The commentary by Rav Leone Modena found in this Hagadah, the famous “Tzeli Esh,” is an abbreviation of Don Isaac Abrabanel’s voluminous commentary “Zevach Pesach” first published during the author’s lifetime in Constantinople in 1505. The translation of the “Tzeli Esh” into Yiddish is by Solomon Zalman ben Moses Raphael London (1661-1748), author and translator, who was active between 1709 and 1735.

Leon de Modena (or Yehuda Aryeh Mi-Modena) (1571-1648) is considered the most famous Venetian Rabbi of the 17th century. He was a Jewish scholar born in Venice, into a family of migrants from France, after the French expulsion of Jews.

He was well respected, but his reputation within traditional Judaism suffered both due to his criticism of emerging sects within Judaism, but also because of his addiction to gambling and seeming lack of stability. He is famous for his criticism of the mystical approach to Judaism and his attacks on the Kaballa, but his international fame mainly rests upon him being the interpreter of Judaism to the Christian world. He was the first since Josephus and Philo to write a Jewish text to non-Jewish readers (Historia de gli riti Hebraici, 1637), which was widely read by Christians and extremely influential.

The editor Naftali Hertz ben Alexander Ziskind Levi Rofe of Emden “set up his press in Amsterdam in 1726. He complemented his printing equipment with that purchased from the Isaac Templo press after it was closed down. He was a physician by profession, as evidenced by his moniker Rofe. He was granted title of doctor of medicine from the University of Harderwijk in 1716. He pursued his medical practice, as well as printing and bookselling. He was a member of a small group of Jewish intellectuals interested in scientific disputes. He tended to publish alone as well as in cooperation with others, but above all with his son-in-law Kosman ben Joseph Baruch, who was also involved in the book trade. Their cooperation lasted from 1742 to 1766, and resulted in many works being published.” (The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art, The Center for Jewish Art)