Sarah Copia Sullam

vers 1592-1641 17th century

Answering for oneself, when others have spoken in one's place.

Who was Sarah Copia Sullam?

A Jewish poet of Venice, born and dead in the ghetto, she kept a salon where Jewish and Christian men of letters came to argue, and corresponded with a monk of Genoa who hoped to convert her. In 1621, after a churchman put it about that she denied the immortality of the soul, a dangerous charge for a Jewish woman in Venice, she published within forty-eight hours, under her own name, a manifesto refuting it.

In their own words

The soul of man, Signor Baldassare, is incorruptible, immortal and divine.

Manifesto of a Jewish Woman of Venice, 1621, opening sentence, addressed to Baldassare Bonifacio, her accuser; printed title « Manifesto di Sarra Copia Sulam Hebrea », translated from the Italian by the Manna team