The autobiography is not one of the strong points of the Jewish religious literature. Since this personal account of the life of Leon Modena, I've read a lot of stories and biographies written by people that used to be very close to a tzaddik and feel the need to leave behind a testimony of his personality.
Modena, probably influenced by the literary styles of the non-Jews, that he was in contact with other Jewish communities within the Italian Peninsula and abroad, left us a unique account of his life, not poor in unhappy events as the death of his sons and the deterioration of the mental health of his wife. The life story of Leon Modena is full of unhappy events, from the persecutions to the deep poverty and a long list of children and relatives dying young. There were the times of the early Enlightenment in Europe, as Leon Modena writes his memoir in the first half of the 17th century.
Besides his contacts with the non-Jewish world, he was also a strong critic of Kabbalah, but I am not sure that his scepticism was inspired rather by a certain ambiance of the time, dominated by the Inquisition, instead of the sake of Rational thinking.
Modena was not only a writer and thinker about the Jewish life in Italy and Europe and the interaction with the non-Jewish world, but he also had a very rich professional experience: he was editor, preacher, teacher for children from rich families, merchant, rabbi, musician or seller of amulets. Last but not least, he fought his entire life with his temptation to gamble. He deals delicately with this bad inclination that made him a lot of troubles as he apparently more lost than won. Obviously, it was not a secret hobby as he needed support sometimes to cover his debts. But it is how it was and he does not try to hide it and in the spirit of the authenticity, he mentions his problems, as part of his many problems and punishments he dealt with regularly.
Leon Modena remains at a great extent an unknown personality and did not read too much about literary works inspired by his personality. An incentive to find out more about this atypical Venetian rabbi. Learning from mistakes is also part of our story, isn't it?
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