Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto
Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto, (b.
1707, Padua, Venetian republic
[Italy]—d. May 6, 1747, Acre, Palestine
[now ʿAkko, Israel]), Jewish cabalist
and writer, one of the founders of
modern Hebrew poetry.
Luzzatto wrote lyrics and about 1727
the drama Migdal ʿoz (“Tower of
Victory”), but he early turned to
cabalist studies, eventually becoming
convinced that he was receiving divine
revelation and, finally, that he was the
Messiah. After being expelled by the
Italian rabbis, he moved to Amsterdam
(1736), where he wrote his morality play
La-yesharim tehilah (Praise for
Uprightness) and an ethical work,
Mesilat yesharim (1740; The Path of the
Upright), which still ranks as a
classic.