israelitico," 1880, pp. 150, 187).

Judah ben Jacob Lattes:

French rabbi and ritualist of the thirteenth century. He was the author of a work entitled "Ba'al Asufot," responsa and ritual decisions. Gross ("Monatsschrift," 18:536) thinks that this work is quoted in the "Orḥot Ḥayyim" (Günzburg MS. 124a) under the title "Sefer ha-Asufot," sometimes confounded with the "Asufot" written by a German author. The "Ba'al Asufot" is quoted by Isaac Lattes in his "Sha'are Ẓiyyon" (p. 73), and the author of the former quotes many rabbis of Provence. Extracts from the "Ba'al Asufot" were published by S. D. Luzzatto in Berliner's "Magazin" (4:73 et seq., Hebr. part). Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya ("Shalshelet ha-Ḳabbalah"), followed by Zunz ("Z. G." p. 481), erroneously attributes the "Ba'al Asufot" to Judah's grandfather, Isaac b. Elijah of Carcassonne.

Moses Lattes:

Son of Abraham Lattes; born at Venice 1846; died as the result of an accident in 1883 near Lake Lecco, where he had gone to recover from a severe illness; studied in the rabbinical college of Padua, graduating in 1863. In 1869 he published, in Hebrew, "De Vita et Scriptis Eliæ Capsalii," which he dedicated to his father. After his father's death he acted as temporary rabbi for six months, and then resigned, principally that he might devote himself wholly to study. He appliedhimself to the investigation of old documents, a large number of which he published, either in part or entire, in the "Archivio Veneto" and in the periodicals "Mosé," "Il Vessillo Israelitico," and "Revue des Etudes Juives." He published also an independent collection of the documents which had appeared in "Mosé," entitled "Notizie e Documenti di Litteratura e Storia Giudaica" (Padua, 1879). He became especially well known through his studies on the language of the Talmud. His first work, "Saggio di Giunte e Correzioni al Lessico Talmudico" (Turin, 1879), was printed with the proceedings of the Royal Academy of Turin. His "Nuovo Saggio di Giunte e Correzioni al Lessico Talmudico" (Rome, 1881) won for him honorable mention in the Accademia dei Lincei. He had collected material for many other works when death prematurely ended his career.

Moses b. Immanuel Lattes:

Rabbi at Rome about 1570. When the Jews were ordered into the ghetto at Rome, he assisted in the organization of the community thereby created. Thus, he signed a decree imposing severe penalties upon any one assailing by word or deed the dignity of the directors of the community.