Hell Arrayed (Tofteh 'arukh): A Seventeenth-Century Hebrew Poem on the Punishment of the Wicked in the Afterlife

Written at the height of the Italian Counter Reformation, Tofteh 'Arukh (Hell Arrayed) by the Mantuan rabbi and scholar Moses Zacuto (c. 1610-97), is a 925-verse poem in Hebrew graphically depicting the hereafter of sinners according to the teachings of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. Initially circulated within Zacuto's own devotional confraternity in Mantua, the poem was eventually printed in 1715 and was instantly transformed into an early modern 'cult book': explicated an annotated, later supplemented by a 'paradisiacal' sequel by a fellow poet, it went through several reprints and was even the object of public readings verging on theatrical performances. This translation, complete with introduction and notes, makes Tofteh 'Arukh accessible for the first time to English readers. It also opens a window on the composite cultural backdrop that shaped the composition and immediate reception of a towering work of pre-modern Jewish literature and one of the greatest examples of baroque poetry in Hebrew.*Finalist, Jordan Schnitzer Book Award (Jewish Literature & Linguistics)Translated, annotated, and introduced by Michela Andreatta.Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies, University of Toronto, 2023. Published open access in 2025.Table of ContentsPart OneIntroductionOn Moses Zacuto's Life and WorksFrom Amsterdam to MantuaPoetry and DramaTranslating Tofteh 'arukhChapter 1: Microhistory of a Hellish BookNoctournal Devotions, Books, and PoetryFrom Zacuto's Drawer to PrintDoctors, Demons, and the DamnedHow Tofteh 'arukh Became an Early Modern Cult BookChapter 2: On Death, Afterlife, and KabbalahBeliefs about the HereafterThe Rabbi's LibraryA Moralizing PoemChapter 3: Hell on StagePerforming AffectsTheatre of the MindEmpirical AmbiguityBaroque KabbalahEpiloguePart TwoNote on the TranslationHell Arrayed: An Annotated Translation of Tofteh 'arukh