'Al Yisrael Emunato - Ermanno Friedenthal, Gorizia

Rabbi Ermin Friedenthal, called Ermanno in Italy, was born on March 10th, 1881 in Hungary, at the time Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the town of Battaszeh. He begun his Jewish studies at home, then at a local yeshiva, then in Wien; in 1902 he was sent to the Collegio Rabbinico in Firenze, directed by rav Shemuel Tzvi Margulies. In subsequent years, as he studed, he also acted as hazan at the Tempio Maggiore di Firenze. He was chief Rabbi in Cuneo, then In Gorizia. During the First World War, he was required to return to Hungary and was Chief Rabbi in Kecskemet; in 1919 after the war he returned to Gorizia. He was then called to be rabbi in Verona; after the war he became chief Rabbi in Milan, seat which he held until his death on September 26th, 1970. As Leo Levi states in the notes to the recordings, he had learned the Gorizia traditional repertoire from the voice of his predecessor, Rabbi Giacomo Bolaffio. He was maternal grandfather to Rabbi Elia Richetti.