ABSTRACT
Simone Luzzatto (1583–1663) may be considered the father of modern Jewish political economy. A Venetian rabbi of wide learning, he was the author, in addition to traditional rabbinic works, of a philosophical treatise, Socrate, that made little overt reference to Judaism. 2 His 1638 Discourse on the Jews of Venice (Discorso circa il stato de gl’ hebrei et in particolar dimoranti nell’inclita città di Venetia) was a work of Jewish apologetics which argued, among other things, that Jews were the uniquely essential commercial element in Venetian society, for they alone could sustain the republic’s prosperity without threatening its independence (in contrast to other foreign merchant groups). It was a remarkable and influential rationale for Jewish toleration, although a conservative one because premised on the permanent limitation of Jewish participation in Venetian life to the economic sphere alone.
